Photo of the Day (08.02.10)

by Mike Barish on
Overly touchy couples always bother me. Sure, simple gestures like a kiss on the forehead, holding hands or walking with your arms around each other are acceptable and pretty adorable. But, when the general public has to endure seeing your hand in your girlfriend’s back pocket or some vertical dry humping while standing in the subway, you’ve crossed the line.

I once had to endure the horrible sounds of a couple attempting to eat each other’s faces on a hot air balloon ride. You know where people can go to escape your excessive PDA while in a hot air balloon basket? NOWHERE! It’s a friggin’ hot air balloon! Get your tongues out of each other’s head holes and gawk at the landscape like everyone else, you perverts!

Maybe that’s why I appreciate this sign photographed by Flickr user myeyesareclosed (second day in a row – wow!). Physical contact between couples can escalate quickly. Petting becomes heavy petting. Kisses become French kisses. Grinding becomes bumping and grinding. The last thing any of us need is a couple full on basting the turkey while we’re taking in the scenery.

Seen anyone having sex in public? Don’t add those pictures to the Gadling Flickr group. Instead, add your best travel photos and we might just use one for our next Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (03.13.10)

by Mike Barish on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/borderfilms/sets/1575505/

Whimsy. People don’t talk about whimsy much when discussing travel. They talk about philosophy, introspection, packing lists and logistics. They talk about food and hotels and TSA horror stories and airport experiences. Lost in all of that is whimsy. Gadling loves all that other nonsense, but we also appreciate coy smiles, inside jokes and creativity. So, when I came across this photo by Flickr user borderfilms (Doug), I immediately knew that it deserved to be featured as our Photo of the Day.

I have no clue whether this is the result of a clever use of Photoshop or a cheeky photo op created by a sprightly packer, but I don’t really care (well, if it’s Photoshopped, I’ll be mildly disappointed). What’s important is that it’s not your traditional travel photo. It’s not a cliché road trip moment with a traveler giving a thumbs up in front of a sign. It’s original. It’s unique. It’s whimsical. And we need more whimsy in our lives.

Update: The picture is real. It’s part of a set by Doug Murray called Adventures of Hula Girl. Check it out here.

Are you part of the whimsical minority who finds (or creates) whimsy wherever you go? Submit your images to Gadling’s Flickr group right now and we might use it for a future Photo of the Day.

Funny signs in “Signspotting III: Lost and Loster in Translation”

by Scott Carmichael on

Here on Gadling, we are suckers for weird signs. Especially when you travel, you come across signs that are just too damn funny. Writer Doug Lansky apparently feels the same way, because he just released the third episode of his “Signspotting” line of books.

We got a sneek peek at some of the signs included in “Lost and Loster in Translation”, and they really are absolutely hilarious. Though I do have to admit I’m a tad jealous that I didn’t think of collecting funny signs and writing my own book. I’m guessing that is the price I pay for being so lazy.

You’ll find Signspotting III: Lost and Loster in Translation on the book shelves of Amazon for just $7.99. Order quickly, because this would make a great stocking stuffer (hint, hint!).

Cool travel souvenir: Hotel door hangers

by Katie Hammel on

Much of my apartment is decorated with travel souvenirs. The ceramic wine carafe I bought in Cinque Terre sits on the bar. Pictures I found at the Buenos Aires San Telmo Sunday market line the wall. Postcards bought in Iceland are propped on the fireplace mantel. I love being surrounding by reminders of my adventures, so I was intrigued and inspired when I saw this collection of vintage hotel room door hangers.

Michael Leibowitz says on his website that the collection belonged to his recently deceased grandfather, who had covered a wall of his study with “do not disturb” signs from hotels around the world. Locations represented in his collection range across the globe and include Athens, Bangkok, Budapest, Hawaii, Paris, New Zealand, Florence, Tasmania, and Tokyo.

There are signs from hotels like the Beirut Phoenicia Intercontinental, and from countries such as Yugoslavia, that no longer exist, and there are hangers from iconic hotels like the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok that have been around for over 100 years. It’s a beautiful set with designs ranging from simple to elegant to totally retro. And it’s inspired me to start my own collection. While I’m not going to start displaying them on my wall just yet, I think that years from now they’ll be interesting to look at as a memory of my travels.

What’s your favorite travel trinket to collect and how do you display your memories? Whether you collect matchbooks you store in a jar or or postcards you display on a wall, tell me about your favorite travel souvenirs in the comments below.

Austrian village installs cameras to nab prankster sex tourists

by Scott Carmichael on

The poor villagers of Fucking are fed up. They have finally found a technical solution to prevent thieves from stealing their village signs, but now they are confronted with an entirely different problem.

Couples are making the trek to Fucking, just so they can have sex in front of the sign, and record it. Other pranksters are mooning the sign, or exposing themselves, while their friends record it. Of course, some of these video clips make their way online, which probably doesn’t promote the kind of tourism the village is looking for.

The village solution involved placing video cameras above the signs, in the hope that it will make would-be sex tourists think twice about their plans.

I’m sure this is a never ending battle for the village, and before you know it, they’ll be back in the news when people have sex, then steal both the sign and the security camera

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