Travel Wires

Dozy drivers on thin ice

We’re not the only country to have issues with overseas drivers. Iceland’s police are worried about visiting motorists scanning the sky for the Northern Lights and not looking at the road, which can be icy, twisty or narrow — and often all three at once. Cops encounter sleep-deprived drivers cruising into the night, vehicles without lights to prevent light pollution and tourists who have never driven in snow or ice, or on narrow lanes and one-way bridges. It doesn’t help that the sun may rise for only three hours a day. Of the 18 people who died in crashes in Iceland in 2018, half were foreigners. Hang on, a road toll of 18 is a crisis? Oh, that’s right, there are only 350,000 people in Iceland.

Google makes the journeys longer

Don’t trust Google if planning a Queensland road trip. The state is urging Google to fix its Maps function, which adds up to six hours to journeys. Google listed the 380km Birdsville-Windorah run as taking close to 11 hours. After complaints, it dropped the time to 7hr 49m, which is right if you drive at 50km/h the whole way. Outback Queensland Tourism’s Peter Homan says drivers should ask the locals: “Every shire has a Visitor Information Centre, with the best information about travel times, what’s going on in the area, distances, the best watering-holes, where to catch fish.” Tourism is crucial for Outback towns struggling with drought, which is entering its eighth year in some regions.

So good they named it 161 times

Guess the most sung-about place in the world? Celebrity Cruises has scanned the lyrics of more than 200,000 top 40 songs since 1960 and reckons it’s New York (161). London is second (101) and LA third (88). California is name-checked in 68 tunes, followed by Hollywood (66), Paris (54), Miami (46), New Orleans (43), Brooklyn (38) and Rome (30). Drake’s songs mention the most places (29), followed by Jay Z (27), Elvis (23), Tinie Tempah (22), Beach Boys (22), Public Enemy (20), Chuck Berry (18), the Rolling Stones (16) and Rod Stewart (14).

Apple takes biggest Business bite

Confidential information about United Airlines' top corporate clients has been leaked. An internal promotional poster shows Apple is its biggest customer, booking 50 Business Class seats a day on its San Francisco-Shanghai route alone. Next are Facebook, Google and Roche. One Apple employee who doesn't fly United’s friendly skies is CEO Tim Cook. The 58-year-old has a private jet for his “personal safety and security”.