Nivac

Caitlin Weigel draws connections between culturally exquisite locals and Phillys own wonders.

LONDON - The pull of world travel seems to capture almost everyone at some point or another. Whether it strikes while flipping through National Geographic at the dentist’s office or as you happen to channel-surf past the latest Olsen twin, conquest-of-a-global-city movie on ABC Family - the travel bug bites hard.

The lure of exploring a foreign place, where the knowns of your own world are thrown aside in favor of a whole new way of life draws us in like moths to a light. We long to experience the culture of a place halfway across the world, to walk a mile in another person’s shoes, to escape from a world of McDonald’s and Ke$ha in favor of a rich tapestry of history and tradition somewhere else - these are the wanderlust dreams that seem to seep into our mind as we zone out on our SEPTA commute.

And while sailing on this magic carpet of traveling idealism is pretty sweet, you eventually run into that small snag - the Jafar in your otherwise perfect Arabian night. As a college student, most of us simply don’t have the money to front around an “Around the World in 80 Days”-style vacation.

Then there’s the time factor. Between clubs, teams, jobs, friends and - oh yeah - class, it’s a little difficult to find the time to book a flight. It’s not like you can just hop over to Paris for a weekend getaway and grab a speedy lunch in Rome.

article source

href=http://www.sausalitoartfestival.org>www.sausalitoartfestival.org.

Weve all fantasized about going on an around-the-world trip but would you do it without a single bag? Thats exactly what travel author Rolf Potts is attempting do on his six-week trip starting Saturday, August 21st. No, he wont be wearing the same shirt or boxer shorts every day; instead hell be packing them in his clothing line.

For years Ive touted the benefits of packing light and not checking bags. In fact, Ive been preaching that its the only way to travel to all my friends, family and readers for a long time. But this publicity stunt for SCOTTEVEST Travel Clothing (SeV) is taking it to the next level. SeV is known for clever clothing designs with multiple pockets (and Im talking multiple!); some jackets have 17 pockets or more, including one for an iPad. And Sev is helping send Potts around the world without bags.

I instantly became a fan of SeV when they sent me a jacket to test out last year because you essentially wear your carry-on bag. I really appreciated my jacket immediately after the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day aboard a Northwest/Delta plane near Detroit, as the TSA briefly instituted a no carry-on rule. I always make sure my jacket is filled when Im flying an airline (usually a low-fare European carrier) that I know weighs carry-ons at check-in because they have ridiculously low and strict weight limits.

Whats nice about being able to put your clothes/gear/gadgets in your clothes is that the average traveler can avoid the extra bag fees, which obviously saves money and time. Potts, a respected travel writer from Kansas, who is the author of Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel and has reported from more than 60 countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, New York Times Magazine and the Travel Channel is departing from New York on the first leg of the six-week No Baggage Challenge starting Saturday, August 21st.

His only companion will be a videographer/producer to help him document the challenge and CEO Founder Scott Jordan explains, We dont believe that a true around-the-world trip without bags has ever been successfully completed, let alone professionally documented.

Potts and his traveling companion will share the six-week journey through frequent updates in video, photos and text at NoBaggageChallenge.com. Viewers can follow them as they make the trek from New York to Paris, from Cairo to South Africa, and from Bangkok to New Zealand before returning back to New York City via Los Angeles.

When asked about traveling with no bags, Potts says, On this trip, I believe its better to pack an open-minded attitude than a suitcase full of dubiously useful gear. And SeV is the ideal outfitter for that kind of journey.

To see exactly what Rolf Potts clothing will look like, check out this diagram. My question is: Can he really travel around the world without baggage and would you want to try?

article source

The luxury hotel Zannos Melathron in Santorini is nominated at this year’s World Travel Awards in the category Greece’s Leading Boutique Hotels 2010. Each year, the renowned World Travel Awards award the worldwide Travel and Tourism industry for the excellence of customer experience quality they provide.

article source

Today the final arc of season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer kicks off, and with Joss Whedon back at the helm this is definitely a must-read. In tandem with a recent marathon of the old TV series, Ive been reminded how much more has been packed into just a couple of years of the comic book continuation. World travel, confrontations with all manner and scale of monsters and armies, sexual misadventures, lovers found and lost, entire epic battles

A couple of years ago I bought that bigass boxed set of the entire run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all seven seasons of the TV show. Its ridiculous really, because now you can download them, stream them, or watch the repeats on some weird channel 15 times a week, basically its ubiquitous. But back when it started, I was the only lunatic I knew who wanted to watch a teenage girl beat up monsters. In fact, all of my friends wondered if I had some kind of problem. They accused me of everything from creepy lesbionic-pedo-tendencies to some kind of anti-feminist desire to see women getting hurt (which is ironic, since most of the time she was the one beating the mean guys up, which I actually did enjoy.) Somehow, after what seemed like an eternity, people came around to my way of thinking, and soon I was having large groups of friends over to watch the TV show as it aired, cheering on the valiant fight against evil and such.

