February 2012
9 posts
5 tags
New: Regional Business Jet Search with Linear Air
As you know, we’re obsessed with taking the agony out of travel and providing you with the best options for your unique needs. In our dedication to make all traveling easier, we’re very excited to announce the availability of regional business jet service through our new partner, Linear Air. Now, business travelers and jetsetters alike will be able to fly from and between cities that...
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And the "insane rope swing of the year" award goes...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Via the great curators at This is Colossal, a jaw-dropping video of the a giant rope swing, looped over Corona Arch in Moab, Utah. The video was shot by Salt Lake’s Devin Graham.
If you’re interested in more, check out Devin’s equally entertaining “making of” video here.
Still not enough? This 280m...
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The best fruit in the world
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I may be biased - after all my Hipmunk avatar does have me holding chopsticks - but for me the best fruit there is takes the form of a purple tomato-esque treat with a green leafy stem. Mangosteens are originally thought be from the Moluccas (those same Indonesian islands as cloves, mace and nutmeg) and are now found throughout Southeast...
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The 'Munk of Love
February is the designated month of love, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the hipmunk love we see on facebook, twitter and throughout the blogosphere all year round. Now it’s our turn to give back some love with a chance to win a unique hotel experience. When you head to our homepage, you’ll notice the cupid ‘munk who will be your guide to sharing the love. Let him know who is in need of...
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"Game of Thrones" Valentine's Day Cards
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
This one goes out to those of you celebrating Valentine’s Day and also fans of Game of Thrones.
Buzzfeed has posted these great cards from artist Chris Bishop. For the full-sized cards, head on over to their post.
Not a Game of Thrones enthusiast? XKCD has a comic for that very special Valentine’s Day dilemma.
...
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Getting up close and personal with snowflakes
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
With winter in full swing (and some of the coldest temperatures on record in Eastern Europe) I wanted to highlight these stunning macro photos of snowflakes, taken by photographer Matthias Lenke:
Says photographer Matthias Lenke:
I must confess that I never cared about snowflakes too much … until I read an article about...
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Vermillion Cliffs, Arizona: The National Monument...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Though I’ve been travelling around the world for the last 4 years, I am the first to admit that I’ve seen only one small part of what my country’s national parks and those of the United States have to offer. With such vast spaces and varied landscapes, months of discovery are needed to see them all. Take, for example,...
A night in Calgary (the airport)
Did you know that it’s possible to visit Calgary in the dead of winter without changing from a California wardrobe? Recently, Joe, our biz dev guy, and I did just that when we visited WestJet headquarters (did you know they offer direct flights from Los Angeles?). Our 18-hour whirlwind started with a 30-yard dash through 20-degree weather out of the terminal to the Delta Calgary Airport...
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Map of the day: "the places I haven't been"
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I came across Evan Drolet Cook’s “Places I Haven’t Been” map this week and wanted to share it here.
So much of our online world is showing what we’ve done that we sometimes lose sight of the other side of the coin, the things we still want to see and do. This tongue-in-cheek map, is the perfect visual...
January 2012
12 posts
5 tags
Desert rivers that look like trees
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Some of the most evocative travel photography is the kind that makes you see something normal in a totally different light. Take the photo below, a bird’s eye view of Baja California desert in Mexico, taken by Adriana Franco:
Hard to believe that this is a desert image and not a delicate hand-painted canvas of furrowed...
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Behold the blue marble we call Earth
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
In what has been lauded as one of the more incredible photos of our planet ever released, NASA has issued a staggeringly high-definition photo of Earth from space. The photo was taken by the new Suomi NPP satellite, launched in late October of 2011. Here’s a smaller version:
Pretty incredible, right?
This photo is a composite...
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England & Scotland in Photos
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
After months of travel through Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, I spent the last few months in England with my brother and his friends. It was great to relax and enjoy the holidays with family, but it also gave a perspective of the country that I didn’t have before. There’s something offputting about returning to...
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Surreal underwater photos by biologist Alexander...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I stumbled on this bright, ethereal photos from under the sea and had to share them here. Alexander Semenov is a biologist who now does a gorgeous job of photographing what he spent so long studying.
Exhibit A:
Semenov notes that he got into underwater photography by accident:
When I first began to experiment with sea life...
