Blind Pilot Makes Successful International Flight

by Jonathon Morgan on

If there’s one thing common to all adventure travelers, it’s the drive to overcome adversity. One British man exemplifies this spirit — flying 13,500 miles from London to Sydney even though he’s completely blind.

Under the supervision of a sighted co-pilot, Miles Hilton-Baber took to the skies for 59 days in a microlight aircraft, competing with snowstorms, freezing temperatures, and torrential downpours. When the trip was completed, not only had Hilton-Barber fulfilled a life-long dream, but he’d also raised a possible $2 million for Seeing is Believing — a charity that works to prevent blindness in developing countries.

And if you think that’s impressive, you should also know that he’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Blanc, run marathons in the Sahara and Gobi deserts, and made an attempt at the South Pole. This man is proof that people really can do anything they set their mind to.

How To Insult Someone Using British Sign Language

by Justin Glow on

Note: If you’re using Internet Explorer, please click here to watch the video (or use Firefox!)


Heading to Britain anytime soon? Need to communicate with the deaf? I found a whole wealth of videos to help you along the way, including everything from how to flirt, how to swear, how to make sexual references, to the one featured above: how to insult someone — all in British sign language!

Note: not for the easily offended (though it’s really not that bad. It’s got mildly not-safe-for-work language, so use your headphones if you must).

You are crap at football!

[via growabrain]

Flirting and Walking Tours of London

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s a London walking tour with a twist. My tour brand a few years ago included a husband, a ten year-old and a toddler in a stroller. We walked (and rolled) all day to take in as many sights as we could. In another life, I might have taken this tour. It’s a concept that might make anyone traveling alone meet up with someone double quick.

Flirting and Walking Tours of London by Allure Seminars offers a way to see the sites AND learn the art of hooking up. Why head to a bar when you can head to an art gallery? Get culture and get kissed. Here’s a news clip that explains how the tours work, plus there’s some flirting tips thrown in. The clip is from 2006, but the tours are still happening.

Charles Dickens Theme Park to Open

by Neil Woodburn on

It was the best of theme parks, it was the worst of theme parks. You be the judge.

The word from merry olde England is that a 70,000 square-foot warehouse has been transformed into a $125 million theme park celebrating the works of author Charles Dickens.

$25 will get literary tourists past the front doors and into a recreated Victorian England compete with pickpockets and ghosts of Christmas past. There will also be a water ride to whisk visitors through various plots and past various characters created by the British author.

Dickens World is located just outside of London and opens May 25.

Hmm… it makes me wonder what other authors can be tapped for similar projects. How about the Franz Kafka Amusement Park? Now that’s something I’d pay $25 to see.

Trouble With Your Love Life? Visit the New Sexual Theme Park

by Jonathon Morgan on

As I’ve mentioned on a number of occasions, the sunny, temperate afternoons and lush green countryside make the UK a great pace to visit during the Spring and Summer. Ahhh.

Now there’s yet another reason for Britain-bound travelers to celebrate — a new sexual “theme park” is has opened in London.

In tourist-friendly Piccadilly Circus, you’ll find Amora, a “love and relationship academy” featuring exhibits that explore every aspect of sexuality, from flirting to fetishes.

After a jaunt though the erotic attraction, you can wander into nearby Soho — which not only is home to great bars, restaurants and jazz clubs, but also the city’s renowned red light district. And — while I wouldn’t normally admit this, but seeing as it’s pertinent — I can personally vouch for at least one of the district’s adult-themed stores. In what has been, as of yet, my only experience with a “sex shop,” I entered one of the Soho’s sleazier establishments at the tender age of 15, and…

Well, we’ll just say it was an eye-opener.

But, at least according to an Amora spokeswoman, sleaze is the last thing you’ll find at the new erotic museum, which aims to inform the more high-brow sexual connoisseur.

Seems worth a visit — as, by the sounds of it, you might even learn a thing or two.