December 25, 2014

Why LGBT travelers can be proud

"We've realized that LGBT people travel WAY more than the average population: 85% of gay and 77% of lesbian Americans have passports and 54% of those LGBT people have used their passport in the past year."



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/life/7-reasons-lgbt-travelers-can-proud-2014/

American’s 3-Cabin International Flights Sold as 2-Cabin, and Who Can Book International First Class Seats Free!

Back in April we learned the details of American’s plans for their Boeing 777-200s. American is dropping first class from these planes (international first class will remain only on their 777-300ERs). Business class goes fully flat. And there are some changes from the 777-300ER new business class seat. It’s fully flat, all aisle access with […]


The post American’s 3-Cabin International Flights Sold as 2-Cabin, and Who Can Book International First Class Seats Free! appeared first on View from the Wing.






from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/12/25/americans-3-cabin-international-flights-sold-2-cabin-can-book-international-first-class-seats-free/

15 of the world's most colorful landscapes






from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/25/travel/gallery/world-most-colorful-landscapes/index.html

Love Downton Abbey? Now you can stay there

England's Highclare House, which doubles as TV's most famous stately pile, opens a lodge to paying guests.





from CNN.com - Travel http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/24/travel/downton-abbey-weekend-stays/index.html

All Delta Pay With Miles Tickets Will Be Eligible For Mileage Accrual In 2015

Delta has a Pay With Miles redemption option, which is available exclusively for those with Delta's co-branded American Express Card.


Basically the Pay With Miles option lets you redeem miles towards the cost of a revenue ticket at the rate of one cent per mile... at most. Here's the breakdown:


"For fares less than $100:

-- Redeem 25,000 miles to cover the total fare


For fares equal to or greater than $100 and less than $250:

-- Redeem 10,000 miles for $100 off the total fare or

-- Increase the redemption to 25,000 miles and increase from that point in increments of 5,000 miles ($50 off) to cover the total fare"


The post All Delta Pay With Miles Tickets Will Be Eligible For Mileage Accrual In 2015 appeared first on One Mile at a Time.






from One Mile at a Time http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/12/25/all-delta-pay-with-miles-tickets-will-be-eligible-for-mileage-accrual-in-2015/

White Christmas Expected In Parts Of US, Rain Elsewhere

The AAA estimates that 98.6 million people, up 4 percent from last year, will travel over 50 miles during the period from Tuesday to Jan. 4.



from Travel Feedly http://www.ibtimes.com/white-christmas-expected-parts-us-rain-elsewhere-1767150

AMAZING FARES That Won’t Last from $178 Roundtrip to Abu Dhabi; India, Asia and Africa Deals Too!

The Flight Deal is an awesome resource. Head over to their post on this for all the details. I’ve just confirmed as of this writing that the deal is still working. You won’t find it using the ITA Matrix, but search Kayak or Google Flights, purchase on sites like Priceline. (Orbitz may show a higher […]


The post AMAZING FARES That Won’t Last from $178 Roundtrip to Abu Dhabi; India, Asia and Africa Deals Too! appeared first on View from the Wing.






from View from the Wing http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2014/12/25/amazing-fares-wont-last-178-roundtrip-abu-dhabi-india-asia-africa-deals/

Why the world is open to LGBTQ me

"That’s the thing about being a member of the LGBTQ family. Sure, we have our differences, but at the most basic level we can relate to each other.



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/world-open-homosexual/

What Christmas in Paris is like

The trees are dinky, there's gold everywhere, you're being offered more Ferrero Rocher than you've ever seen before...it's Noël in the French capital!



from Matador Network » Matador Network http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/christmas-paris-differs-us/

Amazing Etihad Fares- JFK- Abu Dhabi from $187 roundtrip total + MORE!

Merry Christmas to all from Etihad Airways. Right now they have flights from as low as $187 TOTAL roundtrip, including all taxes from JFK- Abu Dhabi. I recommend searching on Google.com/Flights and playing round with dates- generally leaving Monday-Thursday will help load these extra cheap fares. You can’t book flights through Google Flights, so “sniff […]



from The Points Guy http://thepointsguy.com/2014/12/amazing-etihad-fares-jfk-abu-dhabi-from-187-roundtrip-total-more/

Merry Christmas, Frugal Travel Guys and Gals!

