Tag: Humor View All Tags
Tags: Humor / Nerd Travel / → All Tags
From the Travel Hippie to the Super Technical Gear Guy: What Kind of Traveler Are You?
We all think we're unique and special, and maybe we are, when we're among our own people. But once we're out of our element, it's awfully easy to fall into a stereotype. Travel blogger David Garrett Byars was recently reflecting on the different people he's met while backpacking the world, and came up with a humorous list of the five types of travelers you're likely to encounter (or be) when you hit the road. Take The Expert, for example. He's the guy who "sipped hot green tea from the cupped hands of the Dalai Lama" and "has no friends because no one can really relate to him on his level because of the deep and meaningful experiences he has had." Yeah, I've met that guy. I might add that he'll always find a way to insult whatever guidebook you're using, because it's just so commercialized and shallow compared with the ancient papyrus scrolls he consults for wisdom. Then there's the Travel Hippie, who will recoil in horror if you order animal flesh at a restaurant, but secretly "doesn’t even like Phish and can only name two Grateful Dead songs." My favorite: Super Technical Gear Guy (pictured), whose clothing "conveys the sense that he just traversed the Sahara Desert strapped to the top of a Land Rover." So what kind of traveler are you? Possibly a little bit of each. There's a piece of Super Technical Gear Guy in all of us.
[Photo: David Garrett Byars]
Related Stories:
· Variety is the Spice of Life [davidgarrettbyars.com]
· Humor Coverage [Jaunted]
Tags: Alaska Airlines / YouTube / Advertising / Airlines / Humor / Websites / → All Tags
Genius and Uplifting Quotation of the Day, Courtesty of Alaska Airlines
Don't get me wrong: I like people as a concept. It's just that actual people keep ruining it for me.We only recently caught onto this Alaska Airlines campaign from 2003 and are way, way in love. (Forgive the lag. New York isn't exactly an Alaska Airlines hub.) Skyhigh Airlines is a spoof, obviously. Its website still lives, and we've had quite a bit of fun perusing it.
The quotation comes from a letter by Skyhigh's fake CEO, Howard Barium. Happy Monday!
Related Stories:
· Alaska Airlines [Official Site]
· Skyhigh Airlines [Official Site]
Tags: Contests / Photography / Humor / → All Tags
Hilarious Travel Photos Contest
Finally, a travel photo contest for the rest of us. Over at Brave New Traveler, they're holding a contest for your most hilarious travel shots. Be warned, however, that while this lowers the pressure to be a sick photographer, it does up the pressure to be funny. You must submit five hilarious photos, and entries should be published on your blog. Submissions must be received by April 22, and finalists will enter a public voting round on April 23. We expect the shots to include a lot of harassment of inanimate objects. Winner gets bragging rights and a copy of Lonely Planet's new guide to taking travel photography.
[Photo: bravenewtraveler]
Related Stories:
· The 5 Hilarious Travel Photos Contest [Brave New Traveler]
Tags: Airlines / Humor / Blogs / → All Tags
'Fuel for Purchase' Isn't Such a Stretch
Usually, we leave the heavy-duty airline reporting to wonky airline blogs that know the difference between Y-ups and Q fares. But when customers' rights come under attack we have to let you know. American Airlines will no longer include jet fuel in the price of a ticket.
True, we like choices when it comes to travel, but doesn't this sound a little extreme?
The airlines spokesperson said that once a flight has departed, flight attendants will ask the passengers to chip in for the fuel necessary to reach their final destination.The hardest part will likely be getting everyone onboard to agree on a destination. Although, these days, convincing people this whole thing's a joke may be hard too.
"If you're on a transcontinental flight, the choice will be the consumer's," she said. "Do you want to go all the way from New York to Los Angeles, or will you settle for Cleveland?"
[Photo: Caribb]
Related Stories:
· Downgrades: Spirit Airlines to Charge... [Upgrade: Travel Better]
· Airlines to Offer ‘Fuel for Purchase’ Option [Borowitz Report]
Tags: Airports / YouTube / Humor / → All Tags
You're Gonna Miss Your Flight! Ha Ha!
Typical of the useless stuff people take the time to post on YouTube, but notable for the fact it somehow did make us laugh. Someone taped a Tickle Me Elmo Extreme laughing at passengers at the airport.
