Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Chinese Travel Rebound Pushes Trip.com Group’s Revenue to Exceed 2019 Levels
U.S. Airlines Brace for Massive Thanksgiving
‘People dance on tables’: welcome to Belgrade’s kafana pub culture
I’m in a good old-fashioned pub, drinking beer over wooden tables and tucking into a hearty meal. Except the wooden tabletops are covered in red checked cloths, the decor is Balkan folk.
Instead of a roast I’m diving into a pile of minced beef sausages called ćevapi and imbibing shots of rakia, the local plum brandy. An accordion player draws musical breaths in a corner, his companion strikes Gypsy tunes from a fiddle, people dance on tables. Welcome to the kafana. Continue reading...
Monday, November 20, 2023
Vietnam Looks to Offer Visa-Free Entry to Indians: India Report
Mexico to Boost Passenger Rail in Bid to Reduce Freight’s Dominance
Atlantis The Royal Gathers the World’s Top Culinary Talent in One Destination
Saudi Arabia’s Next Project? What Neom’s New Trademark Filings Say
Sunday, November 19, 2023
How to do Champagne on a prosecco budget: a tour of France’s most famous wine region
Forgive me for sounding a little smug. You would too if you were sitting in stylish lodgings sipping a glass of grand cru minutes away from a prestigious address, the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, east of Paris. The mile-long avenue is lined with expensive champagne houses, from Moët & Chandon to Perrier-Jouët.
But instead of forking out a fortune, I’m indulging my champagne taste on a prosecco budget. That glass of top quality grand cru? It’s from a half bottle I picked up at the independent producer Mouligneaux-Gourdain for €10 (£8.70). Continue reading...
First Look at the Agenda for Skift Global Forum East 2023
Will Airbnb’s Brian Chesky Get an OpenAI Board Seat?
Winter wonderlands: 10 family activity days and adventures in the UK
With the majestic domes of the Royal Pavilion as its backdrop – lit in magical neon colours if you go after dark – this real ice rink is a popular highlight of Brighton’s yuletide offering, and the only one in the UK powered by renewable energy. Families are warmly welcomed, with penguin skate aids available for £5 and a beginners’ rink where young skaters can safely build confidence on the ice. Rinkside, a covered bar and café and outdoor terraced areas offer mulled wine, mince pies, cakes, snacks and a decent children’s menu – and a great place to sit and watch if you don’t want to risk the ice yourself.
Adults and children aged 12 and over £18, concessions £15, 12 and under £14, royalpavilionicerink.co.uk; family room, B&B, from £179, queenshotelbrighton.com Continue reading...
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Smoke, sweat and tears: my initiation into Estonia’s sauna sisterhood
“We are your sauna sisters now. Tell us what you’re afraid of.” The three women I have just met eye me expectantly. “Er, I wouldn’t say I’m afraid, exactly, more apprehensive about how hot the sauna will be, and how cold the water is …”
I’m at Mooska Farm in Võru county, south-east Estonia, to try a traditional smoke sauna. The earliest written records of Estonian saunas date from the 13th century, and the country’s smoke sauna culture was added to Unesco’s cultural heritage list in 2014 (many think of Finland as the home of sauna, but its sauna culture wasn’t listed until 2020.) This year, the smoke sauna has come to international prominence thanks to Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, an astonishing documentary that won a directing award at the Sundance festival and is Estonia’s entry for the Oscars. Continue reading...
Friday, November 17, 2023
Cabana Seeks Buyers During Tight Venture Capital Market
Ask Skift: How Has Las Vegas Tourism Changed?
Q&A: Exploring Accor’s Vision for Its Premium, Midscale, and Economy Division
‘It was so exhilarating’: readers’ favourite spas and saunas in Europe
We were staying on the Cowal peninsula in October and took a scenic drive down to Portavadie, where there is a heated outdoor infinity pool, sauna, steam room and treatments. We had a lovely time not only because of the water but the wonderful views out across Loch Fyne. Prices start at £8 for a public swim, which includes indoor pool/whirlpool bath for 90 minutes. This was a fabulous find well worth the trip. We will return and stay to enjoy the spa, accommodation, restaurant, scenery and walks.
