Urbane Nomads

by Brenda Yun on

Have you ever dreamed of taking a romantic trip to Bhutan to learn about fertility rituals or yearned to travel around Kyrgyzstan by horseback performing a courtship ritual? Well, if I had known it was possible, then I might have. If you’ve ever wanted to travel to some far-off destination and have your itinerary planned by a knowledgeable agency, then Urbane Nomads might just be the travel agency you’ve been looking for.

Urbane Nomads, a travel agency focused on delivering unique experiences and destinations, offers a range of trips. You can take the “Lover’s Tour” which could start in Saigon, through to Halong Bay, and then onwards to Sapa and the ‘Love Market.’

Or maybe you want a trip with a bit more flair — perhaps a tango-inspired trip to learn about fiery Latin dancing? A trip like this could involve a visit to Buenos Aires or to San Telmo, right at the heart of where it all started. They might even be able to arrange for a private tango lesson at the Philippe Starck-designed hotel Faena.

For traditional romance and luxury, Urbane Nomads is able to organize a getaway to Indonesia, where you can island hop between Java, Bali, and lesser-known Sumba, a remote island where headhunting practices were still ongoing until relatively modern times and where the sight of tourists are few and far between.

You can get a real taste of the eccentric if you step out of your comfort zone even more. Urbane Nomads is happy to arrange a visit to Sri Lanka, Syria, or Pakistan. Urbane Nomads specializes in four distinct thematic trips: Sports and Adventure, Culture, Relaxation, Romance. Read sample itineraries within these themes HERE or you can have them design your trip from scratch.

This company prides itself in being “travel mixologists,” with intention of offering unique travel experiences to sometimes unusual and rarely touristed destinations. It even leads scholarly tours to certain destinations and alternative experiences for more trodden locales.

It’s definitely worth taking a look if not taking a plunge and indulging the vacation they specially concoct for you. I really like the idea. I’m not at all sure about the cost, but the company appears to be connected and worthy of the buzz.

The Air New Zealand Pink Party Plane is back for 2009!

by Scott Carmichael on

Air New Zealand is once again flying their pink party plane for the 2009 Sydney Mardi Gras. We’ve covered the party plane before, but it is clearly a success, as they keep bringing it back for more fun!

Tickets for the flight start at $978, and include the flight from San Francisco to Auckland, and a 3 1/2 hour party flight from Auckland to Sydney.

The party flight includes cocktails, canapes, entertainment and a little “beauty rest”. Before departure the airline gets the party started with a glamor gate event.

If $978 is a little out of reach, why not try your luck in the Air New Zealand party flight sweepstakes, which includes the flight for two, and three nights in a Sydney hotel!

If you want an idea just how insane this flight is – check out this Youtube clip of the 2008 party plane. The Pink Party Plane booking site is here.

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Amazing and insane stories from a real-life flight attendant and co-pilot

Yapta alerts travelers of fare drops — over Twitter

by Grant Martin on

Remember Yapta? They’re the scrappy airline website that keeps travelers informed in case their fare drops.

All that you used to have to do was log onto yapta.com, register your itinerary and watch the progress as the site automatically checked your ticket every day to let you know if changes occurred. If the price went down? You’d get an email, book your ticket and everyone would have a beer.

Now, Yapta has added the feature where they’ll Twitter you if your fare drops. Which means that if you have Twitter linked to your mobile phone, you’ll get the note immediately, dive into a cyber cafe, book your ticket on the spot and then get a beer.

But what if you have a web enabled phone and can check your emails on the road? Or what if you don’t use Twitter? Well, in that case it might not be as useful. But for the surprising number of us who do have Twitter SMS messages enabled, this service could save us a bundle. Give it a try at yapta.com.

Ethiopian Airlines Offering Free Tickets to Africa

by Kraig Becker on

Traditionally speaking, flights to Africa can be amongst the most expensive you’ll find, and there are seldom deals to be found when flying there. But right now, Ethiopian Airlines is running a “buy 1, get 1 free” promotion that makes it more affordable than ever to make the trip.

The promotion is good from February 1st through March 31st of this year, with flights to 32 cities available. Simply book a ticket before the 30th of March, and you receive one companion fare for free. The only restriction, other than the dates of the promotion, is that your stay can not be longer than 21 days, and you must travel by the end of March.

The airline offers service to most of the major airports in Africa, including flights to Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa. Combining this promotion with some of the other travel deals that are currently available could make for a low cost safari or other vacation to any number of amazing places. Grab your tickets while you can!

[via Intelligent Travel Blog]

10 tips for smarter flying


Fare alert! Take advantage of the fare war to Dublin!

by Grant Martin on

It’s been a little while since we’ve had a good hootenany like we’re having this weekend. Dublin, as you know, is on sale from the United States, from almost every good port of departure.

From Chicago, Grand Rapids, New York, Cleveland and many cities in the midwest, tickets are as low as $330 for travel into March. West of the Mississippi, from departures such as Los Angeles, prices are only $45 higher at $375. You can even score tickets from your local podunk airport — Bay City, Michigan is rocking prices as low as $308.

But the most jaw dropping price appears to be out of Miami, where you can score tickets for only $220 round trip. That’s outrageous!

To find tickets, start by running a flex search at Kayak.com. Use +/- 3 days if you want the best prices, then when you find a good set of tickets, bounce over to the airline of choice’s website and book tickets. Right now I’m sitting on top of some Feb 20 – 22 tickets, but seeing as I was just there, I’m a little gunshy to book.

Interested in learning more about what’s going on in Dublin? Check on Gadling’s list of 10 Things you Didn’ t Know about Dublin.