Hotel bugbears, 100ml airport delay and NASA flights

Hotel rooms designed by dimwits

Some hotel rooms are clearly designed by intelligent people, while others are mapped out by morons. Why do some not have a plug socket next to the bed? Surely it is the most obvious place to put one (and both sides too), in addition to any desk in the room? Like most of us, I confess to being overly obsessed with my mobile phone. I need it close by at all times, but given it’s also my alarm when staying away, I want it by my bedside… and charging after a day’s use. But no, I couldn’t charge it and have it next to me on a recent hotel stay which meant I had to get out of bed to snooze my alarm, and I need at least two snoozes before I raise my carcass out of the pit. Luckily there was a clock in the room, otherwise I wouldn’t have slept a wink. There are countless things that often annoy me about hotel rooms and this is right up there.

Airport liquid solution lagging

I see there is a delay implementing the new airport scanners we’ve been promised, the ones that will end the need of 100ml limits on liquids. The things is, it is already running behind the original plans with some trials starting as far back as 2018. The jolly souls in Westminster, who apparently run the country, have told our major airports to have this new tech in place by 1st June. Some already have (gold stars to London City Airport and Teesside) but Manchester, Heathrow and Gatwick are lagging behind.

In fairness, the bigger airports have more to do, but it’s definitely going to confuse some if there isn’t consistency across the country. The idiotic questions I overhear airport security staff asked at times does beggar belief. And what about coming back from wherever we’ve been to? I reckon it’s going to be a while before the liquid fuss and bother is gone for good. Get a move on everyone please.

Could supersonic travel make a comeback?

Concorde was an amazing feat of engineering. I thought it was astonishing at the time, and I guess it seems even more so when you look back. I’ve been to the brilliant Aerospace Bristol attraction and climbed aboard the last Concorde to fly and learned all about this quite amazing aeroplane. But given the advances in technology, I have always been surprised that we have not made more progress towards faster air travel that’s safe and eco-friendly. Well, by 2040 we could be back flying faster than the speed of sound and without a sonic boom.

In the USA, NASA has been working on such a solution for decades and says any noise pollution will be minimal with a “gentle sonic thump” creating a sound akin to a car door being slammed several metres away. The X-59 was built for NASA at a cost of $250 million and is an experimental jet known as the “son of Concorde” and something that could be scaled up to 44 passengers, it is believed. So although progress is being made to get around this planet of ours a little faster, it will be a privilege for the rich and famous when it finally arrives.

What a shocker.