Posted on: 19 September 2008 |
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The Wrap sniffs out the week's more interesting travel stories.
Bid for a scam on eBay
If you’ve ever been tempted to bid for a holiday on eBay – be warned. There are plenty of scammers out there looking for those wet behind the ears travellers who are easily led astray by a hint of a too-good-to-be-true bargain.
Chris Haslam of the UK Sunday Times went looking for an eBay bargain, aware that the auction site has long fancied itself as an online travel agency, and has been running trials in Germany of software that will allow bidders to put together their own holidays within the website.
“When I looked, eBay’s travel section was pregnant with promise, listing 1,931 accommodation offers, 126 air tickets, 137 package deals and 511 short breaks.
“The search, though, was far from straightforward,” Haslam wrote.
How did our intrepid traveller fare? Check it out here: Is eBay a bargain for cheap holidays?
Where to, guv?
Scientists have uncovered evidence for an inbuilt "sat-nav" system in the brains of London taxi drivers, according to the BBC’s science reporter, Elizabeth Mitchell.
The boffins used magnetic scanners to explore the brain activity of taxi drivers as they navigated their way through a virtual simulation of London's streets.
They discovered different brain regions were activated as they considered route options, spotted familiar landmarks or thought about their customers.
Clearly, though, a cab driver’s memory power is not matched by that of his passenger’s.
Londoners lost an average of three mobile for each London taxi in the last six months, adding up to a total of 55,843 phones for the 21,729 taxis plying their trade in the UK's capital.
A survey by mobile device security outfit Credant Technologies, based on a poll of 300 London cabbies, estimates 6,193 other electronic devices (laptops, iPods and memory sticks) were lost over the same period.
Taxi drivers 'have brain sat-nav'
And baby comes, too
Forbes Traveler has been having a look at dumb travel trends.
Its favourite is babymoons – a trend to “squeeze extra bucks from the maternity machine” by making weekend-getaway packages pull double-duty as babymoons.
“Parents-to-be can concoct names for imminent little ones while reclining at the rustic Buffalo River Lodge in Yellville, Arkansas or popping chocolate-covered strawberries in between pre-natal massages at the Westin in Baja California.”
Find more crazy travel trends.
Dumb travel trends
