Ever since the news came out about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I've been reading about people's personal experiences and reactions. They remind me of one reason why the World Trade Center made such an impact when the towers came crashing down, as well as why travel to distant places makes the world, and what happens in it, seem so much more relevant.

When the towers were attacked and the world reacted, it reminded me slightly of the reactions when Princess Diana died. The reactions weren't the same, or for the same reason, but Diana's death was one that had significance to people everywhere. There was an emotional connection. The towers and Princess Diana were symbolic in a way that that most recognize their importance. There are few events that hold the entire world's attention.

When Princess Diana was killed in that awful car crash there was a riveting affect. People tuned in for days. The World Trade Center will never quite fade away. Can't you still see it's shadow whenever you see the skyline of Manhattan and recognize where they should be? Then there are the people who were lost who will remain forever as a part of a shared history that we haven't been able to set aside because how can we?

In other circumstances, when images aren't so iconic, but other dreadful events occur in the world outside the boundaries of our day to day existence, we might say, "How dreadful," when we look at the TV screen, but then go about pouring ourselves a cup of coffee, or wonder if we have enough clothes to last a few more days--or do we need to do a load of laundry after all?

In an Absolut World, Everyone Would be Welcomed Home from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

One Gadling post that consistently gets weekly hits, sometimes daily, is the one on ImprovEverywhere's "Frozen Grand Central." The Grand Central stunt is an amazing feat of ingenuity and organization on the part of this improv drama troupe that specializes in creating fun and amazement in public places. I think of it as a more creative, involved version of Candid Camera. Plus, it involves way more people.

My favorite ImprovEverywhere stunt, hands down, is Food Court Musical.

This most recent improvisation comes pretty close. It involved 20 ImprovEverywhere actors who were the greeters, and the unsuspecting travelers who arrived at JFK expecting to be met by a driver and no one else. The drivers (only the first one is shown) didn't know they were in on something a bit unusual.

The result is something charming and heartwarming. Very sweet and very fun. How terrific life would be if EVERYONE had such a greeting upon arrival at an airport. The closest I ever came was arriving in Hawaii and being given a lei. My great aunt and uncle met me, so don't expect a lei if you arrive in Honolulu. Maybe, but don't count on it.

Thanks to Intelligent Traveler for first posting on this gem. It made my day.

Kayak has been tinkering with their search engine in the past few weeks (you may have noticed that they started publishing AA fares again) and just today unveiled some of the tweaks that they made.

The most interesting one I found was Kayak Insight. The tool basically takes your departure city and tells you what cities people are searching for as their search is made. I showed up and plugged in Detroit, and up popped Fort Lauderdale, $233. Pause. Then up popped Hawaii, $600. The map continues to populate like this as you browse around in a few tabs, then when you come back in a few minutes it's got a huge map of where people are planning trips all over the world.

Cool trick, but what is it good for? Well, for Kayak, it's a good instructional tool to tell people where they can go for how much. I can get to New Orleans next weekend for $150? Sweet! Salt Lake for $100? Rad! It's also a fun little app to figure out just what the heck people are thinking in planning their vacation.

Watching Detroit for half hour, (I didn't watch it the entire time. Really. I have friends.) what was the most searched region? Florida, duh. It's cold up here.

If I were Kayak, I would collect this data over time and sell it to tourism boards as a marker of how much interest travelers have in a city. Or perhaps they're already doing this......

Check out your own home city at kayak.com/insight.

(Note: Gadling does not promote or condone any behavior that violates airline policies and procedures. We are, however, amused by this.)

Artist/Blogger Evan Roth really hates when people recline their seats on airplanes. So, with the help of a zip-tie and some good old fashioned ingenuity, he rigged the seat in front of him to remain upright. Rude? Sure. Vandalism? Maybe. Hilarious? Abso-f'n-lutely.

The plan is beautiful in its simplicity and it's not like he endangered his fellow travelers or put the flight in peril. I'd be pissed if he did it to my seat but I can sleep just about anywhere, including upright plane seats, so I probably wouldn't even notice. Besides, there are other ways to sleep on planes.

Kudos to you, Evan. And I hope the rest of you don't get any ideas.

Although I may not have admitted it earlier, I'm a most fervent believer in virtual travel. Those of us who don't have enough money to travel the world can appease their itch by hopping online and reading about exotic places people have gone. In this economy, many people have to turn to the vicarious experience of travel through reading travel articles or viewing photos online or in print. There's no way you can get the real thing, so you settle for it virtually. Travel blogs like MatatorTravel, BlissfulTravel, and PerceptiveTravel have been my fix of choice, and without them, I'm not sure I'd feel as alive as I do.

That's why I was stunned when I read an article in The Economist about how blogging has gone too mainstream.

The article describes how, just a decade ago, blogging was considered fresh, but it has since become an informational tool that is so large that it is impersonal. It states how Jason Calacanis, the founder of Weblogs, Inc. (which happens to be the motherblog to Gadling), decided to retire from blogging. His reasons? "Blogging is simply too big, too impersonal, and lacks the intimacy that drew me to it." I beg to differ with this view. The effect of blogs for readers, I believe, is really the opposite: I'm able to feel connected to people and cultures on the other side of the globe all with my eyes, my heart, and upon the click of my mouse.

