Gadling

In recent years, one of the most popular destinations for adventure travelers has been Antarctica. The lure of visiting one of the most remote, and rugged places on the planet is a strong one for travelers who have already trekked, paddled, and climbed their way across the other six continents. But for the less adventurous traveler, it can be difficult to understand why someone would even want to venture so far south, and spend their vacation in an arctic environment.

U.K. newspaper The Independent is here to help both kinds of travelers with their guide to Antarctica, which is a well written and comprehensive look at what it's like to travel in and around the frozen continent, starting with the question "Why?". The article notes that last year just 38,200 people made the trip, most aboard luxury cruise ships, and part of the draw is that so few people get the opportunity to experience the stunningly beautiful, but desolate landscapes that are the hallmark of the place.

The travel guide also discusses such topics as the best places to begin your Antarctic voyage, recommending New Zealand, although Chile is a popular starting point as well. Readers are also given an overview of the terrain and what they can expected while cruising the icy waters of the Southern Ocean. The Independent even addresses the issues with ships running aground in recent years, noting that while there have been some high profile incidences, they remain rare, and steps have been taken to ensure the safety of tourists in the region.

This is an excellent article for those who are interested in making the trip to the southern end of the world or for those that just want to know what that type of voyage entails. Be prepared however, as there are few bargains when it comes to traveling to Antarctica.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we're all dreading the thought of stepping on the scale the next day ... and making all kinds of empty promises about jogging and losing weight and not eating like that again next year. Some of us we'll even unleash a stream of profanities and accuse the device of lying. Out in Queens, however, a few scales have been tested, and they won't be fooling anyone at turkey-time.

Inspectors from the Department of Consumer Affairs have verified that the 741 luggage scales at New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports. On the first run, 92 percent were found to be in compliance, and following repairs, a re-inspection showed a 98 percent success rate. The remaining 2 percent? Don't worry: they won't be used until they've been repaired.

With the extra fees that can be triggered by hefty bags, this is a pretty serious issues, especially in a market where airlines are trying to pick up a little extra revenue and consumers have become sensitive to additional charges.

Customs officials at Los Angeles airport caught a 40 year old passenger trying to sneak past them with undeclared lizards.

Most smugglers hide their loot in their luggage, but this guy had strapped eleven skinks, two geckos and two monitor lizards to his chest. They had been smuggled from Australia, and he obviously did not have an import permit for them.

Surprisingly, this is the second time in a month that a passenger tried to pull this stunt. Back in October, we wrote about a Norwegian passenger who strapped pythons and geckos to himself.

The man has been released on a $10,000 bond, and is expected to be face the court next month. There is apparently a big market for these animals, and since many of them are strictly regulated, people are willing to pay top Dollar to add them to their collection. The lizards caught in LA were worth just under $600 each.

Gallery: Ten more dumb tourists

The government doesn't want to make you miserable! Seriously. The Department of Homeland Security wants faster airport screening just as much as you do. That's why it supports a program for screening approved, low-risk travelers coming to the United States to most international airports. The new approach has been tested for more than a year at seven airports, and screening time dropped from 10 minutes to only three.

To participate in this program, you need to be either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident -- and more than 14 years old. There's a $100 fee (which is probably worth it), and you have to submit to a background check. If you're accepted, the customs process when you get back to the United States won't be so bad. If all goes well, the program will eventually be open to foreigners who come from countries that have a sufficiently solid screening process.

Now, DHS, is there anything you can do to speed up all those logjams at domestic security checkpoints!

Here are the hottest gear deals for today, Saturday November 21st 2009. Remember, these deals are often valid for just one day, so act fast before they are gone.

Today's first deal is for another nice price drop on the Amazon Kindle 2. This is for a refurbished version, but it comes with a full warranty and most users report them arriving looking brand new. It is on sale for just $189.99, which is $70 cheaper than the new version. Click here for this deal.

Next up is a laptop bag/sleeve for just one penny. You'll need to pay $5.89 for shipping, but that still means you get yourself a basic laptop bag for under $6. Click here for this deal.

If you are working on stocking stuffers, then check out the free keychain tire pressure gauge over at Daily Steals. It even features dual LED lights. Like most of these freebies, you'll need to pay $5.99 shipping on each order, which means you can't just order 4 and pay shipping once. Click here for this deal.

And finally in today's lineup, if you'd like something cool to display all your travel photos, then a digital photo frame is a great choice. And a $30 digital photo frame is an even better option. This Memorex 7" frame costs just $29.95 and ships for free. Click here for this deal.

