JetBlue is offering "mystery" flight and hotel packages on eBay for your bidding attention. Pick your departure city, and you'll be asked to bid on a variety of destinations, including four unnamed routes. Except the mystery didn't last long: Travel blog Jaunted already outed the destinations, and the farthest away you're getting is Cancun and Aruba, which you should've suspected based on JetBlue's route map. And given the current bids — $2,850 for Cancun and $3,350 for Aruba, as of this posting — the only value you're getting is the "surprise," since the retail value of the deals is far less than what any new bid will get ya. That Cancun getaway? There's a $1,282 option if you book it yourself. And Aruba? A $2,100 alternative awaits you. [Jaunted]
When we spotted CNN International correspondent and after-hours Central Park cruiser Richard Quest taking a tour of the new Airbus A380's on-board showers, we thought, "How fitting." But then we spotted yet another phenomenal feature — for upper class — aboard the jumbo plane: a hidden store of enjoyable beverages revealed at the touch of a button. This is good news for Quest, who can quench his thirst without first showing a flight attendant his 30-day chip. It is also a place he could store his rope before running to the bathroom to put it on. [Flickr, via Cityfile]
Richard Quest, the gay CNN International host who was arrested in Central Park in April after cops found him wondering around after hours, now carries with him a reputation for drug use and outdoor dildo and rope sex. It was just a few days later that Quest was said to have entered rehab for drug abuse; when he was arrested, he immediate fessed up to cops he was carrying meth. And then, just as quickly as the scandal brewed, it seemed to dissipate: CNN welcomed him back to the airwaves this month.
It just so happens that we caught Quest on CNN International today, reporting on the new bi-level Airbus A380, which the airline Emirates debuted in Hamburg, Germany. While 400 passengers will be squeezed into coach on the first floor, the upper class second floor is, literally, the lap of luxury.
So hard is the A380 trying to one-up the competition, they have outfitted the premium cabin with showers. And guess where Quest turned up? CONTINUED »
While airplane passengers will normally have to pay $12.95 for in-flight Internet access, a special trial group of fliers will get the service gratis in a single round-trip American Airlines flight from JFK to LAX and back. American is testing the capabilities of the service and eventually expects to carry it as a regular offering — you know, one more thing to nickel and dime you on as you lose the right to check bags, receive nutrition on board, and, probably somewhere down the road, are forced to bring your own toilet paper. Supposedly, passengers today won't have any idea that they are among the lucky few to try out the service. Learning they're American's guinea pigs, then, will certainly alleviate their stress as they're stranded on the runway for an hour and a half before takeoff.
Travel guru Arthur Frommer on that newspaper section: "The New York Times travel section has now plumbed such depths of absurdity that I, for one, have concluded that this senselessness can't be accidental. The decision to sprinkle the pages of a travel section with references to sky-high travel offerings can only have come about from a directive from on high to do so. It must be part of an effort to attract advertising from the producers of luxury goods, unaffordable to most of us, from swank companies that want their ads to appear in a congenial environment. In writing as they do, I am now convinced that the travel writers and junior travel editors of the New York Times are attempting to execute a policy consciously set down by the Times." [Frommers, via Jaunted]
In the coming weeks, JetBlue will unveil a whole new ad campaign that will try to take your mind off the fact that they are no longer a discount carrier, their seatback television screens are often broken, and, as happened on our redeye flight this weekend, "non-stop" flights between Burbank and JFK may actually include a stop over in Salt Lake City.
So goes the ad campaign: No longer will you be flying on JetBlue; you'll be jetting. They're classy-ing it up, up in here. New slogans include "Thanks for not flying on JetBlue," "Happy jetting," and "Flying is for pigeons."
And as one JetBlue staffer writes, gate agents and flight attendants will be forced to utter these phrases to the flying public. CONTINUED »
• Advertisements geared towards making the Bronx a tourist destination to air starting on Monday. Featured landmarks are said to include the zoo, the botanical gardens, and that ultra safe street known as the Grand Concourse.
• A gay female rabbi will lead this year's NYC pride parade. Meanwhile, organizers are hoping their choice won't cause any a gay shemozzle.
• Jaded New Yorkers are so over that whole "wedding" thing.
