Costa Rican Boeing 747 Hotel Looks a Little "Lost"

The hotel and travel industry are always coming up with really creative ways to attract consumers to new locations. Sometimes these involve bizarre hotels made of ice or giant wine casks. Or sometimes, as pictured above, they involve a Boeing 747 in Costa Rica. Which is the Costa Verde Resort, via Inhabitat.

The two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite also includes a kitchenette, flat-screen tvs, a dining room, and a terrace with an ocean view. We can’t really agree with their choice of furnishings, which are made from teak and shipped across the Pacific from Indonesia, but at least they were hand carved. The tip-to-tail paneling on the inside is also teak, but it was harvested locally in Costa Rica.

Now, I'm not one for "quirky travel" in the sense of staying somewhere just to say that I stayed there. And I actually don't like heights -- but this is just an appealing hotel, folks. It's fashionable, trendy, of the highest quality and it's a plane that sits in a giant tree. Really, all it's missing is snakes. And Samuel L. Jackson.

World’s First Zero-Star Hotel Opens Outside Zurich

Ramsey Qubein is Travelin' Light's on-the-road correspondent.

What exactly is a zero-star hotel like? Well, the Null Stern Hotel (literally: no stars) is housed underground in a nuclear bunker near Sevelen, Switzerland (an hour from Zurich). Two brothers and fellow artists Frank and Patrik Rikin are responsible for this $10 per night lodging, which they claim is a great option during tough economic times. Open for nearly three months now, guests experience little more than a clean, army-style bed and communal shower. Private rooms go for $30, which appeals to couples or those seeking a space of their own.

Heating is not the strength of this noisy bunker, and guests receive a hot water bottle when they arrive. Amenities are few and far between, but pairs of slippers and earplugs are part of the deal.

Switzerland has a nuclear bunker in most towns designed as a precaution during the Cold War. One caveat though: the government is allowing the brothers to use the bunker as long as they wish, but if it is needed for the city’s security purposes, local residents get to use it free of charge.