Flickr user JasonBechtel recently uploaded a number of beautiful images of Wyoming to the Gadling group on Flickr. They’re all worth a gander; this one, which depicts a Wyoming country road outside of Sheridan, is among the most appealing. The huge sky, apparent desolation, and sloping green fields inspire a yearning to travel.
Images of the open road are the most reliably useful travel symbols. Literally descriptive of both the form and function of travel, they inspire the traveler’s mind like few other sources of inspiration.
For me at least. And since I never get tired of good open road shots, feel free to upload your best to Flickr’s Gadling Group Pool. There’s a decent chance that I’ll turn your image of the road into a future Photo of the Day.
Who wants to take a free flight across the Atlantic on a super-jumbo? Lufthansa is offering such an opportunity to travelers to commemorate the launch of their sixth A380. The new jet will begin flying between New York and Frankfurt on February 28, just in time to whisk you away for a much needed European vacation. The contest winners will clamber aboard the world’s largest plane, for free, and be treated to a behind-the-scenes tour.
The first contest, “A380 SeatTweet,” begins on February 16 and ends on February 19. To register, you need to select a seat on the Virtual 380 on the Lufthansa contest website, and a tweet will post to reserve your spot. Once all 526 virtual seats are filled, the day’s winners will be announced. A number of prizes will be distributed including four A380 prize packages. You can follow Lufthansa USA’s tweets @Lufthansa_USA.
The second contest is a bit more location sensitive and will be open to those in New York City. This contest is titled “Catch the 380 Crew” and involves clues and a bit of good old fashioned sleuthing. Starting February 25, @Lufthansa USA will begin tweeting clues about the contest. After the inaugural flight from Frankfurt to New York’s JFK airport on the 28th of February, 23 “crew members” will descend upon SoHo. Only one will be holding the golden ticket – a pair of business class return tickets to Europe. To successfully game the contest, you will need to pay attention to the clues and locate 10 crew members that will lead you to your destiny.
Today’s photo of the day depicts a secret spot near Grand Canyon National Park. Everyone loves a secret hideaway, right? This image, of a hidden spot between Grand Canyon National Park and a national wilderness area, is quite some distance from more frequently visited areas in and around the Grand Canyon.
Flickr Gadling pool contributor SummitVoice1 snapped this image. The photographer notes that the area is frequented by deer and bighorn sheep hunters during the fall season. He offers a nice description of his visit to the area here.
The 83rd annual Academy Awards are coming up in a few weeks and the Oscars race is on. This year’s nominations contained few surprises, with many nods for Brit period piece The King’s Speech, Facebook biopic The Social Network, and headtrip Inception. While 2010’s ultimate travel blockbuster Eat, Pray, Love failed to made the cut, there’s still plenty to inspire wanderlust among the Best Picture picks.
Read on for a travel guide to the best movies of 2010 and how to create your own Oscar-worthy trip.
127 Hours – Location: Danny Boyle’s nail-biter was shot on location in Utah’s Blue John Canyon near Moab and on a set in Salt Lake City. Go there: Should you want to explore Moab’s desert and canyons while keeping all limbs intact, check out Moab in fall for bike races and art festivals.
Black Swan – Location: Much of the ballet psychodrama was shot in New York City, though the performances were filmed upstate in Purchase, New York. Go there: To see the real “Swan Lake” on stage at Lincoln Center, you’ll have to hope tickets aren’t sold out for the New York City Ballet, performing this month February 11-26.
The Fighter – Location: in the grand tradition of Oscar winners Good Will Hunting and The Departed, the Mark Wahlberg boxing flick was filmed in Massachusetts, in Micky Ward’s real hometown of Lowell, 30 miles north of Boston. Go there: For a map of locations in Lowell, check out this blog post and perhaps spot Micky Ward at the West End Gym.
Inception – Location: The setting of this film depends on what dream level you’re in. The locations list includes Los Angeles, England, Paris, Japan, even Morocco. Go there: There are plenty of real locations to visit, including University College London and Tangier’s Grand Souk. Canada’s Fortress Mountain Resort where the snow scenes were shot is currently closed, but you can ski nearby in Banff.
The Kids Are All Right – Location: Director Lisa Cholodenko is a big fan of southern California, she also filmed the 2002 Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. Go there: Love it or hate it, L.A. is still a top travel destination in the US and perhaps this year you can combine with a trip to Vegas, if the X Train gets moving.
The King’s Speech – Location: A prince and a commoner in the wedding of the century. Sound familiar? This historical drama was shot in and around London, though stand-ins were used for Buckingham Palace’s interiors. Go there: It might be hard to recreate the vintage look of the film, but London is full of atmospheric and historic architecture and palaces to visit. If you’re a sucker for English period films or places Colin Firth has graced, tour company P & P Tours can show you around many historic movie locations like Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.
The Social Network – Location: Another Massachusetts and California movie, this very academic film shot at many college and prep school campuses, but none of them Harvard, which hasn’t allowed film crews in decades. Go there: If you enjoyed the Winklevoss rowing scene, head to England this summer for the Henley Royal Regatta June 29 – July 3.
Toy Story 3 – Location: The latest in the Pixar animated trilogy is set at the Sunnyside Daycare. Go there:Reviews are mixed, but Disney’s Hollywood Studios has a new Pixar parade, to let fans see their favorite characters in “person.” Visit any Disney gift shop to make your own toy story. True Grit – Location: The Coen brothers western remake may be set in 19th century Arkansas, but it was filmed in modern day Santa Fe, New Mexico and Texas, taking over much of towns like Granger. Go there: If you’re a film purist or big John Wayne fan, you can tour the locations of the original film in Ouray County, Colorado.
Winter’s Bone – Location: Many moviegoers hadn’t heard of this film when nominations were announced, set and shot in the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri. Go there: The difficult film centers around the effects of methamphetamine on a rural family, but travel destinations don’t get much more wholesome than Branson, Missouri. Bring the family for riverboat shows and the best bathroom in the country.
The stakes in the commercial space race just got a little loftier. Today, Virgin Galactic officially announced plans to team up with two U.S companies in pursuit of developing a commercial manned orbital spacecraft.
Backed by fearless entrepreneur Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic has chosen to support Sierra Nevada Space Systems (SNC) and Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDEV2); an initiative designed to stimulate the development of privately-operated space vehicles. This falls in line with the comments Branson made in our exclusive interview at Spaceport America, saying that NASA’s role should transition to apportioning out money to private space companies.
Since it’s conception in 2004, Virgin Galactic has primarily worked alongside Mojave-based company Scaled Composites to develop a reusable sub-orbital craft, dubbed “SpaceShipTwo”. This design will take passengers over 62 miles into space, but lacks the power required to completely escape the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in about 5 minutes of weightlessness. Orbital flights would give passengers a much longer weightless experience and views of the entire surface of the Earth.
SNC and OSC are following Scaled’s lead by researching designs that will utilize lifting-wing bodies and runway landings in an effort to minimize cost and maximize passenger safety.
While the first iteration of SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise, has yet to make a rocket-powered manned test flight, Branson commented on the importance of looking ahead. “We are now very close to making the dream of sub-orbital space a reality for thousands of people at a cost and level of safety unimaginable even in the recent past…Today’s anouncement is an important step along the way of acheiving our ultimate and long term goal.”
We are indeed living in exciting times for private space exploration. Now go ahead and leave the inevitable “when can I afford it?” remarks in the comments section below!