Photo Of The Day: Happy Cosmonauts Day

by Meg Nesterov on

Today marks the 51st anniversary of manned space travel, and if you happen to be in a former Soviet country, you may be celebrating Cosmonautics Day. On April 12, 1961, 27-year-old Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space, orbiting the Earth for nearly two hours. The USSR beat the US in the space race by just three weeks, and two years later, Russia would send the first woman to space. Flickr user (and new father, congrats!) AlphaTangoBravo snapped this picture of a Russian Cosmonauts poster he picked up in Moscow. You can celebrate the anniversary of space travel, or Yuri’s Night, at parties around the world.

Have any travel photos commemorating historic travel dates? Add ’em to the Gadling Flickr pool for another Photo of the Day.

Video Of The Day: ‘Incubation’ And 15 Days In Cuba

by Jessica Marati on

“I wanted to see Cuba before it changes,” starts off “Incubation,” a short travel film by French multimedia artist Guillaume Le Berre. “But I’m the one that has been changed.”

Through photos and videos captured over a 15-day trip, Le Berre offers a nostalgic look at life in modern-day Cuba. Some of the images are expected: smiling children playing baseball, grand automobiles from the 1950s, sexy salsa dancers at night. Others are more striking: men scavenging in garbage cans, vultures picking at animal carcasses, concrete walls with the letters “CHE” outlined repetitively. With Cuba’s natural beauty juxtaposed against such contrasts, it’s easy to see why the filmmaker was changed, and to remember what it is about travel that changes us all.

[via EcoSalon]

Video Of The Day: Scuba Marriage Proposal In Riviera Maya, Mexico

by Mike Barish on

Scuba diving is a hobby that many travelers enjoy. People traverse the globe looking for the best dive sights and new adventures. While most scuba divers consider any excursion in which they see a new fish or sea creature a success, the young man in this video had a bigger catch in mind: his girlfriend. He proposed underwater in Riviera Maya, Mexico after plotting with the dive crew for six months leading up to the trip. The YouTube video description provides more details:

Once in the water, we dived for approximately 25 minutes until we both sat on the bottom of the ocean floor with fish, turtles, and lobsters all around. Once we sat, Emily thought we were actually taking a group picture. She had no idea she was about to be engaged!

I pulled out a board that I had written on, “I love you so much. Will you marry me?” I pulled the ring out of a shell that I had hidden it in. She was so confused she didn’t know what to do. Also, with scuba diving, you can’t give a thumbs up, because it simply means to surface, so we we’re left to enjoy out satisfaction with the “OK” sign.

OK indeed.

Photo Of The Day: Sunset In Grenada

by Chris Owen on

This Photo of the Day, titled “Sunset in Grenada,” comes from Gadling Flickr pool member Gus NYC who captured the image using an Olympus E-PL1.

Grenada, also known as the “Island of Spice” because of the production of nutmeg and mace crops, is an island country consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.

Grenada is 344 square kilometers (133 square miles) with an estimated population of 110,000 and is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

For more information on Grenada, one of our 10 budget-friendly Caribbean destinations see Elizabeth Seward’s “Exploring Grenada: Do As Locals Do” here on Gadling.

Upload your best shots to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. Several times a week we choose our favorite images from the pool as Photos of the Day.

Photo Of The Day: Bangladesh Street Scene

by Alex Robertson Textor on

This Bangladesh street scene, taken in 2008 by Flickr user m24instudio, jumped out at me on the Gadling Group Pool page on Flickr. Currently, next to it on the page are photos of flowers, animals, skylines, an island and snowy panoramas. None of these popped off the page quite so intensely as the above image. The colors, the signage, the handbills, the greenery in the background and the advertisements are all terribly vibrant.

Upload your favorite images of colorful street scenes (or absentminded cyclists, for that matter) to the Gadling Group Pool on Flickr. We choose our favorites from the pool to be Photos of the Day.