It's time to put a cap on April Fool's Day. Thankfully.
It's not that we're anti-April Fool's, much, but we have a hard enough time dealing with reality these days, so navigating trickery.just isn't a fun pursuit.
While many stories were clearly a prank, others kept totally kept us guessing. Case in point: we're pretty sure a story in The Art Newspaper about Russia's State Hermitage Museum opening in DC's Old Post Office Pavilion, AKA Trump International Hotel is fake. But we wouldn't make book on it.
And as usual, the travel industry generated its share of fantastic, but patently untrue headlines. Sadly, though, we kind of wish some of the were real.
Airline Stories
Naturally, global airlines were quick to hop on the April Fool's bandwagon. Canada's "other" airline, WestJet announced it would change its name to Canada Air, effective immediately. The spoof accompanied a real sale that the airline called "The Most Canadian Sale in Canada."
Meanwhile, Air France introduced new hammock seats, Virgin Atlantic promised to harness "flapenergy" with aircraft wings that actually flap and British Airways rolled out Corgi class, dedicated strictly to elite travelling corgis.
Virgin Australia also played on the pet theme, introducing us to their all new canine crew. With the catapulting popularity of pets on airplanes, we think this one could actually come true in the not-to-distant future. Or maybe the cute pooches featured in the Virgin Australia just make us hope this becomes real.
Our favorite if-only-prank was a new concept aircraft from Emirates. More a flying cruise ship than an actual airplane, the three-story aircraft includes a swimming pool, gaming room, gym and park. Fly this baby and you won't even notice you don't have any electronics in your carry-on bags.
A runner-up for best airline prank wasn't from an airline at all. Rather, it came from Swedish retailer Ikea, who promised to introduce the low cast airline Flikea in 2019.
Trump International Hotels & Resorts
Not surprisingly, President Donald Trump's hotel empire played the central role in a number of international pranks. Numerous destinations around the world rolled out announcements of new Trump hotel signings, including a proposed gleaming high-rise in a historic part of Dublin, Ireland, announced in The Irish Times.
Our favorite? The Broadway World ran a piece about the town of Gander, Newfoundland rejecting a proposal for a new Trump hotel. The small town of Gander is currently making a splash on Broadway in the musical Come From Away, which chronicles the events that took place on 9/11, when more than 7,000 passengers were forced to land at the city's tiny airport after all commercial aviation was grounded in North America.
"The hotel would not only provide several luxury suites," said the Broadway World article, "but would also offer budget customers an all-inclusive 'Refugee Experience' stay, where up to 300 guests sleep together on cots in a recreation of a high school gym, eat buffet meals of donated tuna casserole and poutine and may take their pick among sacks of second-hand clothing."
Space Tourism
Space tourism also made various April Fool's headlines yesterday. Interestingly, many of the fake headlines ran right alongside several real space tourism news items, including a preview of Blue Origin's new Tourism Shephard Capsule in the Tech Times and news of SpaceX's successful launch of a rocket booster using "used" parts.
The Jetsetter travel website included a gorgeous layout for a hotel opening in the newly discovered Trappist-1 System, while Oyster.com introduced $69 fares on flights to the moon. But, warned the travel site, think twice before purchasing your ticket. The fares are one way only and they come with 7,983,475,984 hidden fees.
We were kind of excited about the new Cayman Space Tours unveiled at the Cayman Luxe website. We're pretty sure this is a gag because weren't able to find anyone who actually works at the "Cayman Aeronautics and Space Administration (CASA)."
Cruise & Destination News
In cruising news, U.K.-based Travel Weekly reported a story about a Celebrity Cruise Lines ship discovering a brand new, uncharted island near the Bermuda Triangle.
Said the article, "Celebrity Escape, sailing with 120 crew on board and no passengers, is used exclusively to research new destinations and itineraries.
Past escapades include test sailings in one of the world's largest swimming pools at the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Algarrobo, Chile, and attempts to cruise between Southampton and New York in just three days."
Also in the U.K., the science editors at The Telegraph are reporting the emergence of polar bears in Scotland. Yes, it's an oldie but goodie. Polar bears have been appearing outside the polar region for almost as long as there has been an April Fools. Still, we love the visual. (Although it would have been funnier on a Trump golf course.)
Meanwhile, in Quebec, Canada, French Canadians are celebrating Poisson d'avril (Fish of April, also known as April Fool's Day) with a new insurance program from the Canadian Automobile Association which covers traffic jams. Which we really, really wish were real.
Even in French, the video is fairly self-explanatory, but among the featured services are free ice delivery so your groceries don't spoil while you sit in traffic and roadside musician assistance to help cheer up your crying children. The most important feature is airlift coverage so you can simply call for a helicopter when facing too much traffic.
If only.
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