• LaGuardia Airport is reporting delays for two straight days; angry passengers nonteheless report seeing Bloomberg zoom off to his next campaign destination.
• We haven't seen this much mob news since all that hype about The Sopranos ending.
Here's Peter J. Frank, editor in chief of Concierge.com, on Why It Sucks To Be A Travel Writer:
• You develop an overt fascination with linens and poolside amenities.
• You forcibly subject yourself to sensual massages for the greater good of your readers.
• You get so wasted on sake you almost can't remember how amazing your multi-course (free?) dinner tasted.
• Your inability to write underwater inhibits your enjoyment of the hotel-provided complimentary Scuba lessons, thus limiting your post-Scuba reflections to the hopelessly unoriginal "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish."
• You constantly annoy your friends by soliciting their mind-numbingly extensive recollections of last night's scallops, and by half-jokingly, half-seriously bitching about your job of permanent vacationing.
Forget the exotic beach resorts, free gourmet grub and week-long destination trips five star getaways and tropical resorts. For our next job, we'll pretty much settle for anything with health benefits.
Joe Sharkey, "On the Road" columnist for the New York Times business travel section (which we don't read — we just heard about this article on NY1 this morning) has a piece in the Business section today. Sharkey, in a strange twist of coincidences involving freelancing and traveling, was aboard the smaller plane which crashed over Brazil on October 1.
The article is actually quite moving — and times frightening, and so frankly written that it tugged at even our callused heart strings. Sharkey, along with the others aboard the smaller charter plane that crashed with a Boeing 747 are lucky to be alive. And they are especially lucky that a journalist survived, so he could pen the details of this near-fatal in-air collision.
And it had been a nice ride. Minutes before we were hit, I had wandered up to the cockpit to chat with the pilots, who said the plane was flying beautifully. I saw the readout that showed our altitude: 37,000 feet.
I returned to my seat. Minutes later came the strike (it sheared off part of the plane’s tail, too, we later learned).
Immediately afterward, there wasn’t much conversation.
Nice way to add a little humor to buffer that bomb. So, Sharkey was chatting up the pilots and then the pilots crashed? Hmm. We're not explicitly saying there's a connection between these two events … but it does seem like a detail the folks on Lost might choose to leave out. You know how judgemental people can be.
Colliding With Death at 37,000 Feet, and Living [Joe Sharkey, New York Times]
New Yorkers are notorious for cozying up in the smoggy bubble that is our city and pretending like there is no other world besides the five boroughs (or two to three for most).
But novelist Tom Wolfe is encouraging New Yorkers to spread their wings.
In the upcoming book, "Telling True Stories," the "Bonfire of the Vanities" novelist says he watched in amazement at a NASCAR race last month as a National Rifle Association honcho got a rousing standing ovation, and was followed by a minister who "asked the Lord to look out for these brave drivers and these loyal fans . . . in the name of Thy Only Son, Christ Jesus."
Writes Wolfe: "Anyone who introduced an event that way in San Francisco or New York would risk arrest for a hate crime. New York writers really must cross the Hudson River, and writers in Los Angeles really must go as far as the San Joaquin Valley. Most of the meaning of America lies in between the coasts, I'm afraid."
A hate crime? Has he never even been to New Jersey? We get that this is the best place in the world because everyone is a yoga-going, repressed, liberal alcoholic, but come on. Yes, everyone should go to the Midwest, the South, and the Pacific Northwest. But not to stare at the gun-toting trailer parkers in freak-show amazement. They should go to try and be this crazy thing New Yorkers claim to be such experts at (and in fact what Wolfe seems to be claiming all coast-dwellers are) called open-minded.
(And because any New Yorker who spends 30 minutes in Milwaukee automatically feels like the skinniest person on Earth. Just don't wear a white suit, top hat, and cane.)
TOM MEETS THE REAL AMERICA [Page Six]
We're quite fine, actually, with the New York Times unveiling the new Sherman's Travel magazine with no credit tossed our way for, you know, breaking the news. In February. Somehow media byline Kit Seelye missed out on this one and we've got Jane Levere delivering the "irony" of a travel website spinning off a magazine. Shaking up that magic 8-ball of industry talking heads, all signs point to "No," as in, "No, this magazine doesn't have a chance in hell of succeeding." But given that it's being helmed by former Out Traveler editor Matt Link, we'll certainly be paying attention to its demise. Because if a homo can't ruin a gay magazine, certainly he can ruin a regular one.
