Emirates has been voted the world’s best airline by passengers at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards, that are decided by over 18 million passengers in 160 countries around the world. The awards were announced in Paris today.

Passengers judge airlines on everything from the cleanliness of the cabin to the quality of the in-flight food and entertainment. Dubai-based Emirates took the debut prize in 2001, and retained it in 2002, before missing out on the top spot for a decade. But it topped the list again placing last years winner, Qatar Airways, to the second spot.

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We have mentioned previously that couchsurfing can get your free accommodation at the next destination, but it comes with a lot of hassles. The options are hotels, renting rooms or apartments? According to Priceonomics, renting a room or an apartment on Airbnb is going to be cheaper most of the time. But how much can you save?

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The northern state of Uttarkahand in India is experiencing the worst early flash floods. This is quite an unheard of phenomena in this period of the year, as usually monsoons start from June 15, and floods are expected in later parts of the year. All measures are being taken by the State government to rescue tourists who are stranded in the higher reaches due to the ongoing Char Dham, trekking, hiking, etc.

Tornos tour company is providing free shared transport out of Haridwar, that helps tourists to reach Delhi and continue with their further program. Tornos has tied up with a few basic hotels to provide overnight halts free of cost in Haridwar to all tourists who have been evacuated or are stranded in Haridwar, though this is only an overnight facility by Tornos. They have also arranged a private helicopter to get tourists from Kedarnath, Gangotri & Govind Ghat. This facility is being extended free of cost for all tourists in the region.

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Getting back from a vacation and unpacking is the last thing anyone wants to do, but needs to be done. So how do you motivate yourself to unpack at the earliest? One Reddit user recommends dumping your bag on the bed as soon as your get back.

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The first of its kind amongst all U.S. carriers, United Airlines now features 180-degree flat-bed seats and personal on-demand entertainment in the premium cabins on all scheduled, long-haul international flights from the airline’s eight North American hubs.

United has outfitted 183 international long-haul aircraft with United Global First and United BusinessFirst cabins, and offers more than 7,000 total flat-bed seats fleet-wide, more than any other U.S. carrier.

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Link: iTunes (for Istanbul city guide)
Cost: Free

With interactive city maps that feature point-of-interests, the apps are map-centric, available in multiple languages and feature 24 cities – Paris, London, Rome,New York, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Vienna, Venice, Chicago, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Tokyo, San Francisco, Istanbul, Madrid, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Beijing, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro.

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How much does it cost to have an evening out and overnight stay for two people in key tourist places around the world? TripIndex Cities 2013 is your answer. Unveiled today, TripIndex Cities is based on the combined costs for two of one night in a four-star hotel, cocktails, a two-course dinner with a bottle of wine, and return taxi transportation (two journeys of approximately 3.2 kilometres each). Costs listed are approximate for the period of 1 June to 31 August 2013.

Although the costs depend on a lot of factors like the country you belong to and currency exchange rates, it seems that Sofia (Bulgaria) offers the most affordable evening out and an overnight stay with a total TripIndex cost of $152.92, while Hanoi (Vietnam) takes second place with $169.85. At nearly four times the cost of Sofia, Oslo (Norway) tops the list as most expensive with a TripIndex cost of $559.58, closely followed by Zurich, Switzerland which totals $505.03.

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Are you planning on visiting London for business or pleasure? You will no doubt be aware that the English capital is one of the most fast-paced multicultural cities on the planet.

One of the most popular myths is that the city is very expensive. However, it is more than possible to live within your means on a strict budget and still enjoy everything it has to offer.

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Belgium was the second in the world to legalize gay-marriage in 2003 and has an openly gay prime minister, so you’d think that being gay and traveling to Belgium or one of the European countries like Spain or Netherlands would be easy and safe. Unfortunately, you’re wrong. Even in countries that are called first-world, gay bashing is prominent in huge numbers, so one has to be careful and try avoiding the neighborhoods after a night-out at the clubs, or simply wandering the streets of the beautiful cities and towns.

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Published: May 29, 2013
Link: iTunes
Cost: Free

Bang for buck: Free!
Ease of use:
The looks:

Built specifically for public transportation and available for 37 U.S. cities, The Transit App provides a clean interface to get you to your destination easily.

With its fast and responsive to help layout, the app makes it easy for you to get where you’re planning to go. Just type your destination, and The Transit App gets you a list of options from your location right away. If your city supports it, The Transit App can also show you real time locations of buses, trains, and subways. You can customize your route by simply removing options like walking or subways.

Unlike a traditional maps app, The Transit App keeps itself very up to date with changing schedules, and you won’t have to mess around in menus just to find the bus directions.

The Transit App used to have a subscription fee to use the maps, but it’s now free for everyone.

New York City get a new form of public transportation called bicycle-sharing. This new program that kicked-off today is privately financed by Citigroup – called Citi Bike NYC.

Leading off with 6,000 bikes at more than 300 stations, the program allows riders to unlock the three-gear, cruising-style bikes from any station, take them for a 45-minute ride and return them to any rack.

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Photo by Abhay Prasad in Vienna, Austria

If you’re in Rwanda or planning a visit there soon, then make sure to be at Kinigi, outside Volcano National Park, on June 22 when the Rwanda Development Board’s (RDB) Tourism and Conservation Department holds their annual Kwita Izina Gorilla Naming Ceremony. A dozen newborn gorilla babies will be named this year, of which one was born two days ago! It was Muganga of the Isabukuru group who has given birth to a baby of yet to be determined sex.

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