Video Of The Day: Midnight Sun Shines In Iceland

by Libby Zay on

The “midnight sun” is a natural phenomenon occurring north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle when the sun never fully sets and remains visible 24 hours a day. Since there are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, countries and territories that experience the midnight sun are limited to those crossed by the Arctic Circle, including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Russia and Iceland, plus Alaska in the United States.

Filmmaker and photographer Joe Capra sought out capturing the midnight sun in Iceland. To make the above film, he traveled solo around the country for 17 days, shooting both day and night. He slept in his car, hiked in the middle of the night and ate whenever he had a moment of free time. When he returned to Los Angeles, he brought with him 38,000 images in total from the trip.

In an interview about the film, Capra told photographer Michael Levy he chose to travel to Iceland in June because the month is a little early for the tourist season, giving him a chance to film when some popular locations are less crowded. More importantly, at this time of year the midnight sun allowed him six or so hours of fantastic “golden light.”

“I am the type of person who does not want to go on vacation and just walk around cities or just lay on the beach all day long,” Capra said. “I like to get out and see and experience the countries I visit. Going alone also allowed me to go where I wanted, when I wanted, and stay at locations as long as I wanted without having to worry about the needs of another person with me,” he continued.

On his Vimeo page, Capra encourages everyone – photographer or not – to visit Iceland. Although Capra is not sure where he’ll go on his next trip, he relayed that he’s researching Patagonia.

Cockpit view of night landing in Los Angeles

by Mike Barish on

Landing in any major city at night can be a thrill. The lights down below are enticing and the energy of a city after dark gets your pulse racing. Or, you know, maybe you’re just exhausted and ready to collapse. This video of a plane coming in for a landing at LAX offers amazing views of the many neighborhoods of Los Angeles and the surrounding area (all labeled for our benefit). It’s a view we don’t often get to see (directly from the cockpit of the plane) of a city that’s incredibly spread out.

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Find hotel deals with new booking site Guestmob

by Meg Nesterov on

The Internet has brought us many ways to research and book hotels at prices much lower than the hotels’ published rate. Aggregate sites like Kayak and Orbitz give you the best available rate (BAR) without pre-payment on a specific hotel, while “opaque” sites like Priceline and Hotwire allow you to bid for a room below BAR but the actual property remains hidden until after you book and the purchase is non-refundable. Now a new booking site offers you hotel deals well below BAR while ensuring consumers flexibility and a standard of quality.

Guestmob differs from other hotel booking sites by combining high-tech algorithmic pricing and expertly curated properties hand-picked for their high user ratings. The site works by grouping hotels into collections of four to eight properties in a given category and neighborhood. You enter your travel dates and can immediately see a room rate of up to 50% below BAR for each hotel collection. The Thursday before you check in, the exact hotel is revealed but you are guaranteed one of the specific hotels in the collection. Best of all, unlike other opaque booking sites, you can cancel your reservation up to three days before check-in.Previously, some savvy travelers have tried to “game the system” with sites like Bidding for Travel, a forum that tries to guess winning bids and participating hotels on opaque sites by sharing successful bookings. Guestmob removes the need for this research by specifying hotels in each collection and immediately offering a deeply discounted price. While room upgrades, frequent guest points and other requests are still at the discretion of the hotel upon check-in, it’s still a great option for travelers with flexibility.

A Guestmob search for a hotel in Chicago on a weekend in mid-May yielded a price of $164 for a 3.5 star hotel on Magnificent Mile (such as a Courtyard or Embassy Suites), or $203 to bump up to a 4 star in the same area such as a W or Westin Hotel. The same properties ranged from $221 to $279 on other sites. Most Guestmob hotels are part of well-known chains such as Marriott or Starwood, or smaller chains like Kimpton and JDV.

Guestmob soft-launched last year in San Francisco and has now expanded to include New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Portland and Phoenix. The site is well connected to social media so you can get help, learn news or give feedback on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You can also chat with them right on the site if you have questions.

Dog’s-eye view of hiking Runyon Canyon

by Mike Barish on

There are few joys of dog ownership greater than spending a day outdoors with your pet. Going for a long hike is a simple pleasure that, when shared with your four-legged best friend, becomes a special experience. However, anyone who has ever had a dog has wondered what his or her furry companion is thinking. While we’ll never know exactly what goes on in a dog’s mind, thanks to this clever videographer (and his handy GoPro camera), we can now see what Riley the corgi saw while hiking Runyon Canyon in Los Angeles. Who knew hiking could be so adorable?

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Sofitel traveling exhibition features sexpot Brigitte Bardot

by Libby Zay on

Sofitel Luxury Hotels just launched a traveling photography exhibition that chronicles the rise to fame of Brigitte Bardot, a legendary French actress, singer, and model. The retrospective, which is the first in North America to feature the international icon and sex symbol, will showcase 30 exclusive photographs of Bardot. Called “BB Forever – Brigitte Bardot, The Legend,” the exhibition starts a yearlong run at Sofitel Los Angeles before it continues to Chicago, Washington D.C., and New York.

It comes as no surprise that the chic chain of boutique hotels chose Bardot for the exhibition. The starlet not only popularized the bikini swimsuit, but also famously vacationed to both St. Tropez in France and Armação dos Búzios in Brazil, a town she is said to have “discovered” with her Brazilian boyfriend during the 1960s. The townspeople credit Bardot with skyrocketing Búzios to fame and have erected a statue in her honor that makes for a very popular stop for tourist photos (especially among males).

Dates for the traveling exhibition are as follows:

  • Sofitel Los Angeles: Through March 26, 2012
  • Sofitel Chicago Water Tower: April 19 through June 7, 2012
  • Sofitel Washington D.C. Lafayette Square: June 21 through September 13, 2012
  • Sofitel New York: September 26 through December 31, 2012

Image: Fight by Jacques Héripret (Courtesy Sofitel Luxury Hotels)