Burj Al Arab hotel

The hotel itself is one of the tallest buildings in the world and only 60 meters shorter than New York’s Empire State building. Over 70,000 cubic meters of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel were used in it’s construction and it stands on a man made island just off 280 meters off the coast of Dubai.

The interior of the hotel includes a cascade waterfall, 180 meter high atrium, 24,000 square meters of marble, 1,590 square meters of 24-carat gold leaf and over 28,000 light fixtures.

Suites range from 1,830 square feet to a monsterous 8,396 square feet. The breakdown of suites is as follows…

142 one bedroom deluxe suites
18 panoramic suites
4 club suites
28 two bedroom deluxe suites
6 diplomatic suites
2 presidential suites
2 royal suites

The details:

* Six award-winning signature restaurants
* World class conference and banqueting venues
* In-suite check-in & check-out
* Butler service around the clock
* Assawan Spa & Health Club
* Helicopter transfers and scenic tours
* Majlis Al Bahar exclusive private beach
* Unlimited access to Wild Wadi Waterpark
* Yacht charter
* Sinbad’s Kids Club
* Infinity pools

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Photos Of The Burj Al Arab 7 Star Hotel

Simply put: the mini bar at the James Hotel Chicago is lovely. An eclectic and dangerously delicious variety of delicious treats. Wowee!

via @adamlevine

Looks like someone had a good time in Chicago. According to Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine, the posh James Hotel in Chicago has a phenomenal mini bar.

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Maroon 5 Takes Advantage Of The Mini Bar At The James In Chicago

HBO and the W Hotel in South Beach have joined forces to offer a one of a kind “Entourage” vacation package. From the hotel’s website…

Vacation like Vince and his Boys and live it up in their 3-story Bungalow – decked out with all the decadence you’d expect from W South Beach and HBO Entourage. Whether toasting what’s to come or taking the town by storm, gain Insider Access to South Beach like only Vince, E, Turtle and Drama could! Entourage Bungalow experience includes (for up to 4 guests):

* Limousine transportation to/from airport
* WOW Cabana at WET, including beverage and food
* Complimentary dinner at Soleà
* VIP access and bottle service at WALL
* Courtside Coronas and reservation at Swoosh, W South Beach’s basketball court
* Bliss bag of goodies
* Private Cruise with full crew, lunch and limo to arrive in style
* 2 Entourage Bungalow branded Jet Skis
* Golf foursome at Diplomat Golf Course

The package will be available through September 27 of this year, and there’s a two night and four guest minimum. So if you don’t have your own version of Drama and Turtle, your share of the bill just doubled.

So how much will this set you back a night? How about $5,000 and that doesn’t include the money you’ll spend trying to convince the ladies that you’re best friends with Mark Wahlberg and gave him the idea for the show.

VIA

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W South Beach Now Offering the HBO “Entourage” Package

Finally you don’t have to worry about losing those frequent flier miles…at least with Delta.

Today Delta announced that effective immediately, they will allow their frequent flier members to rollover their miles to the following year. Currently Delta has three tiers: silver, gold, and platinum. However as part of the new program they will be rolling out the diamond level as well.

Under the new program, frequent fliers will be able to roll over the unused frequent flier miles to the following year, thus making it easier to reach the next tier. So if you reach gold status in 2009 but fall short of platinum, you will be able to roll over those miles to 2010 thus making it easier to reach platinum status.

Obviously, this program is geared to business travel (unless you are fortunate enough to spend your time traveling for leisure instead of working). Delta will also be waiving booking fees to all of it’s gold, platinum and diamond members as well, in hopes of bringing in more customers during a time when most businesses are cutting back on travel.

via

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Delta Airlines To Allow “Roll Over Miles”

On Sunday some passengers aboard a Southwest airlines traveling from Bradley Airport in Connecticut to sunny Orlando, Florida were treated to a not-so emergency landing in Long Island. Apparently a little bit of coffee (my assumption) was spilled on the burner of the coffee maker, and it created an “electrical smell”.

