OFFICIAL RULES

NO PURCHASE REQUIRED TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

1. ELIGIBILITY: Gadling and lebua's Trip to Bangkok Giveaway (the "Giveaway") is open only to individuals who are legal residents of the fifty (50) United States (including the District of Columbia) (excluding Puerto Rico, all United States Territories and Possessions and all Overseas Military Installations) and who are eighteen (18) years of age or older at time of entry ("Entrants"). Employees of AOL Inc., Challenge Property Co., Ltd. on behalf of lebua at State Tower, and their advertising or promotion agencies, those involved in the production, development, implementation or handling of Giveaway, any agents acting for, or on behalf of the above entities, their respective parent companies, officers, directors, subsidiaries, affiliates, licensees, service providers, prize suppliers any other person or entity associated with Giveaway (collectively "Giveaway Entities") and/or the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members (whether related or not) of each such employee, are not eligible. Subject to all federal, state and local laws and regulations.

2. SPONSORS: The Giveaway is jointly Sponsored by AOL Inc., 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 and Challenge Property Co., Ltd. on behalf of lebua at State Tower, with offices at 1055/807 RCK Tower Condominium, 35th Floor, Silom Road, Silom, Bangkok Thailand 10500 (collectively, "Sponsors").

3. AGREEMENT TO OFFICIAL RULES: Participation in the Giveaway constitutes each Entrant's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsors, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.

4. ENTRY PERIOD: The Giveaway begins at 9:00 am Eastern Time ("ET") on February 19, 2010 and ends at 5:00 pm ET on February 26, 2010 (the "Entry Period"). Entries submitted before or after the Entry Period will be disqualified.

5. ENTRY: During the Entry Period, go to http://www.gadling.com/2010/02/19/win-a-trip-to-bangkok-from-gadling-and-lebua/ and follow the instructions to submit your entry. Limit one (1) entry per person. Subsequent entries from the same person will be deleted. The use of any agencies or automated software to submit entries will void all entries submitted by that person.

6. DRAWING: On or about March 1, 2010, Sponsors will select the name of one (1) Grand Prize Winner in a random drawing of all eligible entries received during the Entry Period. The odds of being selected as the potential winner depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Entry Period.

7. REQUIREMENTS OF THE POTENTIAL WINNER: A Potential Winner is not a winner until s/he has returned all required documentation and eligibility has been verified by Sponsors. A Potential winner must comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. A potential winner must respond to the notification e-mail within the timeframe stated in the notification e-mail and provide his/her full name, age and mailing address. Failure of a potential winner to provide this information within the stated timeframe will result in forfeiture of the prize. Except where prohibited, a Potential Grand Prize Winner must sign and return to Sponsors, within five (5) business days of being notified, an affidavit of eligibility, liability/publicity release and IRS W-9 Form in order to claim his/her Prize. The winner's travel companion(s) must be of the legal age of majority in his/her state of residence and at least eighteen (18) years of age and will be required to execute and return a Liability Release/Publicity Release prior to issuance of the travel documents. Failure to return documents as specified, or if prize notification is returned as undeliverable, will result in the Entrant being disqualified, and the prize may be awarded to a potential alternate winner in Sponsors' sole discretion.

8. PRIZE: One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive five (5) day/four (4) night trip for two (2) to Bangkok, Thailand. Prize includes: (a) round-trip coach air transportation for two (2) from the major airport nearest the winner's residence to Bangkok (Airfare shall not exceed $1,500 per person. Winner is responsible for the difference if airfare exceeds $1,500 per person. In the event the airfare is less than $1,500 per person, the winner will not receive the difference in cost); (b) four (4) nights hotel accommodations in the Tower Club Riverview Suites at the lebua Hotel at State Tower in Bangkok; (c) airport shuttle transportation in Bangkok; (d) dinner for (2) at any lebua restaurant (subject to price limitations); and (e) cocktails for two (2) at the Skybar (subject to price limitations). All other meals, beverages, gratuities and ground transportation are the responsibility of winner and travel companion. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") of the Grand Prize is $5,000 (USD). Trip must be taken by February 15, 2011. Once confirmed prize package is nontransferable and cannot be resold. Once confirmed, prize package is non-changeable and has no cash value and frequent flier mileage may not be accrued. Winner is solely responsible for all airport and security taxes including the September 11th security fee, federal, state and all local taxes. The ARV may vary based upon dates of travel. The difference between the ARV and actual value of the prize will not be awarded. Travel and accommodations are subject to availability. Certain restrictions and blackout dates may apply. Winner and his/her travel companion must travel together and on the same itinerary and are responsible for obtaining all required travel documents, including passports, visas, and required vaccinations/immunizations prior to travel. The winner's travel companion will be required to execute and return a Liability Release/Publicity Release prior to issuance of the travel documents. The winner and his/her travel companions are responsible for obtaining travel insurance (and all other forms of insurance) that they may wish to obtain (at their own expense) and hereby acknowledge that the Sponsors have not and will not obtain or provide travel insurance or any other form of insurance. Specifics of all prizes are in Sponsors' sole discretion. No cash or other substitution may be made, except by the Sponsors, who reserve the right to substitute a prize with another prize of equal or greater value if the prize, or a portion of the prize, is not available for any reason as determined by Sponsors in Sponsors' sole discretion. Winner is responsible for any taxes and fees associated with receipt or use of a prize.

