💻 Travel Tomfoolery: Hotel Device Deception

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HAPPY SUNDAY 👋

Welcome to Travel Tomfoolery! This week's travel roundup is more packed than a budget airline's overhead bins. Fasten your seatbelts for a turbulent ride!

🚀 Boom Supersonic: Mach Travel 2.0
💻 Hotel Booking Sites Trickery
🏔️ Sleeping on the Edge (Literally)
🐳 When Whales Flip Out (and Flip Boats)

🚀 Grab Your Passports, Let’s Go…

✈️🚀 Sonic Boom 2.0 Sexy Back to the Skies

Bringing sexy back to the skies

Boom Supersonic is about to revolutionize air travel faster than you can say "are we there yet"! But wait, didn't we already try this whole supersonic thing? Cue the Concorde flashbacks! 🕰️

🚀 But, Boom Supersonic isn't just rehashing old ideas – they're learning from Concorde's greatest hits (and misses) while bringing sexy back to the skies with their XB1, the hottest thing in aviation since the Wright brothers decided bicycles were too slow.

By year's end, Boom's XB1 will be zipping around at a cool 760 miles per hour. That's not quite reaching the legendary Concorde's breakneck pace of over 1,300 mph, but hey, at least someone is trying to bring back supersonic travel 2.0!

And get this: they're promising fares 75% lower than Concorde. It's like flying first class at coach prices... if coach cost a small fortune. No more selling kidneys for a supersonic joyride!

• 🛫💺 The company’s flagship model is intended to carry 64-80 passengers at Mach 1.7—just over 1,300 mph, twice the speed of subsonic airliners—while cruising at 60,000 feet.

• 🐌✈️ Speaking of the competition, Boom's CEO, Blake Scholl, is throwing shade at Boeing and Airbus, basically calling them the sloths of the sky. Ouch!

Boom Supersonic has already racked up 130 orders from United, American, and Japan Airlines. That's 130 votes of confidence saying, "The future of travel is supersonic, and we're all in!"

💻 Hotel Booking Exposé  

Hotel booking sites: where your device chooses your wallet's fate

Navigating hotel bookings is like playing 3D chess while blindfolded and riding a unicycle.

Buckle up, bargain hunters! Consumer watchdog Which? has revealed some surprising findings about the world of hotel booking sites.

🕵️‍♂️ Which? has reported Expedia and Hotels.com's questionable practices to the Advertising Standards Agency and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Apparently, your choice of device might be the difference between snagging a deal and getting royally ripped off!

• 🤔 In one instance, Hotels.com tried to pull a fast one with a "40% off mobile exclusive" in Seville that turned out to be only 14% off when compared to laptop prices.

Booking.com has been playing fair, earning a round of applause for their honesty. However, Hotels.com offered "mobile deals" that were identical on laptops 50% of the time, making customers feel less special. Expedia was caught offering a "mobile discount" that actually cost £15 more than the regular price, turning the so-called discount into an "up-count."

Time zone hop 🌍 🕒

"Your passport to the latest travel news around the world!"

🔥 Arson attacks on France's TGV train network sparked chaos before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Suspected militants or activists left 800,000 travelers in the lurch. Talk about a hot mess! Meanwhile, 45,000 cops and 10,000 soldiers are playing the world's largest game of "Protect the Torch."

🥐 IOC's fancy-pants hotel staff in Paris said "Non!" to a seven-year pay freeze, leaving bigwigs to fend for their own croissants. Looks like the only rings these workers care about are the ones under their eyes from overwork!

🏛️ Historic Hotels Worldwide just dropped their 2024 "Look Up and Say Wow" list of 25 Most Magnificent Ceilings and Domes. These preservation champs are showing off their stained glass, frescoes, and fancy plaster like it's the Met Gala for buildings.

🏔️🛏️ Hanging by a Thread

Welcome to Ovo Patagonia, where comfort meets free-fall fantasies!

• 🏔️ Hold onto your harnesses, thrill-seekers! In the heart of Argentine Patagonia, a daring new hotel is redefining 'room with a view'. A capsule dangling 900 feet off a rock wall, where check-in involves a mountain hike and and a dizzying climb.

  • Opening this December after three years of cliff-hanging planning, Ovo Patagonia claims to be the world's highest and most exposed hotel. Don't fret about the wind - they'll reschedule if gusts top 60 mph.

