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

Holiday Inn opens NYC hotel made entirely of key cards

by Katie Hammel on

As part of an effort to build buzz around the relaunch of 1200 Holiday Inn hotels this month, the lodging chain has opened a very special hotel in New York. It’s not your average hotel though. It’s made entirely of hotel key cards.

The “Key Card Hotel” was built by Guinness World Record holder Byran Berg, who first broke the record for “World’s Tallest House of Freestanding Playing Cards” in 1992 at the tender age of 17. Since then, he’s broken the record 10 times. Now he’s created a life-size (though small at 400 square feet) hotel made of key cards. Visitors can’t actually stay in the “hotel” (and would you really want to sleep on a bed of plastic?), but they can come marvel at Berg’s creation, which is made of 200,000 cards and weighs two tons, tour the lobby, guest room, and bathroom, and learn about the Holiday Inn’s “Keys to Change” promotion and the many improvements that will be taking place at the brand’s properties. By the end of 2010, over 3000 hotels in the chain will be updated, at a cost of $1 billion, making it the “largest relaunch in the history of the hospitality industry”.

As part of the promotion, guests can enter to win free nights at one of the relaunched Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express locations around the world. One grand prize winner will also receive a 3-day, 2-night trip to any Holiday Inn hotel in the world, including round-trip air transportation. To enter, just sign up on the promotion’s website.

The Key Card Hotel will be open at New York’s South Street Seaport from now until September 21. During the promotion, Berg will also create a 9-foot tall replica of the Statue of Liberty using playing cards in the lobby. The online contest runs until October 22nd.

Indie Travel Podcast launches new magazine

by Katie Hammel on

Craig and Linda Martin have been traveling the world together since 2006. In that time, they’ve launched the Indie Travel Podcast and turned it into a successful website (they were named Best Podcast in Lonely Planet’s 2009 Travel Blog Awards) and an excellent source of information for the independent traveler. Now, in a time when major glossies seem to be folding right and left, they’ve launched a magazine. You’ve got to admire that kind of moxie.

The Indie Travel Podcast website combines inspiring destination features with practical advice, like how to use Skype and other internet phone services or what to look for when booking a hostel. There are also entertaining and informative podcasts, videos and hotel reviews. The newly launched magazine combines the best features of the website with the same Indie Travel focus – it’s geared towards independent, adventurous travelers, and budget and long-term travelers.

The Indie Travel Podcast Magazine launches September 1. There will be four issues per year, available at NZ$40 (around US$27) including postage. I had a chance to take a sneak peak and was quite impressed with the quality of the production and the writers (familiar names in the blogosphere) attached to the project.

The feature articles are fresh and interesting – Tim Patterson’s article on the Kachin Independence Army in Burma put a human face on war, and Lola Akinmade’s photos of Lagos were stunning – and the regular columns promise to be informative and helpful – Kim Mance will offer practical advice for woman traveling solo and Christine Gilbert will show us how to be “location independent” so we can earn a living while traveling the world. In the premier issue, there are also blog reviews, an interview with round-the-world traveler Gary Arndt, a guide to tapas in Seville, book reviews, and profiles of Tonga, Egypt, Alaska, Angor Wat and the Baltic capitals of Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius.

If you’ve ever felt out of touch with the Travel + Leisure set (you know, those who file a $200 per night hotel under “budget options”) or if you’re just looking for more inspiration and practical information to feed your wanderlust, check out the Indie Travel Podcast Magazine. I think as the mag continues to grow, the quality will get even better. Plus, I’m a sucker for moxie, and I like the idea of supporting two “indie” travelers with the courage to follow their dreams.

Inside the Virgin America Boston Launch

by Grant Martin on

Virgin America kicked off their service to Boston with a bang last week, in an evening filled with excitement, celebrities and as usual, more than a few delicious beverages.

Gadling bloggers were on hand to capture the event that started at Logan Airport around 3PM. Naturally, Sir Richard Branson made the last minute decision to come down from the jetbridge in drag, after which a brief ceremony introduced us to the gate area, some foxy New England Patriots cheerleaders and a mishmash of Virgin crew and media.

Afterwards, the entire crew migrated over to the Liberty Hotel in Downtown Boston, where our old friend Mark from Jaunted was already setting up camp, then the whole lot of us headed down to the atrium for more festivities.

Proper ceremonies from the Revolution Takes Flight campaign started at seven, with CEO David Cush and Richard Branson both making speeches over the throbbing crowds below.

Check out our video covering the event after the jump.


Virgin America Boston Launch Highlights from Gadling on Vimeo.

All of our thanks to the staff and crew of Virgin America who worked their asses off during the event.

Until Orange County,

Gadling

Virgin America Delays Start of Service from O’Hare

by Josh Lew on

Virgin America has been flirting with Chicago O’Hare for several months now. The airline had hoped to launch its service in the fall of ’08, but, obviously, that isn’t going to happen. Now Virgin is telling fans that the first take-off from the famously busy airport will be in Spring of next year. Fair enough. It hasn’t been a good year for airlines. Why not back off and wait for calmer skies?

But the delay has nothing to do with economics. At least, that’s what Virgin is saying. Rather, the failure to launch from ORD is due to the high demand for gates at the airport. O’Hare was not able to provide the gates that Virgin wanted because they are already being used. That is not a new scenario for those familiar with the airport. Even hyped and hip airlines like Virgin have to wait in line like everyone else. But don’t fear, jet-setting hipsters of Chicago, Virgin America will be losing its O’Hare cherry soon enough.