Video: outrage as woman removed from Ryanair flight for having more than one item of hand luggage:

 

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1ow5Xj/www.scotsman.com/news/odd/video-outrage-as-woman-removed-from-ryanair-flight-for-having-more-than-one-item-of-hand-luggage-1-2612289

London has done it again

Heavy fog this time as London braces for more airplane cancellations.

Check out the link here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2221343/UK-Weather-Met-Office-issues-severe-weather-warning-fog-leads-120-cancelled-flights.html

" Beyond Mile-High Grub: Can Airline Food Be Tasty?"

Interesting story about airplane food: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/business/airlines-studying-the-science-of-better-in-flight-meals.html?hp&_r=0

Miss I need to scan your chocolate

On a recent trip back to Edinburgh, my bag was selected for inspection. As someone who has been 'randomly selected' many times, I figured it was just another case of 'you have a funny sounding and spelled last name." This is usually why I get stopped, however, this time, I was stopped for a different reason. As a fan of candy and chocolate, I was bringing some white and dark chocolate back with me. When the security officer opened my bag and found a few bars of chocolate, unopened, he told me that he would have to scan the chocolate and take it through the x-ray machine.

Here is a picture of the chocolate I was bringing with me:

Now, do these look dangerous to you?

As expected, nothing came out of the x-ray that would be a cause for concern and the guy almost tried to keep the chocolates. I guess you really have to be careful what you bring with you these days!

Exercise at the airport?

As a big gym fan, I was thrilled to read this article in the FT. Now gym fans have another option of where to exercise... the airport!

I can't wait to try out an airport gym!

A 'sidways' super-sonic plane?!

Wouldn't it be nice to bring back the Concorde? Those short cross-Atlantic flights. Back in the day there was talk of bringing the plane back, sadly it looks like this poor plane is going into retirement.

However, according to the Huffington Post, a new plane could be on its way.

"Nasa has awarded $100,000 in funding for a team designing a new 'sideways' super-sonic plane. The aircraft, which looks like a four-point ninja star, was developed at the University of Miami. The new plane could fly much faster than traditional commercial jets, with a greatly reduced 'sonic boom' when it reaches super-sonic speeds."

Anyone willing to fly on this?

Yet another example of failed technology in the 21st century

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57502077-92/united-airlines-network-outage-snarls-air-travel/

According to the Daily Mail, United are having to rely on handwritten tickets: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194960/United-Airlines-Computers-passengers-given-handwritten-boarding-passes.html

Fly Maybe: part 2

Before leaving the hotel, I rang the airport and spoke to the airline representative. I explained my concern from my last trip to Edinburgh and wanted to make sure the airline had a back up plan. He tried to reassure me that there would be a back up plan but added "you may have to take a boat up North!"

Once I arrived at the airport to check in and drop off my luggage, I asked the check in steward about the flight status and weather in Wick. He said that everything was fine but told me to check my bag at the "oversized bag" check in desk. My bag's dimensions are 50x34x18/23 cm or 19¾x13½x7/9 inch. I didn't want to make a fuss, so I followed his instructions.

Behind me in line, was the family with their 10-12 month old baby from my first trip. I later learned that the airline made the baby's parents put airline baggage tags on both of the baby's feet. Does this airline consider babies to be the new baggage?

I felt like a tourist in the Edinburgh airport, snapping photos for foursquare, tweeting, etc, all this while I waited for my plane. The waiting was longer than I had expected. The plane I was finally told, was late coming from the North. My first thought was "at least there is a plane coming." The plane, to my surprise was packed. "Why are all these people coming up to Wick," I asked my fellow passenger. Her response, "not a clue!"

Once we finally boarded, an hour late, things were starting to look positive. Sadly things took a turn for the worst. The famous Haar had joined our trip meaning that we would try to land but that a back up plan would be created. We circled for an hour above Wick airport (our final destination) in the hopes that the Haar would disappear. After three attempts the pilot announced that we would have to land at another airport. The passengers beside me started betting on which airport we would land at. Would it be Orkney, Shetland, Inverness, Aberdeen or even back to Edinburgh? If only Wick airport and it's planes had instrument landing, then this would not be a problem.

The pilot decided to land the plane in Inverness, a 3-hour bus ride would then bring us to Wick airport. Upon landing in Inverness, we were told to go to the airline desk and await instructions on how we were to be transported to Wick airport. At the airline desk, the stranded passengers were given a £3.50 voucher. Unfortunately this did not even cover the cost of a sandwich. So much for looking after the stranded passengers!

As we loaded onto the bus, another passenger said how he thought there must be some sort of travel curse, explaining that this whole bus, train, no-plane experience had happened to him 4 times already. Maybe 2012 is becoming a crazy year to travel.

The bus driver was not as quick as the other driver and the road to Wick was bumpy and shaky, not exactly what any passenger wants to go through. I could help but think: "I hope I'm
taking one for the team!" This is in reference to all our guests visiting who have to take the same plane.

Fly Maybe: part 1

Scotland, as one friend put it, "seems to be helping my blog!"

Let me elaborate, this is part 1 of a very long trip.

Tuesday I was supposed to fly down to Edinburgh from Wick. That morning there happened to be a freak storm with lightening, thunder, on-and-off rain and of course the horrible Haar (heavy fog).

I checked the airport website and there was no mention of any flight cancellations or delays, so I assumed everything was fine. Once I got to he airport, however, things were quite different. Not only were there delays, but my flight had been cancelled.

The passengers on the cancelled flight included tourists and locals. There were a few single people as well as a family with a 10-12 month old baby. Everyone was angry and frustrated about the lack of communication as to a back up plan.