1. Where was your photo taken: Somewhere along a three-day trek between Kalaw and Inle Lake in Myanmar.
2. Where do you live now: Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Scariest airline flown: Avianca (a Colombian airline) -- Avianca flights never depart on time. We once departed from Bogotá to Quito only to discover the Quito airport was closed. So we grounded down in Cali for a few hours and then returned to Bogotá. I finally landed in Quito the next day. That turned out to be the longest "two-hour" flight of my life.
4. Favorite places traveled: India, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Croatia, Bolivia, Colombia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Bali, West Timor, Vanuatu, Fiji (Sorry, I can't choose just one!)
5. Most remote corner of the globe visited: South River, on the island of Erromango in Vanuatu (I was looking for surf)
6. Favorite guidebook series: Anything but Lonely Planet
7. Solo traveler or group traveler: Group travel? What's that? If there's even a small gaggle of tourists somewhere I'm outta there. I prefer the road not taken.
8. Most recent trip: I spent three months in Colombia writing for Viva Travel Guides.
9. Next trip: I'm saving up for a very short trip to these places -- New Zealand, Russia, Mongolia, Nepal, Iceland, Scandinavia, Ukraine, Maldives, Mauritius, Samoa, Japan, Korea, Sub-Saharan Africa, Morrocco, Portugal, Brazil, the Galapagos, Banff -- at which point I could just feel fulfilled enough to settle down here in Honolulu.

Check out Bren's online journal (SurfEatSleep) or email her (brendayun@gmail.com) with questions!

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of the most iconic addresses in the world. Because, obviously, it is where you can find the Dollar General in West Mifflin, PA. Say what? Blogger David Friedman has a great post up on his Ironic Sans blog that shows Google Maps street views of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from all around the United States.

Sure, you can find the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC but that's boring. Why not give some love to the lesser known 1600 Pennsylvania Avenues out there? There are lots of amazing things to see as you venture out into the world, but sometimes little quirks like this are what make traveling so fun.

So as you travel this great country of ours, try to find things that are a less mainstream. Maybe even a little silly. Oh, I don't know. Why not to rock down to Electric Avenue (in Buffalo, NY)? I'm just saying...

Would you pay a little extra if given the chance to avoid sitting next to a screaming baby on an airplane?

One Canadian carrier is betting you just might.

Travel guru Chris Elliott has a report on a questionnaire recently sent out by WestJet in which the carrier asks customers whether they'd consider an extra $10 charge for a number of additional "services," including sitting away from parents traveling with small babies or small children.

There are other amenities about which WestJet is trying to take the temperature of its customers: The carrier asks if you'd pay $10 for priority boarding; priority disembarking; in-flight Internet access; in-seat power; and guaranteed overhead bin space. You could probably make a case for any of these.

Sillier amenities include $10 for a freshly-laundered pillow and blanket set that you can take with you (like you really need to be lugging around linen!) or a premium meal service (has airline food every been that good?).

I would really get behind the avoid-crying-babies fee. Restaurants should think of a similar service charge.

What strange things have been found on planes?

Click the image to read the bizarre story...

That's the advice Gadling pal Chris Blattman recently linked to, in a hilarious story of forged boarding passes, overcrowded planes, and stranded passengers in Lagos, Nigeria.

The story goes like this, via the blog Siphoning off a Few Thoughts: "[A man] got on a flight in Lagos to find it completely full...plus one. One person was standing in the aisle with no seat. The flight attendants went through and checked that everyone had a boarding pass, which they did. (Apparently someone had a forged pass; welcome to Lagos.) The staff then made an announcement that everyone was going to de-plane and that they were going to check everyone's boarding pass carefully.

"As soon as the first person stepped off the plane, the staff slammed and locked the airplane door, despite the person's cries and banging on the door. Problem solved."

Ha! I love that when it doesn't happen to me.

If you've followed Gadling for any length of time, you've probably caught on that topics range from the serious to the not so serious--from the straight-forward to the downright loopy. Throughout the bounty are our thoughts and interpretations of what it means to be a traveler in the world. It doesn't matter if you're heading just a few blocks from where you live to the farthest corners from where you were born. The point is movement outwards.

In this past year, there have been oodles of stories of travelers' woes and concerns, many that have moved our readers to add comments. Problems with TSA, high gas prices that created a nose dive to vacation plans, shifting airline regulations, airline shutdowns, and reduced amenities on certain flights have lengthened the list of issues that might make a traveler say, "I have a bone to pick with somebody."

Christopher Elliot who gave us tongue-in-cheek, but kind of serious, ideas for items a plane might ditch has been thinking again. In his essay, "Dear Mr. President" in this month's issue of National Geographic Traveler he outlines the bones to pick issues--the ones that he would like to take up with the next U.S. president. As Elliot sees it travel related concerns can be divided into the following categories and have relevance to the bigger picture concerns of economics and freedom of movement.