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The Making of Hotel Search on Mobile
It began with a demo.
Our mobile hotel search app was weeks away from shipping. The UI was tight, performance was shaping up and the punchlist was shrinking.
But there was a problem. Jacqueline, our press whisperer, did a hotel search in the new app. She couldn’t figure out which, from the dozens of hotels depicted on the map, was the one she actually wanted - and didn’t know where...
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Incredible footage: a peregrine falcon hunting in...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Not too long ago, I posted about a murmuration of starlings in flight over Istanbul. The sight of it stopped me in my tracks nightly as clouds of birds circled their way around the city.
Here’s another version of the remarkable phenomenon over Rome, with a peregrine falcon hunting for its dinner:
A friend sent me this...
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Tahiti + surfing + a rainbow = a perfect photo
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Over 13,000 votes were cast for Surfer Mag’s 2011 Photo of the Year contest, and the winning picture is a stunning capture, shot in Tahiti by Zak Noyle:
In an interview with the photographer, Surfer mag asks how the photo came about. Noyle notes:
It was an amazing afternoon with just my friends out in the water. There were...
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A Glance at 2011, and Look to 2012
2011 was Hipmunk’s first full year in existence. And we couldn’t have asked for better—not only did millions of new users try us for the first time, but we were able to remove even more agony from their travel searching. On our one year anniversary in August, we calculated that we had saved you over 150,000 hours of agony within our first year, and we’re pretty close to doubling...
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What happens to your books when you go to bed?
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
In a departure from the usual travel fare, I wanted to share this whimsical video animating what happens to a bookstore at night, if you use your imagination. For booklovers, camera lovers and those who enjoy a short film:
Some background, from creator Sean Ohlenkamp:
After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago, my wife and I...
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New: Hotel Search on Mobile!
You’ve been asking, and so we’re pleased to announce that hotel search and booking is now available for free through our iOS and Android mobile apps. Until now, just flight search was available on the go, but with this major update, we’re bringing our innovative, visual hotel search to hundreds of millions of mobile devices, including yours! Check out these great reviews...
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Not your everyday travel photo: dogs on motorbikes
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
A weekly hashtag called FriFotos has emerged on Twitter, started by Jonathan Epstein as a way to share themed photos to a group of curious travelers. I don’t always participate, but this week’s theme is dogs, and I wanted to share my not-so-everyday photos of dogs on the road. Literally:
While I was trying to get a photo...
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Where in the world is the Wandering Hipmunk?
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Given my last post about Hogmanay in Edinburgh, I thought I’d bring our mascot along for the road trip to Scotland.
Can you guess where he is now?
And me doing my best Hipmunk imitation:
Leave your guesses in the comments, and if you’ve been here too please feel free to post a photo from your trip - I’ve...
December 2011
16 posts
3 tags
What are you doing New Year's eve?
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
After a great holiday week in England (affectionately known as Christmakwanzmakkah in my family), my brother and I are driving to Scotland tomorrow with friends … and about 80,000 other people. New Years, known as Hogmanay there, will be a few days of street parties, concerts and getting soaked in the forecasted pouring rain.
...
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One New Yorker's roundup of 2011
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
It’s that time in December when the lists come out of the woodwork: roundups and mashups to close the door on the 12 months that were. While there is no shortage of great ones (see “The Year that was in Photos”, Best Tumblrs of 2011, and the great Maria Popova’s year-end curation of best art and design books of...
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Watching your bag as it travels from ATL to JFK
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I’ve always wondered what happened to my bag when I checked in at the gate. Where did it go? What do the bowels of the airport look like? How was it handled?
Delta has answered my questions by rigging a piece of luggage with six cameras and sending it on its way.
As so many of you are travelling this weekend, we figured we...
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The Gift of Amazing Fans
As 2011 comes to a close, it’s easy to get caught up in the agony of last minute deadlines, numerous mall trips, and endless airport security lines; however, this year, getting into the Holiday spirit was easy. Here at Hipmunk, we launched two fantastic contests calling for your festive responses. We received hundreds of comments and each was heartfelt, hilarious and inspiring. When I contacted...
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Skype offering free hour of WiFi in over 50...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
If you’re travelling during the holidays - and many of you are, I’m sure - it’s always nice to have WiFi while you wait for your flight. I’m surprised at how few airports in the USA have free internet access available in the terminals; hopefully at some point soon it will become the norm in most of the country.
