Vacation in Italy – Lana Turner

During one of her visits to Italy, American actress Lana Turner (1921-1995) was staying in a small town of  Positano believing that there she would be safe and that the fans will not be disturb her.

For two days she enjoyed exploring the city, but on the third day she was arrested in the middle of the street and taken to a police station.

Although they were very kind to her, the police officers behaved strangely. When they wrote down her data into their registry, they asked from Lana to take of her shoes and stand on a piece of paper. When she asked them why must she do that and why did they arrest her, they refused to reply. When she put her feet on a piece of paper, they carefully marked them with a pencil.

After that, they told her not to leave town in the next 24 hours, and returned her to her hotel.

The next day a package arrived for her in her hotel room. In it was a very beautiful pair of sandals – a gift from her fan, the Mayor of Positano.

read more...

Hotel nomad – Vincent van Dijk

When he moved to Amsterdam because of his job, Vincent van Dijk couldn’t find an apartment to rent. Now he lives in another hotel everyday …for free.

Amsterdam, the capital of Netherlands, has long had a problem with living space. When Vincent van Dijk wanted to move there, he had real problems finding an apartment. In fact, he never found one. Instead, he hit on a clever idea. 

Amsterdam has around 365 hotels, like the number of days in the year. So he’s been staying among them every day and reporting about them.

When he had to move to the Dutch capital because of his job, Vincent couldn’t find neither a house nor apartment to rent. Because of that, he decided to live in hotels. Soon he started to write a blog about his experiences in each hotel he visited. The blog became so popular that he is now planning to write a book about hotels in Amsterdam.

Dijk has already spent a night in more than 350 hotels in less than a year. The idea to spend every night in another hotel came when he realized how hard it is to rent an apartment in Amsterdam.

Like many other good stories, so has this one started by accident and even in a bit of trivial way. In the fall of 2009, after an unsuccessful search for an apartment, Vincent van Dijk found himself without a roof over his head, and with a bunch of luggage and various other personal belongings. He had no other option but to go to a hotel. After that first one, came another, and another, and so on.

- One day I was still sleeping in my bed and a cleaning lady came and took away my sheets. She didn’t realized that I was still in bed.  I started laughing and thought, “Oh, my God, this is a nice story to write about” – says Dijk.

From the initial idea, a real and genuine project started to arise. Vincent van Dijk began to write stories about hotels, of course, from his own perspective, and to publish them on his blog. He would simply call a hotel and ask them if they would like from him to write some story about them.  According to this 36-year-old, most of them were instantly thrilled. Many saw this as an advertising opportunity. Because of the global crisis, many hotels had less number of visitors than before - despite the fact that almost five million tourists annually visit Amsterdam.

Although he is not a classic controller or someone who tests hotels, he writes interesting stories about them and his opinion is very important to hotel owners and managers. His stories have gained great popularity among the hoteliers, who are now always asking each other: "Has he visited you already? And? What did he say? "

At first, Vincent made plans for weeks ahead in which hotel he is going to sleep. Now he is more spontaneous. So far, luck was with him and he always managed to get a free room. Not only that – because of the stories he writes, not only that he doesn’t have to pay for staying, he even enjoys all privileges of a VIP customer. Upon his arrival, hotel managers personally greet him.  Some of them are preparing even royal apartments for him.

Van Dijk’s life has changed completely. Although he still doesn’t know what he will do when his project ends, he is certain in one thing – he will never again be able to live in a normal house. This is how he explained why he fell in love with the life of a hotel nomad:

  - I feel much better, somehow more balanced than before, even dough I work sometimes and up to 18 hours a day. I haven’t been ill a single day since I’m doing this. It's really incredible. I think I really changed.  Besides, in the beginning I carried all my stuff with me, all my diplomas, books, photos. In the meantime, I threw away everything. I don’t need it. I live like some Zen Buddhist priest.

He refused hotels from Paris, New York and Rio

The name of the most popular blog about hotels in Amsterdam is “Amsterdam slaapt”. Vincent van Dijk updates it every day with interesting new stories. His stories became known and outside of Netherlands, and he received several invites to come and write about hotels in Paris, New York and Rio de Janeiro. However, he refused them. He wants to stay in Amsterdam and turn his stories into a book. He called many hotels and suggested the idea to write a book about hotels in Amsterdam. They were all delighted with his plan.

read more...

