A new outpost for boutique hotel fans opened in Kerala, India over the weekend. The Dream Cochin Hotel – the latest Virkam Chatwal property – continues the brand’s East-meets-West ethos. Done up in a blue and white color palette, the hotel’s 151 rooms and suites juxtapose hippie chic touches like the patterned throws and rugs shown above with plasma televisions, DVD players, terry robes and iPods delivered upon request.

Three restaurants, a rooftop lounge and gym accompany a wellness spa offering holistic treatments that include Ayurvedic massage and organic aromatherapy.

Have you visited the Dream Cochin? We’d love for you to tell us about it.

Keep reading for more travel news and hotel openings….

Where are The World’s Dirtiest Cities? Forbes recently came up with a list. The 25 cities deemed the world’s dirtiest won their places on the list with disease-infested water supplies, life-threatening air pollution, plentiful raw sewage and rank public sanitation problems. Drum roll, puh-lease. The cities are:

1. Baku, Azerbaijan (pictured)

2. Dhaka, Bangladesh

3. Antananarivo, Madagascar

4. Port au Prince, Haiti

5. Mexico City, Mexico

6. Addis Abada, Ethiopia

7. Mumbai, India

8. Baghdad, Iraq

9. Almaty, Kazakhstan

10. Brazzaville, Congo

11. Ndjamena, Chad

12. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

13. Bangui, Central African Republic

14. Moscow, Russia

15. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

16. Bamako, Mali

17. Pointe Noire, Congo

18. Lome, Togo

19. Conakry, Guinea Republic

20. Nouakchott, Mauritania

21. Niamey, Niger

22. Luanda, Angola

23. Maputo, Mozambique

24. New Delhi, India

25. Port Harcourt, Nigeria

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.

Although no one we know can provide us with an eyewitness account, we hear tell that a new airline was spotted in the skies this week: Air Yeti.

Aiming to be the low-cost carrier of choice for travelers in Nepal, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the Air Arabia-owned airline has its hub in Kathmandu, Nepal and flies to destinations that include Bangkok, Delhi, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Sharjah and Doha.

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

I’ve noticed an interesting thing lately. More and more places are coming up with travel experiences that, well, don’t have anything to do with fun or relaxation. We’ve blogged about volunteer vacations, but what about vacations, tours and overnight experiences that allow you do something altogether unpalatable? Like scare yourself silly in a prison. Or attempt a border-crossing between the U.S. and Mexico. Or get up close and personal with toxic waste. I’ve decided to list some of the ones I’ve found:

1. Caminata Nocturna: This 4-hour nighttime hike takes interested travelers along the same route illegal immigrants might use to enter the U.S. from Mexico. You even get chased by fake border control police in the pitch black darkness.

2. Toxic Tour: California-based Communities for a Better Environment takes tour participants to refineries, chemical sites, “brownfields” and other areas to educate them about the environmental and social impacts of pollution.

3. Liepaja Prison: How about an overnight in a Latvian prison once run by the KGB? They even give you a faux medical exam when you arrive for your stay.

4. Street Retreats: A San Francisco organization offers day-long experiences living on the streets like the city’s many homeless. You can stand in soup kitchen lines, panhandle and try to get into drop-in centers.

5. Reality Tours: The tours offered by San Francisco’s Global Exchange can involve anything from visiting a landmine field in Afghanistan to meeting with coffee farmers in the Andes. The offerings are educationally-driven, but do include cultural excursions to prominent museums and historical sites.

6. Slum Tours: Tourists can visit the small alleys of Mumbai’s famous Dharavi slum. An extended tour option includes visits to the Red Light district, open air laundry and a home for boys.

Air France is running a two-day fare sale that ends tomorrow night (Dec. at midnight EDT. While a slew of European destinations are on sale, the real deals are for routes from the U.S. to India, Africa and the Middle East. Most include free stopover privileges in Paris, so travelers can add a few days in the City of Lights on the front or back end of their journey. Here are a few examples (roundtrip fares):

New York to Cairo – $770

Chicago to Bombay – $1100

Chicago to Delhi – $1100

Houston to Dubai – $918

Fares are good for travel between Dec. 25, 2006 and March 31, 2o07. A Saturday night stay is required. For this fare, travelers can only stay a max of one month, so this isn’t a good option for a long RTW trip.

Air France Winter Fare Sale

An Indian hotel that failed to report the presence of high-profile guests Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt has attracted some unwanted attention from the country’s government, attention that may lead the Jolie-Pitt clan to relocate. The hotel in question – Hotel Le Meridien in Pune, India – may be in trouble with the authorities for this minor infraction, but it certainly is getting a crapload of free press out of the situation.

Jolie is reportedly in India to shoot a movie about the life of murdered Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl. Jolie plays Pearl’s wife in the film.

Angelina Gets Indian Hotel in Trouble

The Tranquilo Traveler blog, written by avid traveler and Moon guidebook writer Joshua Berman, is one part personal travel blog, one part resource. After spending over a year traveling the world with his wife, Berman has amassed quite an array of colorful advice and tidbits for the world wanderer, as well as the average joe who’s longing for the next three-day weekend.

In
Moleskine: The Books Behind the Blog, Berman’s meditation on the famous brand of blank books left me quite close to ditching Word Press and going back to simple pen and paper.

Taken from earlier in his adventures (last fall to be precise), Berman’s take on the ubiquitous Indian dish kichuri (It’s What’s For Lunch. For Dinner. And in Between) not only chronicles his humorous and frequent run-ins with this staple food, but also includes a recipe. I love those practical touches.

And it’s all done completely without any clever marketing speak, advertising or other commercial miscellany.

Check it out…

Tranquilo Traveler blog

Perhaps you’re jonesing for some of that French rap you heard in gay Paris or the Afro-Peruvian beats you soaked in on Peru’s coast. Hey, you may get back there someday to hear your favorite international music genres in person, but in the mean time, check out National Geographic’s World Music department. You can listen to a bajillion genres you’ve never even heard of, listen to and download your favorites. And there are free downloads offered each week. Cool beans.

I learned of this new development via World Hum. Must give credit where credit is due.