9. GENERAL CONDITIONS: In the event that the operation, security, or administration of the Giveaway is impaired in any way for any reason, including, but not limited to fraud, virus, or other technical problem, the Sponsors may, in Sponsors' sole discretion, either: (a) suspend the Giveaway to address the impairment and then resume the Giveaway in a manner that best conforms to the spirit of these Official Rules; or (b) award the prize from among the eligible entries received up to the time of the impairment. Sponsors reserve the right in Sponsors' sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Giveaway or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to undermine the legitimate operation of the Giveaway may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsors reserve the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Sponsors' failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. In case of a dispute as to the owner of an online entry, online entry will be deemed to have been submitted by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address from which the entry is made. The "authorized account holder" is the natural person assigned an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted address. A potential winner may be required to provide Sponsors with satisfactory proof that s/he is the authorized account holder of the e-mail address associated with the potential winning entry.

10. RELEASE AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY: By participating in the Giveaway, Entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Giveaway Entities from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Giveaway or receipt or use of any prize, including, but not limited to: (a) unauthorized human intervention in the Giveaway; (b) technical errors related to computers, servers, providers, or telephone or network lines; (c) printing errors; (d) lost, late, postage-due, misdirected, or undeliverable mail; (e) errors in the administration of the Giveaway or the processing of entries; (f) for failure to supply the prize or any part thereof, by reason of any acts of God, any action(s), regulation(s), order(s) or request(s) by any governmental or quasi-governmental entity (whether or not the action(s), regulation(s), order(s) or request(s) prove(s) to be invalid), equipment failure(s), terrorist acts, threatened terrorist acts, earthquake(s), war(s), fire(s), flood(s), explosion(s), unusually severe weather, hurricane(s), embargo(s), labor dispute(s) or strike(s) (whether legal or illegal), labor or material shortage(s), transportation interruption(s) of any kind, work slow-down(s), civil disturbance(s), insurrection(s), riot(s), or any other cause beyond Sponsors' sole control; or (g) injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from any Entrants participation in the Giveaway or receipt or use of any prize. Giveaway Entities shall not be responsible for any cancellations, delays, diversions or substitutions or any act or omissions whatsoever by any performer(s)/event(s), air carrier(s), hotel(s), or other transportation companies or any other persons providing any of these services and accommodations to passengers including any results thereof such as changes in services or accommodations necessitated by same. The passenger contracts in use by the airlines or other transportation companies shall constitute the sole contracts with respect to the Grand Prize Winner's and his/her travel companion's transportation and such contracts shall be solely between the Grand Prize winner, his/her travel companions and such transportation companies. Giveaway Entities shall not be parties to such contracts and shall assume no responsibility in this connection. Giveaway Entities shall not be liable for any loss or damage to baggage or the loss, theft or damage of cash, cameras, jewelry, securities, heirlooms, negotiable papers or other valuables. Sponsors' failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision; Entrants further agree that in any cause of action, the Giveaway Entities' liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Giveaway, and in no event shall the Giveaway Entities be liable for attorney's fees and/or experts' fees and costs. Entrants waive the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.

11. DISPUTES: Except where prohibited, Entrants agree that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Giveaway or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, Entrants' rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of Sponsors in connection with the Giveaway, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (whether of the Commonwealth of Virginia or any other jurisdiction), which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the Commonwealth of Virginia.

12. REQUEST WINNER'S NAME: To request the name of the winner, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Gadling/lebua Winner's List, 22070 Broderick Dr, 12E:D01, Dulles, VA 20166. Requests must be received by February 28, 2010.

© Copyright 2010 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A hard landing leaves this skydiver with broken ribs. You can almost hear them pop.

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Pretty much what every mom worries about: this student skydiver breaks his back on his very first jump.

