The LG Travel News Roundup: 1.14.11

Weekly Travel News — By Candace R on January 14, 2011 at 6:00 am

By Candace Rardon
LG Section Editor

Missed the big travel stories of the week? And the weird, wacky and insignificant ones? We’ve got your roundup right here…

Taj Mahal about to get down and dirty

Mud baths and wraps have become a standard option in many spas these days, but what is perhaps more unusual is to hear of a historic building receiving the same treatment. However strange it may seem, the Archaeological Survey of India will soon be giving the stunning Taj Mahal something of a face lift—treating its white marble exterior with multani-mitti, a kind of mud known as fuller’s earth. The mud will work to remove any dirt and stains, leaving the iconic monument more beautiful than ever. Source: Gadling

The sky is not the limit for Virgin’s Richard Branson

For those wondering what’s left for Sir Richard Branson to accomplish, given his successes in starting a record label, international airline, and other media services, his latest venture, Virgin Galactic, is pointing in only one direction: space. Three South Florida travel agencies are even selling the trips now, but at what cost? A mere $200,000. Starting next year, the trips will take off from Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert and although the aircraft, the WhiteKnight Two, won’t technically enter outer space, passengers will be taken to sixty-five miles above the earth and experience four to seven minutes of weightlessness. Source: South Florida Sun Sentinel

Bundle up for your stay in North America’s first ice hotel

With the opening of a new ice hotel in Montreal, Scandinavia will no longer hold the monopoly on the carefully-sculpted accommodation market. The Hôtel de Glace, the first ice hotel this side of the Atlantic, covers 32,000 square feet and is built from 15,000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice. There’s even an ice bar, ice slide and ice chapel for weddings…just don’t forget your silk long underwear and hand warmers! Source: Gadling

Chinese builders to take on Dubai for the claim to fame

There’s hardly a record all the recent construction in Dubai hasn’t broken, including Burj Khalifa, which currently stands as the world’s tallest building at 828 meters (that’s twice the size of Chicago’s Willis Tower and almost three times the height of the Empire State Building!). But Chinese developers in the rural Mentougou district are hoping to go off the success of Dubai and build a new luxury ‘seven-star’ hotel modeled after the Khalifa Tower. The new hotel will feature the same “streamlined” appearance and come with nearly the same price tag: $1.3 billion. Source: ArabianBusiness.com

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Travel News Bits

Make a film, see the Pharaohs!
All it takes is a fifteen-minute travel video and you could win the grand prize of Brooklyn’s Nomading Film Festival contest: an eight-day tour of Egypt with Intrepid travel. Entries can be submitted here…good luck! Source: Gadling