There were some great travel related gigs, tricks and prinks this year.

Virgin Australia  launched Kid Class. I actually think it was a mighty fine idea -without the bubbles

 

The London Eye announced it would convert two of its capsules into luxury studio penthouses, which would rotate 48 times a day, giving people a view of the English capital along with Champagne on request and a personal pillow fluffer.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway has created the “Pawfect” Car dedicated just to dogs.

Citipark UK launched left-handed ticket barriers.

Google made a mess of their mic drop one but got it right with Searchable Socks, bluetooth-enabled socks. If you can’t find one sock, you press the beacon and Google Search app will cause the missing sock to sing this song to help you find it! My Dad would find this useful, as would many travellers as they pack their bags.

Google Netherlands introduced the self-driving bicycle in Amsterdam, the world’s premier cycling city. The self-driving bicycle enables safe navigation through the city for Amsterdam residents, and furthers Google’s ambition to improve urban mobility.

Lyft introduced “Prank Mode” where you could get a lyft car and driver to play a prank on a friend.

Duolingo announced a pillow that would teach you a  foreign language while one sleeps. I like it!

The Paris public transport operator RATP  renamed a number of its metro stations:

• From Pyrénées station to Alpes => In a concern for balance in promoting French mountain ranges 
• Opéra station -> Aperitif
• Alexandre Dumas -> The Three Musketeers => due to copyright issues
• Crimée–> Crimée Châtiment afterFyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment
• Telegraph station-> #Tweet => To reflect Paris is a smart city

Any I have missed? Which ones did you most like?

 

Verdict:

Definitely weird and wonderful

Each week, I scour the internet for something weird or wonderful that has happened in travel land. if you come across anything weird or wonderful that I should be mentioning, please let me know! My Twitter handle is martinjcowling