From London to Timbuktu in a Flying Car

by Kraig Becker on

British adventurer Neil Laughton will begin a unique odyssey tomorrow. The former special forces officer will depart from London on his way to Timbuktu, located in the African country of Mali, and while a journey like this one is interesting in and of itself, it is Laughton’s mode of transportation that really sets it apart.

Laughton will be traveling in a specially designed dune buggy dubbed the Skycar, which is a cross between an off-road vehicle and a paraglider. Utalizing a giant parachute and a large fan mounted on the back of the car, the driver is able to take flight, transitioning from the ground to the air in just three minutes. While in flight mode, it typically cruises between 2000 and 3000 feet, but can reach altitudes as high as 15,000 feet. All the while running on biofuel, making this an environmentally friendly endevour.The 4000 mile expedition is expected to take roughly 42 days, traveling from London to France, Spain, Morrocco, Mauritania and of course Mali. The return trip will also pass through Senegal as well. Much of that distance will be covered on the ground, where the Skycar can reach speeds of up to 108 mph, but Laughton will pilot his flying car over the Pyrenees, followed by the Strait of Gibralter, and the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, although Laughton hasn’t ruled out taking to the sky at other times as well.

The team behind the Skycar sees this adventure as a shakedown cruise to test out their little toy. If all goes well, they intend to sell the vehicle to the general public, hoping to get as much as $75,000 for a car that can literally take you just about anywhere.

You can track the expedition’s progress on the official website.

[via the BBC (video included with story)]

Europe books it more online

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Online travel searches may be down, but online bookings are up (at least in Europe). At the end of 2008, 29 percent of Europe‘s €246 billion travel industry happened in that strange place called the “internet.” Traditional bookings are expected to inch higher by 3 percent, providing just a tad more proof that the action’s on the web. PhoCusWright uncovered this and other travel tidbits in a series of reports it just released.

Spain‘s rail and hotel businesses are starting to shift more transactions to the web, making this country one of the fastest growing for online travel. Seventeen percent in 2007, online bookings are projected to hit 26 percent in 2010. I hope to be part of the solution, as I’ll be booking my hotel in Madrid next month on FastBooking. Italy’s expected to hit 18 percent by 2010.

France is already the second largest online direct booking market in Europe and isn’t slowing down. In 2008, it grew an estimated 16 percent to €7.3 billion, but online travel agencies are growing at an even faster rate. More than 25 percent of all travel is booked online in France, with Germany not far behind at around 20 percent.

Yeah, and there’s a whole lot more. If you’re a stats geek like I am, check out some of the reports that PhoCusWright has available on the travel market. Interesting stuff.

Travel to France for free on the Jet Lag Study

by Grant Martin on

If you’ve always wanted to go to France but have never had the money or means, your opportunity may have just come knocking. Clinilabs, a New York City-based team focused on the study of sleep disorders is sponsoring a study on jet lag, the feeling of lost sleep and incorrect body time when you cross into a different time zone. And to complete the study you have to spend time in both of their research facilities — one in New York and one in France.

They’ll pay you up to $2,500 for your work, including a few days in Midtown New York and a few days in France.

Right, you say, what’s the catch? Well, from what I’ve read of first hand accounts, here’s how things loosely go: you basically have to get to the City two or three times on your own for some initial tests and an overnight stay. After that, you come back to NYC, catch a private Gulfstream jet out to a facility near the French – Swiss border then hang out an in a lab staring at the bucolic countryside with electrodes attached to you for a few days. Two weeks after you get back, you get a check in the mail.

So will you be sitting in Paris cafés sipping Champagne, eating baguette and staring at the Eifel Tower? Nope. But will you get to fly in a private jet, see some of the French countryside and make twenty five hundred bucks? Yep. Heck, I would do it.

Rumor has it that they’re taking applications again in January. Check out the site here for more info.

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Send your friends and loved ones away

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Travel is a tough gift to give. You need to know the recipient pretty well to make sure your well-intentioned effort doesn’t turn into a disaster. Could you imagine sending a wealthy friend through budget hotels in Romania? Or, putting a cities-only person on a beach for two weeks? The possibility for disaster is infinite. But, if you put some thought into it, your gift of a trip can be a big hit.

Time magazine realizes that “it’s the thought that counts” is flawed thinking. You need to get it right if you’re going to put a friend or family member on a plane, bus or train. Fortunately, you have choices. Solo jaunts, group get-togethers are and romantic getaways are all great fodder for the gift of travel … as long as you tailor it to the recipient. A certain travel writer (ahem) took his wife to Eze, France for her birthday and proffered a cake covered in gold leaf at the top of that city’s famous Chemin de Nietzsche (“Nietzsche Trail”). Not mentioned in the article is that the walk up tested the marriage. She and I had no idea that we’d really be climbing a mountain.

This brings me to my next point: know what you are doing. Just because something looks interesting, life on the ground may not be as advertised.

Read the original for a few more tips >>

[Via Time magazine]

Eggnog: Where does it come from?

by Brenda Yun on

I’ve long been a fan of spiced ‘nog. It’s one of the creamiest, best tastes in the world. For over 300 years, eggnog has been a Christmas staple, and I just had to get to the bottom of the mystery of ‘why’? What I discovered in my research of the origin of eggnog was quite startling. While ‘nog definitely came from Europe circa early 17th century, the term “eggnog” and the etymology of the word is perhaps the more interesting story.

The original eggnog was a mixture of milk, egg, spices, and wine (in parts of Europe like France), beer (in England), or sherry (in Spain). The alcoholic portion of the drink depends on how you interpret the “nog” in the name. That is because “nog” could mean the Old English term for a strong beer, or it could be interpreted from Middle English as “noggin,” the wooden mug that the drink was served in.
It seems quite unusual (and kind of unappetizing) to me that, before it arrived on America’s shores, eggnog was made with wine, beer, or sherry. Americans — the drunks that we are — decided to spike the drink with more concentrated spirits such as rum and brandy. Our first President, George Washington, would make the drink so strong that only the burliest of drinkers could handle it. The term for rum is actually “grog,” but “eggrog” doesn’t sound very good at all, now, does it? (It makes me think of a lumpy, spiked oatmeal — yuck!) Americans also boil their eggnog so as to avoid getting salmonella from the raw egg.

Even more variations of traditional eggnog are popping up around the globe. In Louisiana, they replace the rum with bourbon. In Puerto Rico, they add coconut milk. In Mexico, it’s a hard drink, as it’s mixed with grain alcohol. In Peru, it’s made with “pisco,” a local brandy.

Whatever the form or unique flavor, drinking eggnog is a Christmas tradition because of its warming effect and generally sweet, smooth, and spicy taste which make it a perfect holiday drink.

[Information was gathered from Wikipedia, About.com, and TheKitchenProject.com]