Jetsettersblog

The Eurail Group is bringing out several special edition extended rail passes, offering free travel days good for travel throughout Europe in the spring. With fewer crowds, lower airfares and more availability in hotels, spring is a good time to travel to Europe.

Tourist attractions, such as museums and monuments, are less crowded and the weather is also pleasant. Eurail is launching a special off-peak promotion, offering free travel days on two of its products: the Eurail Select Pass and the Eurail Global Pass.

The Eurail Select Pass allows customers to choose three or more adjoining countries in which to travel, enabling a tailor-made rail pass. For those wishing to cover more ground, a Eurail Global Pass gives travelers access to 21 participating countries from January.

Customers buying a 15- or 21-day Eurail Global Pass will instead receive 21 days or one month, respectively. The Eurail Select Pass 3 Countries, valid for six or eight days within two months, now comes with an additional two travel days.

These passes go on sale worldwide (outside of Europe) from Oct. 1.

To be eligible for the additional travel days, passes must be purchased before the end of November. Travel can start as from March 1 and must be completed by May 31.

All Eurail Passes are available from Eurail’s network of authorized Sales Agents worldwide: ACP Rail International (www.eurail-acprail.com);

Eurail (www.Eurail.com); Flight Centre (www.flightcentre.com);

www.OctopusTravel.com;

Rail Europe (North America: www.raileurope.com,

rest of the world: www.raileurope.fr),

and STA Travel (www.statravel.com)

Auto Europe has extended its free GPS rental offer in Europe with car rental services.

Travelers will receive a free Gamin Nova 270 or similar for the duration of their rental with routing maps of Western Europe and most of Eastern Europe with car rental services in Italy, France, Austria, Ireland, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Norway. In addition, Auto Europe is also offering this promotion with any Peugeot Open Europe lease of 17 days or longer and with any long term rental of 21 days or longer. The free GPS offer is valid with minimum seven-day car rental reservations booked now through Sept. 30. The offer applies in Italy, France, Austria, Spain and Norway with any intermediate car rental or larger for travel through Nov. 30.

The GPS offer is valid in Ireland and Switzerland for travel through Oct. 30. Germany is valid with any compact car rental or larger for travel now through Oct. 31. UK is valid with any intermediate car rental or larger for travel through Oct. 31.

Free GPS offer is valid on select Peugeot models with Auto Europe’s Peugeot Open Europe program for travel through Nov. 30, and with any car category booked for 21 days or longer for travel through Oct. 31. Free GPS rental validity dates exclude shipping and handling charge of $40. Optional insurance is available at $1 per day.

Offer is subject to change without notice. Additional restrictions apply.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection is making Europe even more tantalizing in 2009 with the debut of their Epicurean Adventurer Program in which guests can indulge their passion for fine wines and gourmet foods.

Guests aboard a Uniworld cruise featuring the Epicurean Adventurer Program will enjoy a host of culinary delights including private wine tastings, special wine and food pairings, cooking demonstrations and unique onshore excursions.

With our new Epicurean Adventurer Program, we’re giving our guests the ultimate in entertainment and education,” said Guy Young, president of Uniworld. “Now they can explore regional foods and wines in an entirely new way.”

Uniworld’s intimate boutique, hotel-style ships offer the perfect setting for an in-depth discovery of the preparation and pairing of premier foods and wines. On each Epicurean Adventurer cruise, guests enjoy a special dinner prepared with the region’s freshest ingredients and learn how to select the perfect wine to complement the meal.

Guests will also have the opportunity to participate in cooking demonstrations led by master chefs who reveal trade secrets and techniques to help ‘students’ create their own gourmet dishes. Guided shore excursions will take guests into castles and vintners’ homes for private wine tastings, or to local open-air food markets to sample regional treats. Overall, the new Epicurean Adventurer Program is designed to give Uniworld’s guests, as they journey through Europe, even more memories to savor.

Uniworld’s Epicurean Adventurer Program will be available on the following 2009 cruises:

Danube Discovery. Travel from Vienna to Nuremberg in nine days with fares starting from $2,099 per person

Rhine Discovery. Travel from Nuremberg to Basel in nine days with fares starting from $2,099 per person.

Grand European Discovery. Travel from Basel to Vienna in 16 days with fares starting from $4,049 per person.

Legendary Rhine & Moselle. Travel from Amsterdam to Basel in 14 days with fares starting from $3,599 per person

Paris & the European River Romance. Travel from Paris to Nuremberg in 11 days with fares starting from $1,999 per person.

