In her New York Times travel column "Motherlode," Lisa Belkin recently wrote about flying with children. She titled it, "The Less-Than-Friendly-Skies."

As a person who once traveled with babies and young kids (according to her bio, her children are now teenagers) Belkin has sympathy for people who travel with children and mentions those who have problems with children on planes as "crotchety."

It's not that she isn't sympathetic to the plight of those who don't have kids with them who are on an airplane with folks who have brought their kids along, but she tends to feel more for the parents who have the kids--and the kids. She recalls the days back when airlines gave kids pilot wings and flight attendants had the time and energy to treat kids like special passengers instead of more work.

Belkin cites a survey at airfarewatchdog.com where people vote according to their travel preference when it comes to money and kids. How much money would you pay extra for a flight that doesn't allow kids on board?

At this point, only 38% would not pay more for a ticket. The higher the dollar amount, the lower the percentage would pay the extra cash. 20% would pay $10 more, but only 9% would pay more than $40. (For survey, click here.)

And who would those people be? Belkin thinks it's parents with young kids who would like to take a flight where they could actually have time to read a magazine.

Virgin Galactic, the first commercial space "airline" has reportedly declined an offer of $1 Million, to allow the production of the worlds first galactic porn movie.

Regular flights on Virgin Galactic cost $200,000 each, so the offer of $1 Million seems quite generous, but Virgin Galactic politely declined.

Space flights are scheduled to start in late 2009 or early 2010. Virgin plan to offer the trips using 2 aircraft flying out of the Mojave desert. Once the program gets underway, spacecraft will take off from a new space port currently under construction in La Cruces, NM.

Of course, since this is news from Virgin, who are operated by what can only be described as the worlds most experienced marketing guru, the whole thing could also be another of their brilliant gimmicks to generate some free PR. And it seems to be working quite well for them.

If you have $200,000, and would like to fly into space (without taking your clothes off for a movie), then you can hand over a $20,000 deposit and book a trip, there are however already 280 people ahead of you, so it may take a while to get a spot.

Each week, when I pick out posts for Gadling's Take FIVE, I look for posts that fit together in some way. These week, I've noticed a numbers theme.

• In David's post on America's most scenic train route, he noted that the journey between New York City and Montreal takes 11 hours and there are 90 seats left for the period between October 2 and November 11.
• Abha found out that only 8 people in the Cameroon speak Busuu and that the human voice only travels 200 meters. You can read about this and more in her post on a website that helps you learn new languages.
• When a man smuggles 200 canaries in 4 cages in 1 suitcase, there is trouble in international travel. Josh pointed out what that might be. Dead birds, 60 of them, for one thing.
• Anna gave a heads up about 10 travel websites to tune into. Add Gadling, and that's 11.
• Jerry is also in the numbers game. He spent 16 hours in China's Wild West and is writing about it in a feature series.
• In Mexico there are 5000 condoms, 1 inflatable banana and 1 missing truck. Scott posted about why it would be a good thing if all were found.
• And I've started watching the Amazing Race and posting recaps on that. This is season 13.

If you're counting, you'll notice 7 this week instead of 5.

Oh my, the bad news about JetBlue staff just keeps piling up.

After the report of a JetBlue Flight attendant harassing a passenger, it is now 2 Jetblue pilots who are in hot water.

The 2 off-duty pilots were in a cab, making their way from an upscale Miami strip club to a local Subway sandwich shop. When they arrived at their destination, they decided that they were too important to pay the $9 cab fare.

Their refusal resulted in a fight with the cab driver, ending with him on the ground with a concussion and a broken right ankle. The incident happened last August and it is not entirely clear from the arrest report why it took the police this long to arrest the 2 pilots.

Of course, this brings me to the most important part of my article; the news reports about this attack seem a little too sensationalist to me. Does it really matter what the profession was of the 2 alleged attackers? Are there professions out there where beating up cab drivers is considered acceptable? (And yes; I realize the irony in this statement, given the fact that I am also writing about it!).

To prove my point; the web page title of the CBS4 article is called "Cabbie Killer Cab". Nobody was killed, and I'm fairly sure these 2 pilots had no intention of killing anyone.

At the end of the article it is made clear that there is, as always, 2 sides to a story. The cab driver apparently has an anger management problem and the attorney for the pilots claims the cab driver used pepper spray before he was attacked. Whichever side of the story turns out to be true, it is a bad idea to refuse paying your local cabbie, and it is a bad idea to use pepper spray on 2 guys trying to find a tasty sandwich.

Here's a sordid, wacky tale, and one that's hard to believe, except that the person who is accused of gross behavior has admitted to part of the accusation.

Here is the scoop from what I read in this CBStv.com story. A male JetBlue flight attendant has been accused by a female passenger of sexual harassment.

She said:

• he said he would make sure no one sat next to her so she could be all his.
• he said that he wanted her.
• he said that she wanted him.
• he kept grabbing himself.
• he tossed his open cell phone on her tray to show her naked pictures of himself .
• he made vulgar comments to her through the bathroom door when she fled there to escape his advances.
• he grabbed her derriere when she was heading back to her seat.

He said that:

• he DID show her naked pictures of himself on his cell phone.
• he DID MAKE sexual advances,

He said he DID NOT

• grab her butt.
• act in a harassing manner.

