The King was popular across the world, and it doesn’t take much for cheeseburger-munching aficionados to set up something on an Elvis theme.
But the Elvis Bar at Glasgow Prestwick is odd purely because of its location. Memphis or Las Vegas would make sense, but the departure lounge of a minor Scottish airport?
But no, there it is, decked out in King paraphernalia and driving the poor bar staff crazy by playing a non-stop Best Of. One thing’s for certain, the poor souls staffing the bar won’t have Suspicious Minds as their karaoke song of choice.
Bemused passengers sit there, waiting for their flight and wondering what the hell is going on. That is unless they take the time to read the small notice which explains that Prestwick Airport was the only place in the UK that Presley set foot in. Nothing tenuous about that, huh?
Still, it’s better than the ubiquitous Wetherspoons outlets found in most UK airports, so it can be saluted for that alone.
Getting there:
Nearest international airport: Um, no, we don’t really need this bit, do we?
More information: History of Glasgow Prestwick Airport
Showing posts with label airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airport. Show all posts
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
The World’s Scariest Beach – Sint Maarten, Caribbean
Extreme bronzing on Sint Maarten
Maho Beach on the Caribbean island of Sint Maartin has to be the least relaxing stretch of sand in the world. In fact, it manages to turn sunbaking into something of an adrenalin sport.
Most people who attempt to catch some rays on the beach place their towels on the far left or far right hand side. Don’t be tempted to opt for the spare spot in the middle though – that’s where the planes fly over.
Juliana International Airport
The beach is a very narrow strip. This is followed by a very narrow road. And that is followed by a great big runway. Yup, what makes Maho Beach so ‘interesting’ is that every few minutes, a plane lands at Juliana International Airport. It’s one of the biggest and busiest hubs in the Caribbean, and the planes fly so low over the beach that any minor misjudgement could see the landing gear dragging through the sand.
Jet blast warning signs
Maho is probably the only beach in the world with such a dire warning sign. Forget sharks and strong currents - the notices have a simple, stark message. “Jet blast of departing and arriving aircraft can cause severe physical harm resulting in extreme bodily harm and/or death.” Nice.
As the locals say, a pebble caught by that jet blast may as well be a bullet.
Sunset Beach Bar
It’s undeniably cool, though, especially when the huge Air France jumbo comes into land. Luckily you don’t have to be on the beach itself. Right next to it is the Sunset Beach Bar, which is something of an institution. It has top burgers, cheap-ish drinks and a party vibe.
More importantly, though, it makes an excellent viewing platform. The sunsets here are awesome, but watching the planes come in is even better. They look like they’re coming straight at you – especially at night when you can only see the lights – before diverting away at the very last second.
And that requires a stiff drink or eight...
Maho Beach on the Caribbean island of Sint Maartin has to be the least relaxing stretch of sand in the world. In fact, it manages to turn sunbaking into something of an adrenalin sport.
Most people who attempt to catch some rays on the beach place their towels on the far left or far right hand side. Don’t be tempted to opt for the spare spot in the middle though – that’s where the planes fly over.
Juliana International Airport
The beach is a very narrow strip. This is followed by a very narrow road. And that is followed by a great big runway. Yup, what makes Maho Beach so ‘interesting’ is that every few minutes, a plane lands at Juliana International Airport. It’s one of the biggest and busiest hubs in the Caribbean, and the planes fly so low over the beach that any minor misjudgement could see the landing gear dragging through the sand.
Jet blast warning signs
Maho is probably the only beach in the world with such a dire warning sign. Forget sharks and strong currents - the notices have a simple, stark message. “Jet blast of departing and arriving aircraft can cause severe physical harm resulting in extreme bodily harm and/or death.” Nice.
As the locals say, a pebble caught by that jet blast may as well be a bullet.
Sunset Beach Bar
It’s undeniably cool, though, especially when the huge Air France jumbo comes into land. Luckily you don’t have to be on the beach itself. Right next to it is the Sunset Beach Bar, which is something of an institution. It has top burgers, cheap-ish drinks and a party vibe.
More importantly, though, it makes an excellent viewing platform. The sunsets here are awesome, but watching the planes come in is even better. They look like they’re coming straight at you – especially at night when you can only see the lights – before diverting away at the very last second.
And that requires a stiff drink or eight...
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Walk across Gibraltar Airport's runway
The British Territory of Gibraltar on the southern tip of Spain is absolutely tiny. And when you’ve got less than seven square kilometres to play with, you have to be a little creative when it comes to placing an airport.
A lot of the land for the runway has been reclaimed from the sea, but the interesting bit runs along the border with Spain.
Across the runway runs Winston Churchill Boulevard, the territory’s main road. When the planes aren’t landing, traffic streams across the runway but the barriers come down when an incoming flight is hovering above waiting to land. It’s a little like a level crossing, but with massive jet planes.
Pedestrians wanting to get across the Spanish border into La Linea De La Conceptión have to run the same gauntlet. The pavements also stretch across the runway.
And if anyone’s a little slow, they’ll know about it – loud warnings are blasted out from above if a plane is about to land and the barriers are going to close.
Unfortunately, the airport is due to undergo a major upgrade soon. This will see a dual carriageway being built under the airport terminal so that cars don’t have to cross the runway.
Pedestrians are in luck, though – they’ll still have to walk over when planes aren’t landing.
Nearest international airport: Go on, have a rough guess.
A lot of the land for the runway has been reclaimed from the sea, but the interesting bit runs along the border with Spain.
Across the runway runs Winston Churchill Boulevard, the territory’s main road. When the planes aren’t landing, traffic streams across the runway but the barriers come down when an incoming flight is hovering above waiting to land. It’s a little like a level crossing, but with massive jet planes.
Pedestrians wanting to get across the Spanish border into La Linea De La Conceptión have to run the same gauntlet. The pavements also stretch across the runway.
And if anyone’s a little slow, they’ll know about it – loud warnings are blasted out from above if a plane is about to land and the barriers are going to close.
Unfortunately, the airport is due to undergo a major upgrade soon. This will see a dual carriageway being built under the airport terminal so that cars don’t have to cross the runway.
Pedestrians are in luck, though – they’ll still have to walk over when planes aren’t landing.
Nearest international airport: Go on, have a rough guess.
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