Last month I wrote a post about Franz Wisner's book, Honeymoon with my Brother, an account of two brother's travel around the world that lasted for two years.

In contrast, there's the story I read yesterday on Wallet Pop that illustrates the opposite of the brotherly love found in Wisner's book. The two brothers that the Wallet Pop post refers to were duking it out on a JetBlue flight Saturday because one of them smoked in the airplane's restroom. Now, that's a reason to clock someone. These two brothers weren't able to travel together for more than a few hours. Perhaps their book could be Travel Hell with my Brother and highlight all the sib trips that have gone wrong. It might make for great reality TV. Send the pair to various destinations and watch the sparks fly.

The result of the flight that was host to the seemingly endless brawl was a diversion to North Carolina. I'm sure the passengers have not finished telling tales about their trip to Florida. Travel Hell with Two Brothers

I know that flying can create stress between family members so I'm wondering what else led up to this. Or does this family actually live in a B-rate movie or have too many hours of watching Jerry Springer episodes under their belts?

The only time I remember people physically fighting when I've traveled, and I've traveled a lot, was a pushing, shouting and shoving match in a Greyhound bus line at Port Authority. The fight was between two unrelated people--also males. I attributed it partly to summer heat that makes people a bit crazy in New York. The other passengers in line stopped the fight by intervening and talking sense into the lunkheads who forgot that all they needed to know should have been learned in kindergarten.

Any great fights when you've traveled? Not yours, someone elses? The photo shows that a lack of sisterly love could apply.

In an article in the St. Petersburg Times, writer Bridget Hall Grumet tells about her experience waiting with her pre-toddler to pre-board, only to not pre-board after all. The unnamed airline had dropped the practice unbeknown to her. (She later mentions an American Airlines and United flight, but they are not the ones Grumet initially described.)

We've posted in the past about airlines who have stopped pre-boarding families with infants and small children. Southwest, American, Delta and United no longer have pre-boarding, although Grumet says that if you ask gate attendants with American and Delta, they may let you board early if you have a small child. Grumet personally found that to be true on an American flight.

Although Grumet misses the perk of boarding early with a kid because it makes settling in on a plane that much easier, she does understand the airlines' latest practice. The idea behind not making allowances for people with small children and infants, and others who need assistance, is that when they get on the plane in one group, it creates a bottleneck.

If people who need extra help are randomly spread out during the boarding process, it saves 10 to 12 minutes. That may not sound like much, but as airlines struggle to get people to their destinations on time, 10 to12 minutes can jam up arrivals and departures for more than that one airplane.

My thought is that if I were traveling with a small child, I'd not be in any hurry to board. Spend less time on the airplane. The problem with that strategy is that with overhead bins becoming more packed as people avoid the cost of checking a bag, there won't be space in the bins. Then you'd be stuck searching out a bin rows from your seat. See Heather's post on how the trying to find bin space can look to a flight attendant.

Here's one of my solutions for combating the headache of traveling on a plane with a small child. When at all possible, take the train. Stay tuned tomorrow for my post on how train travel worked out for me. My six year-old got us on the train first.

There are some people who are determined to not wear clothes in the great outdoors. There are the people who do naked rock climbing, people who hang out on a nude beach (or play volleyball in the buff on a beach like those I saw once in Greece), people who sky dive nude, dance in the nude, go on cruises in the nude, and, like this German guy I read about, people who prefer to hike in nothing but a good pair of shoes.

Even jail time is not dissuading this German fellow from his naked hiking habits, according this Reuters article. This fellow was put in jail for ten days for in the buff walkabouts, but has vowed that he will continue to hit the trails without clothes even though it is against the law. Perhaps he sees a double standard? Hiking in the nude breaks Germany's indecency laws, although nude beaching it is okay in designated areas.

Interestingly, Germany has a German Nudist Association which is part of the German Sports Association. Nudism can be traced back to Germany as a way to be healthier, so the association fits the idea of fitness. This membership has created an increase in nude hiking love. Nude jogging also has a following, but loping along in just socks and running shoes also lands a fine.

In a way, one could say that if there are nude beaches there could be nude forests and nude mountains for those who like to scale cliffs. Whatever they do, I hope they're using a decent sunscreen.

Back in April, Jeffrey wrote about a new initiative by some American Airlines pilots to try and get public attention to the large number of delays and cancellations the airline was experiencing. At that time, they invited people to their web site, where they could "tell their AA story".

They have now taken things one step further, with their own billboard. The billboard is about 2 miles away from Chicago O'Hare and next to one of the busiest highways leading to the airport. The Allied Pilots Association is behind the billboard, and they want to make it clear that they don't think you are AA's top priority. It's a pretty eye-catching way of delivering your message, and if I had the money, I'd love to rent one every time an airline messed up my trip.

Perhaps you've come across this story of Michael Lee White, the American teacher at a business college in China who has been accused of being a spy involved with the CIA and having a role in the recent small scale war in Georgia. Those teachers. Just kidding. White doesn't seem much like spy material from the description in the AP article.

