Drink for charity, starting now

by Annie Scott on

Kimpton, that hotel and restaurant group that’s paying your baggage fees, has released their holiday beverages, calling them “Cocktails for a Cure.” You can now donate to HIV and AIDS charities by getting sauced at Kimpton hotels and restaurants all across the U.S. and Canada.

The beverages, created by their master mixologist Jacques Bezuidenhout, are:

  • Rouge on the Rocks – Milagro Blanco Tequila, Grand Marnier, raspberries and mint
  • Scarlet Night – Bacardi Rum, Campari and white peach puree
  • Ruby Sparkle – Grey Goose Vodka, Grand Marnier, pomegranate juice and sparkling wine

Each costs $12, and every time you purchase one, $1 will be donated to one of the featured charities (listed after the jump). $1 doesn’t sound like a lot to you? Better have five cocktails. Don’t be stingy.

Kimpton’s “Cocktails for a Cure” promotion is part of an annual Red Ribbon campaign. For more than two decades, Kimpton has assisted HIV and AIDS service organizations across North America through employee volunteerism, educational campaigns, corporate donations, and raising funds through special events.
The Cocktails for a Cure event will continue through the end of December, and may benefit a charity near you:
AIDSCare (Chicago); AIDS Housing Corporation (Boston); AIDS Project (Los Angeles); Bailey House Inc. (New York City); Cascade AIDS Project (Portland); Colorado AIDS Project; Design Industries Foundation fighting AIDS (Dallas); Lifelong AIDS Alliance (Seattle); Mama’s Kitchen (San Diego); Phoenix Children’s Hospital; The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (San Francisco); Utah AIDS Foundation; Vancouver Friends for Life Society; and Whitman-Walker Clinic (Washington DC).

Click here to find out where to go drink for a cure.

Sounds of Travel 4: King of the Road

by Jamie Rhein on

Here at Gadling we’ll be highlighting some of our favorite sounds from the road and giving you a sample of each — maybe you’ll find the same inspiration that we did, but at the very least, hopefully you’ll think that they’re good songs.

Got a favorite of your own? Leave it in the Comments and we’ll post it at the end of the series.

WEEK 4: “King of the Road” sung by Roger Miller

When my brother and I were young, our parents gave us Hummel figurine music boxes. His figurine was a small boy sitting on a fence with a bundle tied on a stick that rested on his shoulder. When the key was wound, the melody “King of the Road” played while the boy turned.

My figurine was a girl feeding chickens. Although, I dearly loved my music box– the girl looked like Heidi, that independent lass who lived in the Alps with her grandfather, I was drawn to my brother’s more. There it sat on his chest of drawers in a spot within reach.

Even before I knew the lyrics, the title of the song was enough. King of the Road. What could sound more grand?

The lyrics, though, said it all. Hitting the road without cares or worries–the thrill of being in control with each step towards the horizon. A life spent enjoying simple pleasures as long as a person can keep moving and make connections with folks along the way.

Never mind that I happened to be female–and at the time, one of the only known female travelers who got much press was Amelia Earhart–and we know how that turned out. I come from a line of women who have wandered.

Those women carried the aura of far away places, particularly Aunt Clarissa. It wasn’t the stories my great aunt told me of her time in Japan as an Army major after World War II that captured my interest–I don’t specifically remember any– it was the feeling I surmised that traveling gave her. The zippidy do dah.

When Roger Miller wrote King of the Road in 1965, he was telling the tale of a carefree traveler at the same time Miller was on the road seeking out his dreams as a singer-songwriter. After he sings in the video, Miller recalls that the song was inspired somewhere between Dayton, Des Moines or Chicago when he saw a road sign that said, “Trailers for Sale or Rent.”

What caught my attention about this version is Miller’s utter exuberance, both in his voice and his body, particularly when he belts out the third chorus and throws that fast crook in his elbow–and how the song stuck with me all day once I listened to it again.

When I think of my King of the Road experiences, the ones where this song played in my head, I am:

  • by myself on a bus heading to Maine from New Paltz, New York to work at a summer camp after my senior year in high school, the possibilities endless. This summer was late nights doing laundry so I could head out every weekend to places like Boothbay Harbor, Camden and Ogunquit, eating lobster and clams dripped in butter and skinny dipping in a lake with the moon shimmering across the water;
  • I’m walking down the streets of Arhus, Denmark, my arms swinging in stride with my legs as I head to the Viking ship museum, my entire body feeling in sync with the sidewalk beneath my feet and the breeze through my hair. I’d come alone–or if I was with someone, I can’t recall because the memory of being so in touch with my body on that day and the sense of adventure has eclipsed a companion;
  • I am walking away from my village into the Gambian bush to hang out under a tree for a few hours drinking tea, writing and listening to music, soaking up a bit of R&R from being the village Peace Corps volunteer. As cows grazed nearby and finch flitted and darted between the scrub brush, I regained balance;
  • and I am taking a friend of mine on a road trip through New Mexico so he can see how the landscape changes. As the hues of reds and browns change with each turn past Jemez as we get closer to Bandelier National Monument, we marvel at the wonder of us and our good fortune to have a car and all the time we need.

