18965
blog,paged,wp-custom-logo,paged-6,qi-blocks-1.3.4,qodef-gutenberg--no-touch,stockholm-core-2.4.2,select-child-theme-ver-1.1.2,select-theme-ver-9.7,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,vertical_menu_enabled,menu-animation-underline,,qode_menu_,qode-mobile-logo-set,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-7.5,vc_responsive
October 26, 2018

The Best Airline Stopover Programs

Instead of spending all day in an airport waiting for your connecting flight, take advantage of these eight airlines’s stopover programs, where you can spend up to a week exploring a new city, often for no extra fee. From Toronto to Dubai, happy exploring.

Lisbon
Buoyed by its new partnership with JetBlue, Portugal’s TAP is offering great deals on flights between the U.S. and Europe, with up to three-day-long stopovers in Lisbon (which Condé Nast Traveler named the continent’s most underrated city) to sweeten the deal.

How to Book It: Head straight to TAP’s “Discover Portugal” page, where you can book flights, pick from a list of hotels that offer discounts for people taking part in the stopover program, and download TAP’s branded app full of tips for your visit.

Panama City
If you’re heading to the Caribbean or South America, why not stretch your vacation out just a little bit longer with a stopover in Panama City? Flights between those two regions and the United States qualify for Copa’s complimentary stopover program, and since Copa is part of the Star Alliance you can also bank additional miles to use on airlines like United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, or Singapore Airlines.

How to Book It: While you can look for flights via Copa’s special stopover website, you have to make the actual booking over the phone. If you’ve already booked a Copa ticket and want to change it to include the free stopover, you’re unfortunately too late as the whole package must be arranged at the same time.

Reykjavik
Icelandair’s famous stopover program in Reykjavik is the grandfather of these programs. Conceived in the 1970s as a way to boost tourism to then-largely unknown Nordic capital, the program—which lets North Americans en route to Europe (or vice versa) spend 3-7 days in Iceland for free—is so successful that it was credited with making Reykjavik a major tourist destination to this day.

How to book It: The layover program is such a core part of Icelandair’s business that it has its very own website. Plug in your dates, specify whether you want to do the stopover on the way to or from your final destination, and go from there.

Toronto
Air Canada’s free Toronto stopover program, which launched in early 2016, came out of two goals: to encourage people to take advantage of flight deals to Europe and Asia, and to boost tourism for Canada’s biggest city. Travelers can spend up to one week in Toronto on their way to or from another destination, and the biggest market so far is Americans.

How to book it: Head straight to the Toronto stopover microsite. On top of booking your flights, you can also buy tickets for the UP Express, an express train that connects the airport with downtown Toronto and pick up a City Pass, which will get you free entrance to most major attractions in the city.

Helsinki
Never flown FinnAir? Now’s your chance. The Nordic airline is sweetening the deal for trips to Europe and Asia via Helsinki by offering free layovers in the Finnish capital. You can stay for up to five days on either side of your trip, so choose wisely, and Helsinki’s location makes it easy to pop over to Tallinn or Stockholm if you want to squeeze in another city break.

How to book It: FinnAir’s easy-to-use stopover page should have everything you need. You can also sign up for one of several approved package tours (themed around Northern Lights spotting, reindeer petting, an authentic sauna trip, or simply exploring the city) at the same time.

Abu Dhabi
If you’re flying on Etihad and connecting in Abu Dhabi, take a break and stretch your legs in town. You can stay for up to 96 hours without a visa, and the airline offers a deal where you can get two nights in a hotel for the price of one. It’s not free, but it is very affordable: rates begin from $37 USD per person. Etihad also has relationships with local vendors, and you can get two-for-one deals on lots of local activities, like city tours or a round of golf at Yas Links Golf Course.
How to book It: Head to the Etihad stopover page to do everything at once, or opt for the multi-city booking page if you are more flexible with your flight schedule.

For information on traveling to this locale and or additional information on this or any other article please contact us here. Or call tel: +1. 305.445.7791

Bangkok
If you’re considering going to Australia this fall or winter, break up those crazy long flights by booking on Thai Airways and taking a free layover in Bangkok. The airline’s new limited-edition program only works on flights from Oz, but it’s a great way to extend your trip.

