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We Want Snow Now!

January 17, 2007 at 10:50 AM | 0 Comments


In most parts of Europe this year, snowfall's been dismally disappointing and many skiiers are swooshing down the slopes on artificial snow. But what can you do about it, really: that's just nature!

That's not the attitude being taken, however, by a bunch of disgruntled Romanian snowboarders. They held a sit-down protest in front of the National Weather Institute in Bucharest this week. Their complaint--quite simply, a lack of snow.

With nothing better to do (and their snowboards still in their cupboards) they stayed at the institute until officials told them their complaint "would be passed on to a higher authority." Al Roker?

[Photo: Thomas Hawk]

Related Stories:
· Snowboarders Stage Protest [Ananova]

Romanian Football Is the Gas!

December 26, 2006 at 11:45 AM | 0 Comments


We really want to congratulate Romania on January 1 when it enters the European Union, but there's just too much weird news coming outta there to concentrate on the serious stuff. This time we've learnt of a soccer team which is bartering a player for a gas pipeline.

The way we know it, when you want to exchange your football/baseball/basketball players, you agree on a price, and do it. Not so in Romania.

The boss of a second division soccer team in western Romania, who also happens to be the local mayor, has offered his star goalkeeper to a first division team on the condition that the rich owner pays for a gas pipeline to his town. Of course, we can think of other ways a football team could provide a lotta gas for a town, but Romanians are obviously too polite to think of this.

[Photo: Tsjeu]

Related Stories:
· Football Club Seeks to Trade Goalkeeper [ShortNews]
· Careful With That Toothbrush in Romania [Jaunted]

Today in Romania: Careful With that Toothbrush

November 10, 2006 at 9:23 AM | 0 Comments


If everything that we hear happens in Romania really is true, it must surely be the most exciting country on the planet. We've already told you about mayors who promote open-air sex, nude models who demand better pages in the newspaper and farmers who feed their cows dope. With all this action, who wouldn't want to hop a plane to Bucharest right this minute?

But wait, there's more. This week alone, news reports told us about a Romanian girl in the town of Falticeni who swallowed a toothbrush while imitating what the reporter explained as "extreme moves" from an adult movie; another mentioned an 80-year-old hospital patient in Botosani who had to use his mobile phone to call the emergency service line from his hospital bed to get attention from doctors. Where does all this Romanian news come from, and why don't these crazy things happen in neighboring Bulgaria or even in our own backyards? Clearly because Romania is the most totally hip place to travel that we haven't quite discovered yet. Get going.

[Photo: andrea z]

Related Stories:
· Hospital Patient Makes Emergency Call [Independent Online]
· Teen Swallows Rude Toothbrush [Metro UK]
· Romania's Page 5 Girls [Jaunted]
· The New Bovine Growth Hormone [Jaunted]
· Romania's Humping Hill [Jaunted]

Why Prince Charles Is the Key to World Tourism

November 7, 2006 at 9:13 AM | 0 Comments


So Britain wants to attract more visitors and they've set up British Tourism Week (starting next year) to do so. Fair enough. But is choosing flappy-eared Prince Charles as the patron of BTW really the smartest move? The VisitBritain boss reckons that the support of Charlie is "evidence of the critical importance ... of our royal heritage to the tourism industry." So if your idea of a good time in England is buying dinner plates with long outdated pictures of the royal family on them, then you're the target group.

But all this at the same time as Charles starts building a castle in Romania? Reports this week also tell that the would-be-King has purchased property in Transylvania, and the stories vary from a desire to promote sustainable tourism to the rumor that he's already busy building a palace there. Of course, we know better, because there's plenty to attract you in Romania: sex, drugs and pretty women to start with. Go for it, Charlie.

[Photo: mansonxu]

Related Stories:
· Prince Charles in Transylvania [This is London]
· Romania's Humping Hill [Jaunted]
· Romania's Page 5 Girls [Jaunted]

If The Dress Fits, Marry Her

November 2, 2006 at 8:56 AM | 0 Comments


Time for another lesson in marriage proposals the Eastern European way. In Serbia, we know men make wedding proposals by spelling out their request with taxis. A bit further east in Romania, one man recently used a Cinderella-style proposal when his fiancée dropped him four days before the wedding: he announced in his hometown that he'd marry whichever girl fitted into the wedding dress!

He's now recommending this to all the local men as the way to find the love of their lives, after the new bride turned out to be a perfect match for him. So let's get some bridal travel going: head to the Malu Mare commune in Dolj country, Southeastern Romania, and attend a few wedding gown fitting sessions until you find your Romanian Prince Charming. It's gotta have a success rate at least as good as speed dating.

[Photo: JumpinJack]

Related Stories:
· Jilted Groom Finds Fitting New Bride [Ananova]
· Asking For Her Hand ... [Jaunted]

Which Witch Speaks Good English?

November 1, 2006 at 9:01 AM | 0 Comments


Romania's constantly pumping out news that just makes us want to drop everything and buy a ticket to Bucharest: from the sexy nurses to the sex tourism, it's got everything we need.

