Powerball Winner Travel Options

The nation’s multi-state Powerball lottery is up to $425 million for Wednesday night’s drawing, the largest jackpot ever. Would-be winners have dreams of financial freedom, never working again for the rest of their lives and more. Odds are, travel may be one of the options the big winner will choose. With a cash value of $278 million, that’s a lot of travel. But just what will $278 million buy?

Aircraft-
At a cost of $206 million, the winner could buy one Boeing 787 Dreamliner and have millions leftover for a flight crew and operating expenses. Don’t want to blow so much on a jet? Choose a 737 for as little as $74.8 million.

Looking for more adventure? How about a F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet for $150 million.

Cruise of a lifetime-
At an average cost of $1000 per person, per week, if the winner is an avid cruiser, they could sail with a dozen friends on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas for over 70 years.

Bump that up to destination-immersive Azamara Club Cruises on an itinerary that takes the winner and his happy dozen friends around the world, and sail for over 20 years in ultra luxury.

Road trip of a lifetime, with friends-
Fancy a luxury road trip? At about $9 million each, the winner and about 30 friends could drive solid gold Rolls-Royce Phantom’s.

Or leave the friends behind and drive your gold Rolls-Royce to any one of 19 four to seven-story hotels you could build along the way.

Better yet, buy 14,000 of your closest friends a new Toyota Prius for $19,950 eachBuy an Island-
Tikina-I-Ra is a 10,000-acre, private island for sale in the South Pacific for just a bit over $11 million.

“One of the largest freehold estates in the Fiji Islands, this property is in pristine condition,” says Private Islands Online, adding, “With ocean frontage to the North, West, and South, the island enjoys approximately 25 kilometres of coastline.”

Talk about adventure-
Adventure travelers too would do well as winners.

Experiences of a Lifetime from TCS & Starquest Expeditions would take you by private jet to eight countries. Camping under the stars in India’s Great Thar Desert, gorilla trekking in Rwanda and elephant trekking in Thailand runs about $68,000 per person for a 23-day tour. You could bring 200 of your friends and do it for a year.

Feeling like there could be a better use for your half billion in winnings?

Feeding all the hungry people on the planet, your prize would not go far. Worldwide, 852 million people are hungry, up from 842 million a year ago.


[Photo by Flickr user live w mcs]

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk – Virgin America winner announced!


GadlingTV’s Travel Talk Virgin America Giveaway – Click above to watch video after the jump

June is here, so we’re finally ready to reveal the winner of our Virgin America giveaway! Stay tuned to find out who the lucky winner is & hear some of our favorite responses – thank you to everyone who submitted and don’t forget to tune in for more, bigger contests in the future!

Click below to watch the episode & find out who the lucky winner is!


If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

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Links
Huge thanks again to Virgin America & everyone who submitted!
What’s that tea we’re drinking? Check out Travel Talk Episode #5 to find out how to prepare your own Yerba Mate!


Hosts: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea



Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea

Get warm with a free trip to the Cayman Islands

It’s been a doozy of a winter so far, and there are no signs that the temps are suddenly going to increase. You’ve got a long few months to go before you get warm again….unless you happen to win the Cayman Island’s new contest. The lucky winner will receive a trip for four, including air and hotel, to the tropical Cayman Islands.

The winner and friends will stay at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort on Seven Mile Beach, and will receive a free boat and snorkel trip to Stingray City, where they’ll swim with massive stingrays.

To enter, you’ll need to upload your best photo that shows one of your coldest winter moments. Upload it by March 1 and encourage all your friends to vote for you. The ten entries with the most votes will move on to the final judging, and a winner will be announced by March 10. You must be 18 or older and a resident of the US to enter and travel must take place by December 31, 2011.

Of course, for many people, the worst of winter will be over by March 10. So maybe the contest won’t help you escape the cold right away, at least not in the most literal sense. But maybe the thought of a Cayman Islands vacation – especially a free one – will warm your heart just a bit.

Enter to win jetBlue’s Jet and Drive Giveaway

I love a good travel contest, especially one that requires little effort to enter. So I’m excited about the jetBlue and Hertz Jet & Drive Giveaway, which runs now through through January 31, 2010. To enter, all you need to do is surf on over to the website, complete your free registration and then enter your email address. Easy, peasy.

For that minimal effort, you could win some pretty cool prizes, depending on the number of entries for the day. Yes, that’s right – the prizes will vary according to how many people have entered for the day, and you can enter every single day of the contest. If 2,500 people or less enter on a given day, the winner gets a $100 Hertz rental card. With 2,500 or more entries, the card’s value goes up to $250. But if 5,000 people enter, the lucky winner gets a $500 jetBlue gift card!

There will also be up to five grand prizes given away, one each time the total number of contest entries reaches another 50,000 milestone. The grand prize includes airfare to one of five destinations, Hertz rental car, and accommodations at a designated Starwood or Marriott hotel for two people. Destinations include New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Aruba.

Win a trip to Hawaii with 52 Perfect Days

Have a great sustainable travel story? Travel website 52 Perfect Days is looking for submissions for their 2009 travel writing contest, which has a theme of sustainable tourism, ecotourism, agrotourism and voluntoursim.

The first place prize is a three-day vacation in Kauai, Hawaii, including accommodations, tours and activities (but not airfare). The second place winner will receive a custom-designed website and third place gets a Kelty Day Pack.

Submissions should be less than 1000 words of original, unpublished work. The contest is open to residents of North America who are 18 years of age and older and there’s no fee to enter. Entrants will be judged on how well they convey a sense of place and engage the reader while telling a story that relates to the theme.

Entries are due by Saturday, October 31 and winners will be announced by December 31.