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Tags: Adventure Travel / Hawaii Travel / Quirky Travel / Water Sports / Ecotourism / Submarines / Boats / → All Tags

'Fly' Beneath The Hawaiian Waves On A Winged Submarine Jet

Adventure travel company Incredible Adventures has been letting customers pilot high-altitude fighter jets for years. Now the Florida-based company is going from soaring through the air to "flying" under the sea, teaming up with California's Sub Aviator Systems to let people navigate the oceans in company's winged submarine. The Super Aviator looks much more like a jet than it does a sub, and apparently it feels that way too. Per the website blurb, it's a "totally new dimension of flight."

To handle the unique sub you'll need to go to Hawaii this February and be able to hand over between $3,350 and $8,650. But if you're willing to do that they're willing to train you and take you beneath the waves. The Super Aviator runs on battery power but it runs fast—in contrast to a normal submersible where you can stand up and walk, zooming around in this jet requires Indy-500 style seat belts.

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Tags: Food Festivals / Food Travel / Illinois Travel / Quirky Travel / Thanksgiving Travel / Thanksgiving Alternatives / → All Tags

Go Balls-Out at Huntley's Turkey Testicle Festival

When November comes around, people's mouths water for turkey—be it the white meat, dark meat or wings. Then there are those who salivate for turkey balls. Seriously. In Huntley, a small suburb about 45 minutes west of downtown Chicago, turkey scrota are as much a Thanksgiving tradition as stuffing at the annual Turkey Testicle Festival, which will swing into town on November 25.

What began as a local tradition has become a draw for tourists. Last year, more than 3,900 people turned out to to the Parkside Pub, the festival's home base, to munch on 1,280 pounds of turkey testes. The small bits—no offense to male turkeys—are coated in breadcrumbs and then cooked crispy in a deep fryer. They taste gamey, like chicken, or so we're told. Some douse them in ketchup or Tabasco, but most people just eat them plain. The bar usually sells out of the treats by 9:30 p.m.

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Tags: Paris Restaurants / Paris Travel / Travel News / Food Travel / Quirky Travel / → All Tags

Pop-Up Restaurant Opens On Paris Rooftop, Sends Foodies Swooning

Earlier this year, we pouted and said a sad little "au revoir, notre amour" to the Hotel Everland, a single little hotel room which sat atop Paris' Palais de Tokyo and offered an unparalleled view of the EIffel Tower starting from $488 a night.

After a very successful run of just over a year, the pop-up hotel room left in April, but now Paris is reviving the concept in the form of a restaurant. Fashion Week Daily has the dirt on what's sure to be the next big thing on the Paris cuisine scene:

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Tags: Quirky Travel / Los Angeles Travel / City Tours / Crimes / → All Tags

LA Crime Scene Tour Is O.J. Simpson-Free

The Santa Monica Pier won't look the same after an excursion with Esotouric.

Esotouric knows your type well: You spend hours watching true crime documentaries on television, dream up outlandish conspiracy theories, and would never, ever be caught dead on the Boston Duck Tour. That's why the company, whose name speaks to their quirky Los Angeles expeditions, has devised the Wild Wild West Side tour, which we guarantee has nothing to do with the 1999 Will Smith movie.

The tour, coming up on October 10th, appeals to wannabe sleuths and those with a morbid fascination in the "blood-soaked history" of the Westside, including Venice, Santa Monica, Culver City, and Marina del Rey. Tour creator Kim Cooper started compiling outlandish stories from the area's past and marking down creepy points of interest, like the grave of a mummified teenage cult priestess. While this isn't the most family friendly way for visitors to experience Los Angeles, it's a compelling alternative to Universal Studios' backlot tour, with tales of spirit possession and murder replacing talk of movie filming.

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Tags: Quirky Travel / Animals / Bats / Africa Travel / → All Tags

Are You Batty Enough to Vacation in Zambia?

Plenty of people go to Africa to see animals, but most are looking for exciting safari animals like lions or maybe rhinos. But if you head to Zambia in November, you can experience something that the experts consider to be near the top of the wildlife calendar for unique experiences.

