We hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving Weekend. Anyway, here are some fun facts about airport voices.
You probably already know her, at least her voice. We found a interesting video about 63-year-old Carolyn Hopkins. She’s the famous voice you can hear at over 200 airports and train stations around the world.
CBS offers an introduction to the woman whose voice we all know from around the world.
Big thanks to CBS News for this video on youtube
Do you know Munich? Maybe yes. Munich is the home of the world famous Oktoberfest. Which is usually celebrated from mid September until first week of October.
Did you know, that you can go surfing in Munich?
Munich is several hundred miles away from the next ocean. Munich is likely not the first place that comes to mind when you think of surfing.
Yes, it’s possible!
We just discovered, that many locals (and world travelers) go river surfing in Munich. There are 3 surfing spots in the city of beer.
The pro’s usually use the Eisbach, an artifical river in the heart of Englischer Garten (a recreation area with meadows, beer garden and museums), to catch a wave. It has become known as a famous tourist attraction. In the summer, tourists often stop and take photos of the river surfers. Another famous surfing spot in Munich is the Flosslaende.
Next time you visit Germany, make sure you visit the English Garden in Munich. It’s impressive. 
What’s better? Using your own phone with your wireless plan from at home and paying for roaming or to buy a local sim card at arrival?
It depends what you want to do.
If you just want to call home, buying a local sim card can sometimes be cheaper. It depends on the carrier and plan you choose. Maybe your carrier at home offers international calling addons, which is also sometimes cheaper.
If you want mobile broadband for your netbook or smartphone on the go, then local prepaid sim cards are often cheaper.
An example:
Our carrier at home charges $10 / MB when roaming in Australia. Let’s say we need 50 MB of data to check emails, turn-by-turn navigation and a little bit Facebook. That would be $500.
Mobile broadband in Australia – What did we do?
After arrival at Sydney International Airport, we went to an Australian Post office and bought a $2 prepaid sim card for Telstra (one of Australia’s network operators).
We called the activation phone number, told the agent that we’re tourists and we want to use this sim card on our netbook for the next 2 weeks. The girl from customer service asked for our hotel address, passport numbers and activated the prepaid mobile broadband feature on our sim card. After that we loaded some money on our Telstra account and selected the 1 GB option for $39 AUD.
Now compare
You can do the same with your cell phone or smartphone.
Does my device work abroad?
If you want to use a local sim card, make sure your phone or mobile broadband modem is unlocked and supports the local network. Many phones purchased at carriers are locked. Also check if your phone supports GSM/UMTS and the right frequency bands. GSM and UMTS are commonly used in almost every country.
Hint: Some carriers in the US have CDMA networks, which is a different technology.
Example: The Australian mobile operator Telstra uses 850 Mhz for their 3G network, while Vodafone Australia primarily uses 2100 Mhz (metro areas) and 900 Mhz.
Checklist:
Alternative - global roaming carrier / traveler sim cards?
You don’t want to use your own sim card or buy a local sim card?
There’s an 3rd alternative. More and more worldwide operators pop out that offer very low roaming prices in almost every country. They advertise their products as global roaming or traveler sim cards. We will review them in one of our next articles.
For us, flying across the world is just a common thing. We love flying, it doesn’t matter whether we choose business class or economy.
Some people may fly for the first time or just can’t relax with the engine noise next to them.
What can you do? For instance flashpackers should think of buying a pair of headphones with active noise-cancelation.
Therefore we bought the Sennheiser PXC-450. We chose this product, because we saw it first when we entered one of the electronic stores at San Francisco International Airport.
The PXC 450 are definitely high-end headphones. They’re heavy, robust and stylish. The headphones come with a robust case, 2 batteries, a 5,25mm adapter and an airplane adapter for onboard use.
The active noise-cancelation feature needs power to work, supplied by an AAA battery. Sennheiser already included 2 of them, which is really nice.