Paris & the Heart of Europe. Travel from Paris to Vienna in 18 days with fares starting from $4,059 per person

Paris & the Grand European Waterways. Travel from Paris to Bucharest in 32 days with fares starting from $7,259 per person

Burgundy & Provence. Travel from Arles to Chalon in nine days with fares starting from $2,059 per person.

Grand European Explorer: Travel from Basel to Bucharest in 30 days with fares starting from $8,199 per person.

About Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection

Los Angeles-based Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, the premier river cruise company, was recently named to Travel+Leisure’s World’s Best Top 10 Small Cruise Lines, Condé Nast Traveler’s 2008 Gold List and their Reader’s Choice Awards for World’s Top 10 Small Cruise Lines.

Uniworld features intimate boutique, hotel-style cruise ships with an average capacity of 134 guests, and a ratio of one staff member for every three guests, world-class cuisine, and expertly planned itineraries with custom-blended shore excursions. The company offers over 500 departures on more than 35 itineraries sailing on 12 rivers in over 20 countries throughout Europe, Russia, China and Egypt.

PARK CITY, Utah - The competition promises to be full of action as the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix returns for its 13th season as America’s top snowboarding competition tour. The Grand Prix will feature new stops at Copper Mountain in Colorado’s Summit County, Boreal Mountain Resort in the North Lake Tahoe region near Truckee, CA and a return to Vermont’s Killington for the final stop of the tour.

“I am excited about the resorts that we are partnering with for the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix because not only are they all great destinations in great locations, but they are creating new ways for snowboarders to ride resorts,” said Grand Prix Tour Director Eric Webster. “The line-up of Copper, Boreal and Killington seems like the perfect mix of progression and history which is fitting as the Grand Prix enters its 13th season.”

NBC and Versus will be on hand to broadcast the competition. (Schedule details will be released closer to competition.)

Copper Mountain Kicks the Tour Off

The Grand Prix kicks off Dec. 12-13 at Copper Mountain, one of the best snowboarding resorts in America. No stranger to the Grand Prix tour after hosting it in 1998 and 1999, Copper, which is known for encouraging innovation in snowboarding with its terrain, has signed on to host the tour for three years. The event, which will take place just 75 miles outside of the Denver area, will open with the traditional men’s and women’s halfpipe competition and will include an exciting nighttime exhibition event with the Paul Mitchell Progression Session.

“I am really looking forward to the Grand Prix being at my home mountain,” said Clair Bidez (Minturn, CO), who was on the podium in two of the Grand Prix stops last season. “I know that they’re going to do a really good job with it and I can’t wait to be there with my friends and family watching.”

This season, Copper launches Woodward at Copper. The 19,000 sq ft indoor facility and on-hill components are a first of the kind, using progressive learning techniques already at play in skateboarding and BMX and applying them directly to skiing and riding. Athletes will have an opportunity to progress their skills in a safer, more controlled environment. Woodward at Copper will offer Winter Experience this season and Summer Camps in 2009. (More info www.woodwardatcopper.com).

California’s Boreal Joins the Tour

The tour migrates further west to Boreal, which is right off of I-80 between Reno and Sacramento, Jan. 29 - Feb. 1. Riders will boost their best tricks in the Boreal Superpipe, a 22-foot-pipe which will have athletes going bigger while providing them with a chance to show off their best runs in an Olympic sized halfpipe as the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver hover on the horizon.

Also adding to the excitement in the resort located atop Donner’s Summit is the addition of the Visa Snowboardcross Championship series to the competition lineup. The Tahoe area is busting at the seams with top U.S. Snowboarding SBX athletes, including reigning X Games gold medalist Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA), Jeep King of the Mountain champion Shaun Palmer (South Lake Tahoe, CA) and Olympian Jayson Hale (Sierraville, CA). The competition will have riders vying for the right to claim the title in a town full of local talent.

“I’m stoked to compete in my hometown. It will be an opportunity to have a lot of friends come and see what I do when I’m gone for half the year,” Holland said. “It will be a unique experience having them at the race and cheering for me. It’s a little added pressure, but I thrive on pressure.”

Killington Awards the Grand Prix Champions

The Grand Prix returns to Killington, right in the heart of New England, for the second year in a row on the final stop of the tour March 14-15. The Killington competition will also include a 22-foot halfpipe and the overall Grand Prix champions will be crowned. Last year snowboarding phenom Louie Vito (Columbus, OH) took top billing with two wins on the tour and Olympic champion Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) proved her medal winning her fourth Grand Prix title. The weekend snowboard celebration also will feature the final Paul Mitchell Progression Session of the tour.

