I once spent 13 hours seated next to a man who broke wind continuously across the Pacifc from La. On disembarking, a flight attendant asked him if his stomach was feeling better? I could have assured her that it wasn’t! I was interested to read of a recent paper produced by a team of Danish and British gastroenterologists and published in the NZ Medical Journal. The lead researcher Jacob Rosenberg considered the issue worth researching after his own embarassing experience on a flight between Copenhagen and Tokyo. The study recommends passengers and crew break wind…
Weird or Wonderful
Category Archives for Weird or Wonderful.
Chinese Air Rage goes viral!
On February 19, Mr Yan Linkun, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), arrived at Kunming Changshui International Airport with his wife and two sons. They checked in for their 1105am flight to Guangzhou in plenty of time. They then ate breakfast. When they arrived at their gate for their flight, they were too late so the airline switched them to the 1pm flight. The family then missed the last call for that flight. This is what happened next: This next video is from another direction with sound. Apparently the passenger is…
Air NZ Bears it
I love Air New Zealand’s safety messages. They have to be the best in the industry. Previously, the airline featured a safety briefing where their staff stripped off bare for the cameras. It got lots of attention. Then came Richard Simmons and next Hobbits. Now the carrier have enlisted Man vs Wild Bear Grylls in a new comedy feature which includes an extinct moa and a reappearance from one of the flight attendants who have appeared in most of the recent safety ads. I must admit some nervousness that Bear showed no reluctance in trying to hunt and eat an extinct bird.…
Fly Hobbits Fly
Hobbits are known for doing lots of hiking (in NZ Tramping) but not much flying. I (and ten million others) have been immensely enjoying Air New Zealand’s Hobbit safety video which has been playing since November, 2o12. Featuring many Lord of The Rings Characters and a Gandalf as pilot with orc passengers, the briefing presents its serious message in a light hearted and clever manner.Not sure how I would feel about those Orcs on board! It is better than the current (and annoying) Qantas cricket team safety briefing.
The T shirt that stopped a plane (almost)
The 1987 Film: The Princess Bride is considered to be one of the funniest films ever made. It is number 50 on Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies,” and 46th on Channel 4’s Fifty Greatest Comedy Films list. It is regarded as a cult film by millions around the world who have seen it multiple times. The film contains many memorable lines. One of which is oft repeated: “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”. This phrase has been nominated by the AFI as one of the world’s most memorable movie quotes ever No one gave that information to…
Astronaut Tweets Flood Pics
The northern state of Queensland in Australia is having some of the most devastating floods ever (while the fires in the southern part are equally devastating!). A Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield took photos of the floods while passing over central Queensland in the International Space Station. The 54-year-old shared the pictures via Twitter. This is an image of the floods roaring through Bundaberg. The other pics are here.
Guy travels to 201 nations! No plane!
“The really tough ones were places like Nauru, and the Maldives and the Seychelles, island countries where there were also sometimes pirate threats.” A British guy, Graham Hughes, has become the first person to travel to all 201 sovereign states in the world without flying. He set out from Liverpool on New Year’s Day 2009. In the subsequent 1,426 days he travelled 160,000 miles by bus, foot, taxi and train but not by plane. Mr Hughes visited all 193 United Nations member states plus Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan, Vatican City, Western Sahara, and the four home…
The Whackiest Stuff in the Travel Year
Every Wednesday, I post about something weird and whacky I observe or experience in the travel world. The posts get some mixed reactions: eg “Fantastic! Love reading your blog” and “I don’t understand the point of this post” and “I wish I could have that 30 seconds of my life back.” You can find all of my Wednesday posts via this link. Here are the year’s posts one by one in order of popularity amongst my readers: Hungarian Citizenship for Sale Invention for Slow walkers Air Zim flies with No Passengers A dozen please– a spelling mistake…
Lavatory Traps
I was woken up a worried mum frantically shouting at the nearby lavatory door whilst en route to Melbourne, Australia from Los Angeles aboard a Virgin Australia Boeing 777. The woman’s four year old son was trapped in the lavatory. He had locked the door and now could not work out how to unlatch the door. Half asleep, I pressed the flight attendant call button. A flight attendant was there in seconds. She unlatched door and four year old was rescued. How often does this happen? A year ago, pilot of Delta flight 6132, traveling from Asheville, N. C., to La Guardia New…
12:12:12:12:12
Its 12: 12 on 12:12:12. A once in a lifetime date. What are 12 things you want to accomplish in life?
Recent Comments