Visit the world’s largest indoor rainforest resort

by Jessica Festa on

While Europe isn’t typically known for it’s tropical rainforests, a visit to the Tropical Islands in Germany can show you that they do indeed exist on the continent. In fact, the world’s largest indoor rainforest is located right outside of Berlin in the town of Krausnick.

Located inside of a giant, 22,000 square foot dome, the indoor tropical resort is about the size of eight football fields and wins the title of the world’s largest indoor rainforest, as well as the biggest tropical sauna and spa complex in Europe. The complex is also home to more than 29,000 plants while cocktatiels, parrots, and budgerigars provide animal life for the space.

There are many other features to this tropical paradise, as well. Visitors can relax on a man-made beach, swim in the “ocean”, go mini-golfing, or partake in some overnight camping. For those who want a short break from the natural side of things, restaurants, bars, and shops are also located in the rainforest resort.

Green travelers will be happy to know that Tropical Islands is also eco-friendly, recycling swimming pool water to feed the plants as well as using natural UV light that seeps through the dome’s massive panels. Rain showers also occur naturally inside the dome, forming from the humidity found inside the structure.

For more information, visit the Tropical Islands website.

Eurail to expand into Slovakia

by Kyle Ellison on

Attention college students, rail-lovers, and European travelers with a fear of flying. Eurail has just announced that starting in 2012 the national railway of Slovakia will be included in the oft-purchased Eurail Global Pass, thereby linking Slovakia with 22 other nations in what has historically been many traveler’s favorite means of scouring the European continent.

When I last took a train into Slovakia it was before the country was even a member of the European Union, much less part of Eurail. There were guns, and soldiers, and a hailstorm of passports being thrown about the cabin from all angles. It was also New Years Eve, the streets were full of liquored up Germans, and there was a tight-wearing archer shooting flaming arrows across the Danube. That’s another story for another time, however.

With the addition of Slovakia into the Eurail network, it’s now possible to connect the Slovakian capital of Bratislava with virtually anywhere else in Europe for the low 15-day price of €345, if, of course, you’re under 26 years old. The rest of us, per Eurail standard rates, are still forced to shell out considerably more.

Regardless, for those lucky European travelers holding a fancy new 23 country Eurail Global Pass for 2012, you are now stuck with 3,616 more km of rail to further complicate your decision on how to get from Athens-Zurich, all the while attempting to fill in towns that start with the remaining 24 letters of the alphabet while you’re at it.

Photo: Flickr/Chris Yunker

The Gadling young family travel gift guide

by Meg Nesterov on

If you are traveling with a baby over the holidays, visiting with children on your next trip, or just hoping to convince a new parent that you don’t have to hand in your passport once the new addition arrives, we’ve compiled a gift guide for families traveling with babies. Traveling light is the best advice you can follow when traveling with a baby (even without a baby, it’s just good sense) but there are some gear and gadgets that make the road a little smoother for family travel.

Boba baby wrap (formerly Sleepy Wrap)
One of my favorite purchases so far in Turkey is the Cybex first.go baby carrier, unique due to the horizontal infant insert used up until 3-4 months. The lie-flat insert allowed me to set the baby on a flat surface without worrying she’d roll over (with constant supervision, of course), perfect for traveling. Everywhere I went with it, we got comments and questions. Unfortunately, it’s not available in the US, but if you can get your hands on it, I recommend it. My other favorite carrier is the Sleepy Wrap (now called Boba), suitable from birth without any special insert, up to 18 months. It’s very easy to pack in a handbag or tie around yourself without having lots of straps to get tangled in. Since it’s all fabric, it works well for airports and metal detectors, and unlike other wraps, the stretch means you don’t have to retie it after taking the baby out. Choosing a carrier is different for everyone, a good comparison chart is here.
M Coat convertible winter coat
Leave it to the Canadians to make a winter coat that can stretch (pun intended) to accomodate a pregnant belly, a baby carrier, and then return to normal, while keeping you both warm and stylish. While not cheap (it retails for about $366 US), it’s a good investment that will work for many winter trips, and potentially, many babies. Filled with Canadian down and available in a wide array of colors, it would suit any pregnant or babywearing traveler.

Traveling Toddler car seat strap
For the first year or so, most car seats can fit onto a stroller, creating an easy travel system. For older babies and toddlers, having a gadget that makes a car seat “wheelable” frees up a hand and makes airport transit easier. This strap essentially attaches your car seat to your rollaboard, creating a sort of hybrid stroller-suitcase. Now you probably won’t want to carry your suitcase on the street throughout your trip, but at under $15, it’s any easy way to get through layovers until you reach your destination. If you want a car seat that can do double duty and then some, our Heather Poole recommends the Sit ‘n’ Stroll, a convertible stroller-car seat-booster-plane seat. It’s certified for babies and children 5-40 pounds, but as it doesn’t lie flat, may be more appropriate for babies over 6 months.