With European Union membership coming for Romania in January 2007, they're gearing up for a big rise in tourism. Whether it's more flights into the country or improving accommodation possibilities, everyone's doing their bit, and that includes the local witches. A celebrity witch in Romania, Ioana Sidonia, has been ruminating on the question of EU accession:

My magic powers told me that not only would Romania prosper from joining the EU, but that it would bring me lots of English-speaking clients.
And to be properly prepared, she's taking English lessons, as are a number of other Romanian witches. All you English teachers out there, be ready for this new market; and does anybody know where we can get a "English for Witches" textbook?

[Photo: romaniashots]

Related Stories:
· Romanian Witches Hire English Teachers [Ananova]
· Sexy Romanian Nurses [Jaunted]
· Romania's Humping Hill [Jaunted]

Romania's Page 5 Girls

October 20, 2006 at 9:10 AM | 0 Comments


There are so many interesting things to see in Romania that we're sure the next Jaunted field trip will just have to go to Dracula's land. To add to the country's natural scenic attractions, Transylvania, the Black Sea coast and an interesting history, there are also the sexy nurses and the marijuana-eating cows. But wait, as they say...there's more.

There are also great-looking Page 5 girls. In fact, the Page 5 girls in Romanian tabloid Libertatea are some of the prettiest around. But they're not happy. The reason is probably obvious already: they want to be Page 3 girls. And they're protesting and threatening to withdraw their services if their section isn't relocated two pages closer to the front. One clever model stated: "It's a lot easier to open the paper to Page 3 then to Page 5." Romania: history, sex, mountains, drugs, and intelligent models. Let's go!

[Photo: jessica louise]

Related Stories:
· Models Face Off Over Picture Placements [All Headline News]
· Sexy Romanian Nurses [Jaunted]
· Marijuana for Bovine Growth [Jaunted]

Not All Fun in Romania

October 4, 2006 at 9:38 AM | 0 Comments


Oops. We just finished telling you how free and open Romania is. Hope you haven't all booked your tickets, because news this week shows it in another light, and we want you to be well-informed before you travel.

Short skirts for nurses, open-air sex and cattle who munch on marijuana are out. Smoking bans and alcohol testing are in. A Romanian train driver is in trouble this week after stopping his train in the middle of nowhere for a 5-minute smoke break--smoking on board the train was recently banned. And in a Bihor county high school, the principal has ordered a breathalyser to check alcohol levels in his students--and teachers--each morning. A day off school and "a surprise hangover lesson" is the punishment for those caught out.

[Photo: P.J.S.]

Related Stories:
· Sexy Romanian Nurses [Jaunted]
· Driver Stopped Train [Ananova]
· School Principal to Test for Alcohol [All Headline News]

Sexy Romanian Nurses

October 2, 2006 at 9:00 AM | 0 Comments


There's a rumour going around that news stories out of Romania are often not true. We find this hard to believe: between the marijuana-eating cattle and the mayor who encourages outdoor sex, it sounds like an open-minded and relaxed country that we'd really like to spend more time in.

But sometimes things go to far. This week, news sources reported that a movement by doctors in Iasi, eastern Romania insists that all female nurses and doctors wear miniskirts. The reasoning: "It would be more elegant." Just what every healthcare system needs, a bit more elegance. If you wind up sick or injured in Romania, check out the dress standard and let us know if they're elegant or simply distracting.

[Photo: bunmun]

Related stories
· Nurses in Romania to Wear Miniskirts [Ananova]
· Marijuana: The New Bovine Growth Hormone [Jaunted]
· Humping Hill, Romania [Jaunted]

Marijuana: The New Bovine Growth Hormone?

September 25, 2006 at 8:15 AM | 0 Comments


We don't want to give you the impression that Eastern Europe is obsessed with alcohol and sex, but we do need to tell you about the latest drug-takers in the region.

Farmers in the north-western Romanian town of Romanesti were approached by police this week who gave them a good telling-off for feeding their cows cannabis. The five men involved were aged from 57 to 82, and pleaded with the cops that they really weren't trying to break the law. The explanation was as simple as this:

We grew it because the cows seemed to like it, and happy cows give more milk.
What nice guys! We're not so sure they're telling the whole truth, though. Aren't they just looking for an easier way to make pot butter?

[Image via delerium/Flickr]

Related stories:
Cows Get High in Romania [All Headline News]
Thirsty in Hungary [Jaunted]
Humping Hill in Romania [Jaunted]

Let's Hope the Mayor Isn't Hiding Up There

June 5, 2006 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments


Eastern Europe's getting popular for medical travel: a nose job, new teeth, or even a tonsillectomy, if that's your idea of a good time. Now, Romania's trying to corner the fertility travel market. There's no first-class IVF clinic or fancy new technology involved: it's as simple as what the locals like to call the "Humping Hill".

In Horea, a small town on the north-western border of Romania, even the local mayor claims that gettin' busy atop this hill is responsible for most of the births in the region. For more than three hundred years, childless couples from near and far have miraculously been able to conceive amongst the bushes above Horea. The friendly mayor has even arranged for extra shrubs and trees to be planted to provide more privacy.

So hurry to Horea: it's just a matter of time before more capitalistic tourism practices kick in and they start charging per thrust.

[Image via 787b/Flickr]

Related stories:
Hungary for New Teeth [Jaunted]
The Humping Hill [UKTV]

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