Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: September 2009 Archives

According to Jaunted, Sydney, Australia, (Down Under, Bottom of the World, just go south till you hit it, if you see penguins you went too far) has moved ahead of the once mighty United States in the quest to make the Jetsons era a reality.

The Aussies now have robo-restaurants. Well, not completely robotic - there's no robot waiters or robot bus boys, or sadly - robot bartenders, but they do have touch screen menus and ordering. That's pretty much completely awesome.

While pondering Ryanair, which I try and do at least five times a week, which is amazing for an airline that I have never flown on nor have any intention of flying on, I came across this article on my favoritest airline to dislike.

Seems some people (read analysts), who have probably too much time on their hands what with the current apocalyptic economic forecasts and airlines going bankrupt left and right, are wondering if Canada is ripe for a lost cost carrier like Ryanair. Or even Ryanair itself. Although economics dictate that many of the features that contribute to the success of Ryanair are lacking in Canada (it's really big, it has a small population, and it lacks those out of the way secondary airports that low cost carriers are besotted with), it seems like the biggest stumbling block is possibly the Canadians themselves.

Apparently they feel that Canadians are too nice to fly on an airline that treats them like convicts being exiled to the Fatal Shore. Perhaps, but maybe if you tempted them with donuts? Or better yet - tear out the galley and put in a Tim Horton's. From what I've seen you'd make money hand over fist.

Still, I find something endearing about a country populated with people so nice that they might not fly an airline because it doesn't treat them with courtesy and respect. Viva Canada!