When the series ended, I think we were all ready for it. Clearly the cast were outgrowing their roles, both physically and emotionally, and a hell of a lot of the stories didnt seem to have anywhere to go at this point. It felt over, a good kind of finished. We were sad, but it felt right. I never imagined that Id want more, and certainly didnt expect to look forward to it.

Then season eight of Buffy came out, and this time it was a comic book. Ill come clean here, and admit that I never read the comic before then. It just didnt appeal to me conceptually, but when Whedon said that he was going to continue the series in the comic book, I had to give it a go. It did not disappoint. Exactly the same characters, speaking with the same voices, looking just as they ought to, and the stories things had progressed. Suddenly there was more to do, more to find out. Outside of the constraints of a TV series, Buffy could go to all kinds of different countries to meet her various armies of slayers, zipping around the world at light speed (literally at times.) And this time when I say an army of slayers, I mean it. Unlike the TV show, an army wasnt just 12 girls in her back garden, it was an entire bloody, world-wide army. Speaking of armies, when they went up against the real US army, they didnt mess around there either. This army had weapons, and not just the odd rocket launcher, but nuclear bombs, jet planes, and entire, overwhelming battalions. So who did the army fight? They fought skyscraper-sized gods, multi-armed things, straight out of folklore. Speaking of giant monsters, what about the giant (epic, even) robot, or the disturbing Hello Kitty vampire things in Japan? Those terrifying little bastards with the bloody fangs which combined to make one massive monster, that worked for me too.

The list of physically impossible things goes on and on. These are things which no TV series would have the budget or time to create. At best wed get some nasty, low-budget Sliders type nonsense, which would have been so bad that it would have pulled us right out of the experience. No, the TV show was right to stick to what it could handle. Whenever it stepped outside of that even on a very small scale, it became jarring, for example; the Initiative. Apparently we are expected to believe that the army operate out of a tinfoil-lined, empty swimming pool in the basement of Buffys college. There were a lot of silly things in the show (that was sort of the point), but that was too silly, and personally, I think it might be one of the reasons that the Riley episodes get such a bad rap. Maybe the only thing wrong was the damn tinfoil swimming pool. Well never know now.

What I do know is that Buffy the comic is working in ways that Buffy the TV show just couldnt, and its not just about budget this time, its about content too.

It is possible that the TV show might have shown Buffy dreaming of dressing up as a nurse and having a threesome with her two vampire ex boyfriends, but somehow I suspect that it would have been frowned upon. TV shows aimed at young women tend to shy away from cosplay and group sex, unless they end in misery and danger. In a comic book though, especially one for a publisher like Dark Horse, those limits are pretty lax. Yes, there was that episode where Buffy and Riley shagged till they nearly died, but there again was the punishment. It basically a moralistic story about limiting contact so that you dont accidentally cast a spell and kill everyone. In the comic book, theres seems to be more space for the odd incident of pure, healthy hedonism on Buffys part, and Im up for that. Shes got a crappy job, might as well have some fun.

Then there is the continuity. With the TV series, people got older, they got too thin or too fat. Sarah Michelle Gellar got so svelte that there were times I wondered how she could walk, let alone kick people, and when her stunt double came out, with all her muscles she was twice the size. Talking of twice the size, poor Nicholas Brendon was clearly just bored on set and eating for two, and considering he was meant to be an ageless, unchanging vampire Angel grew dramatically older and bigger over the course of the series. Naturally these people are only human, theyre bound to grow and change, but it did make it that tiny bit less realistic, and it is a problem that reading the comic book never presents. In the comic book Xander is aerodynamic again, Buffy has muscles again, and Angel and Spike havent changed a bit.

