Continue reading A review of Cheapflights.com's "Travelnomics: Calling on Cuba" guide

A review of Cheapflights.com's "Travelnomics: Calling on Cuba" guide originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Greyhound bus drivers

Now, how many of you heard about the Greyhound bus driver who headed the wrong way for more than an hour last week? Yep, last Saturday morning at about 7:14 a.m on October 31st, that's exactly what happened--a bus driver went the wrong way for more than 70 miles.

Here's an exclusive Gadling report that has yet to show up anywhere. Gadling knows because Gadling was there.

Continue reading Greyhound bus driver heads wrong way: Where's a GPS when you need one?

Greyhound bus driver heads wrong way: Where's a GPS when you need one? originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Drive a rental car to Florida for $1

Drive a rental car to Florida for $1 originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Heather,

Yesterday the flight attendants got terrible news at US Airways. THREE base closures. Mine included. In all these years, I've never commuted. And now, gone early next year: BOS, LGA and LAS. We got the news in the crew room. Some of the senior girls started to tear up. One cried, "I have thirty years, I've never commuted." The base is closing and we didn't even receive any information on base transfers, voluntary furloughs, whether or not we can keep our parking lot space, bidding packets from the other bases and seniority lists to help make a decision. Any tips? Prayers? An Article to educate us newbies?

Sincerely,

In shock

Dear in shock,

I'm sorry to hear about the unfortunate news. I understand why you and your colleagues are frustrated and upset. Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse, your airline closing three bases or the fact that they did not alert employees until the last minute, only to do so with little to no information. These are your lives we're talking about, not just base closures! While commuting is not always easy, it is doable, and chances are you might even become a better flight attendant because of it. I know I did. First, here's the prayer you're looking for. And now for a few tips...

Continue reading Galley Gossip: Advice for the employees of US Airways

Galley Gossip: Advice for the employees of US Airways originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GPS and PMS originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I suffer from serious anxiety while flying. I've tried learning about the mechanics of flight, popping Xanax, I've even taken a flight lesson in an effort to cure my fear. Sometimes I can stay calm, but on other flights, for apparently no reason, I'll suddenly have a panic attack. It's more than a small problem.

For people like me, Virgin Atlantic has created a new iPhone app based on their Flying without Fear class. According to a press release, their course has a 98% success rate for helping fearful flyers cope. The iPhone app takes elements of the course (which recently helped Whoopi Goldberg manage her fear) and offers a mobile solution for use during the flight. Passengers can watch a video explanation of how planes work, read answers to frequently asked questions, and follow along with deep breathing and relaxation techniques.

There's also a "fear attack" button for emergencies. The problem with that idea being, of course, that when I truly panic - shaking and hyperventilating - I don't really have the capacity to hit my fear button and read and process the information. I'm too busy trying not to cry. But perhaps reviewing the information beforehand might help if a moment of panic strikes.

The Flying without Fear course usually costs about $350; the iPhone app is $4.99 in the iTunes store. Even if the app only helps a little, it sounds like a sound investment to me.

New Virgin Atlantic iPhone app helps people with a fear of flying originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Top Ten Reasons that Road Trips Rock

Top Ten Reasons that Road Trips Rock originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Plan your airport layover with T+L's Airport Navigator originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Top Ten Reasons that Road Trips Suck

Top Ten Reasons that Road Trips Suck originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Earlier today Mike wondered what Bob Dylan's voice would be like in a GPS system. Here's another voice idea. Greg Phelps, the art car aficionado who tells me about car oddities from time to time, told me about this one. Homer Simpson's voice can be downloaded to a portable TomTom GPS device.

Along with giving directions, Homer makes side comments to ramp up the amusement value. Homer pipes out with lines that carry the hope for food stops, as well as, lines like "You've reached your destination. You can hold your head up high because you're a genius."

In addition to helping you get where you want to go, I can see how Homer's voice would be fun to have as a companion in a traffic jam. I once gave my husband a bottle opener with Homer Simpson's voice that was triggered by popping the cap off. I didn't know there could be something better than that bottle opener.

Homer Simpson's voice on GPS tells you where to go and more originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's GPS day here are Gadling, so I think it's only appropriate to offer up some GPS-themed travel reads for you today. Enjoy!

• Prague has tons of wonderful galleries, but they are not always easy to find. [via NY Times]
• Up for a geocache adventure in Portugal? Try your hand at these. [via Matador Trips]
• Check out this comprehensive blog called Adventures in Geocaching.
• Hawaii's islands may be small, but you can still get lost. That's why GPS systems can reduce big-time sightseeing stress. [via Go Visit Hawaii]
• For all you worried parents out there, you could always stuff a tracking device into your child's backpack before s/he sets off on a trip. Voila! You have your very own GPS postcard. [via Jaunted]

More Gadlinks HERE.