Whenever I hear that song, my feet start tappin’ and I want to head out–see new places, make new friends, visit old ones and know that the world is my oyster. What better feeling is there than being a king of the road?

Despite the lyrics, I’ve never smoked a pack of cigarettes in my life. I do, however, look at trailers with great affection.

Here’s a bit of King of the Road trivia: It’s been used in the movies: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Swingers, Into the Wild, Im Lauf der Zeit (In Due Time), and if you saw Brokeback Mountain, who can forget the scene where Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack, confident and full of energy, is heading in his truck to see Ennis? King of the Road was playing on the radio. Of course, that was before Jack’s hopes were dashed.

Still, the song for me is an optimistic all will work out.

Click here for previous Sounds of Travel.

Politics in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky: Last day to vote for a jackass for mayor–literally

by Jamie Rhein on

Residents of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, even people who don’t live there can vote for mayor. Following the tradition of the U.S. presidential elections, today is the last day to vote. The candidates are like no others. Up until this year, all mayoral candidates have been dogs, but the canines have competition. These days, the effort to vote in a town mayor have heated up. Travis the cat is a fierce competitor, the first time a feline has been in the race.

Then there is Higgins, the miniature donkey that is also a contender, although people can’t help resist making connections between politics and a jackass. I don’t know if that will hurt or help his chances. As of October 30, he was in 3rd place with Travis in 5th.

You can vote more than once, by clicking here. A vote costs a dollar and all proceeds go towards the Rabbit Hash Historical Society–a worthy cause, let me tell you.

Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, about 30 minutes from Cincinnati, is one of those American oddball kind of treasures on the banks of the Ohio River. The Rabbit Hash General Store has been around since 1831 and doesn’t look much different than it did then, although the goods have been updated.

The town got its name from a joke by one of the town’s people after a flood one year. All that seemed to be left to eat were rabbits and he quipped there would be no shortage of rabbit hash. Rabbit Hash. Get it?

As a bonus, when you visit here, if you follow Kentucky SR 58, guess where you’ll end up? Big Bone Lick, the place Meg recently wrote about in this post.

**I heard about this story on CBS Sunday Morning Show and had to watch. I’ve been to Rabbit Hash a few times. If you do go here, check out the Bybee Pottery if there is any in stock. It’s Kentucky pottery perfection, in my opinion.

Here is a clip about the election that was on CNN.

TSA friendly laptop bags popping up everywhere – an overview

by Scott Carmichael on

Back in September, when the TSA announced their new relaxed rules for laptop bag designs, virtually every manufacturer jumped on the bandwagon. We are now more than a month into the new rules, and the following 11 manufacturers have at least one checkpoint friendly bag available for (pre) ordering.

Here are the current bags with their prices and availability:


Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer

Tom Bihn bags managed to be one of the first to actually ship a TSA friendly laptop bag. Their Checkpoint Flyer bag was reviewed here in October.

The Checkpoint Flyer is available in three colors as well as 13″, 15″ and 17″ dimensions, plus an upcoming version for the new 15″ Macbook Pro.

The Checkpoint Flyer costs $225 and most sizes are available for immediate shipping. When you order, be sure to add a shoulder strap!

Belkin FlyThru

Once again, Gadling got the scoop with the first review of this TSA friendly bag. The MSRP is $59.99 and it is available from many retailers right now. At $36.81 (through this reseller), it is currently the cheapest TSA friendly bag on the market.

The Belkin FlyThru bag holds laptops up to 15.4″ and has an expandable front pocket as well as plenty of internal storage space.

Skooba Design Checkthrough Bag

The Skooba Design Checkthrough bag has a fairly standard design, and is made for most 15.4″ laptop, though Skooba Design report that it will hold many slim 17″ machines too.

The bag costs $139.95 and is currently in stock and ready to ship.

CODi CT3 Checkpoint Tested

CODi announced 4 different checkpoint friendly bags (a backpack, 2 regular laptop bags and a wheeled case).

