Photo of the Day (6.6.09)

by Brenda Yun on

Take one guess where this photo was shot. Even if you’ve never been there, it’s not too difficult to tell. If you said America, you’re really warm. If you were even more accurate and said BOSTON, you’re right on the money! Maybe the towering blue Hancock building gave it away? Or was it the dark clouds that somehow loom over the city every fall and spring?

Though this photo, which comes to us in high definition from Patrick Powers, doesn’t show it, Beantown is celebrating the end of spring and the beginning of summer. And you know what that means: baseball, the Red Sox, Fenway — and lots of ’em! I was just there last weekend, and while the weather looked like this when I arrived, it was a bright and hot 75 degrees when I left. Ah…. Boston…

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

Top 10 national parks, thanks to TripAdvisor

by Tom Johansmeyer on

More than 3,000 TripAdvisor readers in the United States have selected the top 10 national parks. Big shock: nine out of 10 are out west. Only Maine made it onto the list. But, let’s face it – if you want big, impressive national parks, you have leave the East Coast.

These readers are definitely interested in the national park scene. More than 70 percent plan to visit one this year, up from 62 percent in 2008. And, searches on TripAdvisor for “national park” and “national parks” are up 21 percent for the first five months of 2009 (relative to the same period last year).

So, what are the top spots?

  1. Zion National Park, Utah
  2. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
  3. White Sands National Monument, New Mexico
  4. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
  5. Redwood National and State Parks, California
  6. Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
  7. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
  8. Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
  9. Yosemite National Park, California
  10. Acadia National Park, Maine

“As Americans look for inexpensive travel ideas this summer, many are seeking out the amazing natural beauty that lies in our country’s own back yard,” said Michele Perry, vice president of global communications for TripAdvisor. “National Parks can offer travelers an active, affordable and often awe-inspiring escape outdoors.”

In-flight bathroom bandit strikes deal

by Tom Johansmeyer on
All Joao Correa wanted to do was go to the bathroom. He ate something bad and needed to get it out of his system … we’ve all been there. A beverage cart stood in his way, but that wouldn’t deter the spirit of this passenger. He asked to use the first class lavatory: denied. So, his only hope was on the other side of that cart – which didn’t move for several minutes. The chain of events that followed would result in an encounter with the legal system. Thanks to a deal with the feds, Correa will be able to put all this behind him.

Correa claims that the flight attendant raised her arm to block him and that he grabbed that appendage to keep his balance. She, apparently, didn’t agree. Nonetheless, a pilot was called back from the cockpit, and he allowed the passenger to reach is mid-flight destination. He was arrested when the plane landed.

Now, Correa’s a free man. He completed a three-month pretrial diversion program and is no longer a “danger” to flying society.

One bit of advice Correa: don’t eat before flying! Hell, that’s advice I’ll probably follow, too.

Photo of the Day (6.5.09)

by Aaron Hotfelder on

It’s okay– I was fooled by this photo at first, too. But Gadling’s crack research team has informed me that this is not the world’s largest man or the world’s tiniest waterfall.

Flickr user AlphaTangoBravo brings us this creative forced perspective shot of McWay Falls in California’s Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I’m always up for a little humor in photography, whether it’s holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa (or pushing it down), touching the tip of Matterhorn from thousands of feet away, or holding your friend in the palm of your hand.

Got some pics you want considered for Gadling’s Photo of the Day? Submit your best shots here.

Airline employee helps roommate get on plane strapped

by Tom Johansmeyer on

A US Airways employee had the brilliant idea of helping his roommate bring a concealed semiautomatic handgun onto a plane yesterday. On the bright side, this would have meant one less gun on the streets of Philly. Now, both have been charged by the FBI.

Roshid Milledge, a customer service agent, switched bags with passenger Damien Young at the gate, so Young could bring his unloaded weapon on board the plane. He was moving to Phoenix and asked Milledge about the rules for transporting firearms. Instead of following the rules (how boring …), the customer service rep decided to elevate how passengers are treated by airlines and carried the 9mm gun through an employee entrance, bypassing security.

Another passenger, however, saw that Milledge looked “fidgety.” It didn’t take long for the authorities to find Young, who was comfortably on the plane, and bring him back to the gate (after the plane had begun to taxi).

Now, both Milledge and Young are in federal custody, and according to the Associated Press, neither seemed to be represented by council (yeah … smart).

So, what about all those other passengers on board … you know, the folks who didn’t blow off the rules? They were delayed several hours.

Yet another delay caused by airline customer service …