MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 21, 2012 —

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Vayama.com, the online travel agency that specializes in international travel, announces today its list of unique off the beaten path countries for traveling with children internationally – including airlines and activities for each location that are ideal for families with children of all ages.  

“There is no doubt that traveling with children on international flights is a challenge, but that does not mean that it cannot be done,” said Thomas Kent, vice president of marketing at Vayama.com. “We have compiled a list for families so they can find the best destinations, airlines and activities worldwide to make their international travel experience with their children a stress free and memorable experience for the entire family.”

Hong Kong, China

Getting Around: When traveling to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific or Asiana are great for children as they offer coloring books and individual video screens for entertainment. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the terminal offers high tech video consoles for entertainment. From the Hong King airport, a direct ferry is available from the airport to Macao – the “Las Vegas of Hong Kong”. There is also a rail connection direct from the airport to Disneyland Hong Kong, allowing families to get to their destination without having to go all the way into Hong Kong Island first.

Family Fun Factor:  Macao and its Venetian hotel and casino provide entertainment for the entire family including real gondolas and canals in the lobby. Sitting on its own private island facing the South China Sea, Hong Kong Disneyland features a “Main Street, U.S.A.”, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland and Toy Story Land. Hong Kong Disneyland is designed to accommodate world travelers as all its cast members speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin and all the signage is in English, Chinese and Japanese. For a treasured family memory, take the trolley to the top of Victoria peak for the most spectacular views of the Hong Kong harbor and the lit skyscrapers at night.

Cape Town, South Africa

Getting Around: South African Airways offers video screens for each passenger that include video games and cartoons, and for the parents the airline also a complementary glass of South African wine. Once in Cape Town, a rental car is the ideal way to explore the South African coast.  

Family Fun Factor: Boulder Beach is one of the most spectacular scenic drives and offers the opportunity to swim with the penguins. This coastal route contains many beach towns known for surfing and kayaking. Addo Elephant Park is world famous for its herds of African Elephants, zebras, warthogs and lions. Addo’s picnic area features a Jurassic Park style electrified fence to keep the humans separated from its pride of lions. The beauty of the South African national park system is that tourists can drive their own cars for a DIY safari or pick a local guide at the park’s gate that will point out the local mega fauna.

Auckland, New Zealand

Getting Around:  Air New Zealand offers personal video screens for each passenger with a variety of video games available for children as well as adults.

Family Fun Factor: The New Zealand locals, Kiwis, are known for their adventure sports from bungee jumping right off Auckland’s tallest tower or walking on a skywalk atop Auckland’s Sky Tower.  Kiwis are also great sailors and Auckland is known as the “city of sails”. Visitors have their choice of sailing day trips from America’s Cup super sailboats, where passengers help the crew pull the sails up, to more relaxed traditional boats. For visitors that are fans of Lord of the Rings, visit the set and see Gandalf’s house in Hobbiton, which is located on a real sheep farm and offers sheep shearing demonstration along with the opportunity to bottle feed baby lambs. During the southern winter you can also go snowboarding on Mount Ruapehu.  

Paris, France

Getting Around:  Paris is home to Disneyland Europe and direct trains are available to Eurodisney from Charles de Gaule airport.

Family Factor:  Take a trip to the Paris catacombs and the famous Paris sewer tour of Les Miserables fame. The whole family is sure to enjoy a tour of Paris’ world famous museums, such as the Louvre and the Pompidou center, which is sure to bring more learning opportunities in one visit to Paris than months in the classroom.

London, England

Getting Around:  Fly to London on Virgin Atlantic as they offer personal video screens, crayons and coloring books.

Family Fun: The British Museum is a perfect place for the entire family with its Egyptian Mummies and ancient artifacts from all over the world, including the Rosseta Stone. Madame Tussauds and the shops and restaurants around Piccadilly Circus and Leister Square are great for entertainment. Take a ferry up the Thames River, under London Bridge and Tower Bridge to the Greenwich observatory where a green laser cuts the night sky to mark the 0 parallel.

Cancun, Mexico

Getting Around: The Mayan Riviera is ideal for families as it has a number of all-inclusive hotels that offer food, drink, kids activities, beaches and more without ever having to leave the hotel. Most of the resorts will offer a direct pick up from the airport and some, such as Xcaret, provide buses for low cost transportation to surrounding archaeological eco-parks and the strip in Cancun.

