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Photo of the Day (11.24.09)
Today's photo of the day comes from San Francisco based photographer, kellinasf. I love this photo because it's the conventional image of a beautiful landscape, and as one Flickr user comments, "looks like an image one would find in a children's story". The photo was taken on Kihzi Island in Russia; a 7km long and .5km wide island accessible by boat from the town of Petrozavodsk.
Kihzi Island is a UNESCO world heritage site, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia, but has no lodging for overnight guests. The island features an ensemble of wooden churches, chapels and houses - including the 22-domed Transfiguration Church.
Do you think your travel photos have what it takes to become the Photo of the Day? It's easy! Submit them to our Gadling Flickr Pool and we might just pick yours.
Do you think your travel photos have what it takes to become the Photo of the Day? It's easy! Submit them to our Gadling Flickr Pool and we might just pick yours.
WalletPop takes you on a tour of the Oasis of the Seas - the largest cruise ship in the world
Gadling contributor and WalletPop writer Jason Cochran shot this great video clip of the new Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas - the largest cruise ship in the world. He wrote about his experience on this mammoth ship earlier this week, but video always manages to paint a great picture of what to expect.
In the video, you'll see the boardwalk, zipline, FlowRider surf simulator, the carousel, the "elevator bar" and more. Truly an amazing vessel, and one you are bound to hear more about here on Gadling as well as our friends at WalletPop.
Five ways to get the person in the seat next to you to stop talking
Some people don't mind a little chat on the airplane, but what do you do when you're sitting next to the world's most effusive babbler and all you want is to read, work, sleep or jump out the window? It's not your responsibility to act as your seatmate's captive audience, but ignoring people is mean and feels awful. Here are five ways to delicately end the conversation.
1. The Book Heisman. Rather than the traditional "stop talking hand," get your book between you and the talker. This works especially well when you have the window seat; pretend to lean against the airplane wall. Magazines can be even more effective, as they are larger. Once they notice the book is open, and between you, they should get the hint. If not, say "Sorry, I really have to finish this." Let them figure out why you need to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on their own.
2. Offer them an activity. No, don't give them a book or puzzle; they'll ask you for help and talk to you about it the whole time. Just remind them of what they (hopefully) brought. Say: "What did you bring to read? Oh, I haven't read that book, can I see it?" This gets their book (or laptop, or whatever they have) out of their bag and into their lap. Digging out their own entertainment may have been what they were trying to procrastinate by talking.
Gadlinks for Tuesday, 11-24-09
Welcome back to Gadlinks, your daily source for the best of the rest from the travel blogosphere. Here's what's going on today...
- Ever wondered what it's like to cruise down the Amazon? Check out these photos from National Geographic photographer Bob Krist.
- Bootsnall details 8 alternatives to spending the holidays at home.
- "When you travel abroad a strange thing happens: The tables are turned," writes Tom Swick in an article called "The Coolness of Strangers" over at World Hum. "The people you've always seen as outsiders-huddled with fellow immigrants, looking rather gauche-become the majority. Now it's they who know the rules-how to dress, how to act, what to order-and you who are suddenly at a loss."
- Upscale McDonald's in midtown Manhattan decorated with modern Danish furniture, super-sized flat-screen TV's.
- Los Angeles looking like North Korea.
More Gadlinks here.
Book a stay at Hawaii's Kona Village and get an $800 flight credit
Last week, while on Hawaii, I had the chance to wander over to Kona Village Resort and stroll through the grounds. I was pretty impressed by what I saw. While the resort is located right next to the Four Seasons, the feel (while still luxury) is totally different. Rooms here are hale - thatched roof bungalows in various forms. In keeping with the barefoot, carefree style of the resort, the rooms don't have tvs, radios, or even telephones. What they do offer is total seclusion, privacy and romance, as each bungalow has access to a beautiful black sand beach and its own hammock. Hotel staff communicates with guests via notes, and a coconut is used as a "do not disturb" symbol.
It's the perfect spot for honeymooners to escape and relax, but they are also plenty of activities offered, like snorkeling, stand up paddle boarding, whale watching, surfing and SCUBA diving. Rates for the hale start at $410 per night for two people, including breakfast and selected water sports.
Right now, Garden, Superior, or Deluxe rooms, which run about $700-$900 per night, qualify for a special fare deal. Book five nights in the room and receive $800 in flight credits. The room rate includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. The fare credit is applied to the cost of the room.
Dive packages, romance packages, and family packages (book one hale and the second is 50% off) are also currently available.
Majority of travelers admit they don't care about their carbon output
Dutch bank ING asked their economic survey team to interview travelers about their opinion of CO2 output, and whether they really care about their impact on the environment. As it turns out, only 15% of the 41,900 travelers interviewed actually do something about the environment. Of that 15%, only 3% actively try to offset their emissions, while others only admit to making a minor effort at it.
