Welcome to “robot” restaurant, Germany

by Iva Skoch on

What do you get when you combine fine German engineering with the restaurant business? That’s right, you get a fully automated restaurant, or a food-serving roller coaster, as some like to call it.

Yes, folks, that’s Baggers restaurant in Nuremberg for you. You don’t need waiters to order food because customers use touch-screen TVs to browse the menu and choose their meal.

There are long metal tracks criss-crossing the dining area and run from the kitchen, high up in the roof, down to the tables, twisting and turning as they go, BBC reports. And down the tracks – in little pots with wheels fixed to the bottom – speeds food. “Supersonic sausages, high-pace pancakes and wine bottles whizzing down to the customers’ tables with the help of good old gravity.”

As far as I can tell, you still have to chew your meal, but give Germany a few more years and they might come up with a robot to do that for you, too.

Photo of the Day (04.08.2008)

by Martha Edwards on


One of my strongest memories of my trip to southeast Asia was being chased by a herd of monkeys in Vietnam. It was kind of funny at first, until we realized how persistent they can be when they want some food. I think I can honestly say that hungry monkeys lose the ‘cute’ factor pretty quickly. Still, they’re kind of charming in photos like this one from Geotraveler. So what do you think? With innocent monkeys in Phnom Penh guzzling Fanta like it’s the sweet nectar of the Gods, is the obesity crisis going to start affecting Animals too?

Have a funny/cute/moving photo to share? Submit it to the Gadling Flickr pool.

Here we go again: Saturday night stay may be required

by Iva Skoch on

I thought the annoying Saturday night stay rule was largely a thing of the past. I guess it is not.

The NY Times reports that–because major airlines struggle to offset oil prices–they have begun changing limits on cheaper coach fares, increasing the minimum days required between departure and return and, in some cases, adding a requirement of, you guessed it, a Saturday night stay.

Back in 2000, competition from low-cost carriers forced the major airlines to start dropping the limits. Until then, the Saturday night rules were in place specifically to discourage business travelers from buying the cheapest fares, which airlines then referred to as leisure fares. Business travelers do not usually want to spend a Saturday night – meaning, in effect, an entire weekend – on the road.

The Saturday night rule must be one of the stupidest rules in the world of travel. That, along with the pricing of air tickets. Yes, the one which makes it more expensive to fly anywhere directly, although flights with layovers are twice as long and require twice the resources.

Skybus’s bankruptcy affects honeymoon plans 35 years in the making

by Jamie Rhein on

Skybus is still making front page of Columbus’s newspaper. We’re still having the tail end of Skybus drama at my house. Two nights ago, my friend called telling me that he had received the e-mail from Skybus telling him his flight in May was no more and that there weren’t any refunds. My friend is out $300, I would guess, because he paid for the ticket back in September and rebooked it in October. Too bad he doesn’t have the $300 for a flight to Columbus on another airlines because those flights can be found. My husband was able to cancel the charge on our credit card for the cost of the ticket he booked for this August. Our problems are nothing compared to the folks who are out of a job without warning.

There is another Skybus story that really pulls on the old heartstrings. A Columbus couple who had been dating for 35 years and finally got married had planned to fly to California for their honeymoon. The couple are in their 70s. They haven’t flown in years because of the cost, but family bought them the Skybus tickets for a wedding present. This is a couple who decided to get married so he wouldn’t have to drive home at night. The wedding was the day after Skybus’ last flight so their honeymoon bit the dust until the groom’s sister sprung for the flight on United Airlines. The couple is now heading to San Diego next week. I hope they have good weather and a good flight.

The groom’s sister just happens to live in San Diego so they are staying with her. If United Airlines wanted to capitalize on this story, I’d think they could come up with something catchy. At least on a United Airlines flight they can get something to drink and a snack without paying extra–at least not yet.

What strange things have been found on planes?


Read more wedding horror stories from AisleDash:

Discount for “poor” Americans at Venice bar

by Anna Brones on

The dollar might be low, but if you make your way to Venice you can count on a discount from Harry’s Bar, the renowned Venetian watering hole said to be the birthplace of the Bellini and Carpaccio, and where Ernest Hemingway himself downed martinis. Offering a discount to “poor” Americans who are suffering from the weak dollar is representative of a growing concern across Europe that a decrease in US tourists will have an effect on the tourism industry.

At the entrance of Harry’s Bar you now find a sign that says, “Harry’s Bar of Venice, in an effort to make the American victims of subprime loans happier, has decided to give them a special 20 percent discount on all items of the menu during the short term of their recovery.”

How bad is the current state of the US dollar? When the euro was first introduced in 2002, one US dollar was worth 1.10 euro. Today the same dollar gets about .64 euro, which makes the price of even a simple meal of nutella and a baguette expensive.

“Since the start of January, we noticed a drop in (American) customers of between five and 10 percent and now that we are in April its looks really frightening,” said Arrigo Cipriani, owner of Harry’s Bar. Then again, what better solution to economic frustration than a refreshing Bellini?