The world’s oddest airport names

by Katie Hammel on

I once took a flight from Batman Airport, had a layover at Useless Loop and then landed at Monkey Mia. Okay, I didn’t. But I could have flown in or out of those and several other airports with equally odd names. Batman is located in Turkey, and Useless Loop and Monkey Mia serve Western Australia.

Skyscanner has put together a list of some of the strangest airport names in the world, including these. On the titillating side, there’s Brest Airport in France and Ogle Airport in Guyana, while Asbestos Hill Airport in Canada and Mafia Airport in Tanzania are on the “airports you might not want to fly into” list. But at least neither of those sound as scary as Danger Bay Airport.

There are airports named for animals: Canada is home to Squirrel Cove, Muskrat Dam and Goose Bay Airports while the US has Chicken, Fox and Duck Airports. Then there are the ones that just sound silly: Wee Waa, Wagga Wagga, and Woodie Woodie Airports are all in Australia and Flin Flon and Kar Kar serve Papau New Guinea.

The site also lists some funny airport codes like BUM (Butler Airport), PEE (Perm Airport), and SEX (Sembach Airport).

Check out the full list of strange and silly airport names here.

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Visit 14 unusual animals around the world

by Katie Hammel on

Because howler monkeys and koala bears are just so passe, Budget Travel has come up with a list of 14 crazy-looking and odd animals that you can visit in their natural habitats.

There’s the hooked-nose proboscis monkey of Borneo, the google-eyed tarsier from the Philippines, and the Tasmanian echidna, which has a pouch like a marsupial, quills like a porcupine and the long sticky tongue of an anteater.

Some definitely got the cheated in the beauty department, like the female gelada baboon (found in Ethiopia), whose chest turns bright red as her hormone levels rise, and the Victoria crowned pigeon (from New Guinea) that looks like it’s having a permanent bad hair day.

But some of them are so odd they’re actually cute. The hairless naked mole rat (found in East Africa) is almost completely blind and, with its chubby body and big buck teeth, totally adorable. The aye-aye, a caffeinated-looking lemur with independently rotating ears, is found in Madagascar – and is it just me, or does it kind of look like Dobby from Harry Potter?

If you can’t make it to see the animals in their homelands, you can still view many of them at zoos around the world. See the whole list of unusual animals here.

Crocodile walks down airplane aisle, creating an uproar

by Jamie Rhein on

What would you do if you saw an crocodile walking down an airplane aisle? Perhaps you’d rub your eyes, shake your head to clear any cobwebs, clean your glasses– if you wore them and ask, “Is that a crocodile?”

Wouldn’t a crocodile be about the last thing you’d expect to see walking down an airplane aisle? Particularly if it were pushing the drink cart? Just kidding about the drink cart, but there was a crocodile.

The crocodile created an uproar on an EgyptAir flight last Friday when it was seen peppering its trip down the aisle with forays underneath the seats. The flight, on its way to Cairo from Abu Dhabi, was not the most relaxing ride for the thirty passengers who did what they could to avoid the reptilian stowaway.

I say stowaway because no one claimed responsibility for the crocodile’s presence on board. Maybe the crocodile was looking for a free ride to the Giza Zoo. That’s where it ended up once the crew caught it and the plane landed.

The crocodile couldn’t really push a drink cart, by the way, even if it stood on its hind legs. At 30 centimeters, it wasn’t big enough.

Whoever was responsible for that crocodile is probably wondering how the heck to get it out of that zoo. [iafrica.com] Photo by Sias van Schalkwyk.

Thanks to Gadling reader Liezelfr for passing along this crazy story gem.

Hole N” the Rock in Utah, one-of-a-kind-roadside must see

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota that pays tribute to one man’s vision of turning solid rock into the faces of U.S. presidents. And there’s Hole N” the Rock in Utah–one man’s vision to turn a rock into a home and a gift shop.

Not far south of Moab, Utah on U.S. 191, along gorgeous red rock cliffs that glow almost neon against the blue sky, you’ll see billboards that shout out statements like “Hole N” the Rock, Must See Attraction!!!” Curiosity builds. What is it? What is this “Hole N” the Rock? you might think. I know I did when the Hole N” the Rock came into view as my family and I tootled along the highway on our way to Montana from New Mexico on July 1. Because it was right off the highway, 12 miles south of Moab, it would have been an easy stop, however, we were there after closing.

I craned my neck to see what I could for future reference. Besides the obvious large white lettering on the side of the mountain that said “Hole N” The Rock,” inside the fence was a cacophony of statuary and hard to place items. It is difficult to see exactly what’s there when going 70 mph.

After reading up on this place, I’m thinking we missed out on a must see roadside attraction. Twice. TWICE. How could we have passed by it twice?

On our way back from Montana to New Mexico, with a side trip jaunt to Colorado in our plans, we sped past Hole N” The Rock after closing as well. Too bad. It seems like it might have more heart than Mount Rushmore–and I love Mount Rushmore.

Hole N” The Rock is not just a Hole N” The Rock. It’s a 14-room house and gift shop that was created as a roadside attraction from the 1940s through most of the 1950s by Albert Christensen. To make such an attraction, Albert carved out 50,000 feet of cubic sandstone.

Unfortunately, Albert died in 1957 before he totally finished his masterpiece that includes a carved face of Franklin D. Roosevelt above the home.

His wife Gladys kept Albert’s project going. Even though she died in 1974, the attraction continues to grow. A petting zoo was recently added.

Regardless of what you can buy in the gift shop, the tour of the home would be worth taking the time for, in my opinion. I’m always interested to see what passions people have to create such places. I can’t imagine one day Albert noticed that the sandstone was carvable and merely thought, “I have nothing else to do today. Maybe I’ll start making a house.”

If you are going to stop here for a look, timing is key. Hole N” The Rock closes at 5 p.m.–even in the summer. It is open all year. If you don’t have time to stop, still look for it. The place is in-your-face obvious.

Next time we are ever in the vicinity, we are stopping. I’m not letting the opportunity pass by one more time.

Guided tours of the house cost: Adults $5; Children, 5-10, $3.50; under 5, free.

Are Americans the only stupid travelers? Travel agent stories

by Jamie Rhein on

“A client called in inquiring about a package to Hawaii. After going over all the cost info, she asked, “Would it be cheaper to fly to California and then take the train to Hawaii?”

This is only one of the stupid things an American has said to a travel agent. At Strangeplaces.net, there is a slew of side-splitting funny stories that travel agents have recounted. Some of them are so stupid, they are hard to believe, but still, very very funny. Although, with the story about Kelly Pickler that we recounted here, and Miss South Carolina, here, perhaps, the stories are just as they seem. If nothing else, they point out that some people need to get a refresher course in how to tell distance on a map.

Here’s another distance related example:

“A man called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that is not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state.”

Read more and weep–with laughter, that is.