Yummiest First Class meals

by Neil Woodburn on

I just knew it would make me upset, but nonetheless, I couldn’t resist checking out a USA Today article entitled, Best First Class Meals.

And, as I suspected, I’m going to glare at the soggy $7 coach sandwich with even more disdain the next time I fly. That’s because those jerks up in First Class are basking in culinary Nirvana–at least on Gulf Air and Cathay Pacific. These two airlines snagged the top spots in an annual survey of the world’s best First Class meals.

And how did they earn such accolades? Try private chefs, caviar, Dom Perignon, made-to-order eggs, multi-course meals, specialties such as “honey glazed quail on a sweet potato cake,” and “Arabic spiced veal ragout,” and meals served on bone china.

If you really want to torture yourself, check out the accompanying Forbes slide show. It’s guaranteed to make your mouth water and possibly cause you to storm First Class in a daring food raid armed only with a stale baguette and a gnawing hunger.

Excuses for traveling: the marathon

by Catherine Bodry on

USA Today published a list of 10 warm-weather winter marathons, and reading the article got me thinking about how running a marathon makes a great excuse to travel. My friend went to Paris because she chose the Paris Marathon on a whim, and the Honolulu Marathon has been whispering my name for a few winters now.

I’ve considered training for a “vacation marathon” before; I figure the training will keep me in shape through the Alaskan winter, and I’ll get to visit someplace warm and maybe actually feel somewhat attractive in a bikini (running a minimum of 30 miles a week helps the bikini bod).

But there are a few potential problems to consider before you start busting out your Sunday long runs. For me, the biggest problem is training in cold weather and trying to race in warm weather. I don’t know the science of it, but what I do know is that in the past few years I’ve started overheating whenever I go for a run at my parents’ home in Seattle. Seattle. I can’t imagine how my body would respond to the heat of the tropics or the desert.

My other problem involves training in Alaska. Sometimes the weather here in Seward just plain sucks. The mere thought of having to put in a 15-mile run at any time during last week’s freezing rain downpour is enough to keep me safely tucked in my cozy bed with my laptop and some Sex and the City DVDs.

Of course, surviving winter up here generally requires you to force yourself to exercise, so the goal of a vacation marathon has the double result of keeping you in shape while rewarding you with a warm vacation. Unfortunately, I didn’t get myself motivated early enough and at this point I’m not sure I could start a hardcore training regime. So for me this year, it looks like a 5-miler in Florida over Christmas vacation and a lot of step-aerobics at the gym.

Maybe I’ll run that marathon next winter.

Foreigners get warm welcome from Disney video

by Catherine Bodry on

When the U.S. State Department decided foreigners needed a friendly welcome upon entering the country, they turned to Disney. Disney has long been active in lobbying efforts for more welcoming treatment of foreign visitors, and has expressed concern about the USA’s declining share of international travelers. The company produced the video free of charge.

The short film is a montage of still scenes of the “American life.” Naturally it’s warm and fuzzy. There’s no dialogue, just smiling people repeating the word “welcome.” USA Today also reports that “viewers will see dramatic images of American icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Las Vegas Strip. They’ll also see ordinary cities and farms as well as sweeping outdoor vistas. The video has no shots of Disney property.”

You can view a clip of the video here, or visit some 219 consular offices or airports with customs facilities.

A more comfortable way to join the mile high club: double beds

by Gadling Staff on

The two double beds on Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380 that finally was delivered earlier this week are not for hanky panky–but for sleeping. That’s the plan anyway. The Executive Director of Singapore Airlines said he doesn’t want the beds to give people any “racy” ideas. Since the Singaporean government has run campaigns in the past to promote dating [see article], he probably thinks this is a reasonable notion. Does he get out much?

The sliding doors to the two private suites where the beds are located do have a small screen at the bottom so the flight attendants can check on the passengers. I can just hear it now. Imagine, if you will, a flight attendant crouched with his or her ear close to the gap. “Hey!! What are you two doing in there? Stop that. This is a respectable airplane. Get a room. Oh, wait, you do have a room.”

If there isn’t supposed to be any “nudge, nudge, wink, wink,” funny business going on in the beds, then why aren’t the beds single beds like the kind that were used in 1950s sitcoms? Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz never got a double bed on “I Love Lucy” back then because you know what they would have done with it. That was the censors’ idea anyway. Also, when the plane was unveiled there were rose petals strewn all over the bed. Yeah, right. Isn’t that what all of us do to our beds when we want a good night sleep? [via USA. Today, October 15, 2007]