The blog as a vacation rental tool

by Grant Martin on

This Thanksgiving weekend marks about a dozen apartment rentals that I’ve experienced so far in my traveling tenure. Each stay so far has been colored by facets good and bad — fabulous, gothic row houses, slummy Parisian apartments — each had a distinct flavor that will help me remember the city that I was in.

One critical aspect to the experience is the warmth of your host and the hospitality that he or she provides. Whether you meet your host over the phone, in person or over email, they can acclimate you with your rental and perhaps even show you around the area that will briefly be your home. If you’re lucky, they also will leave you a database of information for your trip — tips for access to the tourist sites, the metro or their favorite restaurants.

My host in Rome greeted us all with a round of champagne then walked around town with us and showed us the good butcher, grocer and a few good places to eat.

Now, in Lisbon, our host from visitingportugal.com gave us the same tour but also pointed us to her blog where she keeps an active list of good restaurants and attractions on a google map. Feeling peckish? Roll over, find a recommended restaurant within 300 yards and walk down the street. Easy stuff.

Fact of the matter is, keeping a blog and google map tied to your vacation rental maintains an active, fluid database of hotspots that you can update and delete as times change. This keeps your advice on the ball, information up to date and ultimately, your visitors happy.

I love seeing vacation rentals adapt with the times. Nice work, Deb.

Top 10 stupidest laws you may encounter abroad

by Annie Scott on

We’ve all heard about the ridiculous, archaic laws of the United States, stuff about shooting bison from trains and grazing your cows on Boston Common and so forth. But it’s imperative to be aware of completely useless laws in other parts of the world, in case you should happen to travel there and find yourself in a really, really unlikely situation.

Here they are, the top 10 stupidest laws you may encounter abroad:

  1. Australia – It is illegal to roam the streets wearing black clothes, felt shoes and black shoe polish on your face as these items are the tools of a cat burglar.
  2. France – Between the hours of 8AM and 8PM, 70% of the music in the radio must be by French composers.
  3. Thailand – It is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear.
  4. Italy – It is an offence for women of ‘ill repute or evil looks’ to enter a cheese factory in the area of Ferrara.
  5. Scotland – It is illegal to be a drunk while in possession of a cow.
  6. France – It is illegal in Antibes to take photos of police officers or police vehicles, even if they are just in the background. (I hope the photo at right isn’t from Antibes!)
  7. Lebanon – Men are legally allowed to have sex with animals so long as the animals are female. It is illegal to have sex with a male animal.
  8. China – Women are prohibited from walking around a hotel room in the nude. A woman may only be naked whilst in the bathroom.
  9. Hong Kong – A woman is legally allowed to kill her cheating husband, only if she uses her bare hands. The husband’s lover however may be killed in any manner desired.
  10. Switzerland – A man may not relieve himself while standing up, after 10 P.M.

BONUS: In parts of Tuscany, it’s illegal to put something into a minibar.
BONUS 2: We’ve got 10 more stupid laws.


Laws got these women in trouble. What’d they do wrong?

References:
LawGuru.com
FunFacts.com.au
DumbLaws.com

Plane Answers: Airplane specific questions

by Kent Wien on

Welcome to Gadling’s feature, Plane Answers, where our resident airline pilot, Kent Wien, answers your questions about everything from takeoff to touchdown and beyond. Have a question of your own? Ask away!

I get a lot of question about the specific details or features of airplanes. I thought I’d round up a few for today’s Plane Answers.

Kevin asks:

I fly on A319 and A320s a lot. As we are on landing approach I hear three shrill tones or whistles from the cockpit. Sometimes it is close to the runway sometimes not. What is it?

Hi Kevin,

I checked with my friend Chris, who’s an A320 pilot who has a good answer for what’s causing the noise.

He’s most likely hearing the autopilot disconnect siren. It has a two-tone chime that repeats three times. It’s loud enough to easily be heard in first class and sometimes the first couple of rows in coach. A lot of pilots will allow the AP to trim up the aircraft after all the configuration changes before disconnecting the autopilot. That is why he hears it at about 1000-1500 feet on visual days.

