Next time you race to catch a train… try and make sure you get INSIDE the train.

Tourist Chad Vance clung to Ghan train for two hours

A YOUNG American tourist has survived a terrifying train ride in which he clung to the outside of the legendary Ghan in the freezing dark as it hit speeds up to 110km/h in the South Australian Outback.

Chad Vance, 19, frantically pursued The Ghan after missing it in Port Augusta, managing to climb on and squeeze himself into a tiny stairwell as the train raced for almost 200km through the night.

Ever since SARS, China has take quarantines seriously as the mayor of New Orleans learned this week.

New Orleans mayor quarantined in China for possible flu exposure

The mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been quarantined in China after possible exposure to the H1N1 virus, his office said Sunday.

Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus, commonly known as the swine flu virus, the mayor’s office said in a statement.

Want to take your 9mm pistol with you when you move? No problem, just get your roommate who works for the airline to help you sneak it on. Great idea… right?

FBI: Airline worker helped roommate get gun on jet

The FBI charged a US Airways employee with helping his roommate get a concealed, semiautomatic handgun onto a plane departing Philadelphia early Thursday.

Customer service agent Roshid Milledge switched black carry-on bags with passenger Damien Young at the gate so Young could board the 7 am flight to Phoenix with the unloaded 9 mm weapon, the FBI said in an affidavit.

Expect this study to spark a debate over how you should travel if you want to save the planet.

Train can be worse for climate than plane

True or false: taking the commuter train across Boston results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than travelling the same distance in a jumbo jet. Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is false.

A new study compares the “full life-cycle” emissions generated by 11 different modes of transportation in the US. Unlike previous studies on transport emissions, Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath of the University of California, Berkeley, looked beyond what is emitted by different types of car, train, bus or plane while their engines are running and includes emissions from building and maintaining the vehicles and their infrastructure, as well as generating the fuel to run them. (Table 1 on page 3 has a complete list of components that were considered).

But the bad news for the airlines:

World’s airlines set to lose $9 billion

The world’s airline will lose $9 billion this year on top of $10.4 billion lost in 2008, IATA has warned.

The airline body’s director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani cautioned that a return of rising fuel prices was putting recovery from global recession at risk.

Airlines post 79% on-time rate in Apri

But some things have actually improved… of course it is easier to be on time when fewer passengers are getting on the plane.

U.S. airlines’ on-time performance improved in April compared to the previous month and the same month last year, according to a monthly federal report released Tuesday.

The 19 largest carriers recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 79.1%, better than both the 77.7% of April 2008 and March 2009’s 78.4%, according the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of schedule.

Some other blog posts that I liked:

• Seven Ways to Immerse Yourself in Spanish at Home
• 9 of the Weirdest World Heritage Sites
• Traveler’s 101 - The Complete Travel Tip Post

Get Your Photo on the Cover of a Lonely Planet Guide

Pikeo is yet another web 2.0 photo sharing site but this one s having a contest that will place the photos from four of their users on the cover of a new Lonely Planet Guide. The winners will also win a trip from Intrepid Travel. You can bet i will enter my photos from Istanbul, Barcelona, London and Paris.

Author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die, Doesn’t

Dave Freeman, the man behind the famous travel guide 100 Things to Do Before You Die, has died after hitting his head in a fall at his home. The 47-year-old writer passed away in his Venice home, said his father, Roy.

Airplane Crash in Madrid Kills 153

The budget airline Spanair has defended its decision to clear a passenger jet for take-off despite aborting an earlier attempt because of a technical problem.

One hundred and fifty-three people died in yesterday’s air crash at Madrid’s Barajas airport. Witnesses said the plane’s left-hand engine burst into flame as it lifted off the runway and the aircraft broke up and crashed back to earth in flames. Only 19 people survived the disaster.

FAA Software Glitch Delays Flights

The software program in Atlanta failed about 10 a.m. Pacific time. When that happened, a similar facility in Salt Lake City took over. But users continued to try to refile their flight plans, bogging down the system. At its worst, flight delays (mostly departures, but some arrivals) were as late as 90 minutes in some areas of the country. Hardest hit: Chicago (O’Hare and Midway), Baltimore/Washington International, Boston and Atlanta.

National Parks and “Sites” to be Featured on Quarters

On July 9, the US House of Representatives unanimously approved the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008 (H.R. 6184). The proposed new commemorative coin series was inspired by, and unabashedly capitalizes on, the tremendous popularity of the 50 States Quarter® Program.

What about poor Delaware, which has no national park? Not to fear, folks. You see, the proposed legislation – a copy of which you can see at this site — doesn’t require a state to actually have a national park in order to qualify for an America’s Beautiful National Parks quarter dollar coin

Crete mayor has had enough of British drunks

The mayor of a Crete town has grown so exasperated with the rowdy, drunken behaviour of British tourists that he has demanded action from the British government.
“They scream, they sing, they fall down, they take their clothes off, they cross-dress, they vomit,” said Konstantinos Lagoudakis, the mayor of Malia, in an interview. “It’s only the British people - not the Germans or the French.”

Chinese Airline Official Sentenced to Death

No, it is not because of flight delays but because they have been found guilty of embezzlement that China has sentenced an official of China Southern Airlines Group to death.

United Airlines to charge up to $9 for snacks

While capital punishment might be overkill it might occur to some passengers of United Airlines when they find out how much the airline will be charging for snacks.