The week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is normally one of enjoying a few days out of the office, returning from your holiday vacation, or returning the gifts you don’t like for ones you wish you’d received.

To keep your mind on more exciting thoughts, here is our Friday Week in Review featuring some exotic travel ideas that your hard-working 14trips editors have discovered.

• From Gridskipper, Guilt-Free Paris Fashion offers a list of their favorite feel-good shopping addresses for the chic Parisian who has an eco-conscience. Here, you’ll find concept stores with green, organic, and fair trade clothing opportunities that even the American dollar can buy inexpensively.
• From Vagablond, the Benjamin Hotel in New York gets down on all fours to pamper people and their pooches with their Sleep Concierge and their “Dream Dog” program, which offers your pet a lush bathrobe, spa treatments, complimentary toys, healthy Canine Cuisine, and much more.
• From Hotel Chatter, their Best Hotel Renovation is the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. In the ultra-competitive Las Vegas market, they’ve just renovated all their guest rooms, now offering 550 to 1,500 sq. ft. of floor-to-ceiling windows, spacious spa tubs, his-and-her closets, 42-inch Plasma TVs, and other amenities that will make you want to stay in your room instead of The Strip.
• From A Luxury Travel Blog, a new uber luxurious yet tranquil experience is available at the Verandah Resort & Spa in Antigua. Rejuvenate your body and senses. Stroll on two white sand beaches. Feast on multiple dining options. And indulge yourself at their spa.
• And from Life on Top, watch a video of the world’s most expensive sports cars. This should whet your appetite for some of the best luxury rides, if you happen to get a six-figure bonus this year and need to spend it before 2008.

To give you an escape from holiday shopping this weekend, your editors proudly present the Week in Review with a handful of luxury travel tidbids discovered by your hard-working 14Trips staff.

• From Jaunted, Lufthansa is currently offering round-trip flights between Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, and other cities to Paris, Milan, and Prague for only €99 ($145), including all taxes and charges. Seats are limited.
• From Hotel Chatter, the brand new and ultra stylish Hoxton Urban Lodge can be booked for only £59 per night during this low season, but you still get free WiFi, a lite breakfast, upscale linens, and more. Quite a bargain, I’d say.
• From Area-Daily, visitors to Moscow are drinking vodka to toast the city’s first all-suite five-star hotel, the MaMaison Pokrovka Suite Hotel, a few steps from the Kremlin, Red Square, and chic cafes. Merry Christmas rates are just €250 per room per night through December 21.
• From Gizmodo, we all love concept cars. Above is a picture of a Fastlane car of the future by Trans FX, the film and GM manufacturer. You’ll have to place a bid on Ebay for it, though it won’t be available until about 2050. Or buy it now for a cool $15,000.
• And from Vagablond, check out the Transformer Dress by designer Bonnie Lau that transforms into 30 dresses, truly proper attire for any occasion.

As always, to receive our free 14Trips Thursday Newsletter of deal alerts, subscribe now to receive it automatically in your inbox.

Thank goodness it’s Friday! These long weeks after shorter holiday weeks are always draining, aren’t they? So to jump-start your weekend, here’s the 14Trips Week in Review with some of the world’s most interesting luxury travel tidbits uncovered by your tireless 14Trips staff. Which of these piques your interest most?

• A Luxury Travel Blog’s ‘Best of the Best’ merged the CondéNast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards 2007 and Travel+Leisure’s World’s Best Awards 2007 polls. Their top-rated hotel across the globe for luxury and service is the Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur, India.

• Deck the halls with iGifts! From Gothamist: A new, two-story Apple Store will open in the Big Apple’s Meatpacking District on December 7th, just in time to fulfill your holiday gift wish list.
• Smoke get in your eyes in Berlin clubs? Gridskipper reports that a smoking ban looms in the German capital, so more hip venues are trying to clean the air now.
• Trump 24K Super Premium Vodka, labeled with 24-carat gold, was displayed at the Millionaire’s Fair in Moscow last week, via lifeontop. Do the rich get richer?
• And whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa, what does the “12 Days of Christmas” cost in today’s dollars? The amount might surprise you in this Vagablond story.

It’s Friday again, and that means it’s time for the the 14Trips Week in Review! Look no further for the most interesting tidbits in travel, collected over the week by the diligent staff at 14Trips.

• Take the sting out of Thanksgiving travel with these great tips from Fodor’s.
• Looking for a room with a view?  This post from out friends at The Informed Traveler should help you in your quest.
• Totally over your airport dining options?  Become a master brown-bagger with this How To from Budget Travel.
• For those who have trouble identifying their suitcase in the jungle of other rolling, black Samsonites on the carousel (i.e. everyone), try one of these adorable custom luggage tags, available on Etsy.com, to set your bag apart.
• And finally, if you think you’ve seen it all, take a look at this. And yes, it’s for real.

Have a great weekend, and tune in Monday for our Deal of the Day and a new article on green travel!