Don and a Pay Toilet
Originally uploaded by Sapphireblue

Wondering where the airline fees are heading. Low cost airline Ryanair has not rules out pat toilets as a next step.

Ryanair: Pay toilets coming to a plane near you

This morning, chief executive Michael O’Leary of Irish carrier Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline said his airline might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying. Was this a tongue-in-cheek comment?

“One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound ($1.43) to spend a penny in future,” he told BBC television.

Airlines need to cut back on their expenses. I think we all get that. But the reasons that they give for some of the cost cutting measures can get a bit ridiculous.

Even for a die hard Chicago Bears’s fan watching a Chicago Bear’s game is probably not worth $28,000, but that’s how much it cost on a cruise ship wireless bill.

Cruiser disputes $28,000 bill for wireless session on ship

Be careful when using your cell phone or wireless card on a cruise ship - even if the ship is docked in a U.S. port.

That’s the lesson today from a story in the Chicago Sun-Times about a cruiser hit with a $27,789 bill for a single wireless session while on a vessel docked in Miami.

Wayne Burdick of Schaumburg, Ill., tells the news outlet he used his AT&T wireless service from a ship in November to watch a Chicago Bears football game for more than two hours (using his AT&T wireless card with his laptop to call up an Internet feed of his home cable signal).

Don’t bother calling with your travel complaints

United Airlines is putting the kibosh on calling in with complaints.

Last week the airline confirmed that, come April, it will disconnect the phone line to a foreign call center contracted to field customer compliments and complaints. Customers with issues to discuss will still be able to call the airline’s general 800-number but, as anyone who’s tried navigating United’s (or any airline’s) automated phone tree knows, the focus there is on selling tickets and tweaking reservations.

United Airlines spokesperson Robin Urbanski says the company did research on the success of the feedback line and concluded that “people who e-mail or write us are more satisfied with our responses.”

I noticed on my recent trip to Mexico that public displays of affection seem quite common. A town mayor tried to put a stop to it and got started a huge fuss and a number of kiss-ins instead.

Kissing ban gets Mexico hot under the collar

The affair blew up in January, when Guanajuato’s City Council, led by the socially conservative National Action Party, or PAN, approved an ordinance on public behavior to replace a 32-year-old law. The ordinance tackled problems such as unlicensed street vendors and jaywalking. But it also targeted offensive language and “obscene touching.”

The mayor, Eduardo Romero Hicks, was asked what sort of public act would be punishable. He said the law would ban agarrones de olimpiada, which translates roughly as “Olympic fondling.” (In an interview later, he explained that this meant “fondling far beyond the norm . . . extreme eroticism in public places.”)

The outcry was swift. Protesters gathered in front of City Hall to kiss en masse. The news media got into the act, and pretty soon Romero and his city were at the center of an unflattering national controversy. A satirical video posted on YouTube played a familiar cumbiacumbia-style tune with reworked lyrics and depicted Romero in a priest’s collar. One editorial cartoon showed a couple kissing in a bird cage suspended by a fixture shaped to spell “PAN.”

UK law apparently allows the government to bar travel to people inciting hatred. The government used that law to ban a U.S. pastor from entering the country because of his intent to picket a play.

Anti-gay American cleric banned from UK for inciting hatred

A homophobic American cleric who runs a website called God Hates Fags and was allegedly planning to picket a play showing in the UK has been banned from Britain by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith.

Fred Phelps had vowed to come to Britain with his daughter, Shirley, to picket a school play in Basingstoke, Hampshire, that promotes tolerance for gay people. The play, The Laramie Project, depicts the murder of a homosexual teenager, Matthew Shepard, in the Wyoming town in 1998. It will be staged tomorrow evening at Queen Mary’s College.

Other articles that caught my eye:

• How to become a freelance travel writer?
• Budget Travel: Renting a vacation apartment
• IPod Applications For Travellers!
• Taking Your First Cruise Vacation? Here are Some Handy Tips for You

London - pool of light
Originally uploaded by Today is a good day

It is difficult to pinpoint when my appreciation for all things British kicked in but it took hold in my youth and persists to this day. So, it was inevitable that I would go to the other side of the pond once I had the opportunity. I have had the pleasure of visiting Great Britain, more specifically the city of London, twice in the last ten years. The size, diversity and ease of traveling this city makes it a logical starting point for anyone who wishes to explore Europe.