...
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A Total Lunar Eclipse over India
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Last week, the world saw a total lunar eclipse - the last one to occur before April 2014. Total lunar eclipses happen as the moon moves behind the Earth and into its shadow, essentially blocking the sun from illuminating the moon. As this gorgeous composite photo shows, the eclipse is visible for several hours, with the full moon rising...
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The Hipmunk Guide to Airport Dunkin’ Donuts
America Runs On Dunkin’, and when traveling the world for meetings, so do some of us at Hipmunk. After spending the equivalent of two months in airports over the past year, I happen to know the location of most airport Dunkin’ Donuts—even the one at Singapore’s Changi Airport. With the help of our live chat intern, Michael, we’re taking the agony out of your bleary red-eye or weather...
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On-Board Virgin America's First Flight to Palm...
Today, I got the amazing opportunity to take Virgin America’s Inaugural Flight to Palm Springs. The fun started at the gate in SFO’s beautiful Terminal 2 where we received the red carpet send-off appetizers, champagne, cosmos and were crooned by old-timey Rat Pack impersonators.
David Cush, Virgin America CEO, and Steve Pougnet, Mayor of Palm Springs, both gave speeches thanking...
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Baby sloth orphanage will make you squee
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
With a smile-inducing mascot, we’re obviously big fans of cute here at the Hipmunk. We’re also happy to showcase under-appreciated animals from around the world. A perfect example: the sloth.
Baby sloth photo by Matt MacGillivray.
While not as popular as baby tigers or polar bears, mini-sloths are beyond adorable....
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Hipmunk Helps You Unlock Bonus Level 2 of Angry...
The holiday season means time for gift-giving, relaxation, and more free time to play Angry Birds. If you’re like us, you can never get enough of flinging feathered projectiles at pigs. That’s why Hipmunk is teaming up with our friends at the Google Chrome Web Store to give you a different kind of flight search—Bonus Level 2 of Angry Birds Seasons! The password for this level is divided...
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Chicken Pudding: Dessert of Champions
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
You read that right: chicken pudding, and for dessert too. During my weeks in Istanbul, I made it a point (of course) to eat as much as possible of the different local offerings. I’m not a dessert person - I don’t like chocolate - but I do enjoy a good pudding. And an unusual but popular dessert choice in the city is tavuk...
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Give the Gift of Hipmunk
Bells are ringing, lights are twinkling, fingers are freezing, and warm hot cocoa has never tasted so good. The holidays are rapidly approaching, but finding the *perfect* gift for all your special someones can be agonizing. Welp, we’re here to ease some of that pain and help check a name off your shopping list. Tell us who you think needs some extra TLC this holiday season (and who you want...
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PhoCusWright 2011 Recap, Awards, and Video
Before Thanksgiving, a few of us from the Hipmunk team attended the 2011 PhoCusWright Travel Conference in Hollywood, FL at which co-founders Steve and Adam represented Hipmunk as one of the chosen few in the Travel Innovation Summit.
For those of you not in the travel industry, the PhoCusWright conference is kind of a big deal. It’s one of the largest US travel conferences bringing...
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Wonderful video of frenetic traffic in Vietnam's...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I often talk about how crazy it is to cross the street in other parts of the world. Being from Montreal, I’m well-versed in the art of jaywalking but in many cities even a jaded jaywalker can find herself overwhelmed. In Morocco, the key was to make eye contact before stepping out into the street, in Turkey it was running as...
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Passports with Purpose: Building Libraries in...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Every year a group of travel bloggers gets together, combining their resources and readers to raise money for a charity of choice. In 2008, Passports with Purpose (as the group is called) was founded as a way to give back to the places we visit and has been increasingly successful with each given year.
In 2009, the group built a school...
November 2011
18 posts
4 tags
Cats of Morocco
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Those who have been following the Wandering Hipmunk News know that I just spent a month in Morocco. The first two weeks were on a G Adventures trip, to blog about it for their Wanderers in Residence programme (I’m just trying to rack up all the “wandering” titles I can ;) My time in the country can be divided into...
