World's Most Scenic Roads. Sometimes it's not the destination that matters but the road itself. And we're not really talking about ordinary road trips, when you pull into towns, see historic landmarks and mingle with the locals. Mountain passes, coastal highways and makeshift dirt tracks, even if secluded and leading to nowhere, can prove a rewarding experience that rivals the most carefully planned, event-packed vacation. Here's a handful of those most scenic ones: Often called the most magnificent road in the French Alps, Combe Laval was constructed in 1897 and originally served for the transportation of timber.
Today it mainly attracts cyclists eager to face the challenge of a steep climb and be rewarded with awe-inspiring views of the Vercors region. The most spectacular stretch of the road, between St. Jean-en-Royans and Col de la Machine, cuts into the cliff-like side of the gorge and runs through a series of short, narrow tunnels. Most rewarding vantage point. Peyto Lake seen from the road. Big Sur. Luxury Resort Ayada, Maldives. Luxury Resort Ayada, Maldives Ayada Maldives is a brand new awe-inspiring destination comprising an opulent 112 villa resort located on the 150,000 square meter paradise island of Maguhdhuvaa in the stunning Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll. From the moment you arrive on the luxury resort’s delicate, powder white sands you will be immersed in a fantasy of luxury, quality and style unique only to Ayada Maldives. Delight in the impeccable service and superb amenities of the seven indulgent restaurants, bars and cafes offering world-class cuisine to tantalise taste buds, the extensive 3,500 square meter AySpa Spa & Health Club by ESPA will take you to a blissful level of relaxation.
Ayada further includes a kids’ club, scuba diving centre and an array of water sports. The luxury Maldives resort with natural beauty at its heart where you can truly discover the exceptional. About Assif Majid Assif is a freelance British journalist who spends his time between Leeds, Manchester and London. AirDB : The Ultimate Guide to Airlines and Airports Worldwide. Comprehensive guide to over 2000 airlines and airports worldwide. Want to find out about possible connections and operating airlines in some remote airport ? The AirDB is the website you need. It has almost everything you’ll ever want to know when planning flights to remote locations. TheAirDB – Feature List Search or browse airports and airlines by region (Europe, Asia, Africa etc.)Currently profiles over 2000 airports and airlines worldwide.For each airport: map view, phone number, website, all airlines that use the airport, destinations airlines fly to, nearby airports and more. Check out AirDB @ www.theairdb.com.
Mezzoman : Meet in the Middle. It always takes a lot of discussion and negotiation when you have to meet up with several people at a convenient midpoint between your locations. To save you time and hassle, there is nifty service called Mezzoman. It is a simple web map mashup for locating mid points between two or three locations. Just enter yours and the locations of the person (s) you want to meet with and it will give you a number of midpoints along with nearby food joints.
You can also narrow search criteria down and get only the locations that match your food preferences (Pizzeria, Chinese Food, Ice cream, Indian etc.) Once you have entered the addresses and entered a criteria for the meeting place, click on the “Mezzoman Go!” Another similar service is HappyMedian. Features: Finds a midpoint between up to 3 different addressesChoose a convenient meeting place by different criteria (restaurant, pub, fast food joint etc)Available for iPhone and WebOS mobile platformsFree Check out Mezzoman @ www.mezzoman.com. MyScenicDrives: Build Custom Road Trips Through Scenic Drives. Road trips are a great alternative to costly flights but they can be pretty mundane and overbearing if you don’t know how to enjoy them. One great way to do so is travel through scenic drives and MyScenicDrives can help you find one that wouldn’t require deviating from your route. Simply enter your starting and ending addresses and the tool will build a map.
Click anywhere on the map to view the scenic drives in that region and add them to your itinerary. You can also search by places of interest such as lakes, mountains, etc, and add them to your route. Once done, update directions to include your waypoints and if you want, find places to stay near these points. Features: Find or create road trips.Search by places of interest and add them to your route.Find places to stay near by.Find scenic drives by state.Add labels, notes and schedule for any point.Similar sites: Rome2rio, RouteFriend, Route4Me, Route Planner, POIs Along A Route, UMapper and The Route Planner. Ambergris Caye vacation condo rental from LicketyTrip | Last Minute Vacation Rentals. 10 Useful Secrets the Major Airlines Don’t Want You to Know. Ten Bizarre Restaurants to Eat in Before you Die | AnyTrip Blog.
