Travel Blogs: News & Deals, Sports & Adventure, and More

Go to: General | Africa | Asia | Australia | Canada | Caribbean & Latin America | EuropePage 1: General travel, air travel, dispatchesPage 2: Food, gear & gadgets, hotels, maps Page 3: News & deals, sports, and more Page 5: U.S. cities and destinations GENERAL A Girl's Guide to City Life, girlsguidetocitylife.com; Women reporters weigh in on shopping, restaurants, hotels, and more as city guides for 12 U.S. and international cities, including L.A., Amsterdam, and Hong Kong. Apple Pea Town Travel Guide, applepeatravel.blogspot.com; Sneak peaks into little towns across Asia, the U.S., and Canada that include info on where to go and what to see and eat. Daily Candy, dailycandy.com; A blog-style website with inside scoop on fashion, food, fun, and more in cities like London, New York, San Francisco. There's also a section geared to kids. Flavorpill, flavorpill.net/index.jsp; More a daily e-mail newsletter featuring cultural events and goings-on in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London. Metroblogging, metroblogging.com; Links to almost 40 city-specific blogs from all over the world with a calendar of daily goings on. Shortcut, shortcut.squarespace.com/shortcut; Cultural city guides to various European capitols, including Paris, Berlin, London, and more. AFRICA Cape Town, capetown.blogsome.com; Info on hotels, vacation packages, festivals, and events in Cape Town, South Africa. ASIA Asia Travel, asiatravelweblog.com; Travel and tourism throughout China, Thailand, Indonesia, and beyond. Bali Bali Blog, baliblog.com;A comprehensive guide to visiting and living in Bali. China Mad About Shanghai, madaboutshanghai.blogs.com; One couple's experience living and working in Shanghai. Japan Japan Visitor, japanvisitor.blogspot.com; Information, news, and events in three Japanese cities: Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Sushi Zumi, tokyohappening.typepad.com; Sights and sounds of Tokyo with emphasis on fashion, festivals, and what life's like in the city. Philippines Walk This Way, celdrantours.blogspot.com; A self-described "streetwalker" (uh, not the illegal kind) explores life in the city of Manila in the Philippines. Thailand Travelify, travelify.com; A Bangkok and Thailand travel blog written by Thais; includes where to go, what see, and how to get around. AUSTRALIA Seasons Travel, seasonstravel.com.au; A travel guide to Australia, including flight and hotel news. CANADA Ottawa Information Guide, blogexplosion.com/show_page.php?SiteID=23151; Events, art, entertainment, and tours in Ottawa. CARIBBEAN & LATIN AMERICA ArgentinaThe B.A. Blog, baeningles.blogspot.com/; An American in Buenos Aires writes about her adventures in the South American city. GoodAirs, goodairs.com; Politics and prose from the Argentine capital. MexicoLiving in Mexico, living-in-mexico.com; A European transplant writes about his experiences in Mexico City. Mexican Wave, mexicanwave.com/blog/index.html; On the pulse of movies, art, culture, food, and more in Mexico. EUROPE Travel In Europe, travel-europe.blogspot.com; Tips, deals, and advice on traveling the continent on a budget. England Londonist, londonist.com; The go-to guide for what's happening in the British capital. Transpontine,transpont.blogspot.com; Music, art, and cultural happenings in South London. France La Coquette, http://lacoquette.blogs.com/; Parisian life as seen through the eyes of 25-year-old who's returned to her family roots and lives in the Latin Quarter. Paris Blog, parisblog.org; All Paris all the time. Provence From Fayence Outwards, go-provence.com; Exploration of food, accommodations, tourism, and more in the southern Provence region of France. Hungary Pestiside.hu, pestiside.hu; An irreverent look at the daily happenings, news, and culture in Budapest, Hungary. Italy Italian's Insight to Travel Italy, viewitaly.blogspot.com; A look into Italian life through food, wine, restaurants, and travel. Venice Blog, veniceblog.typepad.com; Advice, tips, and thoughts on visiting Venice, Italy from a former resident. Spain A Wandering Woman Writes From Spain, wandering-woman.blogspot.com; One woman who traded in corporate life in Chicago to live in Salamanca, Spain. Barcelona Guide, freestanza.com/barcelona-guide; Up-to-date info on festivals, events, art exhibits, and other suggestions for where to go in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Mad About Madrid, madaboutmadrid.com/guide; Advice on shopping, eating and drinking, events, and festivals in Madrid. Page 1: General travel, air travel, dispatchesPage 2: Food, gear & gadgets, hotels, maps Page 3: News & deals, sports, and more Page 5: U.S. cities and destinations

