Mystery Vacation Planners, Ski Resort Upgrades And Other Travel News

In August 2021, I booked my first solo trip to Europe: A $439 United flight from Cleveland, Ohio, to Madrid, Spain, with a short layover in Newark, New Jersey. 

Jet2.com has expanded its programme of ski flights to its biggest ski destination – Geneva – on the back of strong demand from skiers and snowboarders. 

Jet2.com is giving skiers and snowboarders the chance to hit the slopes for less this winter across eight ski destinations, as the award-winning airline has launched an unmissable ski carriage promotion. With snow sports enthusiasts clamouring to hit the slopes on the French, Swiss, Austrian and Italian Alps, as well as the Tyrolean Mountains and Pyrenees, Jet2.com is offering 50% off return ski carriage for a limited time only. There is ‘snow’ way that skiers and snowboarders will want to miss out on this fantastic promotion, as it means they can save a huge £30 on ski carriage (normally £60 return) and get out to the slopes for the very best value.

Terry and Al Hershey can afford to live anywhere they please after their successful careers—she in the corporate offices of Time Warner, he running businesses in medical device manufacturing and contract research and development. So, when they loaded up their 34-foot RV at their Bonita Springs, Florida home and hit the road to scout a second retirement locale, they headed to what might sound like a surprising place: Traverse City, Michigan, a small town (population 16,000) 250 miles northwest of Detroit, that sits on a bay opening to Lake Michigan. In 2021, the Hersheys moved into a 132-year-old, 5-bedroom Victorian three blocks from Grand Traverse Bay, where they spend six months a year with their goldendoodle and Aussiedoodle. Now both 76, they hike, bike, kayak and motorboat and can choose from scores of musical performances a year at the nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts and by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. “We wanted a summer base,” Terry explains. Why not spend all year in Traverse City? They don’t mind the cold (they lived for many years in Colorado), but find the lack of sunshine during the winters in Traverse City too dreary, she says.

Everything about Las Vegas feels indulgent, from the glittering lights on the Strip to the cacophony of casino slot machines and all-you-can-eat buffets. However, perhaps nothing in Las Vegas is more indulgent than the luxury hotel suites that sit high above the Strip.

TUI-owned FirstChoice.co.uk has relaunched as a vibrant new travel and experiences booking platform as the brand looks to strengthen its position with the flexible, independent traveler.

A cyberattack has breached the computer system at MGM Resorts, forcing the company to shut down operations at a dozen of the most iconic casino hotels in Las Vegas—including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and the Cosmopolitan—as well as another half-dozen MGM properties around the United States. The attack has left hotel guests locked out of their rooms and unable to use their digital key cards to charge goods and services.

Various MGM Resorts International properties across the U.S. Monday faced a "cybersecurity issue" that caused the gaming giant to temporarily shutter computer systems across the country.

Overlooking the English Channel is a small resort town bedecked with freestone facades and half-timbered houses. English is heard everywhere, from the Art Deco Westminster hotel to the lighthouse, which, on the occasion of the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, was lit up with Her Majesty's favourite colours. The bells of city hall chime in an echo of Big Ben, and it was just announced that the town's airport will soon be rechristened after Queen Elizabeth II.

The three-day TGTM 2023 is set as a centre stage for Thai golf businesses to network and discuss business opportunities with overseas golf-holiday specialists.

Soho House is a brand with bona fide British celebrity and royal bragging rights: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had their first date at one in London. Soho Farmhouse, the brand's countryside inn a two-hour drive outside London, has hosted everyone from former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron to Princess Eugenie and (my personal favorite) top-selling U.K. band Girls Aloud.

Whether it’s a Moroccan-influenced Chicken & Shrimp Kefta with a Vietnamese-style Nuoc Cham dipping sauce, or a Green Thai Curry Hummus with both English and Wasabi peas, Chef Jason Neroni of the newly-opened The Desmond restaurant has California Cuisine speaking with a lot of different accents. “We’re buying everything we can from the area,” says Neroni, “then we craft it with global influences. That gives us no boundaries — we’ve got a lot of different palates traveling through here and we can make them all very happy.”