There are so many ways in which the comic book as a medium is showing itself to be vastly superior to the TV show, that I find myself wondering why so many excellent comic books are bothering to move the other way; from comic book into TV and film. Yes, there is a larger audience, Ill give it that, but what joy is that audience missing out on? If you only ever experience Batman (for example) in The Dark Knight, no matter how good the movie is (and it is good), youre missing about 90% of what makes that mythos incredible. This entire experience has shown me that comic books are a much richer, more versatile, more durable medium than any other entertainment medium. In all instances, there will always be good and bad stories, but at least in comic books, the limits are off. It is a visual medium where anything can happen, and if were lucky, it will.

article source

NEW YORK, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ — Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com) is the place for consumers to satisfy their urge to go, see and do. Through the engaging storytelling and unique perspectives of its on-air personalities, Travel Channel creates travel content that inspires, entertains and taps into the human desire to experience new things, explore new places and engage with interesting people and cultures. Today, Gaiam, Inc., a leading producer of lifestyle media, announced the release of two of its popular titles, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: Collection 5/Part 1 and Ghost Adventures Season 2, on DVD, under its exclusive home video license agreement with Travel Channel.

In Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: Collection 5/Part 1, travel with Anthony as he goes local once again, unearthing the simple centuries-old food traditions in a disappearing Venice, salivating over sensual, appetite-whetting delights in Food Porn, and fantasizing about the days of New York culinary yore in Disappearing Manhattan. This collection of episodes also includes Romania, So Long Summer, Mexico, Azores, Chicago, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam: No Place like Home, and Chile. This disc set includes 12 episodes and bonus features never before seen on TV. It carries an SRP of $24.98, with a total runtime of 629 minutes. Street date: September 28, 2010.

Paranormal investigators Zak Bagans and Nick Groff, along with equipment technician Aaron Goodwin, are back on the road visiting the worlds most sinister haunted locations, renewing their quest to stare evil in the face in Ghost Adventures Season 2. During each episode, the investigative team is locked into each location overnight, armed with only recording equipment and their wits as they challenge the existence of hostile spirits. Join the crew in this 12-episode season, as they challenge the gun-slinging ghosts of the Old West in Tombstone, Arizona; experience the holy presence and deadly past of an old Spanish mission in Lompoc, California; and do some time with the condemned spirits still haunting the corridors of the old Ohio Reformatory. This DVD set carries an SRP of $24.98, with a total runtime of 565 minutes. Street date: September 14, 2010.

These new releases will be available wherever DVDs are sold, including online at Amazon.com and www.Gaiam.com.

About GAIAM

Gaiam, Inc. (Nasdaq: GAIA) is a leading producer and marketer of lifestyle media and fitness accessories, with a 70,000 door retail distribution network, over 11,000 store within stores, a digital distribution platform and more than 8 million direct customers. With dominant share of the fitness and wellness market, Gaiam is dedicated to providing solutions for the many facets of healthy, eco-conscious living. The companys commitment to quality, coupled with a forward-thinking approach to merchandising and distribution, has allowed it to dominate the health and wellness category with celebrity talent Marisa Tomei, Valerie Bertinelli and Trudie Styler and fitness sensations Bob Greene, Rodney Yee, Mari Winsor and The Firm. In addition, the company releases non-theatrical programming focused on family entertainment under its exclusive licensing agreement with Discovery Communications and other licensing partners. For more information about Gaiam, please visit www.gaiam.com or call 1.800.869.3603.

About Travel Channel

TRAVEL CHANNEL (www.travelchannel.com) is a network and website that captures the power of travel to inspire and entertain, and satisfies the viewers urge to experience the world. Travel Channel is the worlds leading travel media brand, and the network is available in more than 95 million US cable homes, and its Travel Channel HD simulcast is distributed to more than 17 million. The website averages more than 2 million unique users monthly, and its mobile content platform, Travel Channel GO, is a leading provider of quality mobile travel video and on-the-go information. Travel Channel is headquartered in Chevy Chase, MD. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which also owns and operates HGTV (www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Food Network (www.foodnetwork.com), Cooking Channel (cookingchanneltv.com) and Great American Country (www.gactv.com), is the manager and general partner.

article source

PRLog (Press Release)
Aug 30, 2010 The Small Luxury Hotels of the World listed Chromata Up-Style Hotel, located in Imerovigli, a serene and picturesque village located at the pinnacle of the Caldera’s rim in the magical Island of Santorini, is a contemporary and freshly renovated boutique hotel Santorini offering awe-inspiring views over the Volcano and luxurious facilities and services for the most romantic and privileged holidays in Greece.

