What is the travel world buzzing about this week?

The New York Times Travel section is featuring low-key and non-mainstream destinations, from Uruguay’s Punta del Este to California’s Big Sur. Now that the holiday rush is almost over, travelers apparently are craving peace and quiet. The antidote for too much family time is a contemplative trip far away from the madding crowds. Not sure if Atlanta qualifies in this category, but the NYTimes thinks so. (Have a look at Viator’s own take on places far from the madding crowd.)

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Travel section is feeling the same “get me away from the crowds” vibe, with spotlights on penguin cruises (read Kelly’s recent post on penguins, why we love them, why it’s OK to plan a trip around them) and Chile’s Patagonia region (do your own search for Patagonia on Viator).

In the UK the Guardian is featuring its Fabulous 50 Destinations for 2007. Readers of Viator’s own Top 50 list will note that the #1 destination in both cases is the Big Apple, New York City. There’s just something about spending quality time in NYC and it doesn’t matter when you go. Each season has its own charms. Right now the dominant theme in New York is winter; even though it’s been strangely mild this year (blame global warming?) the city is feeling festive.

The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age argue it’s time to add Kazakhstan to your travel wishlist thanks to Borat (we also think you should add Romania to your list since that’s where the ‘Kazakhstan’ scenes in Borat were actually filmed) as well as some Tasmanian beer. (If you’re feeling the love for Tasmania, or just curious, check out Rod’s recent post about the place where he is from). They’re also talking about hot-air balloon rides in Australia, something we at Viator know a thing or two about.

The global news round-up finishes this week in Dubai, where the Khaleej Times has profiles on Australia (extreme sports) and the Dubai jazz festival that starts in March.

Let us know what your hometown newspaper is buzzing about.

-Scott McNeely

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 7th, 2007 at 10:01 am and is filed under Departure Lounge, News & Alerts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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