Whether it’s sipping lattes in a treehouse or devouring seafood at the bottom of the ocean, dining at these bizarre restaurants deserves a spot on your “Things to do before I die” list. If you’ve got a penchant for eating in eye-popping circumstances, keep an eye out for these restos on your travels… 1. Ithaa Restaurant, Indian Ocean No, it’s not a typo, the Ithaa (translation: pearl) is totally underwater and can comfortably seat 14 diners in a transparent acrylic bubble that allows you to have a 270° panoramic view of the ocean life all around you.
Offshore from Rangalifinolhu island in the Maldives, this expensive and exclusive dining experience is located by a tunnel from the shoreline Conrad Maldives that leads you down five metres below sea level. 2. Even some of the Modern Toilet ‘s tables are glass-topped bathtubs and the dishes are served in tureens that resemble mini-toilet bowls. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Interested in more food travel? Words: Lela Lake. How commercial airplanes SHOULD be laid out. Best Websites to Book Your Summer Vacation! by djevoke. Private Islands | Iglucruise.com. Ever wondered how to own your own private island? With many of major cruise lines now owning their own white sandy beaches in the Caribbean here is a look into how we can own our own paradise too.
Iglucruise is a award winning UK based cruise travel agency providing cruises from Southampton and great cruise deals to the Caribbean and Mediterranean Cruises. © Copyright Iglucruise 2010+ Small (600px width) <p><a href=" src=" border="0" alt="Private Islands /></a></p><p>Infographic by <a href=" Large (900px width) <p><a href=" src=" border="0" alt="Private Islands Infographic by /></a><a href=" Fayetteville, NC to Canton, OH and 1 more. 5 Little-Known Websites That Will Save You Time and Money When Booking Airfare Online. This article is by staff writer Adam Baker. Baker recently reflected on just how much money affects our internal values.
When booking airfare online, most people think of the popular online aggregation sites. You know the ones: They have the fancy commercials, catchy jingles, and washed-up celebrity pitchmen. While those sites aren’t inherently bad, there are a few well-documented problems with relying solely on these larger engines: Many of the aggregation sites neglect to include smaller, budget carriers.Larger airline companies may temporarily exclude or intentionally block these aggregation sites from fares.Short-term specials or incentive sales aren’t usually aggregated either. Obviously, there isn’t just one website capable of giving you the best deal every time. Many larger carriers make a significant amount of money off of the loyalty factor — meaning those individuals and companies who choose to fly the same airline every time for whatever reason. Take the work out of planning your Vacation - GlobetrottingTips.com. Get Frequent Flyer Miles Without Flying | Travel Hacking Cartel.
Road Trip Apps: The Best Apps for Travel | ParentsConnect.com - Parenting Advice, Parent Stories, and More! The best hostels in the world have… – Lonely Planet blog. With the increasing competition between each other, and rise of the flashpackers, hostels have piled on the amenities to attract travellers in recent years. But I want it all. In an ideal world, every hostel would… 1. Be clean…like Madrid’s Cat’s Hostel: 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
…and, finally, it should charge (at the very most) half the price that a night at a nearby, respectable, budget hotel would cost. All of these hostels (and another 1,500) can be booked through Lonely Planet at Hotels & hostels. Party Hotels : Best Party Hotel | Shermans Travel. How To Travel The World For Free (Seriously) You can travel the world for less money than you spend each month to fill up your gas tank. WORLD TRAVEL is cheap and easy. In fact, with a little practice and effort, you can travel for free. The idea that travel is expensive and difficult is bullshit peddled by tour companies, hotel chains, and corporate media. The tourism industry wants you to buy cruise packages and stay at all-inclusive resorts. They want you to choose a world travel experience the same way you would choose a new jacket at the mall. They want your credit card number.
The tourism industry doesn’t want me to reveal the simple secrets of free travel, but I’m going to share them with you anyway. 1. Travel frees you from the grind of daily routine. The joy of new experience is the most wonderful thing about world travel — and new experiences are free. The simple joy of being in a new place is just a matter of…wait for it…going someplace new. 2. For fresh air, go outside. 3. Time is not money. 4. You are free. 5. 6. 7. 8.
