Talk About Travel
CSB
Grand Canyon Skywalk - quite an effort to get there, and package is quite expensive, but it's common for people to get there and not be able to walk out onto it - emotional brain overrules the rational. Similarly it's very difficult to pull the trigger of a gun to your head, even though you know for sure it's not loaded. How Pleasure Works
An Alternative
Air Lair is a personal cocoon for the passenger with a double-decker configuration allowing for 30% more passengers within the same space.
Within this enclosed environment the passenger is able to control their own personal space without disturbing other passengers or, for that matter, being disturbed by other passengers. Strategically placed lighting is used to set the mood, while an over-head projector provides the entertainment. An ergonomically designed lay-flat seat provides the comfort.
(An Imgur thread criticizing the hell out of this)
QUOTATIONS
New York is an exciting town where something is happening all the time, some of it solved.
More Quotes about Travel
ANECDOTES
Melbourne - guy working for another airline found a loophole in the Qantas computer system which allowed him to rack up millions of frequent flier miles (He was able to 'book' passengers into the system long enough to get the miles, and then take them off before they had to board the plane) He then sold them off to mates at discounted prices. (He got 2 years)
... once on an aircraft that was so small it managed without stewardesses. As they headed for the runway, the pilot announced that drinks service would occur straight away. "On ascent, a crate will slide down the aisle, take what you want," he said. "On descent, put the empties in the crate as it slides by."
Houston airport getting complaints about length of time passengers had to wait at baggage carousels. So they moved them further from the gates, so passengers spent the time walking instead of waiting. Complaints stopped.
More Anecdotes about Travel
ARTICLES
It's no surprise that travelers tend to trust the advice of people they know. Now, several new travel sites are trying to put those inclinations to use by allowing travelers to use social media sites for targeted trip advice.
Take Gogobot.com and Afar.com, which both made their debuts last year. Each allows users to post specific questions about upcoming vacations to both Facebook friends and users of the sites: Where are the best family-friendly restaurants in Paris? Should we hire a personal driver to get around El Salvador?
Travel Advice
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BOOKS
Power Distance Index measures attitudes to authority - can subordinates express disagreement with managers? Highest levels of PDI are 1)Brazil 2) S Korea 3) Morocco 4) Mexico 5) Philippines, and correlates highly with plane crash records. The lowest are 15) US 16) Ireland 17) S Africa 18) Australia 19) NZ.(ie NZ has most egalitarian society, so co-pilots not afraid to challenge superior, so mistakes get corrected earlier). You are safest in a plane flown by the co-pilot, because he's always worried abt the captain noticing a fault, so he tries not to make mistakes.
Outliers
"There are simple ways to get what you need from a hotel without any hassle whatsoever. It's all in the details - in what you need done, whom you ask for it, how you ask them, and how much you should tip them for doing it....Come on, now, calm down, you fragile thing ...take my hand ... good ... ok now put some money in it ... very good ... thank you. Now that's a proper hospitality business transaction."
If you really want to rort the system, ask for a no-smoking room. Carry your own luggage up to the room, go to the minibar and clean it out. Stick every single thing in your case. Then lie on the bed and smoke a cigarette. Call the front desk and ask to be moved. I mean, it smells like someone just smoked a cigarette in here! The hotel will send up a bellman with a new set of room keys, and the minibar will never be traced to you. Moving rooms the same day you check in leaves almost no trace. When the attendant finds the empty bar, maybe next day or the day after, he'll restock it without question. (Often enough, guests ask for a minibar to be cleaned out in advance, perhaps if teenagers are to use the room, or bands' sidekicks).Heads In Beds
A simplified map of London showing just 3 things River, Very Rich, Losers Strange Maps
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WHERE OR WHEN WD YOU GO?
SONGS
Songs - the poetry of modern life
Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.
More Songs About Travel
CSB
The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short- tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign Speedbird 206.
Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (arrogantly): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944 -- but I didn't land."
