More travel deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

by Katie Hammel on

The folks over at the LA Times have rounded up a few more great travel deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And what better way to recoup from this most hellish of shopping weekends than by looking forward to a discounted vacation?

Shell’s Vacation Hospitality’s Black Friday Sale runs today with discounts of up to 50% off at 26 of its resorts located in Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire, Texas, Wisconsin, California, Mexico and Canada. Sample deals include a $79 per night room in Napa Valley, $84 per night on the Big Island of Hawaii, and $64 per night in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There are some blackout dates around the holidays and the rooms must be prepaid and are nonrefundable.

Gap Adventures’ sale runs from Black Friday to Cyber Monday and offers 20% savings on selected tours. 12 days in Laos can be had for $999 per person, 8 days in Thailand is just $479, and 20 days in India is only $1099. Over 25 tours are discounted, and include locations in South and Central America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Prices don’t include airfare and are only valid on select departures in December, January, April and May.

Sonesta, a resort company that operates two properties on St. Maarten, is also offering 50% off for bookings made through Monday. The discount is valid for stays from December 18 to March 31. Stays over Christmas and New Year’s require a 5-night minimum, but at just $138 (down from the usual $275), the total price is much more affordable.

Photo of the Day (11.21.09)

by Mike Barish on

Seeing as the Leonids meteor shower gave some of us a show earlier this week, it seems fitting to pay homage to the night sky this weekend. I love this photo in particular because it proves that the world still turns and time passes ever so consistently from one second, moment, hour, day, month, year to the next.

This lovely shot entitled “Tunnel View” comes to us from ohad*, who writes, “Shooting into the dark, I decided to shoot a portrait of Yosemite Valley. Half dome in the distance (with airplanes rising) and El Capitan on the left. Shot at 10mm f/3.5 for 601 seconds.” The different lines of movement from the lights of cars that cut through the dark valley to the rising airplane leaving its pink trace toward the heavens and the curving stars really make the world feel alive and allow us to appreciate just how beautiful it really is.

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

How did international visitors enter the U.S. this year?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you visited the United States from overseas, you probably hit the ground in one of 15 ports of entry. These top first stops accounted for 84 percent of all entries from overseas in the first eight months of 2009– up almost 2 percentage points from the same period in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Traffic through the major ports is becoming slightly more concentrated. This doesn’t include visits from Canada and Mexico.

New York JFK, Miami and Los Angeles continue to be the top three ports of entry for overseas visitors. Through August, these locations accounted for 39% of all arrivals from overseas, an increase of a percentage point from last year. Miami was the only one of these three to post a year-over-year increase, and it was joined only by Orlando MCO, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale. Meanwhile, 11 of the top 15 ports of entry posted decreases in arrivals. This is hardly surprising, given that visits to the Untied States from overseas are down 9 percent so far this year.

Chicago was hit particularly hard, losing 18 percent of its entry traffic and moving into #7 on the list, behind Honolulu. Detroit lost 36 percent of its inbound visitor share, falling to #16 — after Boston, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale.

California smacks nude beach buffs

by Tom Johansmeyer on

After having been left alone for a while, California isn’t tolerating nudity any more. The state’s Department of Parks and Recreation is putting out the word that it will crack down on bare crack this year at San Onofre State Beach. So, if you like to sun in the buff or skinny-dip in the sea, you could be out of luck. Nudists call it a “tremendous setback.”

The nudist community worries that the California decision could trigger a chain reaction across the country. Bob Morton, executive director of the Naturist Action Committee, says, “There are other states in which there are sanctioned nude beaches. They’re all looking to see what California is doing.”

There’s a secluded stretch of San Onofre State Beach, 1,000 feet long, that’s been popular for sunning sans threads for more than three decades, and it has such a reputation that visitors from out of state seek it out. Cliffs stretching 300 feet into the sky block the views of would-be gawkers, making it comfortably private. And, there’s a certain justice in the fact that it was a decision by President Richard Nixon that opened the beach to the public.

Virgin America launches SFO/LAX to Ft. Lauderdale!

by Stephen Greenwood on

Greetings from 35,000 ft! Right now, we’re onboard Virgin America’s inaugural flight from San Francisco to Ft Lauderdale, which touches down in the Sunshine State at 3:30 PM.

Today’s expansion marks the tenth destination for Virgin America and the first connection from the Golden State to the Gold Coast. In celebration, Virgin America has brought along a handful of winners from their “Stay Golden America” competition, and will be donating $1 to budding entrepreneurs for every tweet containing the tag #HelpVirginUnite.

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This afternoon, there will be a tarmac reception from Richard Branson and CEO of Virgin America, David Cush. The event will conclude with a launch party hosted at the W Ft. Lauderdale – where Gadling will be posting full event coverage and getting the down-low on Virgin America’s expansion plans.

Be sure to track our feed for updates, photos, exclusive interviews, and reviews of the entire Virgin America experience.

Update: Check out our full coverage of the event – Article / Photos & Exclusive Video