Tech Tuesday :: Getting Direct

[trip style = any]

{Editor’s Note: Enter to win one of FIVE DuWop Flight Sticks. With light, hydrating coverage, these mini skin-enhancers are packed with antioxidants and a touch of caffeine to spruce up tired skin. Up, up and away!}

Non-stop flights are the holy grail of air travel. The faster the arrival, the fewer the airports and the greater the time at your destination, the better.

Recently, Kayak has come out with a new tool aspiring jetsetters will love: direct flight listings from most major airports worldwide. Search by airport and month to determine which airline is going where, organized in a list by distance/time.

The Value Proposition

• Find out what airlines fly non-stop where before you start your vacation flight search online.
• If you're strapped for time or hate flying, decide where you want to go based on direct flight routes.
• See how many airlines compete for each direct route. For example, out of Vancouver in January, 2012: 9 airlines will fly to Toronto, 7 to San Francisco, 5 to Honolulu and 1 to Kauai.
• Say you're about to leave for a 3-month sabbatical in South East Asia, but only have your flight there and back booked. It's helpful to know what direct flights exist from each major city you're visiting to maximize your time at each destination.
• If you want to geek-out, see mileage for shortest and longest flight out of your preferred airport.
• Think of the application to the Amazing Race teams...

PS - Have you heard of Kayak Fly Now? Say it's 5 o'clock somewhere and you decide on a very last-minute trip. Search your home airport and destination, and Kayak will show the next available flights. Even if it's a pipe dream to think we can just pick up and leave on a whim, it's nice to know there'a a travel tool to make that happen. Just in case...

[image by @tripstyler]

Rosewood Hotel Georgia

[trip style = urban + luxury]

{Editor's Note: This summer, we've been busy bees. One of the results is Trip Styler's new look, debuting today. This Friday we'll explain everything, as well as announce a few new features. Until then, this week is packed with goodies like today's classic hotel tour, Tech Tuesday, Travel Beauty with tips from a St. Tropez celeb tanner and Healthy On The Road. PS - this week we're giving away five DuWop Flight Sticks. Enter today.}

Vancouver's grand dame has been in hiding for a few years. With a highly publicized facelift, modernization and new pantsuit, she's emerged with the class of Elizabeth Taylor and playful beauty of Heidi Klum. She's as gorgeous today as she was in 1927 when the Vancouver {Evening} Sun headline proclaimed "New Building One of Finest Hotels on the Continent." A few weeks ago, Trip Styler was invited to tour Vancouver's newest hotel with some of the most glamorous bones in the city. Naturally, we donned a dashing shirt dress {a Fashion Friday :: Shoulder Season must-have} for the occasion.

History The Rosewood Hotel Georgia can't help but catch your eye. Eighty years ago it was the place to stay and play, and with its recent reopening, nothing has changed. Sure, the historic property has welcomed Hollywood's elite, but two iconic individuals made a lasting impression. Katherine Hepburn is credited with setting Vancouver's room service trend in motion when she asked management to eat in her room rather than the restaurant. And speaking of room service, Elvis requested his now famous pan-fried peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich when it wasn't on the menu. In a bow to the hotel's history, now it is.

Hub Elegantly seated in the centre of Vancouver, Miss Georgia is neighboured by the Vancouver Art Gallery, Pacific Centre Mall and stately office buildings. Not surprisingly, it has become the go-to place for dining, events, meetings and most recently, open-air lounging. Named after celebrated Vancouver chef David Hawksworth, Hawksworth Restaurant is the property's main dining room, earning accolades as the best new restaurant in Canada. If Vancouver's hottest new restaurant is bursting at the seams, check out 1927, the hotel's quintessential lobby bar. And don't be surprised if you rub shoulders with a Don Draper lookalike---it's pretty big with the apres-work suits. Four levels above, an urban oasis draws see and be seen crowds onto its concrete perch to relax on cushy seating, sip classic cocktails and stare at still and cascading water features. The giant fire bowl, seemingly begging to brown marshmallows to a light crisp, helps to keep it hot when the weather is not.

