A Drunken Flood, Kid Mix-Ups and Raising an Egyptian God: Five Weirdest Travel Stories
It's time for our five weirdest travel stories for the month so far. Read on for the latest monthly installment of strange happenings in the world of travel.
5. Dozing Drunk Causes $100,000 of Damage at Hotel -- An allegedly "heavily intoxicated" Bracken Sevey, 35, was lying passed out in his Mesa, Ariz., Best Western Legacy Inn and Suites hotel bathtub for probably hours with the water running. The water overflowed the bathroom and ran into the hotel room, causing approximately $100,000 worth of damage to walls, floors and ceilings, according to police. Sevey was booked on felony criminal damage.
4. Views of Destruction? That's $199, Please -- The World Center Hotel opened this week in New York City with one-of-a-kind views -- of the damaged World Trade Center site, also known as Ground Zero. Some of the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the construction site or the damaged former Deutsche Bank (DB) building which is slowly being dismantled. TripAdvisor reviews call it "quiet," a good value and a "horrible honeymoon hotel."
3. Delta Mixes Up Kids, Both Get Sent on Travel Spree -- Two children flying alone were mixed up by Delta Air Lines (DAL) staff and sent to the wrong locations, the company reported. One of the children, Kieran Kershaw, 9, was flying alone from Spokane, Wash. to Boston to visit grandparents but was sent instead to Cleveland. Another child, a girl, was sent to Boston in his place instead of her destination, Cleveland. Kershaw said in an interview with a television station that employees apologized and plied him with donuts and food. Delta apologized publicly and gave travel credits to the families and full refunds for the children's tickets.
2. Osama bin Laden Boarding Pass Not Funny, British Airways Says -- A fake boarding pass in an in-house publication for British Airways (BAIRY) at Heathrow Airport caused serious embarrassment for the airline after discovering it was issued for Osama bin Laden -- and that he was heading to Washington, D.C. The photo was supposed to show the ease of using a boarding pass on a smartphone, but was overshadowed by the controversy which was called both "sabotage" and a "mistake." BA apologized for the incident via Twitter.
1. God of the Dead Installed at Denver International Airport -- A 26-foot-tall, seven-ton statue of Anubis, Egyptian god of the dead, was erected at Denver International Airport last week. Although it's to promote the King Tut exhibit opening June 26 in the city, passengers questioned the wisdom of placing a graven image of the jackal-headed god of death and the underworld at an airport. Others said it was part of the art curse of DIA, where its blue "Mustang" statue, nicknamed Bluecifer, greets passengers with glowing yellow or red eyes. "Mustang" is also infamous for having fallen on and killed its creator, Luis Jimenez. With that knowledge, perhaps the Anubis statue is an appropriate place after all.
Photo: Pomphorhynchus