Kushies easy fold baby bed
Most so-called travel beds for babies are about as easy to pack as a pair of skis, more suited for road trips to Grandma’s house than increasingly-restricted airline baggage. Not every hotel has baby cribs available and sometimes you want something that works outdoors as well to take along to a park, beach, or on a day trip. The most useful travel product I’ve bought since my daughter arrived was the Samsonite (now Koo-di) pop-up travel cot; it’s light, folds up like a tent, and takes up less room than a shoebox in my suitcase. The Samsonite cot is not sold in the US, but Kushies Baby makes a similar product for the American market. Their folding baby bed weighs only a few pounds and can be collapsed into your suitcase. It also has mosquito netting and UV-protected fabric for outdoors, and loops for hanging baby toys.

Puj and Prince Lionheart bathtubs
With a steady set of hands and some washcloths for padding, small babies can be bathed in most hotel or kitchen sinks, or even taken into the shower (beware of slipperiness!). For more support, new babies can lie in the Puj baby tub, a flat piece of soft foam that fits in nearly any sink to cradle your baby. Children who can sit up unassisted can play in the foldable Prince Lionheart FlexiBath, which can also serve as a small kiddy pool. While both products fold flat for storage, they may be too cumbersome and take up too much room in a suitcase for airplane travel, and thus may be better for car trips.

Lamaze stroller toys
The best travel toys are small, attach to a stroller or bag so they don’t get lost in transit, and don’t make any annoying sounds to bother fellow passengers (or the parents). Spiral activity toys can keep a baby busy in their stroller, crib, or in an airplane seat with no batteries required. Rattles that attach to a baby’s wrist or foot take up little space and are hard to lose. Lamaze makes a variety of cute toys that can attach to a handle and appeal to both a baby’s and parent’s visual sensibilities. We’re partial to this Tiny Love bunny rabbit who can dangle from her car seat, makes a nice wind chime sound, and can fit in a pocket as well (we call him Suleyman since he’s from Turkey but I’ve seen them for sale all over the world).

This is…books by Miroslav Šašek
Get your child excited about visiting a new city, or just add a travel memento to your library. Originally published in the 1950s and ’60s and reissued in the last few years, these are wonderful children’s books visiting over a dozen cities worldwide (plus a little trip to the moon) as Czech author Miroslav Šašek originally captured them. Fun for children and adults to read and compare the cities in the books to how they’ve changed. Going to Europe? The Madeline books are French favorites, Paddington is essential London reading, and Eloise is a great companion for Paris and Moscow. For more wonderful children’s book ideas published this year, check out Brain Pickings’ Best Illustrated Books of 2011.


Snuggle Pod footmuff
In a perfect world, we’d always travel with children in the summer while days are long, you can sit at outdoor cafes, and pack fewer layers. Adding a warm footmuff to a stroller makes winter travel more bearable for a small child or baby. While not the cheapest gift, the Snuggle Pod adapts to any stroller up to age 3, and can be used in warmer weather with the top panel removed, or as a playmat when unfolded. It’s also made of Australian sheepskin, which is safe for babies when shorn short and used on a stroller (babies older than 1 year old can sleep directly on a lambskin, younger babies can lie on one for playtime or with a sheet cover for sleeping). A more budget-friendly option is the JJ Cole Bundleme with shearling lining.

Have any favorite gear or gadgets to add to our family travel gift guide? Tell us about your favorites in the comments and happy shopping!

Heathrow: The shut-down that wasn’t

by Alex Robertson Textor on

It wasn’t the Heathrow shut-down of the decade, that’s for sure.

As widely reported, there was a public sector strike yesterday in the United Kingdom. The biggest fear within the travel industry and media was that London’s Heathrow Airport would go into heavy-delay meltdown, but the anticipated chaos never materialized. In the Guardian, Robert Booth and Alan Travis reported yesterday that Heathrow remained calm and relaxed throughout the day, a result of a concerted effort on the part of UK authorities to encourage airlines to operate at lower capacity and to cancel a small number of flights.

Booth and Travis also site a BAA employee’s claim that the UK Border Agency partnered with authorities in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to increase scrutiny of passengers bound for the UK as a pre-screening measure. Immigration agents at Heathrow were replaced by civil servants and police officers.

The one-day strike was prompted by pension reforms announced by the current government. These reforms, if enacted, will force public sector workers to contribute more of their income to their pensions and will also raise the retirement age. To add insult to injury, the strike came a day after the government announced that public sector workers would only see annual income increases of one percent through 2014, despite annual inflation rates of around five percent. Many institutions were affected by the strike. Most schools in the UK were closed yesterday, as were many other public offices.

Today is expected to be a more difficult day at Heathrow despite the return of Border Agency staff to work, given the passenger backlog from cancelled flights. Anxious passengers may have some of their questions answered by the airport authority’s FAQ.

[Image: Flickr | .curt.]

Video of the day: Santacon in New York City

by Elizabeth Seward on


If you haven’t heard of Santacon before, this year’s holiday season is as good a time as any to hear of it. Santacon is, in a nutshell, this: It’s a mass gathering of people who come together in cities across the world, all dressed in Santa costumes. They parade on streets and drink in bars and have a jolly good time spreading cheer and singing naughty Christmas carols. Widely known as Naughty Santas or Santarchy, this festive movement has been growing each year. Beginning first in San Francisco in 1994, the event is a bit of a flash mob that tends to shock whoever is around. The gathering manifests itself differently in each city ever year, but for a peak into the kind of activity you can expect in, say, New York City subways, watch this video and then check out this list of Santacon events so you can participate or just watch in the town nearest you.