Not so fast, Pisa! UAE lays claim to world’s furthest leaning tower
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this Capital Gate Building in Abu Dhabi has the most “lean” of any building.
The 35-story Abu Dhabi building has an 18-degree slope, compared with four degrees for the freestanding bell tower.
But unlike the tower in Pisa, the Capital Gate building has been deliberately engineered to slant.
The floor plates are stacked vertically up to the 12th floor, after which they are staggered over each other by between 300 mm to 1,400 mm — giving the tower its lean, the owners said.
I pray for the comfort of America’s business travelers
Some things don’t change. Here is a humor piece from The Onion written more than a decade ago. Its only dated comment deals with food served in first class and coach. That has long gone the way of the horse and buggy in the U.S.A. Guess that’s one more woe for the business traveler.
Even as we speak, an Atlanta ad executive is checking into the San Francisco Hyatt Regency, not knowing if there will be a telephone jack in his room that will accommodate his laptop. Not knowing if there will be any fresh-baked blueberry muffins waiting for him in the executive hospitality lounge when he wakes up the next day. Not knowing if there will be a wait to use one of the hotel’s six color fax machines.
At that very same moment, hundreds of miles away, a marketing director is boarding a Delta Airlines jet in Dallas, headed for a three-day sales conference in Chicago. Like his compatriot in San Francisco, he faces many unknowns: Will there be enough legroom on the flight? Will the food he receives in first-class be the same as that served to the dross back in steerage, and, if so, will it be served by the same bovine flight attendants who serve the cattle? Will he be required to deactivate his computer—the same powerful tool upon which he charts the future course of our nation!—during takeoffs and landings?
Did you hear the one about the priest and the old doctor?
A good joke or two is always appreciated. Here are a few travel jokes that have been collected on About.com. It is always nice to have a few good clean jokes to liven up a party. Here’s one:
An elderly doctor and a Presbyterian minister were seated next to each other on the plane. The plane was delayed at the start due to some technical problems.
Just after taking off, the pilot offered his apologies to the passengers and announced that a round of free drinks would be served.
When the charming air-hostess came round with the trolley, the doctor ordered a gin and tonic for himself.The hostess then asked the minister whether he wanted anything. He replied, “Oh no thank you. I would rather commit adultery than drink alcohol.”
The elderly doctor promptly handed back his gin and tonic to the air-hostess and said, “Madam, I did not know there was a choice.”
After several decades working in a variety of jobs as a newspaper writer, event publicist, communications specialist, and marketing director, Karen Cummings is now “retired” and working on Travelers United’s social media and newsletters in addition to occasionally contributing a travel-related article to TU’s blog. She lives close to her family in Fryeburg, Maine, and travels as often as she can.
