“Where’s the bathroom?” – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Whenever traveling internationally, it’s important — for obvious reasons — to know how to ask where the bathroom is.

Make sure to do some research before starting a trip to a foreign land. Even if the country speaks the same language, it’s important to know customs so as not to make an unpleasant remark.

One trick that can be used with many phrases is to keep a cheat sheet in your pocket with the translations. This way you can look quickly without having to flip through a book, and pair words together.

A little planing can save a lot of frustration — and a big mess!

Say “I do” at the airport

by Abha Malpani on

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get married, but if I do, I’m clear that I’d want it to be as quick as possible, a couple of minutes is what would work best for me. Being Indian, a wedding under four days is sacrilege, but oh well.

A registered wedding at the court was what I thought the only option, a super boring option indeed, until I read in USA Today about quickie weddings possible at the airport!

At Los Angeles International Airport, a man called “The Officiant Guy” can marry you without witnesses and in full confidentiality. You don’t even need to be an LA resident! At Sweden’s Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, you can arrange to be married in the airport church or by a registrar; last year the 500 couples got hitched there. “Say Yes and Go” marriages sound awesome too — say “I do” and jump straight onto a plane, a common wedding style in Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

However, if that’s too simple and you want a bit of a novel themed wedding, you can tie the knot inside a parked Concorde Airplane at England’s Manchester Airport, and Schiphol Airport has a wedding planner who will organize it the way you want at the airport (boarding pass style invites? Air crew uniforms as outfits?). The airport will even allow you to have a champagne brunch, and should you want to take all your guests on a trip straight after, a special “Ticket to Paradise” package deal can be sorted out.

So if you are looking for a different, cheaper, and quicker way to get married, you might want to ring your nearest airport!

That’s a weird airport story. Check out these weird airplane stories:

Dubai plans “Tower in Motion”

by Abha Malpani on

Nothing phases me in Dubai anymore. Anything and everything is possible in this city, so when I read news like this: “Dubai plans self-powered skyscraper with individually rotating floors,” I’m quite numb.

Opening para: “A $350 million tower to be known as the Dynamic Architecture building is to be constructed in Dubai. The 68-story tower will feature floors that can be individually rotated via voice commands.”

So each floor of this building will rotate individually to create a building that constantly changes shape. (I’ve stopped asking “why” when it comes to such projects.) Also, it will use wind-turbines to generate electricity for itself and another 5 buildings its size — that’s actually pretty neat, not to mention green.

Construction will start this month and word is that a similar project is in plan for Moscow as well.

Travel to nourish your quirks

by Abha Malpani on

We live in a world where it’s not hard to (temporarily) kindle our passions, obsessions or quirks, especially with the uproar of travel-businesses that allow you to do a crash course in the quirky hobbies you have never had the balls to nurture in your daily life. Hobby tourism is nothing new, but the options have definitely widened into ones out of the ordinary. Here are some such options:

  • Scotland: Learn to make perfume while you travel — yup, sniff out your own scent as you wade through Scottish wilderness.
  • Spain: Be a stand-up comedian — always wanted to see if you can really make an audience laugh with your nonsense? Do a 5-day course in Catalonia and find out!
  • Florida, USA: Make believe that you are a NASA astronaut through the Astronaut Training program at the Kennedy Space Center.
  • New York, USA: Who doesn’t want to be a DJ? The Scratch Academy offers 5-day intensive courses for beginners that covers equipment, music theory, mixing and blending, scratching and beat making
  • Israel: Krav-Maga holidays — tour Israel whilst learning the Israeli martial art of self-defense.
  • Las Vegas, Monte Carlo: Poker holidays — getaway and gamble to glory!
  • Worldwide: Dance holidays! Travel to learn how to dance whatever, wherever you want!

Check out this link for full details on these options.