Her Majesty the Queen no longer exempt from the hassles of airport security

by Scott Carmichael on

Queen Elizabeth II will soon become one of the last people on the planet to be subjected to the hassles of airport security. For some insane reason, her own government has decided that every single air traveler will have to be screened to be sure they are not on a list of known terrorists – and no exception is made for anyone.

The UK system is called e-borders, and is similar to current technology in place in the United States. Every single border passage will be logged, and travelers will need to provide their name, age, gender, date of birth and address.

How the Queen will be able to prove she is who she is will be challenging as she does not carry a passport, and is not required to. In the UK, all passports are issued “in the name of Her Majesty”. All I know is that I’d hate to be the one working the border crossing the day she passes through.

The new measures apply to anybody entering the UK – which includes all levels of VIP, including our own President. The measures even bring an end to the common practice of allowing VIP’s to travel using a pseudonym. Security experts are concerned that forcing high level VIP’s to use their own name will be a bigger security threat than the possibility of the Queen turning out to be a terrorist in disguise.

British couple awarded over $35,000 for “loss of enjoyment” on cruise

by Katie Hammel on

When Terence and Cynthia Milner booked a 15-week, $100,000 round-the-world cruise on Cunard’s Queen Victoria, they were expecting the trip of a lifetime. Instead, they claim the experience was so horrible that they had to get off the ship early in Hawaii, at which point they were “in a terrible state.”

The problem: apparently the first night they heard unbearable noise in their cabin. They were moved, and moved again and again but continued to find each successive cabin equally unsatisfactory until they could take it no more. Cunard refunded the couple nearly $80,000 for the portion of the cruise they missed, but the Milners wanted more. The took Cunard to court, and were awarded an additional 22,000 pounds (about $36,600) with the majority of the money awarded for “distress and disappointment.” Another portion of the settlement was awarded to cover the £4,300 worth of formal dresses Mrs. Milner bought, which she is now unable to wear because they are an “unwelcome reminder of the cruise.”

According to the BBC, the Milners claim they were first moved to a cabin fitted for the disabled, which was located near the engine and was very noisy. They were then moved to another cabin, but were concerned that they wouldn’t have it the whole time because it was booked by another couple joining the cruise later. By this time, Milners were terribly afflicted with mouth ulcers and breathing difficulties, so they jumped ship in Hawaii, where they vacationed for six weeks, all the while “exhausted and inconsolable.”

Exhausted and inconsolable in Hawaii? I suppose that could be true….if they Milners couldn’t find contentment on a $100,000 round-the-world luxury cruise, I doubt they could find it anywhere.

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London the new bargain basement destination for Europeans

by Scott Carmichael on

It has been a very tough year for London – not only has it been rated as having the worst hotels in Europe, it also lost its spot as one of the most expensive (and profitable) in Europe.

Of course, the people that benefit this most from this are people that don’t live in the UK. Prices in London are so low, that many Europeans are turning to the British Capital for its cheap shopping opportunities. The combination of a weak Pound and ultra cheap airfare is sending 100’s of planeloads of Europeans to London each day.

With plane tickets being sold for as little as $1 (Thanks Ryanair!), it can be cheaper to fly to London, than to load up the car and drive to many traditional shopping destinations. The Dutch used to drive to German Christmas markets to do some shopping, but now many of them head to the nearest airport and spend the day walking up and down Oxford Street.

Five years ago, one Pound would cost about one and a half Euros – at the current exchange rate, they are almost on parity with each other. Combine this with stores offering steep discounts, and you have a country that has become one big outlet mall. Items that cost EUR1500 in Europe, are selling for GBP450.

Gadlinks for Friday 12.4.2009

by Brenda Yun on

It’s time to take in the first weekend of December. The web’s been abuzz with tons of travel-worthy stories, so your weekend reading material is pretty hearty. Hope you enjoy!

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend.

More Gadlinks here.

English town displays lamest Christmas tree ever

by Aaron Hotfelder on

“People think you can just go into the woods, chop down a tree and put it up in the high street,” says Richard Randall-Jones, a town manager for Poole in southern England. “But if it blows over and kills someone then somebody is liable.”

So instead of taking the infinitesimally small chance that the tree would put a Poole resident out of commission, the town decided to erect the world’s lamest Christmas tree. According to the Times Online, the tree has “no trunk so it won’t blow over, no branches to break off and land on someone’s head, no pine needles to poke a passer-by in the eye, no decorations for drunken teenagers to steal and no angel, presumably because it would need a dangerously long ladder to place it at the top.”

The result, as you can see from the picture above, is a giant, hideous, AstroTurf-covered traffic cone.

The tree, which cost the city about 14,000 pounds, is not exactly putting shoppers in the Christmas mood. “It’s horrible,” says 54-year-old Karen Byron. “If you are going to have a fake tree then it ought to resemble a tree. You can get some really good fake trees but this is awful. It doesn’t feel Christmassy at all.”

Another resident, Bill Scott, called the tree “a total disgrace.” “I’m an army man,” he said, “and it would be wrong for me to express my real feelings in language other people might hear.”

More here.