Viator Travel Blog

Thursday, July 2 ,2009

London’s Royal Palaces

It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but, okay, I will admit it for all of us. Part of our fascination with England – even for many of those born and raised there – is the Royal Family – one of the last remaining monarchies in the world. They’re all over magazines just like real celebrities. Their faces stare at us from mugs and plates and T-shirts. History is full of them. We all want to see inside their houses. So, I did it. I went to London and I visited a whole lot of Royal palaces. Did not meet a prince, but, given the history of princesses I’m kind of glad of that.

Vatican Confidential: Behind the Scenes of the Guided Tour Industry

Tuesday, June 30 ,2009

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Vatican Confidential: Behind the Scenes of the Guided Tour Industry

Personally I have rarely been tempted to take guided tours. The times I have were usually accidental; faced with some complicated monument in the depths of India, an ageing guide has approached me and very softly urged me to take a tour at a wonderfully reasonable price. This is the sort of guided tour that possess a little travel exoticism. But I recently had a rare insight into the big business industrial tours of Rome, the Vatican and its huge museum.

Monday, June 29 ,2009

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The Caribbean’s Most Underrated Islands

When it comes to the Caribbean, there’s a temptation to just head to whichever island is easiest to get to. After all, they’re all just beaches and cocktails, yes? But sometimes it pays to look beyond the usual suspects, island destinations such as the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. A connecting flight to one of the smaller, less-visited islands can pay dividends for those prepared to spend a little longer in the air.

Sunday, June 28 ,2009

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Contest: Las Vegas Dinner & Show

Editor's note: The contest is now closed and we're pleased to announce the winners! It was not an easy decision, there were a lot of great entries. But we've selected 2 runners-up and 1 grand prize winner for answering one simple question: "Why should Viator give YOU free tickets to a Las Vegas dinner & show?" The catch -- your answer must be 10 words or less! We've written about the new Dinner in the Sky in Las Vegas, involving a large crane, an elevated outdoor table, and amazing views of the Las Vegas skyline...

Friday, June 26 ,2009

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New York’s 9/11 Ground Zero Museum Workshop

While few people chose to travel in pursuit of tragedies, occasionally a tragedy helps put a destination into meaningful context. No where is that more true than New York City. The attacks of September 11, 2001 are easy to overlook nowadays; New York is healing, moving on, looking forward not back. And yet 9/11 was (and remains) a defining moment of modern New York. You cannot appreciate the city and everything it has endured, without confronting the gruesome reality of the attacks, the death and destruction, the heroism of Ground Zero's rescue workers, the courage and resilience of everyday New Yorkers.

Tuesday, June 16 ,2009

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Project Easter Island: Seattle

I had three homes in Seattle recently. Number one: a performance studio in heart of Capitol Hill called Studio-Current. Two: just down the block, a new restaurant/café called Oddfellows. Three: A fabulous old home in the Madison Park neighborhood. I'd driven up from Portland for a brief artist residency and performance/art gathering for the Easter Island Project's Participation Tour.

Monday, June 1 ,2009

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What’s Happn.in!

We’ve been keeping an eye on new Twitter travel tools, and here’s one we really like. It’s a new site called happn.in. The idea here is simple: the site creates ‘local’ trend watchers for top cities around the world (Amsterdam to San Francisco, Sydney to London, a few dozen more so far) and displays the [...]

Friday, May 29 ,2009

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Competitours, What’s That?

Did you notice the Competitours ad on our blog? We don’t normally carry ads on the blog, but in this case we’re making an exception because (yes this is a pop quiz): (a) we at Viator like what they do (b) we’ve decided to provide their contestants with trip planning and tour advice (c) they’re paying us a [...]

Wednesday, May 13 ,2009

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Viator in French & Spanish!

A few weeks ago we announced the launch of Viator's German-language website. At Viator we're not the sort of people to rest on our Lorbeeren (that's "laurels" in German, meine Freunde). This week we're very pleased to announce the launch of not one but TWO new websites for European-based travelers: Viatorcom.es in Spanish, and Viatorcom.fr in French.

Tuesday, May 5 ,2009

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Viator Blog Wins 2009 Chapeau Award

Dedicated readers of the Viator blog will remember that, just a few weeks ago, Viator was nominated for the 2009 Best Travel & Leisure blog over at the Chapeau Blog Awards. Today we found out that - drum roll, please - we won! Viator’s Travel Blog was voted #1 in the Travel & Leisure category. We’re [...]

Saturday, April 18 ,2009

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Viator in German? Ja!

Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut. No, don't panic. We are not writing this entire post in German. Though here at Viator HQ we're very pleased to announce the birth of Viator's German-language website. Head on over to Viatorcom.de and have a look. The tag line is 'Ausflüge, Unternehmungen und Besichtigungstouren', which is another way of saying, happy travels from Viator!

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