Wikipedia has EVERYTHING

Seriously.

Reading Wikipedia articles is one of my favorite pastimes, and it never ceases to amaze me how much information is out there. Some of my favorite topics to read about are airplanes and airlines, the British Royal Family, Orders of Precedence, natural disasters, and small towns that I've been to.

Last night, while reading about the first topic mentioned above, I stumbled upon this fascinating image. It shows basically all of the commercial airline routes for the entire world. Who sat down to figure that out and make a map of it? I'm not sure, but it's pretty awesome.

Do you want fries with that?

Spending my summers in Northern Michigan as a child, I came to the realization that one of the reasons for "summering" was to get away from it all. Bellaire, MI, the town closest to Torch Lake, always had a grocery store, two gas stations, a few ice cream shops, half a dozen restaurants, and that's about it. I remember quite clearly the summer that McDonald's opened up on the main street through Bellaire; everyone was immediately against it. "We will never eat there! It's destroying the culture of this little town!" people said. On the other hand, it brought much-needed jobs and some economic stability to the financially uneasy Antrim county. Personally, I've stopped at that McDonald's maybe twice in my life; I try to stay away from fast food in general, and when I'm Up North, it makes more sense to me to try and support the locally-owned businesses.

Anyhow, here's a really cool map of the United States that shows the location of every McDonald's in the country. It's pretty interesting. If you look closely, you can even see the singular dot of the McDonald's in Bellaire!

Gibraltar Airport

Whenever a plane lands at or takes off from Gibraltar airport (GIB), the city's main road must be closed. This is because the airport's runway intersects the street. Pretty crazy, if you ask me. It's kind of like a raising bridge in a sense; the bridge in Charlevoix, Michigan is the only way to get around or through the city, so when the bridge is up to let boat traffic through, cars are stuck on either side.

Check out a few pics of the Gibraltar airport and the raising bridge in Charlevoix below.

Gibraltar airport info and pics via JustWhatever and Wikipedia.

A funny thing happened on the way to Chicago...

Well, quite a few things, actually. I wish I had been able to take some pictures, but I was furiously driving a record-setting time from Bellaire to Chicago: five hours and 16 minutes. Fierce.

Anyhow, while on my drive, I saw quite a few funny things that I'd like to share.

1. A gypsy camp. I left Bellaire and followed my iPhone GPS to Kalkaska to pick up the highway. I was driving down dirt roads that I'd never seen before, and it was awesome. Lots of beautiful hills and valleys, creeks and ponds, all kinds of nature. But the best thing I saw was this gypsy camp... I came around a corner and there was a trailer home parked on the side of the road. After that, there was a cleared out section in the woods filled with run-down cars, grills, lawn furniture, and a few dogs. I've always heard stories about how there were gypsies in Northern Michigan: the kind that travel around but have a base camp and rob houses when you're at the grocery store, etc. Anyways, I honestly think I stumbled across one today, and it was pretty cool.

2. Just before passing the booming metropolis known as Cadillac, MI, I saw a turtle crossing the road. Seriously. He was almost to the berm on the left side of the road, so he was pretty much home safe. I was concerned, humored, confused, and worried all at once.

3. Down towards Grand Rapids, I passed a semi-truck with the following message inscribed in HUGE letters:

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

Not a Swear Word

It was funny at first, but then I started thinking about who it was who was driving that truck... Where was he (she?) driving? What cargo was being carried? Maybe it was a cover-up for an illegal drug operation or a child porn ring, but I'm not really sure. It was curious, to say the least.

Wow!

Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe, is a very picturesque sight: the tumbling waterfall drops hundreds of feet (I made that part up) in a glorious display of nature's beauty.

At certain times during the year, a pool at the top of the falls called Devil's Pool is (relatively) safe to swim in, and it makes for some incredible photo ops. Check it out!

Just for laughs...

Amy Winehouse's vacation life continues in St. Lucia.  Recently she's been riding horses and looking like a total junkie.  Not much new in her life...

Anyhow, this picture isn't of anything important or newsworthy, but it's just funny.  Right?

Everyday Etiquette

Have you ever wondered how to shut up the Chatty Cathy next to you on a long airplane flight? Or worried that you're being greedy for the last parking spot in a crowded lot?  Here are 11 points of "Everyday Etiquette" to help you solve these dilemmas, as well as answering some other questions you haven't thought to ask before.

Personally, when I'm on an airplane, especially for a long flight, I don't really try to engage my fellow passengers in any kind of conversation, and I get annoyed when people start questioning me too much. Sometimes, if I'm feeling adventurous, I'll make up a life for myself.  I'm an opera singer flying to a concert, a student who is heading to a lecture on the opposite side of the country, or a small business owner going to check out some competition.  It's fun, try it.  You can be anything you want to be since these people are, as Tyler Durden from Fight Club said, "single-serving friends."

Image via Real Simple.

This brings a new meaning to "hope you can hold it!"

European no-frills airline RyanAir, which I have had the pleasure (?) of flying myself, is known for it's bare-bones ticket prices.  On their website, you can find flights for under 1 Euro, though with taxes and fees, tickets are usually somewhere around 25 Euro.  Not bad, really.

In order to increase revenues and keep ticket prices low, RyanAir has come up with a plan to begin charging travelers a fee to use the on-board lavatories.  Wow.

Read up about it here, and check out the video on the bottom of the page in which the owner (or someone important) explains RyanAir's plans to begin offering "special features" for their upcoming Transatlantic flights.

Indulge Me

So my fantasy starts out like this...  I'm stranded in an airport with hours to go before departure, I sit down to think about life and realize that I’m next to a group of six beefy British guys.  I do some research on these characters: not only do they all have great physiques, but they’ve got a trophy. And one is throwing around a miniature ball. And their shirts say “World Rugby Shop” on the backs...  Anyhow, being stuck in the airport, they decide (as do I) to get completely pissed at the bar.

I’ll leave the rest up to your (and my) imagination.

Oh, wait, for the most part, this fantasy is a reality.   Ha.  I’m sitting in LAX where I arrived ridiculously early for my red-eye flight back to Chicago and find myself sitting next to some rugby blokes.  You can imagine how happy (and distracted) I am at this point.  It’s fierce.

All of the guys look like this or hotter.  Ha.  (Link NSFW-ish, courtesy Dieux du Stade [also probably NSWF]).

See you on the other side...

P.S.  Just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any better for me, a soccer team walks into the other side of the terminal.  This is gay heaven at LAX.

This will be me...

...at LAX tonight if I miss my flight home.

Actually, I wouldn't really be that mad.  I love airports and always secretly hope that I'll get stuck in one or have to be re-routed all over the country to get home.

Out & About in LA

Last night I met up with a former co-worker, Reagan, to hit up West Hollywood (WeHo, as they call it here).  We had a lot of fun and caused some trouble, but nothing that will land me on the pages of Perez Hilton or anything like that (for better or worse, ha).

Anyhow, we spent most of the evening at The Abbey, which is, in my opinion, the Sidetrack of LA. It's a huge, really beautiful bar filled with a mix of all kinds of people.  Drink prices are a little steep, but I mean, that's to be expected.  Anyhow, yeah, it was nice; it's always so different checking out the "scene" in a different city. People here definitely have a little more attitude than they do in Chicago, and it sometimes comes across as being rude or unfriendly.  

And, I must say, I think there are better looking guys in Chicago.  :)

I'm not sure about the headband...

...but the rest is pretty nice.

Zac Effron was snapped taking a hike in the LA area recently...  Where was I?  

(I'm in LA for the week visiting friends and family...)