We could have used something like this when we were changing gates in Houston, waiting for the monorail to take us to a flight that was leaving in 11 minutes. Hey, better to laugh than to stab oneself in the knee...which is what we wanted to do at the time.
Tags: Airlines / Budget Airlines / Humor / WestJet / → All Tags
Airline Report: WestJet Needs Your Help
Money can't buy you love. Money can't buy you a sense of humor. Free television can't buy you a sense of humor, but a little known fact is that it can buy you love. We know because of the mistakes we've made in the throes of cable deprivation. The flirtatious wave of a Time Warner remote can lure more cable-less tail than you'd think.
Canada's second airline, WestJet, continues to struggle to turn on the charm despite a record profit this quarter and all the onboard entertainment it offers. Simply put, WestJet tries to be funny. Problem is, WestJet isn't funny. The lame jokes flight attendants tell over the intercom system are the bane of some passengers' patronage. Every WestJet plane carries a joke book filled to the gills with this cheese. Example: "Q: What kind of car does Luke Skywalker drive? A: A Toy-Yoda." Oh, and the book is called--get ready, now--Just Plane Fun.
The good news is that WestJet is always looking to expand its repertoire. We encourage all interested comedians to call 1-877-WJCARES and suggest a joke, as it's impossible to locate a customer service email address on WestJet's site. We wouldn't object if you, say, petitioned them to hire Bob Saget to perform on select routes, but that's up to you.
[Photo: ericbegin2000]
Related Stories:
· WestJet seeks joke material for cabin comedians [Vancouver Sun]
· WestJet lifts off despite shaky start in '06 [Canada.com]
· WestJet, Air Canada hit heights in 2006 [Globe and Mail]
Tags: Websites / Humor / Names / Shopping / → All Tags
Schenectady Is So Hot Right Now
It's just crazy what you can buy online these days. There was that guy who auctioned off his forehead (as advertising space, via tattoo) on eBay, and now a dude named Scott MacDonald is out to bask in the glory that comes with offering oneself up to the highest bidder. In exchange for cash, he'll let you choose his name.
Similar stunts are almost common these days, but the best part of Scott's scheme is that the highest bidder so far has offered $35,001 for him to legally name himself Schenectady New York. For those not in the know, Schenectady is a town in upstate New York, about 20 miles northwest of Albany. Scenectady has no booming tourism industry that we're aware of, though it is home to Union College and we may have stopped at a gas station there once or twice, and the high bidder is simply a t-shirt company.
If MacDonald is going to end up named for a place in the world, we're at least hoping some enterprising tourism board will catch on to his promotion. Armenia has a nice ring to it; Jordan is even a real name. The best, though, would clearly be Fjucky Sweden, and we hear they're looking to get rid of the moniker anyway. The auction ends on February 2, 2007.
[Photo: ohlhous]
Related Stories:
· Choose My Name [Official Site]
Tags: Blogs / Websites / Humor / Hotels / → All Tags
We Are Not Making This Up
TripAdvisor, the travel ratings site you love to love for what it is, but love to hate for the fake insider reviews that sometimes plague it (Great service! Great room! 6 out of 5 stars!), has launched a blog. And it's actually pretty awesome. The name of the blog is "We Are Not Making This Up," and accordingly, the bulk of December's dispatches so far are reposts of ridiculous emails and review submissions the site has received. We like this one:
From an e-mail to TripAdvisor support:The hell? For some reason, we love it when question marks are swapped for periods. It always makes things funnier. There's also a letter from a hotel staffer in defense against a reviewer's claim that he rented them a dirty room. He insists his hotel never gives guests dirty rooms, but also says they sometimes forget to clean rooms, and then go ahead and rent those out anyway. And the difference is...?
Do you mean to tell me I can not get hockey information on your site.
Yes, we're pretty surprised at how much this is making us laugh so far. Props to TripAdvisor to having the balls to make fun of its users, albeit only the clearly crazy ones.
Related Stories:
· TripAdvisor: We Are Not Making This Up [Official Site]
· Let's play Ask the Hotelier. Do you ever rent out dirty rooms, Mr. Hotelier? [WANMTU]
· We bet HockeyAdvisor.com doesn't know a darn thing about hotels, either [WANMTU]
Tags: Florida Tourism / Tourism Boards / Humor / Websites / → All Tags
Fark vs. Florida
Update: Damn. Those Farkers can bring a server to its knees. Think we got it licked now. Sorry for the down time Enjoy.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Florida tourism officials want to more than double the amount they get from the state for marketing Florida tourism. Their claim: $24.6 million ain't gonna cut it--it is time to take it up a notch over at Visit Florida.
