November 1, 2008 From Take-Off to Bottoms-Up

"Ladies and gentlemen, I just wanted to let you know that there is no more alcohol left on this plane. You have drunk us dry. And on a related note, both the lavatories on board are full, so there will be no going to the bathroom until we land in 40 minutes. Enjoy!"

Okay, so this isn't exactly how the airline steward made his announcement, but it is precisely what happened on a flight I took earlier this summer from New York to—I'll give you one guess—Las Vegas (bingo!) Let me back up: To celebrate the launch of ThrillList's new Vegas newsletter, the manly website (they're like a guy's Daily Candy) teamed up with JetBlue to host a whirlwind 36-hour jaunt to Sin City. On board were a number of media folk, ThrillList and JetBlue staff and reps from a wide array of sponsors, from J-Date and Alka-Seltzer to Skyy Vodka and Dos Equis beer. (And a psychic, but more on her later.) The party started immediately at the gate in New York, where a tuxedo'd guy crooned Sinatra while leggy, scantily-clad showgirls staggered around under the weight of giant headdresses. I'm sure the passengers heading to Orlando were very jealous.

In the grand tradition of booze cruises, almost immediately after take-off this became a party plane. As passengers stood chatting in the aisles and perched on arm rests to schmooze with other fliers, the hard-working attendants squeezed between the crowds to refill complimentary glasses of vodka and beer. (Imagine your local bar on a Friday night....then pack it into a metal tube and hurdle it through space at 35,000 feet.) There were raffles and prize giveaways conducted over the PA, and we got to test out JetBlue's new on-board Wi-Fi-service, which works with select laptops and Blackberrys (sidenote: sending email from the sky was definitely cool, but I'm not looking forward to the barrage of "Hey, I'm emailing you from the plane!!" messages that are sure to come once this service takes off.) You could also make an appointment with the resident psychic, a nice lady who read your tarot cards and stuck colored stickers on you from her "office" in Seat 1D.

And, of course, there was the drinking. Which led to the wiping out of the bar stock, the blocking of the bathrooms, and that now-legendary announcement by the flight attendant. But in fact, it was the positive attitude of the JetBlue crew—amused, accommodating but stern when they needed to be—that made the whole thing more entertaining than annoying. They frequently took to the airwaves with a jovial comment or two, and when we finally landed, the pilot welcomed us to Vegas by saying "Local time: Party time." (Seriously.) But best of all was the hilariously deadpan parting shot from our poor beleaguered steward: "Thank you for flying JetBlue," he said. "We look forward to seeing you on a future flight." Pause. "Well, I don't look forward to seeing you personally, ever again, but you know what I mean."

I did. And I really meant to stop and say thanks to him as we de-planed, too, but I had to make a mad dash for the bathroom.

- Sandra Ramani

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August 18, 2008 "Idol" Tripping

With long airport lines, extra baggage fees and inconsistent security rules (seriously, just pick one: shoes on or off?), it's easy these days to forget about the romance of travelling—the excitement of meeting people, having new experiences, and coming back with a cool souvenir. So for our first monthly travel column (welcome!), I turned to some folks who are currently enjoying the thrill of the open road--this year's American Idol Top 10, whose 49-city tour ends September 14—to get their take on all things travel.

Right off the bat, I learned that celebrities are just like us: they over pack. "I packed a whole bunch of stuff I'm never going to wear," admits Number 10, Chikeze Eze. "A lot of clothes that have not seen the light of day." Barefoot songstress Brooke White, country gal Kristy Lee Cook and dreadhead Jason Castro all shipped things back home, but runner-up David Archuleta says he likes keeping his suitcases close. "I feel secure having stuff with me," he laughs. "You never know when you're going to need that random thing you packed."

In terms of travel must-haves, Archie is hooked on his iPhone—which doubles as his recorder and camera—while Castro can't do without his stash of books ("Although I can't possibly read them all," he concedes.) The girls profess love for cleansing facial wipes (M.A.C. and Comodynes are favorites), "amazing" Embryolisse skin care and, for White, "Omega-3 fish oil chews and natural melatonin", but Aussie Michael Johns keeps it simple with "moisturizer and lots of underpants" (yeah, didn't ask a follow-up there). Simple works for winner David Cook, too: "I'm a pretty bare bones individual," he confesses. "As long as I've got socks, underwear and t-shirts, I'm usually set. And maybe a guitar."

Since Cook's gone on record saying he's "always thought there was something romantic about waking up in a different city every day" (cool guy, but that's a whole other column), I was interested to hear if life on the road has been all that he expected. But it turns out that as the champ, he's had to fly back to LA on pretty much every free day, trading in on-the-road shenanigans for recording sessions and photo shoots. "That's one thing bumming me out," he admits. "I thought we'd be doing a lot more truck stops and stuff." Of course, there have also been some winner's perks: he got the Presidential Suite at their first hotel, the Royal Palms Resort & Spa in Phoenix, and he and Johns enjoyed a private tour of the Nike campus in Portland, OR, plus tons of swag from the employees' store. Fans have also been giving the singers gifts galore—t-shirts, DVDs, and baked goods are popular—and they've been picking up souvenirs along the way; Johns is proud of the $10 sunglasses he snagged at a Canadian border stop, and Cook's started collecting sports memorabilia—"jerseys and game-use hockey sticks"—from the arenas they've been playing.