Family Fun: The Mayan Riviera provides a paradise for children with its powdery beaches and the excitement of swimming with dolphins, petting turtles and tropical parrots. Resorts offer theme park style fun for the whole family with an underground river rides, dolphin swims, tropical jungle trails, marine turtles and much more.

About VayamaVayama is an online travel agency uniquely focused on international travel. The company offers travelers a vast selection of flights through its online booking engine that taps into inventory not available on other online travel websites. Launched in 2007, Vayama has continued to expand its online international travel services to include features such as 24/7 customer service, premium economy airfare, hotels, activities and car rentals.

For regular Vayama updates, follow us at www.twitter.com/Vayama become a fan on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/VayamaTravel or visit www.Vayama.com.

About Travix International B.V.Vayama is part of Travix International B.V., a global travel company that manages an extensive portfolio of international travel websites operating under the brands: Vayama (USA), CheapTickets (Europe Asia), Vliegwinkel.nl (Netherlands), BudgetAir (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, UK, USA, Canada France), Flugladen (Germany) and EasyToBook.com (Worldwide).

Travix operates in 16 countries, employs 430 staff and has combined sales in excess of USD $1.1Billion.

SOURCE Vayama.com

Presidents Day is a good time to mull what presidential places in America are worth a look-see. Lonely Planet gathered 50 — one from each state — that provide good vacation ideas, whether for the long weekend or summer vacation.

Here are five destinations in the West that made the grade.

Arizona-Nevada: Hoover Dam plays the name game, from Hoover Dam (current name) to Boulder Dam (preferred by President Franklin Roosevelt, as a dis of his predecessor). No matter, here’s the real news you can use: “[T]he Arizona side has free parking, but Nevada’s has the ‘Dam T-shirt’ shop, tours and bad coffee.” It’s 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas and costs $11 for adults and $9 for kids 4 to 16 to tour the power plant, and $30 for adults and kids for a jumbo tour that includes the dam’s passageways. Buy tickets from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Hawaii: This has to be the coolest presidential stop. Get an ice cream cone at the Baskin-Robbins at 1618 King St. in Honolulu. Why? Because that’s where Barack Obama scooped out the cold stuff as a teen. Lonely Planet declares it “a bona fide presidential historic site.”

Colorado: Who knew? The third-floor rotunda at the state Capitol contains portraits of every U.S. president. The paintings were all done by artist Lawrence Williams, according to the state’s website. (The Mohave Museum in Kingman, Ariz., also has paintings of the presidents and first ladies by Williams.)

Alaska: Little Nenana, 65 miles southwest of Fairbanks, is the site of the final golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad. Warren Harding arrived in 1923 to do the honors. Lonely Planet offers this historic tidbit: “[S]ome say he missed the spike on his first two tries. Two weeks later Harding died.”

Utah: The pick here is the Beehive House in Salt Lake City, the one-time home of Brigham Young built between 1853 and 1855. The presidential tie-in is Teddy Roosevelt, who apparently once slept here.

 

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –
Vayama.com, the online travel agency that specializes in international travel, announces today its list of unique off the beaten path countries for traveling with children internationally – including airlines and activities for each location that are ideal for families with children of all ages.

“There is no doubt that traveling with children on international flights is a challenge, but that does not mean that it cannot be done,” said Thomas Kent, vice president of marketing at Vayama.com. “We have compiled a list for families so they can find the best destinations, airlines and activities worldwide to make their international travel experience with their children a stress free and memorable experience for the entire family.”

Hong Kong, China

Getting Around: When traveling to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific or Asiana are great for children as they offer coloring books and individual video screens for entertainment. Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the terminal offers high tech video consoles for entertainment. From the Hong King airport, a direct ferry is available from the airport to Macao – the “Las Vegas of Hong Kong”. There is also a rail connection direct from the airport to Disneyland Hong Kong, allowing families to get to their destination without having to go all the way into Hong Kong Island first.

Family Fun Factor: Macao and its Venetian hotel and casino provide entertainment for the entire family including real gondolas and canals in the lobby. Sitting on its own private island facing the South China Sea, Hong Kong Disneyland features a “Main Street, U.S.A.”, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland and Toy Story Land. Hong Kong Disneyland is designed to accommodate world travelers as all its cast members speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin and all the signage is in English, Chinese and Japanese. For a treasured family memory, take the trolley to the top of Victoria peak for the most spectacular views of the Hong Kong harbor and the lit skyscrapers at night.

