How would you spend a weekend getaway in London? That very question was posed to us by Virgin Atlantic, which challenged us to design a dream itinerary for two days of gallivanting in London, one of the world's most exciting and attraction-rich cities, and a favorite of BonVoyageurs since we first moved to the Greater London area with our baby daughter and our French cat in the late 1970s.

To make the dream weekend in London even more interesting, Virgin Atlantic sent us a travel bag of inspira

by Javier Pedreira


That air travel is the safest form of transportation going is not mere happenstance but rather due to rigourous maintenance of equipment and exhaustive training of personnel.

Although in 2010 Iberia added a major maintenance hangar at Barcelona airport, since the 1970s the primary maintenance facilities have been headquartered adjacent to Barajas Airport in a suburban Madrid industrial zone called La Muñoza. This 220,000-square metre (54-acre) is where aircraft engines con

On February 20, as crews were still struggling to raise the fuselage AirAsia flight QZ8501, Indonesia's top transportation official said the aircraft climbed at an extreme rate just before it crashed. The accident investigators have had time to study the flight recorder; we can assume they now know what went wrong on the doomed Airbus A320.

After being initially candid, why have Indonesian officials now decided that the preliminary report, due by the end of the January, will not be made publi

by VaDeAviones.com

In 1958, an Australian mathematician, chemist, and aeronautical research scientist named David Warren (right, with a prototype) came up with an invention based on a brilliant idea: recording all the conversations of a flight’s cockpit crew with each other as well as with air traffic controllers, so that in the event of an accident, investigators could use this recording to clear up doubts as to the cause. Amazingly enough, world aviation authorities at first showed little inter

by Javier Pereira

One of the first things we learn in school about geometry (more specifically, plane geometry) is that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Obvious, right? And yet…

The fact is, this obvious truism is only true in two dimensions, as on a flat map, which is how we usually think of the world. But when it comes to spherical geometry – and, unless you’re a Flat Earther, our planet is more or less a sphere – that’s simply not the case.

If you’ve ever tried to fla

by Javier Pedreira

That air travel is the safest form of transportation going is not mere happenstance but rather due to rigourous maintenance of equipment and exhaustive training of personnel.

Although in 2010 Iberia added a major maintenance hangar at Barcelona airport, since the 1970s the primary maintenance facilities have been headquartered adjacent to Barajas Airport in a suburban Madrid industrial zone called La Muñoza. This 220,000-square metre (54-acre) is where aircraft engines constantl

Now getting to the South Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica will be easier than ever with a new 30-minute flight between San Jose and Limon on Nature Air.

Starting Dec. 1, travelers to Costa Rica can fly from San Jose and the Central Valley to the Caribbean port city of Limon on daily flights with the Costa Rican airline Nature Air. Flights depart from the Juan Santamaria International Airport by San Jose at 5:50 a.m., and arrive to the Limon airport at 6:20 a.m. Return flights depart Limon daily at

For an industry in which everything seems to be getting smaller, at least one thing is bucking the trend: the overhead bin. The AP reports that major U.S. airlines are making overhead bins larger in order to accommodate bulkier luggage and an influx of carry-on bags.

United, American, US, and Delta are all jumping on the bigger-bin bandwagon. Some carriers are outfitting bins with tougher latches; others are replacing overhead-bin doors with ones that curve out, allowing for more space for passen

by Jorge Guardia/VaDeAviones

Spectacular aircraft photos abound all over the Web these days–shots taken on runways, in hangars, taking off/landing, at cruising altitude. And many of us who glance at them, sometimes think, “how cool,” and move on.

And then… there are the planespotters, along with their closely related–and sometimes overlapping–cousins, aviation geeks (aka “avgeeks”). These gloriously obsessed souls are a dedicated breed in love with aviation and airlines, follow industry news an

Want to visit Asia?  Book the cheapest ticket you can find. Try getting low season tickets to either Paris or London, spend a day or two, and then hop on Air Asia for about $400 to Bangkok.  Air Asia has been voted the best budget airline for several years in a row.  It is only 10 years old and growing fast.  Yes, it is a budget airline but they do it nicely.  Meals are good and reasonable. They can be preordered at a reduced cost.  The best part is the cost. Once in Asia it is possible to fly

With UK based budget airline easyJet offering service to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, more visitors from Europe have an opportunity to visit this exciting country, which today's New York Times Travelsection includes among its list of 45-places to visit in 2012.

When I saw Jordan on the listit stirred memories of my trip there a few years ago. I had less than a week so I did a quick hit of three important sites.

The River Jordan - There’s not much water left in the Jordan River and wh

Would you sedate your child on a flight? 
Are parents who do so wrong?


Not long ago, a Wall Street Journal  article  reported that many parents "drug" or sedate their kids on planes so they'll be less bothersome for the parents, flight attendants and fellow passengers.


The drug of choice seems to be Benadryl, and while it does calm kids, often putting them out for hours, it has awakened others to what might be an abusive practice.


The testy responses to an About.com (and other) postings on t

When did it stop being an experience and more of a package, a deal, a search result?

Travel has turned into an obsession for the cheapest airfare, cheapest hotel room and pretty much the lowest, cheapest  cost for anything and every thing related to travel.

Wasn't so long ago that airlines, the most "commodified" of the travel experience, were sufficiently different from each other that you could tell them apart.

There were differences in food served, space between rows of seats, service, in-

Over the past year, I've visited 8 different countries, half of which I paid for my flights using airmiles. Here are a few useful tips for building up your air mileage for free.

There are many ways to earn air miles for free, and some of the best ways don’t require you to change your buying habits at all. So let’s start off with the most lucrative option, credit cards.

#1 Airline credit cards

The quickest way to build a massive portfolio of air miles is to open credit cards that offer an airmiles b

I'm not a travel hacker, not really. I enjoy the places, not the interfaces. And traveling in coach is just fine with me, thanks. As a matter of fact, I do much of my traveling BY coach—bus, that is. I went all over Mexico and Central America before I ever crossed an ocean thirty-five years ago. And the only time I've ever flown first class was when they bumped me up for free. Now don't get me wrong: I'm an avid collector of frequent-flyer miles, but I'd have to have an awful lot before I'd wast

Everybody knows about ‘dynamic pricing’ by now, that internet-era phenomenon of everybody paying a different price for the same flight.  It’s a whole lot like haggling with a rug merchant in… well, just about anywhere.  Actually it’s mostly about tailoring certain prices to certain markets at certain times based on certain criteria, and as long as you know some basic principles, it can work to either party’s advantage.  It only gets creepy when it seems like the robots at Google know more about

Spirit Airlines just announced that they are starting daily non-stop service between San Diego, California and Las Vegas, Nevada.

To celebrate, the airline is offering $9 fares (each way based on round trip purchase) on their website today and tomorrow.

The two daily flights between San Diego and Las Vegas will start on September 7 and will increase to three a day on September 22, 2011.

“We are thrilled to welcome one of the nation’s most successful low-fare airline to San Diego International Airp