Often inspired by the Disney fairytales of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, many young girls dress as princesses for Halloween.

While they are popular fairytales, these theme-park castles are largely based on a real castle in Germany – Neuschwanstein Castle. Look at the resemblance:

Disney has also noted the inspiration from structures in France too: Notre Dame de Paris and Hospices de Beaune.

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Sources: wikipedia (Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Cinderella Castle, Neuschwanstein Castle)

Photos: Katie Rommel-Esham (cc) Jack Versloot (cc)

The magnificent waterfalls known as Niagara falls are split on the US/Canada border. People come to see massive amounts of water flowing over the falls and that’s exactly what they get, during the day.

While the falls are a popular tourist attraction, many people don’t know the water is an important source of power. There is one power company on each side of the border that draws water from above the falls to turn their generators.

Unfortunately, drawing water from the river above the falls can impact what the falls look like.

During the tourist season (April to October), the power companies must maintain the water flow over the falls at 100,000 cubic feet per second. That’s not very difficult since the river has a natural flow of about 212,000 cubic feet per second on a typical summer day. That means they normally draw about 100,000 cubic feet per second for power generation and allow that same amount over the falls.

But at night, they can draw even more water and lower the flow at the falls to about 50,000 cubic feet per second. This extra flow allows them to turn their turbines and fill up their reservoirs so they have more water after the tourism flow is restored in the morning. Since the falls erode about two feet per year, drawing extra water at night also slows erosion so the falls will be around for many generations to come.

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Image: Alberto Mari (cc)

Source: NiagaraFrontier.com

The U2 song, “Where the Streets Have No Name” refers to the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the streets actually do have names. Bono wishes they didn’t have names because they can be used to determine the class and religion of some people.

In Japan; however, a majority of the streets do not have names.

So, how do you find a location? Instead of the streets being named, the blocks between the streets are numbered.

The houses and units inside a block are also numbered. The blocks are inside a named district, the district is within a city or town. So, other than the block numbers and street names, it’s quite similar to the Western address system.

In Japan, directions to a location often include references to visual landmarks or subway stations. The block numbers could also be good for driving directions; if someone told you to turn right at the end of block 4, you’d see block 4 on a utility pole and know that the next turn is yours. In the Western system, you rarely know when your street is next, unless you’re in one of the few cities that are built on a perfect grid and have incrementally named streets.

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Sources: songfacts, goabroad.com, Wikipedia (Japanese Address System)

If you’ve ever flown first class or eaten at a first class restaurant, you’ve probably been handed a wet towel. The first time this happens, you’ll probably be confused and look to others for guidance on what to do with it.

Generally, it is used to clean your hands. This tradition comes from Japan, where “oshibori” (wet towels) are handed out before meals, to clean hands. In Japanese restaurants, they may be hot or cold, depending on the season. Some people may also use the towels to clean their face.

This tradition has been expanded outside of Japanese restaurants where the practice varies greatly. In Western restaurants, wet towels may be served beforeand/or after the meal — to clean your fingers and around your mouth. According to Etiquette Scholar, it is not polite to clean beyond these areas, such as your neck or behind your ears, in a restaurant.

Many airlines offer wet towels, particularly in first class. They are sometimes offered immediately after takeoff, which is standard in first class on British Airways, among others. These towels are usually hot, but may be cold if you’ve just boarded from a particularly hot environment or if the cabin air conditioning is out-of-order. At this time, they are useful to clean your hands before eating or to clean the travel sweat off your skin (forehead, back of your neck, etc.). On longer flights, wet towels may also be served after a meal or just prior to landing.

Wet towels are traditionally made from cotton and moistened with water. Lemon juice is sometimes added to the water for its fragrance and degreasing properties. In recent years, pre-moistened disposable towels have gained popularity and are often wrapped in a plastic package. These towels come unscented and in a variety of fragrances. They sometimes contain other cleaning solutions such as alcohol.