“Killington has always been a leader and innovator in creating ways to make snowboarding at resorts better, especially this year with the resort building a new Burton Stash trail, and combined with a dedicated staff, creative terrain and events like Spring Loaded that are legend in the sport,” Webster said.

With a field of about 100 invited halfpipe athletes, the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix looks to make waves as the 13th season brings the best snowboarding competitors to towns across the U.S.

2009 U.S. SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX SCHEDULE:

Dec. 12-13, 2008, Copper Mountain
Friday, Dec.12 - Men’s Halfpipe Qualifiers
Saturday, Dec. 13 - Women’s Halfpipe Qualifiers, Halfpipe Finals and Paul Mitchell Progression Session (night exhibition event)

Jan. 29 - Feb. 1, 2009, Boreal Mountain Resort
Friday, Jan. 30 - Halfpipe Qualifiers
Saturday, Jan. 31 - Halfpipe Finals
Sunday, Feb. 1 - SBX Qualifiers and Finals

March 14-15, 2009, Killington Resort
Friday, March 13 - Halfpipe Qualifiers
Saturday, March 14 - Paul Mitchell Progression Session Qualifiers and Halfpipe Finals
Sunday, March 15 - Paul Mitchell Progression Session Finals

Potentially one of the most obscure beauty treatments that we at The Riding Company have ever stumbled across, but the hay bath is fabulous for miraculously freeing up those niggling aches and pains.

The treatment is famous in South Tyrol, Italy and just as luck would have it, riders booking at least a four night break with us at our gorgeous 4* Post Tolderhof Hotel in Italy, can now sample the treatment there for free this Autumn.

Lying in a bed of hay is all the rage in the Tyrolean Alps of Italy, where they swear by its curative and energy-giving properties.

But it’s not any old hay, it’s full of the herbs and flowers which are unique to the surrounding high alpine meadows. What’s good enough for your horse must be good enough for you!

The hotel, famous for its ride and spa packages, lies in the heart of a popular mountain village, with an alpine backdrop that is glorious to see during the Autumn months. But the offer is only available up to 19th October, 2008, so get booking!

For four nights on ¾ board with five hours of riding and transfer (Innsbruck), it’s £420 per person or £340 without transfer. Or why not stay for seven nights with 10 hours of riding with transfer for £632 or £525 without?

Popular for centuries, the hay is sourced from the local meadows which are full of herbs and Alpine flowers.

The practice stems from the days when farm workers would follow their cattle to the upland pastures to harvest the summer grasses. After a day of backbreaking work, they found that if they slept in the fresh hay, they would wake miraculously free of aches and pains. During a hay bath, the body is wrapped in soaked hay. By the heat, the valuable elements in the herbs and plants are released and stimulate the body.

It is said to cleanse the pores and stimulate circulation. The organic juices also help to produce natural cortisone; the texture of the grasses act as an exfoliant scrub; and the whole process gave the workers’ immune systems a boost while keeping their weight in check.

With so many chalets on the market, choosing the right holiday can seem like a challenge. To help your readers to book their dream chalet holiday, we’ve put together the definitive list of the questions to ask when booking a ski holiday to make sure they get the holiday they really want.

TOP TEN BOOKING TIPS
From classy and comfortable to cheap and cheerful, there are hundreds of chalets out there and finding the one that suits you can seem daunting. Lucy Crisp lays out the top 10 questions to ask to ensure you book a chalet holiday that’s right for you.

1) How well do you know the product?

A thorough knowledge of services is key and this is where smaller operators and owner-managed chalets excel as they know the exact details of their individual chalets inside out, rather relying on the same vague brochure information on countless chalets which you have.

2) Have you seen the chalet?

Ask whether the sales agent actually seen the chalet you are interested in booking, or whether there is anyone else on the team you can talk to who has. This can be invaluable so you can clear up any worries about sleeping arrangements, en-suites, the seating area and realistic distances to the lifts, restaurants, bars and other vital amenities.

3) Tell me about the resort.

Ask as many questions as you can to check it meets your needs. Good questions include: is it snowsure for the time of year; is it the right level of skiing for my group; how much is the lift pass; does the resort have the après ski/nightlife/restaurant scene I’m looking for and is the resort beautiful or purpose built?

4) What’s it like on the slopes?