How to book It: Once you’ve booked your flights, fill out Thai Airways’s online form for stopover passengers and give the company up to three business days to get in touch with you about arrangements.

Shanghai
One potential headache when visiting mainland China is filling out visa paperwork. But you can sidestep that process by booking an Air China stopover that gives you up to 96 hours (the max amount of time you can spend in the country sans document) in either Shanghai or Beijing. Still, despite the lack of a visa requirement, you’ll still have to sign up for an approved tour and book into a hotel on the airline’s list, so consider this a way to get a first glimpse of China rather than a full-on vacation.

How to Book It: Contact Air China directly to book the whole shebang, from flights to packages. The airline doesn’t list layover package prices online, so definitely ask for rates first.

Dubai
Not only is Emirates consistently rated one of the best airlines in the world, it also offers a great way to see its hub city of Dubai. The airline sells a range of stopover packages that can be booked as little as 48 hours ahead of your flight, which is great for impulsive travelers, and an agent can book your hotel or apartment for you at the same time. An airline rep will greet you at the airport, and you’ll get a free booklet with info about what to do in town. Bonus: any hotel included in the package offers 24-hour reception for Emirates guests, because jet lag is for real.

How to book It: Once you’ve nailed down your flight details, contact Emirates online or by phone. There’s a huge online catalogue of layover options, but absolutely zero prices—you’ll need to ask an agent for quotes.

For information on traveling to this locale and or additional information on this or any other article please contact us here. Or call tel: +1. 305.445.7791
October 26, 2018

Strangers on a plane – To Talk or not to Talk?

Talking to people on planes is a hotly debated topic. Some stick with their plan to stay silent: wine, window seat, eye mask. Others open themselves up to conversation, and even end up meeting their soulmates. Bottom line? Most people have a story about meeting someone on a plane—good or bad.READ MORE

October 2, 2018

FALL COLORS WHEN & WHERE THEY’LL PEAK

The steaminess of summer has finally worn off and most of the country is getting that first cool nip in the air, which means it’s time to crack open that pumpkin beer, break out your decorative gourds, and get outside to see America’s annual show of fall colors. READ MORE

September 17, 2018

Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and Starwood Officially Combine Loyalty Programs

The major move makes it easier to earn points for free nights at more than 6,700 hotels.

It’s a done deal: Travelers who’d been in the Starwood Preferred Guest and Ritz-Carlton Rewards loyalty programs are now Marriott Rewards members. The world’s biggest hotel brand wrapped the long-promised combination the three programs after setting an August 18 deadline for the cutover. “The programs now
READ MORE

September 6, 2018

OMAN- Zighy Bay

From serene scenery to magical memories, awaken your senses with a perfect balance of adventure and wellness at Six Senses Zighy Bay, where rugged mountains dive into sleepy azure waters. Enjoy what it means to be timeless.  In the infamous words of the inimitable Spice Girls “a-zig a-zig ahhhhhh” – they were surely talking about this Six Senses stunner (and you won’t be able to stop humming this when there).READ MORE

August 8, 2018

Made-Up Travel Words We Love to Hate

Brexit. Snowmaggedon. Twerking. These words were unknown—uncoined even—just ten years ago. By one expert estimate, we add 1,000 new words, or neologisms, to the printed English language every year, The Guardian reports. Compared to most major world languages, English is particularly prone to such coinages, says Kory Stamper, former associate editor at Merriam-Webster and author of Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries.

“Unlike French or Italian or Spanish, we don’t have an academy to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong or whether or not something is a proper word,” she says. “We figure that out on our own. It’s very democratic.”

She believes that the new, hashtag-driven era has accelerated this trend even more. No other sector seems to be more susceptible to it than travel. Unfortunately, not all neologisms are as adorkable as, well, adorkable.

For information on traveling to this locale and or additional information on this or any other article please contact us here. Or call tel: +1. 305.445.7791

STAYCATION
noun, stay·ca·tion, \ ˈstā-ˈkā-shən
A vacation spent at home, or in the nearby area. See also: mancation or brocation (a guys’ trip), momcation (moms only, please), citycation (a vacation in an urban destination), and traincation (self-explanatory, we hope).

