As time and attention race toward the Olympics, Beijing’s creative buzz grows louder and louder. From stadium architecture to exhibits hosted by Nike, the city boasts an impressive line-up of inspiration from both innovative and traditional sources. One of our favorite architectural attractions is GreenPix – a zero energy media wall by Simone Giostra and Partners.

The GreenPix project was built around the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing near the olympic stadiums. Standing as the largest LED display in the world, there is no doubt that the structure will attract many visitors. While the structure’s futuristic sensibilities intrigue us, its self-sufficient organic system impresses us. The LED panels harvest solar energy during the day and use it to illuminate the screen during the night. As Giostra states, “The Media Wall will provide the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art, while offering the most radical example of sustainable technology applied to an entire building’s envelope to date.” If you’re in Beijing this summer, be sure to check it out. Click Read More for photos, video and additional information.

London’s Tate Museum and the ICA are coming together with Guest Hotels to create a chain of locations for artists to display their work. The group will create 5 art hotels. The BBC quotes the chairman of Guest Hotels saying, “Until now, hotels have used art as decoration. We are reversing that concept by allowing artists to use our hotels as their showcase.”

The first two hotels will open this summer in Bayswater, west London. Guest Hotels’ the Jones and the Nest will kick off the showcase. If you’re in the area be sure to check them out. If you happen to get there early, the Tate Museum and the ICA are great destinations for modern art and the like. Click Read More for additional information. (Above Pic: London’s Tate Museum)

Shanghai has a new hotel named URBN. It’s not your typical place to stay. This hotel is carbon neutral and eco-friendly. Built entirely from local and recycled materials, the aesthetically pleasing structure provides a great example of where modern design & hospitality can meet environmental foresight.

The hotel’s innovation doesn’t end with its construction. It expands to their daily operations, too. With Shanghai being one of China’s most populated cities, everyday activities raise its carbon impact to extreme levels. In response, URBN strives to raise environmental awareness with its chain of hotels. For example, Hotel Chatter reports, “now that the hotel is up and running, any energy used – and that even includes the commuting done by staff – will be calculated and neutralized through buying carbon credits.” These credits will be invested in Clean Energy development and other energy efficient projects in China. Click Read More for additional information.

Last month we wrote about Eos Airlines and their venture to establish a business class carrier that provided comfort and convenience while flying from NYC to London. Sadly, we report today that the luxury airliner filed for bankruptcy protection. As CNN Money reports, “The high-flying luxuries came to an end Sunday as Eos ceased operations after filing for bankruptcy protection, the latest casualty of a credit crunch and a money-losing airline industry that has been hit hard by high fuel prices.”

Rising fuel prices, sub-par service, bad press and a host of other challenges have slowed down the airline industry. Today, PSFK describes a brief history of cut backs and what other carriers are doing to trim the fat. These are interesting economic times. Click Read More for additional news from today’s daily travel headlines.

Sky high bills after an overseas vacation are not urban legend. They’re very real. You’ve probably heard murmurs from people saying,”Roaming charges will get you every time.” Or, “I downloaded a picture to my phone and got slapped with a $500 phone bill.” Heed these words carefully. It can happen. It happened to us.

We thought we were fine. There are a gazillion satellites zooming through outer-space. International data usage should be covered – right? What’s the difference if I’m in Florida or the West Indies? Well, approximately $1400 is the difference. As simple as it may be, one small phone call, a few emails and a picture can increase your monthly bill to unrecognizable amounts. So, sure, you may have been warned about roaming, international coverage, etc. But we want to warn you one more time. Before leaving the country be sure to check your plan and if you’re uncertain just turn off the phone. Click Read More for additional information.

Most of the time good food is synonymous with being expensive. Finding inexpensive fresh food that’s quick and well prepared can be difficult – maybe near impossible– especially when you’re in a new city. No matter how hungry you are, you can’t always trust your stomach to guide you. But what you can trust is Vapiano. This chain restaurant based out of Germany, has several locations scattered in Germany, Hungary and Belgium and more throughout Europe. And, for those in the US, Vapiano has several locations in the Washington DC and Virginia area and one in development in Fort Meyers, Florida.

Vapiano serves affordable pizzas, pastas, and salads that are made to order. In addition to scrumptious food, wine and drinks are also available. Although the menu is simple, don’t let that fool you into thinking that the quality is mediocre. It’s delicious. Vapiano’s décor is clean, modern and inviting. Beyond the fact that your meal is prepared in plain view – which is a plus, especially when dining somewhere for the first time; their chip card payment method makes going out to eat with a large group easy and stress free. No more worries about how to split the bill. When you’re hungry, Vapiano is one stop that you definitely want to make.

DUMBO is arguably Brooklyn’s best-kept secret. Williamsburg and Greenpoint get the lion’s share of the borough’s positive press, while DUMBO continues to remain below the radar. It’s located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. DUMBO (an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is an amalgamation of everything old and new about the city – filled with great boutiques, galleries, architecture and restaurants.

Similar to its locale, Hecho en Dumbo is a blend of modern and traditional. The restaurant is a celebration of cosmopolitan aspects of Mexican culture as well as time-honored techniques of Mexican handmade food preparation. The menu features fresh takes on classics like, wine-braised steak tacos and ciabatta bread with black bean puree and pico de gallo. The establishment also features live music, film and art. Be sure to visit Hecho en DUMBO next time you’re in New York. Click Read More for additional information about the restaurant.