When it comes to the skiing, ask about the transport to and from the pistes. There may be a mini bus service, but is it regular and reliable? If you like long leisurely lunches, check you won’t be stuck with canteen style sandwiches and soup. Smaller operators usually specialise in a few resorts so they know their resorts well as they’ll have been to the resort, skied the area and know the ski instructors, restaurants and nightlife like a local.

5) Are the pictures real?

Sometimes, brochures and website use generic or stock pictures to represent a typical chalet or meal. If you’ve been sold on beautiful interiors or sumptuous looking food, check it’s actually what you’ll get as top quality operators like The Alpine Club (www.thealpineclub.co.uk) only include images that are of their actual interiors and cuisine. Check also that the plans are accurate regarding the size of rooms and the number of en-suites.

6) Who are your staff?

Although gap year students and people in their early twenties are often enthusiastic, energetic and keen to learn, inexperienced teams can lead to problems. This is because they usually have a steep learning curve which is often at your expense as they learn how to manage their roles and responsibilities. In addition, inexpert staff often find themselves foundering when it comes to problems, complaints and crisis which can be even more dramatic in the accident-prone context of the mountains.

7) Is the chef qualified?

While we’ve become a nation of Jamie Oliver’s who can whip up a dinner party for six, it takes a qualified chef produce gourmet cuisine at restaurant standard six nights a week. The ability and flexibility to change the menu based on guest’s requests is a skilled job and in the same way that you take your car to a mechanic when it breaks down, it pays to choose a chalet company like Purple Ski (www.purpleski.com) who employs professional chefs.

What’s included?

Although booking a chalet holiday usually means that six days meals and linen are included, there is a lot of variation between operators regarding what else is included from flights and transfers to lift passes and equipment hire. Most of the time, it should be clear what you’ve paid for from the brochure, but it’s always worth double checking so you don’t get any nasty surprises.

9) What’s my back up?

It can be extremely frustrating to go on holiday and be disappointed because the standards aren’t high enough, the chef is late or the chalet is dirty. A good chalet company or tour operator will have a system in place to sort this out, but this is where owner-managed chalets where the owners are resort-based really come into their own. This is because owners-managed operators like the Alpine Club are passionate about ensuring their guests have a holiday that meets or exceeds their expectations. They make it a priority to be in the resort everyday instead of relying on a corporate head office in the UK staffed with sales agents separate from the operation in the Alps who have to manage from afar. This means it is usually very easy to get any issues resolved quickly and satisfactorily.

10) Can I have your name?

Taking a note of the sales person’s name can be useful for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it can save time if you have to phone back with another query. Secondly, it means that you have a record of what you’ve been told and by whom. In larger companies, the person who sells the holiday is not necessarily responsible for delivering the service, so can promise things that may not end up being delivered. Having the name of the operator gives you a back up, but also finding out to whom you’re talking to can be very reassuring. Knowing that you’ve booked through an experienced sales person or the owner can provide reassurance that you will receive the holiday you’ve been promised.

Leading ski website offers more ways of finding accommodation for independent travellers.

In response to this, the leading ski website chaletsdirect.com has grouped together a variety of services to form a new interactive area for people looking for ski and snowboard breaks. Called simply Chalets Direct Interactive, the new section provides holidaymakers with more tools to find their ski accommodation, in addition to traditional searching and browsing. Visitors can also use the interactive area to find and research holidays.

Chalets Direct Interactive includes message boards, resort reviews, a ski blog and The Solutions Room, where users can post up their holiday requirements and wait for offers to come back to them. The site also provides a Promotions area where visitors can view promotions and special offers for specific dates or resorts. The aim is to give independent skiers and snowboarders a better choice when looking for their winter holiday and to provide more ways of getting results.

Some key features of the interactive area include the Solutions Room, a unique bulletin board where people looking for holiday accommodation can say what they\’re looking for. Chalets Direct members can then reply to them to either match their requirements or propose alternatives. Launched in 1999, the Solutions Room has proved a useful tool for both holidaymakers and advertisers. A post made in the morning will usually have attracted several replies within a few hours, by the evening there will often be more than 20 proposals for the enquirer to choose from. Further development of the Solutions Room is currently taking place and enhanced features will be introduced later this autumn.

The Resort News and Reviews area means visitors can see what others are saying about resorts. This section is also an area to get news “as it happens” – with current bulletins about weather and snow conditions or upcoming events.

The Ski Blog, launched this summer, is a general discussion area focusing on ski industry events and news, with useful advice and hints for booking holidays in the mountains. The What Makes a great…Beginners Week post for example, gives helpful hints for first time skiers and snowboarders.