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Beautiful Google Street View Art
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Landscape photography is one of the better ways to sink into a new place, with its focus on detail and wider ability to bring you into the feeling behind one snapshot in time. Aaron Hobson is a master at constructing photos of this kind, having won several awards for his cinemascape panoramic photos.
In a new series, he uses Google...
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Adding One to the Thanksgiving Dinner Table
Thanksgiving is just a couple days away, and today we’re announcing the fifth and final winner of our Thanksgiving travel giveaway. Everyone should be able to spend the holidays with friends, family, and loved ones, and we’re thrilled to help connect a few people!
Today’s lucky winner is Britten Wolf of Omaha, NE! Here’s the Facebook comment he left us:
Congrats to Britten who will...
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Murmuration of Starlings over Istanbul
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Istanbul is a lovely city to explore but a curious thing happens at dusk: murmurations of starlings swirl their way across the city’s many rooftops, clustering on a tree then continuing on their graceful path. For anyone who has seen starlings in flight, it’s an incredible, magical sight.
Walking back to the hostel...
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Winner, Winner, Turkey Dinner!
Thanksgiving is just three days away, and we know airfare prices were really high this season and not affordable for everyone. That’s why we’ve decided to send five lucky people home for the holiday to be with there friends, family, and loved ones. Last week we gave away three flights, and today we’re announcing the fourth…
Today’s lucky winner is Kristen Malzone of...
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Off To Grandmother's House You Go...
We’re on day three of our Thanksgiving flight giveaway and we’re excited to hopefully make one more person and their family’s holiday.
Today’s winner of the third free flight home for Thanksgiving is….
Alexiss Dawn of Salt Lake City, UT! She sent us this tweet:
Congrats, Alexiss! Glad we can help you spend quality time (and puzzle time) with your Grandmother and sixteen...
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Driving in Morocco: Not for the Faint of Heart
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I’m currently in Istanbul for the first time, a city of old and new, of cobblestone streets and majestic mosques looming over the city, standing guard. It’s a wonderful place to spend a few weeks and with plenty of food to explore and ferries to shuttle me to the Asian side of the city too, I suspect I’ll stay put for...
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The Next Winner Flying Home for Thanksgiving...
The entries are pouring in, and we are loving reading about all your Thanksgiving holiday traditions, dishes, and family fun. Keep them coming, and we are thrilled we can send four more of you home for the holiday.
And, today’s winner of the second free flight home for Thanksgiving is….
Nancy Wu, San Francisco, CA! Here’s her winning Facebook post:
Congrats, Nancy! We’ll...
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We're Flying Someone Home for Thanksgiving...
First off, thank you so much for all the amazing, thoughtful, and inspiring words you sent us about why you want to be with your family, friends, and loved ones on Thanksgiving. While we wish we could fly all you of you home for the holidays, what we CAN do is fly five of you home—and we’re psyched about that!
So, the winner of the first ticket is…
Drum roll please….
...
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Your ridiculous wonderful photoessay of the week
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Every year, National Geographic holds a photo contest, allowing readers to submit photographs in three categories, people, places and nature. Last year they received over 16,000 entries from 130 countries. This year’s nominations are open until November 30.
Week 10 nature category entry: Dusky Leaf Monkey with its mother near...
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Sometimes a photo says it all...
This is a Hipmunk post from Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
I’m nearing the end of my weeks in Morocco, and looking through my photos, it was an incredibly varied time of mountains and desert, delicious food and fun. But of all the photos (and there are many!) one stands out:
I took this after a long and exhausting drive in the pouring rain. I rented a car in Marrakesh and drove toward...
New: Specify Flights by Airlines or Connection...
If you fly 100,000 miles a year or more, you’ve probably been through more than your fair share of airlines and airports. And chances are, you’ve developed your own quirky preferences. Perhaps you like the lounge in Chicago, or the flight attendants in Minneapolis. Maybe you’re trying to qualify for frequent-flyer status on your favorite airline, and you’d be willing to fly a circuitous route on...
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How Badly Do You Want A Free Flight Home for...
With oil prices rising and airline capacity decreasing, Thanksgiving airfare is only on the up and up. Coincidentally, one of the few times a year when we should be nowhere other than with friends, family, and loved ones, airfare increases so much. It’s not reasonable that everyone can afford a flight home, and for those of you nodding your heads, we hear your frustration.
So, we are going to...