In Europe, bathrooms often seem designed to test the IQ of
Americans. Insider found one that takes things a step further by
punishing the mechanically challenged.
At the
newly opened luxury Hotel Kamp in Helsinki, Finland, the elegant WC
features a handle next to the opened lid that looks deceptively
familiar.
Of course, when we pushed this handle, the bidet function of the
unit sprang to life, ricocheting water off the walls.
After we dried off a bit, a search revealed that the button
obscured behind
the lid produced a more refined result.
For cheroots, press 1
The Cuban-born cigar roller pictured below
plied his time-honored trade in the lobby of a Puerto Rico hotel
while holding a Japanese-made cell phone and talking to a client in
Mexico.
What he needs next, perhaps, is one of those streamlined
headsets, so he can free up both hands -- though whether it's
possible to roll a cigar and talk on the phone at the same time is
way beyond Insider.
Return with us now ...
On the heels of one travel conference, Insider checked into a
resort on another Caribbean island for yet another conference.
The
resort was a sprawling place, with older suites and cottages and
newer villas spread over 400 acres.
Our suite's decor was a mix of antique and modern, and what
intrigued us most was the mahogany object on the desk in the
bedroom. It closely resembled something we'd seen in Grandmother's
parlor aeons ago.
We turned the knob, and reggae filled the room. It was a radio
sans alarm and snooze button and digital readouts.
We half expected Jack Benny or "The Shadow" to come on, but the
reggae continued, and that was more than fine.
Il Cavallo Italiano
We were channel surfing in our hotel room in Italy and came upon
a screening of "Rocky" -- the original one -- dubbed, of course, in
Italian.
Hearing the familiar dialogue of this American pop classic in
Italian is something of a "through the looking-glass" experience,
and we chuckled along with the film just long enough to witness an
instance of Rocky's signature cry: "Yo! Adrian!"
We had wondered, as we watched, how the dubbers would handle
this, and we got our answer: Rocky Balboa sees his sweetie and
calls out: "O! Adrianna! Ciao!"
Once we'd picked ourself up off the floor, we realized there are
a number of reasons "Yo Adrian" just can't work in Italian. For
one, there's no Y in the Italian alphabet, and for another,
neutered names like Adrian simply don't exist. Still, "O Adrianna
Ciao" just doesn't sing, somehow.