Jaunted

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Watch the Biggest Boeing 747 Go for a Bath

Take a minute or two today and watch the video above. Sure, it's kinda corporate what with all the Boeing and Lufthansa bits, but in the end it should tickle the fancy of anyone born since the invention of the almighty Slip n Slide.

What's happening here is that Boeing is putting their new 747-8 freighter (to be delivered to Lufthansa) through water spray test so that, should the plane encounter any runway flooding, it can still safely land without sucking up any of the precipitation into its various engines and intakes. In order to test this, the plane gets its underside painted with a pretty pink soap wash, and then it barrels through a purposefully flooded runway at around 60 mph.

While it's not exactly a Slip n Slide since the airplane is still firmly up on its wheels, the image of that hulking machine zipping through the splash quickly brings flashbacks to our youth of those few seconds of joy, sliding down blue plastic, before the eventual grass burn at the finish.

For a real 747 waterslide experience, just head to the newish waterpark outside Portland, OR. There's a 747 on the roof!

Sigh. Is it summer yet?

Travel Safety / Luggage / Baggage / Crimes / Videos / → All Tags

The Ballpoint Pen Baggage Break-in: VIDEO

In the travel industry, today is what's known as an exodus, where those who've been home all holiday weekend finally extricate themselves from the cocoon of family and friends and head back into the regular world. What that means is hundreds of thousands of travelers will again take to the skies, their luggage busting with foil-wrapped frozen leftovers and new techie toys. Which is why you need to see this short video.

This is freaking us out. Breaking into a bag using only a ballpoint pen? Sure, we knew it could happen, but what's so odd about this video is that we can't tell if they're trying to warn about or encourage doing this. Hey, if you lost your lock key, you can get in! Or hey, if you want to steal someone's panties, you can get in! Weird.

The easiest way to protect from a ballpoint break-in, we suppose, is just to bite the bullet and go for one of the hard-case luggages that latch closed, like Samsonite's Oyster line. As for us, we're just going to continute not putting valuable items in our checked bags.

Videos / Holiday Travel / Airports / Flash Mobs / Military Travel / → All Tags

Three Airports That Already Celebrated the Holidays with Flashmobs

Traveling today? Who isn't?! Luckily not flashmobbers, since the holiday airport flashmobs are done for the season; airports don't want to crowd up their walkways on one of the busiest travel days of the year, you see. Flashmobs already got their dancing and videos out of the way over the last few weeks.

Without a doubt, the winner for best airport flashmob of winter 2011 is Denver International, with their swing-happy routine. Essentially they Lindy-bombed the place. The video above is energetic enough to hold your attention all the way through, and perhaps even get you grinning.

The following two videos are flashmob-esque:

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Videos / TSA / Airport Security / Airline Security / Politics Travel / Travel Politics / Holiday Travel / Christmas Travel / → All Tags

TSA Critics Ring in the Holidays with Their Own Christmas Music Video

As we wind down the year in TSA and airport security, we can't help but notice that the agency has made very tiny steps in the direction of sanity. They've gone from generic terrorism alerts to targeted social media alerts. They've gone from defending the intrusive screening of 6-year-olds to not doing that any more. They've gone from delaying scanner safety studies and potentially covering up cancer risks to seeking public comment over the devices. And they've publicly launched investigations of their "few bad apple" agents, who seem to pop up everywhere from Charlotte to Honolulu.

So it's with a tiny tinge of regret that we post this video from the libertarians at Reason.tv, who hate airport security theater the way we hate inflatable pillows (we really hate inflatable pillows). One problem is that the TSA is really trying. It's just that it'd be nice if they'd try a little harder.

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Surviving a Trip to Mount Everest's Super Dangerous Lukla Airport

You've heard of Tenzing-Hillary/Lukla Airport (LUA) before. Everyone has. As the airport for Mount Everest, it's not only top of our list of World's Most Dangerous Airports, but it's one that's proved killer in the past. Landing here and taking off from here, if the weather allows for it, means braving an uneven runway and old, tiny airplanes. Needless to say, it scares the bejeezus out of us.

That said, day in and day out, Lukla Airport flies tourists and trekkers to the remote location. One such recent visitor (who survived her ordeal) is friend of Jaunted Farryn Weiner. Farryn, formerly of Jetsetter.com and presently at Michael Kors, just returned from a few weeks of going native around India and Nepal. She cobbled together her photos and video shot on the trip into the inspiring mini-film above, which kind of reminds us of a series of GIFs.

The first few seconds of the video feature her view from the plane on the way to Lukla Airport, but we've also got some words from her on the experience:

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Videos / Airlines / Spain Travel / LCCs / Vueling / → All Tags

Vueling Parodies Great Aviation Moments in Movie History

We don't talk about the Spanish carrier Vueling, but then sometimes no news is good news. The exception is when an airline pulls a stunt that pokes fun at themselves or the industry, as Vueling has just done with their crew Christmas video.

Watch it above. The idea is that classic aviation scenes from iconic movies are acted out by Vueling staff in parody. A prime example is the scene from Snakes on a Plane, recreated by Vueling with snakes arm sock puppets.

Of course we love stuff stuff that's winky like this, but even more we appreciate that it's not loaded with "Merry Christmas/Tis the Season" stuff. Can you name all the movies they've referenced?