The next time you’re given a wet towel, you can tell everyone what it’s for and where this tradition came from.

If you’re interested in a particularly long, fairly humorous and sometimes snobby discussion about wet towels, you’ll love this thread on FlyerTalk.com.

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Photo: Christopher Doyle (cc attribution)

Sources: FlyerTalk.com, PlanetTokyo, Wikipedia, Airline Towels, Etiquette Scholar

Expiration dates are funny things. For instance, if I take a swig from a jug of milk that expires next week, I expect to get a mouthful of milk, not sour gym socks. Unfortunately, expiration dates are occasionally imperfect, and the gym sock thing tends to happen from time to time. But when it comes to something non-perishable, like a coupon booklet or an driver’s license, these dates should be a little more concrete. Or so you would think, anyway.

My cousin was recently on her way to Malaysia when she encountered a bit of a snafu at the airport. For travel to Malaysia, it’s not enough to simply have a “valid” passport (i.e. one that has not yet expired). Rather, US citizens must have at least six months remaining before the printed expiration date. My cousin only had five. She actually made it all the way through security before the airport authorities realized their mistake and stopped her from boarding. Trouble is, she had already flown from Portland to San Francisco with her sorta-valid passport, and now she had no choice but to turn around and go back. Even if her trip to Malaysia was only going to last one day, travel regulations would still have forbade the journey without the six-month buffer. I’m sure there are plenty of logical reasons for such a requirement (contingency for an unexpectedly prolonged trip, prevention of illegal immigration or fraud, etc. etc.), but my cousin’s experience still seems like the travel equivalent of buying your milk in May only to discover that it already soured last Christmas.

To make things even more complicated, each country has its own unique rules regarding passport validity. Most countries simply abide by the given date, but some – such as Malaysia, Brazil, and India – require a six-month window, while others – such as Switzerland, Greece, and Denmark – require only three months. When exactly does this window start or end? That’s different for every country too. In some cases it’s calculated from the date of entry into the foreign territory, while in others it’s based on the return date. If you’re planning to travel abroad, you can find the specific rules for each country on the State Department’s website.

Keep in mind that passport renewals typically take about six weeks, so it’s always best to plan ahead when making your travel arrangements. If you’re just learning of these rules before an impending trip, you can apply for an expedited renewal, which takes only two weeks, but also costs an additional $60. If you’re already at the airport (like my cousin was) please have a safe trip back to your house.

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Photo: Amy Barker (cc)

Sources: Wikipedia , Joel Widzer, and The U.S. Department of State

Airplanes are cramped places.

The leg room is short, the aisles are thin and the headroom isn’t room at all. The bathrooms provide some private space and a complimentary gymnastics lesson.

If you’re tall, fitting your knees behind the seat in front of you is a painful reality that many of us live with each trip, unless you get an exit row, a courtesy upgrade or a hole in your wallet.

Even if you’re not very tall, when you stand up in your seat, you have to duck to avoid a head-on-collision with the overhead bin, especially in smaller regional jets.

But, a few years ago, I saw a person in the row ahead of me raise the aisle armrest. That was a game changer for me. No more ducking! Simply raise the armrest, then stand up while you slide off your seat into the aisle.

There are a few planes that do not have movable aisle armrests. However, most of them have a small lever or button on the underside of the armrest, near the hinge. Pushing or sliding this lever will release the hinge lock, allowing you to raise the armrest.

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You may not have heard of this, but it’s law in some countries and it’s growing in popularity around the world. The reason is similar to why the airlines dim the interior lights during takeoffs and landings at night.

In short, it’s for safety in the event of an accident. With the window shades up, passengers and crew can spot dangers outside the planes before they open an emergency exit. Dangers like fire, water and running airplane engines can be hazardous if someone opens an emergency exit right into them.

During bright daylight, it also allows your eyes to adjust to the brightness outside, which could be critical during an accident.