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In this clip, a skydiving teacher videotapes a student's dive from a helmet-mounted camera. When the student's rib cage collides with the instructor's head, the instructor becomes paralyzed instantly. This filmed, first-person perspective of free-fall -- arms flailing, world akimbo -- is about as close to a nightmare as you can imagine.

As you're probably aware, some people think reclining a seat on a flight is a pretty much a crime, while others think it's a blessing. Therefore, yesterday, we asked our Twitter followers a burning question:


Immediately, our wonderful (and vocal) followers burst forth with their thoughts, which ranged from absolute insistence to meek denial. Overnight, we let Gadling's servers and mega-computers crunch the data, and now, we're here to report our findings.

The argument about whether overweight passengers should pay for a second seat has been getting louder. Our friends at AOL Travel recently summarized some readers' thoughts on the subject of obese passengers, and now here's your chance to sound off!

Participate in our poll ...



... leave a comment below, and then read more:

• Passenger ... or safety hazard?
• Overweight man barred from flight, misses uncle's funeral
• Plane Answers: Whistling airplanes and heavy passengers that cost airlines more in fuel?
• Middle seat: where else would you want to be?
• Air India fires 10 employees for being fat

Only when I arrive at my gate do I learn of the FAA's "nationwide system outage" grounding flights across the country. Gate attendants are reading from prepared FAA statements, explaining they don't know what caused the delay, but that they're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible.

My 8:50am flight has been pushed back to 9:50, but now -- at 9:20 -- there's been no word about rescheduling my flight. Naturally, I have a connecting flight in Atlanta Hartsfield -- the world's busiest airport -- and they are reporting widespread delays, as well.

The issue, apparently, revolves around scheduling flights for departure. (There's a lot of confusion about this, here at FLL.)

Flights in the air are safe, and seemingly, airlines have the ability to clear flights one-by-one for departure: that explains the three flights that have zoomed off in the past 20 minutes. According to @ExecutiveTravel, "The FAA's own site says that flight schedules are being entered in MANUALLY, thus the delays and cancellations" -- but I'm unable to find this information.

We're on the ground -- literally -- for this story, updating live from our Twitter account. We'll also update this post as we learn more.

If you're traveling today ... we sympathize.

UPDATE: Apparently, the computer glitch is in Atlanta.

UPDATE 2: The gate attendant announced at 9:50 that the delay would end in "about 45 minutes." Let's see how accurate he is.

UPDATE 3: The gate agent was right on target. That flight is boarding now. My flight -- the one originally scheduled for 8:50 -- is now scheduled to depart at 11:30.

UPDATE 4: According to the WSJ, "The FAA system is a major, cutting-edge program full of redundancies that are designed to keep it from going down."

Here at Gadling we're almost always on the go: packing, unpacking, ass-dragging through customs, reclining seat backs, putting up tray tables. Ugh: it can be exhausting. Of course, we know you're probably at least as busy and as movious as we are. Therefore, we thought it'd be nice to remind you all the places you can get your Gadling on.

If you don't have time to check Gadling.com every day, but you can breeze through your feed reader before rushing to the airport, don't forget you can subscribe to our RSS feed. If you prefer to follow only certain writers, you can subscribe to any individual author's feed (the feeds are located right next to the writers' names, on each post).

If you're less interested in specific writers, but you love to catch up on travel topics, be sure to check out some of our hub pages -- including Travel Tech, Adventure Travel, Cockpit Chronicles, Galley Gossip, or The Accidental Chef Travels.

Finally, if you didn't already know, you can become of a fan of Gadling on Facebook, and you can follow the site (as well as the writers) on Twitter. Here's a handy list of names:

Team Gadling @Gadling

Mike Barish @MikeBarish
Kraig Becker @KungFuJedi
Catherine Bodry @CatherineBodry
Alison Brick @AlisonBrick
Scott Carmichael @ItsMeScotty
Justin Glow @JustinGlow
Stephen Greenwood @SPGreenwood
Katie Hammel @KatieHammel
Aaron Hotfelder @AaronHotfelder
Tom Johansmeyer @TJohansmeyer
Jeremy Kressman @Kressie42
Heather Poole @Heather_Poole
Jamie Rhein @Jamie_Rhein
Annie Scott @AnnieScott
Willy Volk @WillyVolk
Karen Walrond @Chookooloonks
Kent Wien @VeryJr
Brenda Yun @HIBren

With 1200 miles of sand beaches, Florida is the world's premiere destination for vacationers seeking sun, surf, and sand. However, with so much coastline, how do you choose the beach that's right for you? Here's our list of the best beaches in southeast Florida (roughly the area from Stuart to Miami).

