Latest news with #travelblog
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
She died after falling into a huge volcano. Now her family insist dark forces were at work... and reveal why she should still be alive
For Juliana Marins, it was meant to be the trip of a lifetime. After traversing southeast Asia, including stops in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, the beaming 26-year-old pole dancer arrived in and raved about her journey there in posts documenting the picture-perfect trip.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Las Vegas hotel slammed after guest stuck with outrageous bill for a bottle of water
It's not just slot machines that are fleecing people. A Las Vegas hotel is being lambasted mercilessly online after charging nearly $30 for a bottle of water from room minibars. The apparent H20 highway robberies came to light via photos and a fan submission shared by the travel blog A View From the Wing. The unidentified guest had reportedly been staying at the Aria Resort & Casino — one of over 30 MGM resorts — where room rates start at $280 per night. According to the post, an employee had been restocking and cleaning out their room's minibar, which the visitor noted had 'food crammed in the fridge from two guests ago.' The worker informed the visitor that water costs $26, but only told them after the guest had consumed a full bottle, the poster wrote. That constituted more than 10% of the person's total bill of $259, according to a screenshot of their invoice. To make matters worse, the same water reportedly costs just $7.45 at a Starbucks downstairs. While hotel minibars are known for their extortionate markups, some Aria guests noted that the other items in the fridge were not nearly as steep. , shared a photo of a hotel minibar menu showing a Coca-Cola Deluxe that cost $13.75, nearly half as much as the Fiji Water, which set guests back a whopping $24.75. 'Do you think it's fair to pay for the convenience, or this is price gouging?' the traveler spluttered in the caption. Commenters were similarly perplexed over the price tags, with one writing, 'Was just there. I was floored.' 'Vegas is dying so they have to charge a buttload to survive,' declared another, referencing declining tourist numbers at the gambling mecca. 'They depend on the drunk visitors that don't care about their prices at 2 a.m. when they get back to their room,' said a third. A View From the Wing contributor Gary Leff accused Aria of flouting the 'diamonds-water paradox' floated by 'The Wealth of Nations' author Adam Smith, who wrote that water is necessary but cheap, while diamonds are useless for survival but expensive due to their scarcity. 'Aria in Las Vegas proves there really was no paradox after all,' Leff quipped. 'Water in the desert is crucial to survival and incredibly expensive for guests staying there!' He declared that Sin City had 'clearly given up on any idea of hospitality.' 'I would think, though, that a $36.28 per night resort fee (inclusive of tax) might be high enough to offer a single bottle of water as one of its inclusions. I guess not!' Leff griped. 'This is the perfect example of the kind of out of sample cost that makes people feel cheated on a Las Vegas trip, leaving customers with a bad taste in their mouth. And that is dangerous heading into a Las Vegas downturn.'
South China Morning Post
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Why are mainland Chinese tourists posing in front of MTR stations in Hong Kong?
Surrounded by a stream of passengers on an MTR platform in Hong Kong on a regular weekday, a couple paused to pose for photos next to a station sign to mark their journey. 'We took photos at most of the metro stations we visited, just to record our metro route,' said Arale, a 36-year-old tourist who was visiting the city with his wife, Qing, 37, for the first time. Recording such a visual diary is part of a popular trend on Chinese social media in which people travel around Hong Kong to take photos on MTR platforms against the stations' colourful walls. Tourists often collect nine or more photos or videos of the station names, either of the signs themselves or with someone next to them, to share with others on RedNote, Douyin and WeChat Moments as collages or single posts. On RedNote alone, #HongKongMTR has gained about 110 million views, with one post published on May 31 attracting 25,300 interactions and 291,100 views, according to data analysis platform Newrank. The Post visited five MTR stations on a weekday this month – Choi Hung, Mong Kok, Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Central – and found visitors photographing themselves with station names at every location.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
Passengers left sweltering in British Airways plane on Dubai runway after AC malfunctioned
