Top five weekend travel media stories

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Here are some of the best travel stories from this weekend’s English-speaking newspaper travel media.

1. In the New York Times, Stephen Heyman profiles six moderately-priced New York City boutique hotels. One of the boutique hotels reviewed even has nightly rates under $200!

2. In the Globe and Mail, Heather Zorzini writes about her night in the apparently quite beautiful Dildo, Newfoundland. (How beautiful is Dildo? Look above.)

3. Tom Neal Tacker dives with sharks in Fiji, survives, and writes about it for Melbourne’s The Age.

4. In the Guardian, Tim Bryan bypasses Prague for Brno, giving the Czech Republic’s second-biggest city the weekender treatment. He eats and drinks like a champ, all for 2000 Czech crowns (under $100).

5. In the Sunday Times, Martin Symington lists seven great spots across the UK (in Cornwall, Cumbria, Isle of Lewis, the Lake District, Orkney Oxfordshire, and Wiltshire) for observing the summer solstice.

(Image: Flickr/joannapoe)

Drunk man forces Moscow-Atlanta flight to divert to Canada

by Josh Lew on

Yesterday, a Delta Airlines flight from Moscow to Atlanta had to make an unexpected stop in Newfoundland after the pilot decided that an unruly passenger had to be removed from the plane. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were waiting at the gate in the town of Gander. They immediately took the man into custody.

Few details about his behavior were given, but he was said to be drunk, aggressive, and unruly. However, the man did not injure any other passengers. The flight arrived in Atlanta about 4 hours late. There were more than 200 people on board.

Canadian authorities are expected to file charges against the man, who is still being held by the Mounties. His identity has not yet been released. A passenger told an Atlanta newspaper that he noticed an empty bottle of Chivas (the 1.5 liter variety) next to the man’s seat. Other passengers said that the man had also taken prescription medication along with the alcohol.

These women weren’t drunk — but they did cause a stir in the air. Click the pics to find out what they did.


Gadling Audio Slideshow: Newfoundland Part III

by Erik Olsen on

Took a few days to pull this together, but here is the third and final installment of my Newfoundland audio slide shows. This last one takes us out sea kayaking once again in the lovely waters of Newfoundland, and in particular near the town of Trinity. The first trip out, with the good folks at Stan Cook’s, was delightful, but alas we saw no whales. This time out, however, things were different, and we not only spied a few humpbacks on the horizon, the leviathans came right up to us. Now THAT’s what sea kayaking is all about my friends.

So, I hope you take a look and once again excuse the cheesy music. And if you couldn’t tell, I am a big advocate of Newfoundland…at least in the summer. It is a lovely, culturally rich place. The perfect mix of adventuresome getaway and enriching cultural experience very close to home.

See the other audio Slide shows:
Part I
Part II
Part III

Gadling Audio Slideshow: Newfoundland Part II

by Erik Olsen on

OK, after a few small technical difficulties I just posted Part 2 of my Newfoundland Audio Slide Show. This one takes us to the little town of Cape Broyle where I did a day trip sea kayaking with Stan Cook Adventures, an outfitter in the area, and a fine one at that. I chose some better music this time, or at least, it’s relevant, since it is actual Newfoundlander music. But again, I kept it short and simple, and I hope you enjoy it.

Escape from Newfoundland

by Erik Olsen on


Well, it’s just about 9am here in St. John’s Newfoundland and my flight is supposed to leave in 4 minutes. After our flight was canceled yesterday and we were left hanging, left to completely fend for ourselves in a heavily over-booked city, I figured the folks at Continental would do everything they could to get a crew here and get folks out on time the following day. I was wrong. The plane is now delayed for at least two hours.

And sadly, St. John’s is one of those airports where there is nary a Starbucks, and so all there is to do is sit and wait. Well, OK, there is a Tim Hortons here, a Canadian chain that is kind of like a Dunkin Donuts, but the coffee is thin bellywash, hardly strong enough to pep up a fly. So in the meantime I’m sitting here reading Tom Wolfe’s latest opus, I Am Charlotte Simmons (quite good by the way) and wondering when this travel nightmare is going to end. (I look a bit haggard, eh? Vacationing is hard work.) Funny thing is, people here in Newfoundland are so nice that I’ve already had three people come up to talk to me. One of them was a lady who works in the security line. Have you ever heard of the security folks being chatty? Only in Canada.

Anyway, I’ve got some good Newfoundland stories to tell and pictures, perhaps even video to show of what a fascinating and lovely place this is. But I want to get back to start cranking this stuff out. In the meantime, I wait. And wait. And wait.