A Wing That Lets You Fly Underwater

by Kyle Ellison on

What would you say if I told you there was a magical machine that combined scuba diving with hang gliding, required no training, and offered a way to fly past fish and outrace turtles?

You’d probably tell me I was on hallucinogens.

In all seriousness though, with the recent invention of the Subwing system, divers are able to tow behind a moving boat and actually glide beneath the water instead of up on top of it. It’s kind of like wakeboarding underwater, or snorkeling on steroids. The jury is really still out on that one.

Invented by a team of Norwegians who came up with the idea while sailing through the Greek Islands, the Subwing system is even compatible with its own GoPro setup so that divers can record their underwater antics.

What’s interesting is that – despite looking fun and easy – a rudimentary version of this system has been employed by friends of mine in Hawaii for nearly a decade. An upside down, concave boogie board with a hard bottom replaced the Subwing, and a standard nylon rope was run through holes bored into the upside down board. The result is the same ability to be towed behind a moving boat and fly past stationary coral heads at what feels like decently high speeds.

The problem, however, is that despite only traveling at 2-4 knots (as the Subwing website also suggests), since water is 800 times denser than air, the strain on your neck should you try to look to the side during your “flight” is actually rather strong. Without this peripheral ability it’s difficult to see something such as, say, an approaching turtle coming in hot from your port side. When I did this back in 2003 I nearly caught a face-full of turtle.

Nevertheless, this is an invention I am all for and one which continues to push the boundaries of conventional watersports.

View From The Shard In London: Pre-Opening Glimpses

by Alex Robertson Textor on

View from the Shard, which comprises three observatory floors at the top of the Shard, London’s tallest building, is not yet open for business. The new tourist attraction will open on February 1, 2013. This week, in conjunction with World Travel Market 2012, View from the Shard has been open for advance viewing by travel media.

The 72nd floor, the View from the Shard’s top observation point, is 800 feet high, an altitude that makes it the highest vantage point of any building in Western Europe. Twelve interactive high-tech Tell:scopes telescopes will provide information about scores of London landmarks. The top floor of the View from the Shard is actually open air, allowing visitors unnervingly direct access to the elements.

Renzo Piano’s sharply edged building has been controversial from the start. Now 95 percent owned by Qatar‘s sovereign wealth fund, the building has caused great division among Londoners. In addition to the View from the Shard observatory levels, the building will accommodate restaurants, a Shangri-La hotel, residences (which, according to the Guardian, will be priced from £30 million [$48 million]) and many floors of office space.

The View from the Shard will not be cheap to visit. Adult tickets will cost £24.95 ($40); children’s tickets will run £18.95 ($30).

[Images: Alex Robertson Textor]

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Travel Gifts To Capture The Moment

by Chris Owen on

Travel gifts that capture a moment when we were with someone at some special place can be as simple as a smartphone photo taken at just the right time. A bar napkin from a time and distant place shared, snuck into a Christmas card, brings us right back to that place. Just one pebble taken from a beach during an enchanting vacation, on our desk back in the real world, can bring a flood of great memories when needed. As holiday shopping season approaches, taking some time now to consider thoughtful travel gifts can make for some of the best gift giving possible.

How about cufflinks that have the exact spot on the planet where we met our special someone engraved on them?

That’s exactly what American Samantha Jenkins gave to Bengali Rham Khandoker to remember when they met and instantly fell in love several years ago. Forbidden by his Islamic religion from being with Rham, Samantha had these cufflinks made as a symbol of their love that can exist only via Skype, email and text, but never in public. It’s about as close of a real world, physical symbol that they may find.Surely that’s an extreme story but not a bad idea for a travel gift with meaning. Skip the tourist attraction bobble-heads, T-shirts, snow globes and other trinkets. With holiday shopping coming up, think about something someone could not buy for themselves. Something unique that will be around for years to come, long after the clothing, gift card or wish list item someone else gave is gone.




[Photo Credit: Flickr user rikomatic]

A Traveler’s Confession: I Hate Sightseeing

by Dave Seminara on

I love to travel but I hate to see the sights. Have you ever found yourself running around looking for obscure museums and other tourist attractions while on a trip and wondered what the point was? I prefer to spend my travel time on the road the same way I enjoy my leisure time at home: wandering around, meeting people and indulging my curiosity when I stumble upon something of interest.