Cape Town, South Africa

Getting Around: South African Airways offers video screens for each passenger that include video games and cartoons, and for the parents the airline also a complementary glass of South African wine. Once in Cape Town, a rental car is the ideal way to explore the South African coast.

Family Fun Factor: Boulder Beach is one of the most spectacular scenic drives and offers the opportunity to swim with the penguins. This coastal route contains many beach towns known for surfing and kayaking. Addo Elephant Park is world famous for its herds of African Elephants, zebras, warthogs and lions. Addo’s picnic area features a Jurassic Park style electrified fence to keep the humans separated from its pride of lions. The beauty of the South African national park system is that tourists can drive their own cars for a DIY safari or pick a local guide at the park’s gate that will point out the local mega fauna.

Auckland, New Zealand

Getting Around: Air New Zealand offers personal video screens for each passenger with a variety of video games available for children as well as adults.

Family Fun Factor: The New Zealand locals, Kiwis, are known for their adventure sports from bungee jumping right off Auckland’s tallest tower or walking on a skywalk atop Auckland’s Sky Tower. Kiwis are also great sailors and Auckland is known as the “city of sails”. Visitors have their choice of sailing day trips from America’s Cup super sailboats, where passengers help the crew pull the sails up, to more relaxed traditional boats. For visitors that are fans of Lord of the Rings, visit the set and see Gandalf’s house in Hobbiton, which is located on a real sheep farm and offers sheep shearing demonstration along with the opportunity to bottle feed baby lambs. During the southern winter you can also go snowboarding on Mount Ruapehu.

Paris, France

Getting Around: Paris is home to Disneyland Europe and direct trains are available to Eurodisney from Charles de Gaule airport.

Family Factor: Take a trip to the Paris catacombs and the famous Paris sewer tour of Les Miserables fame. The whole family is sure to enjoy a tour of Paris’ world famous museums, such as the Louvre and the Pompidou center, which is sure to bring more learning opportunities in one visit to Paris than months in the classroom.

London, England

Getting Around: Fly to London on Virgin Atlantic as they offer personal video screens, crayons and coloring books.

Family Fun: The British Museum is a perfect place for the entire family with its Egyptian Mummies and ancient artifacts from all over the world, including the Rosseta Stone. Madame Tussauds and the shops and restaurants around Piccadilly Circus and Leister Square are great for entertainment. Take a ferry up the Thames River, under London Bridge and Tower Bridge to the Greenwich observatory where a green laser cuts the night sky to mark the 0 parallel.

Cancun, Mexico

Getting Around: The Mayan Riviera is ideal for families as it has a number of all-inclusive hotels that offer food, drink, kids activities, beaches and more without ever having to leave the hotel. Most of the resorts will offer a direct pick up from the airport and some, such as Xcaret, provide buses for low cost transportation to surrounding archaeological eco-parks and the strip in Cancun.

Family Fun: The Mayan Riviera provides a paradise for children with its powdery beaches and the excitement of swimming with dolphins, petting turtles and tropical parrots. Resorts offer theme park style fun for the whole family with an underground river rides, dolphin swims, tropical jungle trails, marine turtles and much more.

About VayamaVayama is an online travel agency uniquely focused on international travel. The company offers travelers a vast selection of flights through its online booking engine that taps into inventory not available on other online travel websites. Launched in 2007, Vayama has continued to expand its online international travel services to include features such as 24/7 customer service, premium economy airfare, hotels, activities and car rentals.

For regular Vayama updates, follow us at
www.twitter.com/Vayama become a fan on Facebook at
www.Facebook.com/VayamaTravel or visit
www.Vayama.com .

About Travix International B.V.Vayama is part of Travix International B.V., a global travel company that manages an extensive portfolio of international travel websites operating under the brands: Vayama (USA), CheapTickets (Europe Asia), Vliegwinkel.nl (Netherlands), BudgetAir (The Netherlands, United Kingdom, UK, USA, Canada France), Flugladen (Germany) and EasyToBook.com (Worldwide).

Travix operates in 16 countries, employs 430 staff and has combined sales in excess of USD $1.1Billion.

