Image via Passenger Shaming
Airline travelers couldn't figure out how to recline properly, a tourist was locked into a bookstore and we have a year's worth of WTF stories to enjoy until the New Year.
For the past few months I have had the pleasure of bringing you TravelPulse faithful stories that were hilarious, wacky, extreme or just plain odd.
It's that pop culture umbrella that provides stories that really get your head shaking in disbelief.
This is hardly an exhaustive list, so please holler to us about some that were missed. With that, take a brief tour through some items that made 2014 such an unforgettable travel year:
London Sleepover:
Some of us fantasized about being locked away in a toy store, bookstore or other business over night, content to do as we liked like in the movie Career Opportunities.
This actually happened to poor ol' David Willis who was locked in Trafalgar Square's Waterstones for two hours back in October.
Seeing as how Jennifer Connelly wasn't in the vicinity, he decided to take to Twitter to get out, which he eventually did.
We like to think this would have afforded us the time to finally read the remaining Game of Thrones books so we could be that guy when the show finally returns.
Buyer Beware:
The year reminded us to watch out for menu line items the way we look for pickpockets. A couple of stories caught our eye and made us pinch our wallets.
Back in July Edward Heaton visited the Wellesley Hotel in London and was hit a $127 bill for stuff you can pretty much drink from the tap.
In August we told you the story of an American couple hoping to get some gelato, only to find the cost was a ridiculous $56.
Finally, Joe Lentini's request for a bottle of wine at Atlantic City's Bobby Flay Steak restaurant came with the unsavory price tag of $3,750.
Thankfully, we now check things twice, just like Santa Claus.
Knee Defender Fiasco:
This story is well covered across various media outlets and channels, but we had to set aside at least a few words on the fuss garnered from simply reclining your seat a few inches.
The entire debacle reminds us that no amount of trinket will solve the extremely limited space aboard airplanes. Even the budding Soarigami has future media buzz written all over it.
The solution remains simple, folks. Don't sleep for a day before flying and then you pleasantly drift off into cryostasis like in the movies.
Lost in New York:
Traversing New York City on your own is scary stuff, unless we are talking about Home Alone 2 or the escapades of one Chris Villavicencio who is nine years wise.
The New York Daily News reported back in August about the young boy who had a fantastic time away from his family in the city for a few hours.
He even exclaimed, "This was the greatest day of my life, because this was the first day I was at the police station!"
Let's hope the rest of your travels are not as exciting.
Passenger Shaming:
People are the worst. That's the lesson learned from the hilarious compilation known as Passenger Shaming started by a frustrated flight attendant.
We hardly think this will curb folks from going shirtless aboard airplanes, but at least we can all laugh about these things now.
If you like that, you will love the hilarious story of Nadia, the drunken passenger.
Danny Macaskill's Bike Ride Down Cuillin Ridge:
We see a lot of brilliant videos during the year. However, one that continues to delight (read: haunt) is the one of Danny Macaskill riding down a Cuillin ridgeline.
You get a glimpse of the gorgeous landscape, sure, but the real treasure is moving in your seat as you watch this star rider barely keep from tumbling off the mountain.
Mexico's Illegal Immigrant Night Hike:
I am still dumbfounded that something like this is out there. Though the more I explored the story of a tourist night hike that simulates the harrowing journey of illegal immigrants into the United States the more I understood how something like this could exist.
Amelia Earhart:
One of the more remarkable discoveries this year has to be that of Amelia Earhart's plane fragment, which would finally tell the story of where the aviation giant landed on her ill-fated journey.
Discovery News' Rossella Lorenzi reported back in October, "A fragment of Amelia Earhart's lost aircraft has been identified to a high degree of certainty for the first time ever since her plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937."
Future expeditions are planned, but the fact that a decades-long mystery might be finally solved is no less than astounding.
Now Miley Cyrus debacles withstanding, this seems like a fantastic point to wrap up what has been a truly rewarding year for travel aficionados as well as myself.
It's truly a joy to look back at a finite moment in time, attempting to appreciate all we may have gleaned from pop culture.
From the inane to the truly wonderful, 2014 has been an odd year in the best sense of the word.
We can only hope the next year is half as fruitful and entertaining.
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