Woman gives birth over Atlantic on New Year’s Eve

by Tom Johansmeyer on

On a flight from Amsterdam to Boston, USA Today reports that a woman of unknown nationality (though probably American or Dutch) gave birth to a Canadian while in flight. The miracle of international airspace is responsible for the citizenship, though it did not cause the underlying birth.

There is no word on whether Northwest Airlines charged for the extra carry-on that materialized while Flight 59 was in the air, but it’s likely they showed a bit of goodwill.

A doctor and paramedic helped deliver the baby girl in Canadian airspace over the Atlantic Ocean, which accounts for the extra dose of citizenship the new kid receives. When the plane touched down at 10:30 AM yesterday, mother and child were rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Update available! Learn more here.

[Via USA Today]

Bypass Boston’s smoking ban with a drink in your hand

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Dashing up the coast on business? In town to take in a game at Fenway Park? Business or pleasure, make sure you stop by Cigar Masters in the Back Bay. Boston’s largest smoking lounge is supported by a large walk-in humidor and a bar with a full selection of imported beers and carefully chosen wines and ports. Attentive service will keep your glass full, and with ample comfortable seating, you’ll find it difficult to get up from the soft leather couch and leave.

Boston has several cigar destinations, but each has its limitations. L. J. Peretti boasts a great selection and reasonable prices-but it has no lounge. In the summer, you can grab a stick and head for the Boston Public Garden … but this is not as attractive an option in December. Trust me. Gloucester Street Cigar offers some great sticks that can be difficult to find elsewhere, and there is a bit more seating available. Beverages (and bathrooms), though, are lacking.

Cigar Masters is the only shop with the complete experience. You can show up empty handed and find the right drink to pair with your cigar at the lounge. Or, you can pick up a stick elsewhere and light it at Cigar Masters, as long as you pay the $10 cutting fee.

Once you pass through the front curtain, you’ll see why Cigar Masters is worth a visit. You can catch a game on the flat screen in the back or watch the Boylston Street traffic shuffle by while you sit in the large front window. If necessary, you can even have your shoes shined while you puff away. Cigar Masters redefines “full service.”

Whether you’re in Boston for a weekend getaway or have a same-day round trip for a meeting, you will want a place to smoke. Cigar Masters is it. Let the bartender pour you a glass of Boddingtons and cut your Davidoff Millennium. All you have to do is light and smoke.

Virgin America moves in on Boston

by Grant Martin on

Remember yesterday when we told you that Virgin America was throwing in the towel at making Chicago their next destination? Not a couple hours after our post went live the ladies at over at VX issued the formal press release: BOSTON will be the next city that the airline opens service to.

Commencing on February 12th of next year, flights will serve Los Angeles three times daily, San Francisco twice and cities in the Midwest zero times.

Boston‘s Logan airport, which appears to be more interested in generating competition than Chicago’s O’hare, is a main hub for American Airlines, US Airways, Jetblue and Delta, so you can imagine that routes on those carrier to the west coast will now super competitive and yes, cheaper. And that’s great news for east and west coasters alike.

We hope to see you in the Midwest soon, Virgin America.

Runaway dog runs away on airport runway

by Mike Barish on

I’ve had flights delayed by weather. I’ve had flights delayed by mechanical issues. I’ve had flights delayed because the hitch connecting the tow vehicle to my plane snapped! But I’ve never had a flight delayed because a runaway dog was loose on the tarmac. Well, that’s exactly what happened at Boston’s Logan Airport this past weekend.

It seems that Choochy the poodle (like Joe the Plumber but less political and more interested in smelling other dogs’ behinds) escaped from her kennel and remained rogue on the runways, taxiways and other nooks and crannies of Logan for 17 hours. Various flights were delayed while police, firefighters and airport personnel tried to corral Choochy.

Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. Choochy was lured to safety with food, treated for only minor injuries and returned to her family. And for the passengers on those delayed flights? Well, a half-hour delay is practically on-time these days. And for me? Well, I got to use that crazy photo of a poodle that I found. So, thanks, Choochy. Feel free to escape again soon.

Halloween graveyard tours and a graveyard joke

by Jamie Rhein on

There are haunted prison tours and haunted hotels to sleep in. Here is another way to traipse through some haunts for Halloween.

Graveyards that can seem peaceful during the day are perfect settings at night for finding chills and thrills. If there is a graveyard in a town or city near you, I bet there’s a tour. Regardless of the season, graveyards offer a span of history that includes triumph and sorrow. Each one hold clues and mysteries to the people who have lived before us.

Here’s a Halloween graveyard joke you can say when you are going past a graveyard: “How many people do you think are dead in there?”

(**Continue for answer and a sampling of graveyard tours.)

  • In Alexandria, Virginia, walk along the six blocks on the Ghosts & Graveyard lantern tour with a costumed guide who transports visitors to the 1800s through tales of ghosts and unsolved mysteries. The tour ends in the graveyard. Although Halloween inspired, it goes through November.
  • There are several ghost and graveyard tours in Nova Scotia. Several are offered year-round.
  • Ghosts and Gravestone Trolley Tours of Boston, Massachusetts goes through November 2. This tour is hosted by a 17th century gravedigger who tells tales of Boston’s murderous past. Two of Boston’s oldest graveyards are included.
  • The same company that offers the tour in Boston has similar tours in Savanah, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida. The Website has a link to haunted tales and while you browse ghost type sounds put you in the mood.
  • In Charleston, South Carolina, there is a tour company that specializes in creepy, scary places. The Charleston Ghost and Graveyard Walking Tours brings people through graveyards where tales of love, loss and prominent people can be found.
  • San Antonio, Texas has several ghost tour options. Many included graveyards, whether you walk or take a vehicle. These tours are also offered year-round.
  • Like San Antonio, San Diego has several ghost tour options. Several include graveyards. If you scroll down the page, you’ll see many links for other ghost and graveyard tours throughout the United States.
  • To amp up a graveyard ghost tour, here’s one that combines a stay in a haunted hotel with a ghost and graveyard tour. This version is in Columbus, Ohio. The Lofts, a boutique hotel that was once a warehouse in the early 1900s has a ghost called “Lady of the Lofts. There’s a package deal that includes a night in the hotel, breakfast and two tickets to “The Haunted Columbus’s Best of 20 Years Bus Tour.” If that tour is sold out the Columbus Landmark’s Foundation has other ghost tours and guided visits through Greenlawn Cemetery. Greenlawn Cemetery is where humorist James Thurber is buried. Perhaps he’d appreciate the graveyard joke.

** Answer to graveyard joke: “All of them.”

This joke gets people every time. Here is the joke in its entirety if you forgot the question.

If you are passing by a graveyard say, using a voice that evokes the idea that you are looking for a number: “How many people are dead in there?”

Answer: “All of them.”