Florida currently earmarks 15.75% of the $2 a day surcharge on rental cars to funding Visit Florida, which mainly runs the website (and other marketing efforts) of Visit Florida. Only Hawaii, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania spend more on tourism than Florida, according to a Travel Industry Association 2004-05 comparison.
Apparently, FLA tourism slipped 2.4% in the third quarter of this year. Why? Who knows, but maybe the folks at Fark.com, a popular website where users categorize and comment on wacky news, have something to do with this.
Because the site has turned making fun of the state into a sport, "Florida" has become its own category on Fark, next to tags such as "asinine," "ironic," and "stupid." Farkers currently tag approximately two out of the fifty stories they post daily as "Florida," and the stories themselves don't exactly scream "Visit Us."
Tags: Blogs / Travel Gear / Humor / → All Tags
My Air Is Better Than Your Air
Sometimes our readers tip us off to something so juicy, it has to become a post of its own. With many thanks to commenter travelina, we'd like to point you to this Banterist post that somehow slipped under our radar back in April. It's all about unnecessary travel gear. Though the Banterist himself didn't know at the time that Fresh Air Buddies are apt to burst into flames, he had no problem pegging them for their uselessness:
If you're like most folks, you're a little weary of "normal" air and would prefer to breathe something that's been filtered by an unsubstantiated technology. That's where the Personal Air Purifier comes in. Air on board a plane can contain all sorts of allergens, germs, dust and more. The Personal Air Purifier's patented Ionic Wind technology takes the air and adds a whooshing noise to it, potentially making it better so you can spend less time worrying about the air you breathe, and more time explaining your noise-emitting three pound necklace.Check the rest out to make sure you don't own anything that's already made you the butt of your fellow travelers' jokes. If you actually possess any of that junk, dispose of it now and we won't hold it against you.
[Photo: mgotelaere]
Related Stories:
· Sky Mall: For The Shameless Traveler [Banterist]
· Welcome to Travel Gear Hell [Jaunted]
Thanks, travelina!
Tags: Forum Ferreting / Wifi / Travel Tech / Humor / FlyerTalk / → All Tags
Travel Forum Feretting: Beer, Please
Online travel forums are filled with gems, if you have the time to dig for them. Luckily we do the dirrty work for you in our somewhat regular Forum Ferreting feature.
There's nothing like a good game of wifi cruising to brighten up a hard day on the road. Of course, if you're scrambling to get online and can't find a connection (outside of your hotel's ridiculously priced service), that's a whole different story. When we say wifi cruising, we mean the casual practice of scrolling through your radar to see what the kids are naming their networks these days. As Flyertalkers know, naming your network is a bold statement, one that can say a lot about you. In a thread called "What's the funniest wifi network name you've found?," they're listing the best of the best encountered on their travels and at home:
Deliver beer to room 306...and there are more, including a lot that reference porn and/or beer. Have you found any that can beat the listings on Flyertalk? And will someone bring that guy in room 306 some beer already?
-SpaceBass (user)
Watchin Porno In Here!
-kanebear
Stay out or I'll break your neck.
-Kurwah (We run into threats like this all the time with protected networks.)
abuse my ex's wifi
-Single Malt (Great idea.)
[Photo: dailysnap]
Tags: Lists / Airplanes / Airlines / United / Humor / → All Tags
The Obligatory Fokker Joke
iAfrica.com, the online portal dedicated to all things Africa, has compiled a list of some of the best airline humor worldwide. It's not all fact, but some supposedly real exchanges are included. Particularly enjoyable is this exchange between a disgruntled passenger and a United Airlines agent rebooking tickets for customers from a canceled flight. We can only hope that it really happened:
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?"The collection also includes a few obligatory Fokker jokes, because the poor bastards are just that easy to make fun of.
Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the United Airlines agent, gritted his teeth and swore, "F&$# you!"
Without flinching, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to stand in line for that too."
[Photo: bananaking]
Related Stories:
· The best airline humour [iAfrica]