Design The mix of thoughtfully preserved old mingling with West Coast new is what strikes me at every turn. The lobby's original floors are paired with a visually playful geometric painting, the traditional neutral palette of the rooms is accented by bright blue pillows and a light-on-dark-brown herringbone print throw, and the indoor salt water pool beside the South Beach-style outdoor lounge offers a fresh take on the Glass City's design aesthetic. Anchored by features like the meticulous re-creation of the original 1927 cornicing with deco light fixtures and elevator doors, the hotel maintains a grandeur without being stuffy or unapproachable.

Art Aboriginal modern. Geometric "untitled" wax {left}. Subdued landscape {painted by Takao Tanabe, born one year before the hotel opened}. Part of one of the largest private collections of Canadian art in the country, these progressive installations are more gallery than hotel. I try to spend time in galleries in every city I visit, and the hotel's collection is worth the excursion alone. Every piece is by a Canadian artist, with the exception of the lobby's reverse-perspective, 3D acrylic on wood aptly name "Internity", painted by British-born Patrick Hughes {painting pictured top right}.

Details Trip style = luxury, rooms start at $375 a night. Note that the base standard deluxe room is not just a bed and bath. It has a sitting area and spa bathroom with two sinks, a soaker tub and separate shower.

[photos by @tripstyler aside from Hawksworth Restaurant and hotel's exterior, used with permission.]

Fashion Friday :: Shoulder Season

[trip style = sun + urban + weekend getaway + sightseeing + wine tasting]

{Editor's Note: Enter to win one of FIVE DuWop Flight Sticks. With light, hydrating coverage, these mini skin-enhancers are packed with antioxidants and a touch of caffeine to spruce up tired skin. Up, up and away!}

What do brunch and Brangelina have in common? They're not just fun to say, they're two awesome things paired together. Which is kind of like the season we're in now, where summer meets fall. But what should we call it? Sall? Fummer? Sautumn? As we head into back-to-school time---or as I like to say, perfect European travel time---it can be hard to choose what to wear for the hot, humid days and cool, breezy nights. Especially when you're travelling and you can only bring a few key items.

A shirt dress is the perfect garment for sautumn. Warm day? Roll up the sleeves and pair it with heeled wooden sandals. Cool day? Roll down the sleeves and add a pair of colourful knee-high socks with the same pair of wooden sandals, plus a scarf or boyfriend cardy. You could also stash booties and a pair of leggings or Kate Middleton-chic sheer nylons in your bag for the evening chill. Need a little more coverage? Go for a midi-length shirt dress.

{Trip Styler Tip: Most shirt dresses come with their own belts, but play around with your own belt collection to change up the look. Perfect for going away when you want to get more mileage out of the pieces in your duffle.}

Guys, stay summery by wearing less rigid denim in a lighter wash; save the dark raw Japanese denim for the cooler months. Choose a button-up shirt in a length that's meant to be left untucked {read: no long tails} for a little summer styling, and top with a lightweight sweater that will breathe but keep you warm.

Don't you just love fummertime?

Now what to wear? Women (from top left) Tucker shirtdress, Forever 21 midi shirt dress, J.Crew trouser slouch socks, ASOS slinky over the knee socks, Rachel Comey interlaken clog, J.Crew eden cardigan, Thierry Lasry celebratory shades, Rag & Bone tomkin scarf, Cheap Monday militaria dress, LP Collection sliced skinny leather belt, ASOS floral maxi Men (clockwise from top centre) The Hill-side organic cotton scarf, Marc by Marc Jacobs danny dot shirt, Gap new deep v-neck, All Saints span open cardigan, All Saints crawford low top sneaker, Marc by Marc Jacobs tyler uniform fit denim

More Fashion Friday Cabin Fever Buoy Oh Buoy Festival Style Tribal Inspiration

{Fashion Friday posts are published on the last Friday of every month and written by fashion blogger Heather.}

DuWop Flight Stick{s} Giveaway

[trip style = any] {Editor's Note: in addition to our regularly scheduled content, August is Travel Beauty Month. Lauren, our beauty editor has curated and collected tips and products for keeping that flawless glow on the go!}

Forget heavy makeup. Hydrating, light coverage is what your skin craves when flying to... That's why we're so excited about DuWop's Flight Stick, made especially for the beauty-conscious frequent flyer.

