The Rugby Six Nations

The Rugby Six Nations competition starts in February. Over six weeks France, Italy, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England will battle it out to be crowned winner. Games are played in all the competing countries so make the most of the HostelBookers January sale and book your nearby accommodation at a discounted rate.


The matches in Rome are at the Stadio Olimpico – the largest sports facility in the city and the home of Italy’s rugby team. Sat 11th February sees Italy v England at the stadium and then Italy will play Scotland there too on Sat 17th March.

In Paris the Stade de France takes centre stage. The 80,000 seat stadium is the fifth largest in Europe and will be hosting the first match on Sat 4th February between France and Italy. A week later on Sat 11th February it will be France v Ireland and the final Rugby Six Nations game held at the Stade de France will be France v England on Sun 11th March.

Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh will host the matches for Scotland. It’s got the largest permanent big screen in the country and more than 67,000 seats. On the first day of the Rugby Six Nations – Sat 4th February – Murrayfield will host the first match for Scotland and England. Just one other match will be played there on Sun 26th February between Scotland and France.

The Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Twickenham Stadium in London and the Millennium Stadium in Wales are also playing host to matches between 5th February and 17th March. So save money and book your accommodation in the HostelBookers.com January today.

Venice Carnival, Venice

In 2012 Venice Carnival will run from 11-21st February. The traditional masked festival brings thousands of visitors to the island with parades, open-air stages and theatrical performances to entice them year after year. There are special events like themed dinners at casinos, burlesque shows and super indulgent feasts in restaurants. The usual food is served – sweet galani pastries, sardines in saor, cod in a salty sauce – just in much bigger quantities.


The island is buzzing with party goers hidden by masks. The finale is an impressive procession of gondolas down the Grand Canal lit up by candlelight and lanterns as everyone gathers to watch. There are a few hostels and hotels in Venice to choose from in the January sale.

Valentine’s Day, Amsterdam

Do something different for Valentine’s Day this year and treat your beloved to a weekend away in Amsterdam. You can make the city as romantic as you like, with a boat cruise, a show at the Pathe City Theatre, or a hand in hand ice skate at the Jaap Eden Ice Skating Rink. Or, you could even take a horse and carriage ride around the old cobblestone roads of Amsterdam to arrive at your dinner time destination for the evening. Move to one of the many pubs and bars in Amsterdam once you’re done, such as MOMO or Harry’s Bar, and enjoy a cocktail or three. All that’s left to do is make sure you’ve chosen the best hotel in Amsterdam from our January sale, and that’s your Valentine’s present sorted!

What do you expect when visiting the so-called Sin City? I believed most of you only think of mega-casinos in Las Vegas but more on that it has a lot to offer to its guest and visitors. As you know Las Vegas is the largest city of Nevada state in the US. If you feel like seeing different places in the world, Las Vegas is the perfect place to go. Because of its themed casinos, you seems like having a trip to some places of the world that evoke romance, mystery and far-away and exotic destinations.

Las Vegas is best seen during the night when you see all those glittering colorful neon lights around the city especially in Las Vegas Strip. You can't believed that this desert will turned-out to be the "Entertainment Capital of the World"....Only in Vegas, as what the others have been telling.

During my two months vacation in Las Vegas last 2008, I am always on the strip, walking around, sightseeing, window shopping, dining, etcetera..It was so far one of the best holiday I had. Here are of the snapshots I had from Vegas

You can see the Eiffel Tower of Paris hotel and its Montgolfier balloon on the left side of my image here. On the right side, you can see a part of Hollywood Planet Las Vegas. It was previously known as The Aladdin. It has an area of 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) with 2,600 rooms.

This casino resort is located almost opposite to Bellagio Hotel. It is located in the unincorporated locale of Paradise, Nevada, United States.

I used to go gallivanting in this hotel with my sister during my 2008 visit in Las Vegas.
Peep Show ticket discounts

Planet Hollywood is owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp. In April 2010, Total Rewards replaced the "A-List" Player rewards card at Planet Hollywood.

So, what's this Trojan Horse exactly doing inside Caesars palace? I thought Ceasars Palace is featuring Rome not Turkey or what? Anyway, it's really none of my business. What is important for me, I was in Vegas and had the chance to see and to experience this so-called "entertainment capital of the world". I love Vegas!

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, simply known as the Venetian Las Vegas is a luxury hotel in Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada, United States. This is the first hotel where I stepped on during my first night in Las Vegas. My sister and her hubby brought me here to take my first dinner in Vegas. The tiresome long hours of flight was gone when I see this place especially that waterfall inside the hotel.

