In Flight

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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Brooklyn-based artist Juan Fontanive creates extraordinary automated flipbooks, which illuminate the flight of brightly colored birds and butterflies. The steel framed “books” contain gorgeous screen printed images on paper.

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Posted in Art, Books, USA | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Airport WiFi Simplified

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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I don’t know about you, but I always find myself getting annoyed whenever I try and log-on to airport wifi networks. For mysterious reasons, these networks seem to turn the process of accessing wifi into a torturous process. Now, there’s a handy app that promises to reduce the airport wifi frustration. FLIO app claims that it will automatically connect to official public wifi networks at more than 350 airports around the world. The app takes care of all the tedious form-filling and box checking.

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FLIO also offers discounts at airport restaurants, bars, and duty-free shops. It also aggregates information on airport services and security wait times.

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Posted in Air Travel, apps, Public Transport, Restaurants, Tourism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Travel The World Underground

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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The New York City-based collective ArtCodeData has created a marvelous mash-up map covering 214 international metro/subway systems. The fanciful map represents 791 real lines, 11,924 stations, 214 urban centers, on 5 continents all connected in a single map. The project is a current Kickstarter which will offer various versions of the completed map. A non-profit group called Open Accessibility is selling the maps to finance projects facilitating travel for people living with disabilities.

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Posted in Maps, Public Transport, Tourism | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Whiskey War

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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Since 1933, Canada and Denmark have been waging a quiet cold war over a desolate island in the far Arctic—really. The grim, barren 1.2 square kilometer rock has no apparent resources or value. But Hans Island is situated smack in the middle of the narrow Kennedy Channel, which separates Canada from Greenland, which is still a territory of Denmark.

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Based on international law, nations have the right to claim any land within 12 miles of their coast. Since Hans Island lies within territorial waters of both countries each seems to have a legitimate claim. In 1933 the League of Nations awarded the island to Denmark, but no one paid much attention. The issue of sovereignty reemerged in 1984 when the Danish government minister for Greenland visited Hans Island and left a Danish flag along with a note saying “welcome to Denmark” and a bottle of brandy.

In response to the Danish provocation the Canadian Navy has taken to making periodic visits. Each time they stop by a bottle of Canadian Club whiskey and a sign stating “welcome to Canada” is left.

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Now there’s some hope that the Whiskey War is almost over. Danish and Canadian academics have proposed joint ownership, with actual control of Hans island turned over to local Inuit groups.

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Posted in Canada, Europe, History, Maps | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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Sometimes Paris can seem like one enormous movie set. Apparences is a beautiful, if somewhat surreal, video experiment directed by French duo Clarice et Maxine,who morphed iconic attractions and street scenes into a massive Potemkin Village.

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Posted in Architecture, Art, Europe, Film, movies, Tech, Tourism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Vice Travels Well

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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Last month, VICE released the inaugural episode in its new series of Vice City Guides videos. The first episode focuses on Brooklyn, New York (of course), with shows to follow soon on Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Las Vegas, Austin and Atlanta.

The video series takes the idiosyncratic approach of focusing on just one street in each city. For Brooklyn they chose Bedford Avenue, which is the borough’s longest street.

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Vice also publishes on online series of text-based urban travel guides that blend old-school guidebook information, local expertise, and interactive mapping.

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Posted in Architecture, Public Transport, Restaurants, Tourism, Travel Writing, USA | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Cartographic Illusions

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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“Civilized Landscapes” is an amazing series of paper sculptures by Beijing-based artist/photographer/printmaker Ji Zhou. He recycles old books and maps by hand-sculpting imaginary topographic landscapes.

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Posted in Art, Asia, Books, Maps | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Welcome to Britain

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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Everyone’s favorite Brit Stephen Fry is starring in a just released little “welcome to the U.K.” video created by London’s Heathrow Airport. The short film is calculated to introduce foreign visitors to some of the quirks of British culture. Appropriately filmed inside of a pub, the three minute video covers particularly British cultural clichés from conversations about queing, social etiquette, talking weather, and the “after you; after you” loop.

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Buds and Breakfast

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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As more and more destinations legalize marijuana use, travelers who indulge are searching for accommodations that are amenable to cannabis use by guests. It’s no surprise that new services are popping up to meet the needs of this travel niche. Based in the state of Colorado, Bud and Breakfast is one of the more successful Airbnb-like, peer-to-peer accommodation sites.

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The web site offers a wide range of lodgings from traditional hotels and motels to mountainside teepees and rustic cabins. Most of the accommodations are in U.S. states with legal marijuana, but there are listings as far afield as Uruguay, Jamaica, Portugal and the Netherlands.

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Posted in Canada, Europe, Hotels, South America, Tourism, USA | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A veritable travel bucket list

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Brian D. Butler

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London-based, Italian illustrator and graphic designer Daniele Simonelli created the charming poster below of fifteen cities with their iconic landmarks for the travel app Great Little Place. You can see more of his terrific work here and you can check out the nifty app here.

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Posted in Architecture, Art, Asia, Europe, Tourism | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment