Tagged With "hot air balloon"
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Re: Switzerland: First passengers for world's longest tunnel
That sure is a long tunnel, and from a country that likes to make them as much as the prairie dogs I see on the plains. I would think ventilation would be a problem in such a long tunnel. Would you know if the trains need their own oxygen system? Having driven through the Swiss tunnels by car before, which were about 15 km long as I recall, the air was extremely bad in them and made me regret not driving the scenic route over those windy roads across the mountains.
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Re: Dec 15, 2016: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Her husband is Canadian and went with his job. And she loves the fresh air and wide open spaces. She reckons its a good place to raise her 2 sons,
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Re: Just how much tax is in your ticket?
My recent, free Air France ticket - LA to Paris to Barcelona and then Venice to Paris to LA the tax was $577.97.
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Re: Just how much tax is in your ticket?
Originally Posted by Ron B.: My recent, free Air France ticket - LA to Paris to Barcelona and then Venice to Paris to LA the tax was $577.97. That's a lot of travel, Ron, but it certainly makes one relook at the definition of "free".
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Re: Canada gets its first non-stop to India
Thanks for the bit of advice, Garry. I usually use the USB port to keep my phone charged. Air Canada has a good flight movie menu and I tend to use that time to catch up on new releases.
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Re: Yes, Winter's coming: France gets first snow
Hurricane Joaquin crossed the Atlantic and got split in two by the jet stream. France got trapped in the middle of the two. Allowing cold air from Siberia to blow across northern Europe. So the Geese have arrived here on the wind too. 3 Weeks too early. Its what the remnants of Hurricanes do.
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, Oct 20, 2015: Sicilian Fiat
These cute little Fiats were only 633cc and air cooled. But the tiny little Fiat engines was banned from western Europe for their excessive emissions.
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Re: Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington (Where Gumbo was #285)
Beautiful, Lester! Esp. 6, 8, and 10c. A "MUST" destination for me now. How are you after all these years? Best wishes to all! Neil
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Re: Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington (Where Gumbo was #285)
Terrific destination and a wonderful puzzle. Enjoyed this one.
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Re: Why do Americans pay more to fly Norwegian?
This is really disappointing to me. I'm sad that Norwegian is doing this and that other airlines have done this practice for a long time. Mainly though I'm disappointed to see the above answer given to NRK by spokesman, Lasse Sandaker- Nielsen, who we interviewed on TravelGumbo. At that time of our interview, I found his answers refreshingly direct. https://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/norwegian-air-1
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Re: July 14, 2018: Amsterdam's Dapper Market
The sounds - smells and colours of an open air market. I like the one's that do a taste sampling. And the fur coat you get on your teeth after eating Rhubarb. Stewed and served with custard. Is it true that Rhubarb is the only food that pigs wont eat ?
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Re: Thousands of flights cancelled
Winter has yet to arrive in Western Europe. While the Jetstream continues to push warm air up from the Caribbean it will continue to be frost free.
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Re: "Mind Your Manners!" VisitBritain Warns Hoteliers
No, no one is hacking them...and the "advice" was picked up by all the major British papers...usually with an air of slight derision. You won't find it on the public website, which is devoted to getting us to visit; it was distributed as guidance to hotel operators, and as a press release. Originally Posted by TatToo: It is not the author's list. The cited articles and various others on the Internet state that the list was originally published on VisitBritain's website. However, I am not...
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit, Kennedy Space Center
Last launch I watched was from the East Coast of Florida - maybe near Cocoa Beach. The Sky was complete darkness, just a few stars and the moon. We were listening to the launch radio station from about T minus 15 minutes - as NASA described the last minute checks. A few seconds before launch time you could see the ground at Cape Canaveral illuminated like a bright white flare. The steam from the launch pad turned into a white cloud and on "Zero" the rocket was moving slowly into the air. For...
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Re: Budget Deal Asks Air Passengers to Pay More
This is a massive tax increase hidden as a "small fee". There are millions of people flying every day and paying already steep prices for tickets. I can't see this helping air travel or the economy in any way.
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Re: Budget Deal Asks Air Passengers to Pay More
Ok...I'll bite. I think we have got to realize that air fares are cheaper than ever before, and like it or not security is a much needed part of traveling today. Generally I favour user pay taxes where possible and the U.S. federal government is in no position to subsidize much of anything right now. As far as what to call it... the names that taxes are given bug me too...but I think the public is at least partly to blame for that as well...because if you called it a tax, then there surely...
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Re: The "Eiffel Tour" Only Starts with the Tour Eiffel
T&N, you make an interesting point about the air circulation and coolness of Eiffel's building. These days we are constantly reading about advances in "green design," intended to reduce excess energy use. Ironic how well some of those principles of making life bearable were known so long ago by those who didn't have the option of mechanical air-conditioning! Another example is in today's blog about Gaudi's Casa Battlo in Barcelona, which uses an open well through the center of the...
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Re: Canal St-Martin in Paris/Where Locals and Travelers Mix
The Canal St.-Martin area is also good for food. One of the best-regarded new bakeries, Des Idees et du Pain is on its edge, and there's a great twice-a-week open-air market between the point where it goes underground and Bastille.
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Re: Canal St-Martin in Paris/Where Locals and Travelers Mix
One thing that's very interesting about the open air markets there is after the markets close. The Roma gather up all that's left behind and divide it up amongst the community. Quite a sight, and I was really amazed at just how much is left
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Re: Island Air: Even Billionaires Get Airline Blues
Billionaires are made, not born. Mr. Ellison seems to be making a business move - pressure the FAA to make things difficult for Hawaiian air, upgrade the Island Air service, achieve sole "Ohana" certification for Island Air. Ohana certification is keenly sought for this market. Here is a description. http://www.examiner.com/articl...on-spiffed-up-planes
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Re: Island Air: Even Billionaires Get Airline Blues
Well, it's worth noting that Hawaiian has still not gotten Ohana off the ground, literally. They're citing FAA's cutbacks due to sequestration and then the shutdown as the reason. Island Air used to be a Hawaiian affiliate, flying Dash-8s and ATR-42s into small airports and feeding passengers into Hawaiian. Ohana was/is their plan to stay in that market with ATR42s. Island is unhappy with its ATRs (both the 42 and the larger 72), but doesn't seem to be able to solve any of its problems. I...
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Re: Frommer's New EasyGuides: A Future for Print
A much needed breath of fresh air. Thank you, Frommer's !
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Re: Sri Lanka: A Land Like No Other. (Part 5) The Elephants of Pinnawala
Thanks, PortMoresby! And we've not even been to the sacred tooth relic in Kandy, the medieval ruins of Polonnaruwa, the beautiful hill country filled with tea plantations and "The World's End", a wildlife safari at Yala National Park, nor any of the nice beaches (but keep reading -- reports on these are coming). Sri Lanka is a great destination, especially now that the civil war is over. I was doubly lucky to not only be able to visit a dear friend there but to have time to leisurely explore...
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Re: Visit Canada! Kiss a Canadian
I think there are three main problems Canadian tourism faces. 1) The weather. Very limited season, unless you want to ski. 2) Expensive airfares. In the last 5 years, air fares went from being competitive to being very expensive -- overly taxed, I guess. And predictably, when you charge more for something you get less of that activity. 3) Heightened border security between Canadian and US border can cause long delays and has greatly reduced cross border crossings in the past 15 years. It's...
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Re: Airbus Survey: 41% Willing to Pay for More Space
Good for Airbus! It seems the airline industry may have reached a tipping point where people will pay a little more for a little comfort. I hope that's the case and that they listen and provide options. I always look for a good airfare, but I also look at what kind of comfort that airfare buys me and am willing to pay a little more for a little more. 8-12 hours on a plane is not great fun, although I can divert my attention usually. But it's made infinitely more pleasant by a few extra...
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Re: In which US city do people dine out most?
People eat out a lot in xxx because the prices are reasonable, there is a great variety of types of restaurants - thanks to its status as a city of global commerce - and you can be sure of getting lots of free air conditioning .
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
Wow! those vivid colors were totally unexpected. I'm assuming different chemicals in the water and rocks are producing them?
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
DrY is away on vacation this week, PHeymont, so he'll get back to you on his return. But I believe a lot of these colors are due to the highly specialized microorganisms that live in this environment.
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
Wow amazing pictures, beautiful colors, i love the ones with the yellow and orange colors. Is it true that under the Yellowstone Park is a giant vulcano and if it will be an eruption the whole America will be extinguished ?
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
Hi Andre, and welcome. As DrY is away on vacation, I'll try to answer your question before he gets back. Yellowstone National Park does sit on what is known as the "Yellowstone Hot Spot". You see this in its geysirs and hot water pools. This does have the potential to become a massive volcano and cause a tremendous eruption. As big as any volcano in recorded history and then some. The jet stream would carry the ash and smoke mostly east (towards the Atlantic Ocean), so those areas would be...
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
Thank you for the information DrFumble Let's hope... )
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Re: The Beautiful Pools and Geysers of Yellowstone National Park
Hi PHeymont, Andre and DrFumblefinger, Just back from a winter break and glad to see many of you also like the brilliant colors associated with the geysers, pools and hot springs in Yellowstone! As of how the mesmerizing colors are formed, I know no more than my friend DrFumblefinger (thanks Karl for the explanation). I only know that was those incredible heat-loving thermophiles that somehow survived and produced those amazing nature wonders.
