2010 › November › 22

Photo of the Day (11.22.10)

by Mike Barish on

As you may or may not know, I write Gadling’s SkyMall Monday column. That leads me to seeing a lot of ridiculous SkyMall products. I also end up talking about SkyMall quite a bit, with people often suggesting products for me to review. One of the more frequently mentioned contraptions is the Forest Face. Personally, I was never that impressed by anyone shoving some some Mr. Potato Head features into a tree. I’d rather see a real tree with a real face.

Thankfully, now we have this photo by Flickr user fourfourmedia. I have no idea what’s going on here. I don’t care. That tree has a face. Enough said.

Have a picture of any other flora with faces? Or maybe just some great travel photos? Submit your images to Gadling’s Flickr group and we might use one for a future Photo of the Day.

Daily Pampering: MINI Coopers for the holidays at Peninsula Hotels

by Melanie Nayer on

The Peninsula Hotels of New York and Chicago are adding a little gift to their holiday bookings. Book an executive level suite in the Chicago or New York hotel and the hotel will hand over the keys to a MINI Cooper Clubman.

Forget hailing cabs and trekking through the snow in the city, now you can hop in your MINI (via chauffeur) and whip through the city streets. New York City guests taking a spin in the MINI will have three itineraries to choose from encompassing the hidden hot spots of Uptown, Midtown and Downtown. MINI passengers in the Windy City will be able to choose from itineraries created for romance, families and foodies and each experience can be paired with directions and customized tips available on the MINI’s iPhone and iPad, which guests may use during the duration of their trip.

Continuing The Peninsula Hotels legacy of offering the finest fleet of customized vehicles for their guests, the new MINIs join Peninsula’s renowned fleet of 14 Rolls Royce Phantoms available at Peninsula Hong Kong.

Want to take these little guys for a spin? Suites start at $1,375 in New York and $895 in Chicago.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Business travelers want mobile, Expedia picks up Mobiata

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I guess Expedia is watching the market. The online travel agency just snapped up mobile travel application developer Mobiata. Mobiata’s claim to fame is FlightTrack, and the other apps in its portfolio include TripDeck, HotelPal, FlightBoard and FareCompare. For Expedia, it was a no-brainer, as 4 percent of its traffic is coming from devices, a number the company would like to kick a bit higher, according to TechCrunch.

Beyond the fact that it gets more reach and better footing in the mobile space, Expedia’s Mobiata acquisition is interesting in light of a recent Deloitte survey. Business travelers are increasingly turning to their smartphones to research and book travel. The global professional services firm reported that 63 percent of business travelers earning more than $150,000 a year have web-enabled smartphones. Twenty-six percent of survey respondents, Deloitte said, have even downloaded hotel apps to these devices.

Given this trend in business travel, an important market for the travel industry, Expedia’s pickup makes good sense. The big question: who’s next?

[photo by Ed Yourdon via Flickr]

New roller coaster to debut at Six Flags New England in 2011

by Joel Bullock on

Six Flags New England, located in Agawam, Massachusetts, will be getting a new wild mouse roller coaster in 2011. Well, we’ll call it slightly used. Last year, the coaster was re-located from Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom where it was Road Runner Express. Wild mouse roller coasters are known for their flat, un-banked track, and tight hairpin turns. The tight turns give riders the feeling that the cars might just fly over the edge.
Theme park fans are a crafty bunch. Recently, plans for the 2011 ride were unearthed from a Six Flags investors report and a local town hall meeting. According to the document, the ride may be known as Gauntlet. Others clues point to the names: Gotham City Gauntlet, Gotham City Transit, and Escape from Arkham Asylum. Six Flags New England will likely end the guessing game soon with an official announcement.

Located in the DC Super Hero Adventures section near the Scream Tower, the 2011 roller coaster will feature 17 hairpin turns over its 1,213 feet of track. Six Flags New England has been whetting enthusiasts’ appetite by posting construction photos on their Facebook page. As you can see, the compact coaster is coming up quite fast. At this rate most of the new ride’s structure will be complete before the harsh winter weather moves in.
To Six Flags’ credit, they’re giving the pre-owned roller coaster a nice little makeover. You can see the Gotham City theming in the aforementioned plans. The theme will include cars themed as taxi cabs, police cars, and Batman villains. The plans show a less immersive theme than the one employed on the Batman Dark Knight roller coaster that the park was supposed to get back in 2008. This is probably a good thing as both of the Dark Knight coaster clones that sprung up at sister parks Great Adventure and Great America were hammered with horrible reviews.
The Dark Knight coasters were enclosed in a building and the theming was so intense, for Six Flags, that guests probably expected a thrill ride, not a fun little family coaster. With this new coaster, guests may be able to see what they’re in for and set their expectations accordingly. The new ride will open in the Spring of 2011 as Six Flags New England’s 10th roller coaster.

[Image credit: Six Flags New England’s Facebook Page]

Christmas in Afghanistan: Safer than New York City?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Nothing beats Manhattan for the holidays. I’m already seeing signs of Christmas appear all over the city. Lights are already wrapped around trees on W. 58th Street, and gigantic fir candy cane sculptures are beginning to adorn the city’s skyscrapers. There’s no doubt that the holiday season is nothing short of magical in New York City, and if you’re looking to experience Christmas away from home, this is the place to do it … unless you’re listening to the NATO.

Mark Sedwill, NATO’s senior civilian representative, has called Kabul, Afghanistan a safe place for kids, saying they “are probably safer here than they would be in London, New York or Glasgow or many other cities,” according to The Independent.

Of course, Sedwill is already backing away from his original comment, saying, “I was trying to explain to an audience of British children how uneven violence is across Afghanistan.”

%Gallery-106020%The Independent continues:

“But, in cities like Kabul where security has improved, the total levels of violence, including criminal violence, are comparable to those which many western children would experience.

“For most Afghans, the biggest challenges are from poverty – the absence of clean water, open sewers, malnutrition, disease – and many more children are at risk from those problems than from the insurgency.”

So, is that where you’re going to go to watch the tree-lighting?

%Poll-56052%

[Via Gawker, photo by zedwards via Flickr]