Train toilet bites man

Name: Budget Travel LLC
Price range: $

By Sean O'Neill

October 3, 2012

A 26-year old passenger on a French high-speed train had an unfortunate accident. His cell phone fell into the toilet bowl on the train, and when he reached down to get it, the suction system trapped his hand.

The BBC reports that it took two hours for firemen to cut the toilet out of the train. Even then, the man was carried to the hospital with part of the toilet still attached to his arm.

Have you ever done anything stupid on a trip?

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Travel Tips

A few good links: who's the worst airline of all?

Some travel stories that caught my eye this past week: Worst. Airline. Ever. It's United's rich history of lousy decisions that convinced longtime biz-travel writer Joe Brancatelli to give this title to this article. [Portfolio] US Airways to keep a la carte pricing Charging for sodas and for checking an extra bag means less trash and fewer suitcases to lose. [AZ Central] Why go to Delaware? Beaches, shopping, du Ponts. [Chicago Tribune] With less money, try less-traveled roads "The glossy travel magazines…have brainwashed us into thinking that travel is a luxury we buy…rather than a deeply personal experience with the potential to change our lives." [SF Chron] 100+ Abandoned Buildings, Places, and Properties Guaranteed 100 percent creepy. [via CN Traveler]

Inspiration

Skiing: Whistler and Jackson Hole gondolas and trams go to new heights

The first peak-to-peak gondola in North America opens at Whistler Blackcomb Resort in British Columbia, Canada, on December 12. Its 28-person cabins will zip 2.73 miles from Whistler Mountain to Blackcomb Mountain in 11 minutes—saving skiers valuable time that they can use to tackle over 8,000 acres on both mountain faces. The aptly named Peak 2 Peak gondola operates at a record breaking white-knuckle height; it's suspended 1,427 feet above the valley floor. Daily lift tickets, which include rides on the gondola, start at $66 (U.S. dollars), depending on the time of year. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has also been thinking big and will unveil a faster, spiffier aerial tram (the TramFormation, nicknamed the "Big Red Box") on December 20. It will transport 100 people from Teton Village to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain in nine minutes. That's 50 people and one-and-a-half minutes better than the original tram, which closed for renovations in 2006. From the top, a staggering 10,450 feet above sea level, thrill-seekers can ski one of the largest vertical drops in the United States: 4,139 feet down snaking black-diamond trails. The tram is imprinted with Wyoming's iconic silhouette of a bucking bronco, and it has large glass walls on all sides that offer dramatic views of neighboring Grand Teton National Park. An $82 lift ticket gives skiers unlimited access to the new tram, all the slopes and lifts for the day, while a $20 sightseeing tram ticket lets non-skiers scope out the magnificent views. —Helen I. Hwang

Bye-bye to blackout dates for Marriott's hotel rewards program

Here's yet one more reason why you should join a hotel's loyalty club whenever you reserve a hotel room, even if you're not a frequent traveler. On January 15, Marriott will improve its Marriott Rewards program, making it easier to redeem points for hotel rooms. It is cutting in half the number of points you need to earn before you can reserve a room without blackout dates. You can stay at any hotel that's owned by Marriott to earn the points, including Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites, and SpringHill Suites—as well as Marriott and JW Marriott. For example, you only have to spend about $750 at the chains to earn enough points (7,500 points) for a free night's stay at a Fairfield Inn or TownePlace Suites. It would have taken $1,500 before. But what does that really mean for leisure travelers? You’ll still want to book early for the best dates. Each property can still limit the number of rooms available for reward redemption on certain days, such as New Year’s Eve at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. However, some of the most popular properties will continue to have blackout dates, such as Hawaii’s Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. (Here's the fine print for Marriott loyalty program geeks: After January 15, Stay Anytime Rewards will be eliminated and replaced by the No Blackout Dates category. Here are the FAQs on the program changes So how does Marriott's competition measure up? Hyatt Gold Passport members haven’t had to deal with blackout dates at its 370 hotels since 2002. But like Marriott, Hyatt also sets aside a small number of rooms for members, so you’ll want to book up to a year in advance to make sure you nab the room at the time and hotel you want. In Hyatt’s Faster Free Nights promotion, members can earn a free night after every two eligible stays between now and Dec. 30—as long you redeem the free night by February 28, 2009. One free night at a Hyatt Place or Summerfield Suites property usually requires at least 5,000 points ($1,000). Since February 2008, Hilton has claimed that its rewards program has no blackout dates and no “capacity controls”—unlike Marriott, anytime a standard room is available for purchase at any of Hilton’s 3,000-plus hotels, a Hilton HHonors member can redeem points for that room. One free night at a Hampton Inn requires 7,500 points, or from $500. The Starwood Preferred Guest program also has no blackout dates for free night redemptions at more than 860 hotels. The Starwood Preferred Guest program launched in 1999 with no blackout dates and no capacity controls. (So Hilton followed Starwood's model.) We often tout the merits of joining loyalty programs, but it’s a good idea to check if your points expire. Hyatt points don’t expire, but Starwood’s Starpoints expire after 18 months of inactivity. Hilton points expire after 15 months of inactivity; Marriott can close your account after 24 months of inactivity. Remember: you can earn points and keep your account active by renting a car, shopping at online retail partners (Gap, Barnes & Noble, Target), or using a credit card linked to a rewards program. One more bit of hotel-points news: In September, Starwood became the first hotel loyalty program to allow point redemption for airline tickets with no blackout dates. In one example, a ticket that costs $345 equals 25,000 Starpoints. Search for flights at SPGflights.com. But, as Upgrade: Travel Better has pointed out, you'll usually get a better bang for your SPG Starpoints if you redeem them for a hotel stay. Are you a point hoarder? What are some ways that you earn points? And have you been able to redeem your points when and where you want?

Inspiration

Photo tour: Slum dwellers open their homes

The more staggering a number, the more it can lose resonance. Where to begin getting your head around the fact that a billion people are jammed into the world’s slums? With Norwegian photojournalist Jonas Bendiksen, who zeroes in on a few families in Caracas, Jakarta, Mumbai, and Nairobi. Get to know them through engrossing 360-degree photos and audio clips posted at his site, The Places We Live. Bendiksen makes the world seem not only crowded, but smaller. I found out about The Places We Live through the VSL: Web newsletter, and I've had the topic of overcrowding on my mind lately. I blogged about how cities are grappling with its environmental challenges, and I’ve been caught up in the sweeping, largely autobiographical novel Shantaram, in which the narrator—an escaped Australian convict with a tendency to philosophize—winds up living in an illegal yet thriving Mumbai slum. Are Bendiksen’s photos a close enough look at slum life, or would you consider taking a “poverty tour” on your next trip? We wrote about the trend here and whether it helps or exploits poor communities.

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