In a Twist, a Travel Web Site Plans to Spin Off a Magazine [Jane L. Levere, NYT]
Related: All Sherman's Travel coverage
Risking your life in a foreign land to find out whether it's safer to travel by taxi or rickshaw and which back alley shop offers the best deals on fabric, it turns out, pays just as crappy as it does not risking your life, sitting behind a desk, and reporting by phone. In Sunday's Times, Warren St. John took us inside the life of your lowly travel guide writer, often a recent college grad on a quest to see the world on someone else's dime. We've oft wondered of these faceless scribes behind the words of Fodor's and Lonely Planet as we navigate the tro-tro system in Ghana or climb the stone temples in Siem Reap: Are they a brilliant class of twentysomethings marching through the third world, getting paid handsomely and writing postcards home from regions their parents warned them about? Hah. Hah, hah. Hah.
It's difficult to generalize about the pay scale for guide writing because it varies so widely, though most guide writers seem to agree that the wages are not enough. A writer working from scratch on a comprehensive guide to a country may get an advance of $100,000, from which a year or more of travel expenses must be deducted. Some companies offer guide writers royalties, like conventional publishers. But most guide writing is decidedly less lucrative, and expenses are almost never covered separately. MTV and Frommer's, for example, are collaborating to publish a budget travel series for Europe for which they are paying writers $1,500 for roughly 150 pages of work.
Going on an average of 250 words per page, that's 37,500 words MTV is requiring. At $1,500 per gig, that's exactly four cents per word. It's a sad day when the Village Voice's pay scale looks enviable.
A Job With Travel but No Vacation [Warren St. John, NYT]
From today's blind items in Page Six:
WHICH publisher of travel magazines really makes his money as a silent partner in pornography? The students and parents at his daughter's school are buzzing about what they've dug up on the Internet.
Uhhh, we have no clue. Why oh why do we have so much trouble paying attention to publishers?! Probably because following all the EICs is just so very time consuming. But we're on the prowl for the traveling silent porn publisher.
You can send us your guesses, or we'll return with ours once we clear the cobwebs from the "attic of unimportant people" section in our brains.
JUST ASKING [Page Six]
A magazine launch party where they give away free wine and lip gloss? Free pink wine and lip gloss? We're so there.
We navigated our way through the Financial District to check out a the latest Budget Travel gimmick, Girlfriend Getaways. We found BT editor in chief Erik Torkells by the bar, and after offering to get us drunk (we politely declined) he explained that drinking is actually one of the main reasons girlfriends go on vacation together. Duh.
The annual mag was sent out to every female on Budget's subscriber llist, and is also on newsstands as of yesterday. And while it is the kid sister of Budget Travel, Girlfriend Getaways is actually the baby of senior editor Nina Wildorf, who travels not just for the drinks, but the shoes. (Her fave kicks are Hollywould pink-and-silver heels.)
The magazine even taps into the blog world, pulling Jessica Coen and Ana Marie Cox from New York to blog about getting hammered all over the world (well, Chicago at least). Our next vacation? Um, Jackson Hole of course.
Yes, yes we know you don't ever want to leave New York. But sometimes it's good for you to get out … even if it's just to escape the over-saturation of magazines in this city.
Girlfriend Getaways [Budget Travel
Because nobody else is going to give the upcoming Sherman'sTravel.com glossy the time of day beside us, we thought we'd revisit the website off-shoot spearheaded by ousted Out Traveler editor Matt Link. Last we heard back in February, they were staffing up the business side of things. But on Monday, ED2010 carried this nugget of career hope:
ED HEARS … that two copyeditors and two fact-checkers needed for a magazine offshoot of ShermansTravel.com. Candidates should have specific magazine-production experience (no line editors, please) and be available to work full-time and on-site in Manhattan for two-month stretches. Familiarity with the travel industry, proficiency in foreign languages, Adobe InDesign skills (for the Mac) are greatly desirable. Please send resumes to Dika Lam at dikaweb@yahoo.com. (This is an official posting.)