He wears T-shirts that say "Save The Whale," for example. And if he is a spy, I certainly hope he would have better digs somewhere else. He's cramped up in a small apartment without a lot of furniture. Where's the glamor? This doesn't sound very James Bond like.

The reason White is under scrutiny is that his passport was found in the basement of a house in Georgia along with other items belonging to soldiers who high-tailed it out of there.

According to Michael Lee White, he lost his passport on a flight from Russia to the U.S. October 2005. And, he has never been in Georgia. Besides that, when the war was happening, he was back in the U.S. taking care of his sick father. The CIA also says that White is not in the CIA.

It seems to me that White will be cleared, and this will be chocked up to a weird travel story snafu, but it does hammer home the point, guard that passport carefully.

I know people who have lost their passports and it has always caused a problem. The good thing is that with a lost passport, you can create a paper trail to back up claims about your whereabouts.

Here are the four situations people I know have lost their passports. White's is similar to number 1. The others were the result of robbery.

I have always been under the impression that Europeans worked fewer hours than Americans. However, a new survey shows that more than one country's population averages over 40 hours per week on the job.

Romania and Bulgaria are home to the hardest workers on the continent. According to research conducted by The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), the citizens of these new EU members average 41.7 hours per week at the office. The UK ranks next, at 41.4 hours.

Overall, the 12 newest EU states worked more than the original members (40.6 hours compared to 39.5).

At the other end of the spectrum sit the French. They work a leisurely 37.7 hours each week. That might sound like a healthy workload, but France's Minister of Finance recently criticized her country-people for not working hard enough. Italians also boast an under 40 hour work week (38.4 hours).

Eurofound put the mean number of days off per year at 25. In the US, the average number of paid vacation days is 14.

Source

Late last month we heard news that Virgin America was kicking off service between New York's JFK airport and Las Vegas and would be celebrating the event with the christening of HBO's "Entourage Air" with the cast in New York and a party at the Palms casino in Vegas.

Now, in the midst of the debauch we're checking in to update you on how the event is unfolding. Just after 1PM Gadling was asked to show up at hangar 12 right outside of JFK airport, an open air structure with the Virgin America "Entourage Air" A320 parked underneath. Walking up to the gate, two models showed up to escort us down the red carpet towards the hangar, where music was playing, couches were laid out and there were a hundred or so people milling about.

With Champagne, Grey Goose and Bombay Dry flowing freely, the crowd patiently snacked on hors d'oeuvres speculating about the arrival of Branson and the entourage until finally the crew snuck into the back of the aircraft, a few suits made some announcements and the entire lot burst from the front boarding door.

I'm not sure how rehearsed the entire spectacle was – apparently Sir Branson was late getting in – but after they posed for a few photos the entire crew of Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connoly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara and Richard Branson as well as the creator, Doug Ellin came down the steps, grabbed bottles of Champagne and burst them open in front of the port engine. Someone tracked down a microphone for a few nebulous questions, then the cast unfortunately had to leave. Later, Devon, one of the PR associates at Virgin told me that they had tons of events associated with the HBO premier so had to jet out to the city as soon as possible.

As for the hundred or so people in the hangar, however, we were headed to Las Vegas for the after party and some grand old socializing. At 35,000 feet we were privy to another speech from the brass then delighted with a pre-screening of the first episode of this season's Entourage which airs this weekend. With four more hours left to Vegas, we were left to explore own wiles, which is where you'll find me now, tucked under a plush "Entourage Air" blanket.

Supposedly the afterparty takes place at the Playboy club in the Palms. Stay tuned for a full report from the event and all of the juicy pictures!

If you've come to Gadling to get away from the Sarah Palin media frenzy, tough luck.

Assuming you're a sentient being who's been blessed with eyes or ears, you've probably noticed that America's foxiest governor, Sarah Palin, has been nominated as the Republican candidate for vice president. For the last several days, Palin has been derided as inexperienced by the Democrats, who cite the fact that she was mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Alaska, as recently as 2002.

It was only a matter of time before news outlets infiltrated the 8,500-person town of Wasilla and reported back to the rest of us. Over at Slate, Alex Sheshunoff has compiled a slideshow of the town, complete with photos of all the highlights: the Mexican restaurant, the taxidermist, the city hall, and most importantly, the Target.

A 35 year old "well dressed businessman" was arrested yesterday when he refused to turn off his laptop for the final approach of his Qantas flight. The passenger was on board flight QF418 from Melbourne to Sydney and apparently found whatever he was doing on his laptop to be more important than listening to flight attendant requests.

Upon landing, all passengers were told to stay seated while the Australian counter terrorist first response force arrived, taking the man into custody.

Witnesses report seeing the man being interrogated by 6 armed police officers in the airport terminal, but he was later released with no charges filed against him.

The only statement Qantas made, was that a male passenger had failed to comply with a captain's directive. Let this be a lesson to everyone; listen to the flight attendant, and turn off your laptop when you are told to. There may be no evidence to confirm that a laptop will interfere with flight controls, but a 4 pound laptop can become a cabin projectile when the aircraft touches down.