Philip Tirelli shares this shot of a Soutwest airplane wing, somewhere over the great state of Texas.
Travel iPhoneography is a series of photos of our beautiful world, taken with an iPhone. If you have one you’d like to share, let me know. I’d love to feature it.
Nicola Losito shares this great shot of Giovinazzo’s port in south eastern Italy. Taken with an iPhone 4.
Travel iPhoneography is a weekly series of photos of our beautiful world, taken with an iPhone. If you have one you’d like to share, let me know at [comments at 52tiger dot net]. I’d love to feature it.
Good news, everyone! The FAA is about to let you use your doo-dad in the plane more often. Specifically, the Wall Street Journal reports, you’ll be able to use your device while the plane is taxing, taking off, landing and climbing to/descending from 10,000 feet. Currently, the use of electronics is not permitted during those maneuvers [1. Note that phone calls will still be verboten during those times.].
A lot of you think that the FAA has enforced periodic electronics lock-downs to force you to watch the safety information or just because it can. That’s really not true. As I reported a few weeks ago, there are some old planes in operation, and many of those use old equipment that can be affected by radio signals. Most planes run more modern equipment but many don’t. Rather than forcing the passengers and crew to make that determination on every flight, the FAA played it safe and made a blanket rule for all aircraft. A United Airlines pilot explains:
“Some older aircraft do have extremely old school radios. Some do not even have GPS. So the FAA has decided two things:
Since it is too contradictory for passengers and flight attendants to discriminate what aircraft they are on, and what should be the corresponding announcement, the same one is used for all aircraft.
The FAA can not take time to test every new device as it’s released. In fact, such testing falls to near the bottom of its priority/to-do list.”
Now you know.
Photo Credit: Sprengben [why not get a friend] via Compfight cc
A popular reason for using Airbnb is that it’s a better deal than a hotel. But is it? Priceonomics has put together an interesting map that compares average Airbnb rates to hotel room equivalents in every major US city. The results?
“We discovered that Airbnb apartment rentals cost 21.2% less than staying at a hotel. And if you’re on a budget, you can save 49.5% if you decide to stay in a private room at a host’s house instead of staying in a hotel.”
There’s a lot more to this interesting study, which you can read here.
Randolph West shares this great photo if the iconic Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Shot with an iPhone 5.
Travel iPhoneography is a weekly series of photos of our beautiful world, taken with an iPhone. If you have one you’d like to share, let me know at [comments at 52tiger dot net]. I’d love to feature it.
I hope he’s wearing a money belt.
AR-Media is developing augmented reality apps that let travelers use their iPads and iPhones to look into the past. Here, a young man is viewing an virtual overlay of Rome’s Colosseum on his iPad. He’s also saying, “My pockets are fully accessible and all my attention is on this iPad.”
Maybe skip that app.
EatWith is like Airbnb for food, and that’s freaking awesome.
For around US$35 – $50 per head, travelers can book dinner in the kitchen of a native who’s looking to meet new people and do the cooking to boot. You’ll get regional dishes that typically aren’t available in restaurants, plus tips that aren’t found in guide books and maybe even make a friend.
Food is such a pronounced and vital part of a culture, and eating with someone is such an intimate, social act, that I’m blown away by how ingenious this is. I’ve often said that I want to know a culture’s real cuisine, as in, what does someone cook for their family on a random Tuesday night? Here’s a chance to get the true answer. The real deal.
Flying – an iPhone app for all your air travel from Flying on Vimeo.
Flying for iPhone, still in public beta, wants to be on my iPhone so badly I can hear it whispering, “Install meeeee.” This seriously good-looking app shares information you’d expect like departure and arrival times, terminal and gate info (both sides) and weather. It’s also a bit playful, presenting your route data in a fun, novel way (see the video above).
The social aspect looks great, and reminds me of the bits of Gowalla that I enjoyed so much. You can receive “stamps” for achievements and share/compete with your traveling friends. For example, “You crossed the Atlantic Ocean!” Who among your buddies has racked up the most miles?
I don’t have any flights planned in the immediate future (I *might* go to Florida in a few weeks), but I’ll try out Flying as soon as I do. It looks great.
This bottom-up shot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France was shot by yours truly with an iPhone 4.
Travel iPhoneography is a weekly series of photos of our beautiful world, taken with an iPhone. If you have one you’d like to share, let me know at [comments at 52tiger dot net]. I’d love to feature it.
Now that you’ve rented a private jet with your iPhone, why not rent a luxury car? Silvercar rents Audi A4s exclusively, and the whole arrangement can be handled via its free iPhone app. Since Slivercar only rents one make and model, there are no questions about which car to get or what the price will be. It’s the same for everyone.
The service is currently available at three Texas airports only (DFW, Love Field and Austin), but the company expects to be in seven different markets by the end of 2013. According to the app’s description in Apple’s App Store, you can “…exit the plane, and walk directly to your silver Audi A4.”
Just don’t lose your rental agreement, or you’re…well, you know.