Free LAX shuttle to In-N-Out Burgers

by Neil Woodburn on

Stuck at LAX for a few hours on a layover and hankering for one of the best burgers in all of California? Well, you’re in luck.

There’s an In-N-Out Burger just around the corner from the airport, and Gadling knows a little trick to get you there for free.

An In-N-Out is located on nearby Sepulveda Boulevard right next to the Parking Spot–a parking structure that conveniently provides free shuttle service. All you have to do is wait under the red “Hotel and Courtesy Shuttle” sign outside of any airport terminal, and when the yellow and black polka-dotted Parking Spot shuttle swings by, jump on board. It will take you literally next door to In-N-Out. Follow your nose through the back door, across the parking lot, and right inside where you need to order a double-double and fries to enjoy the best layover of your life.

There are a few things to be very careful about, however.
First off, you need to make sure that you get on the Sepulveda Parking Spot shuttle; otherwise you will end up at the Parking Spot’s Century location. Additionally, you should allow yourself at least two hours to be extra safe. The shuttles come pretty regularly and the drive is only five to ten minutes, but the line at In-N-Out can be as long as 20-30 minutes during peak hours. And then you’ve got to get back to the airport and through security once again.

Since we are unfairly exploiting the generosity of the Parking Spot here, I’d like to take a moment to recommend their services. I actually use them any time I am flying out of town for a few days. They are the one of the closest parking lots to the airport without actually being on airport grounds (and charging airport rates). They a little more expensive than some of the nearby lots, but the structure is clean, has security and friendly staff, and will even valet park your car if you are running late. And, most importantly, after a long flight you can enjoy an In-N-Burger before jumping in your car and driving home. Yum!

Two jets collide at San Francisco airport

by Catherine Bodry on

It’s finally happened: after a year of reports on near misses, overworked air traffic controllers and airports as clogged as a teenager’s pores, two jets finally bumped into each other.

Despite the dramatic headline, it was actually a gentle collision and there were no injuries. The accident happened at San Francisco International Airport when two airplanes being pushed by “tugs” backed in to each other. One was a United Airlines 757 and the other was a SkyWest commuter jet. Good thing it was only a gentle bump, because that 757 could totally beat the commuter jet up.

Maybe this will be the collision that fires everyone up and makes the skies (or taxiways, or runways) safer.

Good thing an Airbus A380 wasn’t involved! We’d sure hate to hear about a disturbance on such a peaceful flight.
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Related: Obama’s plane clips another aircraft at Midway Airport

More office time killers: Lufthansa’s Virtual Pilot

by Grant Martin on

If you’re tired of reading through election coverage during your lunch hour, flex your brain a bit and give Lufthansa‘s Virtual Pilot a spin. It’s a geography quiz similar to the UNESCO game I posted late last year, loosely based around the cities and hubs from which Lufthansa flies. Despite being an obvious ad for the German product, it’s a fun way to kill a little time and brag to your friends about how high of a score you got. If I didn’t have a friend who was a geography genius I’d send the link out among my so called “travel society,” but I know his mental database of cities and countries will run all of the fun. Alas, there are worse impediments.

The fun thing about this quiz is that it’s given in three stages. In the first, you get countries and city locations from which you can can choose. In the second you only get country borders, while in the final you only get continents. Make sure you click the destination you want — even though the jet is heading in the direction of your cursor it won’t land unless you select a region.

My first score was 25399. You shouldn’t have any trouble beating it, but I’m only taking your first score.

I used to travel through the snow, uphill, both ways

by Aaron Hotfelder on

People tend to romanticize those halcyon days in which they grew up. Every variation of the “uphill, both ways” speech that I’ve heard always seems to imply that it was better that way. As if there’s some virtue in suffering for its own sake. Okay, maybe if you’re a pilgrim.

I am of the unpopular opinion that things are, generally speaking, getting better in this world. That’s why it was so refreshing to read a new Chicago Tribune article that draws a contrast between the travel landscape 25 years ago and today, and seems to conclude that things have mostly improved.

Here are just a few examples from the article: Photos are easier to take and develop; plane tickets are cheaper and flights reach more destinations; music is more accessible; researching a city or country is much easier; accessing money is (in most places) a breeze; staying in touch with home is just a point-and-click away. Another point, which the article fails to mention, is that borders are more open and most nations actively encourage tourism– in short, nearly every part of the world is more accessible than at any point in history. That’s good news for the traveler, and (mostly) good news for the communities that benefit from the tourism dollars.

Of course, the march of technology is not without some drawbacks. E-mail has, to a large extent, replaced postcards. Meticulously researched guidebooks bring us fewer surprises on the road. Being in close contact with home is not always the best thing. All the gadgets we bring can keep us from interacting with our new environments. Other examples abound.

But in recognizing these criticisms– valid ones, all of them– it’s important not to throw out the baby with the bath water. In the travel world, as in the larger world, things really are getting better.

[Photo via Swapatorium]

2007: the year rudeness came back?

by Jerry Guo on

As of 2006, it seemed your fellow passengers on flights were quite polite. After all, a whole 62 percent only reclined their seats halfway out of consideration for the person behind them. But maybe 2007 was a bit nastier? (for instance, we learned that Delta started playing in-flight etiquette films)

At least for me, last year wasn’t a good year. On a flight to Beijing, one old guy actually made my girlfriend cry when he admonished her for mistakenly reading a magazine in the seat-back pocket in front of us (it turned out to be his magazine). He just had to quip, “if you’ve flown more, you would know better.”

That same snideness reared its ugly head a couple weeks ago when I was in Peru. Some guy (again, old) blew a fuse when he saw the size of my backpack, which was one of those standard 60-liter backpacking bag. And guess what he said? “If you’ve flown more, you would know better.” (He said I should’ve checked in my bag because it took too much overhead bin space)

Were both cases because we were college students? Or are these two guys just really lonely and have nothing better to do than criticize everyone around them? By the way, the first guy on the flight to Beijing had to put up with my glares for the next 14 hours.