A Trip News

Got a head for heights? Try these rooms with breathtaking views.
Mandarin Oriental, New York
This is the view that any visitor to New York wants to wake up to – jaw-dropping floor-to-ceiling vistas of leafy Central Park surrounded by a sea of skyscrapers. Occupying the top 20 floors of the uptown Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, the Mandarin Oriental treats guests to this panorama, as well as views of the Hudson river and of midtown Manhattan.
Mandarin Oriental New York, 80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street, New York, US (001 212 805 8800; mandarinoriental.com). Doubles start at $939 (£671), including breakfast
Banyan Tree, Bangkok
Anyone (more…)

Flight attendants and pilots for US carrier Spirit Airlines want the company to pull a series of sexually suggestive advertisements, along with a new requirement they wear a Bud Light patch on service aprons.
Patricia A. Friend, head of the US Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, complained in a letter to Spirit executives this month. When the airline refused to change the ad campaigns, and the aprons were handed out Monday, the union issued a public statement. Pilots followed suit Wednesday. (more…)

Below is the full version of Oliver Beale’s now-famous letter sent to Virgin to complain about his flight.
Read the news story here.
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Dear Mr Branson
REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008
I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.
Ironically, by the (more…)

The air temperature takes a vicious plunge below freezing as I exit Halifax airport. I’m in Nova Scotia to do research for a book on cold-water surfing, and to talk to the pioneers who, armed only with worn-out diving suits and boards imported from the altogether sunnier climes of California, took to these waters back in the early 1960s. This is an environment where icebergs occasionally drift through the line-up, so I am expecting a truly hardcore bunch of surfers.
They don’t disappoint. "OK, (more…)

From the quiet, chic terraces of Barcelona’s Hotel Miramar, you’d never guess that its development caused uproar among the locals when it reopened in 2007. But you can understand why it did.
Perched high on the hill of Montjuïc, south-west of the city centre, the hotel’s central façade appears to be the only remaining evidence of an imposing villa built on the site as part of the 1929 World Fair. The rest of the hotel is a modern extension that cuts into the hillside – all exposed (more…)

China’s railways carried 75 million passengers from 11-27 January, or in the first 17 days of the 40-day Spring Festival, Xinhua reported. The figure represents a 17% increase from a year earlier, the Ministry of Railways reportedly said.
 

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THE forecasters had predicted flurries. Instead, one morning earlier this month, a foot of the lightest, fluffiest snowflakes piled up on Rendezvous Mountain in Jackson Hole . By 8 a.m., skiers were scrambling to gear up and file like cattle into the lift maze. To get first tracks, you needed to catch the first “box” — local slang for the tram.
As one of two giant Ferrari-red cars descended into the loading dock, the crowd whooped. You could feel the powder frenzy building. Acres of untracked (more…)

Thailand’s cabinet Wednesday approved a bill aimed at preventing another blockade of its main airport, as they tried to restore confidence after the week-long siege of Bangkok’s hubs last year.
Protesters trying to topple the previous government seized Suvarnabhumi International Airport and the smaller domestic hub just over two months ago, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers and stunning the world.
Under the special bill dealing with Suvarnabhumi, airport staff would be able to make (more…)

Rogue states better known for their repressive regimes, political unrest and weapons programmes are increasingly competing for visitors with well established tourist destinations, travel experts say.
The trend is underscored at the Fitur travel fair which got underway Wednesday in Madrid as Burma — which has been ruled with an iron fist by a military government since 1962 — is taking part for the first time.
Among the other global hotspots represented at the event, one of Europe’s largest (more…)

This Dutch territory just off the coast of Venezuela can feel vaguely like Atlantic City . Fancy resorts line the touristy zone of Palm Beach . Sun-kissed visitors in baseball caps flock to its shiny casinos. And big, themed restaurants and tourist traps line its boardwalk beaches . But Aruba is more than just hotel rooms and slot machines. If you are willing to venture off the beaten path, you can discover a more authentic Aruba, and still have enough money to gamble away at the casinos.
Where (more…)