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Photo: contraption (cc)

Sources: Airliners.net, Straight Dope

These airlines use an in flight system that mimics cell phone towers found on the ground. The system relays the call/text/email to a satellite and back to the ground from there. Similar systems have been on cruise ships for years. On cruise ships, they use these systems because there aren’t any ground based cell phone towers in the middle of the ocean.

When you drive in a car, your cell phone call may jump from tower to tower as you travel out of range from one tower and into range of another. These jumps used to cause an echo with early cell phone networks, but it is pretty seamless today. Well, at least in your car it is. Airplanes move much more quickly and the network cannot pass your call from tower to tower at that speed. That’s why airplane systems typically bounce your call off a satellite, which it can easily maintain a connection to.

An unintended benefit of having the cellular connection on the plane is that the cell phone doesn’t require a lot of power to connect the call, so your battery will last longer and there will be less electromagnetic radiation in the plane. If you phone was attempting to connect to ground based towers it would have to amplify the signal much more and that consumes more battery power.

So, the technology exists. Why don’t most airlines allow it?

Firstly, there is the myth that cell phones cause interference with navigational equipment. Most people aren’t going to try to test it either, no phone call is important enough to take that risk. But, if you fly a lot then chances are good that you’ve realize mid-flight that you forgot to turn your phone off. It doesn’t appear that there have been any equipment problems. You seem to be flying in the right direction and you haven’t heard any complaints from the cockpit.

I asked an airline insider about this and they checked with some pilots and filled me in on the details. They said that old analog cell phones may have caused problems, but there is no evidence that digital phones cause any problems. Like I said before, Air France has been doing it for two years now without incident and there have been a number of studies that failed to find any incompatibilities between aircraft systems and cell phones. In fact, the problems are more likely with the ground based systems as they scramble to route your call to the nearest tower as you pass a new tower every few seconds in an airplane.

Here’s where it gets really interesting, many planes already have equipment to route in-flight cell phone calls without going to ground based towers (similar to what Air France uses to properly route cell phones through satellites). This equipment is often part of the system that planes use to offer in-flight wifi. Many US carriers currently offer that service and much of that equipment has cellular capability, it’s just not enabled right now.

If it was truly a problem with airplane systems, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) would surely support the ban of cell phones. Instead, the FAA blames the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) for the in-flight cell phone ban.

The FCC regulates all electronics that are sold in the United States and they readily admit they’re cautious about changing the rules on this issue. Their main goal is to prevent electronics from interfering and causing problems with each other, especially with emergency and government systems. They say that limited information is available on the safety of using cell phones on airplanes.  They also note that consumers don’t want cell phones on planes.

They’re probably right about cell phone calls on the plane, although I’m not sure if that is their decision to make. I could see a war between airlines who adopt the technology and those who promote their flights as cell phone free.

The interesting thing about the technology is that the airlines can control which services the passengers can use. They can disable calls, but allow text messages and emails/data to be transferred. Disabling calls would maintain a flight environment similar to what we have now and that would ensure that screaming babies retain their exclusive right to prevent you from sleeping on red-eye flights.

As more airlines install the equipment for in-flight wifi, they’ll be itching to generate revenue from in-flight cell phone usage too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the airlines lobbying the FCC for the right to offer these services. When they do, sign me up for the deluxe service package: 1 piece of luggage, cellular usage, 1 meal, 1 life vest during an emergency  and 1 bathroom break — not necessarily in that order.

Thanks to Gina for suggesting this secret!

Related: Why Airlines Dim the Lights Before Night Landings

Broken Secrets | By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Live Science, ABC, OnAir

Photo: lrargerich

Whether you’re in a plane, at the top of a ski hill or reading this in the mile high city, your body will metabolize alcohol exactly the same in all cases.

It is a common myth that you get drunk at high altitude much faster than at lower altitudes. In fact, I set out to research why this is the case, only to find out it’s not the truth.

As you can probably imagine, they didn’t have any trouble finding volunteers to help them get to the bottom of this — it has been studied and studied and studied and studied (PDF).

