A London hot dog worth eating!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I was skeptical at first. The hot dogs I’d eaten previously in the United Kingdom uniformly failed to impress. This wasn’t terribly surprising, of course: I’d never have pegged the country as a dog destination. So, when a friend suggested a spot in London, I took the recommendation while eating my (rather low) expectations.

I’m drawn to hot dogs. I’ve eaten them around the world, and I’m always on the lookout for something unique – which often matters more to me than the actual quality of the dog. The United States is obviously the top spot for hot dogs, though I have had good luck in Iceland, Sweden, South Korea and Canada. There’s no regional bias to cloud my judgment, and I walked to London’s Portobello Market with an open mind.

Despite my initial doubts about the recommendation I’d received, I was heartened by the name: Banger Bros. A hot doggery should carry a slightly pornographic appellation, lest it be accused of taking itself too seriously. Once inside, I surveyed the rather extensive menu (which includes burgers and even some baked goods) before placing the order on which I’d decided well before entering: two plain dogs that I’d enhance on my own with ketchup and mustard.

%Gallery-115889%The staff was good for a laugh, balking at my attempts to take pictures though giving fellow blogger Laurie DePrete a pass. I forgot about the folks behind the counter completely, though, when my dogs arrived.

They were big. Very effing big. Intimidating.

The fare, it seems, is susceptible to the same humor that could be applied to the establishment’s name, especially when you try to wrap your mouth around one. These hot dogs are big and thick, requiring an act of will for each bite. They are coked well, snapping when you bite into them, though the burst of flavor that comes with a dog from Crif Dog, Gray’s Papaya or even Popo’s is missing. Still, the hard work of Banger Bros. surpasses that of the other dog establishments I’ve visited in the United Kingdom.

Banger Bros. is a local chain, though the food and style are not reminiscent of the fast food joints in the United State If you’re curious, be patient: I hear that there are plans to bring the dog shop to tour side of the Atlantic.

[photos by Laurie DePrete]

Video of the Day: The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England

by Mike Barish on

Have you been to England? What about Great Britain? How about the United Kingdom? Perhaps you just have no clear idea how to use those terms properly. Lest you tick off an Irishman or embarrass yourself at a pub, you may want to take a gander at the video above that quickly and humorously explains just what England, Great Britain and the UK are.

There’s no shame in not understanding the difference between these three terms. Heck, I learned a view things from this video and have Gadling’s own Jeremy Kressmann to thank for that. He tweeted this video last week. See, it pays to follow us Gadling folks on the ol’ internets.

If you have a great travel video that you think we might enjoy, share the link in a comment below. We could feature it as our next Video of the Day!

Ryanair flight grounds 104 Belgian students after luggage fee fight

by Scott Carmichael on

Another day, another chance for Ryanair to make the news. Today’s incident comes from the Spanish Canary Islands where a plane full of passengers had to be emptied after a mass fight broke out.

The fight happened after one passenger got angry when he was told he’d need to pay to have his oversize bag checked. This didn’t go down well with him, or with the large number of fellow students he was traveling with.

A fight broke out and the flight crew called for assistance. Police arrived, and all 168 passengers were told to leave the plane.

According to the news report, all passengers had to be “identified”, which probably means the flight crew pointed out which of them were involved in the scuffle.

Of those 168, only 64 were allowed to fly home to Belgium. The rest of them were forced to spend the night in Lanzarote. None of the students stranded on the island had any money left, so the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to intervene, forcing Ryanair to fly the students back. This will take several days as the group is being flown back five or six at a time.

Thankfully for Ryanair, this is one incident that can’t be blamed on them – and those passengers stuck on the island deserve all the inconvenience they can get.

UPDATE: Ryanair issued a response to the incident on their site.

[photo: AFP/Getty Images]

4 reasons why you need a Travel Expert in your pocket

by Chris Owen on

This is the person you want to have on your side when planning travel. Not a Travel Agent, many of them are order takers who fill in the blanks on computer screens. Others try to be everything to everyone and that is just not possible.

Your Travel Expert specializes in one particular area of travel. It might be cruise vacations. They will know what cruise line will work best for you, keep on top of commodity-like cruise pricing and add a great deal of value to your vacation experience. It might be trips to Russia your Travel Expert specialized in. That person will know all there is to know, have been there a bunch of times (if not lived there) and probably speak a good amount of Russian. That’s the person I want helping me plan my vacation. Here are five reasons you need one of those people.

They know what to do in an emergency. You can bet that travelers on the ground in Egypt who have a Travel Expert on their side that knows the lay of the land are glad they do. Any travel agent with the right credentials can book a trip to Egypt. Someone who has visited there a lot or lived there will know specifically what you should do. You will be one of the people that made it out of the country while others lagged behind.

They will be honest with you. Any Travel Expert will tell you without hesitation if what you are looking for is not realistic. The last thing you want is a journey planned by a “yes” man who will say anything to get a sale. If you ever feel you are getting anywhere close to that situation you are not dealing with a Travel Expert. Look for your Travel Expert to speak at functions, teach classes, be involved with travel organizations and be easy to find publicly, like via Facebook, Twitter or a simple Google search.

They will insure a rich experience for you. That same knowledge that can give you an advantage if you had to evacuate a travel destination much more commonly works to enrich your travels. A Travel Expert knows people on the ground where you are going. Regardless of how you get there and what you want or need to see, its the people that will make the difference. A Travel Expert’s recommendation will get you in the door of places you might not ever see without his or her thumbs up.

They will encourage education. Everybody wants to talk about the fabulous places you will visit and things you will see. A Travel Expert will want to give you the knowledge over time that will allow you to appreciate what you will see and experience when you travel. In the olden days they would have given you a travel guide to read, maybe one printed by AAA, a leader in those sort of things. Today they will point you to sources like specific blogs, travel guide sites, and maybe send you a copy of the book they wrote.

You may end up paying one of these people for their expert advice. Be sure that advice comes gift-wrapped with that is called an Errors and Omissions insurance policy backing. That is insurance against loss if something goes horribly wrong directly due to advice you may have received from pretty much anyone in the travel business. Travel agents have it, so do Travel Experts who make a living selling their advice.

Photo: Wiki Commons

Photo of the day – Charles de Gaulle departure board

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Today’s Photo of the Day, snapped by Gadling’s good friend Paul Brady, depicts an enormous Charles de Gaulle departure board. Perhaps nothing excites a frequent traveler like a departure board at a major international hub of an airport, with its long tallies of destinations both relatively close-by and intercontinental. This one, with its dramatic goldenrod, is especially exciting.

Mr. Brady snapped this photograph on Monday. Careful observers will note that flights to Cairo and Oslo were cancelled that day.

Have any images around that call to mind transit on a global scale? Upload them to the Gadling group on Flickr and we might just select one as a future Photo of the Day.