This hotel features a life-like replica tower of St Mark's Campanile in Venice, Italy.

the waterfalls on the lobby of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas during my two months vacation last 2008.

This is the United Center, an indoor sports arena Near West Side community area of Chicago. It is so far the largest arena in the United States talking about its physical size and not its capacity. The United Center is home to both the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League and the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association. The United Center is currently owned by Rocky Wirtz and Reinsdorf.

Some events that were held here include Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, University of Illinois basketball, the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament and some other more.

If you had been in Rome, Italy, I believed you are very familiar with one of its sights, the Trevi fountain. If you happen to visit Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, you can also see a replica of this fountain outside of the hotel. There are a lot to see in Caesars Palace, a luxury hotel casino in Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada. A day in this hotel is not enough to see and explore everything. That was the reason why I always kept on coming back there during my two-months vacation in Vegas.

Luxor Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located in Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada. It is named after the city of Luxor in Egypt. It is said to be the second largest hotel in Las Vegas, next to MGM Grand and the third largest in the world.

Are you familiar with the Great Sphinx of Giza? It is commonly called as Sphinx, a mythical creature which resembles lion's body and a human head. In Egypt, it is located on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza.

You can also find a Sphinx statue in front of Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.
Below are some images I took during my visit last 2008 in Las Vegas

Designed by hotel architect Veldon Simpson and interior designer Charles Silverman, the Luxor has received recognition as being among the most recognizable hotels on the strip because of its unique design. The main portion of the hotel is a 365-foot (111 m)-high, 30-story pyramid encased in 11 acres of dark bronze glass. The guest rooms are situated on the outer walls of the pyramid and are reached by riding in "inclinators" that travel along the inner surface of the pyramid at a 39-degree angle. The hotel also features a 29 million cubic feet (820,000 m³) atrium, which was the largest open atrium in the world when it was built in 1993. The hotel is marked by a 140-foot (43 m)-high obelisk and a 110-foot (34 m)-tall re-creation of the Great Sphinx of Giza.

The light of the Luxor

The tip of the pyramid contains a fixed-position spotlight that points directly upward and is claimed to be the brightest beam in the world at over 42.3 billion candle power. The light is created by 39 Xenon lamps which use computer designed curved mirrors to collect the light and focus it into one intense beam. According to the Luxor website, “engineers say that an astronaut could read a newspaper by Luxor’s Sky Beam from ten miles into space” and “on a clear night, the Sky Beam is visible up to 250 miles away to an airplane at cruising altitude. more here.

The Bishop's Palace, also known as Gresham's Castle, is an ornate Victorian house located on Broadway and 14th Street in the East End Historic District of Galveston, Texas. The American Institute of Architects has listed the home as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the United States, and the Library of Congress has classified it as one of the fourteen most representative Victorian structures in the nation.

The house was built between 1887 and 1893 by Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton for lawyer and politician Walter Gresham. In 1923 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston purchased the house, and, situated across the street from the Sacred Heart Church, it served as a bishop's residence. After the diocesan offices were moved to Houston, the diocese opened the mansion to the public in 1963, with proceeds from tours being used to help fund the Newman Center, operating in the basement, serving Catholic students at the nearby University of Texas Medical Branch. credit

The most American of Big Cities, the windy city, Ciyt of Big Shoulders are only some of the nicknames of Chicago. It is the largest city in the state of Illinois in the United States of America. It is also the third most populous city in the USA. It is also considered as one of the world's top ten Global Financial Centers. The city's notoriety expressed in popular culture is found in novels, plays, movies, songs, various types of journals (e.g., sports, entertainment, business, trade, and academic), and the news media.


Chicago was founded in 1833, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed.

If I am not mistaken, the Statue of Liberty is the most famous symbol of the United States of America. This simply means that when you talk about the Statue of Liberty , you are also referring it to the whole of United States being its iconic symbol. It is located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. It was designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. This monument is an iconic symbol of freedom which was a gift of the French people to the United States.

The Imperial Palace is a hotel and casino located in Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada. It has 2,640 room and is 75,000 sq ft or 7,000 m2 big. It is currently owned by Caesars Imperial Palace Corporation a subsidiary of Caesars Entertainment Corp.. One of its famous attractions is the The Auto Collections and the Human Nature show.

Let's take a little tour in the Unites States. I am sharing some images of one of the major tourist attractions in Nevada. Hoover Dam, previously known as Boulder Dam is located in the Black Canyon of Colorado River on the border between Nevada and Colorado States. It was built from 1931 to 1935 as seen on the last image I have below.

