New Year’s Eve Destinations, Discounted

by Chris Owen on

New Year’s Eve may mean no more than the night before the first day of January to travelers with no special plans. Others choose to celebrate at favorite local places or exotic destinations around the world. Wherever they go, New Year’s Eve travelers are looking for a bargain and finding it and booking it at a variety of locations.

“Although travelers can never go wrong ringing in the New Year in iconic places like New York or Las Vegas. Some of the best deals and great experiences can be found in cities like Orlando, Chicago and San Diego, where you can stay over the holiday for under $100 per night,” said Clem Bason, president of the Hotwire Group in a Breaking Travel News report.

Hotwire.com has a list of the ten most popular New Year’s destinations, based on actual New Year’s Eve bookings, all at less than $100 per night:

  • Orlando, Florida
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Las Vegas, Nevada
  • New York City, New York
  • Miami, Florida
  • San Francisco, California
  • London, England
  • San Diego, California
  • Los Angeles, California
  • New Orleans, Louisiana

“Booking trends show that travelers are opting for warm weather backdrops for their New Year’s Eve celebrations alongside the bigger, more traditional celebration cities,” said Bason.

This year, New Year’s Day is also the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, setting 3 million slaves free and setting the political climate for the adoption of the 13th Amendment two years later.

That said, you’re probably wondering if we have any glitter makeup tips for New Year’s Eve. Well of course we do, as we see in this video:


[Photo Credit- Flickr user sea turtle]

Dyker Heights Christmas Lights

by Elizabeth Seward on

During a time wherein many things are famous that don’t seem to warrant all of the attention, it’s refreshing to have found an attraction worth all of the buzz it gets: the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights. I drove out to see the lights on Christmas Eve in this southwestern Brooklyn community with my husband unsure of what to expect.

Driving around and taking in the best of the local Christmas lights on Christmas Eve was a tradition in my family growing up. My sister and I would dress up in our favorite velvet dresses, the kind that usually had lace and pearl necklines, and we’d brush our hair and do our best to look worthy of the mound of presents we’d receive the very next morning. We’d pile into the family car with my brother and parents and make our way to church for the Christmas Eve service. Our little hands that cupped the hot chocolate we’d drink after the service were usually red from candle-wax burns. We were blushing and excited, at least according to my memory, and then we’d race to the car, careful not to slip on the icy pavement, and my father would drive us all around town looking at the beautiful Christmas lights.

%Gallery-174271%Even as I got older, some of the lights would manage to dazzle me. The immense effort some people take in putting together spectacular Christmas light shows would amaze me, even as a surly teenager who refused to wear or own a fancy velvet dress. The quiet of Christmas Eve can be magical, even long after you’ve stopped believing in Santa. And those twinkling lights capture enough of that magic to make even the most stereotypically seasoned and jaded New Yorkers flock to Dyker Heights each December to see the lights.

We nosed around the neighborhood looking for the 13th avenue and the 80s streets after having been told that’s where the best of the best lights would be. We parked and walked around in awe and we were in plenty of good, excited company. Parents propped their children up on their shoulders for a better view. Adults posed for photos in front of an elaborate collection of moving, singing carolers perched atop a front yard fence.

I’m not crazy about a lot of facets of Christmas, but the lights are fun, no matter which way I look at it. I’ll admit, however, that I was just as impressed with some of the Dyker Heights houses as I was the lights. Nothing quite accents ornate Christmas decorations like your dream Brooklyn house.

If you haven’t seen the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights yet, some may still be up! If not, pencil the trip in for next year. It’s worth it.

Video: Toasters Street Art

by Elizabeth Seward on

“EVERYWHERE” from Toasters on Vimeo.

Beginning in 1999, you might have seen toaster street art. The symbol of the toaster has become iconic and the artists behind the widespread image, a group that of course identifies themselves as Toasters, have now released a nearly 30-minute film documenting the origin of the movement and its progress. Street art is one of my favorite elements of travel. It’s unique to the respective destination and it’s never the same, even when it’s always the same, as the root-image is with Toasters. The placement and context is always different, even in this case. Street art is something I notice and photograph everywhere I go. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve probably seen this little toaster image around and I’ve never photographed it. Have you seen this image while traveling or at home?

[Thanks, Laughing Squid]

China Launches World’s Longest High-Speed Train Line

by Kraig Becker on

On Wednesday of this week, China launched a new rail line that has earned the distinction of becoming the longest high-speed train in the world. The new route, which runs from Beijing to Guangzhou, is nearly 1430 miles in length and features a train that can hit average speeds of 186 mph, shaving hours of travel time.

The new train isn’t the fastest in the world, as several top out above 200 mph, but none travel such long distances at these high speeds. The Beijing-Guangzhou route once took 22 hours to complete with standard trains, but with the new high-speed version that time has been shaved to just eight hours. That includes stops in Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha along the way as well.

With the launch of this new line, China has now managed to build more than 5780 miles of high-speed rail in just five years. But the country has ambitious plans for the future, as eight similar long distance routes are expected to open by the end of the decade. Those new routes, along with continued expansion elsewhere, will increase the mileage to more than 30,000, easily making it the most extensive high-speed train system in the world.

These new high-speed trains are a boon for local commuters of course, but they can benefit travelers to China as well. These rail lines will allow visitors to quickly and comfortably explore distant parts of the country with ease, making travel throughout the vast Chinese countryside a breeze. Considering the unique and distinct cultures that exist in the various corners of China, that is an exciting prospect for tourism there.

[Photo Credit: Khalidshou vis WikiMedia]

New Agers Trash Mayan Pyramid At ‘End Of The World’ Party

by Sean McLachlan on


Revelers at an Apocalypse party at the ancient Mayan site of Tikal in Guatemala have damaged one of the pyramids, AFP reports.

Temple II, built at Tikal’s height around 700 A.D., was damaged when a crowd of partygoers ignored signs saying it was off-limits and climbed up it anyway. An official at the site didn’t reveal how extensive the damage was but did say it was permanent.

About 7,000 tourists visited Tikal on Friday to mark the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar, which many wide-eyed dupes believed would bring the end of the world, or at least some New-Agey world transformation that would imbue their crystals with deep spiritual significance.

If they had asked the Maya themselves they would have learned that the world wasn’t actually ending, but why do that? Traditional cultures and UNESCO World Heritage Sites are only there as props for jaded First Worlders shopping for a cheap semblance of spirituality the same way they’ll buy Save The Whale T-shirts made in Filipino sweat shops.

They’ll also blithely ignore the real historical and cultural significance of such sites in preference for silly theories about secret civilizations, aliens or Atlantis. This sort of New Age archaeology is rooted in racism. As some locals complained, the party wasn’t really about the Maya at all.

Dave, an old friend of mine, calls the New Age movement “Newage,” because it rhymes with “sewage.” I propose a worldwide movement to adopt Dave’s term for these callow crystal-clutching consumers. Protect ancient Mayan sites by flushing the Newage movement!

[Photo courtesy Mike Vondran]