We now have a flying Russian hotelier - Actually the world’s biggest helicopter, a converted Soviet-made Mil V-12, which doubles as the world’s first flying hotel with 18 soundproofed rooms. (Update : March 31, 2009 - this flying helicopter hotel thing is a hoax, or a joke. Either way - it’s not real…)

Each room is equipped with a queen-sized bed, fine linens, a mini-bar, coffee machine, wireless internet access, and all the luxurious appointments you’d expect from a flying five star hotel. And unlike the A380, there are no restrictions on how much sex you can have in your cabin.

The flying hotel offers internet access, cell phone reception, flat screen TVs with extended channel selection, DVD players, and Wii. Guests are treated to complimentary champagne upon arrival, with room service offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, and specialty items.

“On-call flight attendants” attend to your every need, with access to an on-board business center, concierge, fitness center, whirlpool, sauna, steam room, spa/salon offering massages and tanning, common space area with live music at select destinations, blackjack table, art gallery, wine tasting, yoga studio and hydro-garden, tea garden, Japanese garden with koi pond.

It’s first flight is set for June 26th, 2009. They’re planning to offer a 14 day California tour. You can spend 3 day vacations in-between flights on the San Diego beaches, and in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas too. More details about the flying helicopter hotel and their schedules you can find here - http://hotelicopter.com/

Let’s move from real life fantasy hotels to reel life fantasy hotels. What to know which destinations and luxury hotels are featured in the spy thriller Duplicity starring Julia Roberts & Clive Owen? Actually, it’s duplicity on the part of the film’s makers, because The One&Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island in the Bahamas is portrayed as the scene of a romantic tryst supposedly set in one of the Miami Beach hotels.

And the Atlantis, also on Paradise Island, is the casino and hotel where the chemist drinks and gambles. The ballroom of the St. Regis Grand Hotel in Rome stands in for a location in Zurich. The Otto Kahn Mansion and James Burden Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side were transrformed into a lavish Italian bedroom. Well, nobody ever said Hollywood movies had anything but Duplicity in them…

On a more serious note, the San Andreas faultline lands up in the news - again. The recent earthquake swarm centred around Bombay Beach (all small quakes and no damage done) in Southern California has raised fears about ‘The Big One’.

Jim Andrews, of the International Weather Blog, says that “So it’s been over 160 years since the Fort Tejon Earthquake and even longer for strands of the San Andreas Fault Zone nearest the Salton Sea and the Bombay Beach Earthquake Swarm. Could this swarm of quakes mean that some major break in the crust is in the making? A question that seismologists are no doubt bearing in mind, for it is known that major quakes can sometimes be preceded by swarms of much weaker shakes.”

Tell me again why why people still live in Los Angeles?

If you’re in the mood for some more reading, check out the demolition of the sinking hotel in Fort Wayne. 

Also, 12 perps responsible for the CCTV Building fire which gutted the new Mandarain Oriental Hotel in Beijing were arrested by Chinese authorities.

And last, the train-wreck of the Hard Rock Park soap opera saga gets a new twist.  The original founders of the rock n’ roll theme park are claiming they still own intellectual property rights for the concept and want an annual $500,000 licensing fee and royalties from the park’s new owners. 

Posted on March 28th, 2009 by PLing
Filed under: Hotels, Travel News