Home
Samsonite
 

Newsflash

Will hotel clean air ever become a reality?

Remember back in the days before you got smart about puffing cigarettes while filling your lungs with killer smoke? All restaurants and bars were clouded with choking air. Even at work, you had to share the nicotine-loaded environment.

We go way back to the real early days, when movie houses, cars, buses, trains and planes allowed smoking. Most restaurants encouraged addicts to puff out clouds of poison as you tried to enjoy your meal. Girls in shorts clomped through bars, clubs and dining rooms cooing, “Cigars, cigarettes, cancer?”

Read more...
Texting and cellphoning while driving are accidents waiting to happen PDF Print E-mail

Cell phone

We see them doing it while racing by us along the highway. Talking on cell phones while driving was bad enough. Now, with latest devices, gabby drivers look away from the road and down to punch out text messages on little lighted boxes.

Drivers need to pay total attention to everything going on in all directions at all times. Texting while driving has caused many accidents, and some states have banned the dangerous practice. Any distraction that forces the driver to take eyes off the road for a second or two is a danger. It is considerably worse to text messages that take eyes off the road for five or ten seconds.

Read more...
 
Big surf at Big Sur, California PDF Print E-mail
Big Sur
 
Bees are all the buzz in posh London hotel PDF Print E-mail

“Honey, I’m home” has a whole different meaning at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, in London’s Hyde Park district. While all other hotels in the world take great pains to rid themselves of pesky little bugs, this ecology-themed one has installed honey bee hives on its roof housing more than half a million little winged residents.  

There’s no chance the honey bees will need to venture below into the human hotel rooms, because they’ll be tended full time by four bee experts. The roof hives will be surrounded by an array of plants, including flowers, bushes and trees. During the spring and summer season, the honey bees will sip the natural nectar and help pollinate the plants for future growth. During cold weather, the hotel’s bee team will supply hive heating and nectar feeding stations.

Read more...
 
Fido and Fluffy fly in exclusive comfort PDF Print E-mail

Dog in flight goggles

Many people want to travel with their pets, but most airlines insist of putting the animals in cramped cages in baggage compartments. Long flights were very stressful for pets not accustomed to tight confinement. Additionally, where small pets were permitted to ride in passenger cabins, many non-pet people objected. Would you believe now there’s an airline that's pet-only? Pet Airways flies to five major cities, including New York and Los Angeles. The only humans aboard are the flight crew and flight attendants.

Along with favorite toys and travel bag, cats and dogs of all sizes can travel in comfort. Each one will have a roomy private compartment, and will be accompanied by trained animal care attendants. Food, water, aisle walks and toilet breaks will also be provided.

It won’t be cheap for Fido and Fluffy to fly in luxurious comfort. Ticket prices start at $149 each way. For more information, go to petairways.com

 
Is airline bar-stool squatting the next cheap travel pain? PDF Print E-mail

Mike O’Leary, CEO of Ryan Air, is known for his joking around. He was the first to suggest airlines put in pay toilets. Now he’s talking about offering cheaper fares to people willing to fly squatting on close-packed stools.

His theory, if he isn’t kidding, is that by using bar stools instead of regular airline seats, and he could jam another 50 percent more people onto each flight. O’Leary adds that if passengers accept the idea, and with a full aircraft, he can not only cut costs, but also reduce prices.

O’Leary, known for his often disturbing Irish wit, is suspected of joking on the bar stool idea, because he recently came up with the pay toilet in the air idea. He said passengers would use credit cards in slots to activate toilet doors, and be charged from one U.S. dollar on up to an English pound for each potty break. What's next? Airline straphanging?

Subway scene

 
«StartPrev501502503504505506507508509510NextEnd»

Page 503 of 530
 
Stay in-the-know about the latest Sports, Life, Money, Tech, and Travel stories. You'll get your first 2 months of USA TODAY for $25 (charged monthly). All print subscribers receive the e-Newspaper included with their subscription.