Even without alcohol, high altitudes can induce high-altitude sickness, which happens because there is less oxygen in the air. Because the symptoms are much the same as a hangover (headache, nausea, vomiting…etc), the effects of alcohol are often confused with high-altitude sickness. In fact, there is a study that shows Alcohol can impede the initial stages of adapting to high altitude; therefore, it is recommended that people do not drink for the first couple days while their body acclimatizes to the lower oxygen levels of high altitudes.

A study with alpine skiers in Austria tested blood-alcohol content at sea-level and at 10,000 feet. After drinking a liter of beer, their blood-alcohol levels were the same regardless of altitude.

An FAA study (PDF) found that both alcohol and altitude affect pilot performance, but there was no interaction between the two. Altitude does affect your ability to perform tasks, but that effect is present with or without alcohol. Another US government funded study found the same thing, concluding, “there was no synergistic interactive effect of alcohol and altitude on either breathalyzer readings or performance scores.”

From my observations, college loans are another popular way to get government money to study the effects of alcohol.

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Sources: Pub Med, High Altitude, Annals, FAA (PDF), AHA

Photo: evilmidori (cc)

Relevant:

Professionals should always supervise detox from alcohol and other drugs to prevent any untoward medical mishaps.

Watches are more jewelry than necessity these days. Many young people don’t wear watches because their cell phone keeps the time. But, if you do have an analog watch, you can use it as a compass. If you don’t have an analog watch, you can draw one in the dirt or picture it in your mind.

Let’s say you’re lost in the woods, or maybe you’re just lost on Wood street in Chicago. You know it’s getting close to dinner time and you were going to meet your friend by the lake for dinner. You know the lake is East, but you don’t know which way that is. So, you think back to this post on BrokenSecrets.com.

You hold your watch face flat (parallel to the ground). Keeping your watch flat, you turn until the hour hand is pointing at the Sun. Draw a line between the hour hand and 12 o’clock. This line points in two directions, the direction furthest from the Sun will be North.

That works great in Chicago, but it’s no good in Chile. In fact, anywhere south of the equator you have to use this slightly different method. Hold your watch flat and turn until 12 o’clock is pointing toward the sun. Draw a line between 12 and the hour hand, North will be the side closest to the sun.

There are some downsides to this method. It only works during daylight and it’s not extremely precise, although it gets more precise the further away from the equator you are.

Broken Secrets | Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Geo Fieldwork , Survival Topics

I was just starting my vacation and the last thing I wanted was to get sick. So, I couldn’t help thinking about being trapped on the plane for the next four hours, breathing the same air as them.

I started to think about the air quality in general. I mean, people always talk about how bad jetliner air quality is, but I really didn’t know much about it.

I did some research and the air quality on planes, at least newer ones, seems pretty good.

Firstly, the air is not circulated from front to back, it is circulated side to side. That means you’re mostly sharing the air with the people in your immediate area, not the entire plane, which reduces the spread of germs.

Secondly, newer planes also use HEPA filters to make the recirculated air is as clean as possible. Hospitals use these same filters to reduce the spread of germs.

Thirdly, fresh air is constantly added. Some air that passes through the jet engines is extracted from the compressor stage, cooled and mixed with the filtered air in the cabin. Stale air is expelled from the bottom of the plane to make room for the fresh air.

In early jet liners, people smoked throughout the flight and at that time much more fresh air was brought into the cabins, but that made the engines very inefficient. The air systems today are designed to exchange slightly more air than the passengers consume, which keeps the oxygen level optimal. This balance also ensures the best possible fuel economy.

The air is refreshed about 20 times per hour, which is even better than most modern office buildings which refresh air about 12 times per hour.

One caveat is while air planes are at the gate. Because the jet engines aren’t running, the air inside is not being refreshed with new air during that time.

There are studies that suggest an increase of sickness with air travel, but experts are quick to dismiss air quality as the primary cause. It is believed this correlation could be caused by other travel related variables such as added stress and less rest.

