I just got the October 2008 issue of Travel + Leisure and wanted to share a funny cartoon from a British Airways advertisement.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to check that.”
GoPlanit.com is a travel social network that assists you in planning your next trip. Your itinerary is completely personalized by taking into consideration important factors such as your preferences, budget, locations, hours of operation and friend’s recommendations to create the ultimate trip catered specifically to you. The recommendation engine suggests the most popular and highest rated items.
The extent of planning your trip can be simple or advanced (you choose this option in the beginning). The main difference between the two is that the Simple mode allows you to plan by day and the Advanced Mode allows you to plan by the hour. In the planning phase you choose the date and then you choose from several options to add activities, dining, lodging, your flight or you can add in your own custom item. Each activity, dining and lodging option has ratings for each choice that is presented to you to choose from which is pretty cool and useful. The flight feature allows you to enter your flight information which needs to be chosen by other means.
Once you are finished planning your trip you can export your itinerary into iCal/Outlook, a public URL or load into your Google Calendar.
If you are a savvy traveler and you know that there is more to Europe than London, Paris and Rome why not including one of the more exotic European capitals in your next trip in Europe? Helsinki – the capital of Finland - will definitely have a top ranking on this list.
There is a lot to explore although the city is only a fraction of the size of Paris or Berlin. Luckily most of Helsinki’s people speak English very well otherwise you would have problems. Unlike a trip to France or Germany you will not be able to pick up a few catchy phrases from a guide book during your flight time. Street names and words with seven “i”s will make you look into your guidebook or on the map the same number of times before you memorize the words. This makes a taxi ride as exotic as in Japan so you better point on the map or on the street name in a book. Otherwise it may happen you land in a totally different neighbourhood. Speaking of taxis: the basic starting fare when you board a taxi at Helsinki’s Vantaa airport is EUR 6.80 (and you are not gone any mile for this)…
The number of typical sightseeing targets (think: mum is standing with hanging arms in front of Eiffel Tower) in Helsinki is not high. That does not mean you cannot spend 4 or 5 days for a visit. It’s more about the full picture of Helsinki and Finland: what are the people like, what are their habits, what is the fashion, what are they interested in, where do they go for their weekend, what is the food like…
Hotel Kämp
So while you visit you may include classic spots like the Senate Square with its neo-classical Cathedral; Esplanade Park with elegant shops and the posh Hotel Kämp; the “Rock” church with modern architecture, quarried out of the natural bedrock with excellent acoustics for concerts; the orthodox church with its golden cupolas showing the Russian impact of former times.
During a summer trip you can enjoy long days and a 20 minute ferry ride to Suomenlinna, an island with a maritime fortress and beautiful views of other sides of the city at the sea.
If you travel in winter time you should not miss a visit to your hotel’s sauna (you do not need to stay in a spa hotel to have that) or much better: to Yrjönkatu, an amazingly restored swimming hall from the 1920s.
A cheap and fun way to see different neighbourhoods is to jump on a tram. One of the most interesting neighbourhoods you will see then is the Design District with many shops, galleries, design hotel Klaus K and the Design Forum Finland showing most of the country’s big names in design and art. You will find all the classic top-class brands and trend-setting young designers for objects and furniture.
But one of my favourite things to do in Helsinki is: checking out restaurants ! I do not speak of traditional so-called-typical Finnish food like elk. Not that it’s bad but admit it: it is rather to show off next time when your friends compare what exotic meat everybody ate on his trips than to enjoy a fantastic dinner. There has been a development in Helsinki’s restaurant scene that brings very creative chefs from all around the world into this city’s kitchens. The food is very fresh and of high quality, the meals are creative and restaurants offer various atmospheres. Try “Sasso”, a Tuscan restaurant with fantastic food and an exceptional wine list. The service is outstanding and you can dare to ask for details of a wine and you will get the full story including who created the label on the bottle. Similar situation at “Fishmarket” , situated below “Sasso” in the same building and has the same owner but different approach and style. Despite its location in a cellar it is very bright and crisp in style. The fish is a well. Both restaurants can be found at the end of Esplanade street towards the port.
Another favourite is “Mecca”, a cool lounge/club goes restaurant goes club. The atmosphere is as you would expect it from a stylish club. Regular guests match this style – without the attitude you know from New York or Paris.
Mecca
For another Mediterranean top restaurant I recommend “La Cucina”
with Catalonian and Basque cuisine. Located at the Palace Hotel’s second floor directly at the port. The restaurant welcomes guests with dark black and red design, stylish, modern but cozy. They offer pintxos (tapas) and main dishes of great variety and combinations. Fantastic dark blood coloured red match perfectly. I had my best deserts at this restaurant (chocolate varieties with sea salt) and would not fly Helsinki if I knew this restaurant was closed during that time (almost…).
La Cucina
I did not expect the great food and sophisticated interest for architecture and design before I came to Helsinki for the first time. Be surprised if you are going.
Photosynth allows travelers to share their photos in a way we have never seen before. This innovative photo sharing solution takes images and transforms them into a cinematic quality, 3D tour of the location. Getting started using this service is fairly simple and they even offer a downloadable video that will walk you through how to take overlapping photos, how to load your images and how to create a synth.
Currently they have quite a few travel destinations that synths have already been created for. To view them all you need to do is download the free Photosynth program to view and create synths. Feel free to post any synths you create below.
In 1949 Gatorland was a roadside attraction, today it is internationally known as the Alligator Capital of the World. Gatorland is a 110 theme park and nature conservatory where you can:
The park is open daily from 9:00am to 6:00pm and located at 14501 South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando FL 32837.
Travelistic.com is a free video website for travelers. With currently over 6,000 videos uploaded to date, Travelistic lets users explore destinations, review restaurants, tours and much more via video clips. Each video page allows users to vote and leave their comments. Here are a few videos that got my thumbs up vote:
Leave your comments of your thoughts on this website.
Also know as the “carnival” of the northern hemisphere, New Orleans Mardi Gras is one of the largest free events of the year. What can you expect to find at this event? Food, parades with creative floats and about 700,000 people in the streets of the French Quarter wearing colorful beads, costumes and having a really good time 
Here are some tips for getting the most out of your Mardi Gras experience:
RTravel.com is a travel social network that allows users to share travel videos and travel photos. Currently the website is running a contest with a $300 prize for the best travel photo album and a $300 prize for the best travel video upload. Here are some features that I found to be pretty useful:
Overall this social network is very organized, provides easy navigation and offers some cool features.