“People hate blended words, or portmanteaus, because they think of them as being stupid kitschy marketing,” says Stamper. Staycation embodies that wince-inducing sense of artifice. But this word, which boomed in the wake of Great Recession of 2008, wasn’t coined recently—in fact, she says this neologism is more like an AARPism. It was first used in 1944 by Felsenbrau beer in an ad in its local paper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, encouraging locals to ditch trips and spend money locally as part of the war effort.

BABYMOON
noun, ba·by·moon, \ˈbābēˌmo͞on
A romantic vacation taken by couples before a baby is born. See also: mini-moon (quick honeymoon), weddingmoon (a combination destination wedding and honeymoon), or moneymoon (a vacation taken after lottery winning or inheritance)

We can thank (or blame) author Sheila Kitzinger for this word, which she first used in her 1979 book Birth at Home. For the British childbirth expert, though, its original meaning was different: It referred to the glow-filled three or four weeks after birth when parents spend time with their child (just as honeymoon is a 16th-century word spotlighting the idea that the first month of marriage is the sweetest). Stamper says “babymoon” began to shift to its current meaning in the early 1990s. The backlash, she says, is two-fold. “It seems kind of frivolous and classist, because not all of us can afford to take that time off or spend the money to go to St. Tropez. And then there’s the fact that something that’s supposed to be sexy—a honeymoon—is now too closely tied to the product of your sexy time.”

For information on traveling to this locale and or additional information on this or any other article please contact us here. Or call tel: +1. 305.445.7791

TOURON
noun, tour·on, \ˈtôrˌän
An annoying or stupid tourist. From tourist and moron.

Some words—like this slang term—remain niche. Stamper says it does have its adherents: Yellowstone park rangers are said to use it as a code word for the visitor who gets out of the car to take a selfie with stampeding bison. “Yes, I know it sounds like a new French car company,” Stamper says, “but this goes back to the mid 1980s, and it pops up occasionally [in writing] every couple of years. It’s always defined in running text, which is a signal to a lexicographer that is hasn’t really settled into the language, because you have to explain it to people.” Perhaps that’s the point: Derogatory slang is only useful if it can be deployed, unnoticed, in daylight.

JETIQUETTE
noun, jet·i·quette, \ˈje-ti-kət
The standard of acceptable behavior among passengers in an airplane or an airport.

Like staycation, Stamper believes this word will stick around in our lexicon. “It’s linguistically transparent—people instantly know you’re talking about manners of some kind,” she says. The rise in bad behavior airside means we need this term more than ever, even to address eternal travel quandaries: If you’re in the middle seat, is it good jetiquette to claim both armrests? The first usage Stamper found was in 1995, in a Vanity Fair article about private planes; usage and meaning expanded to general air travel within a couple of years.

VOLUNTOURISM
noun, vol·un·tour·ismˌ\ välənˈto͝orizəm
Form of tourism where visitors participate in voluntary work, usually for a charity.

The word, first used in a tourism brochure in the early 1990s, stands apart from the others, per Stamper. It’s the verbal equivalent of good intentions gone awry, and may be one of the most divisive travel words. “We don’t have a problem with the word itself but with the concept behind it,” she says. “What brought it into broader awareness wasn’t people complaining about what an ugly word it was, but think pieces about whether voluntourism was a valid form of service, or just tourism.”

BLEISURE
noun, blei-sure, \ˈblē-zhər
A business trip onto which a traveler adds a vacation. From business and leisure.

Is there any worse travel word than this one? Stamper thinks not (though among neologisms as a whole, we reckon that brogurt—that’s ordinary yogurt, but specially packaged for dudes—surely just beats it over the finish line to that title). “When a colleague of mine first mentioned it at Merriam-Webster three or four years ago, I grimaced. It’s horrifying. I don’t even have to say it. I see it and I cringe,” she says. Indeed, the earliest citation Stamper can find—from the U.K. newspaper The Independent in 2010—is fittingly meta: in a think piece begging tourism marketers to stop dreaming up awkward words. Though it might not be common parlance stateside or in the U.K., bleisure has normalized in much of Asian English, in Singapore, India, and particularly Malaysia, says Stamper.