Red Corner: Cosmonaut Golfing

by Neil Woodburn on

Golf fanatics travel to all corners of this planet to wield their nine irons. Soon, one will travel beyond this planet to do the same.

Well, technically, Pavel Vinogradov isn’t a golf fanatic. In fact, the game is rarely played in his homeland of Russia. Instead, the western sport of choice these days is capitalism, and that’s the reason Vinogradov will become the first cosmonaut to whack a golf ball into outer space.

Element 21 Golf, a Canadian golf club manufacturer, has paid Russia’s space agency an undisclosed amount for Vinogradov to float outside the International Space Station and launch a gold-plated golf ball into a 17,500 mile-per-hour orbit.

NASA, who has expressed displeasure in the past over Russia selling out the International Space Station for marketing revenue, is currently conducting tests to ensure the safety of the stunt. Can you imagine the damage that a wayward golf ball traveling 17,500 mile-per-hour can cause in outer space? If my satellite TV goes out in August, I’ll know why.

Red Corner: Georgian Wine Fraud

by Neil Woodburn on

During Soviet times, Georgian wines were the most outstanding wines available in the USSR. Stalin, who was Georgian himself, loved these wines. Last summer, when I traveled through the region, I grew to love them as well.

So why do so many bottles taste so very bad these days, especially in Russia? The answer is not due to inferior grapes or winemaking, but the result of counterfeiters. Nefarious bottlers are hijacking the popularity of Georgian brands with not only cheaper wine from places like Bulgaria, but sometimes, not even wine itself but colored dyes and a touch of fermentation.

According to an article in The New York Times, officials estimate that 80% of Georgian wine sold in Russia is counterfeit-the majority of which is actually produced in Russia and affixed with fake Georgian labels. You can just imagine what such a practice is doing to the Georgian brand. But, it looks like it’s not going to matter anyway. Just last month, the Russian government outlawed the import of Georgian wines, citing high pesticide levels-although most suspect the Russians did so for political reasons that had nothing to do with the wine itself.

Nonetheless, if you can get your hands on a legitimate bottle, give it a try. The winemakers in Georgia will be very happy you did. And so will you.

Red Corner: Stalin’s Bunker Opened to Public

by Neil Woodburn on

A company which bought a plot of land in the suburbs of Moscow has discovered that they also bought Stalin’s wartime bunker buried below their new property. Thankfully, being the wise businessmen they are, they decided to open up it up for tours.

I haven’t had the opportunity to check it out myself as it has only recently been opened, but I have come across the following article detailing the tour. And boy does it seem cool. Original statues, maps, tables and a conference room with a domed ceiling are just a few of the items still intact amongst the 200 square meters open to the public. What truly fascinates me, however, are the other 142,800 square meters that remain closed. This is a huge amount of space, enough to hold 2,000 people and a column of tanks.

Apparently access to the bunker was via a secret subway that runs directly from the Kremlin. Tourists, however, enter from a different entrance as this subway has long been legendary and officially does not exist.

Wow. Show me who I can bribe. I would love to have a few days wandering through those subterranean chambers on my own.

Dire Bering Straits

by Erik Olsen on

There you are, having the time of your life, in the
middle of an epic trip, and you get busted. I hate it when that happens. And it’s particularly bad when you’re busted by
the Russian cops because you know they aren’t going to treat you very nice.

And so it went with this
pair of trekkers an American and a Brit, who were venturing in the far east and got arrested after making a
"rare" crossing by foot of a frozen 56-mile stretch of the Bering Strait. Now, to me that is the more
interesting part of the story, but the article here focuses more on the whole arrest thing. To get the more intriguing
details about the crossing, you have to go to the Web site of the Brit Karl
Bushby, where there is much more information, photos and so on. In fact, I’ll be checking back on this site at some
point in the near future and will give you a heads up on the status of these guys.

GADLING'S TAKE FIVE: Week of April 1

by Neil Woodburn on

Friday is wrap-up time.  That means we give you one more chance to catch some of the posts
you may have missed earlier in the week when you were cheating on us and visiting another other website.  Shame on
you. 

5. Red Corner: Walking to Russia
Here’s a great one about a British ex-paratrooper who is 7 ½ years into a 12 year journey around the
world.  And why does it take 12 years to circle the globe?  Well, try doing it on foot and you’ll
understand.

4. Palin to Explore Inside of
Cruise’s Head
Well, the title just about says it all.  As part of our April Fool’s celebration we
did a short bit on what it would be like if traveler extraordinaire Michael Palin were to journey into Tom
Cruise’s head.  It ain’t pretty, it’s comedy.

3. Baby Cone of Silence
Erik’s
contribution to April Fool’s Day was a fictitious product all travelers have wished for at one time or another: a
baby silencer.  Tired of that little brat hollering away in the back of an airplane?  Erik’s little
invention drops from the ceiling and muffles the noise so that we can all go back to sleep. 

2. Putting the ‘F’ Back in
Adventure Travel
How about skipping Disneyworld with the kids this year and take them kayaking in Alaska
instead?  Adrienne penned a nice post this week about the recent increase in family vacations that lean towards
the adventurous instead of the mundane.  It seems parents are opting for real outdoor attractions that don’t
require their children to “be at least this tall” in order to have their senses stimulated. 

1. Sabbaticals and Gap Years
This
is one of those dangerous posts you probably shouldn’t read since it will make you want to do something totally
irresponsible like quit your job and spend a year traveling.  Karen, our newest writer, fills us in on the best
way to do so.  So read up, and quit that job.