Germans ignore smoking ban

by Catherine Bodry on

Smoking bans in Europe, that continent that always seems to have a cigarette in hand, are becoming more and more frequent: Neil reported on Paris and Berlin cafés going smoke-free, Grant wrote about how the German smoking ban is spurning crafty workarounds, and I talked about angry Naples residents’ response to their city smoking ban. But this is the first report I’ve seen of all-out defiance in the face of a smoking ban.

According to a report from Reuters, German citizens are blatantly ignoring the ban, perhaps because, as one resident claims, no one is stopping them. Although potentially faced with a 100-euro fine if cited, residents of Germany’s 16 states (out of 20) that banned smoking don’t seem too worried.

Berlin police are letting café owners decide whether to enforce the rules, stating that there’s a “transition period” that lasts until July — until then, the ban just isn’t a high priority. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in July.

In the Old Mission, single speeds are in

by Grant Martin on

One interesting product of the hipster culture that’s grown in San Francisco is the abundance of single speed bicycles. It’s become a trend in the last few years and I’ve even got a good friend in Ann Arbor who converts old junkers to single speeds in his free time. In addition to being lighter and simpler, the bicycles are easier to handle and will age better – something that comes in handy in older models. The formula works pretty well in the Midwest, where we have only a few gentle hills and scarcely a reason to shift gears.

I wonder how well it works out West though. With so many hills rolling through the Bay Area is it really feasible to run a single speed through the city streets? Do people have to buckle down, jump off their bicycles and walk up the hills? From an engineer’s perspective that doesn’t strike me as very efficient.

Perhaps me and my vintage ten speed are old fashioned, or perhaps my bandy legs are too scrawny to pump up all of those San Francisco hills. In a way though, I kind of enjoy the subculture of single speed riders floating through the streets. It gives the Old Mission a unique flavor that is unreproducible in any other corner of the world.

So if you’re in the Bay Area any time soon, take some time to swing by the Old Mission for some tacos and single speed education. In addition to myriad activities in the district, the hipster nation and people watching is an afternoon in and of itself. You can take the BART to the 16th or 24th street Mission stops just north of the airport.

Ranking the world’s best and worst flags

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Gambia‘s great, Senegal plagiarized, and Libya didn’t even try. So says a fun new evaluation of the flags of every nation in the world. In an admittedly unscientific ranking of the world’s flags, high marks are given for good color schemes and originality, while grades are lowered for the presence of weapons, writing, and “too many stars.”

Here’s the unflattering commentary on Saint Lucia’s flag: “Best corporate logo. Makes me want to invest money there.”

The flag of Turkmenistan is described as vomit inducing, while the lowest-ranking flag, that of the Northern Marianas Islands, “appears to have been constructed from clip art.”

I’ve always been partial to the flag of South Africa, while I find the flag of Guam to be hideous beyond comprehension. In my book, Bhutan’s flag (seen above) wins the award for most bad-ass, barely edging out Mozambique’s, which features an AK-47.

Check out the highly entertaining rankings here, in order from best to worst. The ranking methodology is described here.

My night with the Balkans’s beloved Rakia

by Justin Glow on

Aaron’s post on the Czech alcohol Becherovka had me thinking about the Balkans’s beloved drink, Rakia, which I had the displeasure of tasting on my recent travels in Slovenia. Rakia (?ganje), you see, must be the complete opposite of Becherovka (of which I’ve never tried), at least in terms of Aaron’s “gingerbread and Christmas” description.

Long ago I stopped taking shots of hard alcohol because I couldn’t handle it. Beer is my friend, but one too many Jagers or Rumplemintz has turned me off the bottle entirely. But one evening while knocking back a few Union beers in Bled, Slovenia’s only Irish pub and hostel combination, George Best’s, I was confronted by an old man carrying a tray of shot glasses filled with clear liquid. “Rakia,” he mumbled. “For you!”

I suppose I should back up a bit. A few minutes before this, I had set my beer down on a table to grab something out of my back pocket. When I looked back down at the table a few seconds later, my beer was gone. I knew it couldn’t have gone far, and sure enough, the older Slovenian gentleman with whom I had just been sharing a drunken conversation, was holding it in his hand. “Hey,” I said, getting his attention. “You’ve got my beer!”
I expected a confrontation. I spoke absolutely no Slovenian, the man barely any English, and our prior communication didn’t amount to much in the way of actual conversation. It took 15 minutes, for instance, for him to explain to me what he did for a living which, as far as I could tell, involved replacing o-rings on toilets. Instead of confrontation, I got the most heartfelt apology I’d ever received. It was obvious that the man had no intentions of swiping my beer, he was just too drunk to know that it wasn’t his. He apologized profusely, handed my beer back, and disappeared into the crowd.

This is when, only a few moments later, I saw him heading back in my general direction with a tray full of shots. “No, no — really, it’s OK!” I pleaded. I really didn’t want the shot, but in line with typical Slovenian hospitality, he insisted. And in the interest of maintaining diplomatic relations, I obliged.

The taste of Rakia could be described as a mix between brandy and rubbing alcohol, or “lighter fluid and Halloween,” if forced to link it with a holiday as Aaron did. The subtle hints of fruit promised by the labels on popular brands were nowhere to be found, probably because what I was drinking was distilled in a dirty bathtub somewhere. “Gee thanks!” I said, downing the first one. I put my hand up in protest for the second. The way I saw it, there was absolutely no chance I’d be drinking another shot of Rakia without ultimately ending up face down in the bathroom. Luckily, a friend with a higher tolerance and more hair on his chest stepped in and took the last one for the team — a selfless act I will never forget.

And that was my one and only night with the Balkans’s beloved Rakia.

How to visit the locations of last year’s most “travel inspiring” films

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve posted a number of times here on Gadling about the impact of movies as a travel motivator. In other words, which movies portray a sense of place strong enough to make you want to visit?

Budget Travel recently came up with their own top ten “travel inspiring” movies released in the last year, with the Bourne Ultimatum coming in at number one thanks to six countries featured in the film and an exciting rooftop chase through the ancient medina of Tangiers (above). Although Martha blogged about this a few weeks ago, I’d like to update the post with a few other thoughts.

First off, CNN picked up on the story as well and recently interviewed Budget Travel Senior Editor Liz Ozaist. The interview not only expands on the article, but also includes clips from the movies. Click here to watch the video.

In addition, the Budget Travel article takes their list to the next, logical step and provides information on how to visit the actual locations where the movies were filmed. Casablanca Travel and Tours, for example, conducts a $120 tour of the Tangier medina that shadows the Bourne chase scenes.

Now, if only Budget Travel can teach us how to get our hands on multiple passports, then perhaps we can truly follow in the footsteps of uber-traveler Matthew Bourne.