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If you have ever traveled anywhere near you may find a backpacker you may have seen a Wicked Camper, ie: an old delivery van or people mover converted into a camper with graffiti artwork all around it. While they look pretty cool are a cheap mode of transport for thousands of backpackers, they have recently landed themselves in hot water with the slogans on the vans. Several of the vans have the slogans “save a whale harpoon a Jap”, and other things like “if God was a woman, sperm would taste like chocolate” or similar. According to this news.com.au article today the Advertising Standards Bureau has asked the company to remove the slogans they think are offensive. What do you think? Offensive or a bit of fun, hit up our comment form below. (more…)

Every year around February tens of thousands flock to New Orleans to let their hair down and party at the annual Mardi Gras celebrations. People come to watch the parades which feature amazing floats which are the centrepiece of the carnival. Although you need to be in the Crescent City during the Mardi Gra to soak up the unbelievable atmosphere, visitors can see some of these beautiful floats all year round. Just over the mighty Mississippi from the city in Algiers is The Blaine Kern Mardi Gras world. Here dozens of the amazing floats and costumes are on display in all their glory. Some are huge there’s the 140 foot long sea monster Levithan and an even bigger 240 odd foot long Captain Eddies SS Endymion which includes tens of thousands of tiny fibre optic lights. Blaine Kern has been making parade floats for over 60 years, and the company even makes floats for some other cities and even Universal Studios where they are used in their Florida theme park’s street parades. Visitors to Mardi Gras world will see how these magnificent sculpture and figures are produced by very talented artists and trades people. Mardi Gras world is a must for anyone visiting beautiful New Orleans (more…)

If you’re heading to the summer Olympics this year, chances are you’ll arrive to the area via the Beijing Capital International Airport. Therefore, in order to make certain your trip is as pleasurable as possible, you will want to learn a bit about the airport before you arrive. After all, finding your way through a foreign and unfamiliar airport can be tricky, to say the least. In fact, it can be quite maddening because you don’t know where to go, how to ask for help or what pitfalls to avoid.

Of course, you’ll probably step into the airport with a bit of jet lag from the long trip. Then, the sounds of conversations passing you by will remind you that English is not the native language. But, don’t panic. By familiarizing yourself with the airport before your arrival, you will be able to embark upon your new journey with a great deal of confidence.

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You might remember four years ago the panic in getting all the Olympic venues finished for the Athens Olympics, well it was hoped the New Acropolis Museum would open be ready for the thousands visiting for the games, well the Greeks were running a bit late on this project, infact four years late, and it is expected it will open in September just missing the Beijing Olympics, but there is still a chance of delays which might even push the opening date out to early next year. The museum will feature three levels and 25,000 square metres of exhibition space and house some of Greece’s greatest treasures and one day they hope to have on display the Elgin or Parthenon Marbles which are controversially held by the British Museum in London. (more…)

We did a story a few months ago on Windmill Lane Studio’s in Dublin which is being redeveloped as a 120metre high tower called the U2 tower and will include their new recording studios. Well what will be Ireland’s tallest building isn’t the only bit of U2 property getting a huge overhaul. The Clarence Hotel on Wellington Quay Dublin is a renowned hotel which dates back to the 1850’s. U2’s Bono, The Edge and a few other investors have been planning a spectacular development which has been years in planning and approval stages. The plan is for the historic hotel to be demolished to make way for a spectacular modern building which has a dramatic atrium surrounded by rooms with a roofline which could only be described as a flying saucer shape. The architect Norman Foster from Foster + Partners have been responsible for some pretty spectacular landmark buildings including the new terminal at Beijing Airport, The Al Raha Beach Development in Abu Dhabi and London’s Gherkin - the Swill Re HQ. IT is hoped the new Clarence will be open in 2010 and will be a bold new landmark for Dublin. (more…)

This week His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and thousands of visitors from all around the world have flocked to Sydney to be part of the World Youth Day celebrations and one of the major locations for the celebrations was Barangroo on the Northern edge of Darling Harbour, offering spectacular views of one of the world’s most scenic cites. Over the coming years Barangroo will be come an extension to the growing city and the Darling Harbour leisure precinct. Darling Harbour is a huge recreational precinct stretching nearly the whole length of the city. Packed with restaurants, shopping, hotels and apartments the area has many of Sydney’s premier attractions including the Star City Casino, The IMAX, Sydney Aquarium, National Maritime Museum and the magnificent Powerhouse Museum, plus many conference and convention centres like the Sydney Exhibition Centre, Convention Centre and Sydney Entertainment Centre. The Precinct is also the gateway to Sydney’s vibrant Chinatown, Australia’s largest. Darling Harbour is linked to the city with a monorail, a light rail system and plenty of watercraft which travel to all parts of Sydney’s magnificent harbour. (more…)

The Celebrity Mascot Games is on again 24-26th of July and this year promises to be funnier than ever. Held for New Hope for Kids charity the first games were held in 1992 and have been a hit ever since. This year the day will feature over 30 mascots featuring some pretty cool guys from Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and Arena Football League. There are 3 days of action the 24th it will be held at Stetson university, while the 25th and 26th of July Amway Arena will be the venue for the best day out in Orlando this year and it is helping make wishes come true for a lot of sick kids. Some of the competitors to this years event include Stanley C Panther from the Florida Panthers, Kid Coyote from the Dallas Desperados, Hairy Dawg from the University of Georgia, Junction Jack all the way from the Houston Astros and Carlton the Bear from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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As if we didn’t need a reason to visit Disneyland or Walt Disneyworld, well here’s another one, a brand new ride and it features all our friend’s form the hit Disney / Pixar films Toy Story. This brand new state of the art 4D experience is sure to be the hit attraction of 2008 at the parks. Both Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando and Disney’s California Adventure have the rides and by all reports they are great fun bringing back some of the classic fairground games combined with some very clever state of the art 3D and some of the latest computerised technology not forgetting all the Toy Story characters like Buzz, Woody, Rex and Jesse.

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When you think of spending your night in a drain pipe you think of raw sewerage, rats and other nasties, but not at the dasparkhotel.  They have very fancy drain pipes turned into cabins complete with all the comforts like double bed, lighting, woolly blankets and power, but best of all the rates are “pay as you wish” you just pay what you can to support the project. The concrete pipes are quiet spacious and there are toilets, showers and minibar close by so you have everything you need. The hotel Ottensheim on the beautiful Danube is open May to October over the warmer months, bookings are pretty much done on line and you receive a pin number to enter into the drain pipe to enter your ‘room’- sounds like fun. (more…)

Have you ever left the local pub late at night and needed a bit of a wee and had no where to go, well the English city of Laberth, in outer London has the answer with these great pop up toilets. Instead of having unsightly toilets all over town they are installing clever pop up toilets which disappear underground when not in use. They not only go out of sight they get cleaned underground making them sparkling clean for the next visitor. The council is expecting the urinals to be such a hit, they have budgeted for about 6 over the next year which will help keep the night life areas of the city free from nasty smells and much more pleasant for visitors- and they have done it with much more taste than the Chinese did it in our story a few days back!

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