Fare alert – Virgin America $38 flights to fun destinations

by Scott Carmichael on

Bored this week? Virgin America has some nice low fares loaded right now for travel to and from San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

At just $38 each way, you can get yourself a round trip ticket for just $97, all taxes and fees included. The prices only seem to be valid for travel in the coming week, so don’t expect $100 tickets during the summer months.

Normally, good fare deals usually involve trips from bad airports to places nobody wants to go, but a day trip from San Francisco to Seattle would probably make for a fantastic way to spend the day.

That’s right – these fares are also valid for same day returns. You could leave SFO at 7:15am and depart San Diego at 8:35, giving you an entire day to enjoy the city. A similar trip can be made from San Francisco to Seattle, leaving the airport at 9:55am and departing Seattle at 8:55pm, giving you plenty of time to visit Pike Place Market and take a ride up the Space Needle.

You’ll find the deals at the Virgin America web site, and don’t forget to bring your laptop or smartphone, because all these flights are currently served by Virgin America planes with WiFi service on board ($9.95 per flight).

As with most deals like this, the longer you wait, the fewer seats will be available at these low prices, so don’t procrastinate too long!

Photo of the day (12.13.09)

by Grant Martin on

The Santa Ana winds picked up this week, swirling over Southern California and bringing unnaturally warm temperatures for this time of the year. It’s a great time for a business trip from the snowy grips of the Midwest.

Matteo.Mazzoni‘s photo of this lonely traveler on the California beach echoes some of my experiences this week, as I wandered around North Park, Mission Beach and the Gaslamp, absorbing the city in sandals and a t-shirt. Tomorrow it will be too early to leave.

Have any cool photos you’d like to share with the world? Add them to the Gadling Pool on Flickr, and it might be chosen as our Photo of the Day. Make sure you save them under Creative Commons though, otherwise we can’t use them!

Proposal for new San Diego airport draws criticism, laughter

by Scott Carmichael on

For years, San Diego has been working hard to find a new location for its single runway Lindbergh airport.

Back in 2003, a group of investors announced that they had found the perfect location, but would not reveal it until the government granted a patent for the concept.

The patent was granted 2 weeks ago, which meant it was time to reveal the location of this super secret airport – turns out the group wants the new airport built in the San Diego bay.

“Crackpot stuff” is the initial reaction from a former state Senator, “a complete nonstarter” is how a spokeswoman from the environmental health coalition describes it.

The plan calls for a 3-runway island with a heliport, cruise terminal, ferry facility and the potential for military co-use. Passengers to the airport would reach the island through an underwater tunnel.

The site is right on the edge of a large wildlife refuge and several other environmentally sensitive pieces of land.

So far, the location has already been declined by the airport authority who claim the FAA would never allow a north-south runway due to wind conditions. The business group behind the plans claimed they had the FAA’s blessing, but the FAA later denied giving such a blessing.

I’m not entirely sure why the proposal required a patent, man made island airports are certainly not new, Hong Kong opened Chek Lap Kok airport on an island in 1998, and Japan built its new Kansai airport on similar ground in 1994. Of course, each of those airports cost $20 Billion to construct, and I have a hard time imagining the US finding that kind of cash for a new airport any time soon.

(Via: SignOn San Diego)

Call full-service hotels directly for best deals

by Jamie Rhein on

With the economy the way it is these days, hotel deals are for the asking. Although many deals are bundled into packages that include airfare, that’s not the only way to save money.

In this New York Times, “On The Road” article, Peter Greenberg, the travel editor of “Today” recommends calling full-service hotels directly to find out what deals can be offered “right now.”

Greenberg recommends asking to speak to the general manager and then asking that person in a congenial way what incentives he or she can offer. Although the published room rate may not go down, the incentives could sweeten the deal in your favor.

According to Greenberg, hotels’ willingness to throw in perks will not last forever. The message is to strike a bargain while you can get one.

If you’re looking for holiday R& R without the expense of out of town travel, add luxury to your life by looking for a hotel deal in your own backyard. Book a night in a luxury hotel where you live. Call around to see who will throw in the best perk by using Greenberg’s method. Even though home may be just a few miles away, pretend. A night away is a night away.

The photo by drustar is of the front desk at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. Yes, there are package deals on the hotel’s website, but call to see what else you can get. It’s a start.

Halloween graveyard tours and a graveyard joke

by Jamie Rhein on

There are haunted prison tours and haunted hotels to sleep in. Here is another way to traipse through some haunts for Halloween.

Graveyards that can seem peaceful during the day are perfect settings at night for finding chills and thrills. If there is a graveyard in a town or city near you, I bet there’s a tour. Regardless of the season, graveyards offer a span of history that includes triumph and sorrow. Each one hold clues and mysteries to the people who have lived before us.

Here’s a Halloween graveyard joke you can say when you are going past a graveyard: “How many people do you think are dead in there?”

(**Continue for answer and a sampling of graveyard tours.)

  • In Alexandria, Virginia, walk along the six blocks on the Ghosts & Graveyard lantern tour with a costumed guide who transports visitors to the 1800s through tales of ghosts and unsolved mysteries. The tour ends in the graveyard. Although Halloween inspired, it goes through November.
  • There are several ghost and graveyard tours in Nova Scotia. Several are offered year-round.
  • Ghosts and Gravestone Trolley Tours of Boston, Massachusetts goes through November 2. This tour is hosted by a 17th century gravedigger who tells tales of Boston’s murderous past. Two of Boston’s oldest graveyards are included.
  • The same company that offers the tour in Boston has similar tours in Savanah, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida. The Website has a link to haunted tales and while you browse ghost type sounds put you in the mood.
  • In Charleston, South Carolina, there is a tour company that specializes in creepy, scary places. The Charleston Ghost and Graveyard Walking Tours brings people through graveyards where tales of love, loss and prominent people can be found.
  • San Antonio, Texas has several ghost tour options. Many included graveyards, whether you walk or take a vehicle. These tours are also offered year-round.
  • Like San Antonio, San Diego has several ghost tour options. Several include graveyards. If you scroll down the page, you’ll see many links for other ghost and graveyard tours throughout the United States.
  • To amp up a graveyard ghost tour, here’s one that combines a stay in a haunted hotel with a ghost and graveyard tour. This version is in Columbus, Ohio. The Lofts, a boutique hotel that was once a warehouse in the early 1900s has a ghost called “Lady of the Lofts. There’s a package deal that includes a night in the hotel, breakfast and two tickets to “The Haunted Columbus’s Best of 20 Years Bus Tour.” If that tour is sold out the Columbus Landmark’s Foundation has other ghost tours and guided visits through Greenlawn Cemetery. Greenlawn Cemetery is where humorist James Thurber is buried. Perhaps he’d appreciate the graveyard joke.

** Answer to graveyard joke: “All of them.”

This joke gets people every time. Here is the joke in its entirety if you forgot the question.

If you are passing by a graveyard say, using a voice that evokes the idea that you are looking for a number: “How many people are dead in there?”

Answer: “All of them.”