TheAirGorillaBlog

Try the popcorn when you visit Peru

Washington Natural History Museum researchers have discovered that the earliest known cooked corn is dated to about 4700 BC on the northern coast of Peru. The scientists traveling to Peru found corncobs that were utilized to make flour and popcorn. Book your flights to Peru today at AirGorilla.com to check it out! (Source: BBC News, January 19, 2012)

Chocoholics at the London Aquarium?

As reported by UPI this past August, "Gary," a fish of the gourami species weighing 8.8 pounds, has been gradually weaned off Kit Kat bars. "I have never heard of a fish being fed chocolate, let alone being brought up entirely on the stuff," handler Rebecca Carter said. "Gouramis usually eat a diet of fruit but Gary doesn't appear to have suffered any ill effects from his chocolate addiction." The fish had been donated to the aquarium by its former owner, who had only fed the fish Kit Kat chocolate wafer pieces. Travel to London to see the aquarium. Book flights on AirGorilla.com to international travel destinations and for domestic trips as well.

Join ETs in travel to Serbia

Perhaps extraterrestrials are "living abroad" in Serbia these days? In the 2011 census Serbia included a new section where extraterrestrials can indicate their identities. This makes some readers remember that in 2001, about 390,000 people in the Census for England and Wales listed their religion as "Jedi." They were merged with atheists by the Office of National Statistics. Message to our readers: Take flight with AirGorilla.com. We don't fly to the stars (yet), but we offer trips on 100's of worldwide airlines at great rates.

Marco Polo didnt travel to China

It seems he was a giant fraud. One of his first travel books was "Description of the World." This was based on alleged journeys as a trader from 1271 to 1295. The volume was supposedly produced with the help of romance writer Rustichello during their imprisonment together. No one even knows why they were in jail. In the 1995 book, "Did Marco Polo Go To China?", Frances Wood argues that Marco Polo never traveled further than the Black Sea, which is North of Turkey and East of Romania. Polo fails to mention the Chinese drinking tea, their use of chopsticks, foot-binding traditions, or the Great Wall of China. Nothing in archives in Venice indicates he traveled to China whatsoever. Very little of Polo's writing explicitly said things in the first-person, as if he had seen something himself. Recently, Italian archaeologists laboring in Japan have cast additional doubt. As noted by the Daily Telegraph and paraphrased thusly by the Fortean Times, "They point in particular to inconsistencies in his description of Kublai Khan's attempted invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281. 'He confuses the two, mixing up details about the first expedition with those of the second,' Professor Daniele Petrella of the University of Naples ... told Italian history magazine Focus Storia.'" Could an eyewitness really confuse major details, such as the typhoon, between two acounts? Message from our site: Book airline tickets with AirGorilla. Use deals on international airfare and hotels for you today.

A gorilla of a different flavor

The gorilla had to travel into his archives to find this story. Per Western Mail, May 19, 1994, two men were convicted of trying to smuggle endangered primates. The smugglers were trying to load a gorilla and an orang-utan for a trip to Mexico. However, the "gorilla" turned out to be a federal agent in a gorilla costume! (via Fortean Times 280, November 2011).

 

During travel to Africa, an elephant who thinks he's a giraffe

In the savannas of Zambia, there is an elephant who's really smart. Perhaps this guy saw a giraffe in Zambia and realized then that a long reach could pay great dividends. Most elephants shake trees to get tasty pods to fall down. But this fella reaches up with his trunk. At the time of the photograph, he was about 40 years old, and years sometimes bring wisdom as we humans have known. The photographer and Old Mondoro Bush camp manager reported, "The vegetation is mostly tall trees and short grass bushes. Most of these trees in our area have pods on them and the elephants mostly shake the tree to get at these pods." Oddly, the rest of his herd does not seem as bright, as he is the only one to use this technique. However, perhaps this will change, as the manager reported, "'There are also a group of younger elephants that follow this guy around to get at any scraps he may leave, they are still to young or small to be able to reach the pods."

This story happily brought to you by our traveling gorillas scouring the web for interesting bananas, err, bits of information that you airline travelers may find interesting.

Some trips aren't smooth (but AirGorilla travel is great)

At AirGorilla we try to provide you an easy to use travel booking system and great flight schedules at good prices. But my oh my, listen to the story of this young newlywed couple (no, they did not book on AirGorilla). They had the honeymoon from hell, perhaps you might say. Stefan and Erika Svanstrom of Stockholm got married in November 2010. During their first flight, heading to Munich, a blizzard dubbed the "storm of the century" hit Germany, stranding the young couple at the airport. When they finally arrived in Bali, torrential monsoon rains greeted them. In January they moved on to Perth, Australia. The area was struck by tremendous bush fires after they landed. So they headed to Cairns, only to endure the wrath of Cyclone Yasi, one of the worst cyclones (hurricanes) to ever hit queensland state. They were evacuated into a shopping center, where they had to shelter with 2,500 other storm victims on a concrete floor for 24 hours. When they came to Brisbane, down the coast, there was the worst flooding in city history. Then they flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, just hours after much of the city was leveled by a large earthquake. "The whole town was like a war zone," reported Mrs. Svanstrom. Later, they landed in Japan (they had scheduled quite an itinerary, evidently). But the Asian tsunami and nuclear disaster then hit Japan just two days later while they were in the country. They saw roof tiles fly off buildings. At least at their final travel destination in China, their experience was trouble-free. One might guess that if they made it through all this drama, they are due for a long and successful marriage. We wish them good luck along the way. (Source: F. Times issue 277, page 11, August 2011).

Unusual flight maneuvers

What a trip? This gull is not impressed with larger predatory birds such as this eagle. As noted by NewScientist.com, "Herring gulls dive-bomb predatory birds at a steep angle from above and behind, as they make a piercing shriek - "kaiow!".  Pat Monaghan, a professor of animal ecology at the University of Glasgow in the UK, "It's often suggested that using birds of prey, flown by falconers, might act as a gull deterrent. ... This picture suggests otherwise."

Daring flights of gulls

AirGorilla vindicated over codeshare flights

The US Department of Transportation has just "fined Amadeus $95,000 for its role in a several instances where online travel agents were unwittingly ... not comply[ing] with DOT disclosure rules about codeshare flights. In ... cases earlier this year, those travel sellers (including AAA, Air Gorilla, Apple Vacations, CheapoAir) paid penalties to the DOT but denied that their violations were intentional, placing the blame on unnamed GDS providers." Travel forth with heads up high, gorillas! Air Gorilla vindicated

 

Be careful to renew passports far in advance!

Don't let your passport get in the way of your travel overseas! The  U.S. Department of State recomments renewing your passport at least nine months before your passport expires. You can do this by mail if your current passport was issued on or after you turned age 16, your legal name has not changed, and your passport is not damaged.  You would use Form DS-82 to renew by mail. The post office and the US Dept. of State's web site have this form. You need to produce new passport photos to send in with your application - 2" X 2" size with good lighting, white background, and a clear focus. Place a stable at each corner of the photo. Place the completed DS-82 with attached passport photos, passport fees, and any additional documentation that is needed into an envelope (Tyvek brand is recommended). For more specific details see the travel tips web site. If you cannot renew via mail, the schedule an appointment for yourself at any regional passport agency.