We used the Sennheiser onboard a flight between California and Europe (about 11 hrs flight time) for about 6 hours (the other 5 hours we were sleeping and eating ). During this time the headphones really felt comfortable on the ears. We’re not audiophiles, but we think the audio quality is very decent. What else can you expect from 400 bucks headphones? The included airplane adapter comes in very handy, if you forgot your standard adapter at home. Our flight was performed on an A340-600 and the plug fit perfectly.
The noise cancelation works very well. Big parts of the engine noise were removed, but not completely. We were also able to hear the passenger sitting next to us, when he was talking to the flight attendants.
The flight was definitely more relaxed than without headphones.
The battery should last for a long distance flight. If you run out of battery, you can switch to the pass-throu mode, which means you can use them as normal headphones. There are also 2 buttons to control the volume in the right hand earcup.
The price tag was about 400 bucks when we bought them at SFO airport.
Verdict
We like the PXC 450, they’re robost and have decent audio quality. They’re very comfortable, a bit heavy though. Aircraft adapter, transport case and the included batteries makes it a nice package. We think they’re worth the price.
We will review different headphones as soon as one of our travel companions needs a new pair.
Ever wanted to see the underwater world of Hawaii? Here’s another tip for you.
This year we did a submarine tour on Oahu, Hawaii. Big fun!
We decided to choose the Premium Submarine Tour at Waikiki Beach. Atlantis Adventures offers several submarine and cruise boat tours. The difference between the standard and the premium submarine tour is the boat. The Premium tour is on a bigger submarine with bigger windows. Both submarines dive to 100 feet. You will get to see real marine life up close. The Atlantis Waikiki dive site is home to many Hawaiian fishes, coral, and turtles. We also saw some shipwrecks. The whole tour including boarding time takes about 90 minutes.
We love this tourist attraction!
More info at www.atlantisadventures.com
If you’re at the Gold Coast, you have to go to Draculas.*
It is advertised as “Australia’s favorite Dinner Theater”. We truly understand that quote, we enjoyed a show here in January 2011.
Dracula’s is a cabaret show and dinner theater. It is designed for a mature audience and they don’t recommend it for people under 16, as it includes swearing and adult references.
At the entrance we were welcomed by a creepy-looking character and had to enter the venue through a coffin-like door. Dracula’s is fully licensed and does not allow BYO.
After a decent cocktail at the bar, we took a ride with a ghost train into the “Theater of the Vampire”:D During the show we enjoyed a very delicious 3 course meal.
Unfortunately, photography and filming is not allowed inside the “Theater of the Vampire”.
Therefore, here’s an official TV spot for Dracula’s Gold Coast:
The show includes comedy and rock music parts. We love this show!
As we discovered, there’s also a Dracula’s dinner theater in Melbourne, Australia.
More info at draculas.com.au
* our opinion
We stayed here in January 2011.
At the front desk I was greeted by a young lady. I gave her my voucher, then she noted happily that everything is already paid. However, the deposit for a “superior room” is about $ 75 AUD for optional expenses. (Note to the uninformed: the amount is not debited, but only blocked, which is also common for car rentals)
My “superior room” was on the 8th floor towards the entrance of the “entertainment district”. This means that even on the 8th floor it ‘s not completely quiet when the room is oriented toward “Kings Cross”. The room was equipped with queensize bed and decent selection of pillows. There’s also a flat screen TV and a small desk. The bathroom was well lit. It is equipped with a bath tub/shower combination with a curtain.
Internet is available through WiFi. However, it costs up to $ 29 AUD per day (one time setup fee and plus by used bandwidth).
As I told you before, the hotel is located directly at the entrance of Kings Cross. Which means, there are plenty opportunities to socialize at night clubs and bars. A subway and a small grocery store is also near by.
Flashpacking? The evolution of the Backpackers?
There are several definitions to the term “flashpacking” on the net and in traveler’s minds like us.
Some people say it means backpacking with a higher budget and traveling with tech-savvy gear like laptops and DSLR cameras.
Another definition refers to backpackers who do not stay at hostels, but instead in 5 stars hotels.
A third definition we heard about refers to people who spent more money on dining and activities rather than a nice place to sleep.
We cover them all! Hotels, activities, equipment and insider tips. This blog is about traveling the world … in style!