Travel Bookshelf: free guidebook to “Angels and Demons” Rome

by Sean McLachlan on

Small press guidebook publisher Roaring Forties Press has released a free guidebook in downloadable PDF format titled Rome’s Angels and Demons: The Insider’s Guide to the Locations Featured in the Book and Movie. Author Angela K. Nickerson covers all the sites mentioned in the bestselling book, and then delves into the historical background of the real characters mentioned in the plot, such as Galileo and Raphael, highlighting sites associated with these famous figures that can still be seen today.

Dan Brown fans and visitors to Rome can learn a lot from this book. For example, the Vatican Secret Archives really exist, and they really do contain the files on Galileo’s trial. There are sections on the Swiss Guard, the Pantheon, and much more. The text is livened up with images by accomplished travel photographer Christine Cantera.

Nickerson is the author of another book on Rome (pictured here) titled A Journey into Michelangelo’s Rome, part of the ArtPlace series by Roaring Forties Press. The Artplace series are lavishly illustrated books that link a city to a famous resident, and Nickerson’s book examines the life and work of one of Renaissance Italy’s greatest artists. I reviewed that book on my own blog. Other destinations include Normandy, Ireland, the south of France, New York, California, and New England.

Ryanair: print your tickets at home or not, you pay

by Tom Johansmeyer on

We’re all used to airline fees that punish inconvenient behavior. So, I was beyond impressed when Ryanair found a way to punish the helpful … and punish the helpless. Starting on May 20, passengers will have to pay €10 if they print their own tickets. Essentially, taking matters into your own hands and saving time and expense at the airport will cost you somewhere between $10 and $15.

It sounds like incentive to cause a delay at the counter while you ask thousands of questions while a ticket agent tries to print your pass as quickly as possible. Michael O’Leary & Company thought of this, however, and are charging €40 ($40 to $60, depending on where exchange rates go) for those who try to avoid the €10 fee.

Put simply: the cost of flying Ryanair just went up €10, unless you want it to be up €40.

Fortunately, there is an exception to this rule. If you picked up a €5 fare that includes all fees, you won’t get slapped with any extras.

Online check-in used to be free. Apparently, this “discriminated” against passengers from outside the European Economic Area, as they weren’t able to check in via the web until recently, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. Key word: weren’t. Now they are. So, the discrimination is gone.

That doesn’t stop Ryanair and its twisted logic, though: the new policy doesn’t discriminate because everybody has to pay!

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Photo of the Day (5.17.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

When you think of fishing, it’s usually in the context of a leisurely afternoon. An old man crouched on a dock or boat, trapped in his own thoughts and the sounds of the sea. This fisherman capture, taken by Flickr user Michael JosephGoldst…etc near Sagres in Portugal, seems to perfectly embody that iconic visual. That’s to say nothing of the unique setting for the photo, fishing off the edge of a huge cliff – look out below!

Have any travel images you’d like to share with our readers? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick yours as our Photo of the Day.

Norway wins big at 2009 Eurovision Song Contest

by Jeffrey White on

Ah, the Eurovision Song Contest — a huge thing in Europe, a non-event for the rest of the world.

Last night marked the finals, which were held in Moscow and broadcast in nearly 50 countries.

Norway’s baby-faced Alexander Rybak won the event, beating out 24 other countries and earning a record-breaking 387 points for his song “Fairytale.” Iceland came in second place, and Azerbaijan came in third.

The contest is held between active members of the European Broadcasting Union. Voting is a little complicated. Some 42 countries are eligible to vote, but cannot vote for their own entry in the song contest. Through both public voting and a jury, each country awards a set of points from 1 to 8, and then 10 and 12, with 12 being for the song they liked best.

This was the first year in some time that juries were let back into the voting process, following complaints from some that public voting essentially guaranteed that each country would vote for its closest neighbors.

There is still a lot of that kind of bloc-voting, though. The Balkans tended to throw their votes to other Balkan countries; ditto Scandinavian countries. But one of the big differences was that no matter what, most countries were giving their top points to Norway.

I’ll admit, I like the Eurovision Song Contest. I like the nationalism of it, and the politics (Georgia’s song was banned because it was deemed at being insulting to Russia). I like watching the performances, many of which are just awful (you can see some highlights here). This year in particular seemed to favor songs that required confusing costumes and even more confusing background dancing.

Of course, you might not know the name of Alexander Rybak. But you know some other former Eurovision Song Contest winners: LuLu (UK), ABBA (Sweden) and Celine Dion, who won the contest in 1988 singing for…Switzerland.

Ten Bugs You Really Want To Avoid

by Kraig Becker on

One of the scariest things when you travel is encountering crazy insects in the places you visit. For some reason, I always seem to encounter bugs the size of my hand that look like something out of Aliens and generally pack a pretty nasty bite and/or sting.

Seems I’m not the only one, because the gang over at Environmental Graffiti have put together a list of the 10 most diabolical insects on Earth, with some down right nasty bugs making an appearance. For instance, cockroaches make the list in the number 10 spot. According to the story there are more than 4000 different species of cockroaches, many of which can grow quite large. And lets not forget the ever popular hissing cockroach that make foul noises to go along with their other foul habits.

Mosquitos earn their number 2 ranking by virute of the deadly diseases they have a propensity to spread. The article says that this tiny insect may be responsible for the death of over half the humans that have ever lived thanks to malaria and yellow fever. And that’s just the beginning of the scary mosquito facts.

The other eight bugs are just as nasty and will probably make your skin crawl. But if you like creepy crawly things, you’ll get a kick out of the list.

So, what’s the craziest bug you’ve seen while traveling?