Those heading to Asia had better brush up on some karaoke faves. More

Yeah, it’s early. But it’s warm and people are getting antsy. More

You may never have to suffer through LGA hell again. More

Ask for it wherever you go. More

We review the ski resorts easily accessible from NYC. More

This week we interview professional beach bum Hans Keeling, who said goodbye to a life of corporate drudgery a few years ago, started his own business in Brazil and never looked back.

Q: To make a long story short, you used to be a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, but now you own Nexus Surf, a surf/adventure travel company based in Florianopolis, Brazil. Tell us about how you went from an idea to something concrete.

A: Wow, where to start… Well, I took a job at S&C as a summer associate in 1999 and stayed on full-time until early 2004, so I had a couple years under my belt to get a good feel for the industry. I worked in M&A and securities, which as everyone reading this knows isn’t an easy field to be in. But in a weird and semi-sadomasochistic way, I enjoyed my work and definitely feel like I learned a lot about discipline, multi-tasking and professionalism (which I basically define as managing to successfully waking up at 6am after less than one hour’s sleep, shaving without cutting your own throat and making it to the airport in time for your flight out to the next due diligence or printer’s session on a semi-regular basis). Most important of all though, I learned what I didn’t want out of a career and work/life balance in the long run, and this gave me the resolve to actually make a change in my situation. Re: the change itself, the real difficulty in going from idea to action is overcoming the mental roadblocks that make getting started so difficult. We’ve all heard colleagues (if not ourselves) bitch and moan about the downsides of the job, or day dreaming about a million odd-ball occupations that one “might” be able to do well. More

Antarctica: Why? Because it’s hard to get to. And expensive. Says Lonely Planet (and yes I pretend I’m still a backpacking college student): “The only way to access Antarctica independently is by private yacht and even these craft are increasingly offering passage for fare-paying customers. The French seem to like arriving at Antarctica by yacht and most of the yacht-based tours of the region are offered by French skippers. But sailing to Antarctica is serious stuff and yachties should not be flippant about the perils.”

Madagascar: There’s a town called “Hell-ville” and you know you want to go. Also, basic French is useful.

Central Asia: It’s all about the -stans, and not because of Borat. Come on, drop a -stan bomb and mouths will go agape, eyes will rotate upwards (where exactly is that?) and chances are you’ll be the first person you know to ever go there. How many places can you say that about?

Scandinavia: Once again, a bit quirky, off the beaten path. Hear the skiing is great. How awesome does this sound: “In Norwegian, the word ‘fjord’ means ‘bay that penetrates inland.’ The coastline on Norway’s North Sea coast that has broken inland in a highly complex manner creates the fjords. The scale of this can be found nowhere else on earth. The enormous mountains and ocean that seem to be waging eternal battle allow visitors to feel the size of the earth within their bones and leaves them gasping for breath.” (emphasis added) via Visit Scandinavia.

Places Which Will Be Substantially Altered Due to Environmental Changes: ’nuff said.

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Cheap Holidays to Turkey Turkey Holidays for the brits. Cheap holidays to turkey for less. Discover the turkey holiday resorts : marmaris, icmeler, oludeniz, antalya.

• Yes, those people at SLC with the suits and nametags are missionaries.
• SLC to most resorts is a very quick 30-40 mins.
• Sundance is not just the name of a film festival. It’s actually a ski resort.
• Remaining silent on the lift is a sign of rudeness. These people are VERY friendly, so brush up on your small talk.
• Joe Smith pervades: Beer — at a weaker 3.2% — is sold at grocery stores, anything over that level including hard alcohol is sold through “State Liquor Stores” (actually called that.) Oh yeah, they’re closed on Sundays.
• Doable in a weekend? Possibly — 5+ hours out, 3.5 hours to return. Delta and JetBlue have direct flights from JFK to SLC. JetBlue’s Friday flight leaves at 8:50pm vs. Delta’s at either 5pm or 7:15pm. Both only have redeye returns on Sunday, so prob best to leave Monday.
• Some resorts are chi chi and service-centric, other resorts’ lodges bring to mind Eastern Bloc and are more about the skiing. You gotta pick and choose.
• Sushi’s not bad!

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Weekend Learnings, or Our Holiday on the Wesside

Utah Car Insurance Quotes free quotes

Holiday season got you feeling a bit lonely? Wondering who you’ll have when it’s time for the New Year’s kiss? Never fear…there’s still time to find someone without having to resort to a Craigslist ad.
In fact, you can say goodbye to random hookups through the social networking sites in favor of something that’s slightly less sleazy — situational dating!

Actually, I just made that term up after having read this WSJ article about dating through travel. Most of the sites mentioned in the article are about finding travel buddies, but two that I thought would appeal to your sense of serendipity are AirTroductions and Hitchsters.

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Where do Harvard Business School students romp and play? “Everywhere, anywhere” — according to one ‘06 MBA. But in particular …

Domestic
1. Vail
2. South Beach
3. Las Vegas

International
1. Greece
2. India
3. Brazil

Car rental Malaga Save up to 20% on your car rental by making your reservation with RentaNewCar. Online car hire Malaga Airport