“I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.”

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Translate fail.

In Wales, all road signs must be written in English and Welsh, but as we’ve seen before, it’s easy for things to get lost in translation. When English officials e-mailed a Welsh translator with their latest project, the response (in Welsh) came back, “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.” You can guess what happened next.

According to this BBC article, there have been all kinds of similar mistakes recently in Wales– mistakes that happen when native speakers don’t proofread signs before they’re made. Two more examples they cite:

  • In Cardiff, a sign for pedestrians said “Look right” in English and “Look left” in Welsh.
  • A bilingual sign for cyclists warned them, in Welsh, that they may have problems with an “inflamed bladder.”

Huh?

Trains block signals to prevent cell calls

by Mike Barish on

Being trapped in a confined space with a person who is talking loudly on his cellphone is most certainly one of the circles of Hell. Perhaps no place is worse for such a scenario than a train. Be it a on commuter line like New York’s Long Island Rail Road or a travel rail like Amtrak, the last thing you want while stuck in that metal tube is to be near anyone who is blabbing away on the phone. But now one British railway company is taking measures to completely block cell reception in their railway cars.

According to the Daily Mail, British rail company C2C has begun coating some windows on their trains in a film that blocks cell signals. They designate one car per train as a quiet zone where phones, music devices and other electronics are not permitted and conversations must be conducted “quietly and with consideration for others.”

The film prevents train personnel from having to struggle to enforce the quiet zone rules. And passengers have been very supportive of the initiative thus far. Having once snapped at a person on the train for being too loud on their phone (and receiving a round of applause from my fellow passengers after my tirade was completed), I am not surprised by the rave reviews from C2C customers. And since the general public has proven itself incapable of considering the greater good when choosing its behavior, I am thrilled to see that technology is filling in the gaps left by thoughtless ne’er-do-wells.

C2C runs train service between Essex and London, so if you find yourself in that neck of the woods, drop us a line and let us know if you enjoyed your time in the quiet zone. As for the rest of you, keep it down to a whisper, put your phones on vibrate and maybe try reading a book on the train. Just turn the pages quietly, will ya?

October 31 onwards: £1 rooms at the Hoxton Hotel

by Abha Malpani on

The last time we posted about cheap rooms ($20 rooms at the Leading Hotels of the World), we were thanked for the information, but for nothing as the promotion failed.

Here’s an excerpt from an email sent by LHW to fellow Gadling blogger Jerry Guo, apologizing for the situation: “…We are extremely sorry for the inconveniences we have caused and regret to advise you that the US$19.28 email promotion scheduled for tomorrow October 2nd shall be postponed. Although our original back-up plan provided a viable solution for the 150,000 people who were registered, it was met with some confusion over submission procedures and timing. In addition, we have become increasingly concerned that a large number of non-registered respondents plan to submit forms which would inundate the system and greatly diminish your chances of securing a US$19.28 rate.”

However, one failed promotion of X company doesn’t mean that a similar promotion by Y company will fail too. So for what it’s worth, here’s how you can *try* (again) to get £1 rooms at the Hoxton Hotel in London.

Starting October 31, at 12 noon (7am New York Time), 500 £1 and 500 £29 rooms at the Hoxton will be up for grabs on their website. The rooms are available between 1st November 2008 – 31st January 2009.

Last July when the hotel ran this promotion, the 1000 rooms were sold within 11 minutes, so other than being able to book quickly, you’re going to need a large stroke of luck to get one. However, so that it’s fair, you are only allowed to book 1 room for 1 night at £1.

Here’s the link with all the information and a step-by-step guide as to how to avail of this promotion.

(Oh and don’t forget that when local daylight time is about to reach Sunday, 2 November 2008, 02:00:00 clocks in NY are turned backward 1 hour).

Good luck!

Garage sales and flea markets for travel bargains

by Jamie Rhein on

Garage and yard sales are on the rise as the stock market falls. The picking through what people don’t want to find the items that you must have–even if you never thought you might want one until it was in front of you– has never been better.

Instead of donating items to charity, these days more people are selling them to make some extra cash. Unfortunately, forclosures are also adding to the bounty.

Reading this article in the New York Times about the proliferation of garage sales reminded me of the used items I’ve purchased in my travels and why garage sales are worth putting on your itinerary. Going to a garage sale (or a flea market or thift store) is one way to find items for a lot less than they would cost new, and often reflect the place where you are traveling. You may not be able to find the items back home.

This summer, for example, I bought a brown chips and salsa bowl shaped like a cowboy hat from the thrift store in Philipsburg, Montana. The indentation at the top of the hat is where the salsa goes–the brim is for the chips. It was in mint condition and something I would never buy back home. Because I was in out West, and it looked western, I had to have it. I gave to friends of mine who appreciate kitsch.

When we were in England, I headed to a “boot sale,” the British version of a flea market. There, displayed on a blanket stretched out on the ground, I found a Wedgewood child’s mug with a Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit design. What could be more British or more perfect than that? I bought it for my son who I pushed in his stroller up and down the rows of goods.

If you end up at a destination and discover you’re missing items that you ought to have with you, a garage sale may come to the rescue. A few years ago, we arrived at an A-frame cabin near Mohican State Park in Ohio for a weekend get-a-way with my husband’s brother and his family. We knew the cabin had beds, and for some reason, we thought there would be bedding. There wasn’t and we were so unprepared.

Off we headed to find a store to buy sleeping bags, but with no luck. Instead, we came upon a garage sale at a motel of all places. There on a table were sheets, pillow cases, pillows, one sleeping bag and a full-size comforter. All were clean, in great condition, and ours for $20.

Keep your eyes open. Maybe there’s a deal just around the corner waiting for you in someones yard.

Buying a prepaid mobile phone in the UK may soon require a passport

by Scott Carmichael on

Prepaid mobile phones have long been a travelers best friend. In the past, anyone could pop into the local store, and walk out with an activated mobile phone with a local number.

Sadly, visitors to the UK may soon have to add one more step to their prepaid purchase; showing identification. Apparently the UK government has decided that prepaid phones can be used by terrorists. All customers who purchase a prepaid mobile phone or prepaid SIM card will have to be registered in a national database according to a plan that may put in place as early as January 2009.

This step is just the first of what should become a national UK database of all mobile phone users.

The UK is not the first country to make buying a prepaid phone a hassle. Japan has long made it impossible for short term tourists to get their hands on any kind of prepaid solution (other than phone rentals).

Turkey actually goes one step further, demanding that all tourists register their mobile number with the local mobile operator. Visitors who fail to register their number will actually have their service disconnected while in Turkey!

At the end of the day, this is just another bit of security theater made to let us think we are being kept safe. Terrorists will always find ways to get their hands on mobile phone cards, and once again, it is the regular users and tourists who are being inconvenienced.