The other possibility is the flight attendant call tone. It wouldn’t happen close to the runway, but it’s so loud that it blocks all other noises–including master caution warnings. They’re trying to get Airbus to turn it down a bit.

I’ve often heard the altitude callouts on the MD-80 from first class. “50, 40, 30, 20, 10.” It seems if passengers can hear it in the cabin, then maybe it’s just a little too loud. Unfortunately, we don’t have any control over the volume. Thanks Chris for the A320 insight.


Keith asked a question that took a little more research:

I often fly on SAAB 340s from my home airport to a hub. Unlike a lot of folks I love flying on the 340. I enjoy being able to “feel” the plane flying. Before 9/11 the cockpit “door” was just a curtain, which was often left open by the pilots. If you sat up front you could see most of the instrument panel. I’m familiar with most cockpit instruments but this one has me stumped:

On the bottom right of the “captains” panel is a little device that looks like a toy. It’s a round sphere filled with liquid and another sphere with black and white wedges. Sometimes it spins wildly and other times it just moves lazily. I’ve never seen a pilot pay it any attention. Just what is this thing?

I talked to my friend Frank, a former Saab pilot who told me that he’s pretty sure the Saab didn’t have such a device, but he remembered that the Beech 1900 did in fact have exactly what you’re talking about.

Here’s a fuzzy picture he dug up for me:

The little ‘pinwheel’ at the bottom-right of the instrument panel is a device that’s used to manually ‘sync’ the propellors. When the propellors spin at different RPM’s you’ll hear a wow-wow-wow sound. It’s caused by a harmonic vibration and it’s rather annoying to the passengers and pilots.

It even happens on jets, too. You’ll notice it when sitting between the rear mounted engines on an MD-80 in the aft row of seats, or even a Boeing if you’re paying attention.

But some turboprops have a feature that the jets don’t: a prop sync.

As the wheel spins, it’s up to the pilots to increase or decrease one propellor’s RPM to slow the spinning pinwheel down as much as possible. This is only necessary when the auto-sync system, or Propellor Synchrophaser as it’s officially called on the Beech, is inoperative.

Ivan asks two questions:

Long time reader first time questioner, and you said the questions have been dryin up, and in so doin’, you’ve opened a pandoras box :-). Anyway, here goes:

On the right side of tail cones on Boeing’s 757s, there is a little tab, like a strake or vortex generator (don’t see why you’d need one back there), that looks like a mini-elevator. What is its purpose?

Most people probably don’t realize that the 757 and other twin-engine Boeings really have three jet engines on board. Two propel the airplane and one is a small jet turbine, identical to what’s used in a turboprop airplane such as the Jetstream 31. On the ground, it’s sole purpose is to provide electricity through a generator as well as air-conditioning for the cabin. Inflight, it’s used as a third source of electricity in case one engine fails.

The aft most portion of the fuselage on most Boeings is where the APU exhausts. Since there’s a small amount of fuel that leaks from the APU when it’s shut down, the APU has a fuel drain shroud that is designed to keep the drained APU fuel away from the exhaust. So here is a picture of the ‘fin’ on the right side of the aft fuselage that you saw:

Ivan continues:

And finally, one last question dealing with engines. At the aft end of a 757 nacelle, there appear to be two different cowling designs. Is there a difference as far as performance in the open end versus tapered versions. Look at AA’s 757 engines as opposed to say, Delta’s.

What you’re seeing is simply a different type of engine. AA bought Rolls Royce RB 211 engines for its 757 and other airlines, like TWA, United and Delta bought the Pratt & Whitney PW 2037 engines. If you’re curious, the Rolls-Royce has more thrust.

You can see the side by side difference below when looking at a former TWA 757 in AA colors and the Rolls Royce version on the right:

Because of the engine differences that require extra spare parts and training, AA has sold all of the former TWA airplanes, with most of them going to Delta.