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Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Boeing, NY Daily News, UC SF

Photo by Dave Wallick

I was there in 1993 on a big family road trip and it was amazing. A building of this size seems like it should have a massive heating system to stay comfortable during winter months. But, the architects had a much more creative solution in mind.

The mall entrances do have heaters between the double doors for comfort, but the common areas are heated in three other ways:

• Solar Radiation (Skylights)
• Lighting Fixture Heat
• People

Yes, the skylights let in light which is converted into heat (think of it like a giant green house). The lighting fixtures give off heat, which is typically considered waste energy, but is an important part of heating the building. The people inside generate a lot of heat too. In fact, the guests generate enough heat during peak winter hours that the air conditioning system runs full blast to keep the mall comfortable.

Considering the age of this mall, this is a forward thinking concept — it reduces their need for energy, which saves money and keeps our valuable energy resources available for making lattes and watching The View.

Another little known (and ironic) fact: the Mall of America is owned and operated by Canadians.  The Ghermezian family also owns West Edmonton Mall, which is 30% larger than Mall of America, sporting the world’s largest indoor water park; an ice rink; 800+ stores; an aquarium and the world’s largest indoor amusement park with 24 rides, including the largest indoor roller coaster. A planned expansion to Mall of America will make it larger than West Edmonton Mall.

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Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: Mall of America, West Edmonton Mall

Photo: Dave Wallick (creative commons)

I like to use Google products (formerly known as “Froogle”). It compares prices at thousands of retailers and show you the best deals along with ratings for each retailer.

Google products also searches sites like ebay. Although, it’s worthwhile checking ebay independently, there are lots of auctions for new products or if you’re willing to take a used one then you’ll get a great deal. If you’ve looking for something that doesn’t ship well, such as appliances, be sure to check craigslist.org or kijiji.com (owned by ebay). They let you search for products in your area so shipping is not necessary.

Sometimes the best price is at a website you’ve never heard of. This is when customer ratings and common sense are really helpful. If you’ve never heard of the retailer and can’t find a phone number for the office on the site, then I probably wouldn’t order from them. Amazon might be the only exception to this and in fact they’re one of my favorite online retailers, they frequently have the best price and their shipping and customer service are great.

If you’re searching for cameras, be weary of small companies based in New York City. They usually have the best price on camera equipment, but there are lots of online horror stories about some of these companies.

If you’re searching for travel products (hotels, flights, car rentals) then I suggest an aggregator such as kayak.com. It goes out to all of the other travel sites and pulls in the best options from each, then it provides tools to filter those results.

If you’re specifically looking for a hotel, I like hotels.com. Every ten nights you stay, you get one free. It’s similar to having a hotel loyalty program but this gives you the freedom to stay at any brand of hotel. Another tool I like for hotel searching, is Map Channels. Just type in an address and it will plot nearby hotels with vacancy on a map — hover over the hotels to see the price. This really helps if you’re trying to get a hotel in a very specific part of a city or near an event or address. Also, be sure to read my previous post, “You Can Request a Mini Fridge in Your Hotel Room.”

After you’ve found the best price, swing by a coupon sharing site to see if you can save even more, or at least get free shipping. RetailMeNot.com or CouponCabin.com (and others) will let you search by retailer and provide you with coupon codes you can enter at those sites. I tried entering a few popular retailers (Amazon, Home depot, Sears, American Eagle, Target) and they all had coupon codes. DO NOT make an online purchase without checking these sites first, otherwise you’re just giving away your money.

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The flight was bumpy from the start. Somewhere in the middle, the flight crew was providing beverage service when the captain turned on the fasten seat belt sign. He instructed the crew to return to their seats and buckle up; before they made it to their seats, we hit a low pressure air pocket and the plane took a sudden drop.