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Re: Jama Masjid, Delhi (Where Gumbo was #256)
Delhi has a lot to offer in terms of interesting sites. HOWEVER, the air pollution is appalling, particularly in the winter. We will be in Delhi in March - when things should start to get a little better - but we have cut our stay there to a mere 24 hours. We would have liked to re-visit some places like Humayun's Tomb or the Jama Mosque, but in the end decided that we could not face the atrocious smog again. We will now leave on the earliest convenient train south.
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Re: Airbus patents a new Monster Airplane
It will be interesting to see if this goes anywhere, and what airlines are telling Airbus about it! As mentioned in a post here earlier this month, Airbus has barely broken even on the A380 program, has sold less than 25% of what they thought they could, and has had no new orders for 2 years. While there's a big demand for air-freighters (it's what's keeping the 747 in production), I doubt there's a big market for a freighter that also carries 6-800 passengers, since there are few routes...
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Re: Two Canadian airlines expand their reach
The Westjet expansion is most welcome to Canadians. The planes will be opening Gatwick, which I don't think Air Canada flies to. Porter flies just small aircraft, but is very popular in the Toronto area.
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Re: Finnair adds weigh-in to check-in
Yet another step in the complete dehumanization of the flying experience. Every airline faces this challenge and deals with it successfully, yet only Finnair and Hawaiian Air need to weight people like they're freight. Shame on them. I had no plans to fly Finnair, all the more now when I read of their corporate mentality.
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Re: Delta, WestJet plan U.S.-Canada link-up
It would be an excellent merger for Delta, WestJet and consumers. I hope it goes through. The folks at Air Canada will fight it tooth and nail.
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Re: Yellowstone HQ, Mammoth Hot Springs
I agree with you about this being the most interesting visitor site in the park, although my heart does belong to Old Faithful region. I never came across Touchdown -- probably to my advantage -- but I do admire an animal with spunk!
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Re: Yellowstone HQ, Mammoth Hot Springs
I guess "spunk" is one way of seeing it. I suspect for the Park Service he's more huge pain in the butt. I'm surprised they haven't deported him, could maybe drive him to Banff in the dead of night.
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Re: Yellowstone HQ, Mammoth Hot Springs
There are enough Elk with Attitude in Banff as is. Touchdown should stay on his home turf!
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Re: Germany's airlines taking up the slack
In a footnote to yesterday's story: Although air traffic in Germany is back to normal, air fares apparently are not. Germany's competition watchdog, the Federal Cartel Office, is investigating complaints that Lufthansa has illegally raised fares on some routes after the Air Berlin collapse. Lufthansa says that it wasn't really raising fares (which went up as much as 30%); it was just their yield management software responding to a spike in demand. In an interview, however, the head of the...
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Re: Gumbo's Pic of the Day, June 4th, 2014: Humming Birds
Our first encounter with hummingbirds was on a hillside near Cortona, in Tuscany, waiting for a table at a country restaurant. They were active in the flowers just behind us and we actually thought they were insects at first. One flew by so close to my ear that I could feel the air move without it actually touching me!
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#69)
While I do see a certain resemblance to Cappadocia, it doesn't look real to me. More like a model landscape, as you'd have with a model railroad, but seemingly without the railroad. Maybe this is, in fact, what Cappadocia looks like from a hot air balloon, which I understand are popular there. I see no evidence of people in the form of actual people or vehicles, unless that's a person in red in the lower right-hand corner.
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Re: Is it time to regulate airplane seats? Chris Elliott thinks so!
The trouble with a mandate is that it has deadlines and airlines who fly to the US would have to go through an expensive seat replacement program. That cost is one we share, or that puts the airlines in the red and in jeopardy. Makes sense to pressure them to improve, but that's just my opinion. But I do like the idea of "grading" seats. Helps me know what I'm buying. For example, Canadian airlines definitely have larger seats that American carriers. I'll preferentially fly Air Canada to...
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Re: Where in the World is TravelGumbo (#69)
Well, I'm surprised, actually, that this one was spotted so well, despite its truly odd appearance: A strange landscape from a strange perspective. But I should have known that the folks around here are such committed travelers and researchers that it would be impossible to conceal Cappadocia for very long. The territory was spotted by MAD right away, with concurrence from Roderick Simpson, and PortMoresby's perceptive suggestion that if it were Cappadocia, it must be from a balloon...and...
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Re: Goreme, Cappadocia: Where Gumbo Was (#69)
What a great experience and great photos to share it with all of us -- thanks for that! I'm curious about the balloon ride. I presume it was pretty cold up there? How long was the ride? About how high did you go? Did it all feel safe to you?
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Re: Canadian airline adopts unpopular US fee
Air Canada just announced that it too will have the $25 baggage fee. http://money.ca.msn.com/invest...for-economy-travel-1
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Re: "Cruise Night", Thunder Bay, Ontario: The 1940's and 1950's
And I'm partial to the 55 Bel Air. Probably the subdued black and white, not the peacockish "Jamaican Bay" color.