An Australian couple deplaned from Qantas flight QF94 because there were no complimentary XL-sized pajamas for them for the 15-hour flight from Los Angeles, the Melbourne Herald Sun reports. The A380 - and the up to 400 passengers an A380 can hold - were delayed about a half hour while the couple's baggage was off loaded.
Passenger Angela Ceberano:
"The cabin erupted in laughter when the captain announced the reason for the delay.
He said: 'Just to inform you all, the reason we've had the delay is because two of our first class passengers refused to fly on this plane as there was no extra large pyjamas on board for them.'"
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And this comes from an article by Michael Moynihan on foreignpolicy.com critical of the leftist slant of guidebooks to lefty places. He's quoting Lonely Planet: Afghanistan:
"The burqa can be seen as a tool to increase mobility and security, a nuance often missed in the outside world's image of the garment. Assuming that a burqa-clad woman is not empowered and in need of liberation is a naïve construct."
Give the Foreign Policy article a read if you're so inclined. It'll only take five or ten minutes.
Absurd as the burqa quote is (and he finds more), Mr. Moynihan gets a little overwrought about guidebooks describing leftish places in leftish ways. He decides that
"The problem with guidebooks to countries like Cuba, Iran, and North Korea is not that they encourage travel to rogue regimes ... but that they consistently misinform tourists about the exact nature of those countries. The solution isn't to stop traveling, but to travel wisely, not mistaking grinding poverty for cultural authenticity or confusing dictatorship with a courageous rejection of globalization."
Whew, got it. Cuz there I was just about to book myself into Pyongyang after being misinformed of its exact nature by the History section of a Lonely Planet guide.
And is sure is a lucky thing that the solution to lefty guidebooks isn't to stop traveling, huh?
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