Sexy Italian minister in damage control mode after rip-off reports

by Scott Carmichael on

When a huge portion of your economy depends on tourism money, the last thing you want is a lot of bad press about how your country is ripping off tourists.

So, it must really suck to be Italy this week. After two Japanese tourists contacted local Rome police about an insane dinner bill, the government has finally announced plans to combat these scams.

The Japanese couple hadn’t even ordered anything too outrageous – it was a fairly basic restaurant, with a pretty normal Italian dinner of spaghetti, a bottle of wine and some ice cream. The bill for this dinner should have been about $100, but the restaurant tried to make them pay over $1000, including a “mandatory” $160 tip.

Of course, when news of this scam hit the Japanese press, Italy quickly began to feel the pain. So much in fact, that the tourism minister wrote an open letter apologizing, and trying to convince future tourists that the Italian government would do everything in its power to prevent these scams.

This couldn’t come at a worse moment – the Italian tourism industry is in the middle of a perfect storm. Some tourism operators are seeing drops of up to 60% in customers. Even popular destinations like Florence are down 20%, with some hotels so desperate that they are considering closing for a couple of months.

The Italian tourism minister, Michela Brambilla was recently appointed by Silvio Berlusconi himself, and a quick look at her photos will probably explain why (slightly NSFW photos posted after the jump).

Gadlinks for Friday 7.24.09

by Brenda Yun on


Happy Friday, Gadling! There are all kinds of great travel reads (and a contest!) out there on the world wide web today. Here are a few…

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend!

More Gadlinks HERE.

Mongol Rally sends drivers on a 10,000 mile road trip

by Kraig Becker on

The sixth edition of the Mongol Rally got underway earlier this week when 400 teams, making a simultaneous start from the U.K., Spain, and Italy, set off on the ultimate road trip. Over the next month, their 10,000 mile journey will span two continents, pass over mountains, through deserts and jungles, and will only end once they reach the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.

But the Mongol Rally isn’t just any road race. There are some strict rules that the competitors must adhere to. For instance, this isn’t a rally for speed demons, as the largest engine allowed in the competition is a mere 1.2 liters in size. And since the race is used to raise money for a number of charities, the teams are required to raise at least £1000, which is roughly the equivalent of $1650.

Perhaps the most important rule however, is that the teams are completely on their own once the race is underway. That means they have no back-up, no support, and if they run into any kind of trouble, they’ll have to find their own way out. The race is completely self-supported, and all the participants will have to be quite resourceful to over come the inevitable ostacles that will arise on their way to Mongolia.

There was a new rule added to the rally this year which requires that all the cars that are used in the race must be less than ten years old. The reason for this, is that the vehicles are also donated to charity once they reach Mongolia, and the government there has stipulated this change in order to ensure the cars that arrive are of high quality and safer for the environment.

One of the more interesting aspects of the race is that there is no set route that the teams must follow on their journey to Ulaanbaatar. In fact, they are encouraged too “get out there into the world, get lost, stuck and in trouble”, as they make their way across Europe and Asia. The Mongol Rally website does offer some examples of past routes however, and you can see that teams have ranged as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Afghanistan in their wanderings.

This looks like the ultimate driving adventure. Who wouldn’t want to load up a few friends, stock up on drinks and snacks and hit the road for a 10,000 mile drive?

Venice gets its first female gondolier

by Sean McLachlan on

Women’s Rights: 1

Tradition: 0

Venice has broken a nine hundred year-old tradition by certifying its first female gondolier. The trade, normally handed down from father to son, recently opened up to everyone when the city of Venice introduced an official gondoliering course in 2007. That course has just had its first female graduate, the Guardian reported.

Giorgia Boscolo, a 23 year-old mother of two, said that she’s always been enchanted with gondolas and that childbirth is much more difficult than maneuvering the large boats through narrow canals. Boscolo had to take 400 hours of coursework and prove a detailed knowledge of Venice’s labyrinth of waterways.

It will be interesting to see how accepted she will be by the other gondoliers, but one thing’s for certain, she’ll certainly be getting a lot of customers until more female gondoliers start plying the waters of Venice and the novelty wears off.

Any bets on what year will be the last year to have a female “first”? There are a lot more barriers left to break. Running a gondola isn’t exactly walking on the moon, but it cuts the number by one, and that’s something to be proud of.

Top 10 stupidest laws you could encounter abroad


18 unique travel experiences for the well traveled

by Kraig Becker on

So you think you’ve been everywhere and done everything? Is their something missing when you travel these days? Is the sense of adventure gone? Never fear, because the Times Online has compiled an interesting list of 18 unique travel experiences that are designed to give us a special experience on our getaways.

The suggestions on the list run the gamut from adventurous to decadent to down right surreal. For instance, if you’re headed to southern Africa, then you might want to stay with the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, where you’ll have the opportunity to go on an initiation hunt and spend the night in their village. If that seems like you might be roughing it a bit too much, than perhaps you’d prefer to spend the night on a private island and go sailing off the coast of Croatia. How about taking an exclusive tour of Nefertari’s Tomb in Egypt, where you’ll be one of just 20 visitors in the soon to be closed monument. Or, how about the workout of a lifetime when you’ll be training with the the toughest rugby team on the planet, New Zealand’s All Blacks, , for one very intense week.

Each of the travel experiences comes with a good description of what you can expect on your unique adventure. A link is included to the travel company that is offering the trip, along with expected prices, in this case listed in pounds. But be warned, these one-of-a-kind experiences don’t come cheap, but how do you put a price tag on this kind of excitement?