Gadling

No, I haven't traveled like a local in Cambodia, but from how Tim Patterson describes it at Jaunted, my local travel in The Gambia sounds close. His line about both butt checks falling asleep at the same time brought back memories.

As one of his entries for the Embedded Travel Guide to Cambodia, a series where he blogs about his experiences staying in a guest house in Sihanoukville, Patterson describes the various ways one can get from point A to point B in that country. The emotions he highlights are shock, misery and exhilaration--perfect word choices for capturing the flavor of many of the experiences I've had while shouldering my way into a bush taxi, or bobbing along in ramshackle boat without a life jacket and the shore almost too far away to see.

For anyone heading to a place where transportation is an assortment of tuk-tuks, fishing boats, buses, bamboo rafts, regular boats, motorcycles, cyclos, regular taxis, pick-up trucks, or heaven knows what else--ox carts, for example, Patterson's guide is a great way to familiarize yourself with what's out there and how to play it safe as best you can.

Patterson's idea is you jump on, have fun, but know the risk. I second his emotions. Besides, you'll end up with some great tales to tell and you won't even have to embellish the details to make the stories more fantastic.

[Photo from Jaunted. Clicking on it brings you to Patterson's guide.]

First off, Happy Labor Day weekend if you happen to be in the United States. For anyone else, happy weekend and don't work too hard. If you've read Gadling this week, perhaps you noticed posts on changes occurring , new additions to the travel field and what this means for travelers.

1. Josh, for example, talked about the upcoming opening of the Holiday Inn in Hanoi and what this signifies for the city. My first trip to Hanoi was in 1994 and I've been back four more times. As he noted,and what I've also noticed with each visit, the increased affluence has brought considerable change. Josh muses about the outcome.

2. If you're one of those people who have noticed how air travel just isn't what it used to be (how could you not notice) Scott's read "The top eight things I miss most about the current state of air travel" may seem familiar. Oh, how I long for the good old days, and I've never been on the Concorde.

3. Abha pointed us in the direction of a new travel guide resource called Trazzler.com that tailors recommendations to your location and the type of travel you are interested in such as culinary arts.

4. In case you're looking for the latest food snob trend, Jeffery found the answer at Forbes.com and added his two cents into the discussion. For all you backpackers who settle for cheese and bread while hopping on and off trains in Europe, you can go more upscale than those little triangles of cheese that doesn't need much refrigeration. Jeffery, is not a cheese wiz, but you might be able to convince him with a bottle of wine. (In case you missed it, I made a play on words. Cheese wiz = Cheez Whiz)

5. Here's a trend in weight saving that I, for one, don't hope other airlines start using. Grant wrote about how Jazz Airlines, a subsidiary of Air Canada is doing away with life vests. If the plane lands in water, passengers need to hold onto their seat cushions as flotation devices.

I came to a depressing conclusion the other night: summer is almost over and that means that soon we will return to extended dark evening hours. I do love long summer nights when the sun sets late, but this photo was a good reminder of just how great evening shots can be. Big Ben stands almost secondary to the car lights that whiz by in this wonderful shot by fiznatty.

Think you have what it takes to be on Photo of the Day? Submit your best shots here to be considered.

A number of questions came in this week relating to takeoffs and landings, and a few issues that passengers worry about. So, we'll continue on last week's Takeoff and Landing theme.

Eric asks this timely question:

I would like to know what purpose the wing flaps play in take off and in landing?

With the recent Spanair accident in Madrid, some reporters focused on whether or not the MD-80's flaps and slats were extended for takeoff.

These devices, moveable panels on the back and front of the wings respectively, are used only for takeoff and landing.

A jet's wing is designed to be at it's most efficient while at altitude and at it's design cruise speed. This same wing isn't capable of flying slow enough to takeoff or land on a conventional runway.

So flaps were designed for most airplanes to increase the lift a wing can carry at these slower speeds. When the flaps are extended, the wing is essentially converted from a high-speed wing to a slow-speed wing, depending on the flap setting used.

Flaps are gradually extended based on the speed of the airplane, with the first set of flaps on an airliner usually extended when the airplane is slower than 250 knots.

This photo, from konakoka, shows the Kapoho Reef Pools off the coast of Hawaii. According to the photographer, the water in these pools is heated by nearby volcanoes and the pools contain up to eight types of coral. The colors and clarity of this photo are really impressive.

Got a photo you want considered for Gadling's Photo of the Day? Submit it here.

There is no denying it - Air travel is not what it used to be. The industry has been in a steady decline for years. Long before "terrorists" were being blamed for taking your pretzels away, airlines were blaming deregulation, fuel prices, pixie dust or whatever excuse was in fashion that week. A lot has changed in recent years and, in no particular order, here are the top ten things I miss in the current world of air travel.

Concorde


Without a doubt, the number one thing I miss when I fly, is Concorde. Despite never coming close to being the most frequent passenger on her (who flew New York to London twice a week), I did have the pleasure of flying supersonic several times.

The plane was cramped, warm and smelled funny, but the experience was probably as close as you can get to air travel as it was back in the glamor days of the 50's.

The experience started at check in, where you could get your boarding pass in a separate area with none of the hustle and bustle of the economy class ticketing area, or being yelled at by an airline drone to head on over to a computerized kiosk.

