In Transit: Artisans and Crafts in London

London Craft Week, scheduled in May, will showcase potters, textile artists and metalsmiths.








from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/459a4825/sc/26/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A150C0A40C210Ctravel0Cartisans0Eand0Ecrafts0Ein0Elondon0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

The Getaway: Finding the Right Credit Card, No Matter How Much You Travel

Want to rack up frequent-flier miles and loyalty points quickly and easily? Here’s a primer on the best newcomers and evergreens.








from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/4599dcc5/sc/15/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A150C0A40C260Ctravel0Cfinding0Ethe0Eright0Ecredit0Ecard0Eno0Ematter0Ehow0Emuch0Eyou0Etravel0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

8 Great Hotel Awards That Just Got Cheaper

Loyalty programs are constantly changing, usually for the worse. Sometimes, however, the changes work in our favor, as TPG Contributor Richard Kerr explains. Around the end of each year, it’s common for the major hotel chains to announce category reassignments for various properties. This is typically a source of much consternation and anxiety among award travelers, as...

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/8-great-hotel-awards-that-just-got-cheaper/

All in the mind? Artificial Intelligence in travel

Yes, the death of travel agents at the hands of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been greatly exaggerated yet again. NB This is ...

from Tnooz http://www.tnooz.com/article-artificial-intelligence-travel/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=all-in-the-mind-artificial-intelligence-in-travel

MakeMyTrip buys travel planning startup MyGola

Online travel agency giant MakeMyTrip has dipped into the coffers of its Innovation Fund to buy fellow Indian travel brand MyGola. Terms of the ...

from Tnooz http://www.tnooz.com/article/makemytrip-buys-travel-planning-startup-mygola/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=makemytrip-buys-travel-planning-startup-mygola

What Californians must explain

Coffee orders are allowed to be five sentences long:

from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/17-things-californians-always-explain-towners/

Uber & Capital One Partnership Offers 20% Off Rides

Over the past few years Uber has become a household name (and "Ubering" has even become a verb!), so it's interesting to see the partnerships Uber has developed with other travel providers and credit card companies:

-- Uber has a partnership with Starwood, whereby you can earn bonus Starpoints for Uber rides
-- Uber has a partnership with American Express, whereby you can earn bonus Membership Rewards points for Uber rides, and even redeem Membership Rewards points for them

While the Starwood partnership is awesome (since they're literally just giving you bonus Starpoints on top of what you'd otherwise earn), the American Express partnership isn't as valuable, in my opinion. You can redeem Membership Rewards points for Uber rides at the rate of one cent per point -- there are much better uses of those points.

The post Uber & Capital One Partnership Offers 20% Off Rides appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/uber-capital-one-partnership-offers-20-off-rides/

Save $350 on Expedia Hotels and Get +gold Status for 2015

In the grande finale of this year’s Daily Getaways, Expedia is offering +gold status and a $1,000 hotel coupon for $650. The offer is scheduled to go live tomorrow (Wednesday, April 22) at 1 pm ET. There are only 50 of these coupons available, so it won’t be easy to get your hands on, but I think there’s...

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/save-350-on-expedia-hotels-and-get-gold-status-for-2015/

The TSA is getting it all wrong, and the numbers don’t lie

from Elliott http://elliott.org/blog/the-tsa-is-getting-it-all-wrong-and-the-numbers-dont-lie/

32 Travel Questions You Asked (With My Attempted Answers)

One thing I don’t do enough is answer your questions. Periodically, I have Q&A’s but if my ongoing book tour has taught me anything it’s that you have a lot of questions that don’t get answered on the blog! Since not everything lends itself to a 1,000 word post, last week I put a call out on Facebook for your questions. And I’m going to start doing this more. Maybe not monthly but at least once every couple of months. […]

The post 32 Travel Questions You Asked (With My Attempted Answers) appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/questions-and-answers/

Virtual reality, B2B data visualization, and interactive itineraries emerge at THack Seattle

Seattle was the latest stop on the THack global travel hackathon train — and, despite the town’s reputation for a consistent light ...

from Tnooz http://www.tnooz.com/article/virtual-reality-b2b-data-visualization-and-interactive-itineraries-emerge-at-thack-seattle/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=virtual-reality-b2b-data-visualization-and-interactive-itineraries-emerge-at-thack-seattle

6 signs you're broke in Manhattan

At a swanky party, you regale groups of equally horrified and fascinated socialites with a story about the gritty experience of buying your own groceries.

from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/6-signs-youre-broke-hell-manhattan/

Did Southwest Rapid Rewards Shoot Itself in the Foot?