So naturally, panic ensued as nobody thought to check the galley to see if that was the source of the smell. The plane was later put back into commission about four hours later after totally wasting a pool day for 131 travelers.

via

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Flight Grounded By Coffee Maker Aroma

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Tracey Ceurvels

You might think you’ve entered the café to a yoga studio, with photos of Indian gurus hanging on the walls and sitar music playing in the background. But Hampton Chutney Company is a lunchtime favorite for tourists with shopping bags from Soho stores in tow and the local stylish lunch crowd who flock here for the dosas, the Indian version of a sandwich.

Dosas, which are somewhat similar to a crepe, are filled with a combination of vegetables, cheese and/or protein. Some of the options include: the classic spiced Indian potato or chicken, roasted peppers and arugula or grilled Portobello mushroom with spinach and roasted onion. With each dosa you receive a chutney, an Indian condiment—mango, cilantro, peanut, for example.

My favorite dosa always tends to be the seasonal special. The summer version contains grilled corn, roasted peppers, roasted onions, arugula and Jack cheese. But there are options for all taste buds. Some have a spicy kick so grab a Fizzy Lizzy soda, fresh lemonade or orange ginger iced tea. Off hours are best when you can grab a table or a seat at the counter space but customers tend to be in and out quickly so getting a seat isn’t an issue. This is fast food at its finest.

Hampton Chutney Company
68 Prince St
New York City
212-226-9996
Menuism page

For more food adventures by Tracey Ceurvels, visit The Busy Hedonist

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Hampton Chutney Company

Thanks to Casey for sending in these pictures from last weekend. Casey and his wife braved the Summer crowds and went into Boston to see the visiting tall ships. While I understand the fascination with old things and craftsmanship, I don’t understand why people wait in line for this sort of stuff.

I’m not talking about a fifteen minute wait either. Just take a look at the pictures, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. That’s a monster crowd, and you know that everyone isn’t zipping on and off the tall ship. These tourist came to take pictures and entertain their children (and torture their teenagers).

For those of you interested in seeing the ships, well you missed them. But you can read all about them here!

[Show as slideshow]

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Photos Of The Boston Tall Ships

We’ve all had those wild nights that resemble the movie “The Hangover”, at least once in our life right? No?

Okay, well if you ever do wake up one morning to discover your hotel room totally trashed, and I’m talking walls smashed, windows broken, carpeting stained, a tiger in the bathroom, and so on – blame it on PrankNET.

Yes, PrankNET, a online group that has been successfully convincing hotel patrons and restaurant employees to commit the silliest and destructive acts simply by using a telephone. That’s right, they’re prank callers and they use nothing but their telephone and funny voices to manipulate people into destroying things.

Recently a Florida couple was on the receiving end of one of these pranks and almost jumped out their hotel window…

Authorities say a prankster persuaded a married couple to smash their Florida hotel window after falsely telling them the room had a gas leak.

Police say a person claiming to be a front-desk clerk at an Orlando hotel convinced the couple to break a wall mirror and use a lamp to punch a hole through the wall. The couple also threw a mattress out the window, but a hotel manager came to the room before they could jump.

The manager told the couple there was no gas leak. The manager also said employees had received a memo from the hotel’s corporate office warning that dangerous pranks were being pulled at hotels in other states.

The prank cost about $5,000 in damages. Police say the couple were not arrested Monday because they thought it was an emergency. The hotel has not asked them to pay.

Then there was this call, where Dex from PrankNET calls a hotel guest to tell them that there is an exotic spider lose in their hotel room…

And there have been countless other victims. So I ask you, are these people victims of evil pranksters or of their own stupidity?

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Next Time You Trash Your Hotel Room, Blame It On Pranksters

For those of you in Boston that are fans of eating at high class steakhouses (such as Morton’s) at a reasonable price, you might want to check out Morton’s Summer tasting series. It’s held once a month in the bar at the Boston Seaport Morton’s Steakhouse, and it’s only $30 per guest. Morton’s promises signature hors d’oeuvres to compliment the following beverage tastings…

The tasting is held from 6-7:30 p.m., but I suggest planning on enjoying a few cocktails at the bar afterward.

Morton’s on Menuism

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Morton’s Steakhouse Of Boston (Seaport) Tasting Series