Ben asked:

Kent – I was at the Atlanta airport today and I saw this crazy tug. It looked like the nose gear of the Delta jet was sitting ON the back of the TUG. Am I imagining things? I linked to a picture, sorry I couldn’t get closer to get a better shot. If you look closely under the tug, you can see that there is no plane tire touching the ground.

Yes, Ben. You’re right. That’s a high-speed tug designed to pull or push airplanes back without the nosewheel touching the ground. We occasionally see these tugs. The first clue that you’re going to be pushed back by one is when you feel yourself being jacked up a bit as if someone was trying to steal your wheels with you inside. (A rather rare event in an airliner.)

These tugs are commonly seen in France. It’s rather amazing just how fast they can pull a 747 around the airport. Perhaps someday we’ll be pulled to the end of th
e runway to save on the amount of fuel burned. It’s something that’s been proposed before and it sure makes sense to me.

Do you have a question about something related to the pointy end of an airplane? Ask Kent and maybe he’ll use it for next Monday’s Plane Answers

Amazing Race 13 recap 10: People in Moscow sure are generous

by Jamie Rhein on

At the end of last week’s episode of Amazing Race 13, Andrew and Dan were penniless and in last place, but still in the race. Moscow almost did them in. Because it was a non-elimination round, they were granted a second chance. Luckily, with the Amazing Race and reality television, each new day brings a new beginning and more money.

When these frat boys opened their first clue, they found $326 to keep them solvent.

Of all the episodes this season, this particular day in Moscow evoked experiences similar to what it really is like to travel in another country. Most of the tasks involved traveling from one point to another while navigating signage written in the Cyrillic alphabet. For anyone who has tried to navigate another country in a hurry when the written language is unrecognizable, the teams’ experiences may have looked familiar.

Travel Tips:

  1. Check to make sure you have all your belongings with you when you get out of a taxi
  2. When trying to catch a taxi, notice which direction the traffic flow is greater. If need be, cross the street to up your chances of finding one. You can always get a taxi to turn around.
  3. If you loose all your money, don’t be embarrassed to ask for help.
  4. If possible, use a taxi with a GPS system. It can save time and money.
  5. The metro system in Moscow has a map that looks similar to other metro system maps which makes taking the metro look fairly simple to navigate. Try it if you’re in Moscow. It will be much cheaper than taking a taxi and you’ll be out of the quagmire of Moscow traffic.
  6. Do not let one person carry all the money. Each person should at least carry some of it.

Recap and Cultural Highlights-

This episode was one of buzzing about Moscow in taxis, trains and trolleys to sites that play tribute to Russia’s political, literary and dance traditions.

First stop was to the sonar room of a retired Russian nuclear submarine to find the actor who had a role in the movie “The Hunt for Red October.” So far so good in the lack of mishaps department. No one had trouble here. Then it was off to the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments where one of the team members had to find statues of Lenin and Stalin among statues of other people who were also involved with Russia’s complex past. Once the team member found the number of the statues of each dictator, it was off to an antique book store in order to pick up the next clue.

This is where Toni made two big mistakes.

Mistake 1–For some reason, she let Dallas do this task. Of the two of them, she would have known what the dictators looked like. Dallas was clueless. It was a guessing game for him. Mistake 2- Toni gave him the bag with the passports and money–all the money– while she headed to the spot where they would be meeting back up.

Nick quickly figured out the statue riddle and promptly stole Tina and Ken’s taxi. Their taxi had a GPS system and Nick did not have one qualm about taking it from them. Is this guy going into banking or what?

There were 6 of Lenin and 2 of Stalin (62). At the bookstore, Dallas, still not knowing the number combo, was helped out by Tina. In the meantime, Dan & Andrew were once again behind the pack because their taxi driver took them to the wrong park.