Today, TPG Senior Points & Miles Correspondent Jason Steele looks at the recent changes to Southwest Rapid Rewards to determine the overall effect on pricing and what it means for award travelers. It stinks when a company devalues its points or miles, but the smell is truly rotten when the extent of that devaluation is unspecified, and can’t be clearly spelled...

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/did-southwest-rapid-rewards-shoot-itself-in-the-foot/

Hyatt Gold Passport Password Change Required

A lot of loyalty programs have been having issues with account hacking lately. This is largely caused by members using the same usernames and passwords across programs, which makes it easier for hackers to access multiple accounts.

Hyatt Gold Passport is now requiring all Gold Passport members who sign into their online account with a username to change their passwords.

If you try logging into your Gold Passport account now you should receive the following error message:

"The password you entered does not correspond with your username or Hyatt Gold Passport account number. Please check it and try again."

The post Hyatt Gold Passport Password Change Required appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/hyatt-gold-passport-password-change-required/

Travel Contest: What’s Your Worst/Most Embarrassing Tired-While-Traveling Sleepless Story?

Join Vagabondish on Twitter and Facebook.

I was so tired once after a long-haul flight to South Africa that I showed up to the airport a day early for my connecting flight. Better than a day late, I suppose. But … that’s what being up for 32 straight hours will do to you. I’m a horribly finicky sleeper. My body needs […]

The post Travel Contest: What’s Your Worst/Most Embarrassing Tired-While-Traveling Sleepless Story? appeared first on Vagabondish.

from Vagabondish http://www.vagabondish.com/travel-contest-tylenol-i-was-so-tired/

The Real Reason Airlines Charge Checked Bag Fees.. And It’s Not What You Think.

Checked bag fees now total billions of dollars in the US. Airlines make real money off them... but not for the reason you think. There are hidden costs that obscure what's really going on when an airline charges you that fee. This is what you may not realize about those checked bag fees..

Continue reading The Real Reason Airlines Charge Checked Bag Fees.. And It’s Not What You Think....

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/the-real-reason-airlines-charge-checked-bag-fees-and-its-not-what-you-think/

8 signs you're from Sweden

You’ve tried snus and you like your candy salty. Oh heyyy, licorice!

from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/8-signs-born-raised-sweden/

A Foreigner’s Lesson on How to “Deal” with Foreigners

Join Vagabondish on Twitter and Facebook.

Turner Wright's personal travels provide perspective on what it's like to be "dealt with" as a foreigner.

The post A Foreigner’s Lesson on How to “Deal” with Foreigners appeared first on Vagabondish.

from Vagabondish http://www.vagabondish.com/dealing-with-foreigners/

Congress and the airline industry are in bed together, literally

from Elliott http://elliott.org/blog/congress-and-the-airline-industry-are-in-bed-together-literally/

Register For IHG Rewards Club Share Forever Promotion

Last Friday I wrote about how IHG would be announcing the details of their summer promotion this week.

While it took a bit longer than I was expecting, IHG's summer promotion is now live. The promotion is called "Share Forever," and it's valid for stays between May 1 and September 7, 2015.

The promotion is being offered in conjunction with Coca Cola (I get how Coke is all about "sharing," though I'm not sure I get the tie in for the purposes of the promotion).

The post Register For IHG Rewards Club Share Forever Promotion appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/register-now-for-ihg-rewards-club-share-forever-promotion/

The Totalitarian Art Gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam is home to many fine upscale art galleries and high-end restaurants. Its one of the most expensive places to live in the Netherlands, prestigious enough that Rembrandt lived out the last few years of his life here. But amidst the luxury boutiques and galleries, lies a small antique shop on the corner of Singel and Lijnbaanssteeg, overlooking the old Singel canal, the original moat which surrounded the old city. 

Inside the shop is a fairly eclectic collection of antiques, which veer towards the somewhat peculiar; Victorian anatomical models, vintage optometry equipment and taxidermy. In one of the cases is a small statue of Lenin and under it a small printed card: “Visit the Totalitarian Museum in the Basement”. 

Stepping through the swinging wooden doors separating the shop from the office at the back, and turning the corner, there is a narrow staircase leading to the basement. There you will find, lurking underneath the streets of Amsterdam, one of the largest private collections of artifacts collected from countries with the darkest of pasts: the secret Totalitarian Art Gallery.

