By FOMO Girl
Festivals Travel is increasing each year in many parts of the world. Travelling is considered a right of passage by many people from all walks of life. Nowadays people are travelling from one place to another with an aim of attending a certain event or festival. Festivities take place all around the year and they attract a huge attendance and audience. Some of the major international or globally recognized festivals are the Oktoberfest, Rio Carnival, Running of the Bulls, Mardi Gras and Hogmanay.

A festival is basically an event or an occasion where people from all parts of the world meet up with an aim of socializing and really getting into the festivities of the occasion. People go to great lengths to attend these major festivals and a lot of income and finances is set aside by people to cater for the expenses incurred during such expeditions.

When an event is not nearby, it is necessary if planning to attend to make travel arrangements to get to the event and quite often this needs to be booked well in advance.  For this reason, many companies have been established to help recreational travelers to reach their destinations. One of the most popular tour companies that specialise  in the youth travel, as well as festivals travel markets, is called Contiki. Contiki runs tours to many festivals around the world with utmost ease and generally at a fairly low cost.

Another well-known tour company that operates tours to the above festivals is G Adventures. G Adventures is another tour company that specialises in adventure travel, but they also operate shorter festival trips. Their personnel who are in charge of these tours are very professionals and have years' experience in their work.

TGW Travel Group, also known as Tours Gone Wild, is an alternative tour company that offers excellent and superb services to all its clients. This is a company that has vast experience in Brazil and they are definately the Brazil and Rio Carnival specialists. Busabout is another popular tour company that operates tours to most of these major events and festivals.  All these companies provide accommodation and transportation for the above mentioned festivals.

The Youth Travel market is mostly the group of people who are potential customers to the above listed companies.  However, these events also target other specific audiences such as families, couples or even children.  For special types of customers such as disabled persons, special amenities have to be provided in addition to the ones present in the normal travel packages.

The cost of travelling varies depending on the means of transport used. Use of air transport is considered the most expensive as compared to alternative means such as road and rail transport. Most tour companies give a wide range of options to their clients and customers on various means to move from one place to the other.

Festivals Travel will continue to grow and expand in the coming years with more and more people expected to attend these international festivities. As the customers for this service increase, so will the income from the above business.

FOMO Travel are the Festival and Events Travel specialists and they provide a wide array of information on the major festivals and events from across the globe.

By FOMO Girl
People who want to attend festivals travel to some of the most exotic places in the world. Many countries have annual celebrations that attract visitors from all around the globe. There is typically an abundance of mouth watering food and plenty to drink at these festivities. Most of them have parades that lure thousands of costumed revelers to the streets for dancing and singing to blaring music.

One of the most well known and popular festivals anywhere is Carnival, in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. In late February to early March each year, thousands of revelers from around the globe don costumes and join in the parades. This week long party is about people, dancing, and samba music. Everyone is there to have unlimited fun while experiencing this flamboyant affair.

TGW Travel Group customizes trip packages according to the preferences of its clients. They want to be sure that everyone is entertained day and night. Packages can include the costs for airfare, lodging, transportation, admission into nightclubs, and a consultation about all the best parties in the area. Spain, Brazil, and Argentina are also favorite destinations of their clients.

Another famous carnival that rivals the one in South America is the Carnevale in Venice, Italy. There are huge and grandly produced balls and parties. This gala is known for the extravagant and intricately designed masks everyone wears.

The United States celebrates its biggest carnival, Mardi Gras, on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday every year. It is held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Besides the infamous parade throughout the city and festivities on Bourbon Street, it is a great venue to overindulge on greasy foods and sweet alcoholic beverages.

Drinking is the favorite activity in Munich, Germany when it hosts its annual Oktoberfest. The steins overflow with local brews during the end of September and first week of October. Almost 7 million fans of Bavarian beer and food visit each year. The celebration that lasts for 16 days is the biggest of its kind in the world.  Busabout is a travel company who offers several affordable trips to the festivities in Munich. They have packages for the budget minded traveler that can include airfare along with accommodations within walking distance of the Beerfest.  They even provide breakfasts and give you a free drink on arrival.

Spain has many fun festivals that are very popular to attend. The most well known occurs every July, when the annual Running of the Bulls takes place in the streets of Pamplona. The excitement begins when the bulls are herded onto the streets to chase the young men who are brave or crazy enough to run with them. There are usually more than a dozen or more runners injured before the bulls finally enter the ring for the afternoon bullfights.

One of the two annual events that have attendees looking skyward is the Lantern Festival in Pingxi, Taiwan. The night sky is lit up from the glow of thousands of lanterns hovering above. The night of merriment takes place in February.  The other one takes place every October when people from all over travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for the biggest hot air balloon fiesta worldwide. It began in 1972 with only 13 balloons. Over the years its popularity forced officials to limit entries to 600. Other attractions include balloon related games and stunts.

