Jauntsetter – Travel deals for New Yorkers

by Annie Scott on

New York, New York. You wanna be a part of it … but sometimes you need to get the heck out of it.

Good news! There’s a website called Jauntsetter that has travel deals specifically for New Yorkers. They know we’re too busy to find them ourselves, and that if no one hands us a deal we might just not go anywhere. I mean, we can get any food you can imagine, and there’s always some part of the city to explore. We can convince ourselves that this is all we need.

But it’s not! New York City is not the whole world, and those of us with the means to see the world should do it! It’s important to the international perception of America, important to our appreciation of our own country, and to each and every one of our personal growth. The more America knows about the rest of the world, the stronger America is in so many ways.

So, if you live in New York, check out the weekly updates on Jauntsetter.com. This week, for example, they have great international deals, as well as $200 flights to LA and New Orleans and great Sundance accomodations. Our pick of this week? San Juan, Puerto Rico for just $189!

Bookmarked. Thanks, Brian O’Neal, for the tip!

British Airways In-Flight Mag Goes Online

by Josh Lew on

High Life, the 35-year-old in-flight magazine of British Airways, is headed from airspace to cyberspace. The famous rag launched its online incarnation on October 9th. BA hopes that the success of the print version will translate to the online world and raise the airline’s profile amongst travelers. The publisher of High Life’s print version, Ceder, teamed with web development company Reactive on the project. They are aiming to attract advertisers eager to have their name and product associated with High Life. Perhaps they are also hoping that well-heeled cannabis aficionados will happen across the site after Googling “high life” and decide, on the spur of the moment, to book a flight to one of the site’s featured destinations.

The first online issue has a food theme and is guest edited by celeb chef Heston Blumenthal. It seems mainly aimed at gourmets and those with an taste for the upscale aspects of travel. There is a bit of hipness, with contributions by the likes of Hot Fuzz’s Simon Pegg. Still, the site maintains the glossy feel of its printed kin.

10 travel sites (besides Gadling) to keep an eye on

by Anna Brones on

Hopefully you’re an avid Gadling reader. With popular features like The Cockpit Chronicles and Galley Gossip and helpful tips on new travel gadgets and which destinations to avoid, how could you not be?

Ok, enough with the shameless self-promotion; we’re obviously not the only travel website out there. The Times Online just published an article on the 10 travel websites to watch for October. The list is a good combination of sites that give you everything from dirty pilot rumors to tips on staying slim while on the road. Keep in mind that since it’s from the Times Online, the list has an English twist – many of the sites are Britain related.

Check them out yourself:

  1. Professional Pilots’ Rumour Network – check out the topic “nicest celebs” for the inside scoop
  2. Seatplans.com – aircraft seating plans and flight reviews
  3. Thetrainline.com – find cheap tickets in the UK and on Eurostar
  4. Hotels.com Visualiser – custom select your ideal hotel and the site finds on that matches
  5. Mr. & Mrs. Smith route planner – plan your itinerary with the site’s tips on local pubs, etc.
  6. Virgin Holidays + Hip Hotels – uber stylish hotels for the glitterati
  7. Slimtree – fitness workouts you can download and use on the road
  8. Trivago a new travel search engine
  9. RogerandRandy.com – business travel experts give their two cents
  10. Great Hotels of the World -the name says it all

Time Magazine’s top travel related websites 2008

by Abha Malpani on

Lists are great. Especially website lists that have been selected by a reliable body after combing through the abundant clutter on the world wide web.

Undoubtedly, Time Magazine’s list of 50 top websites is one such great list and here are their travel-related website selections for 2008: (no particular order)

  • Wikitravel & Wikisky: After much contradiction on the value of Wikitravel, it’s interesting to see it on here. Wikisky is new for me; it allows you to Wiki the Universe’s sky!
  • Tripkick: Launched in May 2008, Trip Kick reviews hotel floors and rooms of 250 hotels in 12 US cities, to help you avoid getting a crappy room in a good hotel.
  • Gasbuddy: Particularly useful if you are taking a road-trip in the US or Canada, GasBuddy helps you find the cheapest gas prices in your city.
  • Serious Eats: Is a food blog based on sharing your food enthusiasm with others.
  • MapJack: According to Time, it is an alternative to Google Street View and Live Search Map, with brighter/sharper photos and better navigation tools.
  • Carbon Rally: Specially for those who want to be green, Carbon Rally posts challenges (example: line-drying your laundry for a month) to motivate you to reduce your carbon footprint. (Hmmm…why is this site blocked in Dubai!?)
  • Free Rice: Where you get to learn a word and feed the hungry in exchange, reviewed before on Gadling here.

You can check out the full list of Time Magazine’s top websites for 2008 here.

Wegolo.com: My new favorite low cost flight-booking engine

by Abha Malpani on

From next week, my traveling schedule is exciting but ridiculously hectic. Madrid-Seville-Madrid; then Madrid-Dubai-Muscat-Dubai-Madrid, then Bristol-Darlington-London-Madrid, all within the month of June. I’m short on time at each destination so want to fly where ever I can to save time but don’t want to break my bank either.

Madrid is not a very well connected city for cheap flights, the only budget airline here is Vueling, but the places it flies to is limited. Also, trying to go to individual budget-airline websites and booking on multiple sites is just a pain in the neck, so after a few hours of being depressed looking at my possible flight bills, I was thrilled when I found Wegolo.com.

It’s awesome because it searches 75 airlines that are ONLY budget airlines, to your destination. It gives you all flight options, you can search dates before and after your selected dates, and it completely omits traditional airlines — so all the options it shows are the cheapest possible. Because of the number of airlines it searches through, it’s easy to book multiple flights from multiple destinations without having to get off the site — it just makes things so much easier!

All information is updated in real-time, there are no hidden costs, all airlines they search have: e-ticketing facilities, you can buy with Visa, MasterCard and American Express, and booking confirmations in English. I’m quite relieved to find this site! Do check it out.