Thinking of hopping on a jet tomorrow (March 9) or Wednesday (March 10) but haven’t booked your flight?

In case you have the sudden urge to travel to Buffalo, Rochester, or maybe even Burlington, JetBlue is offering $10 fares for travelers who book tonight by 11:59pm CST to tout its 10th anniversary in the air; to be fair, you can also go to cooler (or shall I say warmer) destinations like West Palm Beach.

For those of us who can’t request vacation days with less than 24 hours notice, JetBlue will be tweeting all kinds of giveaways on 3/10, so hopefully we can take advantage of this milestone anniversary in that regard: @jetblue.

-Sally

Gadling reported today on Kimpton Hotels’ “Sweet Tax Relief” deal that will be implemented in April.  All guests who stay with the hotel chain in April will not pay room taxes; Kimpton will take care of it all.  And if you’re afraid your tax return won’t be as large as you’d like…you can eat at Kimpton’s in-hotel restaurants to save yourself some dough on food taxes, as they’ll pick those up for guests as well.

I don’t know if I’m more excited about the no taxes or the free Sugar Daddy, PayDay, and 100 Grand candy bars available for guests through the month.

-Sally

In a brilliant online move, South Africa Tourism has partnered with the “dancing while traveling” phenomenon Matt Harding (a.k.a. “Dancing Matt”) to promote the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

You may know Matt from the videos of his ridiculously embarrassing dance moves that got him tons of sponsored trips around the world to dance in high-profile places and post his dancing videos online. South Africa Tourism signed him on board to encourage online users to submit videos of themselves dancing the Diski - a silly dance inspired by the slick moves of South Africa’s soccer team.  The best Diskier diskies his or her way to a World Cup Soccer match in Cape Town, sponsored by South African Airways.

Matt’s video - already taped - airs on YouTube this coming Friday (March 5) and instructs viewers on how to dance the Diski as he travels through portions of the surrounding Capetown area.

Just another example of a high-profile destination understanding how to have a little fun and put its best foot forward…while diski-ing.

-Sally

Chicago can now claim the title of being the first city/tourism office to have a presence on Foursquare. The city’s new foray into Foursquare is a great example of how destinations can utilize social media to further engage their visitors by introducing them to off-the-beaten-path or quirky-yet-memorable spots that are probably not outlined in their traditional guidebooks.

I’m certainly looking forward to checking out the Chick Flick badge next time I’m in Chi-town!

-Sally

Oh, Radian6…how you’ve fallen victim to the ploys of MTV’s latest garbage truck.  Now visitors to MTV’s Jersey Shore site have just another way to see how “cool” the Jersey Shore cast is, through Radian6’s Twitter Tracker.

When I just tried to visit the site, it went black…obviously knowledgeable about the fact I would soon mock it.  When Joe from PRNewser checked, there were only 21 recent tweets about Snooki…I wonder if those were the same 21 people planning to attend Turtle Bay’s $1 Beer Wednesday’s with the Jersey Shore cast in NYC last night (yes, it’s shameful that I somehow got on that bar e-mail distribution list).

I hope Radian6 starts a Twitter Tracker for tweets solely about the absurdity of Jersey Shore. Maybe then, the heads of this ridiculous cast will finally explode and us actual NJ natives - who love our beautiful shore (not Seaside) - can have the last laugh.

-Sally

Mandalay Bay is taking “What happens in Vegas…” to the next level by prompting users to upload photos or video of their “most untamed moments” to its Facebook fan page for a chance to win a weekend with friends at Mandalay Bay for New Year’s Eve.

It seems like a pretty sweet deal, with roundtrip airfare and accommodations, tickets to a Black Eyed Peas concert, VIP access to parties, a $1,000 food and beverage credit and a tour of the Mandalay Bay Shark Aquarium by its curator (eh).

I wonder if my untamed moment of disgust while watching Jersey Shore this weekend could be in the running to win!

-Sally

Gadling posted today about a cool new feature from Kimpton Hotels that urges members of the hotel’s frequent stay program, InTouch, to enter more personality details than just name and e-mail address when registering online.

This is a cool little survey-esque feature helps keep the brand in line with its ever popular fresh-faced approach to hospitality.  The option to choose your preferred floor level and pillow/headrest is definitely appealing when booking travel arrangements.

I wonder how quickly I’d receive an invitation for a day on the water from the Kimpton concierge if I filled in the line that says “If I wasn’t working I’d be….sailing.”

-Sally

Here’s a great concept for travelers who don’t feel like figuring out public transit from the airport, but are too cheap to hail a cab.

