Photo of the Day (1-7-09)

by Jamie Rhein on

Haven’t you had a day that has felt like this? ultraclay, who took this shot in Paris as part of a Honeymoon Set, didn’t specify where this statue is located. Regardless, I’m intrigued by contrast between the soft, airy quality of the sky and the despair illustrated by the figure’s stance. This photo is one example how to provide interest by the angle you choose. In this case, the statue looms and my emotions feel stirred.

If you have a shot that has stirred you, stir us and send it our way to the Gadling Flickr Photo Pool. It might be chosen as Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (8/14/08)

by Kent Wien on

Today’s photo of the day comes from Flickr user fiznatty who shot this in Yorkshire, in the U.K. I love how the sun lights up the landscape while the sky above begins to turn dark. Throw in a single tree and a house and you have a piece of art.

Way to go fiznatty for capturing a moment that most people would have rushed past.

Are you a Flickr user who’d like to share a travel related picture or two for our daily consideration? Submit it to Gadling’s Flickr group right now! We just might use it for our Photo of the Day!

Photo of the Day (5/1/08)

by Kent Wien on

It might not be fair to let me judge for the Photo of the Day series. Clearly my bias towards things with wings is known. So as long as the powers that be don’t catch on to my skyward leanings, I’ll pick shots like this one.

I’m also a fan of blue and white. If the contrails could have just been a bright yellow, well, we would have just created my family crest.

My obvious bias aside, this picture, taken by jonrawlinson, makes for a great background for any pilot’s computer desktop. It’s currently set as mine, in fact.

The only question remaining was what kind of plane and which airline was flying it? Some thought it was British Airways, but the color scheme when viewed at the full size proved otherwise. It’s an Atlas Air 747-400, probably heading to my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Well done Jonrawlinson!

It’s too bad we don’t have a video of the week contest at Gadling. Jon’s amazing HD video of Death Valley would have easily been a winner.

If you have a travel related picture that you’d like to share, then join the Gadling group on Flickr and submit some of them for our Photo of the Day.

Don’t miss the sky this Christmas!

by Abha Malpani on

I’ve always loved watching the sky, looking out for constellations, spotting the North Star and looking for Mars. Having lived in Dubai for a while, I had the opportunity to see amazingly clear and starry skies — ones only possible to see in the desert.

On that note, in case you haven’t caught the news already: today and tomorrow, the Moon and Mars will be the brightest and closest ever to the Earth.

The moon will be the highest-ever and 98% full, and Mars will be aligned with the Sun and the Earth so you will be able to see its full-face lit-up. They say it’s the first time in 47-years that we are able to see this and it’s unlikely to happen again until 2023.

Also, if you go out right after sunset tomorrow night, you are bound to see satellites and some shooting stars. So if you were wondering how to spend a perfect evening this Christmas Eve, you might want to get your binoculars out and add this to your list.

Happy Holidays!

Speed-dating at 35,000 feet in Europe

by Abha Malpani on

Catherine recently talked about finding love at the airport and the popularity of online social networking to meet someone while hauled-up at the airport.

But, if you want to skip the whole courage building process to approach the hottie you saw whilst boarding, or want immediate interaction with not one, but plenty of singles looking for in-flight spice, Central Europe’s low-budget airline Sky Europe will organize a speed-dating session for you mid-air. “Come with a bright smile and look forward to a great trip”, I had to laugh when I read that in its list of guidelines.

So far the Sky Dating service has been offered on Sky Europe flights to Italy, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. It works like any other speed-dating service: you get 5-minutes with every person signed up and results are emailed 3 days post event. Unfortunately, you can’t sign-up for it on a spontaneous whim, you have to register for it in advance.

If you want to travel especially to meet someone, you can get the Sky Date package to a European capital. Trips are normally 1-3 days, your accommodation is taken care of and city tours will be organized, all with the idea of getting you hooked to someone on the trip. According to a recent article on MSNBC: on the last Sky Date flight – which combined speed-dating with overnight hotel stay and guided city tour, three couples were formed by the end of the trip.

Hmmm. Excuses for being single are running out way too fast! :)