After a small black bus pulled up to the airport, we learned about the back up plan: a bus and then a train which would take over 7 hours just to get down to Edinburgh. As we loaded onto the bus, we noticed 1) how small it was, and 2) that there was no loo. The size of the bus meant we all got to squeeze in together, but the lack of a loo meant we would have to rely on the bus driver's pit or refuel stops. Anyone who has travelled by car south of Wick will know how twisty the roads are and that sitting so closely and backwards doesn't help motion sickness!

A few hours into the bus ride, I received the following message: "Cancelled 1 of your flights." This would have been helpful several hours earlier, but that was not to be.

Three hours into the trip, we reached Inverness and passengers were allowed to take another bus, or train or even fly if there was such a flight available. Fortunately there was a train stopping in Inverness shortly. The train was quite scenic and I felt like a tourist myself! During the trip, I successfully rescheduled all my meetings for Wednesday and Thursday, it would be a busy schedule, but I knew I could accomplish it. Several hours later, I was in Edinburgh. An hours flight never seemed so long.

Sand and rocks don't mix well at the airport

On a recent trip to the Bahamas, I was stopped by a security officer who asked me to remove my shoes before going through the X-ray. This was pretty normal procedure, so I did not make a fuss. However, after my shoes had gone through the X-ray, he asked me what I had in my shoes. My initial reaction was my feet! However, the officer didn't think I was being honest and decided to tear apart my shoes.

As he did this, a few rocks and some sand spilled out. He then asked me again what I had in my shoes. I explained that I had gone for a walk in the beach and headed straight to the airport. He looked at me as if I was speaking another language. When he finally decided to let me go, he suggested that I not go to beaches right before heading to an airport! I wanted to laugh, but feared I might not make it onto my flight. Since then, I have made sure that I take out my feet and empty any rocks or sand in my shoes before heading through an airport X-ray.

Checking in with parentals!

Have you ever been in this position before?

So much for the Olympic mascot...

http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/07/24/new-olympic-crisis-mascot-factory-shock/?ncid=webmail4

Looking for a Venetian mask

On a recent trip to France, I walked all of ile st Louis in Paris searching for a Venetian mask. I had been told about the mask place, but I was not given specific directions on how to get there.

I went into some 20 stores asking for directions in French and English because I thought they did not understand. Everyone said they have never seen the shop or that they are not from the island... Of course!!

After an hour of walking I gave up and walked to a cafe. Low and behold the mask shop was next to the cafe!!

Trip to Ireland

While we were in Ireland, we rented a van to tour around on our own. As you know, cars in Europe are mostly manual. There were 6 adults on this trip and all of us know how to drive manual and yet none of us could figure out how to reverse the vehicle. Putting it in reverse does not mean it would reverse! It took us two days to finally figured it out, and that's only after asking a local for help! There's a button/lever of sort that you need to push before putting the car in reverse! Lesson learned!

Attached is the photo of what we had to do the first two days of our trip every time we need to reverse.

By Virginia contact

My Best Crazy Travel Story: The Time I Ate Dog in China

I was backpacking around China in 1997 after having been an English teacher there. I was in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), which is across the bay from Hong Kong and famous for the weird food they eat. Insects, dogs, cats, etc. I walked around a market that was
selling all those things for food – I’m not sure I’d have believed it if I hadn’t seen for myself.

Well, I figured “When in Rome, do as the Romans do…” So I wanted to try some dog. You can probably guess that I am not overly bothered by the whole “pets-as-food” thing. Anyway, I was pretty clueless about touring around, and had no luck finding a place that might serve dog.

So there I was in the hostel, lamenting my inability to get the “real” Guangzhou experience,when in walks a very well-dressed, very attractive Asian woman. The kind you do not ever see staying in a 16-bed communal hostel. She promptly announced (in English) that 1. she
was a reporter for a Hong Kong TV station, 2. she was doing a story on the weird food they eat in Guangzhou, 3. she was going out that night to find a place and see if it would be good for
filming, 4. she had an expense account from her station that was paying for everything, and 5. did anyone want to go with her? Basically I was handed an all-expense-paid ticket for the exact
travel experience I wanted.

Six of the other travelers, myself, and the reporter all took a cab to some restaurant she’d found. On the way there, the cab driver told us to be careful, because dog was very delicious but expensive and if we weren’t careful we could spend too much money. He said he liked to eat it
while watching football. What did it taste like? Not good, actually. Very stringy and gristly. There was hardly any meat to speak of. I don’t know what breed it was, but I guess dogs are not really made for consumption. I did think it tasted kind of like the spare ribs at a Chinese restaurant – I wouldn’t be surprised if they use the same spices. But I wouldn’t eat it again.

After that, we went to some club that was playing the entire Bob Marley box set over the loud system, and drank and had a good time until closing. I thought I saw a girl there from my
college whom I had heard was in China, but I wasn’t sure. Anyway, a very weird, fun, and wild evening. Although dog lovers probably think I’m going to hell.

P.S. There was another dish called “Tiger and Dragon”, which is a mix of snake and cat meat, but alas, I didn’t get to try that one.

By, DC correspondent

TSA comes to England

England is expecting about 4 million people to come to London (of the 8 million resident already inhabiting area), no wonder they have called in back up help.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2174634/American-officers-drafted-Heathrow-British-airports-help-security-Olympics.html

Hair colour or nose job?

My travels are never boring...

On my recent trip from Turkey, I was asked by the officer if the photo on my passport was really me. Well that should be rather obvious, or else I would be a fraudster. When I began explaining that I dye my hair, pointing to my roots, he laughed and then asked me if I had had a nose job. I was flabbergasted, so I asked my mother to vouch for me. A nose job really?!

Below is a photo from the airport.