Mar 1st, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Creative new use for border crossing posts at German/Austrian border.
In the late 1980s, an American spending a summer traveling across Europe with a Eurailpass would see his or her passport stamped possibly dozens of times. With a few exceptions, every time a border was crossed, an immigration agent would pop his or her head into a train compartment, look at everyone's passports, in most ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
iceland posts
Schengen and the disappearance of European passport stamps
Mar 1st, 2011 at 10:00AM:
Creative new use for border crossing posts at German/Austrian border.
In the late 1980s, an American spending a summer traveling across Europe with a Eurailpass would see his or her passport stamped possibly dozens of times. With a few exceptions, every time a border was crossed, an immigration agent would pop his or her head into a train compartment, look at everyone's passports, in most ...Iceland Air introduces new crew uniforms - in the weirdest airline video ever
Feb 28th, 2011 at 8:00AM:
Watch this video, and prepare to enter the Twilight Zone of weird airline video clips. According to our source, the video was created by employees of Iceland Air for the 2010 crew ball, as a way to show the lineup of 2011 uniforms.
I'll admit that my Icelandic isn't good enough to have a clue what they are talking about, but the pleasant mix of dancing crew members and European music makes ...
Video of the day: Reykjavik, Iceland
Feb 2nd, 2011 at 6:00PM: So there's this guy I met while living in New York, Dave Pinke. He's one of those really cool guys with a really cool taste in music and things that look good. He even has a really cool taste in where to go when he travels. When Dave started compiling video footage from his journeys and making fun music-themed videos for me, and, well, everyone else, I was excited. And I'm still excited. I'll ...
Top five weekend travel media stories
Jun 28th, 2010 at 8:30AM: Among the travel stories in this weekend's newspaper travel sections, the following articles were especially inspirational.
1. Peter Frick-Wright writes a lip-smacking ode to the Cowboy Dinner Tree steakhouse in Silver Lake, Oregon in Portland's Oregonian.
2. In an article in Melbourne's The Age, Jewel Topsfield cruises down the Mekong, through Cambodia and Vietnam. She eats a tarantula, ...Ryanair fined for not helping stranded passengers
May 16th, 2010 at 1:00PM: Back during April's travel mess, the European Union warned Ryanair because Ryanair refused to compensate stranded passengers for lodging and food. The EU told them they were legally required to, and the budget carrier backed down.
Here comes the sequel to that story.
Italy has slapped Ryanair with a three million euro ($3.75 million) fine for not providing 178 people at Rome's Ciampino ...The perfect souvenir for volcano stranded passengers - a jar of ash
May 12th, 2010 at 9:00AM: Some people get their friends an "I'm with stupid" t-shirt, others may bring back a horrible sombrero - but if you've been impacted by the European aviation disruption caused by the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull volcano, how about five and a half ounces of pure Icelandic volcanic ash?
Think of this little jar as a reminder of how terrible your trip back home was, or how long you had to sleep ...More flight cancellations in Ireland and Scotland
May 5th, 2010 at 8:30AM: Those hoping that yesterday's closure of airports in Ireland and parts of Scotland would only be a one-day affair were disappointed when the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull came back with renewed strength.
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin, and numerous smaller airports have closed, and the Civil Aviation Authority says northern England may also be affected. ...Was there a silver lining to that volcanic ash cloud?
Apr 27th, 2010 at 8:00AM: Well, no. Millions of people-- and not just air travelers-- were affected by that giant cloud of volcanic ash that cancelled flights into and out of Europe last week, including flower salesmen in Kenya, potential organ transplant recipients in Germany, and injured U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But some are now declaring that there's a silver lining to the Great Smoke Monster Uprising of ...Ryanair says "screw you" to stranded passengers - European Union sends them a copy of the law
Apr 24th, 2010 at 12:00PM: Ryanair CEO Micheal O'Leary played tough guy this week when he told his customers that he wouldn't pay a penny to cover expenses resulting from being stranded due to the Icelandic Volcano.
In statements to the media, he admitted that he was fully aware of EU compensation laws, but chose to ignore them claiming:
There's no legislation designed that says any airline getting a fare of 30 euro ...Galley Gossip: Will the volcanic eruption trigger a baby boom?
