Monday, July 26, 2010

Get Your Fill of Classical Music this summer at the London Proms 2010

Summer in London if the weather holds out can be a glorious season for the British capital offers a whole host of events like the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, the FA Cup Final, music, dance, food, art and film festivals and more. One such highly anticipated event is London’s annual celebration of classical music which is known as the BBC Proms.

If you are a fan of classical music then the BBC Proms is the one event that you can’t afford to miss and getting to London from the US is quite easy as numerous airlines offer convenient trans-Atlantic connections from various US cities. However most of these journeys involve long haul flights which can be quite tedious and tiring. To avoid the resultant jet lag and fatigue that arises from such a journey you should try and find cheap business class fares to London for your classical music odyssey. Discount business class airfares to London do exist and can be obtained if you know where to look for them.

The BBC Proms festival extends over two months and features orchestral concerts, operas, choral concerts and world music performances many of which are held at the landmark venue of London’s Royal Albert Hall. However despite the event’s grand setting, tickets to these concerts are quite inexpensive as they are priced at just £5 and entitle the classical music lover to stand in the arena area or recline in the gallery of the Royal Albert Hall. This year this event which kicks off on the 16th of July 2010 and extends until September 11th 2010 will feature 76 main concerts which will be held at the Royal Albert Hall along with whole host of smaller performances and concerts to be held at various other venues around the city.

Often airlines themselves offer incredible deals on business tickets to London which if you act quickly can help you save substantially on a trip across the pond.  However the conditions for these cheap business fares to London often require substantial advance purchase or travel on specific days. If for some reason you are unable to meet these conditions but yet want to find cheap business class tickets to London then your next best option is to work with an airfares consolidator. An airfare consolidator usually has access to heavily discounted tickets to nearly all worldwide destinations.

These airfares consolidators work as ticket brokers who deal directly with airlines to negotiate prices which are often 70% lower than the airlines’ published prices.  Airfare consolidator contracts are usually awarded to those companies which have an established track record in selling fares and do huge volumes of business. They usually work with a network of travel agents and guarantee the airlines regular and repeat business and hence they have access to discount business class airfares which are not usually available to a single travel agent.

So even if you haven’t bought your business class flight to London just yet, there is no need to despair, you can still make join the other ‘prommers’ at the BBC Proms 2010 by snagging some  cheap business fares to London from  a reputed air consolidator who often has numerous business class deals to share.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Indulge in your shopaholic fantasies at the Dubai Summer Surprises

Dubai, the jewel of the Middle East is favored shopping destination. This glitzy, glamorous destination is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.  Dubai which is known for its ‘live-large’ affluent lifestyle is home to several opulent shopping malls like Deira City Centre, Mirdiff City Centre, , Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall as well as numerous luxurious hotels like the Atlantis, the Burj Al Arab, the Rose Tower and the Address Downtown Burj Khalifa which are attract tourists from all over the world.

In fact the economy of Dubai which was once primarily dependent on the oil industry now regards tourism as its chief revenue earner and the rulers of Dubai have accordingly taken many steps to promote the emirate as a prime tourist destination. Some of these endeavors take the form of shopping festivals, namely the Dubai Shopping Festival which is held every January and the Dubai Super Surprises festival which is held from June until August.

In fact the Dubai Super Surprises is currently underway in Dubai and if you’ve always wanted to visit Dubai, then this festival presents a perfect opportunity to do so. Moreover Emirates which is Dubai’s own homegrown airline is currently offering tempting business class deals to Dubai and beyond for travelers departing from the four US cities which are served by the airline. These business class discounts represent savings of nearly 30% when compared to regular business class airfares to Dubai and are definitely worth considering. For the journey to Dubai from the US usually involves a tiring, long haul flight which can extend over fifteen hours and if you want to arrive in Dubai in a shop till you drop state then business class to Dubai is the only way to go.

When you travel business class to Dubai you will have access to all the coveted comforts of business class travel like admission to dedicated airline lounges, fully flat beds on board, fast track, dedicated check-in and extra baggage allowance (very important if you plan to shop up a storm in Dubai), gourmet food and wine and exceptional service on board and on the ground.

Once you land in Dubai the Summer Surprises festival is guaranteed to enthrall you with its many amazing discounts and bargains which are being offered on goods like jewelry, electronics, designer apparel and accessories at the various participating malls and stores. Though the festival also features a    plethora of entertainment activities like concerts and musicals and several children’s events like a Kids fashion show and the Kids Olympics which are bound to keep your children entertained while you do some serious damage to your credit cards.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Shanghai’s big party - The World Expo

The glitzy, glamorous city of Shanghai is currently hosting its biggest party in the form of the Shanghai World Expo which was inaugurated on April 30, 2010 at a glittering opening ceremony, attended by several world leaders. This opening ceremony also featured lasers, fireworks and performances by world famous artists like noted Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Hong Kong cine superstar Jackie Chan amongst others. The Shanghai expo is a six month extravaganza which is due to terminate on 31st of October 2010 and during its six month existence it hopes to attract nearly 70 million visitors.

The Shanghai expo whose central theme is "Better City – Better Life" aims to showcase Shanghai as a leading world city and to achieve this aim, the city fathers have spent nearly US $ 48 billion to stage this extravaganza which extends over 5.28 sq kilometers on both banks of the Huangpu River. As far as the sizes of World fairs go, this massive Shanghai expo, which features 240 pavilions set up by 190 countries and 50 organizations is one of the largest and the most expensive ever.

Shanghai won the bid to host the Expo in 2002 and almost immediately began the task to transform the Nanpu Bridge-Lupu Bridge area in the center of the city as it was chosen to be site of Expo. The cleaning-up operations involved the relocation of both residents and businesses from the area as the city was determined that nobody would stand in its way of putting up a spectacular show.

Aside from the various country specific pavilions, the Expo also has five central themed pavilions which explore the different aspects of urban development in the form of Urban Footprints, Urban Planet, Urban Dwellers, Urban Beings, and Urban Dreams in addition to pavilions set up by companies and organizations like China Railway, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Coca-Cola and Cisco. In addition to these pavilions the expo site also features fantastic sculpture gardens, shops, a sports and performance arena.

Ever since the Shanghai-Expo opened it has been attracting huge crowds of almost 200,000 people a day though on certain days the number has exceeded 500,000 people most of whom are willing to queue up for hours to witness this grand Shangainese spectacle which aims to wow the world.

If you have always dreamed of visiting China then the Shanghai World Expo presents an ideal opportunity to visit this fascinating, rapidly developing country and if you are traveling to Shanghai from anywhere in the US you can expect  your journey to be  long schlep which extends over 14 to 16 hours if you don’t stop en route to Shanghai.

An ideal way to undertake such a long journey and conserve your strength for sight-seeing in Shanghai and elsewhere is to find Cheap business class airfares for your trip. Discount Business Class flights are not a myth and if you are clever with your planning you can snag Cheap Business class seats by purchasing your tickets in advance from an airfares consolidator so that you can enjoy luxurious lounge access, unimaginable hospitality and superior in-flight amenities like wireless internet, fully flat beds, onboard massages and spa services which are routine privileges normally associated with most Business flights.