Two month stretches makes this sound like a bi-monthly to us. And the official listing status? Only because there's nobody with enough interest to leak the job opening, natch. (Not that we haven't been down that road before.) Should you know anything more about the development of Sherman's Travel, please contact the federal authorities — or, you know, us. It's tattle@jossip.com, winners.
Earlier: Matt Link's travel mag is staffing up
Earlier: Ousted at Out Traveler, Matt Link readies his glossy comeback
Related: All Sherman's Travel coverage
New York magazine has been attacking the media beat like Lindsay Lohan on George Clooney these past few months. Of course after their bloggers issue, we expected the backlash would not be far behind.
Besides those "young" (meaning sort of old) media elitists who hate us, this week we uncover the "subway perv," other cities besides New York, and a Jennifer Aniston movie that people might just go and watch.
• “Just look at that meat,†he says, poking around with a knife. “It’s really, really soft and fleshy.†Oh,nothing starts off our week like a fat, juicy subway flasher quote. [Onan The Vegetarian, Russell Scott Smith]
• There is a five way tie for the "second best cities" in the world. Though Rome should really be number one second best, simply for their refusal of Starbucks. [Spring Travel 2006]
• Calling all teenage girls! Having sex and doing drugs will totally get you a book deal. Get crackin', ladies, there's only so much Pam to go around. [Sex, Drugs, and Enticing Jew-Fros, Susan Lehman]
• Dare not compare Rodger Hodge to a blogger. Of course, he has no problem being likened to Bonnie Fuller. Ah … how quickly the tides of resentment shift. [Brainy Young Things, Carl Swanson]
Table of Contents [New York]
Remember yesterday when we told you ousted Out Traveler editor Matt Link was on track to launch a new travel title for Sherman's Travel? Looks like they're moving along swiftly: they've already got a job listing for an ad sales director on Mediabistro.
About Our Company
ShermansTravel LLC is a leading online travel publisher of travel specials and advice. We reach over 3.5 million online readers with our Top 25 list of weekly travel specials plus our regular online editorial features. Our medium sized company is launching an exciting magazine to compliment and expand our brand and editorial mission. We enjoy a fast and energetic growth environment. Our company offers marketers true cross platform media capabilites with print, online and video elements.
Well, they will be offering the "print" media capability.
Are you privy to more details than we? You know where to hit us.
Advertising Sales Director [Mediabistro Jobs]
Earlier: Ousted at Out Traveler, Matt Link readies his glossy comeback
Late last year, the den of all media gaydom, LPI Media, suffered a shitstorm. Not only did Out editor Brendan Lemon announce his departure – and leave a masthead gap yet to be filled – but PlanetOut Partners, owner of Gay.com, forked over $31.1 million to snatch up LPI's properties like a leather daddy does a cub at The Eagle.
In addition to Out, LPI also published Out Traveler. Needless to say, staffs got shuffled around (read: folks got fired), and Out Traveler's editor Matt Link got the boot, along with nearly everyone else. That was then.
Now we're hearing word that Link, formerly an associate editor at Budget Travel, is in the thick of launching a new travel magazine under Sherman's Travel, currently an online-only operation headed by bigwig James Sherman.
We're thin on the details (like launch date, staffers, number of ad pages, or anything of actual relevance, including the title, but we're assuming it's Sherman's Travel), but we do know Link is the author of Rainbow Handbook's Hawaii guide, a big gay guide to the big gay island, which can only mean one thing: lots of Key West junkets.
When we heard about the ridiculousness that was Donald Trump's new travel website, we were more than amused but less than impressed.
While this (along with the details on how he scored all this free stuff for his wedding this weekend on VH1) did reinforce suspicions that The Donald is less wealthy than previously thought, the site was just too much for us to handle.
Luckily, we have Intern Wendy, who is willing to explore such mind-boggling insanity from the safety of Seattle. Let's all thank Wendy for her (after the jump) synopsis. And may we say for her sake, "Go Seahawks."
(**Note: if you send us an e-mail ranting about the Steelers, we will not respond. We don't care about sports. At all.)
CONTINUED »
Some reporters just have all the time in the world, don't they?
Editorial Director