It is considered to be a wonder of human engineering. During our visit last May 2008, there is a new bridge that is being built to make new way for the traffic. It is said that this so-called Hoover Bypass is opened sometime last October of this year.


Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, and is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 25 mi (40 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.

If there is a hotel that is themed like Paris in France or Venice, Italy or Planet Hollywood, etcetera, there is also a hotel that is themed from the mythical sword of King Arthur, the Excalibur Hotel. It is located in Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada in the United States. It is owned and operated by MGM Mirage. It was opened on June 19, 1990 and was originally built by Circus Circus Company. It was known to be the biggest hotel in the world during its opening.

This hotel looks like a castle. Try to see the picture I took during my visit in 2008. I love the different themes of the hotels in Las Vegas. It seems that I traveled the whole world during my stay there because most of the hotels are themed from the different countries around the world.

This is the Willis Tower located in 233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago. It was formerly called Sears Tower. It is 422 meters or 1,451 feet high and is a 108-story skycraper. It was the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1974.

The Willis Tower is the tallest building in the United States and the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the world, as well as the fifth tallest building in the world to the roof.


Willis Tower remains the tallest building in the Americas. With a pinnacle height of 1730 feet (527 m), it is the second tallest freestanding structure in the Americas, as it is 86 feet (26 m) shorter than Toronto's CN Tower, and is the only other freestanding structure in the Americas to exceed 1500 feet (457.2 m) in height. As of August 2009, Willis Tower is the fifth tallest freestanding structure in the world (by pinnacle height), after the Burj Khalifa, the Canton Tower, the CN Tower and the Ostankino Tower.

At 1,482.6 feet (451.9 m) tall, including decorative spires, the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, laid claim to replacing the Sears Tower as the tallest building in the world in 1998. Not everyone agreed, and in the ensuing controversy four different categories of "tallest building" were created. Of these, Petronas was the tallest in one category (height to top of architectural elements, meaning spires but not antennas). more about Willis Tower here

It was more than two years now since I visited Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, USA. It was one of the great times in my life and I am very thankful that I had the chance to visit and see this place.

Thanks to my sister, cousin and family for that wonderful moments being with them. Here are some of the images I took as we toured Universal Studios Hollywood last June 7, 2008.


Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use. Its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of LA", though during the summer it is often advertised as "The Coolest Place in LA." It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios soundstages and sets. It is the first of many fully-fledged Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world. Woody Woodpecker is the mascot for Universal Studios Hollywood. more here

There is a short story that I want to share in relation to Elton John's Red Piano Concert in Las Vegas. My cousin in Las Vegas was offering some concert tickets to my sister. The first time, my sister declined for it. As she mentioned to me that our cousin was giving her some free tickets to watch Elton John's concert, I immediately told her to accept the tickets because it is already an opportunity to witness and watch that show. Her reason for declining, she told me that she is not familiar with Elton John. And then, I explained to her who Elton John is. That's how the story goes.

I am thankful to my cousin Malou for those free tickets. Thanks a lot dear cousin.

some images I took while watching Elton John's Red Piano Concert in Las Vegas last June 20058. I love it!

This was taken on top of Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. After the Circus show of Ringling Bros. in the neighboring hotel, we procedeed here and went on top. This all suite hotel is simply called The Rio and was named after the city of Rio de Janiero in Brazil. It has therefore influence by Brazilian culture.

You can see the view of the Las Vegas Strip from the top of The Rio. I was there!

This is the only lake in Las Vegas where you can witness a large dancing water fountain synchronized with music. This is the famous Fountains of Bellagio. It is one of the most notable features of Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. The lake was inspired by the Lake Como resort of Bellagio in Italy.

Never miss to watch it when you visit Las Vegas.
I had the chance to watch this spectacle for a lot of times during my vacation in Vegas last 2008. This is one of the images I took.

What's the most beautiful thing I love in Bellagio? I would love to let you know. It is their Conservatory and Botanical Gardens that display different kinds of plants and flowers that reflect the different seasons of the year. Since I went there in summer 2008, I was able to witness the beautiful summer display. I love it very much since I am also a nature lover and most of all I love plants and flowers. The landscaping that they made in their summer display was so beautiful. I believed they are also using here solar landscape lights. The fountain also adds beauty to the display. The displays are changed out five times a year and reflect the current season; winter, Chinese New Year, spring, summer and fall. Here are some images taken last 2008. Don't forget to miss this display once you visit Las Vegas.

Colorful displays decorated with many flowers are often used, and fountains may also be present.