For once, Ryanair is in the news because of something unrelated to oddball fees or something silly their CEO said.

Residents of the German village of Groß Grönau have pulled together to sue for Irish airline because they put an 82 year old woman in the hospital.

Apparently, a Ryanair jet flew so low over her house, that it actually blew roofing tiles off the roof, putting the poor woman into a shock. One villager told the local paper that she actually had to duck when the plane came in for its landing at the local Lübeck-Blankensee airport.

A group of 500 anti-noise-pollution protesters accused the airline of negligent bodily harm and willful property damage. Of course, as is often the case with airlines, Ryanair is rejecting any responsibility for the incident.

If you visited the United States from overseas, you probably hit the ground in one of 15 ports of entry. These top first stops accounted for 84 percent of all entries from overseas in the first eight months of 2009-- up almost 2 percentage points from the same period in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Traffic through the major ports is becoming slightly more concentrated. This doesn't include visits from Canada and Mexico.

New York JFK, Miami and Los Angeles continue to be the top three ports of entry for overseas visitors. Through August, these locations accounted for 39% of all arrivals from overseas, an increase of a percentage point from last year. Miami was the only one of these three to post a year-over-year increase, and it was joined only by Orlando MCO, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale. Meanwhile, 11 of the top 15 ports of entry posted decreases in arrivals. This is hardly surprising, given that visits to the Untied States from overseas are down 9 percent so far this year.

Chicago was hit particularly hard, losing 18 percent of its entry traffic and moving into #7 on the list, behind Honolulu. Detroit lost 36 percent of its inbound visitor share, falling to #16 -- after Boston, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale.

Remember the coffee revolution of the Nineties, when what used to cost 25 cents at some crappy diner suddenly cost $3 at a snooty cafe? Well, at least instead of drinking what looked and tasted like dishwater you now got something that tasted like actual coffee. Ah yes, I was in graduate school then and the coffee revolution came along just at the right time! But coffee has been around a lot longer than that, as a new/old coffeehouse at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia shows.

Americans have been drinking coffee since before they've been called Americans. A local wigmaker and caffeine junkie named Richard Charlton opened a coffeehouse at Williamsburg more than 240 years ago, when Virginia was still a colony. Today Colonial Williamsburg, an interesting and authentic recreation of a Colonial town, has reopened this coffeeshop on the same site. You can sit in 18th century style while sipping a coffee, chocolate, or tea. You're not allowed to dump the tea into the sea, that was in Boston, but Charlton's coffeeshop was the scene of angry colonists confronting the British-appointed governor of Virginia colony to protest the Stamp Act in 1765.

This wasn't surprising. Coffeeshops were places to meet and discuss politics. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson drank coffee at Charlton's shop. There's no record of what they talked about over a good cup of Joe, but we can imagine. Did hepped-up caffeine addicts create the superpower we know today? Stranger things have happened. . .

EasyJet has apologized to everyone who will listen over a fashion shoot that appeared in its inflight magazine.

Did the models wear too little? Did they look like fourteen year-old cokeheads? No, none of the usual stuff; they happened to be posing at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial.

Yes, some fashion photographer decided the concrete blocks known as the "Field of Stelae", properly called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, would be a cool place for slinky women to show off designer duds. The editor of the magazine at INK Publishing thought it was a pretty neat idea too, and easyJet didn't notice until too late.

Now they've yanked the issue from all their planes and are "reviewing their relationship" with the publisher.

This was probably an honest oversight by easyJet, who acted quickly and appropriately when the issue came to their notice, but what about the magazine's editors? Or the photographer? Or the models? Didn't anyone stop and say , "Hey, millions of Jews died in the concentration camps. Perhaps we should take these photos somewhere else?"

Nope, apparently not.

We're less than a week away from Thanksgiving (gasp!). One thing I'm thankful for: Thanksgiving doesn't involve giving gifts. I still have another month to thinking about gifts (thank God!). Here are some other things to be thankful for.

• Since the weekend is upon us, it's time to PARTY! If you're a party goer, you definitely need to check out the world's top 10 party towns. [via Sydney Morning Herald]
• Backpacking and technology haven't really gone hand in hand, but here are 5 ways in which they do. [via Art of Backpacking]
• Traveling may not solve all your problems, but here's why it's still worth it. [via Twenty-something Travel]
• I love China, and I love street food. A match made in heaven. [via SoSauce]
• I also love finding and collecting sea glass, but this interview tells us how that hobby may just be a thing of the past. [via NPR]

'Til Monday, have a great weekend!

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