Best beach for photo ops: Blowing Rocks Preserve

Blowing Rocks Preserve encompasses a mile-long limestone outcrop riddled with holes, cracks and fissures; when the tide's high and there's a strong easterly wind (call for conditions: 561-744-6668), water shoots up, geyser-like. When seas are calm, you can hike through four coastal biomes: shifting dune, coastal strand, interior mangrove wetlands and tropical coastal hammock. Across the street, Hawley Education Center has rotating art exhibits with nature themes, as well as two short nature trails and a butterfly garden.

Entry to the preserve is $2 per person, and it's only open from 9am to 4:30pm. A dedicated photographer would probably consider the best photo opportunities to be at sunrise (though we didn't tell you to park south of the preserve and hike in with your camera and tripod). Finding the refuge is a little tricky, as there's no signage: from US Hwy 1, take Bridge St (708 east) to Hobe Sound. Make a left on Beach St (707). Travel about 3 miles; the refuge is on your right.

Yesterday, we announced Gadling's "Perfect Road Trip" contest, a fantabulous contest in which Gadling is partnering with Cadillac to send one lucky winner (and a friend!) on his or her perfect road trip, all expenses paid. All you have to do is describe your favorite road trip, and if you're selected as the winner, Cadillac will provide --

• airfare for you and a friend from your home(s) to the start of your road trip destination;
• a new Cadillac SRX to drive for the duration of a the road trip (sorry, you have to give it back at the end of the trip);
• money for fuel and expenses along the way (think: hotel and meals);
• airfare from the road trip's end point back to your home.

Here's how the contest works --

1. In the comments below, leave a comment telling us about your favorite road trip. (Please: no months-long trips here; the road trip may only be two days long, but that's PLENTY of time to, say, cruise the Florida Keys.)
   
2. You don't have to have been on the road trip before -- it can be one you're dreaming about -- but try to be specific. Make us drool over your imagined itinerary. (Hint: the prize will be available in September, so try to think of a relevant destination -- and that destination must be in the Continental US.)
3. You can only leave one road trip suggestion, so choose wisely. Successive road trip ideas will remain visible on the site, however, for other people to dream about.
4. All submissions must be left by July 22, 2009, at 5pm EST, in order to be considered.
   
5. Gadling's road trip gurus will choose the 5 best road trip ideas from those left in the comments.
   
6. We'll present Gadling's readers with the list early next week, and they'll vote on which is the best road trip -- and therefore, who should be the winner of the contest.
7. Leaving a comment below constitutes having read, understood, and agreed to the complete rules (link is a PDF).

Good luck.

Gallery: 2010 Cadillac SRX

There's something transcendental about zooming along wildflower-rimmed country roads with the top on your convertible down. Fresh spring air, ripe with morning dew, floods your nostrils and tossles your hair. Hulking, weeping fig trees, thick with Spanish moss, sway in the breeze like a feathered boa on a dancing woman, and the sun -- cresting the canopy of the roadside trees -- plays hide-and-seek in the ripples of the nearby river.

Troubles at home? Far removed. Stressed from work? No longer. All that matters is the here and the now -- driving along gorgeous back-country roads, mercifully traffic-free.

If road trips delight you, then Gadling's "Perfect Road Trip" contest will make you ecstatic. We're partnering with Cadillac to send one lucky winner (and a friend!) on his or her perfect road trip, all expenses paid. All you have to do is tell us your favorite road trip, and if you're selected as the winner, Cadillac will provide --

• airfare for you and a friend from your home(s) to the start of your road trip destination;
• a new Cadillac SRX to drive for the duration of the road trip (sorry, you have to give it back at the end of the trip);
• money for fuel and expenses along the way (think: hotel and meals);
• airfare from the road trip's end point back to your home.

Here's how the contest works --

Some people travel to shop in different stores, or to eat different food, or to drink different beers. Jeff White traveled to immerse himself in a different culture. He believed so strongly in immersion, in fact, that he moved to Germany to live and work. This post of Jeff's, republished in his honor, demonstrates Jeff's interest in immersion and passion for connecting with people while traveling. Thanks, Jeff, for reminding us of the most important reason for travel.

A friend of mine just sent me this video from the start-up Web site GlobalPost, and it's fantastic.

Gregory Warner, a freelance foreign correspondent living in Afghanistan, is an avid accordion player, and he tries to use the instrument as a means to connect with the people he's covering.

The way Afghans respond to his accordion music is somewhat unexpected and reveals some truths about the country's development during the last quarter century.

What does Warner do when asked to perform at a concert and realizing he doesn't know any tunes by Afghanistan's own pop icon? Well, Johnny Cash to the rescue. Watch and see what I mean...

(Thanks, Ed)