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Bloomrooms hotel boasts five-star stays at hostel rates
Myanmar vs. Burma. Which do you prefer?
Seat-back screens to be ditched by 2020?
Soccer star Nakata's sake bar pops up in London
Ryanair's genius idea: Build aircraft with wider doors
33 beautiful islands to visit in Korea
Why 'travelers' think they're better than 'tourists.' And why they're not
AirAsia joins Japanese budget airline battle

Bloomrooms hotel boasts five-star stays at hostel rates

Posted: 03 Aug 2012 12:42 AM PDT

by Zoe Li, Hong Kong Editor

If you're staying here, accounts is probably smiling.

A new hotel in India says it's offering rooms comparable to those found in a five-star hotel, but at hostel prices.

And it promises to give guests their money back if they're not happy.

Bloomrooms recently opened on Link Road, Jangpura, in New Delhi.

The hotel cuts costs by doing away with services that it says customers don't want.

Myanmar vs. Burma. Which do you prefer?

Posted: 03 Aug 2012 12:19 AM PDT

by CNNGo staff

"Even old New York was once New Amsterdam.

"Why they changed it I can't say.

"People just liked it better that way."

So go the lyrics, in part, to the old swing standard "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," a song that makes mirth of the human, and very political, tendency to rename cities and countries.

The reigning example of this fickle tradition is surely Myanmar. Or is that Burma?

Seat-back screens to be ditched by 2020?

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:15 PM PDT

by Hiufu Wong

Aircraft seatback TVs may be obsolete by 2020.

Instead, lightweight and easy-to-update mobile devices like tablets or iPads will be tomorrow's answer to in-flight entertainment (IFE), according to one aviation expert.

"Now, every three or four months, there is a new airline introducing tablets," said Ravi Madavaram, aerospace and defense consultant for Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, a consulting firm.

"It is cost-saving and airlines just cannot ignore the benefit of tablets for long."

In 2011, American Airlines and Jetstar introduced tablets and iPads on some of their flights. Last February, Qantas tested iPads on some of its flights and by July, it had launched iPad-based entertainment on its 23 Boeing 767-300 aircraft.

Soccer star Nakata's sake bar pops up in London

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:16 PM PDT

by Rachel Sang-hee Han

While David Beckham made his country proud by playing a key role in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, another soccer hero is also sharing his personal and national pride.

Retired Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata is presenting some of his favorite sake at a pop-up bar on the banks of the River Thames, hoping to boost interest in the popular drink and also prepare for the launch of his very own sake label.

"N Bar" is part of "Arigato in London," an event organized by prominent Japanese scholars, artists and athletes to thank the international community for its support in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

Along with the sake bar, various events including markets, performances and movie screenings will also take place.

But what's more interesting than the lips-on experience of sipping traditional liquor when you want to learn more about that country?

Ryanair's genius idea: Build aircraft with wider doors

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 03:40 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Ryanair let on to the Guardian this week that a Chinese company is currently designing a prototype aircraft to help the budget airline push forward its dream of cost-saving.

The bespoke jet is expected to have extra-wide doors, and is designed by the state-run Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), best known for its narrow-body C919.

Open sesame

"We want two people to walk through the door [side by side]," said Howard Millar, Ryanair's deputy chief executive. "If the door is wider you can load people on and off the aircraft quicker.

"We want a low-cost plane that suits our business model."

Millar pointed out that faster turnarounds were fundamental to any low-cost carriers.

33 beautiful islands to visit in Korea

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:50 AM PDT

by Violet Kim, Gigi Ban, Sunny Kim

Fact: If you tried to visit one Korean island a day, it would take you more than nine years to get to them all (there are 3,358 officially affirmed islands off the South Korean coast).

While most travelers in the region have most likely heard of Jeju, Korea's most famous island and one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, the seas surrounding the peninsula are peppered with lesser-known islands with spectacular views and awesome fishing.

For more information and directions to the islands, try searching for each island on the Visit Korea website, or calling Dasan Call Center (02-120) once you're in the country.

1. Seonjaedo (선재도)

seonjaedo Magic? Not unless you think the gravitational pull of the moon is magic. But magical? Definitely.

Many are familiar with Moses dividing the Red Sea, but this biblical story has its own, more scientifically plausible version on Seonjaedo.

Why 'travelers' think they're better than 'tourists.' And why they're not

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:30 AM PDT

by Hunter Braithwaite

I grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a town best characterized by a jeremiad emblazoned across upper backs and pickup trucks: "If it's tourist season, why can't we shoot 'em?"

While such an armed intervention might be unique to the American South, it also identifies one of the most bizarre global characteristics of the tourism industry: self-damnation.

From Pattaya to Paris, everyone hates the tourist.

And everyone -- tourists especially -- goes through great pains to separate themselves from the peripatetic leper caste.

The canny nomad stays off the beaten path, eats only where locals eat and, above all, refers to him- or herself as a "traveler."

AirAsia joins Japanese budget airline battle

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 09:10 AM PDT

With an inaugural flight from Narita to Fukuoka, AirAsia Japan took to the skies above Tokyo on August 1, becoming the third new budget airline of 2012 to challenge Japan's heavyweight players.

AirAsia Japan CEO Kazuyuki Iwaya is promising fares costing less than half those of JAL and ANA, the longtime go-to carriers for most travelers in Japan.

Initial routes connecting Tokyo with Fukuoka, Naha in Okinawa and Sapporo in Hokkaido are set to be joined by two South-Korean routes later this year and more domestic services in 2013.

Iwaya laid out his vision for AirAsia's prospective customers at the Narita launch on Wednesday.

"We want to create demand for flying that didn't exist before," he said.