Yay! Common sense prevails in this day and age! The respective loyalty programs of our affiliate friends, Expedia, Vrbo, Hotels.com and other brands under the Expedia Group umbrella are to be unified into one service. The company says all brands and products will be in the program, covering flights, hotels, alternative accommodation, car rentals, cruises…
Technology
During the Airlines Confidential podcast, former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza told an interesting story about trying to figure out whether a new route would be profitable. In normal times airlines have great data – required and reported by the federal government. But, some looked at telephone data and remittance data to get a sense…
If you think a chair is simply a chair, you might be right. But there are designers who think beyond the norm, in all walks of life. It matters in this day of dwindling resources. Salone is the most important furniture event in the world, strongly connected to the city and the design culture. This…
We love automobiles here at Matouring. Especially European cars. And even more especially French vehicles. Por quoi? They have always seemed to go beyond the pale, seeking smart functionality with undeniable style. Our favourite French marque is Citroën. From the 2CV to the latest Cactus models, they have never been shy about pushing the envelope.…
On some days, you just want to say, “Beam me up, Scotty! There’s no intelligent life here.” And when those days arrive, Scotty’s transporter is waiting in Vulcan, Alberta, Canada, halfway between Calgary and Lethbridge. The Canadian Pacific originally named the town for the Roman god of fire, but the citizens had a better idea. …
If you've been to London (or the Republic of Ireland, Russia, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Australia) you'll likely know Yo Sushi. A restaurant chain first started in London, Yo Sushi took the popular Asia-originated conveyor belt concept (you grab the plate you want as it passes) and tweaked it a bit…
If you've flown Ryanair, you'll know that it can be a mixed bag. On the plus side, the prices are almost unbelievable: how can anyone operate a jet aircraft (and all of its associated costs) with a €29 fare? On the more questionable side, some passengers feel like cattle (with the same amount of "love"…
Do you have a large family? Do you find that you struggle to accommodate them as you travel from place to place? Do they complain about not having enough leg-room as you travel? Are you constantly having to stop when they cry out for the toilet? Well, we have news for you! For only $50,000…
If you frequent our site, you'll know how much we love architecture: it's a part of life, especially when it is executed with creativity, originality and love. We especially like the Bauhaus and modern movements from the start of the twentieth century. It is often almost impossible to visit, let alone stay in some of…
Pity poor Alitalia. For years, they've been the underdog, constantly chided and teetering on the brink of disappearing. They've had their problems, but we've flown many times on the airline and had good experiences. (We even sat near Peter Gabriel on one flight.) But, it looks like the future is bleak. On September 10th, 2021 the European…
Raimondo di Sangro Prince of Sansevero (Torremaggiore 1710 – Naples 1771) was an original exponent of the first European Enlightenment. A brave soldier, man of letters, publisher, first Grand Master of Neapolitan Masonry, he was – more than anything else – a prolific and enterprising inventor and patron. In the underground laboratories of his palace,…
You might have heard (recently) of the concept of Fifth Freedom flights. It may sound like a bad action film, but its principles are fairly straightforward and, to be honest, a bit boring. But, as you'll see in the video, below, in practice it can bring some benefits. Click here to see part one.
In…
Machine-written literature might offend your tastes but until the dawn of Romanticism most writers were just as formulaic. Since its inception in 2015, the research laboratory OpenAI – an Elon Musk-backed initiative that seeks to build human-friendly artificial intelligence – has developed a series of powerful ‘language models’, the latest being GPT-3 (third-generation Generative Pre-trained…
Gratifyingly, people are starting to understand that climate change is real. Turn on the television every day and a new horrifying example of our changing world appears. On a very positive note, though, Dubai just got the world's first ‘green’ mosque. As per the reports, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) inaugurated the world's first…
Trains are everywhere in Europe. Some of the trains travel at high speed across the continent, while others move around leisurely, either by day or by night. Find out about the different European trains like sleeper trains, chocolate trains, high speed trains and the provided facilities for a clear idea of what train travel in…
If you're of a certain age, or just love the art of the impossible, you'll likely know Roy Harryhausen. The film special effects superstar helped elevate stop motion animation to an art. His innovative and inspiring films, from the 1950s onwards, changed the face of modern movie making forever. And now his work can be…
Chernobyl: Accidental Wildlife Sanctuary The accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant resulted in complete abandonment of a huge territory in Belarus as well as land on the Ukrainian side, creating the largest ever experiment as to what nature does when people leave. 30 years later the area is the nearest that Europe has to a…
When the Romans built things, they built them to last. Just take a look at Rome itself, with the Parthenon and its companion buildings. But here is another rather spectacular example of the Romans building things to last. The Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about 2.4 kilometres (1.5 mi)…
Do you find yourself going non-linear when it comes to those freaking crank / automated / scam calls that distract us to exhaustion?
You're not alone. Luckily, Google comes to the rescue again with not one, but two nifty services that you may want to look into.
Read more here courtesy of USAToday.com
Best Buy have all sorts…
What is a loo? In the UK, it's another name for the toilet. (It's also called a bog, but that's a different story.)
Shocking? Well, that brings up the question about why airplane toilets have power outlets. Seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
But read more here courtesy of BusinessInsider.com for an answer to this conundrum.
If…