Largely collected from the former Soviet Union, the low-ceilinged basement is filled with original propaganda paintings, toys, signs, flags, and medals. The Soviet propaganda program was one of the most widespread, brutal, and uncompromising of the 20th century. Strictly enforcing the Marxist-Leninist party line, it dwelt equally on the cult of personality of its leaders, the promotion of the heroic idealism of Communist workers, the suppression of the Western class system, and most chillingly, the manipulation of the young. The party line was omnipresent through posters, newspapers, the media, and the arts. Bludgeoned into the minds of the Soviet children through songs, marches and meetings, the ideal was to “make the young into a generation of Communists. Children, like soft wax, are very malleable and they should be moulded into good Communists.”

Other brutal regimes are also on display, from la Republic de Cuba to the most Orwellian of totalitarian societies, the Deutsche Demokratic Republik. From unopened packets of KOCKMOC cigarettes, named for the Soviet Kosmos satellites; to the RAKETA line of watches, named in honor of Yuri Gagarin; prestigious medals such as the Medal Materinstva I Stepini, awarded to all mothers bearing and raising six children; and the Za osvoenie nedr i razvitie neftegazovogo kompleksa Zapadnoj Sibiri medal, awarded to three years outstanding service to the Petrochemical Complex of Western Siberia.

The totalitarian regimes documented in the collection may have long gone, but the chilling message they propagandized, lives on in a tiny basement in Amsterdam.

from Atlas Obscura http://atlasobscura.com.feedsportal.com/c/35387/f/665719/s/45988aa7/sc/3/l/0L0Satlasobscura0N0Cplaces0Cthe0Etotalitarian0Eart0Egallery/story01.htm

Hallstatt, Austria: So Pretty, China Made a Counterfeit Copy

I don’t think Jeff and Amanda knew what to make of me at first. Rand had met Jeff a…

from The Everywhereist http://www.everywhereist.com/hallstatt-austria-so-pretty-china-made-a-counterfeit-copy/

Uber / Capital One Partnership Offers Savings and Free Rides

Today Capital One announced a new strategic partnership with Uber that will offer cardholders an easy way to save on transportation costs. Effective immediately, the Capital One Quicksilver and Capital One QuicksilverOne cash rewards credit cards will offer cardholders 20% off Uber rides from now until April 30, 2016. If you haven’t already tried Uber, you’re in luck. For...

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/uber-capital-one-partnership-offers-savings-and-free-rides/

Mission To Cuba (And The Future)

Cuba is still under a U.S. trade embargo, but executives traveling with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are looking toward a future where "there will be 30 or 40 million Americans vacationing in Cuba every year."

from Travel Feedly http://www.ibtimes.com/what-new-york-gov-andrew-cuomos-cuba-trade-mission-means-us-travel-industry-1889475

13 addicting things about DC

DC: the only place in America where the Presidential motorcade is more of a traffic nuisance than a novelty.

from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/13-things-youll-addicted-living-dc/

Today Only: Discounted Las Vegas Hotel Packages With Daily Getaways

As I first posted about several weeks ago, Daily Getaways is back earlier than normal this year, and is a great opportunity to purchase hotel points and travel packages at a discount. It’s sponsored by the US Travel Association, and every weekday for five weeks they’re offering discounted travel packages. We’re now in the home stretch of Daily Getaways, as this is the last week of the 2015 promotion.

Today at 1PM we’re seeing some more Las Vegas hotel packages go on sale, which can potentially be worthwhile. Admittedly this is a bit more “niche” than outright purchasing hotel points which can be used for all kinds of things, but for the right person these can be a great value.

This is the third day over the past five weeks where Las Vegas hotel packages are on sale:

The post Today Only: Discounted Las Vegas Hotel Packages With Daily Getaways appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/today-only-discounted-las-vegas-hotel-packages-with-daily-getaways/

Japan's maglev train sets world record: 603 kph

It's a bird -- It's a plane -- It's an insanely fast Japanese bullet train.

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/21/asia/japan-maglev-train-world-record/index.html

Five Questions That Are Rarely Asked About Air Travel

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmm.... and warp my brain a little bit.

Continue reading Five Questions That Are Rarely Asked About Air Travel...

from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/five-questions-that-are-rarely-asked-about-air-travel/

Maximizing Online Purchases with Airline Shopping Portals

One of the keys to award travel is making sure you maximize points and miles on every dollar you spend. In this post, TPG Senior Points & Miles Correspondent Nick Ewen explains an easy way to boost your earnings. Many of my friends wonder how I rack up hundreds of thousands of points and miles each year. While some...

from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/maximizing-online-purchases-with-airline-shopping-portals/

Time to mobilise (not panic!) as Google makes search changes

Another day, another Google algorithm change and this time it’s about mobile search and mobile friendliness. Many are calling it “mobilegeddon” or ...

from Tnooz http://www.tnooz.com/articles/google-mobile-search-mobile-friendliness/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=time-to-mobilise-not-panic-as-google-makes-search-changes

$50 Off Two Day Silvercar Rental Throughout 2015

I’ve written extensively about Silvercar, including about the rental experience at LAX. Silver is a fairly new rental car company with only one type of car in their fleet, the Audi A4.

