Man Completes First-Ever Cross-Country Wheelchair Trek

by Michael Yessis on

Gabriel Cordell rolled into his hometown of West Hempstead, New York, Monday night, becoming the first person to travel across the United States in a manual wheelchair. The 42-year-old’s journey began 99 days earlier in Santa Monica, California.

The Malverne-West Hempstead-Lynbrook Patch was there at the finish of his 3,100-mile quest. Cordell said: “I want to bring inspiration to people around the world … that people can do whatever they aspire to do.”

Cordell was accompanied by seven people for most of his journey, including Lisa France, the director and producer of Roll With Me, an upcoming documentary about the trek. Cordell acknowledged a debt to France.From Patch:

“I didn’t have one penny, just my will and my wheelchair,” Cordell said. “She believed in me and dropped everything in her life to make his happen. I am indebted into her greatly and she is forever my second sister.”

Cordell added:

“This has been a really tough journey on my family,” Cordell said. “But I can finally say that, mom and dad … your son made history baby!”

If this inspires you, check out this video of the world’s first underwater wheelchair.

Royal Baby’s Arrival To Be Celebrated At Heathrow

by Chris Owen on

London’s Heathrow airport has plans for a very special “arrival” of the royal baby. The first 1,000 arriving passengers in each terminal after the royal birth, whenever that may be, will be informed of the future heir’s birth with complimentary bespoke t-shirts and British gift boxes including Twinings Tea and Walkers shortbread biscuits.

Departing passengers will also receive the gift boxes in the departures lounges as a farewell, giving them a piece of Britain to take home. Heathrow representatives, collectively speaking over 40 languages, will be on hand to make everyone feel right at home.

While the royal baby will surely trump other comings and goings at Heathrow, the first British Airways A380 was also a recent celebrated arrival. See the video below.

8 Productive Things To Do On Your Next Layover

by Libby Zay on

The next time you have a layover, don’t waste hours on end playing Candy Crush. There are plenty more productive things you can do with your time. In fact, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport now has a kiosk where you can learn CPR. How’s that for useful?

If you’re not passing through DFW, here are some other ideas for constructive ways to pass the time:

  1. Learn a New Language: You won’t master Spanish while waiting for the next flight to Panama, but thanks to a slew of language-learning apps, you can at least practice.
  2. Get Some Exercise: This doesn’t mean you need to roll out a yoga mat in public. Use the break from the cramped airline seat to walk around the terminal or do some simple stretches.
  3. Get a Haircut: You might think it’s cool to look like a homeless person after your backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, but you’re probably the only one. Take advantage of the barbershops and salons that can now be found in many airports.
  4. Reorganize Your Bag: Now that you’re not throwing things in your bag in a packing frenzy, figure out how to reorganize and make it easier to find everything you brought. Now you’ll have room for souvenirs!
  5. Write, Read or Plan: Send a postcard to a friend. Rework that future award-winning travel narrative. Read all those parts of your guidebook you skipped before (unless you hate your guidebook, that is). Plan your next move. Do your taxes. Whatever you choose, just do something.
  6. Get a Drink: If you don’t agree this is “productive,” buy me a beer and we’ll talk.
  7. Write an Airline Review: This one’s for those unplanned layovers. Use that time to let the airline — and everyone else on the Internet — know about your missed connection.
  8. Call Your Mom: Seriously. You should do this more often.

How Do Dogs Find Explosives At Airports?

by Libby Zay on

Behind every bomb-sniffing dog at the airport is hours and hours of repetition and reward. For many, their training starts with a canine kindergarten and continues until they graduate from an elite academy run by MSA Security. Around 160 teams work with these dogs, usually in tandem with the same handler for eight or nine years, until the dog is retired. Smithsonian magazine looks into what goes into training these dogs and how, exactly, dogs detect bombs. Here’s an excerpt:

Merry and Zane Roberts, MSA’s lead canine trainer, work their way along the line of luggage pieces, checking for the chemical vapors-or “volatiles”-that come off their undersides and metal frames. Strictly speaking, the dog doesn’t smell the bomb. It deconstructs an odor into its components, picking out just the culprit chemicals it has been trained to detect. Roberts likes to use the spaghetti sauce analogy. “When you walk into a kitchen where someone is cooking spaghetti sauce, your nose says aha, spaghetti sauce. A dog’s nose doesn’t say that. Instinctively, it says tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, onion, oregano.” It’s the handler who says tomato sauce, or, as it happens, bomb.

Thanks, Smithsonian magazine. I will never smell spaghetti sauce the same way again.

[via Gizmodo]

Scientists Explain Veggies Suffer Jet Lag, Too

by Libby Zay on

Humans aren’t the only ones whose internal clocks get all out of whack when they fly. It looks like vegetables also feel the effects of jet lag, which happens when our light and dark cycles are thrown off. Toward the end of this factoid-filled video from Mashable there’s a longer explanation, plus a silly skit about a jet-lagged eggplant. And here’s a report from NPR that explains how scientists are using this knowledge to coax vegetables into producing more beneficial compounds.

Toying with the idea of conducting an experiment of your own? Make sure you follow the rules of the Transportation Security Administration, or any other international agency, before bringing any food on board a plane or across borders. Carrot circadian clocks aside, here are some tips from Gadling readers that might help you ward off jet lag on your next trip.