SOURCE Vayama.com

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

The organization that named Hammondsport the “Coolest Small Town in America” is hosting a new contest and several western New York destinations are up for nomination.

Budget Travel wants you to help them find the top 15 places your child should visit before they turn 15.

The Strong National Museum of Play is nominated along with the Finger Lakes region, Letchworth State Park and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Vote here before Feb. 28.

Low Cost Holidays are reporting a huge surge in online searches for travel destinations that have been featured in this year’s Oscar nominated films.

It seems that film-fanatic travellers have been inspired by the glamorous screen locations – enough to search for the destinations on the Low Cost Holiday website. Searches for holidays to Hawaii, a destination which happens to be where George Clooney filmed The Descendants, are up by 70 per cent.

Meanwhile, best picture nomination ‘Midnight in Paris’ has pushed the already popular romantic destination up by 215 per cent and the success of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo has created interest in Sweden with a 100 per cent year on year increase in searches for short breaks in Stockholm.  

In honour of the 84th annual Academy Awards taking place in LA on Sunday, the travel website has come up with its own ‘Oscar Travel Awards’ – to honour the best destinations in 2012. 

The winners include Mexico as best long haul destination, because of it’s unbeatable value for money, and the Mediterranean island of Majorca for best short haul destination – due to its sandy beaches and fabulous scenery. 

The award for ‘great value for money’ for summer 2012 holidays went to Portugal because of its huge variety of accommodation and low cost flights. Bookings to the Algarve are up 46 per cent year on year – perhaps not suprising when you consider that prices for 7 nights in April start from as low as £75 per person including flights.

Matt Hall, Deputy Managing Director at Low Cost Holidays, commented: “If you’re after true LA glamour and glitz, then head to Los Angeles, home of the Oscars, with prices in May starting from £975 per person for 7 nights at a 4 star hotel including flights.”

Follow us @TravelBite
 
 

More budget air travel ahead from Singapore
Posted: 21 February 2012 1331 hrs

 

 

 
 
 

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AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes outlines next steps

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Singapore: Pack your bags, budget air travel is set to take off to new heights.

Budget carrier Tiger Airways announced Tuesday that its 33 percent-owned Mandala Airlines will resume flights in April.

The move could bring it head-on with Air Asia which offers a dozen routes to Indonesia, while opening up options for budget travellers hoping to see more Indonesian destinations apart from Jakarta, via Tiger Airways.

According to Tiger Airways, the Indonesian Director General of Air Communications had reactivated the air operator’s certificate of PT Mandala Airlines, frozen since the suspension of its operations in January 2011.

“Information regarding the number of aircraft, the initial routes and destinations for Mandala will be announced soon. The resumption of flights is scheduled for April 2012,” the airlines said in a statement.

Mandala will operate Airbus A-320 aircraft and adopt Tiger’s business model to offer low-fare travel to international and domestic Indonesian destinations within a five-hour flying radius.

With the approval, Tiger Airways should be able to tap into Indonesia’s potential for inexpensive domestic and international travel while taking up slack from its Australian operations after safety and leadership setbacks.

However loss-making Tiger Airways backed by Singapore Airlines would ironically have to claw off revenue rivalry from latest Singapore Airline budget carrier Scoot, with its plans to take off to Sydney and the Gold Coast in mid-2012.

While the latest Singapore-based budget airline has also promised routes to China and ultimately the world, its CEO Campbell Wilson has only ventured to add Japan as another possible Scoot destination in a recent interview.

With a target set on destinations with up to nine-hours flying time, Scoot will compete with Jetstar and AirAsia X.

However AirAsia’s CEO who was one of the first to tickle travellers’ taste-buds with budget travel, doesn’t seem too concerned as he sets his sights on Singapore.

“I think if AirAsia came to Singapore, it will be good for Singapore” said Tony Fernandes.

According to the maverick CEO, the Malaysian-based budget carrier already carries more passengers out of Singapore than either of its local rivals, Jetstar or Tiger Airways, and with more air passengers passing through Singapore, he is keen to tap the island’s air hub.

“We would love a licence here, we would love to bring more low-cost services to Singapore” he told told Channel NewsAsia, adding that he proposes to make Singapore a regional hub for his low-cost airline alongside Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Japan.

While aiming to create hubs in every ASEAN country, AirAsia’s CEO said he’s keen to win approval to fly to India and China while keeping an eye on Myanmar.