It was the ease of travel that allowed me to go about this journey on my own. Using the internet and some basic guide books I as able to book a flight and make accommodations with relative ease. There is no way to avoid the inflated costs you’ll be met with when in the big city. It’s not cheap. But, once you accept that the benefits outweigh the negative aspects then you can appreciate the experience.

I’ve found that there are so many options for where you can stay. The first time I went I found a basic Comfort Inn in Earls Court(an area filled with hotels for tourists). My second trip there I found renting an apartment for a week was a great option. They can easily be found online and are sometimes even cheaper than staying in a hotel for a week. Coming home to a couch, bed, kitchen and even a balcony is a great way to end a grueling day of traversing the town.

Getting a feeling of the layout of the main sights around town is just as important as figuring what sites to see. Using a map before you head out for the day, mark the location of the sites you plan to visit. You can then decide what would be the best and quickest route to take by foot or by Underground/Subway to help you squeeze in all your top attractions. The Underground will be a necessary tool to use. It’s cheap, easy and fun to use. Busier stations will have customer service-type agents milling around. They can help answer any questions. Other lost-looking tourist like myself were another great way to answer questions, meet people and learn of the best places to visit.

UK - London - Bloomsbury: British Museum
Originally uploaded by wallyg

The sites to visit are obviously too many to list but the amount of books and info you can find online and in stores will help narrow down the field. My interest was in museums and parks. Examples of these are found around every corner. Just wear a comfortable pair of shoes as you will need them to keep going. My favorite spots in London were the British Museum, Covent Garden Market, The London Eye (Ferris Wheel) and the Planetarium. Also easily accessible and about twenty minutes by Underground is Kew Gardens. For a nominal fee you can spend a couple hours walking through gardens and century-old greenhouses that are massive in scale. I could have spent all day here. The only downside was that it is in the flight path of planes going to nearby Heathrow Airport. But I did look up and see the Concord in the week prior to is final flight.

While my best days were my trips to Kew Gardens my most disappointing time was a day trip to Brighton Beach. Reachable by train and about an hour or so away, rainy weather made this side trip gloomy. Also, as this was midweek, my feet were growing sore from constant walking and I was simply not in the mood to check the town out. The beach is located along the English Channel and has plenty of fun attractions like a small amusement park at the end of a long pier. But, this trip was short-lived and I hitched a ride on the train back home after only 3 hours.

Chatting up locals can be an easy thing to do. My traditional way involved asking questions while waiting for trains while in the Underground. I once was sitting next to a woman who was carrying some colorful clothes, feathers and sequined masks. She told me she was a “platform dancer” and that she was on her way home from work. We talked the whole ride we were together. It was an interesting ride and conversation.

Don’t be afraid to get lost on the winding streets. Signs at various street corners will lead you back to the main sites and attractions. It was at a time like this that I saw a bunch of school age kids playing cricket….it doesn’t get more British than that.

Lastly, although the city is safe, keep your valuables close to you and always be aware of your surroundings. As mentioned earlier, expect to spend money on food and for admission to sites. Your map is your friend. The streets are winding and change names…often after only a few blocks. The 1 pound($1) coins are heavier than they need to be and the paper money is way-cooler looking than ours. Finally, don’t be ashamed to pop into a McDonalds or Pizza Hut for a taste of home. Sometimes, it’s fascinating to see all the subtle differences in the menus…who wouldn’t want to try a McDonalds “Lamb-burger”?

The site Macenstein had an article about a UK hotel that is adding an iMac to each hotel room:

Hotel chain City Inn has decided to put a brand new iMac in every room in its London and Manchester hotels.

According to Macworld UK, City Inn has partnered with software company DirectStreams which developed a system to allow guests to use the iMac as a TV, radio, DVD and CD player, as well as allow for full access to the iLife suite, Office apps, and the internet.

What�s really cool here is that through the use of Faronic�s Deep Freeze software, no data is recorded on the iMac�s hard drive, and the systems are returned to their default state each day (remind me I want to install that on a few friend�s systems this coming April 1st). This means people need not worry about the security risks normally associated with shared environment computers. It also means you should pack a USB thumb drive if you are planning to write any reports on the road and don�t want them to mysteriously disappear in the morning.

So how do I get my podcasts loaded on each of their computers I wonder…. hmmmmm