Sleeping in Airports

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve all the had the horrible experience of having a flight cancelled or having some ridiculous layover that left you in the airport with an evening to kill. I can recall several occasions where I tried futilely to get comfortable while curling up in a ball of flesh and bone in wickedly uncomfortable airport terminal chairs while watching the seconds tick by and yearning for the next day to arrive. You know what I’m talking about. Sleeping in airports is miserable. You know it, I know it.

And this site knows it as well. Leave it up to he web to provide a site dedicated to the singular ad narrow topic of sleeping in airports, but that’s exactly what this site offers. Stories of misery and physical discomfort, as well as bureaucratic inconvenience and lost tickets etc. A whole litany of troubles common the traveler. The stories are grouped by the pain inflicted upon the writer, with a skull and crossbones marking stories that are classified as “hell”. Al in all it’s a rather entertaining and sometimes informative site, especially if you have a real fondness…nay loathing…for airports.

Liquid Ban Hurts Duty Free

by Erik Olsen on

It was only a matter of time before stories started coming out about the broader effects of the no liquids ban instituted in airports. When I first heard the news, one of my first thoughts was “what about the people who want to lug home armloads of cheap tequila? Or the ladies purchasing exorbitantly priced bottled of golden liquid rodent musk extract in order to smell good? You know what I’m talking about. Duty-free is al about liquid. And sure enough, as predicted, the stories about how duty free is being negatively affected are coming out. Here is one from MSNBC about the predictable phenom. Sure enough, the mega-billion dollar duty-free industry is having problems with a sharp decline in sales. Again, no surprise, that, but interesting how long it took for the story to be written.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of August 13

by Adrienne Wilson on

Its Friday folks and I’ve got places to be and people to see, so if you’ve missed any of this week’s posts you stay put. I’ll be sure to have enough fun for everyone.

5. Headphones:
It was on Wednesday of this week I sat listening to the lip-smacking of the puckered and pursed lips of the kissy young couple seated next to me on my flight. The gentleman even shouted doesn’t first-class stink (we were sitting one row behind first-class). I would have given anything to drown their disgusting P.D.A. and the hum of the plane out for the flight. You’ve been there. We’ve all been there. Neil looks out for our well-being this week in his Headphone piece. Find who ranks what and how; then cancel out all the gross kissy, crying, and humming noise! Thank Neil later.

4.No Such Thing As Eco-Tourism?:
Colonialism is what we call present day eco-tourism according to Anneli Rufus over at Alternet.com. Do people travel for status? Are far-out excursions hurting Mother Earth? Should we all just stay put in our homes and go nowhere at all? You tell me. An excellent read any traveler should look into and feel free to leave comments here and there.

3. Fluffy Is Gone:
This stung my heart, but I’m glad Erik brought it to our attention. The topic touches on pets that croak, are killed, lost or injured while in the baggage bin during flight. Horrible! I’d hate to take my pet into a plane only to land with a broken heart and a dead pooch or kitty. It’s good to know consumers will be able to access this info by airline to twice think bringing Fluffy on board.

2. Not All Travel Blogs Created Equal:
Gadling, if you did not notice, is a travel blog and we like to stay connected to other travel blogs and travel related web content. It’s not just our duty to the virtual public – it is our passion. Now, we think we’re pretty great here so just as much as it peeves us to learn PR firms are using blogs to toss advertisements and garbage in your RSS feeds, it also brings us tremendous joy to find out who is really giving travel blogs a good name. Separate the best from the rest and check out this International Herald Tribune piece.

1. Anti-Americanism Editorial:
After reading the LA Times story on reasons for all the Anti-American feelings so many foreign countries have about Americans, Erik had a few suggestions to make and things he needed to get off his bird. According to the piece the war in Iraq ain’t the only thing burning people up about our country, so what is it then? What are some possible solutions? Take a look at Erik’s blurb and the LA Times.

Airport Security Futile?

by Erik Olsen on

Some food for thought from the folks at Salon. The writer, Patrick Smith, wonders how much as really been accomplished since 9/11 when it comes to airport security. Sure ,the systems are beefed up, security x-ray machines are better, they are more vigilant about checking IDs…all that stuff .But it’s all a bit like the Red Queen theory of evolution: the faster you run the stay ahead, the faster your adversaries run to keep up. In other words, you are always pretty much, as U2 might have out it, running to stand still. One of those interviewed in the piece, Bruce Schneier, a prominent security expert and the author of “Beyond Fear”, asks a fine question:

“We can’t keep weapons out of prisons. How can we hope to keep them out of airports?” Indeed. He continues: “Exactly two things have improved airplane security since 9/11,. Reinforcing the cockpit door and teaching passengers that they need to fight back. Everything else has largely been a waste of money.”

Now whether he is totally or just partially right is a question that only the future ca answer, but it is interesting to ponder just how much we can do to thwart evil when evil wants to hurt us. Humans are remarkably clever little animals and if they want to do something bad enough, chanced are they will find a way. Not to scare you on this fabulous Friday, but it is interesting to ponder how much we can really do.

Not All Travel Blogs Created Equal

by Adrienne Wilson on

International Herald Tribune must have had about all they could stand with the travel blog community considering how they recently ran a rather lengthy piece on keeping a watchful eye out for bogus travel blogs. There first tip in testing the authenticity of a blog is to measure it against what you already know of a place or do more personal research. They’ve found a number of blogs on the web are just another means for PR companies to spread their messages or web pages where readers will get blasted by advertisement after advertisement. Not too surprising really.

Also included in their travel P.S.A. are a number of travel sites that offer decent how-to information or blow-by-blow personal travel accounts of the places you’ve been longing to go. They also call out a few just sucking up web space. Gosh – Would hate to be on that list. Eeek! In the end it’s all a matter of personal opinion.