The Best of Hong Kong

Check out these truly superb Top 10 lists-- best restaurants, walking tours, highlights, hotels-- from The Financial Times and Eyewitness Travel Guides. Their teaser: "Prepare to experience one of the most dramatic urban environments ever conceived."

Outrageous Deals on Fares Between Washington and Boston

Beginning January 17, JetBlue is starting service between Washingon Dulles and Boston, and-- get this!-- fares are $25 each way. Valid for travel through February 15, and must be booked by November 30. Via The Washington Post

Bringing the Luxury Hotel Experience Home

Couldn't get enough of those plush towels and bedding during your Ritz-Carlton weekend? Coveted those bathroom tiles from your Italian vacation? Or even the sun lounger at the JW Marriott in Phuket, Thailand? Buy it online and bring it home with you! The International Herald Tribune has a great piece out today about the latest trend with fashion-savvy guests who are buying pieces of luxury hotels to take home with them.

Tune in to Talk of the Nation: Travel Misadventures

Lonely Planet Global Travel Director Don George and travel writer Rolf Potts talk travel today on NPR's Talk of the Nation. Lots of stories from LP's humor anthology By the Seat of My Pants will have you cracking up. Via Vagablogging

Finding a Hotel in the Caribbean for the Holidays

Attempting the impossible task of booking a luxury hotel in the Caribbean for the holidays? Most luxury hotels have been booked solid for months. But don't be discouraged in your quest for a well-deserved (albeit last-minute) Caribbean respite! I've found a few delightful gems that still have availability:

Casa Colonial in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic: Long stretches of white sand beaches. Elegantly furnished all-suites hotel. World-class spa. Conde Nast Traveler's 2005 Hot List. Impeccable service. Enough said.

Casa Colonial, Official Site

Casa Colonial, Five Star Alliance

Anse Chastanet Resort, in the lush mountain paradise of St. Lucia. With 600 acres of tropical foliage, the soaring peaks of Petit Pitons, and extraordinary beaches, this is paradise on earth. Romantic and secluded. Scuba, spa, waters sports and mountain biking.

Anse Chastanet, Official Site

Anse Chastanet, Five Star Alliance

Petit St. Vincent Resort is available for the Christmas week, though not the post-Christmas week. Individual cottages set on a 113 acre privately-owned island of exquisite white sand beaches.

Petit St. Vincent, Official Site

Petit St. Vincent, Five Star Alliance

Martineau Bay Resort and Spa (which I've blogged about recently) in the idyllic, secluded island of Vieques, near Puerto Rico.

Martineau Bay Resort and Spa, Official Site

Martineau Bay Resort and Spa, Five Star Alliance

Gadgets on the Go: Kodak EasyShare-One Digital Camera

Introducing the world's first Wi-Fi consumer digital camera. Share pix instantly from your camera, without a computer! Four megapixel, with three-inch rotating screen, and 256 MB internal memory (enough for 1,500 shots). $600.

Travel with Rick Steves on iTunes

Rick Steves is the guru of European travel. With superb guidebooks and a website to match, the man knows his Continent. Now, you can also download podcasts of his new public radio show, “Travel with Rick Steves.” Ranked in iTunes “Top 100 Podcasts,” this dude’s a hit. Check it out.

From Singapore to Hong Kong: Shopping Festivals Across Asia

Check this out. A recent article in the International Herald Tribune highlighted a fantastic new trend: shopping wars escalating across Asia. With every big city in Asia competing to draw tourists, shopping festivals have become the focus of retail-themed vacations. July’s Great Singapore Sale generated incredible retail sales and record visitor arrivals. For the eight-week shopping fest, 1.9 million tourists indulged in tourism-shopping sprees. And these folks know how to shop. Apparently, more than half tourist expenditure went to shopping. Likewise, Kuala Lumpur has consolidated three discount shopping periods into the six-week Mega Sale Carnival, running from the end of July to the beginning of September. Not to be outdone, Hong Kong has created its own HK Shopping Festival, which transformed the usual slow end-of-summer-season into another peak travel season. Bangkok’s Amazing Thailand Grand Sale also runs during June and July.

What does this mean for consumers? Aggressive marketing campaigns and hefty competition means consumers score big with competitive pricing, give-aways and promotional gimmicks, like free foot massages in Malaysia and Lucky Draw prizes in HK (including diamonds and luxury watches.)

PS. In case you missed the summer’s shopping extravaganzas, never fear. The Dubai Shopping Festival takes place from January 4 to February 5, and includes raffle prize give-aways worth $2.7 million, 100 kilograms of gold and 10 cars.

Why SmarterTravel.com Rocks

You’ve got last minute airfare specials, from your specified city of origin, delivered straight to your inbox. What could be better than this? Instead of hunting around on the internet looking for weekend deals, someone else does the work for you! Furthermore, SmarterTravel.com highlights the internet’s overall best travel deals. With this week’s editor’s pick, you can hop down to the recently featured Sivory Punta Canta Hotel for a song. Dominican Republic winter sale fares on Spirit from $98 R/T. Check it out!

HotelChatter Reviews Zagat’s 2006 Hotel Guide

HotelChatter is hilarious. (A guaranteed crack-up if you check this out.) Their latest critique of Zagat’s 2006 Hotel Guide (as also reported by Gadling) is genuinely side-splittingly entertaining. The Zagat lingo sure can grate. And HotelChatter sure gets it right in “Zagat’s 2006 Hotel Guide Gets It Wrong.”