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GADLING TAKE FIVE week of 12-7-07

by Catherine Bodry on Dec 7, 2007

Gadling bloggers have been as busy as Santa’s elves this week. It’s hard to choose five posts from so many, so this week I’m offering five categories:

Animals: Brett covered stress-reducing felines in Tokyo and how to adopt a Tasmanian devil, Jerry told us the touching story of a woman who is raising a pet coyote, and Iva suggested adopting an orangutan to give as a gift for Christmas.
Poop: I could’ve used the more polite term “toilet” or “lavatory,” but let’s face it — it’s the poop we’re interested in. Justifying this fact is Abha’s post on excrement on display in London, and Grant’s suggestion that rhino poop would make a great holiday gift. Martha wrote about how to find the best and worst bathrooms in North America, and Grant also warned us that several restaurants in Chicago are serving ice cubes with more bacteria in them than toilet water.
Drinking: Grant gave us precious info on how to bring wine back from abroad, Kelly reminisced about Hungarian wine, I covered the Around the World in 60 Pubs tour, Abha wrote about debauchery tourism, and Martha recalled the place ouzo had in her first big trip.
Airlines: It just wouldn’t be a normal week at Gadling without some kind of airline news. This week, Spirit Airlines kicked off a MILF sale, part of a random wing was found off of a runway in Indonesia, and we found out that cellphones might replace boarding passes.
On the road: Neil infiltrates North Korea, Iva muses on her past year’s trips — all taken while she underwent chemotherapy — and Matthew continues to entertain us with the details of Japanese life — this week, he discusses the not-too-uncommon incidences where Japanese have literally worked themselves to death.

There you have it! Lots of fun stuff to peruse over your weekend — enjoy it!

Got some time over lunch tomorrow? Consider having a 100$ hamburger at your neighbor’s airport. The New York Times published an interesting article recently on the popularity of local pleasure flying, where one can get through a private airport, fly around for an hour or so and be back in time for a 1:30 meeting — all for a hundred bucks in rental time.

So I tried this the other day (not because I’m a scenester — I had this planned way in advance) and it’s remarkably easy. It happens that the guy in one of the back cubicles is a private pilot and that the Ann Arbor airport is nay 1000 feet from my office door, so shortly after work we set off.

Checking out our plane was as easy as driving up to the flight company, walking in, picking up the keys and walking over to the hangar. After unlocking the hangar and unplugging the block heater we went through the preflight check and were off. Since lunchtime was so far away we decided to tool around and find some of our friends houses. I sent some text messages to the effect of “look up!” as we buzzed a few houses at 1000ft, landed and took off from some rural runways, circled the Big House and dropped back to Ann Arbor before the sun set.

Total cost? 130 bucks. Sure, it’s more than a hamburger at your neighborhood joint, but for the exhilarating sensation of landing on a grass field, flying over your buddy’s apartment and dodging blue heron on the runway, it’s well worth the single investment.

Jetblue’s wireless starts next week

by Grant Martin on Dec 7, 2007

To update you on the story that Erik posted earlier, it has been confirmed that JetBlue is launching its wireless product on (one of) their airplanes next week.

But with a hitch.

Due to marketing partnerships that the company has forged with Yahoo and Blackberry, fliers will only be able to check their Yahoo mail wirelessly. They can also use one of two approved Blackberry models to get onto the Jetblue network and check personal and work email, but only on those two models.

My preliminary data indicate that this should make about 7% of Jetblue fliers happy while pissing off the other 93% who don’t use Yahoo mail or a crackberry.

Apparently, general surfing is still not allowed; they haven’t got the bandwidth yet to cover it. Not to worry though — most forward thinking airlines including Alaska Air, Soutwest and Virgin America have plans to integrate wireless in the next year or so. I think that sooner or later Jetblue will open up their bandwidth as well.

Via MSNBC

Random chunk of wing found off the runway in Indonesia

by Martha Edwards on Dec 6, 2007

Recently, aviation officials in Indonesia have found a 10-foot chunk of wing discarded on the side of the domestic flight runway of Jakarta’s Sukarno-Hatta International Airport. If that wasn’t disconcerting enough, consider this: They don’t know which plane it came from. Wow, sure makes an air traveller in Indonesia feel safe, eh?

Couple that with the fact that Indonesia has experienced a number of aircraft accidents in the last little while and you’ve got a questionable-at-best airline industry. In fact, Indonesia’s airline safety rating, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration, is in the lowest possible category. Why? Their maintenance record is poor, they cut corners and they have a lack of trained professionals working in the industry.

I’m not really a nervous flyer but this all sounds a bit dodgy. You might want to consider taking a ferry for domestic travel in Indonesia. Though lord only knows how safe that is …

AXE rates best and worst airports for “connections”

by Grant Martin on Dec 6, 2007

It took me a while (halfway through writing the article) to figure out what the exact meaning of the term “connection” was, but now holding the context and the source of the data in the correct light, I can understand why AXE would sponsor a study on travel.

Instead of the “layover” interpretation of the term, 860 participants were asked where the best airports were to make a “connection”, as in, with another person.

The results? Quite opposite to those of a functional nature; Philly, Newark and JFK topped the list of airports in which to meet a member of the opposite sex, while Houston, Sacramento and Tampa were at the bottom (in that reverse order).

Why? Because more often than not, you’re stuck on the eastern seaboard waiting for your delayed flight and have to commiserate with other stranded passengers. Airports with no delays and smooth operation don’t seem to have those problems.

Additional consideration was given to airports with good bars and restaurants inside of security in which to socialize, as well as meditation rooms and magic shops.

More info can be garnered from the PR Newswire.