Videos / Alec Baldwin / iPhone Travel Apps / Celeb Travel / iPhone / Kindle / SNL / Comedy Travel / American Airlines / Pilots / → All Tags

The Latest on the Alec Baldwin, Words With Friends, American Airlines Insanity

Stop us if you've already seen this, but Alec Baldwin took his Words With Friends cause to SNL's Weekend Update on Saturday night to, well...apologize to himself.

In case you've been living in a cave the last several days, the story goes a little something like this: Baldwin was sitting on an American Airlines plane at LAX, playing the mobile app word game "Words With Friends." The plane door had already been closed (the cue to turn off electronic devices), and Alec refused flight attendant demands to turn off his device. He continued playing the Scrabble-like game, even retreating to the airplane bathroom in anger. So the plane kicked him off.

Alec tweeted his frustrations before being placed on a later flight, vowing never to fly American Airlines again. This was followed by a media flurry over the whole juicy ordeal, Alec mysteriously closing his Twitter account, and an offer from Greyhound to come play Words With Friends with their CEO on their buses.

So, back to the SNL video....

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Videos / Airports / FRA / Lufthansa / Airline Lounges / Germany Travel / Prime Planespotting / Travel Photography / → All Tags

Over Two Minutes of Time-Lapse, Tilt-Shift Video Fun at Frankfurt Airport

As if you needed any more reasons to lust over airline lounges, we must say that some of the best photos and videos come from them. Proving this yet again is YouTube user Ross Johnson, aka Tumbles94, who emailed us to say that he's again used his perch in one of the Lufthansa lounges at Frankfurt International to capture mesmerizing tilt-shift, time-lapsed videos.

For this third installment—see the first two here and here—Ross spends a good long time shooting the 747s and smaller jets that scuttle around the tarmac, plus the drones of the support vehicles.

Note the changing light as the day progresses, and the shadows the clouds cast. Riveting stuff, and many thanks to Ross for continuing to produce these.

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In-Flight WiFi / Holiday Travel / Christmas Travel / Santa Claus / WiFi / Gogo / Travel Tech / Videos / → All Tags

Santa's In-Sleigh WiFi is Faster Than Your In-Flight WiFi

These days, with so many WiFi-equipped planes criss-crossing the skies, we definitely think twice before booking flights not equipped with it. In-Flight WiFi is just so...integral to keeping our mobile lifestyle moving, but also it's becoming expected. We're happy to report that someone else joins in this thinking—none other than the jolly elf himself, Santa Claus.

Earlier this month, Gogo gave Santa the Christmas gift at the top of his list: an upgrade to the newest ATG-4 onboard internet, including the new media platform to allow Santa to watch movies and TV shows while on those long, transocean crossings on Christmas Eve.

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Travel Ads / Videos / British Airways / Concorde / Airplanes / Pilots / → All Tags

Video Interlude: The British Airways Ad That Put a Tear in Our Eye

We have a confession. Yesterday, somewhere over the northeast, we almost cried on an airplane. No, it wasn't due to some sappy movie on the seatback TV, nor was it because we didn't have time for a second Goose Island beer back at O'Hare Airport. Nope—we shed a single tear over a commercial from British Airways.

At the end of September, the Brit airline launched their newest campaign "To Fly. To Serve." Hearkening back to the glory days of aviation, BA peppers each spot with flashbacks to prop planes and the Concorde, plus their dashing pilots in full, crisp uniform. They're beautiful ads, but none more cinematic and engrossing than the one above.

Another version of the ad is here, but this one has the moneyshots of each plane taking off—from the early days when pilots were glorified mail carriers to the modern era, when lifting a 747 off the ground is just part of a regular day's work.

Enjoy. Keep a hanky handy.

Videos / Air New Zealand / Celeb Travel / Lindsay Lohan / New Zealand / New Zealand Travel / Social Media / Travel Advertising / → All Tags

Air New Zealand Kills Off Their Viral Video Puppet. Literally.

Air New Zealand's new viral media campaign asks fans and followers to solve the murder of Rico, their obnoxious creepster of a puppet, by playing an online game.

The rat-like character, you'll remember, had been slowly making the transition merely sleazy to borderline rapey over a series of videos. Apparently the airline's creatives ran out of ideas, so they killed him.

The game is a Clue knockoff in which players are asked to determine which celebrity killed Rico where with what etc etc. The story is that Rico was killed at a Hollywood house-warming party, and so many of his former interviewees apparently make appearances. There's also some kind of prize which includes economy airfare to LA, a hotel stay, Universal Studios and Disney vouchers, and some other stuff. We're unsure whether "not playing the game at all" because "you really don't care" makes you eligible, but the rules and conditions spell everything out.

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Videos / Costa Rica Travel / Nature Travel / Green Travel / Spa Travel / Adventure Travel / → All Tags

And Now, Your Moment of Zen (from the Wilds of Costa Rica)

Deep breaths. It's Friday. The day after today is Saturday. Are you traveling this weekend? That's awesome. Are you doing something more local? Equally awesome, because you're out there doing, discovering, deciding to be anything but stagnant.

Let's have a moment, hmm? Recently we found ourselves sitting in knee-high, naturally heated water at the Rio Negro hot springs in Costa Rica's Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park. Above us was a swinging rope bridge we had crossed to reach this spot. Below us, the rushing crystal clear waters of the Rio Negro, and all around a saturation of green. Ahh nature.

That is a happy place, the type you sometimes come across in the world and which you attempt to burn into your memory to mentally escape from future stressful situation far, far away.

A video:

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