London hotel gives guests an iPad during stay

by Melanie Nayer on

You can buy an iPad for $499, or you can rent a suite at The Berkley in London for £1,850 (approximately $2,800 USD) and get to use an iPad during your stay.

Let’s break that down a bit:

One iPad at $499 to own and use whenever you want or
The use of an iPad for one night when you rent a suite in London for £1,850
£1,850 = approximately $2,800 (as of the date of this article)
$2,800 will buy you 5 iPads (plus tax and shipping, if necessary)

The draw here is that the iPad isn’t available in the UK until later this month, so the London hotel is tempting guests with the coveted iPad for use during their stay. The Berkley’s in-suite iPad will include a variety of games, videos and comics for children as well as downloads of several newspapers, ranging from Le Monde to the Wall Street Journal. The hotel iPad will also come complete with guided tours of London and plenty of Apple iPad applications to help guests plan their London itinerary.

You have to stay in a suite to get use of the iPad. Or, you can just buy your own iPad.

Riders stuck hanging upside down on U.K. coaster

by Leigh Caldwell on

Most roller coaster fans will tell you that the best part is the adrenaline rush you get when the ride ends. But what happens when a ride leaves you hanging?

That’s what happened to five people riding the Mumbo Jumbo coaster at Flamingo Land theme park in Yorkshire, England, on Tuesday.

London’s Daily Mail reports that the thrill seekers were riding the coaster when their ride car came to a stop, leaving them dangling upside down about 50 feet off the ground.

They were stuck there for about 20 minutes before being freed from the ride by theme park workers.

Flamingo Land officials say mechanical problems weren’t to blame for the incident. Apparently a rain poncho dropped by a park guests got stuck under the ride car, and that brought the fun to an end.

The Mumbo Jumbo opened in July 2009. Guinness says the coaster holds the world record for having the steepest drop.


Rick Steves’ New Travel Mag

by Andrew Evans on

Just in time for you to change your summer travel plans, the Smithsonian and Rick Steves just launched their special summer edition magazine, Smithsonian Presents “TRAVELS with Rick Steves”. (In case you forgot, a magazine is a bundle of glossy paper printed with pretty colored pictures and some words, then bound with staples and placed within arm’s reach of the toilet in case you lose your iPad and need something to read.)

Just like Rick Steves the person, Rick Steves the magazine is dedicated to traveling in Europe. The 104-page Eurofest breaks down into 24 articles that describe Europe’s “Top 20 Destinations” which mixes up the obvious (Florence, Prague, Rome, Paris, and Venice) with the obscure (Denmark’s Aero Island, Bosnia’s Mostar, and the tiny Austrian village of Hallstatt). As an unapologetic advertorial, the magazines flips between a few scant full-page ads for Smithsonian Journeys and Rick Steves Tours. For a mere five bucks, you can buy a still-warm copy from the 100,000-strong print run at a newsstand near you.

Now honestly, I know nothing about Rick Steves other than he’s quite famous for helping regular Americans take tours of Europe. Also, many travelers who I respect swear by his travel guides, and once upon a time, a bunch of his fans mistook me for his assistant at a book signing. After reading his entire magazine cover to cover, I made the amazing discovery that the masthead lists only one writer. Yes, Rick Steves wrote the entire magazine all by himself, so… respect. The guy works hard and is way gutsy… gutsy enough to publish a print travel magazine in 2010.Love him or hate him, Rick Steves is a brand that’s infected America in much the same way as Target, Wranglers, and hip hop music sung by Caucasians. He’s everywhere and we all end up liking him, just like a lot of Americans enjoyed the movie “Chocolat” and a lot of Americans dream of carrying a baguette under one arm in France or clinking beer steins in Germany or sipping ouzo shots in Greece. This magazine is for them. For us pickier travel snobs, the gorgeous photo spreads and classy Smithsonian layout gives Rick the royal treatment and makes us all want to book a trip to Europe with our new best friend Rick.

Nevertheless, for someone whose entire identity involves leading America by the hand through Europe’s backdoor, it’s hard not to ignore Rick’s hearty embrace of cliché. His magazine’s titles highlight “Storybook” England, “Sound of Music” Austria, and “Heidi’s Switzerland” before trailing off into a slew of earth-shattering travel tips such as “David is a must-see visit in Florence”.

Now, if I wrote travel copy like that, my editors would shove it through a shredder. Twice. All you would have is a bunch of little squares of paper-like confetti thrown at a quaint Italian wedding that I just happened to run into as I was strolling down a cobblestone street under a buttery Tuscan sunset.

I much preferred Rick’s more honest and authentic articles like the “Best Little Street in Paris”–a candid Polaroid narrative about Rue Cler in the 7th Arrondissement–and his heartfelt discovery of Danish island life. I was also happy to see some of the Rick Steve love shine down on Blackpool–a northern British seaside resort that very few Americans ever visit.

If Rick Steves and Smithsonian want to feed our dreams of Europe, then mission accomplished. I want to go to all the places listed and now that I’ve read this sunny version of their Top 20 list, I’m so there. My only conjecture is that the “quaint folksiness” Rick so adamantly warns travelers against might also be the very product that he’s selling.

More flight cancellations in Ireland and Scotland

by Sean McLachlan on

Those hoping that yesterday’s closure of airports in Ireland and parts of Scotland would only be a one-day affair were disappointed when the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull came back with renewed strength.

Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, and numerous smaller airports have closed, and the Civil Aviation Authority says northern England may also be affected. Officials added that airports further south, such as Heathrow and Gatwick, will probably escape for now.

Airplanes are not only forbidden to fly through thick concentrations of volcanic ash, but must also stay more than 60 nautical miles (69 terrestrial miles) away from them.

Officials say the ash will be thickest over Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and western Scotland all of today.

The last time Eyjafjallajökull erupted was 1821, when it ejected clouds of ash on and off for more than a year.

Alton Towers theme park offers free mullets and perms for employees

by Leigh Caldwell on

British theme park Alton Towers – the site of the 2009 Speedo ban that delighted women worldwide – is bravely trying to bring back the mullet.

The park is headed back to the 1980s to celebrate its 30th anniversary later this month.

So to give Alton Towers a more authentic 1980s feel, officials are offering employee makeovers – complete with mullet haircuts for the guys and perms for the gals.

The “business in the front, party in the back” look had its heyday around the time of the artists at a concert planned for May 23 at Alton Towers.

Rick Astley (“Never Gonna Give You Up”), Bananarama (“Cruel Summer”) and Kim Wilde (“Kids in America”) are scheduled to perform at the show, which is free with theme park admission.

Discounted early bird tickets are available online for about $38.