With the exception of the Mobile Lite wheeled case, they are all currently available to order. Prices start at $200.

Mobile Edge ScanFast Collection

Mobile Edge was among the first bag designers to announce a lineup of checkpoint friendly bags, and their ScanFast assortment consists of 3 different bags.

The lineup offers a backpack, a briefcase and a messenger bag, and they all cost $99.99 each.

The backpack holds laptops up to 17″, and the briefcase and messenger bag are designed for laptops up to 15.4″.

Like most other bags in this overview, the checkpoint procedure is as simple as unzipping the laptop portion, and placing the unfolded bag on the conveyor.

Travelon Bags Checkpoint Friendly

Travelon Bags has announced not one, but six different TSA friendly laptop bags. Their collection covers everything from a simply laptop sling to a stylish ladies brief.

Prices start at just $24.99 (for the laptop protector) up to $189.99 for a wheeled laptop briefcase.

Briggs & Riley SpeedThru

Briggs & Riley is the clear winner when it comes to the number of checkpoint friendly bags. Their assortment covers a whopping 16 different bags, so they are clearly taking the market for these bags quite seriously.

There is however one big difference; not all the bags are dedicated “checkpoint friendly”.

Most of the other bags in my overview have special design features that allow the entire bag to go through the X-Ray machine without taking pieces out, but the Briggs & Riley solution depends on you removing their “SpeedThru” sleeve from the bag, and placing it on the belt. This obviously puts their bags at a disadvantage over most other bags here.

The Briggs & Riley SpeedThru compatible bags start at $167 for a basic messenger bag, up to $429 for an expandable leather overnight bag.

Tumi T-Pass

Tumi has taken a similar approach as Briggs & Riley, as their lineup also depends on you placing your laptop in a TSA friendly sleeve inside a regular bag.

The T-Pass lineup consists of 9 bags and 4 different sleeves for the various sizes of laptop computers.

The cheapest Tumi T-Pass compatible bag starts at $375 for the Alpha medium capacity laptop bag, up to $995 for their Sloane leather briefcase. The required T-Pass sleeve is an additional $60-$85 depending on the size.

FitzWell Checkpoint Friendly

Many of you will have heard of Zappo’s, famous for their online shoe sales. Their in-house brand is “FitzWell”, and they too have introduced a checkpoint friendly bag.

The FitzWell Wheeled Checkpoint Friendly bag is as the name implies, a wheeled notebook briefcase. The wheeled briefcase comes with an internal removable checkpoint friendly sleeve for laptops up to 15.4″.

At $139 it is one of the cheapest wheeled checkpoint friendly laptop bags in this lineup.

Aerovation Checkpoint Friendly

The Aerovation Checkpoint Friendly Laptop bag claims to be the world’s first TSA friendly bag. The bag is available in regular Nylon ($129.95) and Leather ($279.95).

Aerovation has posted a 5 minute
video clip on their site showing exactly how their bag and a laptop look when passing through the X-Ray machine.


TurboBag Checkpoint Friendly

TurboBag may be the brand with the silliest name in this overview, but their bags are nothing to laugh at.

The TurboBag checkpoint friendly bag lineup consists of 4 different bags, with 3 models for laptops up to 15.4″, and one for 17″ machines.

The bags are fold-open, which means you only have to unzip the laptop bag portion to slide it through the checkpoint conveyor.

Each bag even comes with a free “TurboLapDesk” laptop pad designed to protect your lap from computer heat.

The cheapest bag (in polyester) is just $58.95, and the most expensive is their T-400 TurboBag, in real leather for $109.95.


Tourists will have to tango with inflation or worse in Argentina

by Josh Lew on

It is starting to look like deja vu for Argentina. The country came out of a terrible financial crisis only a few years ago. The 2001 slide seems like a distant memory for residents of Buenos Aires, who crowd into restaurants and spend their money freely. The government has been busy spending too. They are in debt after revamping the country with new schools and other civic projects.

And, unlike neighboring countries, Argentina did not build up its financial reserves for a rainy day. Now, with inflation at nearly 25% according to economists (the government says its only 10%), there are storm clouds on the country’s horizon. Could there be a repeat of 2001, when the economy came crashing down and tourists became targets of kidnappers seeking ransoms? It’s possible. The US and the IMF, who basically bailed out Argentina in ’01 might hesitate before doing it again. But the chaos of ’01 has not yet hit again. But, with uncertainty in the air, travelers might want to opt for a bit of Southern Hemisphere sun in Brazil, rather than B.A.

[Via Wash. Post]