You might be surprised to learn that this wildlife fantasy come true is actually the migration of a million fruit bats. Apparently they show up every November in Kasanka National Park in Zambia at just the time the fruits on the local trees ripen – smart bats.

Tourists get to climb to a 60-foot high tree-top "hide" to watch the bats, and sunset sounds especially creepy – the sky becomes black with bats as they head off for their evening meal. There are expensive-sounding tours run out of Britain for £3,599 ($6,000) per person just for the week, and at that price we wonder if the tourists might just be a bit batty already.

Related Stories:
· Rhino Travel: Kenya is Back in Black [Jaunted]
· Minimal Impact Lion-Spotting in Botswana [Jaunted]

[Photo: Shek Graham]

Tags: Maids / Quirky Travel / Japanimation / Cosplay / Maid Cafes / → All Tags

Japanese-Style Maid Cafes Have Opened in Los Angeles

If you've been thinking to yourself "you know self, I'd really like to experience some surreal Japanese sexual creepiness but I just can't afford a trip to Tokyo right now" - great news! Among Japan's recent innovations is the Maid Cafe, a place where prepubescent-looking girls and boys dress up as French Maids and spoon sweetcake into the mouths of patrons. Because why should cosplay (enter if you dare) be limited to geeks? Naturally this is an institution tailor-made for the City of Angels, and indeed two Maid Cafes have opened up in the Greater LA area.

It turns out, though, that some people consider restaurants staffed by girls in fetish outfits to be a little... declasse. Knowing that, these fine establishments have gone to great lengths to convince customers that French Maid servers are the height of ironic and kitschy sophistication Ironic and kitschy and and not at all creepy sophistication.

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Tags: Quirky Travel / Contests / Bizarre / Brooklyn / Bars / → All Tags

Is Your Facial Hair of World Champion Quality?

Aside from the occasional octogenarian who refuses to admit the Dodgers ever moved away, Brooklyn is not known for its sports prowess. But that doesn't mean it isn't a highly competitive place, so we're glad to see the Williamsburg crowd has found something productive to channel their energy into.

The borough's competitive streak will be on display this Saturday at Public Assembly for the New York City Beard and Moustache Championships. Cash prizes will be awarded for the craziest facial hair in a wide range of categories, including goatee, sideburns, patchy beard, full-grown freestyle, and yes, even a contest just for the ladies (who are allowed to fake it).

Who knows? You might even catch a facial hair legend-in-the-making. The best of the best may try their luck at the World Beard and Moustache Championships (no joke), to be held this Spring in Anchorage, Alaska.

Related Stories:
· New York City Beard and Moustache Championships [Official Site]
· World Beard and Moustache Championships [Official Site]
· Brooklyn travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: roendoftheroad]

Tags: Active Travel / Quirky Travel / Cycling / → All Tags

Portland Will Ride It Out on the 'Worst Day of the Year'

There are two approaches one can take to travel this time of year. You can let the snow and the cold get to you and hunker down indoors, or you can just embrace it and hit the road anyway.

A few thousand enthusiastic athletes will take the later sentiment to the extreme this month as they gear up for the eighth annual Worst Day of the Year Ride. The 18-mile cycle race takes place in Portland, Oregon each February 15, celebrating the all-around bad weather that hits the Northwest this time of the year, culminating in the region's most miserable day.

The city flooded on this date 13 years ago, and way before that, recorded its lowest temperature ever, negative 54 degrees. So participants break out their umbrellas and vow to get in a good day of cycling, rain or shine (hopefully rain).

Lest you think this is some crazy endeavor just for tough guys with a masochistic wish for pneumonia, the Worst Day of the Year Ride comes complete with roadside pick-me-ups like hot cocoa, warm cookies, and a raucous finish line party, with special prizes for those who come in costume.

· Worst Day of the Year Ride [Official Site]
· Bicylcing coverage [Jaunted]
· Weird travel coverage [Jaunted]

Photo: [Worst Day of the Year Ride]