I just got back from a Western Caribbean Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas and Wow! What an amazing ship!! A few of the many really cool ship highlights are the FloRider, Ice Skating Rink, Rock Climbing wall, Royal Promenade and 9-hole miniature golf course. The FloRider is one of the coolest ship highlights and it’s not only fun for the riders but for the spectators as well. This video will sum up why.
The Ice Hotel in Sweden is 6,000 square feet of ice and snow making it the biggest ice hotel in the world. The beds of the hotels are specially made of snow, ice and reindeer skins. Guests sleep on these beds in a thermal sleeping bag to keep warm. The hotel is rebuilt every winter after it melts. Each time the hotel is rebuilt they make changes to it. The hotel is open for 3 months out of the year.
The Neptune Festival Sand Sculptures of Virginia Beach is an annual festival. The festival is 10 days long and includes sport competitions, arts and crafts,the King Neptune’s Grand Parade and the sand sculpture competition. Here is a video displaying some of the finished sculptures.
Here are the top 10 places to celebrate the 4th of July and some of their best events:
Boston: Over 200 events including Boston Harborfest and the Boston Chowderfest
Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard: Nantucket’s Independence Day Celebration, Hyannis Boat Parade and Old Whaling Church Barbecue.
Chicago: Navy Pier Beer Garden, Music Shell and Millennium Park
Mount Rushmore: Tons of events; see them all here www.nps.gov/moru
Philadelphia: Visit the Liberty Bell and the historic sites in Independence Mall. Extended viewing hours over the holiday. Here’s a full list of events: www.americasbirthday.com
Queen Mary 2: Board the Cunard line’s newest prestige cruise ship for a 5 day Independence Day Sampler.
San Diego: Freedom Days Parade, San Diego Country Fair and Big Bay celebration. For more events visit: www.signonsandiego.com
San Juan Islands: San Juan Island, Fourth of July Beach and Pig War Picnic. For more events visit: www.guidetosanjuans.com
US Virgin Islands: Parade on St. John. For more events visit: www.usvitourism.vi
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folklife Festival and National Independence Day Parade. For more events visit: www.washington.org
Now you can rent out a small version of a luxury hotel room inside select airports. The Yotel can be booked hourly or overnight. It’s basically a mini luxury hotel room that is located in the terminal buildings at London’s Heathrow’s Terminal 4 and London Gatwick’s South Terminal. Amsterdam Schilphol has one as well. Each Yotel is within a few minutes walking distance from check in, arrivals and other terminals.
There are 3 types of rooms available:
Premium Cabin
Standard Cabin
Twin Cabin
You can see more details about each cabin on the Yotel.com website. These rooms are great for taking a quick nap in between flights, refreshing your self, catching up on some work or just to relax and watch some TV.
Here is a review from a guest who stayed in the Heathrow Yotel.
The Indoor Ski Resort is located in the Dubai Emirates Mall, one of the largest shopping malls in the world. Ski Dubai was built in December of 2005 and it is the world’s third largest indoor ski slope. How large? It measures 400 meters and uses 6000 tons of snow. The temperature of -1 degrees C during the day and -6 degrees during the night when the snow is produced is monitored by a very efficient insulation system. See the video below for a tour of inside the resort.
Sultan palaces, Buddhist Temples, miles and miles of rice fields and beautiful mountain views can be found here. Yogyakarta is located on the island of Java and is one of teh oldest towns in Indonesia.
The Prambanan Temple
2. Bimini Islands, Bahamas
Located in the Out Islands are North Bimini and South Bimini. They used to be popular outposts for rum runners. Bimini offers scuba diving and snorkeling over the mysterious Bimini Road that is believed to be built by the Atlantis engineers. Take a kayak out to the Fountain of Youth and you might even see some Atlantic spotted dolphins.
The Blue Hole is a great scuba diving spot in Belize. This geographical phenomena is located approximately 60 miles off the coast of Belize City. The Blue Hole was formed during past ice ages and is now part of the Lighthouse Reef System. There are quite a few other blue holes in the world as well. Here are some pictures of the marine life that thrives in The Blue Hole in Belize: http://www.news-world.us/pics/2009/03/24/the-great-blue-hole-in-belize/
I came across this picture and wanted to share it with all of you. This is the Unique Hotel in Sao Paulo. This hotel is definitely “unique”. Has anyone ever stayed here before?