GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of January 14

by Adrienne Wilson on

There have been some tear-jerkers, some inspirational pieces and a couple of new faces this week, but I’m in a quirky mood and with that said I’m giving you five of the weeks quirkiest posts, sort of. In no particular order here they are:

5. Dance of the Flight Attendant:
I can’t say that we’ve posted comics in the past or how many more we’ll touch on in the future. With this particular comic Justin brings our attention to the daily ritual performed by flight attendants daily and so many often ignore as drawn up by Jen Wang. It’s short, sweet, and actually quite nice.

4. Quiz: What’s Your Travel Personality?:
After I took this quiz I wasn’t quite sure about myself. In fact I wasn’t quite sure that I’d taken the correct vacation for my um, travel type at all. I came out as a Mind-Venturer, which when I really think about it – it is all so very wrong, but maybe I just never knew my true traveling self. Apparently I’m not the type that would enjoy sleeping under the stars, yet one of my best travel memories was camping on the beach in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. Who creates these quizzes again and what type of traveler are you? Think you know?

3. LP’s The Perfect Day:
Say you’re in Dubai and you’re looking to experience the perfect day… Well this could be tough for some, but not all. Perhaps you’d like to experience the perfect day according to what the locals might consider it being or maybe you’re just in need of another great Lonely Planet selection. Think quick insight and travel advice you can trust all to help you find true bliss on your backpacking excursion.

2. Silk Sleep Sacks:
Not comfortable with the hotel sheets? Yeah, I can understand. Before your adventure outdoors ever begins there is the mind-battle every traveler faces indoors the night before in their very own hotel bedroom: To crawl under the sheets or sleep standing up? That is the question. Just like being in the great outdoors you’ll need the right gear if you’re going to get a great night sleep. Now you can buy a Silk Sleep Sack. No clue what I’m rambling about? Check it out then!

1. The Arcade Wire: Airport Security:
In my younger wonder years I used to stick to the joystick of a good ole’ arcade game like glue and since I’ve loosened my grip I’ve come to explore the real-world and not the mind-warping scenarios in most arcade games. Now I and you too, can delve into the world of Airport Security via an arcade game. It’s not mind-warping – it is real! I just wonder how many points you score for discovering hyper-active and explosive lip-gloss.

New Travel Magazine for Women

by Neil Woodburn on

Are you a woman? Do you like to travel?

I just came across a relativity new magazine called Travel Girl which, according to their website, “is the premier resource for women looking to improve their lives by finding and integrating the “escape factor” into every day journeys as well as exotic vacations.”

So why was Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa on the front cover?!? I thought this was a travel magazine, not a gossip rag.

A brief look at the headlines on the front cover reveals a bit more about the magazine’s philosophy–it ain’t all travel, girls! The January/February issue on newsstands today touts “Awestruck in Alaska,” “Cruising in Croatia, “The Non-Surgical Facelift,” “Want to Lose Weight? Eat Chocolate!”

As you can see, the magazine tries to balance girly things with travel things; it’s sort of as if Travel and Leisure got together with Cosmopolitan and made a baby.

The writing seems decent, the topics varied, and the photography very nice, but I probably won’t find myself picking up another copy. But then again, I’m not part of their female demographic.

Any female readers out there care to comment?

LP’s The Perfect Day

by Erik Olsen on

I have to say I love the fact that Lonely Planet is really branching out in the travel writing genre. Take a look at their catalog, and you can see that they’ve really moved beyond basic travel guides into vast new realms. I posted recently about the lusciously photo-illustrated book “The Middle of Nowhere” which I have right here on my shelf and which I go to whenever I need a quick inspiration for where to go next. But that book is hard backed and rather pesado, and so as I carry around a version of something similar, albeit smaller.

I just got my hands on “The Perfect Day” by Lonely Planet. The book provides bite-sized summaries of what constitutes the perfect day in multitudinous cities around the globe. From New York City to Phuket, Madrid, Dubai and so on, pretty much every major and medium city is covered. The writers are mostly LP authors and/or travel writers, so I suspect you can trust their advice. I like this book for its quick insight and it portability. It lacks a certain depth, but that’s not what it was intended for; The Perfect Day was written to whet your appetite about a place, and I think it pulls that goal off nicely.

Hot Model Who Travels..and Writes

by Erik Olsen on

Something tells me we might get some significant Google hits for the title of this post, but I do not write it gratuitously. No, the article I am posting about here is by our friend David Farley, who wrote a fine piece on the travel life of former super model Paulina Porizkova, 41, who, if I might be so bold, has managed to hold her fine looks together rather well. I will also say that among all former Sports Illustrated swimsuit models I ALWAYS thought she was the hottest. Does that sound like the absurd, drooling compliment of a smitten fan? Well, I guess it is. Of course I am aware that Frau Porizkova is married to Cars front man Rik Okasek who might take umbrage at my blog-ogling his wife, but honesty is important and, well, one can dream, can they not?

No matter, the point of it all is that the Czech-born model who once caused many a magazine page to crumple and stick is now a bona-fide travel writer. Her work can be seen in the latest edition of Travelers’ Tales Prague and the Czech Republic: True Stories which Herr Farley of Jesus’ foreskin fame edited. And as Farley reveals here in this revealing interview, Ms. Porizkova is not only decidedly well read (count Jane Austin, Tolstoy, Balzac, John Updike, Ian McEwan and Mark Helprin among her favorites —what? No DeLillo?!) but rather funny too. While she sees Americans as “insular” a common complaint we’ve blabbed about here as well, she reserves the title of worst travelers to the East Germans, a description we can’t quite verify and would probably give to Israelis anyway.

The interview runs on one of our favorite sites, Worldhum. Give it a read.

Tintin Tour

by Neil Woodburn on

Tintin isn’t as popular in America as he is in the rest of the world, yet I still have fond memories of browsing through these wonderfully colorful books and following Tintin on his adventures around the globe. I didn’t realize at the time that later on in life I would have the chance to visit so many of these strange foreign lands which this comic book character introduced to me so many years ago.

Tintin has touched millions of readers in many different ways; this year many of them will return the joy by celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hergé, Tintin’s creator.

Belgium will be the center of these celebrations for the simple fact that Hergé, like the hero he created, was born in this small country. Belgians are not only fiercely proud of this fact, but most acknowledge that Tintin is arguably the country’s most famous export.

With this in mind, The Guardian has researched the best way for Tintin fans to celebrate this centennial event. Obviously, the first step is to get to Brussels and pay homage at the Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Arts where Tintin paraphernalia dominates the exhibit. Fans who want more can journey over to La Boutique Tintin, the “official Tintin gift shop” which is apparently stocked with high-end, very expensive items.

Brussels also sports the world’s only Comic Strip Trail, a walk past more than 30 murals featuring characters from Tintin comic books as well as many others.

This is where my fascination with Tintin would start to wane. For those more fanatical than I, The Guardian points out the home of Hergé, where he is buried, cafes sporting Tintin themes, various locations throughout Brussels featured in the comic books, and even a subway stop featuring a mural of 140 characters which have appeared in Tintin comic books.

Wow. The Belgians sure do love their favorite son!