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America’s Best Airport Bars

For travelers, it was more bad news: According to tracking service FlightStats.com, 2008 marked the fourth consecutive year that flight delays increased, with the average wait climbing to 57 minutes. If anything, the announcement gives beleaguered voyagers yet another reason to have a drink.

Typically, weary air travelers toss back beers in sports saloons, an experience about as relaxing as napping on a highway median. Recently, though, there’s been a groundswell of upscale airport bars offering wines with charcuterie, microbrews and even exquisite bourbon.

New Belgium Hub Bar & Grill, Denver International Airport

“We’re moving away from uncomfortable institutional lounges with very mundane offerings,” says Paul McGinn, president of MarketPlace Development, a Boston-based airport retail developer. “Since people are arriving at airports earlier and experiencing more delays, they’re looking for distractions and entertainment.”

One of McGinn’s favorite havens is Vino Volo - Italian for “wine flight” - a chain of sleek, modern lounges located in cities including San Antonio and Seattle. “They’re detached from the hustle and bustle of the airport,” McGinn says. “In contrast to many wine bars, the service is not intimidating and caters to people who understand wine.”

Another favored wine way station is Cibo Bistro and Wine Bar, situated in the Philadelphia International airport. The Concourse B branch is stunning, outfitted with a 45-foot-long onyx bar, 32 wines by the glass and the convivial atmosphere of the finest Italian trattoria.

Should you prefer beer, Denver’s New Belgium Hub Bar & Grill is a microbrew sanctuary. In the eclectic bar decorated with bicycle paintings, travelers sip superb brews from Colorado-based New Belgium, including the easy-drinking Fat Tire amber ale.

At the PDX airport in Portland, Oregon, local brewery Laurelwood has several laid-back branches dispensing their delectable organic brews, such as the caramel-nuanced Free Range Red. For bourbon with the beer, detour through Louisville, Kentucky. There, the Woodford Reserve Bar & Grill serves excellent, oak-aged spirits to customers reclining in leather chairs.

But the boldest experiment in upscale bars is underway at NYC’s JFK airport. Jet Blue’s gleaming Terminal 5 is a return to jet-set glamour, packed with steakhouses, wine-sipping bistros and luxe lounges better suited to Broadway, not the runway.

“We want our restaurants and bars to rival the bars and restaurants you see on the street,” says Rick Blatstein, CEO of airport food and beverage operator OTG Management. “We want to deliver a want, not a need, to go to the airport early.”

To attract early arrivers, the soon-to-open stylish Loft Kitchen & Bar will re-create Manhattan’s SoHo cool, serving killer cocktails and comfort food. New York Sports Grill gives the tired sports bar a contemporary tweak, serving 48 beers on tap including local brews from Brooklyn outfit Kelso. And then there’s the re:vive bars, located near the gates.

“You can have a nice cocktail and snack and wait for the plane,” Blatstein says. “We thought it would take some time to take off - no pun intended - but customers took to it like fish to water.”

Furthermore, Blatstein says, the new breed of airport bars and lounges remind passengers that travel should be about pleasure, not hair-pulling anxiety. “People going on vacation should enjoy themselves,” Blatstein says. “If you’re going to Cancun or the Dominican Republic, why not start the trip with a mimosa or a bloody Mary? It’s a great way to start your travels.”

Author credit : Joshua M Bernstein, Forbes Traveler
Image credit : © Concessions International, LLC

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Mumbai, Delhi among World’s 10 Costliest Cities

The country’s financial hub, Mumbai, and the National Capital New Delhi are among the world’s 10 most expensive cities for expatriates to live in, says a survey by global HR consultancy Mercer.

According to the survey on housing costs and practices for employees sent on overseas assignments, Mumbai has emerged even more expensive than New York City in the United States China’s capital Beijing.

Mumbai has been ranked as the world’s fourth most expensive city in terms of rental property for expatriates, while New Delhi is eighth, the survey for February 2009 said.

Mumbai has moved up by one notch from its fifth position in the September 2008 survey, while New Delhi has fallen two places from its sixth place in the previous ranking.

Russia’s Moscow has topped the list of world’s most expensive cities and is followed by Tokyo (second), Hong Kong (3rd), Mumbai (4th) and New York City (5th) as the five most expensive cities across the globe for expats to live in.

The survey highlighted that Asian cities have dominated the list of the world’s costliest locations for expats living there, with as many as six locations from the region being among the world’s top 10.

1. Moscow is the world’s most expensive city to live in.
2. In second place - in terms of most expensive city to live in - is Tokyo.
3. Hong Kong is in the third place.
4. Mumbai, as stated earlier, is the world’s 4th most expensive city to live in.
5. New York City is fifth most expensive.
6. In sixth place is Beijing.
7. Geneva is the world’s seventh most expensive city to live in.
8. New Delhi is the 8th most expensive city to live in.
9. London is the ninth most expensive city to live in.
10. Singapore is the 10th most expensive city to live in.
11. Shanghai is the 11th most expensive city to live in.

“The world’s housing markets have been sliding since 2008, and major currency fluctuations in the past few months have also had a strong impact on the comparative cost of expatriate housing,” Mercer information product solutions India business leader Gangapriya Chakraverti said.

Interestingly, the survey stated that current slowdown has led companies towards a fundamental shift in the types of housing being offered in India. However, today, an increasing number are opting for luxury condominiums which provide the same kind of facilities but at a lower price.

As a result, expats are increasingly located in Gurgaon, Whitefield and Powai as opposed to more traditional locations such as Chanakyapuri, Indiranagar and Colaba. This has also resulted in more cultural integration between expats and the local population, the survey added.

Data is based on typical rents for 1-4 bedroom apartments and 3-4 bedroom houses, furnished and unfurnished.

New York is used as the base city, with a score of 100 points. Moscow at the top of the ranking scores 168.30, while Mumbai at position 4 (105.10), New Delhi at 8 (96.60) and Bangalore at 29 (51.80) continue to receive interest and demand for expatriate rental property.

As the index is based on cost comparisons using the US dollar, currency exchange rates have an influence on the rankings.

Thanks to Reuters & Rediff.com

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