Reminiscent of the man without out a country is this cruise ship without ports of call because of fears over swine flu.

Australia orders ’swine flu ship’ to remain at sea as more cases confirmed

Concern over an outbreak of swine flu on a cruise ship off the coast of Australia has prompted authorities to order the vessel to remain at sea through at least Saturday.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports P&O Cruises’ Pacific Dawn, which left Sydney Monday on a 10-night voyage, has been told not to dock in Port Douglas or Cairns over the next two days as scheduled because of worries passengers and crew could spread the illness into the local population. The “swine flu ship,” as some Australia media outlets are calling it, already has been steered away from one other port this week and has yet to touch land since leaving Sydney.

And the worst idea of the week award goes to…

Bird magnet? Trash depot near LaGuardia called bad idea

About 700 yards from the end of a runway at LaGuardia Airport, where thousands of planes take off and land, New York City officials want to build what could be the equivalent of a bird magnet: a very large garbage transfer station.

This just four months after a run-in with birds sent a jetliner full of people into the Hudson River separating New York and New Jersey.

Having trouble with the high cost of air travel? How do $9 tickets (plus fees) sound to you?

New low-cost airline targets smaller markets

Clearwater, Fla.-based JetAmerica said 34 nonstop passenger flights a week will start July 13 at Toledo, Ohio; South Bend, Ind.; Melbourne, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; Minneapolis and Lansing, Mich. Twenty-eight flights start or end at Newark Liberty International Airport. The carrier will add six more flights — from Toledo to Minneapolis — starting Aug. 14.

Prices will start at $9 a seat and top out at $199. The $9 price will apply to the first nine to 19 seats on each plane. Passengers will pay $15 to check a bag. Food, drinks and in-flight TV will also come at a cost.

Talk about taking your work with you on vacation…

Two vacationing San Jose cops subdue violent airline passenger

At 40,000 feet over the Pacific, the only thing vacationing San Jose police officers Luan Nguyen and Manny Vasquez wanted was to catch some Z’s, maybe see an action movie and finally hear the announcement: “Welcome to San Francisco International Airport.”

What they heard instead was the captain: “I have a situation on board. If there are any law enforcement officers on board, please identify yourselves to a flight attendant.”

The unarmed officers were soon battling a violent and possibly mentally ill man and holding him down for hours using seat belts, coffee cart straps and Vasquez’s black cowhide belt he got for a birthday.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• So Long, Coach: Get an Upgrade at the Airport
• Virtual Pilot - Lufthansa Destination Game
• Flying in comfort — or not

Odd things have been know to happen in New York Subway trains, but I’ll bet you never expected this. According to a story in the Gothamist:

In March, four limber women took to the subway in a quest to win $10,000 from DareJunkies.com. The website offered the prize to the best public pole dance. The video features Laura Lee Anderson, Jessica Wu, Marissa Lupp, Isis Masoud, and regular subway riders as the four grind their way to the $10,000 prize. The scantily clad women were hogging the poles for twirls and using the overhead handles for other dance tricks - one of them even did a split on the subway floor! While there was at least one rider unhappy with the stunt, several other riders seem pleased with the dancing, especially one male rider who received a lap dance. Some riders even missed their stops by six stations to continue watching the show!

The funniest moment in the video is the two guys who (who sound like British tourists) who missed their stop because they did not want to miss the end of the show.