76% of travelers simply don't care, and 9% has "no opinion". Despite all the efforts to change the public awareness of CO2 emissions, only a small portion of people actually care.
This data is interesting, because people are slowly starting to realize that carbon offsets are not going to be the solution to the problem - the real solution is to actually reduce the emissions instead of trying to offset them by planting a couple of trees. Airlines like starting to experiment with bio fuels, and others are making small changes to their flight procedures. Of course, these measures are still in their infancy, but every little bit helps.
Keep up on Thanksgiving airport traffic with Travelocity's Task Force
Nobody is looking forward to venturing into battle tomorrow. Wednesday is the year's biggest travel day, a congested, high stress day when airports are packed, tempers are high and any small hiccup can make an entire airport turn upside down.We all have to get home somehow though, and the harsh reality facing many of us is that the airport needs to be handled (my flight to London leaves from O'hare at 5PM).
Luckily, Travelocity already has street teams organized to help us manage the battle. This year, while they continue to quarterback part of the effort from their affable Window Seat Blog they're also mobilizing the Twitter army to keep an eye on specific airports across the country. Each specific feed will dispatch updates from airport including delays, parking, security lines and general mayhem that's going on around the terminal. It's a great way to glean some insight into what to expect when you arrive -- or watch the disaster from the comfort of your own home.
Each feed can be found on the Thanksgiving Task Force subpage. Tune in now and get your fighting pants ready for Wednesday -- it's going to be a big weekend.
Quarter million animals sacrificed at Hindu festival
Hinduism is generally thought of as a vegetarian religion, one that respects animals because in the cycle of death and rebirth, we've all been animals at one point or another. But Hinduism is an ancient and complex faith with almost a billion adherents, and there's such a diversity that virtually no common thread can be found in all methods of Hindu worship.Nothing proves that more true than Gadhimai Mela, a fair that takes places once every five years in southern Nepal to honor the goddess Gadhimai. Tens of thousands of pilgrims from Nepal and India have gathered to offer animal sacrifices to the goddess in return for blessings. One man who prayed for a son at the last festival had his wish granted, and this year reportedly sacrificed 105 buffaloes.
Animal rights campaigners protesting the festival have had no success. The Indian pilgrims came all the way to Nepal because animal sacrifice is illegal in India, and they're not going to be stopped. The BBC estimates that a quarter of a million animals, from pigeons to lambs to buffaloes, will be sacrificed. Local tanners and butchers are doing a brisk trade, as are the illicit stills set up to entertain the pilgrims. Six people have already died from drinking illegal home brew.
This isn't the only animal sacrifice in Hinduism. It's been popular in various times and places in the Hindu world and there are numerous references to it in holy texts, including a horse sacrifice in the famous epic the Ramayana, shown here.
RoomAtlas mashes Google maps with hotel prices and reviews
I'm a sucker for a good mashup. RoomAtlas is such a service - it combines the power of Google maps with thousands of hotel locations. The map looks a bit like a Monopoly board, and shows the location of hotels, along with a color coded price, links to reviews, a thumbnail photo and a link to a booking site with even more details of the property.
Rates come from Hotels.com and Expedia, so you are almost always going to get the best available rates. I've been playing with the site for some time this morning, and absolutely love how easy it is to find a hotel where you want it, for the price you are willing to pay.
RoomAtlas current covers 53,000 hotels from all around the world. Prices can be displayed in US Dollars and UK Pounds.
Daily gear deals - free iPod headphones, $99 HD Camcorder and more
Here are the hottest gear deals for today, Tuesday November 24th 2009. Remember, these deals are often valid for just one day, so act fast before they are gone.
Lost your iPod headphones? Deadly Deals is selling the original Apple iPod headphones for free, with $6 shipping. There may be cheaper headphones out there, but at least this way, you get "the real thing". Click here for this deal.
Sellout.woot.com is selling the highly rated Sennheiser VMX100 dual microphone Bluetooth headset for just $29.95 + $5 shipping. The headset is brand new, and comes with a wall charger and USB charging cable. Click here for this deal.
Next up is an Audiovox 7" portable DVD player kit. The kit includes the DVD player itself, 2 folding headphones, a carrying case, car and AC chargers and a headrest mount. On sale for just $75.75, with a free one year subscription to Wired Magazine. Click here for this deal.
And finally in today's lineup, the Kodak Zi6 pocket HD camcorder has dropped to a new low price of just $99.99. It may not be the newest generation camera, but it'll still make pretty decent HD video clips. Click here for this deal.