A few days ago, $1000, a sweater, an ID card and a pilot's license -- both with Steve Fossett's name on them -- were found in a bush west of Mammoth lakes, in eastern California's Inyo national forest. Authorities are investigating the items as well as the entire area in a 10-mile radius.

Millionaire adventurer and world-record breaker Steve Fossett disappeared on the 3rd of September 2007. On this date, he took off in a single-engine plane from Nevada to head to California, but has not been seen, or heard from ever since. On his disappearance, a 20,000 mile area was searched in aim to find Fossett -- probably one of the most intensive hunts in US history. Although his body has not been found, nor has any plane wreckage, in February of 2008, his wife had him declared dead. I don't know how the law works here, but surely there must be a minimum time before which you cannot declare someone dead if missing, no? In this case, he wasn't even given 6 months.

So what if he's alive? Well, that hasn't been ruled out. Fossett's story resulted in the concoction of many conspiracy theories saying that he might have faked his own death. News reports concluded that Fossett was leading a double life before he vanished and rumors were that he had a few mistresses and that he had made some horrendous investment decisions -- enough to keep the theories alive. Oh how boring life would be without juicy rumors and conspiracy theories!

Other than some snippets of negative publicity, Fossett's adventurous feats have been an inspiration to many; we at Gadling have often covered his challenges. He was the first person to fly around the world solo in a balloon, and the first person to fly around the world in a plane without refueling it. He has a total of 115 records in aviation, gliding, ballooning, sailing, boating, mountaineering, skiing, triathlon, and even dog-sledding.

Perhaps this new evidence will help get some closure to this case. Or perhaps it will stir up an entire new trail of investigation.

Attention Gadling readers in Mexico; keep your eyes open for a truck carrying 5000 condoms, 800 HIV tests and one 23 foot inflatable banana (wearing a condom).

The truck should stand out in traffic, because the sides are painted with that same banana, which from what I understand, is not a standard factory delivered color.

The Condomovil was parked outside a house in Mexico City, but by morning it was gone. Police have no idea what the motive could be (I can think of several reasons). The value of the stolen truck and its contents is about 200,000 Pesos, a little over $18,000.

The truck has been touring Mexico since 1998, and the project has since handed out over 1.2 million condoms. Unless the Condomovil is found, the project will be canceled which would be quite a blow to the Mexican federal health department.

If I had to make up a fake statistic, I'd say that one in three cars currently has a GPS navigation system. In the past decade, these systems have gone from the ultimate in luxury to just another $100 gadget.

One thing that has not changed however, is the inability of some people to make up their own mind and drive around without using the GPS commands as something other than a mere suggestion.

Here are 5 incidents when a driver let the soothing voice of their GPS unit tell them exactly where to go; without thinking about their next move.

Turn right at the railroad crossing with the approaching train...



A grade crossing in Bedford Hills, NY was the scene of an accident where a driver took a GPS suggested turn, right onto the tracks of the Metro-North railroad.

When the car got stuck, the driver and passengers got out and called 911. Unfortunately, the dispatcher was not able to reach the oncoming train on time, and it struck the car. Nobody was injured but passengers in the train were delayed several hours. An exact same incident occurred earlier this year, also involving a GPS unit.

Via: LoHud.com news and Engadget.com

Over 100,000 Indian TV and film workers went on strike in Mumbai today. They are protesting unfair wages and the prevalent practice of hiring non-union crew members. Some of the industry's biggest stars, like Shah Rukh Khan, showed solidarity by agreeing to not cooperate with movie studios until the strike ends. Union members complain that studios and production companies have not honored an agreement which they signed nearly two years ago.

This is bad news for fans of the epic song-and-dance-filled melodramas. Most of the industry's highly anticipated, big-budget productions were slated to hit theaters in the upcoming months. Now their releases are in doubt. Also on ice are the productions of insanely popular TV soap operas. The bottom line: if you are traveling to India and dreaming of taking part in a Bollywood film (like Sylvester Stallone) or are a connoisseur of Indian TV, hold your breath (or, rather, don't). Surely theaters won't be closing down or TV going off their air, but it'll be reruns until the studios and unions make nice.

Congratulations to the remaining residents of Caracas, Venezuela! Foreign Policy has just honored your fair city as the murder capital of the world, with around 130 murders per 100,000 people.

Not only that, the actual murder rate may be much higher, because the numbers "omit prison-related murders as well as deaths that the state never gets around to properly 'categorizing.' The numbers also don't count those who died while 'resisting arrest,' suggesting that Caracas's cops-already known for their brutality against student protesters-might be cooking the books."

Also showing up on the list are Cape Town, New Orleans, Moscow, and, surprisingly, Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, which was recently named "Worst City" in an Economist Intelligence Unit survey.

Although Cape Town is rapidly emerging as one of Africa's most appealing cities, the city's homicide rate is still off the charts, at 62 per 100,000 people. But here's something to comfort you before your next visit: "The city's homicides usually take place in suburban townships rather than in the more upscale urban areas where tourists visit."

The article adds: "According to the South African Police Service, most of the Cape Town area's violent crimes happen between people who know one another, including a horrific case last year in which four males doused a female friend in gasoline and lit her on fire."

Sweet dreams!