Each A4 is equipped with free GPS, wifi, and satellite radio, and Silvercar has a fair fuel plan, whereby they’ll fill up your tank for the “market price” plus a $5 refueling fee.

For the month of April, Silvercar is offering $49 (plus taxes/fees) rentals using promotion code SILVER49. There are basically no strings attached, so if there's a car available at any of their locations, that's the base rate.

Well, at Frequent Traveler University in Dallas this past weekend, Silvercar shared yet another promotion code, which has the potential to be extremely useful. Through the end of the year, Silvercar is offering $50 off a two or more day rental. This is valid for both new and existing renters, and can't be combined with any other discount promotions. Simply use promotion code FTU50 to see the discount reflected.

The post $50 Off Two Day Silvercar Rental Throughout 2015 appeared first on One Mile at a Time.

from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/21/50-off-two-day-silvercar-rental-throughout-2015/

Update: Fall of Ruble Benefits Tourists to Russia

Despite several unsettling events, Russia’s top destinations remain safe for tourists, and the devaluation of the ruble is a selling point for visitors.








from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/45977ab7/sc/31/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A150C0A40C260Ctravel0Cfall0Eof0Eruble0Ebenefits0Etourists0Eto0Erussia0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Frugal Traveler: Seeking the Elusive Fee-Free Exchange Rate

A review of your credit and A.T.M. cards will help you limit the number of currency exchange charges.








from NYT > Travel http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/642561/s/45977aa9/sc/28/l/0L0Snytimes0N0C20A150C0A40C260Ctravel0Cseeking0Ethe0Eelusive0Efee0Efree0Eexchange0Erate0Bhtml0Dpartner0Frss0Gemc0Frss/story01.htm

Designer of 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas' sign dies

from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/21/living/las-vegas-sign-designer-dies/index.html

Calistoga Pioneer Cemetery in Calistoga, California

Calistoga's Pioneer Cemetery clings to a steep forested hillside with the same tenacity that the pioneers themselves displayed when they settled this Northern California area.

The recorded history of the Calistoga area begins in the 1840s when the Mexican government began making land grants for ranchos. Samuel Brannan, one of the most influential figures in the area's history, arrived in San Francisco in 1846 as the leader of a settlement expedition. He engaged in numerous business ventures including the publication of San Francisco's first English-language newspaper, the California Star, and he ultimately became California's first millionaire. Brannan was fascinated by the natural hot springs in the Napa Valley and he purchased more than 2,000 acres (8 sq. km.) of land with the goal of developing a spa similar to the well-known Saratoga Springs in New York. According to legend, Brannan gave the town its name by accident in a public speech. Intending to say, "I will make this place the Saratoga of California," he fumbled the sentence and instead said, "the Calistoga of Sarifornia."

Available literature dates the cemetery's initial creation to 1877 when Samuel W. Collins, a resident of Calistoga, and a veteran of the Civil War, established his own private cemetery on the land. Some of the gravestones list dates of death that are earlier than that, so these are likely reinterments from other sites. The site was surveyed and officially established as a cemetery in 1885. Among the notable people buried in the cemetery are veterans of the Civil War, and two survivors of the doomed Donner Party, which saw a trapped caravan resorted to cannibalism before being rescued.    

Upon Collins' death in 1893, title to the cemetery passed to his youngest daughter, Anna, who was the wife of local building contractor Henry Lee Hopper. Eventually, the burden of maintaining the cemetery became too great and Anna conveyed the cemetery deed to the City of Calistoga on Memorial Day of 1936. The city has managed it since that time.

As might be expected, many of the cemetery's records have been lost to history and as a result current burials are subject to considerable restrictions. Only inurnments are allowed, and those are restricted to persons who are related either by blood or marriage to the existing plot owners.

from Atlas Obscura http://atlasobscura.com.feedsportal.com/c/35387/f/665719/s/45976c0d/sc/28/l/0L0Satlasobscura0N0Cplaces0Ccalistoga0Epioneer0Ecemetery/story01.htm