Karen Prosser Continue reading...
U.S. Air Traffic Controller Shortage Won’t End Soon
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Orlando’s $100 Million Tourism Marketing Budget Faces Cuts
Digital Nomad Startup Raises $325 Million For 150 Boutique Hotels
Tell us about a scenic winter train journey in Europe – you could win a holiday voucher
What could be more romantic than the sight of a pillar-box red train gliding through a pristine Alpine landscape of snow-capped mountains, frosted fir trees and frozen waterfalls? The answer, of course, is having a seat inside the Bernina Express, cradling a cup of hot chocolate and gazing at a winter wonderland through the train’s panoramic windows as it pulls onwards to St Moritz. Or maybe, it’s pretending to be on the Hogwarts Express as you cross Glenfinnan Viaduct on your way from Glasgow to Mallaig. Or, at this time of year, listening to carols on board the Santa Claus Express from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Whatever your choice, we’d like to hear about your favourite romantic, dramatic and seasonal railway journey in Europe.
If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition. Continue reading...
Emirates Orders 15 Airbus A350-900 Aircraft At Dubai Airshow Day 4
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Steam and sparkle: 6 of the best Christmas railway journeys in the UK
There’s an affinity between trains and Christmas, but what precisely is the connection? Ghostliness comes into it – the mystique of a train in the wintry night. I think of the misty, hypnotic adaptation of Dickens’s story The Signalman, in 1976, part of the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas strand; or the ghost story in the Christmas number of the Railway magazine (that publication’s only excursion into whimsicality is always worth reading).
Prof Paul Salveson, founder of the Community Rail movement, has written some excellent railway ghost stories, but he thinks the more profound connection is that “trains bring us home to our loved ones, and they have a sense of warmth and comfort that cars don’t have”. He recalls, from the 1960s, “lots of “Christmas extras” taking hundreds of people home, to and from Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, often through snow-swept Pennine landscapes. Salveson finds an echo of that Christmas warmth in some stations today: for example, Paddington, with its Friday night brass band. Continue reading...
Post TikToks not CVs, Hilton Australia hotel chain tells jobseekers
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The Hilton hotel chain is encouraging jobseekers to ditch conventional résumés when applying for a role – and to post a TikTok instead.
Hilton shared a video on its TikTok account @hiremehiltonau labelled “recruitment process at Hilton”, with the accompanying caption saying: “Looking for a job with #hilton? #tiktokresume #hospitalitylife #hiremehilton.”
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
Airbnb, Booking, Expedia to Share Data With the UK Government
Airbnb to Accelerate Artificial Intelligence Efforts With New Acquisition
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Merseyside’s towpath to the past: a 20-mile walk along the Industrial Revolution’s first canal
I hadn’t planned my walk along the Sankey Canal to coincide with the axing of HS2 but it happened like that. It was a sunny day. I had been promising myself a hike along the towpath for ages. I grew up in the area and it holds a special place in my affections. As I wandered it struck me that this under-explored waterway was arguably the UK’s first significant development in infrastructure since the Romans built roads. It was built in two years.
The Sankey Canal connects St Helens with the River Mersey. It was opened in 1757 and subsequently extended to Widnes. Large sailing barges called Mersey flats moved coal from Lancashire to the Cheshire salt-brining towns and to Liverpool. The first canal of the Industrial Revolution built in Great Britain (Northern Ireland’s Newry Canal was earlier), its construction was only permitted because engineer Henry Berry and financier John Ashton duped parliament and other investors into believing it was a “navigation” – a widening of the existing Sankey Brook. But it is a true cut, and prompted the Duke of Bridgewater – the “father of British inland navigation” – to build his own waterway. Continue reading...
Turkey Tourism Bookings Start to Go ‘Quiet’
U.S. Will Likely Retaliate Against Amsterdam Flight Cuts
Thanksgiving Set to Be a Massive Travel Period in the U.S.
