The Week That Was #11

Welcome to my weekly collection of The Odd, The Useful, and The Downright Bizarre.

The Odd: First up, I’m posting a video for you to watch, but only if you promise never to do what you are about to see on your next international flight.

Promise? Ok, then. Now you can watch it:



The Useful: 5 secrets for avoiding sky-high cell phone bills. Christopher Elliott, over at Consumer Traveller writes about ways to avoid exorbitant cell phone bills while you are travelling, and recounts one example of Verizon greed when a traveller returned home from vacation to a staggering $8,000 cell phone debt. Among the strategies Elliott suggests for keeping your cell phone costs under control are these: Buy another phone in the country you are visiting; Get a plan that specifically includes overseas calls at favourable rates; Go VOIP and use services such as Skype; Swap cards — that is, swap out the SIM cards on your phone with a local national card; and finally, if all else fails, turn your phone off or better still, leave it at home. Read more here…

The Downright Bizarre: "Putpockets" give a little extra cash. How’s this for a weird promotional idea? A British broadband provider is paying reformed pickpockets to surreptitiously slip money into the pockets of unsuspecting Londoners. Instead of ‘pickpockets’ the firm has coined the word, putpockets, because the former thieves now give people money instead of steal it from them. "It feels good to give something back for a change -- and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate," said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk's putpocketing initiative. Fagan would be rolling over in his grave! Read more here…

Friday Photo #9: Cheeky Monkey

Click image to view larger size…

One of the first places I visited on my return to London in March 2008 (after an absence of over 30 years), was London’s Natural History Museum in Kensington.

Originating from collections within the British Museum, the landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 70 million items within five main collections: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, and include specimens collected by Charles Darwin.

The foundation of the collection was that of the Ulster doctor Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Sloane's collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was initially housed in Montague House in Bloomsbury in 1756, which was the home of the British Museum.

Walking through the building taking in the many displays, my attention was captured by the sight of hundreds of carved monkeys climbing the internal walls and support structures of this magnificent building. Like the gargoyles which were the subject of a previous Friday Photo (Friday Photo #4: London Gargoyle), these monkeys and other decorations represent an age when workmanship and beauty were greatly prized and appreciated.

There is much to see and appreciate in the Natural History Museum, and not all of it is behind glass cases. The next time you visit this building, take the time to look around and see how many of these cheeky monkeys adorn the main entry hall, and marvel at the skilful hands that created these objects of delight and splendor.

Note: visible in the photograph are at least 18 similar monkeys on the curved column on the far wall to the left of the monkey shown here in close-up. Presumably someone knows the exact number of monkeys

Visit the Natural History Museum here…

Photograph: Cheeky Monkey, by Jim Lesses

Location: Natural History Museum, London, England

With thanks to Wikipedia for the background information on the Museum

Travel In The Year 2030

~ I am sitting here thinking about what the travel experience might be like in the year 2030.

Why?

Because last night I went and visited my niece and her partner and their two day ‘old’ son for the first time, and marvelled once again at that incredible miracle of life that is a newborn child. And today, I woke up thinking about what the travel experience might be like in the year 2030 – when their child is 21.

A few lucky (read, wealthy) people, might get to enjoy brief ‘off world’ flights that circle the earth for several days at a time. The really adventurous ‘off world’ passengers might even get to indulge in a space walk during these trips (for an extra fee of course), but I imagine these types of flights won’t involve much more than this. Not that this wouldn’t be exciting enough!

However, I suspect that for the rest of us, travel will still be much the same as it is today, with travellers jetting off to far flung destinations around the world, all looking for that ultimate, intimate travel experience.

Most of the world’s top destinations will still be much as they are now. There will almost certainly be a few more skyscrapers in New York City; more side walk cafés in Paris; and more tourists trying to get the ultimate sunset photograph of Uluru (Ayers Rock). I also imagine that some of the more inaccessible places on the planet, those which currently only see a few thousand visitors a year, will become much easier to reach and enjoy.

Inevitably though, something will be lost along the way.

If the planet continues to warm, some locations may become too unpleasant to visit. Others, too difficult, and still more, too dangerous – which means safety and security will continue to be a major issue (I don’t see a conflict free planet on the horizon any time soon). Oh, and airlines will continue to lose our luggage in transit, and serve up barely palatable in-flight meals!

For myself, I hope I will still be around in 2030, and travelling as much as someone in their 80s can be expected to. Who knows, my 21 year old great nephew might even want to accompany me on a trip as a chaperone. Then again…

Image courtesy of SonnyRadio.Com…