At the book store, once the teams told the owner the correct number “62,”–a numbers guessing game for everyone but Nick, the owner handed them a book by Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov. On page 62 was the address of the apartment building on Sadovaya Street where there was another clue and their teammate. From the apartment building, the teams were to take a taxi to Sokol’niky Park to find a woman with a Shetland pony.

The apartment building was this episode’s pivotal point. Andrew & Dan were able to catch up after a guy in the park took Dan to the various statues and then led him to the bookstore and the apartment complex.

Dallas, unfortunately, did the very thing that creates the worst traveler’s nightmare. He left his bag in the taxi when he got out. There went the taxi into Moscow traffic with the money and the passport. Horrified, Dallas tried to chase it down, but to no avail. Toni behaved much better than I would have. She took the high road as the two of them decided they would set off to the next destination on the metro.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be the cameraman filming that taxi drive off. Certainly, the people who film the Amazing Race must become attached to the teams they are following all over the world.

For their money woes, Toni and Dallas did find out just how generous people in Moscow are. People helped them over and over again by giving them money for metro fare.

Unfortunately, rules are rules, so when they showed up at the park to find the woman with the Shetland pony, the woman wouldn’t give them the clue because they hadn’t taken a taxi. That meant bumming more money from complete strangers so they could go back to their last location in order to take a taxi. That involved bumming an even larger sum.

In the meantime, Andrew & Dan were off doing their Speed Bump which was learning a Russian dance with a dance troupe. Luckily, they didn’t have to be perfect before they were allowed to proceed. The marching in the last episode was a hopeless endeavor for Andrew, and both of them equally stunk at Russian dancing. Watching them try was a hoot.

As the teams picked up their clue from the woman with the pony, they had to decide if they wanted to Ride the Rails (the metro) or Ride the Lines (the trolley system) to their next destination. On Ride the Rails, the first destination was a snack shop near Ulitsa 1905 where they were to pick up a traditional snack food called a samsa. On the wrapper was the clue to their next destination, a statue of the man who invented the Cyrillic alphabet. This involved a ride to another station where a woman gave them a postcard with the picture of VNDKh Park Station, their next destination, in exchange for the samsa.

The Ride the Lines involved taking a street car to a station where they would find a key maker who would give them a key to unlock a locker at another station. In the locker was a postcard of VNDKh Park Station.

The metro was the most confusing, but quicker. Tina & Ken ended up taking a bus first, but then found out they were on the wrong system. They also made a mistake at VNDKh Park Station because they didn’t look for the clue box that told them where to head to the Pit Stop. Instead, they ran after Andrew & Dan who miraculously came in 2nd.

At the Pit Stop in VNDKh Park, Phil told Tina & Ken to go find the clue. In the meantime, Dallas & Toni valiantly tried to make up time despite their lack of money handicap.

Ken & Tina found the clue box, thus their ticket to the Pit Stop. In a sad, sad scene, Phil found Toni & Dallas to tell them that they had been eliminated.

Who won this round?: Nick and Starr. I have absolutely no interest in these two. I’m wondering when they will be able to take all these vacations they keep winning. With this win, they’re heading to Anguilla if they can find the time to squeeze it in.

Toni & Dallas’s words of travel wisdom: Travel can make bonds stronger. “This had been the best experience of my life,” said Toni through her tears. “Everything I am is because of my mom,” Dallas said.

I’m sure he really feels blessed because she didn’t throttle him for losing that bag.

Next week is the final push as the three teams of Nick & Starr, Ken & Tina and Andrew & Dan race towards the finish line and a million dollars. I’m hoping Ken & Tina win. If they don’t my vote is that they stay married anyway. When they see the footage of this show, I can’t imagine that they won’t see how well they actually get along.

I would have equally pushed for Dan & Andrew, but Andrew said he wouldn’t have lent Toni & Dallas $10 if he had it. Although, if he had, Toni & Dallas would have been ahead of them. He didn’t have the money anyway. Dan had it.

Unfortunately, I bet Nick & Starr will win which makes me think that it’s a dog eat dog world after all.