It was just like a roller coaster making its towering first drop. We were in free fall for what felt like a really long time, but was probably only a couple of seconds. A few people flew out of their seats and hit their heads on the overhead bins, the crew was in the isle and did the same. Drinks, books, purses and other personal articles were thrown around the cabin, making a huge mess.

Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt.

That incident showed me exactly how dangerous bad weather and low altitude flying can be. It also demonstrated exactly why you should wear your seat belt when that light is on — it’s not a suggestion, it’s an important safety measure.

While we might not think about the weather and altitude much, they’re front of mind for the pilots. In fact, they review full weather reports that cover multiple altitudes for the entire route before takeoff.

The weather reports help them decide which altitude (or combination of altitudes) they should fly at. There are generally fewer clouds and less turbulence at high altitudes, but there are still some of both. Some clouds (towering cumulus and cumulonimbus) can extend as high as 60,000 feet — well above typical air travel.

At least the clouds are easy to see, some other phenomena cannot been seen by the pilots so they rely on radar and satellite reports to avoid those when possible. Other environmental issues cannot be seen, including Clear Air Turbulence (CAT).

The engines are also optimized for high altitudes, so fuel efficiency is another benefit of climbing high. For many engines, they can run just above idle at around 40,000 feet. That’s because the air is thinner, which means the engines have less resistance and the plane gets more lift with less thrust.

Because the air is thinner, there is also less ice accumulation at high altitudes. Ice buildup is dangerous and caused a tragic plane crash outside of Buffalo, NY last year (Colgan Flight 3407). Reduced ice buildup is an added benefit of high flying.

The high altitudes are also great for separation of flights to avoid collisions, you can read more about that in my related post, “Why Airplanes Don’t Always Fly in Straight Lines to Their Destination.”

There are also some downsides to flying high. As I said, the atmosphere is different, which means people cannot breath normally at this altitude. Aircraft that travel above 10,000 feet should provide a pressurized cabin or a supplemental air source for the pilots and passengers (or both).

As you can see, there are many reasons why planes fly at high altitudes, and now you’ll understand why the pilot thinks it’s important to tell you about the weather and altitude of the flight.

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Written By: Chad Upton

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Related Post: Why Airlines Dim Interior Lights Before Night Landings

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Photo By: Olastuen (creative commons)

Sources: FAA (PDF), Jet Aircraft, Dept of Energy, Flight 3407, Fear of Flying

Some people think that air traffic controllers are the guys that stand on the ground, waving lighted wands to guide the plane up to the gate. Those guys are actually part of the ground crew and they only have control over your flight for the last couple hundred feet before you reach the gate. The rest of the flight is controlled by someone else and it’s not the pilot.

The pilot flies the plane, but his course is being set by somebody on the ground. Those people are known as Air Traffic Controllers.

This system is a lot more complicated than it seems.

At the airport, the air traffic controllers sit up in the control tower. Those guys decide who gets to take off and land, which runways they use and when. They also direct planes that are moving around on the ground between gates and runways on the apron and taxiways. This aims to provide an organized flow of ground traffic and a safe flow of air traffic.

Once your plane has left the immediate area of the airport, the pilot must then communicate with a regional controller at an Area Control Center (ACC). If you’re on a long flight, you may get passed from one ACC to the next multiple times as you fly across the country.

Why?

The main purpose is safety. These controllers use radar to see all of the flights in their area and they are expected to provide proper separation between planes. Depending on the altitude, the minimum separation distance changes. That is because less sophisticated planes have pressure sensitive altimeters which are less accurate at higher altitudes — greater separation at higher altitudes compensates for risk.

At high altitudes (above 29,000 feet / 8870 meters), planes are required to have at least 2000 ft of vertical separation (it is usually 1000 ft when below 29,000 ft) although there are exceptions.

They even stagger the planes based on the direction they’re flying. Planes on the next level above and below you will becoming towards you. This makes it easier for the planes to see each other and ensure they’re at the proper height to avoid a collision.