After a 5- to 14-hour flight, even a supermodel needs a skin-enhancing pick-me-up. DuWop's Flight Stick wakes up the skin with a touch of caffeine to combat dryness and damage, while protecting and hydrating with antioxidants.

Perfect for use under the eyes or on the face or neck, it has been specially created with a universally flattering shade. Plus, its travel-friendly size is perfect for touch ups in the air or on the ground. Up, up and away!

Giveaway FIVE lucky readers will win a DuWop Flight Stick, a $28 value.

How To Win There are 3 ways to win, completing all methods will increase your odds of winning.

• Retweet the following on Twitter: I entered to win 1 of 5 @DuWopCosmetics Flight Sticks with antioxidants http://bit.ly/pHeayI {Via @tripstyler} RT to Enter!
• Like Trip Styler on Facebook {the fan page, not a single post} & comment below that you've done so. Note: If you already like us on Facebook, please leave a comment on this post telling us you want to be considered for the contest.
• Leave a comment on any post.

Details Open to residents of Canada and the USA. Entries will be accepted Aug 25 – Sept 1, 2011. Winner will be chosen at random and announced Sept 1st. After prizing notification, winner has two days to make contact.

More Travel Beauty Pre-Trip Primping Oxygenetix Moisturizer Giveaway NYC's Best Beauty Dr. Murad Interview The Best Fragrance For Each Trip Style Q&A With tarte Cosmetics Founder

A Pemberton Taster

[trip style = active & adventure + staycation]

When the sun finally started shining along the Pacific Coast at the beginning of August, it felt like there was a unanimous sigh of relief, followed by a ton of hasty vacation requests and last-minute summer bookings. We were all getting questionable weather, apparently as far south as San Francisco when Virgin America tweeted about the lack of any summer at SFO. Alas, after a month of cheering and chanting, the sun made an encore, the kind concert goers dream of.

My response to our sudden summer was to spend as many weekends as I could enjoying the breezy West Coast warmth up at Whistler, until I got distracted by the lure of fresh-picked veggies, peaks that escalate as far as heaven and a roaring waterfall still gushing remnants of last winter's record-breaking snowfall. All of this was 30 minutes away in Pemberton, a small village with epic landscapes.

Similar to Pemberton Distillery's award-winning sipping vodka, here's a taster to wet your whistlerwhistle:

Nairn Falls A campground, hiking trail, river and waterfall are all bundled into this 170-hectare  highway-side nature fiesta. Whether you stop here for the 1.5km easy-breezy waterfall hike or just to use the loo, this provincial park offers a quick slice of BC paradise.

North Arm Farm If North Arm Farm was a book, I'd tell you to judge it by its cover. Once you step out of its concrete-floored shop selling fresh-cut flowers, organic fruits and veggies, baked goods and picnic lunches, you discover 60 acres of working farmland. The u-pick strawberries, raspberries and blueberries only add to its haycation allure. Just plug your nose when pass through the open-air barn, its rustic beauty makes up for the potent aroma of hundreds of drying garlic cloves hanging from the rafters, but again, it's a working farm and this is part of its charm.

One Mile Lake Welcoming you into Pemberton's town centre with a whisper, this tranquil lake's glassy waters and wooden boardwalk pull you in. It's the kind of place that shouts "please picnic here." Grabbing a coffee at the nearby Mount Currie Coffee Co I noticed a poster for stand up paddle board {SUP} yoga at the lake, the perfect setting for such a balancing act {note to self, wear bathing suit underneath yoga wear}. Swim, rent a SUP or walk its circumference---based on the name, you won't be walking for too long.

Whether you're visiting Whistler or live in Vancouver and crave a trip style = staycation that will temporarily whisk you away from hum drum of the city, Pemberton's clean air {that I swear could be bottled and sold}, smooth vodka {that is bottled and sold} and lakeside walks will give you the natural summer high you've been patiently waiting for.

Related Spotlight :: Whistler Live High, Pay Low in Whistler Magic Carpet Ride {River Rafting in BC}

[photos by @tripstyler]