Beyond Asia, the airline’s long-haul unit AirAsia X plans to resume flights to London and Paris within the next four years, after pulling out over the EU’s carbon tax on airlines.

-CNA/sf

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Taking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is tough. Photo: Reuters

Everyone breaks at some point. There’s a moment – maybe just a small one – when you’re convinced you can’t go on. Get me a helicopter. Or just a tent. I’m not moving any further.

About 4100 metres above sea level, with the goal in sight through the thin Andean air, I broke.

Your breath comes short up there, wheezing through your throat. There’s just not enough oxygen – it’s like being in the desert and trickling the smallest drops of water into your mouth. You gasp for more but it’s not there.

Gradually, inexorably, I shut down, my swinging arms and plodding feet coming to a halt, dead still in the middle of the track. I looked up. So close, yet so far. “Just leave me here, guys,” I heaved, hands on knees. “I’ll see you at the top.”

The others slowly wheeled around. Matt, my friend and hiking companion, looked mildly concerned but clearly wasn’t standing for it. “No way mate,” he said, berating me like a drill sergeant. “We’re in this together. We’re finishing this together. Come on, walk!”

I sighed. I gasped. And I walked. A single pace at a time – one small step for a man, one giant leap for my failing willpower. The highest pass on the Inca Trail was only 100 metres higher but it could have been hundreds of kilometres away.

“This better be worth it,” I mumbled to myself.

The Inca Trail: it’s one of those ultimate bucket-list destinations. It’s rare you’ll meet a traveller who doesn’t have a goal to hike to Machu Picchu tucked deep in the recesses of their mind.

It’s got it all: ancient history, incredible scenery, a sense of adventure and a challenge.

That challenge is to make it through. It’s not a long hike, the traditional trail, but it’s a tough one. It’s the altitude that’s the real killer – that and all those steep climbs to the passes. It’s three days of solid plodding, one foot in front of the other, trying to remember to enjoy yourself as your muscles atrophy and your will to go on slowly seeps away. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration but it still makes you question the sanity of anyone who’d want to climb mountains for a living. Or, geez, for fun.

The local porters don’t seem to mind. They’re truly incredible, in fact, the way they hoik huge packs onto their shoulders and literally run the trail, padding past you in leather sandals as they push it to set up camp and provide trekkers with another hearty meal.

Those porters have their own solution to altitude sickness and crises of willpower, one that would garner you a visit from a SWAT team in some countries but earns a nod of respect here: coca leaves. Roll them into a ball, wedge them into the side of your gums and chew.

The porters reckon it gives them a little kick along. No kidding.

But back to the trail. We’re almost at the halfway point, “Dead Woman’s Pass” – aptly named – 1½ days through the three-day journey to Machu Picchu.

The first day had been relatively easy, hiking through even terrain, but day two is the one that breaks most people, with its steep ascents at high altitude. Day three is gravy after that.

Of course, it didn’t have to be this way. I could have taken the train. There’s a track that runs all the way from Cuzco, the nearest large town, to Aguas Calientes right at the base of Machu Picchu. Plenty of people choose to take this easier option, arriving at one of the wonders of the world smelling fresh and clean.

Those who’ve hiked are easy to spot at the Incan city, with their dirty clothes and looks of smug content. There’s the feeling you’ve earned it, that the ruins look even better when you’ve put in the hard yards to get there the traditional way.

But I didn’t know any of this on that second day as I plodded, one foot in front of the other, towards that pass, grumbling to myself that this had better be worth it. I also didn’t know that once I’d reached that pass there’d be an equally steep descent to the campsite, one which a personal trainer would probably say “blasts your core” but which just made me want to roll over to the side of the trail and quietly pass out.

The next day there’d be another full hike, plus a 3.30am wake-up call on day four to make it to Machu Picchu for dawn.

So, was it all worth it, getting to the end? Turns out that’s a moot point. Because when I look back at the journey, I don’t think about the majesty of those ancient ruins or the fulfilment of having made it to the finish line. In fact, I don’t think about Machu Picchu at all.

I think about a soaring mountain pass and a good mate who’d sworn to leave no man behind. And that was worth it.

Have you done the Inca Trail or another travel experience that nearly broke you? Post a comment below and tell us about it.

bengroundwater@gmail.com

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