Horizontal or lateral separation also varies. It’s not dependent on altitude but distance from the radar antenna. 3 nautical miles of separation are required within 40 nautical miles of the antenna, 5 nautical miles when more than 40 nautical miles from the radar antenna. This compensates for inaccuracy as the planes get further away from the radar antenna.

Many aircraft (especially large commercial planes) also have an on board system that is designed to alert the pilot when other planes are dangerously close or on a collision course.

When airplanes are over land, they actually have to fly where there is ground based radar that can track them. So your flight may be directed into “lanes” that keep the flights in an organized flow and within radar range. As I mentioned, having planes in radar view is important for preventing collisions but it’s also important for dispatching help if a plane stops responding or goes missing — they have an accurate last point of record.

Over the ocean, there isn’t any radar tracking. Many planes have on board GPS navigation systems, but there is no current standard to make that data available to flight control centers. This the why it was so difficult to find the Air France flight 447 that crashed in the ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France in June 2009. Nobody noticed the flight was missing until it failed to make a radio call as it entered airspace controlled by a ground radar facility. When they tried to find the plane, the last location information they had was in a few short messages automatically relayed by the maintenance system on the plane as some systems began to fail before the crash.

The FAA (United States Federal Aviation Administration) is currently working on Nextgen, a new GPS based flight tracking system that will be much better than the current ground based radar network.

For now, some flights will let you listen in on the radio communication channels that pilots use to talk to controllers. If you ever have the chance to listen in, it’s very interesting. In fact, you can stream live feeds from LiveATC.net.

Related Post: Why Airlines Dim Interior Lights Before Night Landings

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Written By: Chad Upton

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Sources: ATC, Flight Level, SKYbrary

You’re driving along, minding your own business, when your GPS unit suddenly annuls its marriage to the windshield. It crashes into the dashboard, slides into the door, high-fives your passenger and bounces on the floor. Your GPS is not broken; but, it will be the next time it startles, then attacks your passenger again.

In the winter, it’s especially tempting for the suction cups on your GPS or radar detector to take your electronics skydiving. The suction cup relies on a vacuum tight seal to maintain its grip on the windshield. Cold weather, or direct flow of air conditioning, can degrade that seal enough that it can’t support the weight of the device.

The secret to getting a good seal: warm the windshield and suction cup(s) before getting them back together. You can warm the suction cup(s) with your hand or treat them like takeout food and warm them with your seat heaters. Using the defogger, blow hot air on the windshield for at least 10 minutes, then pull over in a safe place and apply the warm suction cup(s).

The idea is to create as much suction as possible inside the suction cups. Before you push it against the window, be sure the suction lever is all the way back, then push the suction mount HARD against the windshield, then push the suction lever forward. Because the windshield and suction cups are warm, you’ll get a better seal that should maintain enough suction to support your GPS unit or radar detector.

If you still don’t have any luck, try cleaning your windscreen and suction cups with glass cleaner wipes and repeat the steps above.

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Photo: redjar (cc)

It’s fun to go all MacGyver and use the sink as a cooler, but that loses its cool when you want to use the sink as a sink. That’s why hotels keep mini fridges on-hand for special requests. I discovered this little secret last year, and I travel a fair amount for work so I’ve tried it in many hotels since then — it held true for almost every one.

When you book the room, ask for a mini fridge (or add it to the notes if you book online). Chances are good they will have it in the room for you when you arrive. If you get to your room and there is no fridge there, call the front desk and kindly request one. Don’t mention you already asked for one unless they’re all out, then tell them you requested one when you booked the room, you’d like a discount and you’d like the next fridge that becomes available (when someone who has one checks out). With this approach, I’ve never waited more than a day for a fridge ; I’ve never been given the discount either.

Party On.

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Photo Credit: DewKnight (Creative Commons)

Why?

Because, if the landing does not go well and you need to evacuate the plane, your eyes are better adjusted to the darkness outside.

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Photo by: jayhay2336

(Flickr/Creative Commons/Attribution)