George Clooney's Frequent Flyer Movie

Saw this trailer last night - a lot of product placement by American Airlines and Hilton Hotels in it, but it still looks good:

http://www.theupintheairmovie.com/

Now free airport wifi from Microsoft Bing, as well as Google

After Google said they would provide free wifi at airports, now Microsoft is following with Bing: http://searchengineland.com/google-bing-yahoo-bribe-with-wifi-29495

"American chocolate is so sweet that it tastes like doggie chocs."

Good article in the Observer yesterday which I read en route to New York. American chocolate is indeed more sweet than what I am used to, but I would add that it is more "waxy" also (perhaps the "waxy" part is so that the chocolate does not melt?).

As the article says, in the UK (and Ireland) adults will often buy chocolate. In fact, it is ironic that many would see Americans as candy-munching sweet tooths, whereas in fact I would say that many more adults in the UK and Ireland buy chocolate on a regular basis than their American counterparts. Just witness the huge array of chocolate bars in even the smallest shop. And chocolate has more of an adult mythology: for many adults, the renaming of "Marathon" to "Snickers" has the same emotional resonance as the Brooklyn Dodgers becoming the "LA Dodgers".

I can attest to the weird "grainy" texture also. However, I have never eaten doggie chocolate so I can't vouch for that comparison:

Some say the US version, made at a plant in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, tastes sweeter than the stuff made in Bournville, Birmingham. Others detect a slightly more "grainy" texture. The US chocolate is a little darker and, say connoisseurs, a little bit more melt-resistant. For British expatriates or holidaymakers visiting the US, the difference is disconcertingly noticeable. Certain anglophile Americans, too, yearn for the British version, giving "real" Cadbury chocolate a cult following stateside.

"The British version just tastes a hell of a lot better," says John Jago-Ford, owner of the British Shoppe, a store in Orlando, Florida, that is among the few places to sell the original Cadbury chocolate imported from Britain. "American chocolate is so sweet that it tastes like doggie chocs."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/08/cadbury-america-hershey

Snow globes banned

Right down at the bottom of the TSA list of prohibited items, we see "Snow globes and like decorations regardless of size or amount of liquid inside, even with documentation".

Seems unlikely that a terrorist would go to the trouble of putting explosive-making liquids into a snow globe, but I guess they have to think of everything...

Northwest Airliner overshoots airport - by 150 miles

Bizarre story, and I wonder did no passengers realise that they had passed Minneapolis.

Perhaps they thought that Delta was turning it into a Ryanair-style airline which uses airports which are not particularly close to the destination city. I remember flying to Brussels with Ryanair and looking down, thinking "hmm that is Brussels we just passed", and then flying on for quite a while before we landed in "Brussels Charleroi"- which is a long way from Brussels itself.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/10/23/airliner.fly.by/index.html

Good Greek restaurant in Baltimore

Although I live in an area which has a large Greek population, I had to go to Baltimore, Maryland, for an upscale Greek restaurant. At the Black Olive in the Fells Point area, I had really good fish dish. However, the food took ages to arrive (and it was fish, so it didn't take long to cook) and I had to eat fast because I was worried about the rental car overstaying the 2-hour parking limit on the street where it was left.

Not cheap, but good food - just make sure you are not in a hurry.

Google Voice - the Ghost in the machine

I've been using Google Voice for cheap international calls from my Blackberry. It effectively gives the Blackberry a new phone number, and supplants AT&T's international calling (which is actually pretty cheap anyway, but not as cheap as Google Voice). AT&T should be worried about this, it's like a "ghost in the machine" - even the icon is a bit ghostly.

Good Italian restaurant in Columbus, Ohio

Martini is a good Italian restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. I'd recommend the braised short ribs or the veal ravioli.

Virgin America to offer Free Wifi

If I'd know this last week, I would have flown Virgin America for a trip to LA this week, rather than my usual United....

Code for free in-flight WiFi when flying Boston to BWI

Crossposted to Boston Irish

If you're flying Boston to BWI on Airtran, you can get free WiFi from now until the end of 2009 by following these steps:

1. On the plane, select the "gogoinflight" SSID
2. Sign in or click "Buy" to create a new account.
3. On the "Payment Info" page, enter this code (case sensitive): BOSBWI
4. Click "Update Total".