Bonus deal: Travel magazines from Tanga.com starting at $2.99

by Scott Carmichael on

Even though reading has quickly moved from paper, to the iPad and eBook readers, there is still something to be said for sitting back and reading a travel magazine the old fashioned way. If you’d like a monthly supply of travel related reading materials, check out these two hot deals, courtesy of Tanga.com:

On the links, you’ll first see the normal price of the subscriptions, but once you hit the “buy now” button, you’ll find a spot to enter a coupon code.

In that field, enter GADLING, and the price will magically drop. Once you’ve placed an order, don’t forget to check out some of the other fine deals being offered by Tanga and to keep an eye on our other daily gear deals.

Could you handle a gate agent’s job?

by Grant Martin on

Running a travel blog and working with twenty wonderful writers, thousands of media and industry contacts and maintaining a dozen side projects keeps my stress level remarkably high, but I could never handle what an airline gate agent goes through.

Airfarewatchdog‘s Ramsey Qubein spent a day working as a Delta gate agent recently, and his experience was as dramatic as I had expected. In one day, he experienced the full spectrum of travelers, from crazy, angry and delayed passengers to the nicest people in the world. Among the experiences that he collected in one single day were passengers who handed him boarding passes with their teeth, decrypting the archaic booking system and angry flight attendants offloading from Detroit. You can read about them all over at Yahoo news.

Needless to say, I now have further respect for a vocation that I already thought was pretty darn dramatic. I’m amazed that anyone can handle that job every day without developing an ulcer.

Now that’s a double espresso

by Grant Martin on

Here at Gadling Labs we have an ongoing Open Office speadsheet cataloging the greatest, most delicious ounces of espresso sampled around the planet, and we believe that we may have a new leader in the “double” category.

The place: Cafe Tortoni, halfway between the house of congress and Casa Rosada on Av. de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here, ordering a grande cafe will get you something just short of a pint of espresso, one thick, steaming caudron of hot, delicious coffee bliss.

Needless to say, this sort of grandeur is to be expected in the capital of Argentina, the same place where espresso regularly comes with seltzer water and one if not two or three sweets on the side (ask for ice cream if they’ve got it) to top off your palette. Indulging in the finer bits of gastronoimic fare in this city is part of the cultural experience, so eat often, eat well and pretend that you’re a king while the dollar still has some relative strength.

Arches National Park hosts one millionth vistor

by Kraig Becker on

Arches National Park reached a milestone last Saturday when Victoria Carlson of Santa Fe, New Mexico arrived at the entrance. Ms. Carlson found herself greeted with unusual fanfare by the park rangers at the gate, who were eager to welcome their one millionth visitor.

Located in eastern Utah, Arches National Park is home to more than 2000 natural sandstone archways, including the most famous of them all, Delicate Arch. While touring the spectacular landscape by car is fantastic, the park is also home to miles of trails, which deliver great hikes ranging in length from a couple of hours to a full day.

As an artist seeking inspiration, Carlson says that she has visited Arches on several occasions in the past. On November 20th she was returning once again to soak up even more of the natural beauty, which is so prominently on display there, when she helped the National Park Service reach this major milestone. In recognition of the one millionth visitor, Carlson was given an America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass, a coffee table book about the park, and an Arches National Park t-shirt and ball cap.

Arches National Park was first established as a National Monument back in 1929 and remains an amazing destination for outdoor enthusiasts. In the past, it has averaged about 750,000 visitors per year, but like many U.S. national parks, it has continued to see increased traffic in recent years.

[Photo credit: Palacemusic via WikiMedia]

Photo of the Day (11.26.10)

by Alex Robertson Textor on

If you pay any attention to those year-end forecasting features in travel publications–and you should, as your loyal Gadling writers are currently assembling a favorites/forecasting list of our own–then surely you will have recently come across a few mentions of Albania. The southeastern Adriatic country with one of the fastest growing economies in Europe has slowly but steadily been picking up press over the last several years. This image captures a beautifully dramatic storm over the Albanian city of Gjirokastër. It was taken by Flickr user SummitVoice1 from the citadel standing guard over the southern Albanian city.

Have an image of a destination that will be popular tomorrow? Upload it to the Gadling Flickr pool. If you’re lucky, it will end up as a future Photo of the Day.