Jaunted - brooklyn

Coney Island Scores Two New Coasters for Summer 2011

kjb — 2011-04-26T09:13:14-05:00

After years of decline it looks like Coney Island has finally found its place in the 21st century, and things seem to be moving full speed ahead into the future. Last year Luna Park joined the theme park offerings, and this summer looks to welcome a pair of brand new roller coasters. Sure they aren’t the extreme offerings at some of the country’s bigger parks, but these are the first new coasters to hit the boardwalk in more than 80 years.

Scream Zone is one of the area’s newest amusement park spots, and recently they introduced the new rides. Soarin' Eagle and Steeplechase were welcomed by coaster fans—including Mayor Bloomberg—last week.

Is New York City Getting Another Airport Nearby JFK?

kjb — 2011-04-06T11:09:43-05:00

Everyone knows that the New York City area could use another airport—or at least a major revamp of the existing facilities—but the problem is that there’s just no darned space to construct what's required. Well apparently there’s some underutilized property in Brooklyn that could be the area’s third airport—or fourth if you’re cool counting Newark. Floyd Bennett Field was once home to famous aviators like Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes, and now some want it to reopen as a hub for the modern traveler.

The old airfield sits on Jamaica Bay with JFK Airport not too far off in the distance, so it’s in a pretty decent location to help out all those airplane traffic jams. With the new advances in air traffic control technology, the thinking is that this spot could be used without interfering with all the comings and goings at JFK. The only issue is that the airport is hardly ready to go, as runways would need to be lengthened, terminals would need to be built, and Uncle Sam would need to hand it over to someone like the Port Authority.

Is Brooklyn's Gritty Gowanus Canal to be NYC's Next Tourist Attraction?

JetSetCD — 2011-01-19T15:21:11-05:00

A few days ago, The Brooklyn Paper published a most intriguing article that enlightened us to the fact that Brooklyn is attempting to get its Gowanus Canal and the surrounding neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sure, it's been around forever, and mills began operating on the Canal as early as 1645, but that doesn't change the fact that anyone who know a little bit about Brooklyn knows that, these days, it's one of the most polluted bodies of water in the country.

Still, local preservationists are all about getting the Gowanus neighborhood designated as a city historic district, which could possibly attract tourists to the area for its rusting, industrial, native Brooklyn grit. Because that's what the tourists to NYC want, right? Gritty, but pretty.

50 Years Ago Today, a Mid-Air Collision Brought a United Jet Crashing into Brooklyn

JetSetCD — 2010-12-16T13:35:53-05:00

Although it's never nice to talk about past air incidents when they have the possibility of freaking you out before flying, but it's important to note that today marks the 50th Anniversary of one of the most tragic airplane accidents in history. At the time, in 1960, it was the deadliest, killing 128 people in the sky and 6 on the ground. Here's what happened:

In the morning of December 16, 1960, a TWA Constellation carrying 44 was heading to land at LaGuardia Airport while a United DC-8 Jet with 84 on board was on its way to land at Idlewild Airport (now JFK). Because of lower-tech air traffic control systems of the time, and because the United jet wasn't in the spot it thought it was, the two planes collided over Staten Island. The TWA prop plane was sliced into three pieces and fell straight down onto a military field in SI, while the United Jet managed to continue as far as Brooklyn, where it eventually fell into a church and intersection in the Park Slope neighborhood, killing 6 on the ground and setting buildings on fire.

'Brighton Beach' Reality Show Will Go Up Against 'Jersey Shore'

JetSetCD — 2010-10-08T09:10:51-05:00

Are you tired of MTV's Jersey Shore yet? Your response to that doesn't really matter because either way, another show very similar to it is due to hit the TV, and it'll focus on an area not very far at all from Jersey Shore's Seaside Heights: Brooklyn's Brighton Beach. Auditions for the proposed Russian-American reality show wrapped in March, and now it's been confirmed that the series is coming to Lifetime next year.

Originally, the producers wanted "the Russian Snooki" and someone who attends "birthday parties at Russian restaurants every weekend," but now, with Lifetime's backing, they're recasting for families in order to tell a "multigenerational women’s story about life in the community." Hmm, that sounds like every other Lifetime movie they already have, except that this one will be a 12-episode series.

How Much Does Using the Internet Cost on a Cruise Ship?

JetSetCD — 2010-05-06T09:30:33-05:00

In the world of travel WiFi, there are three big players: hotel wifi, in-flight wifi and airport WiFi. Actually, now that Amtrak and many European have installed the internet, we could even add "on-track WiFi" to the list too. But let's take a step further than these. Let's go to the frontier of travel connectivity. Let's talk about at-sea WiFI.

On our recent tour of Cunard Line's massive Queen Mary 2 liner while she was docked in Brooklyn, we started wondering if we could ever settle in for a 9-day transatlantic crossing as the passengers boarding were doing. Our hearts told us yes, but our minds know the reality of the situation, and that is how we'd probably develop a tick if we had to go more than two days without the internet, especially out in the middle of the open ocean.

Inside the World's Only Floating Planetarium

JetSetCD — 2010-05-04T13:00:32-05:00

Last week, Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2 arrived to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal after a transatlantic voyage to from England, bringing with it many ash-trapped travelers who threw their worthless airline tickets out the window in favor of sailing back in style. Before the ship headed back across the pond, Cunard invited us aboard for a quick peek and some canapes with chef Todd English.

Looking at the QM2, she seems every bit a classic ocean liner; there's no multi-deck-high water slides or putting greens on this baby, but then she's got have something special for modern cruisers. And what she has—aside from that classic appeal—is the world's only planetarium at sea.