Apr 20th, 2010 at 9:00AM: During 9/11 I was stuck in Zurich, Switzerland for over a week. Sure there are much worse places to be, but I spent ninety percent of that time sitting around the airport waiting to get back to the United States. Every single day I checked out the hotel, dragged my bags a few blocks in the dark to the train station, and waited at the airport just like thousands of other stranded passengers. I was ...Free admission to SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens for volcanic ash victims
Apr 19th, 2010 at 10:30AM: Travelers from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Continental Europe who are stranded in the US are eligible for free admission to SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Waterpark and Busch Gardens Tampa.
Because of the volcanic ash flight disruptions, thousands of tourists are stuck waiting for their airlines to get permission to fly, and a free day trip to one of these parks could really help take some of ...John Cleese takes $5,100 cab ride to bypass Icelandic ash cloud
Apr 16th, 2010 at 4:00PM:
While some people may just give in and spend a couple of nights at the airport, funny man John Cleese is far too important to sit around and do nothing. So, instead of spending the rest of the week in Oslo, Cleese and his assistant got in a cab and asked the driver to head to Brussels. Thankfully, the cabbie was smart enough to make the 932 mile trek with a second driver.
Once in Brussels, ...
Photo of the Day (02.27.10)
Feb 27th, 2010 at 5:30PM:
How far do you drive when you suspect that you've made a wrong turn? Do you base it on time or distance? In other words, are you more likely to say, "Hey, let's just give it 10 more minutes," or, "I think it's just another two miles after this sign?" I tend to go by time. If it seems like driving for 20 minutes without seeing my exit is odd, I'll assume that I must have missed it. I used to do ...Photo of the Day (01.09.09)
Jan 9th, 2010 at 5:00PM:
Puffins always amaze me. They appear so exotic and tropical, yet they reside in such frigid places as Iceland, Russia and Greenland. This little guy posed for Fiickr user The.Rohit in the tiny Icelandic village of Borgarfjörður Eystr (attempts to pronounce that name by those not skilled in Icelandic may result in tongue injuries). The photo shows off the diversity of Iceland, which, ...Iceland Express will offer low-cost flights from Newark to Reykjavik
Nov 4th, 2009 at 2:30PM: I'm kind of obsessed with Iceland. Ask me about the country and get ready to endure my lengthy soliloquy on why I love it so much. It's one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and I'd feel pretty comfortable saying that even as I travel to more destinations, I'll always consider it so.
Drive a few minutes away from Reykjavik and you'll see mountains topped with snow, former lava ...Iceland ditches McDonald's
Oct 27th, 2009 at 8:00AM: It's been a tough year for Iceland. Thanks to foreign money, crazy lending and borrowing practices and a real estate bubble that amazed the world as it grew and when it popped, the small northern country has suffered severely through the global financial crisis ... which was predicted by a walking tour guide prophetic viking. Now, a year after Iceland went bankrupt, it's losing something else ...Photo of the day (8-27-09)
Aug 27th, 2009 at 8:00PM: I've always wanted to visit Iceland, and this picture from LoriGoldberg only adds to the temptation. She captures a geothermal area with boiling mudpools and steaming fumaroles called Námafjall in the northern part of Iceland. Thanks for sharing this with us, Lori! Nice shot. Are you a Flickr user who'd like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to ...Gadlinks for Monday 8.24.09
Aug 24th, 2009 at 5:00PM: One of summer´s last weekends has come and gone. Enjoy the warm sun while it lasts! ... and take some time to enjoy these travel tales as well.
What´s more fitting when visiting tragically romantic Italy than catching a great opera -- or a opera festival! The Verona Opera Festival ends August 30! (via Intelligent Travel)
I love sweets and I love the idea of Iceland sweets. ...Tourism helping Iceland weather their perfect storm
Aug 22nd, 2009 at 12:00PM: If you think the recession in the US has been dreadful, I recommend reading up on how Iceland has been coping. This nation of just 320,000 people let its banks pull the country into a total financial disaster. Their three national banks had debt equaling over three times the countries gross domestic product. Their government collapsed, their currency lost a third of its value, they had to take ...Travel sans visa coming for European, Caribbean, Mauritius, and Seychelles nationals
Feb 13th, 2009 at 2:00PM: A mutual agreement allowing Europeans, nationals from four Caribbean countries, and citizens of two island nations in the Indian Ocean is expected to be passed and approved by the end of March, which will allow for hassle-free and smoother travel. If you hold a passport from any of the following countries, it means you're that much more free to travel between those listed sans visa: Austria, ...