E-Events: Group Accommodations Made Easy. 100+ Things to Know If You’re Going to Italy | Italy In SF. My friends often ask me for support in travel preparation when they plan to go to Italy. In fact, I think it’s a great idea- go to a country prepared to experience it at the fullest! I enjoy learning about the little idiosyncrasies that make a visit to a new country so interesting, the small traditions, the interesting customs… so, I thought I’d give you a cheat-sheet for Italy.
If you’d like a personalized crash-course on Italian culture before your trip, please contact me at vanessa at Italyinsf dot com. I would be happy to schedule a time to help you out with your trip organization as well as give you some useful tips about culture and traditions! Part 1: GENERAL ADVICE AND TRAVEL TIPS Don’t go off the beaten path before visiting the “holy trinity”: Rome, Florence and Venice. Part 2: SHOPPING AND STORES When walking into a store, especially clothing or shoes, in most cases you will have a shop assistant with you at all times. Part 3: FOOD AND DRINKS Part 4: CULTURE. 25 Boston Activities That Don’t Cost a Penny | Boston | iStopOver Magazine. Savvy travelers are ever on the lookout for bargains. If you are feeling the pinch of a limited vacation budget, know that you can experience a lot of terrific Boston travel experiences for free. Here are just a few ! Take a free guided National Park Service tour of the Freedom Trail (15 State St., Boston , 617-242-5642)( Map) and find out why Paul Revere could not have said, “The British are coming” Watch the sunset from the Harvard Bridge (at Massachusetts Ave.)( Map ) which is really much closer to MIT than Harvard!
Climb the 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument and check out the view of Boston and Cambridge (Monument Square, 617-242-5641)( Map ). Fly a kite at Castle Island Park (Off William J. Find the graves of the many famous “residents” at Mount Auburn Cemetary (580 Mt. See where Julia Child wrote”Bon Appetite” and her initials in the sidewalk in front of Savenor’s Market (92 Kirkland St., Cambridge, 617-576-6328)( Map ).
Everyone likes free beer ! RoadTrip America - Road Trip Planning for North America. 7 Great American Road Trips for a Long Weekend. We all know someone who has done it – hopped in the car, filled up the tank and took off on an epic road trip of days, weeks, or even months spent cruising the backroads and highways of America. They come back with inspiring tales of small towns, endless vistas, and the joy of the open road. But a trip like that takes time, time that many of us simply don’t have. Those of us who can’t get away to drive the length of the US always feel a twinge of jealousy and longing to feel that freedom.
But with a slight adjustment of your mindset, you can enjoy the endless possibilities of a traditional road trip in just a few days. Eastern Seaboard With its small size, you can cover a lot of states in New England in a short amount of time. Flying into New York may be the cheapest option, but you could also arrive at Newark or Philadelphia to make this journey. From Mystic, drive just over 2 hours to Salem, Massachusetts. Best time to make the trip: Spring and AutumnMinimum days needed: 3 The Rust Belt.
Mae Sai and Tha Ton pictures || Thailand images photo gallery. Tha Ton is a village along the Kok riverside, 24 km north of Amphoe Fang, Chiang Mai. Long-tailed boat with pilot are available for traveling. I was with an italian friend and definitely I keep a good memory of this small Thai village that hosted us one night waiting to get the boat to Chiang Rai. The view from the temple on the hill is amazing, beside the trip along the river Kok was absolutely nice and I do recommend to reach Chiang Rai in this way instead of the usual road from Chiang Mai. Mae Sai is the northernmost district of Chiang Rai Province in northern Thailand.
It is a major border crossing between Thailand and Burma, which Asian Highway Network AH2 crossing the Mae Sai River to the town Tachileik in Burma. One day passes for non-Burma nationals are issued at Burma customs in Tachileik, passports are confiscated and a travel temporary travel permit is issued which is exchanged for your passport upon crossing back into Thailand. Map Data Posts related to Mae Sai and Tha Ton. Travel Tips. Explore - see where you can go for how much. Lonely Planet Travel Guides and Travel Information. 43 Places. Choose Your Own Adventure.