Mar 8th, 2013 at 4:00PM: Welcome to this week's edition of "Hotel News We Noted," where we round up the week's best, most interesting and just downright odd news of note in the hospitality world. Have a tip? Send us a note or leave a comment below.
The hotel world has been buzzing this winter with new and planned openings, extreme amenities and packages galore. Here's our take on what you need to know this week:
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Hotel News We Noted: March 8, 2013
Mar 8th, 2013 at 4:00PM: Welcome to this week's edition of "Hotel News We Noted," where we round up the week's best, most interesting and just downright odd news of note in the hospitality world. Have a tip? Send us a note or leave a comment below.
The hotel world has been buzzing this winter with new and planned openings, extreme amenities and packages galore. Here's our take on what you need to know this week:
...Victoria & Albert Museum Showcases Treasures From Royal Courts
Mar 7th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has just opened a new exhibition about the development of trade and official relations between Russia and the United Kingdom.
"Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars" brings together more than 150 objects for a look at the interaction between both courts from the accession of Henry VIII in 1509. He and later Tudor ...Museum Of Modern Art Opens Bill Brandt Photography Retrospective
Mar 6th, 2013 at 2:00PM: The Museum Of Modern Art in New York City has opened an important retrospective of the work of Bill Brandt, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.
"Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light" covers the photographer's entire career in more than 150 images. While Brandt was born in Germany in 1904, he made England his home until his death in 1983. He's best known for his intriguing ...London's Hippest Places To Eat Right Now
Feb 15th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
London's food landscape is constantly changing. As new restaurants come and go, it can be hard to keep up with what's hip and happening. If you happen to be stopping through in the next few months, here are some of London's trendiest restaurants right now.
Ceviche
This small Soho restaurant is London's only pisco bar and cevicheria. Besides plenty of Peru's national drink and dish, visitors ...The Shard, London's Tallest Skyscraper, Opens To Public Today
Feb 1st, 2013 at 3:00PM:
Today London officially opens its newest landmark, a 1,016-foot skyscraper that has been under construction since 2009. As you can see above, the irregular pyramid-shaped building is entirely covered in glass, and resembles an icicle or chip of glass – hence the name, The Shard.
At 87 stories, the building is the tallest in the European Union. From the 68th to the 72nd floor, the ...ARTSPACE London Showcases Photography Of Iraqi Artist Halim Al Karim
Jan 27th, 2013 at 9:00AM: ARTSPACE London is one of London's lesser-known art venues for out-of-town visitors. It opened in May of 2012 and focuses on Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish art. The original ARTSPACE is in Dubai, and the owners decided to open a London branch to expose these Eastern artists to a Western audience.
The latest London exhibition is of Iraqi photographer Halim Al Karim, opening ...Royal Institution In London Looking To Sell Its Historic Home
Jan 18th, 2013 at 3:00PM:
The Royal Institution of Great Britain, one of London's great scientific landmarks, may soon be moving.
The BBC reports that it's putting its historic Mayfair property on the market with an asking price of £60 million ($96 million). The Royal Institution was founded in 1799 to promote scientific study and education. It hosts numerous lectures, a video channel, and there's a museum ...Video Of The Day: London Landmarks Seen Through Time-Lapse
Jan 14th, 2013 at 5:00PM:
"When I first moved to London, I was struck by the number of people living in this great city and the speed at which they move from one place to another," writes filmmaker Lucas Veuve, who created the time-lapse film above that showcases many of London's most famous landmarks, from Tower Bridge to Piccadilly Circus.
"I wanted to capture how I saw London when I first moved here," he ...
Book British Airways, Get Two Free Nights In The UK
Jan 10th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
If you've been thinking about crossing the Atlantic and heading to the United Kingdom, now is a great time to snag a deal. British Airways and VisitBritain have teamed up to offer "The Big British Invite," a promotion gifting free two-night stays when travelers book round-trip airfare out of the United States.
The offer – which is valid through midnight on March 31, 2013, so long as ...Reassembling The Skeletons Of Medieval Royalty
Dec 24th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
A team of scientists from Bristol University are using DNA analysis to identify the remains of early medieval English royalty.