EgyptAir Kicks Off With Dubai Airshow Day 2 With Widebody Order To Airbus
Monday, November 13, 2023
The ultimate haute cuisine: outdoor cooking on the Lake District’s fells
The amber, auburn and crimson colours of autumn cosy up on top of one another, each layer dotted with patches of green, waving gently in the wind. This description is not one of the Lake District landscape before me, though it does match those views. Rather, it’s of the cabbage and butternut squash sabzi that’s just been handed to me by Harrison Ward on the summit of Black Fell – cooked on a camping stove with red onion, diced garlic and ginger, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon turmeric, accompanied by a freshly made flatbread and topped with coriander.
Better known to many as Fell Foodie, Harrison is an Ambleside local who has acquired a substantial Instagram following for cooking up extravagant meals on the fells. “I’ve always loved that mindful experience of crafting a meal and sharing food with people,” he says. “Food plays a huge part in my own life, so why go outdoors and leave that passion behind?” Continue reading...
Dubai Airshow, Day 1: Over 200 new aircraft ordered
Banyan Tree Dubai Rebrand Complete as Caesars Execs Exit
SunExpress Kicks Off Dubai Airshow With A Commitment For Up To 90 737 MAX Aircraft
‘A delirious deco dream’: former TB sanatorium is now Finland’s most unusual holiday let
Deep in a forest two hours’ drive west of Helsinki is the deserted Paimio Sanatorium (Paimion Parantola in Finnish). One of the world’s best-preserved buildings from the modernist era, it’s as clean, sleek and mysterious as a medical instrument.
An overnight stay in a remote, disused hospital may not sound enticing. But for architecture and design enthusiasts, some opportunities are impossible to resist – and this one is time-limited. At least part of this building is likely to be converted into a hotel and spa in the coming years. The Alvar Aalto Foundation, which preserves the legacy of Finland’s most celebrated architect, took over the site three years ago from state ownership, and is searching for a way to pay for its upkeep. Continue reading...
Sunday, November 12, 2023
This Thanksgiving Could Be the Busiest for U.S. Air Travel in 18 Years
Tripadvisor Laid Off 4% of Its Workforce and More Cuts Are on the Way
Paris for art lovers
The opening of a new hotel, a new gallery and two compelling exhibitions in two of my favourite galleries made a pre-Christmas Eurostar dash to Paris irresistible. The draw of the 91-room Bloom House Hotel & Spa, which opened in September (new beds, new everything equals no bedbugs!), is that you can get off the Eurostar at Gare du Nord after a stress-free journey and be having lunch in their courtyard garden oasis 10 minutes later. A green-tiled pond is the focal point, a pergola strung with festoon lighting overhead – perfect for evening cocktails.
We spent our first afternoon exploring the bobo Canal Saint-Martin, a short walk from Bloom House. The 4.5km canal, which stretches through the 10th and 11th arrondissements down to the Seine, is peppered with indie stores, delis and cafés. Following the Quai de Valmy, we dropped into Antoine & Lili, a set of three shops with a sunflower facade. I swooned over their velvet, just-so flared trousers. More swooning, this time for clothing and curios new and old, in Babel (55 Quai de Valmy), a brocante and déco-cadeaux store a few doors down. Continue reading...
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Dubai Air Show Will Test Impact of Middle East Tensions
Summer Raises $18 Million To Buy Vacation Rental Homes: Startup Funding Roundup
How I learned to make and sleep in a Swedish snowhole – at minus 30C
One British childhood winter experience remains the same, despite all the changes of the past century. It’s the one where you gaze out of the window, mesmerised by the falling snow, and start fantasising about building an igloo or a snow cave, then sleeping in it overnight. A few fortunate kids get to follow that up, but for most the fantasy is quickly quashed. The blizzard stops, the snow melts, you lob some slush at your mates then go inside to watch Ski Sunday.
