The Five Weirdest Travel Stories of the Month: March Edition
It's that special time again -- time for the five weirdest travel stories of the month!
5. Harrah's Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman Loves Stilettos: We begin with Gary Loveman's self-declared obsession with high heels. In some strange way Loveman was probably trying to equate high heels with high-end casino patrons, but women wearing high heels at night in Las Vegas or Atlantic City could mean higher-class clientele -- or it could mean prostitutes are trolling for customers. I guess either way might mean happier days are here again.
4. London Heathrow Security Officer Ogles Coworker in Body Scanner: When Jo Margetson, 29, accidentally stepped into a body scanner, coworker John Laker, 25, took a body scan and then allegedly leered at her and said, "I love those gigantic [expletive]." He now faces disciplinary action at work after receiving a police warning. Are any of us surprised at body scanner shenanigans, or the idea that they would be ogling photos of naked travelers? Despite U.S. Homeland Security assuring us that this won't happen, it most certainly will.
3. Can't Join the Mile-High Club? Go it Alone: Murali Krishna Nookella, a tech guy on his way to a conference, masturbated in front of a woman sitting next to him on a Southwest Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Denver, according to a federal criminal complaint. When he got off the plane, he was charged with obscene and indecent exposure and banned from any commercial aircraft. So, you see, sometimes you can be seated next to someone worse than that crying baby.
2. Sexy Texting Flight Crew Face Jail Time in the United Arab Emirates: Two crew members on Emirates airlines were ordered jailed for three months in Dubai because they sent each other sexually explicit text messages, a crime in straitlaced United Arab Emirates. The two employees, an Indian flight attendant and her supervisor, were convicted of "coercion to commit sin." Foreigners now outnumber Dubai's native population, and current laws there which forbid unmarried sex and public displays of affection are being tested in the country. Keep that in mind if you're considering a romantic getaway in searing 120-degree heat.
Which brings us to this month's weird news winner...
1. Memphis Motel Rents Out Room Five Times -- With a Corpse Under the Bed: It was the funny smell that eventually caused the staff at the Budget Lodge motel near Memphis International Airport to discover the body of Sony Millbrook, 28, who had stayed at the Lodge in January. Although Room 222 had been cleaned and rented out five times, Millbrook's body remained under the bed for months before the odor tipped-off hotel employees, who called police. (Her boyfriend was identified as a person of interest in the case.) It does make you wonder how well those Budget Lodge rooms were really cleaned ... and it's yet another reason to be wary of cheap motels near the airport.
Photo: Google Maps