List-loving Forbes has just figured out which airports around the world are the most punctual. They checked into the 50 busiest airports and then looked at their on-time arrival and departure data to figure out who's on top.
The moral of their story is that if you want your plane to leave on time, fly out of Tokyo. Haneda and Narita airports hold the top two spots: At Haneda, 93 percent of flights departed within 15 minutes of the planned time and 87 percent arrived on time. We know Japan well, so this result doesn't surprise us--but it does impress us.
A little surprisingly, the laid back Aussies come in fourth with Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport; the organized Germans get their first rating in the ninth spot with Munich. An airport we consider a big mover on the international scene, Dubai International, came in a disappointing 49th.
Stateside, Orlando was the most punctual (8th) with Houston's George Bush Intercontinental close behind (10th). The US also gets the wooden spoon with LaGuardia coming in last.
TripAdvisor has unveiled its 2008 Travelers' Choice top destination lists--but only for those prepared to give away their email address to download the list. We've done it so you don't have to, and the big gossip is that New Zealand is still a hot destination.
Just how popular is New Zealand? On the list of the Top 100 Destinations in the World, it's taken not only #1 position with Milford Sound, but also #2 with Queenstown. It gets another few nods with #37 Auckland, #46 Wanaka and #48 Christchurch so we clearly should all be hopping on the next possible Air New Zealand flight. Maybe one day New Zealand will have more tourists than sheep.
Are flight crews getting a little eject-happy? After reading "Ten ways to get kicked off a plane" in the UK Times, our paranoia about getting tossed off a flight has only increased. Smelliness? Not paying attention during a security briefing? Wearing a T-shirt that could offend someone? We've done all those things. (Sorry, Mom.)
The trouble is, once airline crews start ejecting people for bad behavior, it's tempting to wish that every in-flight offense could result in an "unscheduled change of plans." We wouldn't begrudge the "Bye bye, plane!" 19-month-old of his seat, but continuing to make phone calls despite bad reception should be a ticketable offense. If it doesn't work the first time, send a text and take a hint!
For those times when we've managed to snag a precious aisle seat on an international flight, getting up from a middle seat every 10 minutes should sentence squirrely passengers to a shift cleaning the lavatories. (We're looking at you, 15-year-old Russian girl on Air France who pretended she couldn't speak enough English well enough to say "please.")
And for bringing a carry-on you can't lift into an overhead bin by yourself, you should be sentenced to the galley of Richard Branson's next venture. Be forewarned!
There's nothing like a "best of" list to stir some controversy, so it's hardly surprising nobody completely agrees with a recent attempt by the UK Times to list the world's 10 best beaches. The beaches range from (believe it or not) England through the islands of France and Spain and then to more exotic strips of sand in Uruguay, the Seychelles and Western Australia.
Strangely enough, the Bangladeshi beach that was leading the way in the Seven Wonders of Nature contest didn't make the cut. Instead, if we had to pick the top beach from the Times list, we'd probably go for Anse Lazio in the Seychelles (pictured).
This white-sand beach is on Praslin, the second largest island of the chain, and includes tree shade, tiny bays perfect for snorkeling and even a tasty beachside restaurant. And it's usually quiet and peaceful.
One more tip off the list for those who prefer their beach to come with action: The beaches at Uruguay's Punta del Este, like Playa Montoya, are where the beautiful people go to be seen. Beach bars and DJs make for a party-style beach instead, which you won't easily find in the Seychelles--or, we'd guess, on little-known Bangladeshi beaches.
With more than ten months of voting left until the shortlist for the Seven Wonders of Nature is made, the leading contenders at the moment are Cox's Bazar Beach (pictured) and the Sundarbans Forest, both in Bangladesh. More recognizably, Vietnam's Halong Bay is sitting in the number three spot, while better known landmarks like Mount Fuji, Niagara Falls and the Great Barrier Reef languish outside the top ten.
Not that there's anything wrong with Bangladeshi beaches, but perhaps the voting system might still be a bit out of whack?
We've got a lot of love for Sydney--we even agreed when Condé Nast readers voted it the number one city in the world. The UK Times is showing even more love, with a recent feature on 100 different ways to check out Sydney, with but a few major tourist attractions on the list.
The wide-ranging guide touches on many different aspects of Australian culture: Eating tips involve Italian pizzerias, seafood by the beach and plenty of Chinese and Thai restaurants. To quench your thirst, there are tips like the Bubble Lounge champagne bar (30 different kinds stocked), flashy De Nom with allegedly the most spectacular bathrooms in the city and the Hopetoun Hotel, a bar with a reputation for great live music.
And finally, amidst worthwhile art galleries and some of the usual suspects for sightseeing, the Times also put together a great bunch of shopping suggestions where you can get original clothing from Australian designers, plus some vintage clothing shops. We love the sound of Grandma Takes a Trip, a store full of 1950s to 1980s clothing. Guess it takes longer for fashion to get all the way Down Under.
With the suffocating appearance of books, websites and TV shows listing places to travel "before you die" (they make us feel kind of pressured and inadequate, no matter how well-traveled we are), it's nice to read a list that tells us to chill out at home for a bit.
The Sydney Morning Herald travel blog recently posted the things not to try before you die list, which somehow seems much more interesting. Not that we're guaranteeing we'll follow the advice, but drinking Ugandan tap water and using a squat toilet on a train are travel activities we already were a bit suspicious about.
Further anti-advice includes not going to a glass-blowing demonstration in Venice, not flying into Heathrow or Gatwick airports and not taking a Greyhound bus across the U.S. It says not to fly on any U.S.-based airlines either, which kind of limits a lot of travel possibilities. At least we don't feel the pressure of crossing things off a "before you die" list.
We spend quite a lot of time telling you how you can stay connected on your holiday, whether by laptop or Blackberry or some sixth sense. But there are still people who actually go on a trip to get away from all of this. Which is why we think it's kinda neat that the Black Tomato gang have published a list of destinations where you just can't get online, or maybe not even make a cell phone call (although this is getting pretty rare, since you can make a call from the top of Mount Everest these days).
On the your-boss-can't-find-you-here list are, unsurprisingly, a few far flung destinations. Volcano surfing in the Mesaya Volcano range in Nicaragua is one example, hanging out in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia also makes the list, or making friends with gorillas near Kigali in Rwanda. It might be hard to have to wait to post your holiday snaps to your blog, but it might also be nice not to know what's going on in the rest of the world for a few days.
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by amandak