Fear – Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes (1905-1976), famous American film producer and aviator, was known for his fear of infection and bacteria. That fear separated him from people, and because of it, he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1958.

From then and on, Hughes lived in a little house, in the desert near Las Vegas. His only friends were Mormons who lived next door and whose job was to protect him from infections.

Fearing that in his house were too many bacteria (curious tourists were constantly trying to have a look at that place), Howard Hughes began to move from one hotel to another. He had a habit to request a new room late at night, and in some hotels, several times in one night. The first thing he always did when he entered the hotel room was sealing doors and windows with plastic. He fed almost exclusively with chocolates.

When the owner of Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, where Hughes lived in 1966, asked him to leave the hotel and to avoid further conflicts, Hughes bought it.

The hotel's eighth floor became the nerve center of his empire and the ninth-floor penthouse became Hughes' personal residence.

read more...

Gold from Vending Machine!

When you are tired and hungry in the middle of the night on some empty station platform, vending machine with hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, chocolate and crisps is more than welcome. But in the world lately there seem to exist some pretty bizarre, but extremely practical machines, that offer bikes, fresh eggs, shoes, umbrellas, books, and even bullion. 

After being successfully tested in Frankfurt, in 2009, machine that sells gold as of May of this year, won the airports in Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt, Bergamo, Italy and Moscow, and German company, "Ex Oriente Lux" few days ago set it up in a hotel with five-stars, "Emirates Palace", in the United Arab Emirates.

Along with the usual pieces of gold, the machine sells South African golden coins, Canadian golden maple leaves, and even Australian golden kangaroo, nugget worth one hundred dollars.  "Gold To Go" vending machine sells 24-carat bars, weighing 1.5 to 10 grams. A gram of gold plate costs $ 50, and with it goes a precious gift box.

In a country where rice is sold in vending machines, it is no wonder that they, in the same way, offered eggs. Local farmers near Santa Cruz in California figured out this new way of offering their products, so that they have nothing to do with supermarkets. For three dollars, door of one of two dozen miniature tanks will unlock and you're ready to prepare scrambled eggs. Something similar to this applied farmers in Slovenia, where is possible to buy fresh milk from recently milked cows just by putting a coin in to a vending machine.

Huge machines full of bicycles exist in Netherlands. They have really perfected their love for this mean of transportation. Distribution machines with bikes are currently available on railway stations in Arnhem and Nijmegen, and one coming soon in Delft, Duiven, and a dozen other locations throughout the Netherlands. Bicycles can be rented for a maximum of 20 hours and then you must return them. When you use this service for the first time, price is 16 Euros, but each subsequent time, only four Euros. 

You are standing for hours on high heels, your legs are falling off, your joints hurt, and you don’t know what to do... Well, if you are in London or Liverpool, the solution is vending machine with shoes. The company "Asiks" set up in these two towns machines with sneakers that you can buy for just a few pounds. Vending machines with sneakers "Rollasoul" are mainly located in nightclubs, and the company got the idea after they realized that women are not feeling comfortable at all dancing all night in high heels. You can choose from three sizes - S, M and L, in black or silver color, and the price is just 5 pounds. They are planning to set up these machines and at railway stations and airports in the UK, but also to conquer the American market.

Vending machines in some places in America are trying to facilitate the life of fishermen, so that they would not go themselves and seek for live baits. Several options are offered in Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin and Illinois. The owner of a chain of these bizarre machines, Gary Harsel, says that earthworms are the best selling product, but they also offer minnows (small fish), crayfish and leeches. A handful of earthworm costs three dollars. And if you are out of items without which fishing would not be possible, you can choose from various angles, motor oil for boats and so be fully equipped for fishing.

Good titles at affordable prices!

Since the cigarettes in most European countries are banned, innovative idea is coming from England. Why should we be bored in various waiting rooms, at dentists or at the airport, when waiting can be contracted with something interesting to read? This is why the London Heathrow airport for some time now is offering busy travelers to cover the waiting time with a book from the machine, and this example was adopted and by some hotels.  To avoid any confusion, here it is not about newsstand literature, this is a variety of titles that should please even the intellectually demanding travelers. Of course, the best commercials are popular authors such as James Patterson, but there is more than this, including children's literature. British plan spread these vending machines to Asia and Australia. Price of a book is about 4 Euros.

read more...