Clearly, there are no Motley Crue-like high jinks happening on this Pop-Tarts-sponsored tour (though Johns claims his hotel room must-have is "a mini-bar", most of the gang say they're happy with "free water and internet"), but being on the road has given the Idols the travel bug. Castro would "like to see Asia", while Archuleta thinks Italy and Croatia would be "cool" and Syesha Mercado has Egypt on her list. Kristy Lee is up for "Hawaii, Alaska or a cruise to some islands", and Johns is itching to get to "Sao Paolo and Rio in Brazil, and Venezuela." And what about our hardworking winner? "I just hope (my management company) sends me to their London office sometime," laughs Cook, who until hitting Toronto on this tour had only been out of the country once before, to Mexico on a family vacation. "It would be cool to see Abbey Road. Yeah, I've got a lot to experience." Don't we all...

- Sandra Ramani

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"A MOST UNUSUAL WELCOME" - Sarah B., New York, NY

Several years ago I decided to go on an adventure vacation. My husband loves to scuba dive and wanted me to learn so he booked a trip to Guanaha. It is a very small island off the coast of Honduras. I'm up for anything so off we went. We flew from NY to Miami and switched planes and headed off to Tegucigalpa in Honduras. Once we got there, we boarded a small puddle jumper and took off for the island. As we approached for a landing, the pilot suddenly and severely turned the plane and we dove towards a small runway overgrown with weeds tucked in between two very large imposing mountains. We landed with a thud as we raced towards the end of the runway (which just happened to be a cliff that dropped about 100 feet down to the sea). The plane jerked to a stop with feet to spare and we scampered out to safety. Suddenly 3 young boys about 13 years old raced to the plane with wheel barrows to gather up our luggage. Our luggage was wheeled down the hill and piled on a small (very small and leaky) wooden boat for our trip across to the island. Fear was really starting to take over and my husband wasn't offering me much reassurance.

The boat trip was an adventure in itself but off in the distance was our little island retreat just waiting for us. The hotel was perched on a very steep mountain side. The rooms were built on stilts and the walkways looked as if they were suspended in the air. What had I gotten myself into? We left our able sea captain and started to climb the 156 steps to the check-in hut. Physically and mentally exhausted, we were greeted by the innkeeper and she informed us that the Island had no roads or electricity. I fell into the seat ready to cry. All I wanted to do was to go home and fall asleep. Suddenly, out of nowhere, as if from a dream, appeared a group of peacocks standing on the wooden walkway before us. We stood there in disbelief as they spread open their feathers, turned and started walking down towards the huts. As if in a trance we followed blindly. They walked up to the doorway of a hut, stopped, turned and looked at us and jumped off the walkway into the jungle. We looked at each other then looked up at the number painted on the wall of the hut...it was our hut. That was the start of our glorious week in the wilderness. No phones, no lights, no motor cars not a single luxury.

Rope A Dope - Cindy G., Chicago, IL

It is hard to imagine being anywhere else in the world when you are resting on a white sandy shore staring out into crystal clear ocean water. This was the outlook upon my arrival to Aruba; however, things aren't always what they appear to be.

My first day in paradise consisted of beach, boyfriend and bikini. While I was constantly cooled off by the island breeze, lounging around in the ocean was quite refreshing. Luckily for the lazy, there was a rope enclosing an area that swimmers could "hang around in" and could rest assure they wouldn't be carried out to sea. For me, laying and playing around on the rope meant I would stay afloat long enough to enjoy my pina colada.

Hours after a day at the beach, it was time for our first night on the island. This meant showing off my new colorful maxi dress, glowing tan, sun kissed hair and RASHES? Rashes, bright red, bubbled and itching, covered my body from head to toe. I figured I had just been in the sun too long, but then came the chills, the fever, and that pina colada I was so happily sipping two hours prior.

A quick trip to the concierge desk and it was confirmed, "I had touched the rope". The rope was supposedly a poisonous trap of algae and fungus, which would be known to the traveler who read the 4 inch by 4 inch sign that read "DO NOT TOUCH THE ROPE". The rest of the week consisted of a romantic, indoor, pizza and movie filled island vacation.

Back Out During a Blackout - Lea E., San Diego, CA

During a famous New York blackout and only a few hours after discovering that my first love and boyfriend of 2 years had cheated on me on a recent Costa Rican excursion, I was off to the airport with my brother to meet my parents for a week long stay in a Tuscan villa.

Sobbing, I arrived at the airport with my unsympathetic brother to find a line that extended from the ticket counter to the revolving doors, snaking around more times than I wanted to count. We quickly found out that the airport was running on emergency power which meant 3 computers and no air conditioning in August! On top of this, the airline decided that instead of honoring reservations, they were going to operate on a first-come-first-serve basis giving preference to those who did not live in New York.

Thinking he was being slick my brother changed our reservation, by phone, to Air India which had flights to Heathrow where we could then connect to Rome. We hightailed it to another terminal to find yet another endless line. After 8 hours of inching forward we finally arrived at the counter only to be told that the transfer of tickets was not valid without a signed voucher, which of course we did not have, and that the flight was taking off in a half hour. Panicked, we took a cab back to the first terminal to find it completely empty. My brother could barely explain what had happened through his gasps for air so we were escorted to a flight with the airline we had originally booked with.

After an 8 hour wait, a 5 hour flight to Heathrow, and a 3 hour connecting flight to Rome, we finally arrived! And just when we thought things could not have been worse, my bags did not show up on the luggage belt. Nothing can be worse than spending 4 days wearing your mother?s clothing in one of the fashion capitals of the world. The only redeeming facet of this trip- Italian food!