Passengers on a British Airways flight were left sweltering inside the cabin for two hours after the air conditioning failed before takeoff in Dubai. Flight BA104 was set to fly seven hours from Dubai International Airport on Saturday, 24 May, to London Heathrow. However, before takeoff, the Boeing 787 experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) failure, which prevented the cabin airflow and cooling systems from working properly, travel blog Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported. APUs are small devices that work as power sources for the aircraft, which are used mostly on the ground while the main engines are inactive. Usually, ground equipment can be used instead of a faulty APU, and once the engines start, the cooling systems would resume. The aircraft, therefore, decided to push back from the gate and begin taxiing, but it stopped while making its way to the runway because a cockpit warning light signalled. With the gate now occupied by the next scheduled plane, it was diverted to a cargo area, leaving passengers stuck in stuffy conditions in the cabin. A post from a passenger on a Facebook complaints forum, which now appears to be deleted, described passengers suffering from the high temperatures inside the cabin. She said that babies had to be stripped down to their nappies to try and cool them down, and she was worried for her own health due to having high blood pressure, dealing with the heat and the stress. The passenger also said flight attendants handed out one cup of water each, but the doors remained closed without air conditioning as engineers continued to work. 'We baked inside the plane for 2 hours as engineers worked on the flight deck,' she claimed, according to Paddle Your Own Kanoo. 'The plane got hotter and hotter and recorded 47 degrees.' In a statement, a British Airways spokesperson said: 'We thank our customers for their patience while we resolved a technical issue with the aircraft. 'Our crew provided water to customers on board and worked hard to ensure our customers remained as comfortable as possible whilst we resolved the issue.' This is not the first time passengers have had to deal with soaring cabin temperatures inside planes. In July 2024, dozens of Qatar Airways passengers endured an heatwave in Greece while stuck inside for three hours on the tarmac without air conditioning. The extreme temperature inside the flight caused nosebleeds in travellers, while some had to rely on oxygen masks. That same month, passengers were also without air conditioning during a two-hour flight delay. It took one passenger to faint for the staff to allow passengers off the plane and back to the gate.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Passengers left roasting on Dubai runway as ‘baking' British Airways plane malfunctioned
Passengers on a British Airways flight were left sweltering inside the cabin for two hours after the air conditioning failed before takeoff in Dubai. Flight BA104 was set to fly seven hours from Dubai International Airport on Saturday, 24 May, to London Heathrow. However, before takeoff, the Boeing 787 experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) failure, which prevented the cabin airflow and cooling systems from working properly, travel blog Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported. APUs are small devices that work as power sources for the aircraft, which are used mostly on the ground while the main engines are inactive. Usually, ground equipment can be used instead of a faulty APU, and once the engines start, the cooling systems would resume. The aircraft, therefore, decided to push back from the gate and begin taxiing, but it stopped while making its way to the runway because a cockpit warning light signalled. With the gate now occupied by the next scheduled plane, it was diverted to a cargo area, leaving passengers stuck in stuffy conditions in the cabin. A post from a passenger on a Facebook complaints forum, which now appears to be deleted, described passengers suffering from the high temperatures inside the cabin. She said that babies had to be stripped down to their nappies to try and cool them down, and she was worried for her own health due to having high blood pressure, dealing with the heat and the stress. The passenger also said flight attendants handed out one cup of water each, but the doors remained closed without air conditioning as engineers continued to work. 'We baked inside the plane for 2 hours as engineers worked on the flight deck,' she claimed, according to Paddle Your Own Kanoo. 'The plane got hotter and hotter and recorded 47 degrees.' In a statement, a British Airways spokesperson said: 'We thank our customers for their patience while we resolved a technical issue with the aircraft. 'Our crew provided water to customers on board and worked hard to ensure our customers remained as comfortable as possible whilst we resolved the issue.' This is not the first time passengers have had to deal with soaring cabin temperatures inside planes. In July 2024, dozens of Qatar Airways passengers endured an heatwave in Greece while stuck inside for three hours on the tarmac without air conditioning. The extreme temperature inside the flight caused nosebleeds in travellers, while some had to rely on oxygen masks. That same month, passengers were also left sweltering inside a Juneyao Airlines plane without air conditioning during a two-hour flight delay. It took one passenger to faint for the staff to allow passengers off the plane and back to the gate.