Go to: General | Hawaii | Las Vegas | L.A. | Miami | NYC | San FranciscoPage 1: General travel, air travel, dispatchesPage 2: Food, gear & gadgets, hotels, maps Page 3: News & deals, sports, and more Page 4: International destinations GENERAL TRAVEL Route 66 News, rwarn17588.wordpress.com; Happenings and events along America's most famous highway. HAWAII Hawaiianize, hawaiianize.com; Info and missives from the Hawaiian Islands, including where to spot the season's first Humpback whales to the newest skate and surf shops. LAS VEGAS Cheapskate Las Vegas, cheapskatelasvegasguide.blogspot.com; Thrifty advice on where to find lodging, meals, deals, and more in Las Vegas. Las Vegas Guide, thelasvegasguide.blogspot.com/; Reviews and information on visiting Las Vegas from a frequent traveler to Sin City. LOS ANGELES LAist, laist.com; Covers the latest on the L.A. scene, with links to other Los Angeles-based blogs. Losanjealous, losanjealous.com; Los Angeles' food, events, culture, and more. MIAMI Critical Miami, criticalmiami.com;A round-up of local events, places, and ideas for having fun in Miami. Miamist, miamist.com; The low-down on Miami, from hot Cuban restaurants to Buddhist meditation workshops. Miamity, miamity.com; Music, art, culture, and more in Miami. NEW YORK CITY Gothamist, gothamist.com;The site for everything New York. Manhattan User's Guide, manhattanusersguide.com; The latest in NYC art and entertainment, food and wine, activities, and shopping. NewYorkology, newyorkology.com; Daily updates on what's going on in NYC, with links to shopping, sightseeing, food, and more. SAN FRANCISCO SFist, sfist.com; News, events, restaurants, nightlife in the City by the Bay. Page 1: General travel, air travel, dispatchesPage 2: Food, gear & gadgets, hotels, maps Page 3: News & deals, sports, and more Page 4: International destinations

The host city of Winter Olympics XX, Turin (Torino in Italian) has been busily beefing up its facilities and cultural programming, hoping to make the most of its moment in the spotlight and present itself as an appealing tourism destination of the first order. The 16-day festivities will cover 15 different sports and dish out 84 medals to the best of 2,500 athletes as determined by 650 judges and referees and witnessed by 1.5 million spectators. Here's all the information you need to be one of them. WHEN & WHERE: February 10 - 26, 2006. The official website of the Games is Torino2006.org and they have a handy events calendar (PDF). All the flashy ceremonies and stadium sporting events like figure skating, speed skating and ice hockey will take place in Turin, whereas the Alpine events like skiing, bobsled, and luge will occur in the Val di Susa and Sestriere mountain resorts west of the city. Turin is also host to the Paralympics, March 10 - 19, 2006, during which athletes with disabilities compete in wheelchair curling, ice sledge hockey, Alpine skiing and Nordic skiing. GETTING THERE: Flights for travel to Turin in mid-February are currently $572 (Alitalia) from New York; $599 (multiple carriers) from Washington, D.C.; $647 (Air France) from Chicago; $907 (multiple carriers) from Phoenix; $827 (multiple carriers) from San Francisco WHERE TO STAY: Notoriously short on high-end lodgings, Turin has been booking up rapidly, with many rooms set aside for travel agencies and tour providers at the get-go. The official site for booking area-wide hotel rooms is the zealously named JumboGrandiEventi.it. There are currently 41 hotels listed, with doubles priced anywhere from $74 to $1,000 (63 to 853 euros) per night. Turin's official tourism website, TurismoTorino.org, has a much more extensive database of hotels, B&Bs, and hostels, allowing you to search by price (from as low as $53/45 euros), area, or type of accommodation. The tour operator Somewhere has apartment rentals and B&Bs available with rates starting at $129/110 euros per night and a five-night minimum stay during the Olympics. CoSport.com, North America's resource for Olympic ticket sales, offers ticket-accommodations packages (dubbed Hospitality Packages), which can drastically simplify the planning but will be significantly more expensive than the D.I.Y. approach of booking your lodgings and events separately. One of the simplest packages, four nights at the Hotel Continental Torino (double occupancy) and tickets to just one event, costs a whopping $2,778.50 per person. Given the paltry selection of rooms left in Turin and the reality that many competitions are a good two hours outside the city, it's worth considering the adjacent region of Valle d'Aosta, about a 90-minute drive to the north near the borders of France and Switzerland. You can search for lodgings of all sorts--B&Bs, hotels, camp sites, mountain huts, hostels--on its official website: regione.vda.it HOW TO BUY TICKETS: In North America, the official channel for purchasing tickets is CoSport.com, , 800-457-4647. Event tickets have been classified as either Type I, anticipated to be in high demand, or Type II, anticipated to be less popular. For each Type I ticket or Ceremony ticket ordered, you must order at least one Type II ticket. (Figure skating is a I; Curling is a II. You can determine the categorization and buy tickets here). While there is still a decent amount of availability for both ticket types, the cheaper seats