Gadlinks for Monday 11.2.09 originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Trans World Expedition: Driving around the globe

Trans World Expedition: Driving around the globe originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New luxury trains coming to India originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I love a good travel contest, especially one that requires little effort to enter. So I'm excited about the jetBlue and Hertz Jet & Drive Giveaway, which runs now through through January 31, 2010. To enter, all you need to do is surf on over to the website, complete your free registration and then enter your email address. Easy, peasy.

For that minimal effort, you could win some pretty cool prizes, depending on the number of entries for the day. Yes, that's right - the prizes will vary according to how many people have entered for the day, and you can enter every single day of the contest. If 2,500 people or less enter on a given day, the winner gets a $100 Hertz rental card. With 2,500 or more entries, the card's value goes up to $250. But if 5,000 people enter, the lucky winner gets a $500 jetBlue gift card!

There will also be up to five grand prizes given away, one each time the total number of contest entries reaches another 50,000 milestone. The grand prize includes airfare to one of five destinations, Hertz rental car, and accommodations at a designated Starwood or Marriott hotel for two people. Destinations include New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Aruba.

Enter to win jetBlue's Jet and Drive Giveaway originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be closed indefinitely while crews repair an upper-deck cable that snapped during rush-hour on Tuesday evening. According to the AP, the broken cable and a chunk of bridge metal fell onto the westbound lanes, damaging at least one vehicle.

The cable that snapped was put in last month to repair a crack that was discovered over Labor Day weekend. While the issue is repaired, other forms of transportation will double up their efforts to keep people moving on trains and ferries.

The snapped wire could be a sign of more repair work to come, though. As quoted in the Los Angeles Daily News, a civil engineering professor at UCLA Berkeley called the initial crack a "warning sign" of more problems. He said the repair was really just a Band-Aid and "demonstrates the need for a longer-term solution." The bridge is 73 years old and carries around 260,000 people each day.

San Francisco's Bay Bridge closed indefinitely originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ship graveyards from around the world originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For Gadling's day of posts centered on Vintage America, Scott treated us to 10 vintage airline commercials. Those commercials put airlines and their personnel in a positive light. Here's a video with another version of air travel thanks to one very cranky flight attendant.

Thankfully, this is a commercial for a product other than an airline, but it perfectly captures the worst aspects of travel --plus, it's hilarious. Haven't you had times on an airplane when you wish you could behave this way? The passenger version of these scenarios would be funny as well.

Continue reading Flight attendant going bonkers? Here's one hilarious explanation

Flight attendant going bonkers? Here's one hilarious explanation originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I've traveled with my cats a few times while making some cross country moves. I hated cramming them into squat cages to fit them under my airplane seat and I really hated having to pay a few hundred dollars for their own "tickets" plus the vet checks and paperwork that certified them as healthy enough to fly. But never would I have considered trying to smuggle them on a flight inside my luggage. Yet that's exactly what a man traveling from Madrid to Dublin did with a small Chihuahua dog.

Somehow the man was able to get the dog, which was in a cage inside his luggage, through security in Madrid. When he got off the plane in Dublin after a 2.5 hour flight, customs officials noticed a strange outline as they X-rayed his bag. They thought it was a stuffed animal until they opened the bag and found the live dog.

The man, who is originally from Bulgaria, has been arrested. The dog was reportedly in fine condition and is being held in quarantine after which, I hope he will be placed in the care of someone with a little more common sense.

[via Telegraph]

Man caught with dog inside his luggage originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hundreds of flights cancelled as Iberia workers go on strike originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As a child growing up in Detroit, one of my favorite summer activities was riding the "Boblo Boat" down the Detroit River to Boblo Island. An amusement park created in 1898, it closed for good in 1993. The island is now a residential community and any hope of resurrecting the old-time amusement park is gone, but thanks to a local doctor, nostalgia-seekers may soon be able to take a ride on one of the official Boblo Boats, the Ste. Claire.

After over 80 years in use along the route and a decade spent docked south of the city, the boat was in serious disrepair. For three years, crews have been working on restoring the boat to its former glory. They started by hauling out over "40 dumpsters worth of trash and debris," according to the Detroit Free Press. Work continues today as they remove paint and rust and take out rotted walls and decking. Crews plan to continue work throughout the winter and hope to have the boat ready for dock-side tours as early as next summer. A few years later, having installed new plumbing and electricity, they hope to offer cruises and special-event sailings on the Detroit River.

Ste. Claire and her running mate, the Colombia, are the "last two remaining classic excursion steamers" in the country. The Colombia is the oldest passenger steamer in the US (not including ferries) and together, the boats are believed to hold the record for the longest amount of time (81 years) spent on a single route. A New York investor plans to restore the Colombia as well, but so far work has not begun.

Detroit's Boblo Boat is back! originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.