Travel Tonic

Travel related news and tweets for November 24th 2009 through November 25th 2009:

• 15 life-changing trips – SonjaG recently posted this over on the Bing Travel Blog:It’s the season for celebrating with friends and family and giving thanks for our health, shelter and loved ones. As the year begins to wind down and we reflect on all that we are thankful for, many of us also look for ways to give back. Visiting countries in the developing world is an eye-opening experience for many travelers. It can serve as a powerful catalyst as people search for ways to give back and to put more meaning into their travels.
• More Black Friday travel deals – Brad Tuttle recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:Black Friday isn’t just about door busters and discounted TVs at the mall. Airlines, hotels, and resorts are getting in on the action with deals of their own.
• Paris: Champs-Elysees holiday treat – Meg Zimbeck recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:<div><div>
  <div><span>(Courtesy Anne Lazarevitch/Flickr)</span></div></div></div>
• Buy a One-Day Lounge Pass for Better Airline Service – Lifehacker’s Kevin Purdy just posted this article:
  

  Leaving on a jet plane for the long holiday weekend? The Wall Street Journal suggests a few tips to overcome the stress of delayed flights, including a suggestion to cool your heels in the first class lounge. …

  Read the rest at Lifehacker

• A holiday treat from Bing Travel – Bing Travel recently posted this over on the Bing Travel Blog:Crowded airports, endless security lines, flight delays and long layovers: Traveling over the busy Thanksgiving weekend certainly isn’t any fun. A few months ago, we started considering ways we could help ease the burden of holiday travel and asked ourselves, “What’s something fun we could do to surprise fliers on the day before Thanksgiving, on what is typically the most hectic travel day of the year?”
• Speedy Italian lessons over drinks in Rome – Kate Appleton recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:Wine can loosen you up to speak the truth, not only in your language but in others. Just ask the 154,000-odd members of the Facebook group, Alcohol improves my foreign language! Or stop by Rome’s mateBar on a Thursday evening, where native English and Italian speakers gather for an aperitivo organized by Extreme Language Exchange. (It, too, has a Facebook group.)

  Taking a cue from speed dating, this language exchange pairs up participants for 10 minutes at a time—five spent chatting in English and five in Italian. Then it’s on to the next partner (<em>ciao, bella!</em>). No previous knowledge of Italian required.

  Sign up in advance at extremelanguage.net, and show up at 7:30 p.m. at mateBar, via Benedetta 17, in the Trastevere neighborhood. Upcoming exchanges are on November 25, December 3, December 10, and December 17.

• Fee rebates for lucky fliers – Sean O’Neill recently posted this on This Just In… Newsweek’s Travel Blog:On Wednesday morning, employees from the search engine Bing Travel will go to the Seattle and Boston airports, randomly pick 1,000 travelers, and reimburse them for them their luggage fees, up to $15 each.