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The World’s Top 9 Best Weird Museums

Posted by Michael Sommers on June 28th, 2010 @ 9:39 PM

While many travelers routinely schedule visits to the great art, history, and science museums of the world, they neglect to visit some of the planet’s strangest, weirdest, and downright best. This is a worrying trend we intend to stop; and so we present to you our rankings of the 9 Best Weird Museums on the planet.

1. Cockroach Hall of Fame and Museum

Location: Plano, Texas

Description: Exterminator Michael Bohdan displays a crazy diversity of roaches both dead (including a gigantic specimen for which he paid $1,000) and alive (the Madagascar Hissing Roaches, which really do hiss when angered).

Not to Be Missed: The dead roach dioramas in which bugs are dressed up to resemble celebs such as Liberoachi and Marilyn Monroach.

(more…)

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Porter Airlines Deemed Fit for a Queen

Posted by Michael Sommers on June 26th, 2010 @ 2:58 AM

Porter Airlines has scored a royal coup: the Canadian budget airline will be transporting none other than Queen Elizabeth II on a jaunt from Toronto to Waterloo during Her Majesty’s upcoming, 9-day, July visit to Canada.

While Porter currently offers scheduled flights to 10 cities throughout central and eastern Canada, Waterloo isn’t one of them; instead the Queen’s plane will be chartered.

While some are thrilled to hear that Elizabeth II is flying around on low-cost (albeit high-style) airlines, others – such as Toronto mayor David Miller and residents of Toronto Island, where Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport is situated – are peeved, feeling the decision indirectly sanctions continued use of the convenient, but controversial airport.

As for Porter, the Queen’s patronage is obviously a feather in the company’s cap. However, it’s not likely that Elizabeth II will become a Porter frequent flier – the only way the airline could conceivably earn a coveted Royal Warrant, which is bestowed upon businesses that offer services to the Crown for a minimum of five years.

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How to Survive Attacks from the World’s 10 Deadliest Animals

Posted by Michael Sommers on June 22nd, 2010 @ 10:38 PM

Traveling to far-flung locales always has its perils, and it’s good to be forewarned before taking flight. For this reason, we’ve created a list of the Top 10 Most Lethal Creatures on the face of the Earth – with tips on how to identify them, avoid them, and (if worst came to worst) treat their deadly stings, bites, and secretions.

1. Box Jellyfish

Claim to Fame: The “world’s most venomous creature”.

How to ID it: With an “umbrella” that’s cube-shaped rather than domed, the box jellyfish boasts 15 tentacles, 24 eyes, four brains, and 60 anuses!

Where You’ll Find It: The most deadly species live in the sub-tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and favor calm, shallow waters and rivers’ mouths.

How It Attacks: It’s transparency makes it almost invisible, often sneaking up on you unaware. Each of its tentacles has 500,000 harpoon-shaped needles that simultaneously inject venom into its victims.

What Happens to Your Body Venom attacks the heart, nervous system, and skin cells. You’ll experience shock and pain so unbearable that you’ll likely die of heart failure or drown before you can even reach the shore.

Emergency Treatment: Before and after removing the stinging tentacle (with a towel or gloved hand), flood the sting with vinegar. Apply ice cubes for pain. In the event of cardiac arrest, perform CPR before heading to a hospital.

Death Quotient : Over 5,500 deaths have been recorded worldwide in the last 50 years.

(more…)

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Ranking Canada’s 10 Best Airports

Posted by Michael Sommers on June 17th, 2010 @ 1:59 PM

Although airlines continue to cut back, in recent years, Canada has invested heavily in its airports in an attempt to offer passengers to pre- and post-flight experiences that are more efficient, not to mention more relaxing and entertaining. New terminals and lounges, convenience and service, finer dining, better shopping, and an ever expanding number of Tim Hortons… We considered all these factors and more and came up with our list of Canada’s 10 best airports.

#1: Vancouver International Airport

Location: Vancouver
Airport Code: YVR

In A Nutshell: Receives raves for being one of the best airports on the face of the Earth (it recently won “Best North American Airport” at the Skytrax World Airport Awards). Glass walls show off B.C.’s iconic (more…)

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Flight Network’s Growing Recognition

Posted by Michael Sommers on June 14th, 2010 @ 12:01 PM

Flight Network is happy to announce that we’ve been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Fastest-Growing Companies by Canadian Business’ PROFIT magazine. As PROFIT points out, 2009 was hardly a good year for business due to the economy being hit by the most serious recession since the Great Depression. Amid such a bleak climate, it was somewhat of a feat for any entrepreneurial company to survive, let alone thrive. However, as the magazine reports, Flight Network, now the nation’s second largest travel agency, has seen revenues grow by 725 percent over the past five years.

“Considering how tough last year was, the firms that make up PROFIT’s 22nd annual ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies did extremely well,” says the magazine. “In true entrepreneurial fashion, (these companies) learned from the recession — and will be stronger for it.”

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