Travel Bug

Johannesburg’s delightful Misty Hills Hotel showed off its glamourous credentials by playing host to a VIP reception of 32 Miss World finalists.

The beauty queens, who in South Africa for the World Cup to cheer on their respective teams, took a couple of days out of their hectic schedule to unwind in the hotel’s spectacular surroundings.

Just 25 kilometres away from the City of Gold, the Misty Hills Country Hotel Johannesburg is positioned within easy reach of Johannesburg International Airport whilst also enjoying an idyllic rural setting in the heart of the beautiful Kromdraai Valley – a UNESCO World Heritage site known as The Cradle of Humankind.

The hotel prides itself on its unique blend of traditional South African stone architecture and warm hospitality, coupled with luxury facilities.

It boasts 215 accommodations, with each room ornately decorated with brightly coloured African fabrics, artworks and handmade furniture.

The beauty queens also dined at the adjacent Carnivore Restaurant, which is world-renowned for its exquisite, charcoal-grilled delicacies that are roasted on converted Masai tribal spears in a large circular open fire. Read the rest of this entry »

British Airways has struck a £3.7 billion deal with the trustees of the New Airways Pension Scheme (NAPS) and Airways Pension Scheme (APS) in an attempt to redress spiraling deficits at the airline.

As part of the deal neither of the final pension schemes will close, with the British flag-carrier agreeing to maintain its annual contribution of £330 million (plus annual increases in line with inflation expectations averaging three per cent) until at least 2023.

The airline completed consultation with its trade unions in March this year and will now submit the full recovery plan to the UK Pensions Regulator by June 30th, 2010.

Commenting on the developments British Airways chief financial officer, Keith Williams, said: “The trustees understand the airline is unable to increase its contributions in the current financial climate but we have agreed a recovery plan that avoids closing the pension schemes, gives NAPS members choice over their future pension accruals, and increases the prudence of the assumptions employed in managing the scheme.

“The Pensions Regulator’s initial response to the overall package has been positive and we look forward to receiving their confirmation that they have no objections once they have time to analyse the plan fully.” Read the rest of this entry »

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has outlined plans to invest some $30 million in selling Australia as tourism destination to Chinese travellers.

As part of a wider trade agreement with its increasingly influential neighbour, Mr Rudd explained the deal will see the federal government spend the cash over the next two years.

A bilateral forum on boosting two-way tourism will also be held in Cairns “in the near future”.

“China is expected to emerge as Australia’s number one source market for international visitors in the next few years,” Mr Rudd said in a statement.

The views of the Australian prime minister are in line with those expressed at the Asia Luxury Travel Market, with delegates last week acknowledging China as the dominate force in the region.

As part of the plans, Tourism Australia’s “There’s Nothing like Australia” advertising campaign will be rolled out in China in early August. Read the rest of this entry »

Sacrificial remains of humans and animals, believed to be at least 2,700 years old, have been found in central China’s Luoyang city (map), Chinese archaeologists say.

The bones are part of a recently discovered burial complex covering nearly a quarter acre (945 square meters) and containing 14 tombs, a water channel, and 59 pits from the Western Zhou dynasty. (Related: “Ancient Mass Sacrifice, Riches Discovered in China Tomb.”)

During the Western Zhou period (1100 B.C. to 771 B.C.), the sacrifices of animals—and sometimes humans—to ancestors or deities were a routine part of Chinese culture. The sacrifices were often made to bless houses, said David Sena, a China historian at the University of Texas at Austin.

“In general, there’s been a tendency to describe Western Zhou as a more humanistic period, when the practice of human sacrifices”—which were commonplace during the preceding Shang Dynasty—”were waning,” Sena said.

“But I think the archaeological evidence shows quite clearly that human sacrifices persisted throughout the Zhou period as well.” Read the rest of this entry »

Japanese graffiti has come a long way since its early incarnations sprung up in the late 1980s. From the days of messy and sporadic tagging, graffiti in Japan is now migrating into the PR and advertising realms, and one of the instigators of this process, Remo Camerota, author of “Graffiti Japan”, is opening the door on the often secretive crews being commissioned to brighten up the grey corners of Tokyo.

Artists that began life painting illegally wherever they could, keeping their identity hidden, are now actively sought, and paid, to work on shop fronts, in tunnels, on freeway passes and more. From building owners to city councils, Tokyo’s leading graffiti experts are today being commissioned to create huge murals on the side of landmark buildings.