Depending on who your travel companion is, it might be a struggle to avoid sightseeing. My wife, for example, is much better at sightseeing than I am. I enjoy museums, but I prefer strolling through, stopping to read only the most interesting exhibits. She, on the other hand, is often quite content to read every word on every plaque in the entire place while I roam around looking for a bench and a newspaper to pass the time.


Our biggest tourism incompatibility, though, is our divergence on archaeological sites. I’m more of a history buff than my wife is. In fact, I like to read history books and, with some rare exceptions, she does not. But I hate schlepping around archeological sites and she loves it. These places, by their nature, lack shade and somehow it always seems to be 100 degrees when you visit them. I’m not ashamed to admit that when given the choice between visiting Pompeii this summer and eating at the world’s best pizzeria in Naples, I chose the pizza and I don’t regret it. (I can read a book or watch a documentary on Pompeii, but reading about pizza isn’t the same)

My worst nightmare is being part of a guided tour where I’m herded around and lectured. If the guide is outstanding, it’s barely tolerable for me, but most of the time I’m looking at my watch or searching for an emergency exit I can slip out of. If the attraction only offers guided tours, I’m most likely to give it a pass. I’d much rather look around on my own and have a guidebook or brochure I can read at my leisure. For me, travel is all about freedom and having to abide by someone else’s schedule and tastes is not my cup of tea.

I’ve been to London twice in the last decade. On the first trip, I ran around like a mad dog visiting all the “must do” sights listed in my guidebook and, while I enjoyed many of the attractions, I felt tired and ready to go home after three or four days of hardcore sightseeing. I went back in August of this year on another four-day visit but this time I made a point of visiting just one real tourist attraction-the British Museum. The rest of the time I just picked a neighborhood that sounded interesting, took the tube there and wandered around.

If I saw something of interest, I went in, but I wasn’t out searching for specific attractions. I spent a lot of time walking on quiet, residential side streets, taking the pulse of the city and its residents. It was a stark contrast to my previous visit because when you “see the sights” in any city, you’re surrounded by fellow travelers, who know little about the place you are trying to digest.

I enjoyed my second, non-sightseeing trip to London infinitely more than the first and by the end of the four days, I wanted more, not less of London. I’m not suggesting that people visit Cairo and skip the pyramids or travel to China and pass on the Great Wall, but if you just run around from one tourist attraction to the next, you won’t get much of a flavor of what a place is really like. Take my advice and don’t obsess over seeing the sights. You’ll save some money and you might have a better time too.

[Photo/video credits: Dave Seminara]

Cruise Line Hosts Pop-Up Restaurant On Land

by Chris Owen on

Cruise lines like to dazzle passengers on their ships with some of the best cuisine available, sourced from around the world. Cruise travelers often have so many choices that deciding what to have for dinner is a difficult decision. Those who have never been on a cruise anticipate culinary offerings but don’t know exactly what to expect … until now.

Celebrity Cruises, with a reputation for extraordinary cuisine, is bringing its onboard fare to Stable Café in San Francisco’s Mission District via a popup restaurant. Its just for two days, November 14 and 15, 2012, but Celebrity’s John Suley, Director of Culinary Operations, and his team of chefs will be presenting menu items inspired by seasonal, local ingredients and flavors in and around the San Francisco area.

Those wishing to attend the nearly sold out event sign up in advance for a lunch or dinner reservation. When they do, they are also entered into a giveaway to win a seven-night Alaska cruise for two on the stunning, luxurious Celebrity Solstice in 2013. No purchase necessary.Proceeds from your ticket go to support the Celebrity Cruises Scholarship at the Culinary Institute of America.

This is not the first land-based public event Celebrity has sponsored. Not long ago, Gadling reported that Celebrity Cruises had commissioned Kurt Werner, the inventor of 3-D street art, to create an art installation at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the arrival of the cruise line’s newest Solstice-class ship Celebrity Silhouette.

[Photo Credit: Flickr user garybembridge]