Taxi2 (a “co-innovation with Virgin Atlantic”) is a site where travelers can register their flights on Virgin Atlantic or other carriers and be partnered up with another traveler who is looking to get to the same area when leaving the airport.  Partners are paired up on the site and find each other by printing a nifty sign to hold up after agreeing upon a meeting point (there is actually a “How do I fold the ticket?” question on the FAQs page of the site).

This is definitely a cool concept and it will be interesting to see how this pans out in the States.  SuperShuttle, beware….

-Sally

Virgin Atlantic has released a “Flying Without Fear” iPhone app for travelers wary of flying high in the sky.  The “course” is loaded with commentary from Richard Branson - who apparently states the facts over the fictions associated with flying  - and offers exercises for relaxing while on the plane.

Not sure what is more shocking…the 98 percent success rate of the program or the fact that Whoopi Goldberg hasn’t flown in 13 years!

Honestly, they didn’t have to develop an iPhone app for this…they could just upgrade panicky fliers to business class, and I guarantee their fears would evaporate by 100 percent.

-Sally

Earlier this month, the airline KLM gave online personality “Mr. Safety” quite a wedding gift, with two business class tickets to anywhere the carrier flies. The catch was that online viewers got to pick the destination, after visiting KLM’s destinations page to peruse where the carrier flies.

According to KLM, 14,000 people connected to the site in just one week and 4,000 registered their e-mails for KLM updates, which is a pretty good ROI in terms of getting in front of potential new fliers.

So will KLM give the FWD Thinking blog some free business-class tickets if we let our readers choose the location of the M Booth holiday party?  I’m pulling for Rio de Janeiro…

-Sally

The time many have been waiting for (and others - like me - have feared) has finally arrived.  No more stale, in-flight entertainment networks…WiFi will soon officially arrive on Lufthansa flights between US and Europe in 2010.

Will fliers really pay $10 an hour to use the WiFi and $3 per minute for phones?  Three years ago it seemed they wouldn’t, but that was long before the world’s CrackBerry and Twitter addictions were mainstream.

While this certainly will give travelers the opportunities to get work done, moan about their uncomfortable seat/annoying flight neighbors to their friends/followers, and maybe even do some last-minute vacation research, in-flight WiFi/phone usage will officially make airplanes just one more place in the world where we can be connected.

Whatever happened to using flights as a much-deserved opportunity to cuddle up with a good book and/or rest your eyes for a couple of hours?  Guess those few hours of peace will be to the tunes of typing and blabbing.

—Sally

This story about Eater’s acquisition of Down By The Hipster really made me feel like I was back in my depressing high school cafeteria today.  The second and third paragraphs of Foster’s genius post are absolutely hilarious.

First he said this, and then she did that, which made him say this, and she said this back…but now they all are one big family and love (cough, hate) each other again.

Now that I’m out of the cafeteria and in the “real world,” it’s funny how this ridiculous banter just never gets old — the popular kids are still taunting one another and using each other to stay popular, while the rest of us read their blogs and wish we were in their shoes.

Nonetheless…we’ll miss you, DBTH.  Stay true to your roots on Eater!

-Sally

In an interesting move that seems to target astrology lovers online, Domino’s is introducing its newest line of sandwiches (sorry, but who goes to Domino’s to eat a sandwich?) via the pizza giant’s Facebook page, with astrology-based recommendations.

I have to say, as a chick who doesn’t eat Domino’s (or at least hasn’t since 1 a.m. 2-for-$10 orders with roommates in college), the fun marketing tactic did drive me to the Facebook page…but will it drive me to the store to order one of these bad boys at lunch today?  Let’s see…

So, Domino’s, according to your “It’s All in the Stars” Facebook page….my Virgo essence is:

• A perfectionist who is very particular about meal personalization…check
• A fan of veggies and salads (tuna/chicken) on sandwiches…check
• Health-conscious and probably a vegetarian…half-check (I’m a carnivore)

But take a look at those sandies in the picture — do even the vegetarian ones look like a “healthy” option for a Virgo?…Check minus.

-Sally

It’s interesting that this story published just as I’m about 3/4 finished with New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight saga. (Don’t judge, I’ve never read books this fast in my life.) I was just thinking last night “Is there really a Forks, Wash.?”

While a little tacky, it’s great that the community of Forks is finding ways to cash in on the fanfare of the popular books and movies with superfans who will actually cross the country and pay money to sleep in hotel rooms plastered with posters of Robert Pattinson (probably not much unlike their own bedrooms at home).

In Forks, you can now take bus tours to homes that look like the descriptions of the homes of Bella and Jacob.  So do we think the Tuscan village of Volterra (in my current chapter in New Moon) will soon have sewer rides where tourists can plunge into drains that take them to secret vampire lairs?  Sign me up!

-Sally