are selling faster than the pricey ones. As of November 15, 2005, the only Opening Ceremony tickets left were at the highest bracket, a cool $1,250 a head. If you're still in town and haven't had the Olympic spirit beaten out of you, you'll save a bundle on Closing Ceremony tickets, just $560. Here's a look at others still available: Type I: Only select women's figure skating tickets remain, mostly at the $490 rate. Among the less high-profile of the high-profile, there's the two-man bobsled at $59, the men's cross-country skiing relay from $50.50, women's snowboarding from $59, and men's ice hockey semi-finals at $235 or $403. Type II: Men's single luge at $67, women's ice hockey preliminary round (USA vs. Finland) at $67, women's cross-country skiing at $84, and plenty of curling by both sexes starting at $34. WHILE IN TOWN: The capital of Italy's northwestern Piedmont region is bisected by the Po River and surrounded by the snow-capped Alps. It's both commercial--home to Fiat and Pirelli, the national broadcasting company RAI, and the soccer team Juventus--and cosmopolitan, with French flair and a history of filmmaking, chocolate-making (especially of the decadent Gianduja hazelnut variety), and cultivating Barolo wine and truffles from Alba. A cut above the rest of Turin's museums, the world-class Museo Egizio houses a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian art, statuary, sarcophagi, and jewelry lovingly amassed over the centuries by the onetime ruling House of Savoy (Via Accademia delle Scienze, 6; museoegizio.org, in Italian only; closed Mon., 6.50 euros). Two other noteworthy museums focus on home-grown industries: the movies and cars. First, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema traces the history of photography and film and displays vintage movie posters and props from classics like Fellini's Casanova (Via Montebello, 20, museonazionaledelcinema.org; closed Mon., 5.20 euros). Second, the Museo dell'Automobile's collection of 170 cars dotes on local brand Fiat, but leaves room for other dreamy models like Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari, and Bentley (Corso d'Unità d'Italia, 40; museoauto.it; closed Mon., 5.50 euros). For an earful of opera, make a beeline for the 18th century Teatro Regio (Piazza Castello, 215; teatroregio.torino.it). And warm up with some coffee at Caffè Al Bicerin, once the haunt of Nietzsche. The special drink, called a Bicerin, is beautifully layered with chocolate, cream, and coffee (5 Piazza Della Consolata, 011-39/011-43-69-325, Bicerin $5).Excerpted from our recent feature, Where Foodies Love to Eat HIT THE ROAD: Ditch the crowds and soak up the scenery in the outlying valleys. Ten miles west of Turin in the Val di Susa, the 12th century Benedictine abbey Sacra di San Michele is perched atop craggy Monte Pirchiriano. Its formidable and maze-like structure was the inspiration for the setting of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. Follow the trail, about 1 ½ hrs, from the town of Sant'Ambrogio up to the abbey (open daily, 4 euros). Hiking and driving directions available on their website. The Barolo valley's wine-producing villages lie about 35 miles to the south. Sample the regional fruits at Castello Falletti in the town of Barolo (daily, 2 euros per tasting) or explore by car (complete list of area wineries: barolodibarolo.com).

Highlights from the current issue of Budget Travel Movie Quest 2005 The 10 films that are inspiring us to travel--and how you can re-create the best moments yourself Every Day Is a Winding Road When it feels like every moment of your life is scheduled, maybe your vacation shouldn't be The Spirit of St.Lucia For three men raised on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, growing up meant getting out. But each found his way home--and now runs a small hotel there. Whitney Pastorek finds out what drew them back Road Trip: Florida PanhandleThe northwestern coast of Florida sprawls out in one sandy strip. There's plenty of room for everyone--spring breakers and gators included How to Buy World Cup TicketsThe World Cup happens every four years, and the next one, in 2006, is expected to draw 5 million spectators to host country Germany My Hometown: San Francisco The city is a lovely place to spend a weekend--even for a native. My challenge has always been figuring out exactly where to leave my heart Trip Coach: New York City A secret dream getaway that's all about her--the husband is even happy to tag along while his wife goes shopping 40 Best Vacations The real deals right now 20 Tips A new use for postcards, why you should remove the left front hubcap of a rental car in England, and 18 other tips from our readers True Stories Win a trip to Costa Rica! If your response is the best we receive before Dec. 31, you'll win a seven-night walking tour of Costa Rica from Cross Country International Walking Vacations. You can find more in the December 2005/January 2006 issue of Budget Travel magazine. Subscribe now: 10 issues for $12!