GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of November 26

by Adrienne Wilson on

Am I the only one who can’t believe it is December 1st? Where did November go? Where did the year go? How time flashes! If the end of the week managed to sneak up on you as fast as it got me you might want to review some of these posts found here over the week.

5. ABBA Museum to Debut in 2008:
Come on! You can’t tell me you’re not excited by the news. Get your dancing feet to this one to find out the details on the new Sweden based museum.

4. Maps of the World:
Erik brings our attention to the poor quality of maps too often found in guidebooks and then provides some good resources to finding good maps to take on your trip. AAA and another site new to me called, Just Maps are the only two that he mentions, but it’s a good starting place if you’re completely lost.

3.Magnifique Martinique:
Considering how popular the islands become once winter storms start pounding less tropical lands I thought this piece on the French Caribbean island of Martinique needed extra mentioning. It’s high on my travel agenda for that particular region of the world.

2. Garlic Card:
As a child I was never a fan of garlic, but this is mostly due to my aunt draping it in my window to protect me from vampires. I kid you not. However, some people can’t go a day with seasoning their food with a pinch of garlic. Neil brings us information on a Garlic card that can be used to help bring extra flavor and taste to your meals while camping in the great outdoors. I’m sure it will protect you from vampires in the woods as well, if you buy into that stuff.

1. Space Tourism Details Start to Fill In:
Everyone ready to go to space? More and more details are starting to come in on Space Tourism and it even looks somewhat affordable. If you think about $200,000 is a lot more affordable than $20 million bucks.

Garlic Card

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s been a while since I’ve been on a weeklong backpacking trip, but I distinctly remember far too many days eating tasteless dehydrated meals.

On shorter trips, it is easy to bulk up on heavier, better tasting food. But the longer the trip the lighter the food has to become. Unfortunately, the lighter the food, the worse it seems to taste.

A cool little invention I just came across, however, helps to alleviate the problem of bland tasting food while not adding to poundage to your pack.

The Garlic Card is about the size and weight of a credit card. Simply take a clove of garlic, rub it across the card’s rough surface, and viola! Instant garlic puree to spice up even the blandest of dehydrated meals.

The Post on Hook Up Travel

by Erik Olsen on

The Post wants you to hook up when you’re on the road. Yup, they’ve dedicated an entire section of the paper to singles travel and inside there are all sorts of delights. Take this piece, for example, on how to find the best adventures that will get your both hot and sweaty before you even hit the sheets.

Then this lovely section called Meet Markets all about, you guessed it, the best places to find someone who is also eager to hook up. And you just know you’re going to find the right person when you visit their number one hook up destination: Las Vegas. Ah yes, the kids will be so proud of mom and dad when they learn their parents hooked up while playing blackjack at Caesars. But now that I think about it, it’s a good suggestion because even if you can’t find Mr./Mrs. Right, there’s always a lap dance waiting for you. Seattle and Tuscon made the list…which I found rather odd…and then New York was there in the number 9 position. I’m guessing that being from DC they just didn’t know which bars to go to because…well, Tuscon? Maybe their thinking about the college town thing.

Then, they’ve done their equal opportunity homework and posted a piece for gay travelers as well as those who delight in the idea of a nice testosterone-laden mancation.

Garbage Truck Camper

by Adrienne Wilson on


Who said garbage trucks couldn’t be campers or that they weren’t sexy enough to roll through nature’s great outdoors? I’m not entirely sure who the owner of this decked out garbage truck camper with an extremely sleek interior is, but I’ll tell you this: I’m sure there are many a Y chromosome out there putting this on their Christmas wish lists. There isn’t much of an item description on this large piece of camping gear, but the pictures lead me to believe it is very pricey. There is a kitchen, tons of cabinet space, comfortable living area and a bed up top just to start. Go take a look for yourself and ladies the next time a guy invites you camping and shows up in a garbage truck, remember it’s the inside that counts. Hopefully it won’t be trashed.

Park Size Graphic

by Erik Olsen on

An interesting graphic from Park Remark about the various sizes of several National Parks. It’s a bit odd, but the point being that the circles’ size shows the likelihood that an acre in the Park System will be in a particular park.

Fairly obvious that St. Elias gets the biggest circle, followed by Denali, Glacier bay and Yellowstone. Or maybe it’s not so obvious since most people can probably only name four or five parks and most would say Yellowstone is the largest.