Once you had your pretty Concorde boarding pass you'd usually get a snazzy Concorde aluminum bag tag. If you were lucky (like I was once), you'd then get a private escort through security to the Concorde Lounge, where the worlds best alcoholic beverages were available. Naturally none of the lounge wardens would ever dare demand drink vouchers from you, like in most North American lounges.

The whole atmosphere was very relaxed, and you'd never run into anyone yelling on their mobile phone while trying to pound down a burger.

Once on board, you settled into your plush leather seat, and three and a half hours of pampering could begin. Once the plane leveled out at 55,000 feet, a flight attendant would hand you a Concorde gift, and a certificate with a beautiful sterling silver pen from Smythsons of Bond Street. During your meal, you could request the captain, co-pilot and flight engineer to sign the certificate. If the workload was light, you could politely request a brief visit to the flight deck, as this was all long before cockpit doors had to be locked at all times.

The finest wines were served, Champagne flowed and amazing meals made from the finest ingredients were presented in multiple courses. It was heavenly.

And then disaster struck - 113 lives were lost when Air France flight 4590 crashed on Tuesday the 25th of July 2000, right after she took off from Charles de Gaulle airport. The future of Concorde was doomed and a mere three years later, she took her final flight. The fleet ended up being put on display at various aviation museums throughout the world. My first flight on Concorde was the Saturday after the crash, and was one of the most memorable flights I have ever been on.

You've probably noticed if you've browsed your local paper that Labor Day weekend, along with kicking off football, is a great one for festivals. Last night I started off my Labor Day weekend early by heading to the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival. I proclaimed it a hit after we had only been there for about 15 minutes.

So did my brother and a friend of his. They live in the heart of Manhattan and said several times over how clean it is was. Seriously. Folks in Millersport know how to use trash cans. Plus, the corn can't be beat. It was not uncommon to see people with a pile of buttered ears in front of them, all to be chowed down in one sitting.

For other places to head to make this Labor Day weekend a stand out, Intelligent Travel has a post of festival offerings. These are unusual events that capture the fun you can find without a lot of effort besides getting in the car and going.

If you can't make it to one of these this year, consider them for next year's Labor Day. Why stay at home when there's corn to eat , grapes to stomp, dancing to do, and more?

• Kansas City Irish Fest in Kansas City, Missouri
• The Irvington Stomp in Irvington, Virginia.
• Marshall County Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, Indiana
• Hard Crab Derby and Fair in Crisfield, Maryland
• New York State Festival of Balloons in Dansville, New York
• Albuquerque/Denver Tango Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Head to the Intelligent Travel Website for links to each festival. Make sure you click on Irvington Stomp. What a hoot.

Until I moved to Columbus and close to The Ohio State University, I didn't fully understand football season. Now I do.

If you live in a town with one of the Big Ten Universities, you can't help but notice when football season starts, even if you are fuzzy on the details of how the game is played. On a Saturday when the Buckeyes are in town, I keep that in mind. Can you say traffic jam?

Still there are advantages of living in a Big Ten town. The team name offers an identity that's fun to join in, no matter your background. It ties people together. If you live in central Ohio, you're automatically part of the OSU gang. Put on an OSU T-shirt and people know where you're from. Even I own a Buckeye T-shirt.

Because this weekend marks the start of the fall football season, here's a mini guide to the Big Ten teams. If you happen to be traveling through one of these cities or towns this fall, these details may help put you in the football know.

(There are actually 11 Big Ten Universities. For an explanation of what makes a Big Ten, click here.)

My daily deal for today is perfect for anyone looking for a cheap and stylish MP3 player who would rather stay away from the iPod. The Sandisk Sansa Clip has 2GB of storage, which should be enough for around 500 songs.

The player has (as the name implies), a clip on the back, which makes it easy to carry around, even if you don't have any pockets. In addition to being a regular MP3 player, the Sansa Clip also features an FM radio with 40 presets, a voice memo recorder and a 5 band equalizer.

Getting your tunes on the player is as simple as "drag and drop". Included in the package is the Sansa player, a USB cable and a pair of headphones.The player has an internal rechargeable battery and carries enough power for up to 15 hours of music playback.

The Sansa Clip is on sale through Woot.com, which means it is yet another "deal a day" offering; these sites offer one product a day, and often run out of stock halfway through the afternoon. As with all Woot! deals, shipping is a flat $5 and they only charge tax in their home state of Texas.

A baggage handler at Glasgow airport in the UK made a very expensive mistake when the truck he was driving ripped a 5 foot hole in a parked plane. The Boeing 757 operated by Flyeglobespan was being prepared for a flight to Alicante, Spain when the accident happened.

Passengers were told that they would have to transfer to a different plane due to "aircraft damage". Amazingly, the passengers were on their way to their destination in under 2 hours.

The aircraft will be out of service for several weeks so aviation engineers can examine the damage and perform repairs on the structure. When damage like this occurs, all kinds of critical flight systems could be damaged, and depending on the speed of the impact, the repair may involve much more than just patching a hole.

The baggage handler worked for Alba Ground Handling and the source article says he has been "sacked". Accidents like this are fairly common, and baggage handlers are instructed to always keep a safe distance from the plane they are working on, but in the chaos of getting aircraft ready for a quick turnaround, accidents do happen.

Flyglobespan is a Scottish low cost carrier with flights from several UK airports to the US, Canada and the European mainland. The have an all Boeing fleet of 15 planes, and are expanding rapidly. They are also one of the airlines with an order in place for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.