Jet lag, one of those unwanted consequences of globe-trotting, may actually be able to work in your favor, after all. New York-based research group Clinilabs is conducting a clinical study on FDA-approved sleep-disorder medication and its potential use for jet lag. For their willingness to become human guinea-pigs, travelers chosen to participate in the study score a free roundtrip flight to France and $2,500 in compensation.

Of course, you’ll also be confined to a study center (no visits to the Louvre, folks) for the duration of the three-night, four-day trip and possibly end up ingesting meds that may or may not help set your body clock back on track. But it’s all in the name of science - and cash.

Not a bad way to drum up vacation funds for a real visit to Paris.

[Source: via Gadling]

If you’re going to be in New York this weekend and you love travel, consider checking out the New York Times Travel Show, a veritable smorgasbord of travel information from resorts, hotels, spas, cruise lines, tour operators, tourist agencies and adventure travel companies from around the world. Along with vendor booths and live entertainment performances representing a vast array of cultures, the show features a Taste of the World Pavilion filled with international cuisine and cooking demonstrations, a Spa Pavilion offering sample treatments and discounted packages at spa resorts, travel author appearances and special travel deals offered to folks brave enough to book their next vacation on the spot. And with travel experts Rick Steves, Arthur Frommer, Ian Wright and Stephanie Abrams - among many others - leading seminars, the show offers a rare chance for face-to-face learning from leading peeps in the industry. Cost: $15.

Yeah, last minute travel can be cool. But it can also leave you cash poor, especially when you’re talking high-season travel in major vacation destinations. But as with most things in life, a just little edumuhcation can go a long way. Case in point: Kayak.com’s Fare Alerts.

Create a Fare Alert (or 12) on Kayak.com or SideStep.com for the summer getaway(s) currently sequestered in your noggin by clicking on the “Get fare alerts for this trip” link on the top right-hand corner of the flight results page. You can track fares for specific dates, a flexible span of time (e.g. summer weekends or, say, the month of June) or an entire region (e.g. Europe). When your daily or weekly Fare Alert (you choose how often it arrives) touches down in your email inbox, you’ll be able to make informed travel decisions.

Depending on what you ask it to track (specific dates, flexible span of time or even top cities in a region), each Fare Alert can show you:

- How much the fare for specific dates has increased or decreased in dollars since the last alert

- The airfare history for your trip dates based on searches made by Kayakers over the past 90 days

- A snapshot of prices in Kayak.com’s matrix view, so you can quickly compare prices by carrier and number of stops

- The lowest fare available during a specific span of time (e.g. the next four weekends)

- The best fares available for popular destination cities in a region you want to visit (e.g. Africa)

Who knows, maybe you’ll still pay craptons to travel to the most expensive resort on the hottest island right in the middle of the high season. After all, it’s high season for a reason. But at least you’ll be pimping it out with full knowledge of your unbridled American excess. Just remember the wisdom of G.I. Joe.

(**Editor’s note: Yeah, Kayak.com owns us. You wanna make something of it? I’ll have you know I was surreptitiously using Fare Alerts to aid in making my personal travel plans long before Kayak.com bought our parent company SideStep.com in December. Nepotism, bias, blah, blah, blah. Fare Alerts just make good travel sense.)

Heading to France this year? Lucky you. Before you head to the country that gave us Champagne and croissants (thank you, France), do yourself a favor and peruse the following Rick Steves’ article:

Faster Trains and Smoke-Free Dining in France.

It gives you a great blow-by-blow rundown of the many changes afoot in France that could affect travelers - from the arrival of the TGV Est bullet train to the impending closure of the Royal Opera House at Versailles.

Heard the one about the stewardess who strips in the cockpit of a flying airplane? British tabs are all aflutter (read about it here and here) over videos that have “surfaced” of a French flight attendant and her stripping antics aboard an aircraft operated by French airline AOM, which, incidentally, went bankrupt and ceased operation in 2001. So why are airline officials investigating those involved in making these videos? Ostensibly, they apparently want to discipline the crew for its behavior (one of the videos reportedly took place during a flight). Shhhurrr. I’m betting they just want an encore performance from this hostess with the mostess.

Stripping Stewardess Strikes Again

One part Goodyear Blimp, one part Ritz Carlton, the Manned Cloud by Jean Marie Massaud for French aerospace research lab ONERA may just be the high-end adventure travel be-all, end-all of the future. Designed to carry passengers on a non-stop journey around the world in a mere three days (80 days is, like, so 1870’s), the aircraft contains 60 rooms to accommodate 40 passengers and 15 staff, a restaurant and bar, spa, fitness center, library and even a terrace from which passengers may take advantage of being that much closer to the sun’s damaging rays - or put on sunblock and observe the sites below. The whole idea behind this flying luxury hotel is exploration without intrusion. Designer Massaud reportedly hopes his craft, if it ever becomes reality, will offer adventurous travelers (with deep pockets) the opportunity to see exotic and remote sites without causing the damage that comes with excess industry pollution and foot traffic. Says Massaud:

You can read more about Massaud, his project and see additional pics via the Dezeen blog.

Where do you go for a romantic, private birthday escape in Paris when you’re one of the world’s most recognizable celebrity couples? If you’re Jay-Z and Beyonce, you head to Le Meurice Hotel and book a room overlooking the Tuileries garden.

Earlier this month, the longtime couple reportedly celebrated Jay-Z’s 38th in style at the hotel with a visit to the on site Spa Caudalie and a tour of the city in a chauffeured Maybach limo before heading to dinner at L’Avenue and catching a show at the famous Crazy Horse Cabaret.

For your own luxe celebration at Le Meurice Hotel, book the hotel’s Romance in Paris, “La Vie en Rose” package, available through Dec. 31, 2007. While you hide from your imaginary paparazzi in a deluxe double room for 740 EU per night or do it up star-style in the Meurice Garden one-bedroom suite for 1,610 EU per night, you’ll enjoy overnight accommodations for two, an American breakfast each morning, Champagne, pink flowers, pink petits fours, bathrobes, late check-out and use of the fitness and spa facilities at Spa Caudalie.

Air France has announced a partnership with the European Space Agency that will result in bringing satellite views inside the cabin on long-haul flights. Passengers will be able to view medium resolution images of the terrain 30,000 feet below from the seatback entertainment systems in the airline’s 777s (most operate on Air France Singapore and India routes). While the images aren’t real-time, they do change in accord with the plane’s progress and provide a detailed look at the world as it passes by below. Air France is the first airline to offer satellite imagery to passengers.

Air France Supplies Satellite Views of Flights

Yesterday the Eurostar train making its inaugural test trip between London’s soon-to-open St. Pancras station and Paris broke the record for its fastest rail journey, arriving at its destination in two hours and three minutes. I can remember the days when the Eurostar took much longer than that - it had to have been at least three hours when I rode it last in 2000. The route officially opens Nov. 14, 2007 and will run between the new Eurostar terminal at London’s St. Pancras station and the Paris Eurostar terminal. The move from London’s Waterloo station to St. Pancras means faster journeys (the trains will run on newly laid tracks), more tube lines (six) serving the station and access to all the good stuff (Europe’s longest Champagne bar will be in the new station) in the St. Pancras-King’s Cross area of London before or after you board the train.

Eurostar Sets London Paris Record

In what could be prove a major boon for Utah tourism, direct flights from Salt Lake City Airport to Paris and other European cities are in the works now that the state of Utah has granted Delta Airlines $250,000 to, um, get the new routes off the ground.

Utah approves $250,000 for Delta flights to Europe