Even on ski trips later in life, I discovered, childish and playful ambitions don’t get much of a look-in. It was only when I was on a summer kayak expedition in Sweden’s Saint Anna archipelago and chatted to local chef and guide Helena Hjort that I discovered other people have similar fantasies. “We started our business because we wanted to make trips that are like going away with a gang of friends,” says Helena, who runs Do the North with her old schoolmate Thomas Ohlander. “We kayak to islands where we camp – that’s our summer fun. But a night in a homemade snow cave is on the list.” Continue reading...
From stargazing to a festival of fire: five activities to light up the UK’s dark winter months
“We,” says the Brocher, face lit by fire and dark with soot, “have creosote in our blood.” In their blood, on their hats, on their boots, down their backs – the Brochers, and in particular the Clavie Crew, have creosote everywhere, except in their whisky. They take that with water, a substance they otherwise disdain as being fine for quenching a thirst but a terrible thing to allow near a bonny flame. Continue reading...
Friday, November 10, 2023
Asian Airlines Face Surging Fuel Prices and Slow Return of Chinese Travelers
Wynn Expects To Have A Monopoly On UAE Casinos
Share a tip on a festive short break – you could win a holiday voucher
Christmas markets, candlelit carol concerts, open-air ice skating rinks and twinkling lights – some towns come into their own at this time of year. Whether it’s somewhere with great independent shops for some last-minute gift shopping, or just to soak up some seasonal atmosphere, this can be a great time of year to get away for a few days.
We’d love to hear about your favourite short break to a festive town, in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, including your tips for unmissable annual events, great places to stay and eat if possible. And if it’s a small, unsung town, rather than a big city, so much the better! Continue reading...
‘Crisp air and wildlife – fantastic’: readers’ top tips for UK winter outdoors activities
Experience the unique beauty of the New Forest national park on a winter cycling adventure. With fewer crowds, you can enjoy peaceful rides through ancient woodlands and across heathlands. Remember to dress in warm layers, check your bike for winter readiness, and bring some hot tea or coffee in a Thermos to savour in the midst of your journey. Wildlife, serene landscapes and crisp winter air make this a fantastic outdoor activity in the UK.
Magsy Griffin Continue reading...
‘The best thing about the No 50 is that it goes on a boat’: readers’ favourite UK bus journeys
The No 50 Purbeck Breezer travels regularly between Swanage and Bournemouth past the beautiful beaches of Studland Bay. Behind Knoll Beach there’s a heathland nature reserve with a lagoon and a giant natural sand pit. In Poole we visited the Japanese garden at Compton Acres and the historic harbour. From a child’s perspective, the best thing about the No 50 is that it goes on a boat: the chain ferry that plies the harbour mouth between Studland and Sandbanks. The return trip at sunset on the open upper deck made us laugh out loud: it was like being on a rollercoaster.
Jenny Lunnon Continue reading...
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Czech it out: leave Prague and Bohemia behind to discover a Moravian rhapsody
A chorus of giggles breaks out in the corridor outside the compartment. There’s a stag party on board the train, and the stag has been dared by his mates to ask two young women if he can take a selfie with them.
So far, so stereotypical, except I’m on a Czech train, the stag party is Czech, not British, and our destination is not Prague but Olomouc, a city in Moravia, the Czech Republic’s less-visited, easterly region. Continue reading...
A local’s guide to Vilnius, Lithuania: the best bars, culture and bargain hotels
This year has been a good one for Vilnius. The Lithuanian capital celebrated its 700th birthday on 25 January 2023, and a few months later it was named the European Union’s green capital for 2025. Perhaps most symbolically – as Lithuania continues to firmly reject its Soviet past and align itself closer with the west – Vilnius played host to the Nato summit in July.
In short, there’s a lot for the Vilnese to be proud of and happy about. Given the progress the city has made since I first fell in love with it almost 10 years ago, local people want to share their joy and sense of accomplishment with visitors seeking a good time. The city even recently established a “night office” to ensure a night out is as enjoyable, friendly and safe as possible. Continue reading...
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