The Tower Records wall in Kichijoji, one of Tokyo’s most cosmopolitan and popular districts, is now host to the largest single piece of graffiti art in the city, by the Nanashi Crew and Sca Crew. Taking seven artists six weeks to complete, it took over 1,000 spray cans to complete the task.

Creating such dynamic advertisements for the building, shop or location has led to various businesses seeking out artists that usually closely guard their identity, a la UK artist Banksy.

For the casual observer, seeing the often grey world of Tokyo brightened up is a sight for sore eyes. As a winner for businesses and artists alike, long may this trend continue. Read the rest of this entry »

Architects and officials last week unveiled the planned design for Spaceport America’s 100,000-square-foot (9,300-square-meter) main terminal, pictured above.

The southern New Mexico facility will serve as home base for Virgin Galactic, a space-tourism company started by Virgin Atlantic Airways founder Richard Branson.

According to the designers, the facility will blend into its dusty surroundings to resemble a rise in the desert floor. Groundbreaking on the low-lying structure—a collaboration between the URS corporation and the Foster and Partners architecture firm, is scheduled for early 2008.

Funding in the amount of 198 million U.S. dollars has been in place since April, when residents of New Mexico’s Dona Ana County approved a tax to finance the project.

From National Geographic.

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Nelson Mandela will miss the opening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup follow the death of his great-granddaughter in a car crash.

In a brief statement the Nelson Mandela Foundation confirmed Madiba, as he is known to his clan, was in morning following the tragic death Zenani Mandela yesterday.

“It would therefore be inappropriate for him to personally attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening celebrations,” explained the statement.

“We are sure that South Africans and people all over the world will stand in solidarity with Mr Mandela and his family in the aftermath of this tragedy.”

The 13-year-old died when a car taking her home from a Soweto concert on the eve of the World Cup overturned on the M1.

The driver was subsequently arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. Read the rest of this entry »

“Welcome to Donsol, the home of the gentle giants,” Alan Amanse says smiling broadly at us as we awkwardly scramble onto the traditional fishing boat.

“We have something must be followed; the rules about whale shark interaction.”

He’s delivered this speech countless times, but says he never tires of seeing newcomers eager faces. Donsol in the province of Sorsogon, Philippines, was once a sleepy fishing village, now it buzzes with excited tourists who flock here for what many later describe as a life changing experience — swimming with the largest fish in the ocean, the whale shark.

I have to admit, I was filled with childish excitement I hadn’t experienced in years.

“If I say ‘Ok, let’s rock and roll’, its time to get in the water; that’s my magic word, ‘rock and roll’,” Alan tells us, perched on the edge of the boat, a devilish twinkle in his eyes.

He and the crew are experts at whale shark spotting, able to scan what to us looks like a blank horizon for signs of the sharks below the surface. Small boats filled with tourists dot the tricolor waters, the shoreline rolling hills of emerald green.

“Look, look right there,” Alan points at what to me initially looks like nothing.

“Wow! Its huge, 3-meters-long, about 20 meters in front of us,” I shrieked as I began to make out the dark shape moving along side our boat. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, Hawaii. Sun, sand, surf and… smoke monsters?

Okay, not exactly, but for six years, the TV series “Lost” made its home there, pumping approximately $400 million into the state’s economy, according to Pacific Business News. Fans come from far and wide, not just to enjoy the usual Hawaiian R&R, but to spend as much as 10 hours in a day checking out locations where some of the show’s most memorable scenes were filmed.

Like “Seinfeld” and “Sex and the City” before it, “Lost” tourism has become a business unto itself. One such tour is run by Ed Kos. “‘Lost’ just fell into my lap,” he said. “I was already doing a Hummer/off-road movie location adventure about a year before ‘Lost’ started to film. They started filming along the same roads and trails that I was driving. I never had to change the route.”

Kos, an “obsessive” fan of the show himself, offers four different tours of varying lengths ranging between $79 and $209. He’s been told by some fans that his tour is the reason they came to visit Hawaii. “We had a man propose to his girlfriend at the same location that Jack and Juliet embrace and kiss for the first time on the show,” he said. “We have people bring their own Dharma suits and wear them during the tour.” Read the rest of this entry »