A little more than a year ago, Trey Ratcliff visited Chernobyl despite warnings from his close friends and relatives. If you don’t remember, Chernobyl was home to one of the largest nuclear disasters in history. In 1986, the town of approximately 55,000 residents was urgently evacuated when one of the nuclear reactors at the power station exploded.

In Trey’s post, Nuclear Winter in Chernobyl, his writing and photography take us on a tour of the abandoned city. He also visits Prypiat, a neighboring town that was home to many of the plant workers. Here’s a sampling of his trip, “First, we stopped in Prypiat, a fascinating place right out of the Day After. Prypiat was built as the ultimate Soviet communist panacea, a place for Chernobyl plant workers and their families to live, go to school, play, and live their lives in master-planned bliss. Prypiat was immediately deserted after the accident – kids left schools with their books still on the desks, families rushed out without getting everything, just complete and instant desertion. While I was there, it was completely quiet, and it was extra surreal with the early 80’s styling of the Soviet buildings, windows ajar and stuff still sitting in all the windows.” Click Read more for additional information and photos.

We’ve been eyeing the Smart Car ever since rumors of its US debut. Living in the city can make you jaded when it comes to car ownership. Cars are often more of a burden than a convenience. However, Smart provides a strong solution for our car issues. The low cost ultra-ultra compact is nimble, parks just about anywhere and consumes approximately 45 miles per gallon. Could there be anything wrong with this car? Well, whenever we discuss the Smart Car the elephant in the room is safety…

Social networking sites have proven to be more than just a fad. They’ve become increasingly legitimate forms of communication – connecting people in strange, unthinkable ways. Enter the Couch Surfing Project; it’s a hospitality exchange network. Members alternate roles of host and surfer. Hosts can offer the possibility of accommodation, while surfers search for and request accommodation.

Couch Surfing may seem like something for an extremely adventurous traveler, but the organization goes out of its way to ensure security and trust. Members are encouraged to add personal references and other forms of verification to their profile pages. This added layer of security appears to encourage enrollment. Recently the site recorded 353,910 successful surf or host experiences and 442,974 friendships created. That’s pretty impressive.

We’ve been racking our brains trying to figure out if anyone has ever tried to tour an entire museum before. Sure, there are plenty of traveling exhibitions, but an entire museum, traveling from city to city – we’re pretty sure that’s unprecedented. Leave it to Karl Lagerfeld and the mavericks at Chanel to do just that.

Chanel Mobile Art is a touring exhibition starting February 27 in Hong Kong, it will showcase works by 20 emerging artists, inspired by the elements of Chanel’s emblematic quilted bag. The traveling museum structure (called the “Art Container”) was designed by architect Zaha Hadid. In addition to Hong Kong, the museum will be in Tokyo, New York, London, Moscow, and Paris…

Groucho Marx once said, “I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member.” As much as we hate to admit it, exclusivity sells. Perhaps we have an innate trust for all things esoteric. Could it just be that it’s cool to be aware of something before the masses? Honestly, we aren’t completely sure.

If you’re in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, you’ll probably walk past The Hideout. It’s a converted garage on Adelphi Street and it looks pretty nondescript. Walk in and you’ll find a cadre (the bar comfortably accommodates 40 patrons) of urbane modernists, sipping 150-year-old Grand Marnier, in a romantically lit space.

Everyone remembers the first time they saw Star Wars. The six films have captured the imagination of both young and old. For the avid Star Wars fan, the films transcend entertainment. Simply put, Star Wars is life.

This weekend, Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute launched an interesting exhibition exploring how the universe imagined in Star Wars is influencing the real world. Star Wars: Where Science meets Imagination fully immerses visitors into the mind of George Lucas, showcasing props and artifacts from all six films alongside cutting-edge technologies directly and indirectly influenced by the franchise. Click Read More for additional information and pictures from the exhibit.

Innovative architecture always makes our travel to-do list. Some of the most interesting buildings of the past year highlight the strides made in sustainability, construction materials and computer-aided design. All bringing us closer to the future envisioned in The Jetsons.

For instance, Japanese designers TNA created an optical illusion of floating floors for the Ring House. Approximately 185 miles outside of Tokyo, the private home stands three stories high and provides uninterrupted views of the surrounding woods. As pictured above, its beauty speaks for itself, but it also won the 2008 Wallpaper Award for architectural design…

The people of Spain take their olive oil seriously. So much so, many Spaniards refer to oil as oro liquido (liquid gold). Oro Liquido is also the name of an olive oil shop in Barcelona, Spain. Owner, Anna Segovia, wanted to give a fresh perspective on something most take for granted. From Olive tree to Olive oil, the tasty product has become quite the commerce.

Oro Liquido presents olive oil as if it were a perfume, in little bottles. All of the oils are produced in the Mediterranean and represent the best oils found in the towns and villages of Spain.

Furthering the culture behind oil, the shop holds olive oil tastings. Similar to wine tastings, patrons are treated to samples of the latest varieties of olive oil and are encouraged to discover their nuances. Flavors can range from tomato, banana, freshly cut grass or artichoke – depending on the region. Stop by Oro Liquido next time you’re in Barcelona.