The bones are kept in several mortuary chests in Winchester Cathedral and include the remains of King Cnut, a Norse ruler who conquered England and ruled it from 1016-1035. The other remains are of Emma, his queen, and later kings Harthacnut, Egbert, Ethelwulf and ...Travel Gifts For The Last Minute Shopper That Won't Break The Bank
Dec 24th, 2012 at 1:00PM: With one of the biggest travel gift-giving holidays of the year coming up, not everyone is done shopping. To many gifters, last-minute mode is panic time and tactical shopping strategies kick in. Rather than simply buying a host of generic gift cards (akin to throwing money at the problem), get creative with gifts that show some thought.
A slap in the face saying, "Yes, I do care!" can be had ...United Passenger Flies A Million Miles In One Year
Dec 16th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
A United Airlines passenger who takes the term "frequent flyer" very seriously has racked up a million miles in the sky during 2012.
Tom Stuker, an automotive sales consultant who lives in both suburban Chicago and New Jersey, reached the record-breaking number earlier this month on a flight between London and Chicago, United announced in a press release.
This is just the latest ...Photo Of The Day: St. Pancras
Nov 30th, 2012 at 5:00PM:
It's five years this month since the Eurostar began its run from the renovated St. Pancras train station. The station remains a tour-de-force of a hub. This may be the only train station in the UK that feels truly European, and not only because it connects to the European train grid. St. Pancras is densely useable and grand, with a real buzz – like a train station of yesteryear, the sort ...Adventures Of A Couchsurfer: London Edition
Nov 11th, 2012 at 10:00AM: One of the hairless cats cozied up to me. The other looked on, like a bald alien. My friend and I were sitting on a leather couch, listening to a guy we'd just met share intimate – and disturbing – details of his sex life.
I was traveling with a guy friend through this leg of my Europe trip. I'd stayed with a few couchsurfers before. When I was traveling alone, I'd always been ...View From The Shard In London: Pre-Opening Glimpses
Nov 6th, 2012 at 2:30PM:
View from the Shard, which comprises three observatory floors at the top of the Shard, London's tallest building, is not yet open for business. The new tourist attraction will open on February 1, 2013. This week, in conjunction with World Travel Market 2012, View from the Shard has been open for advance viewing by travel media.
The 72nd floor, the View from the Shard's top observation ...A Traveler's Confession: I Hate Sightseeing
Nov 4th, 2012 at 1:00PM: I love to travel but I hate to see the sights. Have you ever found yourself running around looking for obscure museums and other tourist attractions while on a trip and wondered what the point was? I prefer to spend my travel time on the road the same way I enjoy my leisure time at home: wandering around, meeting people and indulging my curiosity when I stumble upon something of interest.
...Airports As Art Galleries? London Says Yes
Nov 1st, 2012 at 12:00PM:
Airports around the world have a lot of wall space to fill. Cavernous spaces inside terminals often mimic outside parking spaces wide enough for jumbo jets. To fill that space, those who plan airports use huge sculptures, gigantic paintings and other works of art. Now, London's Gatwick airport will be the home to several works by British pop artist Sir Peter Blake.
Best known for his design ...Hypnotizing Video Of Planes Landing At London Heathrow
Oct 27th, 2012 at 11:00AM:
London's Heathrow airport is among the world's busiest airports for passengers, with the total number of travelers passing through in the first half of 2012 topping out at over 46 Million. Think about that number for a moment and try to put it in context. It's not easy, is it?
To give some sense of what a typical travel day looks like at this London transportation hub, watch the above ...
World Subway Maps Drawn To Scale
Oct 24th, 2012 at 9:00AM: Think New York has the most extensive subway system in the world? You may be right, but it's a toss-up with London and Berlin. It's easy to judge if you take all the metro systems and draw them to the same scale, as artist and urban planner Neil Freeman did in a series of minimalist subway maps. Comparing different systems, it's a wonder why cities like Budapest even bothered with a metro, yet ...Blood Rain Predicted To Fall In The United Kingdom This Halloween
Oct 23rd, 2012 at 1:00PM: Blood rain just before Halloween? While it may sound like a festive prank, forecasters are really predicting this bizarre weather occurrence.
The phenomenon is actually a mix of red dust from the Sahara Desert blowing toward Europe. However, because it's supposed to rain, the dust will most likely mix with the precipitation causing red raindrops, or blood rain.
Other predictions include the ...