Lets cruise the web 🛳️ 🌐

Fly-by weekly updates…

👆️Whale of a tale: A humpback whale flipped a fishing boat off New Hampshire, tossing the fishers into the sea. Experts say it was likely an accidental lunge. Luckily, two teen brothers caught it on video and rescued the fishers.

🛂 🌎 Passport power play! Singapore takes the crown in 2024, unlocking 195 destinations visa-free. Meanwhile, the US passport slips to 8th place, proving even documents can have a mid-life crisis.

🌋 🏃‍♂️…Tourist run for safety after a surprise eruption in Yellowstone National Park.

🛫🍦 | Sky high scoops

Fasten your seatbelts for the hottest travel news at 30,000 feet

💺 Get ready for assigned seats: Southwest Airlines is ditching its free-for-all seating after 50 years.

🫠 Airlines are being shockingly nice lately, ditching fees and showering customers with freebies. Spirit and Frontier are leading the way, but don't get too comfy—this niceness probably won't last.

📉 Airlines are facing the end of the "revenge travel" boom, cutting ticket prices faster than a budget barber.

🕵️‍♂️ Delta's meltdown has the DOT playing Sherlock Holmes! They're investigating whether the airline pulled a fast one with refund rights. Meanwhile, Delta's pointing fingers at a global IT hiccup. Aviation drama at its finest!

🧳 🫠 | Suitcase snippets

Bite-sized travel tidbits that fit into your mental carry-on

🏕️ Hyatt is diving into the glamping scene! Through a new partnership with Under Canvas. World of Hyatt members can now earn and redeem points at 13 luxury outdoor resorts.

🤩 Want a view of the Sphere in Las Vegas from your room? These prime hotels have the best views - see this list.

🏅 Olympic Village: It's not just for athletes anymore! Olympians spill the tea, describing it as summer camp meets college dorm meets cruise ship.

🔍🫡 | First class finds

Essential travel stories and updates from around the globe

🌆 Architectural Digest lists the 20 most beautiful cities to visit in the world, celebrated for their stunning architecture, rich culture, and deep history.

🌕 July's Buck Moon lit up skies worldwide like nature's own disco ball. No telescope needed.

🦈 Sharks off Brazil's coast are sniffing out cocaine. Turns out, Jaws might just be looking for a good time! Ocean's got its own spring break, apparently.

🚆🗣️ | Choo-choo chatter

All aboard the gossip express! We're tracking the latest buzz on the travel grapevine

📺🛁 Traveling with the 'Today' show crew is a mix of hilarity and teamwork: from impromptu hot tub parties, public transport adventures, and the Paris Sewer Museum.

👑🏰 This castle, known as the Queen's favorite retreat is finally open to the public for tours - sneak peek inside.

💰🌍 Traveling the world on a low income is possible! Meet Celeste Cox, a part-time server who has visited 10 countries in just three years.

🇰🇵🏖️ North Korea's Wonsan-Kalma beach resort aims to attract tourists with 605 acres of seaside charm 🤣 —because who wouldn't want to vacation in the world's most secretive country right?

🔥 The Hot Zone

🐋👀 Stat of the week: Average cost of travel insurance typically costs 6% of your insured trip cost.

• According to Forbes Advisor's comparison of 60 international cities across seven key metrics, Caracas, Venezuela, ranks as the riskiest city for tourists - see the whole list

🤔 A day in travel history...✈️ On July 27, 1949 the de Havilland Comet, the world's first jet-propelled airliner, takes to the skies for its maiden voyage. Suddenly, "Are we there yet?" became a much shorter conversation.

📰 Worth a Read: Scientists discovered "dark" oxygen more than 13,000 feet below the ocean surface, challenging long-held assumptions → Dive into the details

😃 💡 Travel Hack

Luggage Losers…

A frustrated traveler turned his luggage woes into a viral website called "Luggage Losers" to expose airlines that frequently lose bags. After a Spanish airline lost his girlfriend’s suitcase.

 → Check real-time data and avoid the worst offenders.

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💬 Weekly Travel Tidbit

The city of Yakutsk in Russia is considered the world's coldest city, with winter temperatures dropping to -40°C (-40°F) or lower. Despite this, it has a population of over 300,000.

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