Chalets Direct Interactive also has a jobs board and Q & A area for people wanting to do a ski season or a long term let.

The interactive features can be found by clicking on the home page of www.chaletsdirect.com

FIT wholesaler Travel Bound just announced 18 new packages for independent travel clients in cities throughout Central and Northern Europe.

In addition to the more famous Christmas market towns, such as Munich and Salzburg, Travel Bound’s packages are offered in Basel, Berlin, Bratislava, Geneva, Hamburg, Krakow, Prague, Stockholm, Tallinn and Vienna.

Most packages include three nights at a three-, four- or five-star hotel plus daily breakfast, hotel tax and service charges and roundtrip private transfers from airport or rail station. Two packages — Geneva and Salzburg — include a Christmas-themed sightseeing tour. All packages may be booked directly from the promotions section of the home page of www.booktravelbound.com.

Agents can customize these packages by selecting hotel star rating and by adding one or more sightseeing tours from Travel Bounds wide selection. Commission starts at 15 percent.

Sample Christmas market packages and prices: Berlin, more than 50 different Christmas markets, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $222; Bratislava, historic Old Town on the Danube and close to Vienna, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $184; Geneva, on the shores of scenic Lake Geneva, three-nights plus Christmas-themed tour, from $349; Krakow, historic architecture and beautiful town square, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $193; Tallinn, historic Old Town on the Baltic, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $133; and Vienna, Christmas makes the imperial city romantic, three-nights plus roundtrip transfers, from $254.

Selling exclusively through travel agents, Travel Bound is a leading wholesale provider of travel products for independent travelers and groups of more than 10, offering more than 90,000 hotel rooms every night in 129 countries worldwide plus a wide range of sightseeing tours, excursions, transfers and other travel services.

A brand of GTA (Gullivers Travel Associates), Travel Bound maintains a global network of 31 offices to ensure local coordination and assistance.

The company is an active member of ASTA TOP and USTOA Travelers Assistance Program. Call a travel agent today.

Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines will introduce a smoke-free indoor environment on all five of its vessels beginning early in 2009. Smoking will be banned in all indoor areas, and permitted only on cabin balconies and specially designated areas of deck space.

This new ruling will come into effect initially on three vessels. Boudicca, Black Prince and Braemar will become smoke-free from their first sailings in 2009 (Jan. 1, Jan. 5 and Jan. 8, respectively). Black Watch and Balmoral will follow suit after completion of their 2009 World Cruises (April 13 and May 29, respectively).

At present, indoor smoking on Olsen vessels is restricted to designated areas of certain lounges on each of the five ships.

“A recent very extensive survey among our current and past passengers has proved to us without a doubt that this course of action is what most people want and, frankly, expect.

Even those passengers who are committed smokers understand the situation and accept that smoking onboard will be restricted to balconies and specified deck areas,” said Mike Rodwell, managing director of Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.

“While we may have a few negative comments initially, I am confident that many new customers who are non-smokers will be encouraged to cruise with us in the future.” Braemar will be based in Miami for the winter 2008-09 season and Boudicca will be based in Barbados.

For more information, call Olsen’s GSA, Borton Overseas, at 800-843-0602, ext. 6, or visit www.fredolsencruises.com

The Yachts of Seabourn is temporarily increasing the early-booking savings offered on an array of cruises aboard the all-suite Seabourn Pride, effectively lowering the fares by as much as $1,600 per person.

The nine- to 14-day voyages, including the Scandinavia and Russia and Norwegian Fjords cruises, sail in the spring and summer of 2009, and are being offered at increased savings of up to 50 percent off the brochure fares.

“This is a way for us to underline the value of cruising with Seabourn in Europe,” said Pamela Conover, Seabourn’s president and CEO. “We are offering our guests an extra 5 to 15 percent early-booking savings, which can mean $700 to $1,600 per person.” Conover noted, however, that the savings will be reduced as the cruises fill.

“My advice,” she said, “is to take advantage of it while you can.”

Voyages offered at the increased early-booking savings include 14-day Mediterranean voyages departing March 31 and April 14, 2009, with savings to 50 percent and fares from $6,045 per person, based on double occupancy of a 277-square-foot ocean-view suite.

A 14-day “Rivers of Western Europe” and an 11-day “Grand Harbors of Europe” voyage in May likewise offer 50 percent savings, and fares from $5,520 per person for 11 days or $7,045 for 14 days. The entire summer schedule in Northern Europe is being offered at up to 40 percent off, with nine- to 14-day fares starting from $5,400 to $8,454 per person, double.