UK offers virtual funerals

by Abha Malpani on

One of the only times travel sucks is when you have to for a dear one’s funeral. In our chaotic lives these days, unless it’s very close family or friends, it’s tough to be able to travel cross-continent just to pay respect to someone dear who has died.

The UK has a solution for this: overseas mourners of deceased family or friends in Britain will no longer need to feel bad that they cannot fly in for the funeral as they can now watch it on a live web cast.

The initiative is the brain child of bereavement music company Wesley Music and can be availed of for a one time fee of £75. The funeral web cast will be live from a camera at the chapel, and to view the funeral you will be given a special access password.

Although criticized by many, I personally think it’s a great service — especially if you live in a different country — as you can be part of a funeral not only mentally and spiritually, but ‘visually’ as well, almost as good as being there, no?

What strange things have been found on planes?


Click the image to read the bizarre story…

Ten tips for smarter packing

by Kent Wien on

If you haven’t checked out the search engine Mahalo, you might be pleasantly surprised. Mahalo’s goal is to hand-write and maintain the top 50,000 search terms. The effort they’re putting into these articles is refreshing. They’ve even tackled a subject near and dear to Gadling; ten packing tips for your next trip.

I was glad to see that I’ve incorporated at least eight out of ten of the tips when flying. For now, I might pass on donating my clothes at my destination, and I would add a couple of others, like making a checklist–which admittedly I still haven’t done even after forgetting to bring pants on my last London trip. To avoid the real horror of forgetting a power adapter for my laptop, I’ve bought an extra to leave in the suitcase permanently, along with my second set of toiletries which are a must.

How about you? Let us know of any tips that you’ve discovered to make packing less of a pain or if you’ve found a better way to travel light.

Nominate your favorite travel site for the 2008 Travvies

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Got a favorite travel website? Here’s your chance to give us it the praise it so richly deserves.

The 2008 Travvies– the “Oscars” of the travel website biz– recently announced they are accepting nominations for a variety of categories, including Best Group-Written Travel Blog, Best Photography, Best Destination Blog, and the grand prize, Best Travel Blog.

The awards are once again being handed out by Upgrade: Travel Better, which, I must say, is the fairest site in all the land.

Head on over there and nominate away, up to three sites per category.

Use a cell phone to secure your Southwest Airlines boarding pass

by Justin Glow on

Over a year ago, I wrote about how you can print your Southwest Airlines boarding pass without a printer, but since then I got a Blackberry and have adapted the same concept to a cell phone.

Two weekends ago, I was in Chicago for St. Patrick’s Day, and instead of leaving the party mid-day Saturday to find a computer to check in and get my “A” boarding pass for our Sunday flight back home, I used my cell phone’s Internet browser to login to Southwest Airline’s website. Once I entered in my information, it took me to the screen where I could select the passengers to check in and hit “print boarding pass.”

Obviously I didn’t have a printer attached to my cell phone, but with Southwest’s system it doesn’t matter. I was able to see on-screen that I had secured an “A” boarding pass, so I closed out of it and continued on my marry way. Come Sunday, hungover and ready for the flight back home, we arrived at Midway and found a SWA check-in kiosk. There I swiped my credit card, and instead of selecting “print boarding pass,” I selected “re-print boarding pass.”

Southwest does this in case you lose your boarding pass or run out of printer ink mid-print, but it’s perfect for checking in using your cell phone or printing your boarding pass if you don’t have a printer at home, but still want that coveted “A” position. Give it a try.

Google Maps Street View catches what looks like a drug deal in Chicago

by Justin Glow on

That pesky Google van with the camera is up to its old shenanigans again! This time, it snapped what looks like a drug deal in progress on the streets of south Chicago. Of course, it could be something completely innocent; handing money through a car window isn’t illegal. Maybe the gentleman’s grandmother was headed to the grocery store and he wanted her to pick-up some milk and eggs for him? Or maybe he was buying the car. Remember, all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

[Via NOTCOT]