People attending these and other festivals travel hundreds to thousands of miles each year. They come from all age groups, with the majority being young people aged 18-35 years old. The main point of going is to experience the different cultures and joining together to have a good time.

FOMO Travel are your festival travel specialists and they have an awesome section of their website dedicated to Festival and Events Travel.  You should check it out if you are considering attending one of these must-do festivals somewhere in the world.

By FOMO Girl
One thing is for sure, you are going to find it very difficult to find more fun, more excitement, more celebrations and more colorful costumes than the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This event, also known as Fat Tuesday allows people to indulge before the start of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

The Mardi Gras originates from France where it has been celebrated since the Middle Ages. A French explorer known as Iberville landed sixty miles south of the current-day New Orleans, christening the spot Point du Mardi Gras. By around 1823 the American government was persuaded by the local Creoles to re-introduce the Mardi Gras with parties and great merriment. By the time the 19th Century came around, the Mardi Gras was turning into the huge carnival as we know it today, with much revelry and dancing in the streets accompanied by beautifully decorated horse drawn carriages and floats.

What you will find at this outrageous carnival are French royals, showgirls dressed in feathers, painted clowns and bunnies, all parading the streets of New Orleans. You can join in the throngs of people to watch magnificent floats go by, performers performing outrageous tricks and heaps of marching bands and plenty of jazz music to draw you in. You can expect to see more than 350 floats and over 15000 costumes being paraded.

Many famous traditions started with Mardi Gras and one originated from a visit by the Russian duke Alexis Romanoff. Today this royal visit from the house of Romanoff is flaunted with their royal house colors of purple, green and gold, which stand for justice, faith and power and which have now become the official colors of the Mardi Gras. Another wonderful tradition is the throwing of thousands upon thousands of colorful bead necklaces from the floats, a souvenir everyone loves to take home with them, along with cups and toy coins.

The Mardi Gras is just one big holiday in New Orleans and businesses and roads get shut down so that people can enjoy the excitement.

There are over 500,000 king cakes that are sold every year in this city between 6 January and Fat Tuesday and there are over 50,000 of these cakes that are shipped out of New Orleans on an overnight courier. You might find yourself nibbling on a cake, which includes a small plastic baby doll inside. If you find it, you are declared a king and you will be the one to buy the next cake!

On the 6th of January each year a group of about fifty men and women called the PPP or the Phunny Phorty Phellows ride in costumes in a decorated car along St Charles Avenue blowing loud trumpets, accompanied by a Dixieland band, eating the famous king cake and tossing it to onlookers.  

One can go on talking about the New Orleans Mardi Gras, but you have to be there to experience the magic. It is on the bucket list of things to do for millions of would-be travelers.

by FOMO Girl
It has traditionally been part of the winter social season in New Orleans and at one time "coming out" parties for young women and debutante balls were often held during this time of the year. It is of course the annual festival held in New Orleans, Louisiana called Mardi Gras. The New Orleans Carnival season has its history with the Christmas season and starts after the Twelfth Night of Christmas, or the Epiphany (6 January). During the carnival season there will be numerous parades and balls.

The celebration of Mardi Gras was brought to Louisiana by early French settlers. The exact starting date for Mardi Gras in New Orleans is not known, but it is known that in 1743 that organised balls around this time of year were taking place.

Depending on when Easter is each year, Mardi Gras can fall on any Tuesday between 3 February and 9 March. Mardi Gras is composed of various events such as balls for social clubs in the New Orleans area, but the main event is simply a street festival, open to the public.

The Twelfth Night Revelers, one of the festivals oldest krewes, holds a masked ball each year on 6 January to mark the commencement of the festival. The main parade season starts some three weekends before Fat Tuesday (or Mardi Gras in French). Fat Tuesday is also commonly known around the Christian world as Shrove Tuesday and it is the day before Ash Wednesday. There is usually at least one parade every night starting two Fridays before Mardi Gras, but many days have several large parades. The largest and most elaborate parades take place during the last five days of the season. The population of New Orleans more than doubles with visitors on the weekend before Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is a day to be remembered in New Orleans. The city comes alive and celebrations begin early on Mardi Gras Day, but the city parties all day until the stroke of midnight. A number of people will be out wearing masks and disguises.

The formal end of Mardi Gras arrives with "the Meeting of the Courts", a term describing the ceremony at which Rex and His Royal Consort, the King and Queen of Carnival, meet with Comus and his Queen at the ball of the Mistick Krewe of Comus, New Orleans oldest active carnival organization. The Meeting of the Courts happens at the conclusion of the two groups masked balls.

Promptly at the stroke of midnight at the end of Fat Tuesday, New Orleans police officers make a show of clearing upper Bourbon Street where the bulk of out-of-town revellers congregate, announcing that Mardi Gras is over, as it is the start of Lent, commencing with Ash Wednesday.