Recognized for its hip new design and supreme elegance combined with the timeless Cycladic architecture, for its romantic location in the highest point of the Caldera and for the unique deluxe facilities and personalized services the hotel offers to its guests, Chromata Up-Style is nominated this year at the Oscars of the Travel Industry, the internationally recognized and prestigious World Travel Awards, in the category Greece’s Leading Boutique Hotels 2010.

The 5star boutique hotel in Santorini welcomes this summer’s guests in a completely renovated and new chic interior design, with white hued details, beautiful fabrics and textures mingled with contemporary design touches, to discover and enjoy the luxurious privacy and romantic environment the hotel offers.

The hotel’s sea view rooms and suites, facing the magical sunset and volcano views, are designed to welcome guests in a pure white and relaxing environment and provide a sense of absolute privacy and enchantment with their sophisticated facilities and amenities and the unparallel services offered. Preferred by enamored couples as a wedding and honeymoon destination, Chromata Up-Style Hotel features perfect Honeymoon Suites for ultimate romantic and luxury moments in Santorini.

Chromata Up-Style hotel invites its guests to discover the most fantastic scenery of Santorini from the exterior infinity pool while sipping a refreshing cocktail in the pool side cocktail bar, to dine al fresco facing the Caldera in the Lounge Restaurant and to experience highly gastronomic dinners and wine-tasting of the best Santorinian wines in the exclusive and romantic Chromata gourmet resto.

Fairly nominated as Greece’s Leading Boutique Hotel for 2010, Chromata Up-Style Hotel sets new standards for contemporary and luxurious boutique hotels in the most dramatically beautiful Island of Santorini, in Greece.

article source

For the next three days Darwin will host 400 of Harvey World Travel’s best performing Travel Agents at its ‘Take it to the Top’ annual conference at the Darwin Convention Centre.

Tourism Minister, Malarndirri McCarthy welcomes these top-performers to Darwin, Australia’s tropical and vibrant harbour city.

“Harvey World Travel is one of Australia’s largest travel retailers and its travel agents are at the front-line of domestic tourism,” Minister McCarthy said.

“Their job is to promote the delights of holidaying in Australia to their fellow Australians.

“The Northern Territory stands-out as Australia’s leading nature and cultural tourism destination.

“Darwin is the gateway to some of Australia’s most outstanding national parks, such as World-Heritage Kakadu National Park with its unique wildlife and ancient Indigenous rock paintings, and Litchfield National Park with its crystal clear rock holes.”

The Territory Government is a major sponsor of the conference dinner on Saturday night which involves the creation of an indoor replica of Darwin’s popular Mindil Markets at the Convention Centre.

“The conference is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Darwin and the attractions around it as a very special holiday destination distinctly different from any other in Australia,” said Ms McCarthy.

“The Travel Agents will discover Darwin’s friendly and relaxed lifestyle where they can enjoy a coffee at one of our cafes, join in Darwin’s nightlife in Mitchell Street, go fishing on Darwin Harbour, or visit Mindil Beach Markets.”

The Travel Agents will also be participating in a Northern Territory familiarisation program.

Harvey World Travel has more than 500 travel agencies throughout Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

article source

Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi, chairman of EIH Ltd –which runs India’s second biggest hotel chain–announced on Monday that he and his family had sold 55.4 million shares, a 14.12% stake in the company, to an investment arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), for `1,021 crore.

The move came six days after Oberoi indicated at a press conference in Kolkata that his son Vikram Oberoi and nephew Arjun Oberoi, both joint managing directors of EIH, might not work together after him.

RIL arm Reliance Industries Investment and Holding Pvt. Ltd paid `184 a share, 22% higher than EIH’s closing price on Monday.

The transaction, which won’t lead to any change in management control, gives PRS. Oberoi the financial strength to thwart any takeover bid by cigarette and consumer goods maker ITC Ltd, which has amassed a 14.98% stake in EIH.

“We are happy to encourage their (Reliance’s) investment,” PRS. Oberoi said in a media statement, while RIL said “it has full faith in and would support the management of EIH”.

To be sure, ITC chairman YC Deveshwar has maintained for the last 10 years that his company would not make a hostile bid to seize control of EIH, and has stopped buying shares from the market. Indian takeover laws would have forced ITC to make an open offer for at least 20% more if its stake in EIH exceeded 15%.

ITC refused to comment on the share sale by the Oberoi family.

“ITC will not challenge the financial muscle of RIL,” said Himani Singh, an analyst at the Mumbai office of UK-based Elara Capital Plc.

Spurred by Monday’s announcement, EIH’s shares jumped `15.50, or 11.46%, to close at `150.70 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange, while the bourse’s benchmark Sensex index closed 33.70 points, or 0.19%, higher at 18,032.11.