No matter what you celebrate, it sure is good to be with friends and family at this time of year. We hope you got to visit them by paying prices you can afford. And remember for next year — miles and points are always a great gift! Happy Savings and Merry Christmas!



from Frugal Travel Guy http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2014/12/merry-christmas-frugal-travel-guys-and-gals.html

December 24, 2014

Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska

Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska. (Creative Commons)


When Nellie and Con Miller arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1949, they didn't have anything with them except for their two children and $1.40. Con became a merchant and fur buyer in the area, but he would also put on an old red Santa suit and entertain the village children; he would do anything to carve out a living for himself in this new frontier and the kids couldn't have been happier to see their first St. Nick.


Only a few years later, the Millers had cobbled together enough money to built a trading post just outside of Fairbanks. They named it the North Pole, but when a young visitor recognized Con and asked if Santa was building a new house, they changed the name of the outpost to the Santa Claus House and decorated as they thought one of St. Nick's home might look.


The Santa Claus House received international recognition and, after newspapers and magazines all over the world wrote about the new trading post, letters from kids started to pour in. The Millers, for decades now, have been returning as many of those letters as they could, sending mail to boys and girls all over the world who think they're corresponding with Santa Claus himself. Over the span of 60 years or so, the Millers sent more than two million personalized letters.


The town of North Pole, Alaska, which has grown up around the Santa Claus House, has the slogan "Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round." And the Santa Claus House is just one of the ways that spirit lives on. Visitors to the town will be greeted by not just it, but also a 42-foot-tall Fiberglas Santa Claus statue that stands on Richardson Highway. Other Christmas items decorate the town all year-round.




















from Atlas Obscura http://atlasobscura.com.feedsportal.com/c/35387/f/665719/s/41c2306e/sc/10/l/0L0Satlasobscura0N0Cplaces0Csanta0Eclaus0Ehouse/story01.htm

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Haerbin, China


Massive ice sculptures loom over visitors bundled up against the -15 degree Celsius weather, paired with giant snow carvings a few miles away looking down on the festivities of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival.


An annual event, the Festival is one of the world's four largest ice and snow festival, holding the 2007 Guinness Record for largest snow sculpture: a two part piece of Niagra Falls and a Crossing of the Bering Strait (a migration of the First Nations, the population residing in Canada prior to European colonization) that totaled 250 meters long, 8.5 meters high, and composed of over 13,000 cubic meters of snow.


First organized in 1963, the Festival was often interrupted over the years due to the Cultural Revolution. It picked up again, this time as an annual event, in 1985. The official starting date is January 5th, lasting until February 15th, though weather permitting, the exhibitions often open a week earlier and run until March.


Each year has a different 'theme,' past themes including the Beijing Olympics, Chinese tourist sites, 'Prosperous China and High-Flying Longjiang', and 'Friendship between China and Russia.' The Great Wall (doubling as an ice slide), pyramids, sphinxes, terra cotta warriors, a Disney castle, towering pagodas, enormous Buddhas, and gardens are only a handful of the creative sculptures and carvings to have been a part of the Harbin Festival.


It is a competitive event, with teams coming from all over the world-the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, South Africa, France etc. During the nights of the month-long festival, lights from inside and outside of the sculptures brilliantly illuminate a variety of architectural styles, fanciful castles, mythological and historical figures, ice lanterns and slides.


Fireworks light up the sky on various evenings while the dazzling multicolored ice sculptures light up the entire ground. The ice is procured from the surface of the frozen Songhua River, then intricately carved, many of the sculptures receiving a douse of deionized water to produce an entirely transparent look. Swimming in the Songua River, Yabuli alpine skiing, an ice-lantern exhibition, ice golf, and ice archery are just some of the featured activities popular of the Festival.




















from Atlas Obscura http://atlasobscura.com.feedsportal.com/c/35387/f/665719/s/41c23058/sc/10/l/0L0Satlasobscura0N0Cplaces0Charbin0Eice0Eand0Esnow0Efestival/story01.htm

Flying Over the Okavango Delta

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is having great holidays! A little mind-bending for the day from Alan Watts And here’s something a little different for you… it’s one of those that’s worth watching full-screen with good sound! Daily Photo – Flying Over the Okavango Delta One day in Botswana, we took a rather incredible helicopter […]



from Stuck in Customs http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2014/12/25/flying-over-the-okavango-delta/

Hey, what’s this “disposition” fee from Hyundai?





from Elliott http://elliott.org/problem-solved/hey-whats-disposition-fee-hyundai/