The share sale to RIL values EIH at around `2.4 crore per room, or “near peak”, according to Elara’s Singh.

Besides PRS. Oberoi, who held 2.2 million shares of EIH as of 30 June, the sellers to RIL were Aravali Polymers Llp and the Oberoi family’s main holding company Oberoi Hotels Pvt. Ltd. The share sale pared the Oberoi family’s holding in EIH to 32.31%.

“We have been approached regularly by many people with different interests,” PRS. Oberoi said. “However, in each case, the investment objectives of the various parties were not compatible with our objectives.”

A year ago, the Oberoi family had tried to bring in Analjit Singh, chairman of diversified conglomerate Max India Ltd, as a white knight through a similar share sale, but talks fell through.

EIH needed a white knight, according to Arun Kejriwal, director of Kejriwal Research and Investment Services Pvt. Ltd. “RIL is among the few companies in India that EIH could have brought in to thwart any unsolicited bid by ITC,” he said.

Though EIH wishes to remain asset-light, it needs a lot of cash even for maintenance of its properties, according to another analyst, who did not want to be identified.

“The hospitality business is very capital intensive,” PRS. Oberoi said. “EIH has a growth strategy and it needs strong committed shareholders to support the company in the long term.”

RIL, which according to a Goldman Sachs estimate, is likely to generate $18 billion (`84,240 crore) in cash between 2011 and 2014, recently said it was looking to enter new businesses such as power, telecom, healthcare and hospitality.

It has joined hands with Mumbai-based real estate developer Maker Builders to construct hotels in the city, including two at the Bandra-Kurla Complex, which could together cost `1,200 crore.

The deal with the Oberoi family gives RIL a partner that has vast experience in running hotels, Kejriwal said.

The Ambanis and Reliance are not new to such a role.

In the early 1990s, group founder Dhirubhai Ambani had acted as a white knight to help ward off a takeover threat faced by engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen and Toubro Ltd (Lamp;T) from the late Manu Chhabria, who then retreated from the race. That allowed the Ambanis enough room to mount a raid of their own on Lamp;T, with the help of the government; a move that was stymied when a new government took over at the Centre. In 2002, Reliance sold its stake to the Aditya Birla Group, resulting in another fight over the engineering firm that ended when Lamp;T hived off its cement business and sold it to the Aditya Birla Group.

The EIH deal puts Mukesh Ambani in an unaccustomed role, that of a financial investor without management control, said an investment banker, who has advised RIL on several transactions and did not want to be identified.

Ambani, known for entering sectors that were completely new to the group such as retail and special economic zones (SEZs), is taking a bet on India’s economic growth leading to a surge in travellers to the country.

In 2009, the World Travel and Tourism Council had estimated travel and tourism demand in India would grow at 8.2% a year till 2019, which led many companies to announce expansions and start-up plans. In 2007, Crisil Ltd estimated that almost 15,000 five-star rooms would be added in 2010 and 2011. It subsequently scaled this back to 6,200 rooms this year.

Room supply growth has slowed because of the slump following the global financial crisis, regulatory and construction delays, high real estate prices, and lack of easy bank credit, Manoj Bahety and Manav Vijay, analysts with brokerage Edelweiss Capital Markets Ltd, wrote in a 1 April report.

Apart from the deal with Maker Builders, Ambani also has plans to build hotels in SEZs he is establishing in Mumbai, Haryana and Gujarat.

aveek.d@livemint.com

article source

KATHMANDU, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has begun to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011 aggressively in the international arena in the face of uncertainties in budget allocation and time constraints.

According to Mondays The Kathmandu Post daily, the NTB will be holding promotion at the JATA World Travel Fair, Japan in September, in the United States in October and in Britain and China in November.

We will move to other destinations gradually, said NTB chief executive officer Prachanda Man Shrestha.

The government announced the NTY 2011 campaign on Oct. 25, 2008 in a bid to broaden the tourism base as a national priority and mainstream tourism into the national development process.

Apart from budget uncertainties, NTY 2011 has been bedeviled by issues like purchase of aircraft by Nepal Airlines Corporation, eroding competitiveness of travel packages, deteriorating garbage management and improvement of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) .

Bhola Bikram Thapa, member of the NTY 2011 implementation committee who is coordinating the aviation sector, said that there had been a slight improvement in services at TIA. However, the international airport needs to do more to provide full functional services, he added.

article source