Wikivoyage:Tourist office/Archives/2013/September

QM2 Suez and Panama canals can she navigate them

Asked by: 81.99.24.39 09:51, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

If by QM2, you mean RMS Queen Mary 2, she passed through the Suez Canal in 2012 as part of a circumnavigation of the world, so she definitely can navigate the Suez. However, she is a post-panamax ship, which means that she is bigger than that the Panama Canal can handle. See more details at this Wikipedia article: w:RMS Queen Mary 2. Vidimian (talk) 10:35, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

Why when the plane fly above the earth, are not affected by the movement of the Earth's rotation on its axis in other words, why not lengthen or shorten the distance between one country and another when it fly?

Why when the plane fly above the earth, are not affected by the movement of the Earth's rotation on its axis in other words, why not lengthen or shorten the distance between one country and another when it fly?

A plane's speed can actually be considered relative to the air surrounding the plane, more than the speed relative to the ground. That's why planes often take routes that are longer across the ground to take advantage of favourable winds. The earth's rotation does influence the earth's winds via the Coriolis Effect, so in a way the rotation of the earth can act to speed up plane travel. But perhaps not how you have expected. Largely the air surrounding the earth rotates with the earth. If you let go of a helium balloon it doesn't zip towards the setting sun. --Inas (talk) 07:51, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes. Because of the winds an intercontinental flight westwards will take longer than in the other direction - for instance flying from London to Bangkok takes 11:15 hours while a flight from Bangkok to London takes just over 12. I noticed it a few years ago when browsing through Oneworld's pdf timetable. ϒpsilon (talk) 19:04, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Inas got the main point...the air above the Earth rotates with the Earth. The Earth's rotation does influence the prevailing winds, but at different latitudes, the winds can blow with the Earth's rotation. The w:jet streams—very fast channels (about 2-5 km across and moving at 100-400 km/h)of air that flow in the opposite direction of Earth's rotation—are often used by planes traveling eastward and can shorten the length of some of some flights by up to two hours. However, the rotation has negligible effect of the flight. AHeneen (talk) 01:28, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Aeroplane Smoke

Why aeroplanes release smoke while flying? Asked by: 79.144.165.198 21:32, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

It's not smoke; it's a condensation trail. See w:contrail. LtPowers (talk) 23:03, 9 September 2013 (UTC)

I have always also wondered while looking up at the sky why airplanes leave that long white trail. Sometimes the trail is a thin white stripe that disappears quickly while other times the trail is thick and remains in the sky for a long time after the plane is gone. The answer to this question is actually very simple. The plane is not exactly releasing smoke…the white trail is actually a condensation trail or contrail for short.

According to Wonderopolis, “Airplane engines produce exhaust, just like car engines do. As hot exhaust gases escape from a plane, the water vapor in the fumes hits the air” (Wonderopolis). As one can imagine the air at that height is very cold. When the fumes hit the cold air the water vapor condenses. Thus, condensation is created in the sky. This condensation creates the white trail in the sky that we see. Jenn Rossmann an assistant professor of engineering at Harvey Mudd College, provides this explanation… “Depending on a plane’s altitude, and the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, contrails may vary in their thickness, extent and duration” (Scientific American). This explains why sometimes the trails disappear at different rates and also vary in thickness. Many planes fly at different altitudes and during different weather conditions, so of course there are going to be many different types of condensation trails.

To me, I think of this small condensation trail almost as a “mini” cloud. With this being said on the website titled Contrail Science it states “Contrails are actually a type of cirrus cloud” (Contrail Science). Because these trails are similar to clouds they too can easily evaporate. The rate at which they evaporate is the rate at which they “disappear” to us. In contrast, many people have seen the planes that actually spell out words in the sky. This is something completely different than a condensation trail. “Skywriters” are the certain types of planes that spell out words in the sky. These airplanes are “equipped with special smoke machines to fly in special patterns to create written messages visible from the ground” (Wonderopolis).

In conclusion, next time you look up at the sky and see the white smoke that is left behind from a flying airplane you will know that it is simply a condensation trail. Maybe ask yourself, what kind of trail is being left behind…Is it a thin trail that remains in the sky for short periods of time? Or is it a thicker tail that disappears very slowly? After answering these questions, simply observe how high the plane is in the sky and what the weather conditions are. Personally, I love watching airplanes fly by. Knowing exactly what the white trail they leave behind is, makes watching them that much more interesting.

References

Rossmann, Jenn. "Why Do Jets Leave a White Trail in the Sky?: Scientific American." Scientific American, 19 Nov. 2001. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-do-jets-leave-a-white>.

"Why Do Some Planes Leave Long Trails, but Others Don’t?" The Science and Pseudoscience of Contrails and Chemtrails. Contrail Science, 5 Mar. 2010. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. <http://contrailscience.com/why-do-some-planes-leave-long-trails-but-others-dont/>.

"Why Do Airplanes Leave Tracks In the Sky? | Wonderopolis." Wonderopolis. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. <http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-airplanes-leave-tracks-in-the-sky/>.

H.palmer13 (talk) 20:44, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

relocate

Asked by: 67.142.183.20 19:26, 10 September 2013 (UTC)could you please send me a travelers guide? My name is Lisa Brewster and my address is [deleted].

Answer: Just print out any pages you want. And it's probably best not to post your name and address publicly where spammers and scammers can scan it. Ikan Kekek (talk) 22:29, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

query

which coast is southampton england Asked by: Howsey (talk) 19:12, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi! Southampton is on the south coast of England, in Hampshire. Hope this helps! --Nick ^talk 19:15, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Although actually it is on the Southampton Water estuary which runs into The Solent around the Isle of Wight, which then goes into the English Channel. It was developed as an important harbour because it is well protected from the sea storms. --Traveler100 (talk) 19:36, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Cemetery in New Castle West

location of catholic cemetery in town of New Castle West in County Lomerick, Ireland Asked by: 74.76.127.240 18:27, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Churchtown Road, Newcastle West. --Traveler100 (talk) 18:58, 23 September 2013 (UTC)

Ugandan embassy in Khartoum

I want to know the telephone number of Ugandan embassy in Khartoum. I have searched it in Google. However, the number I got is not working. Asked by: 41.209.112.31 18:43, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

This site lists three; have you tried all three numbers? I would consider that it's possible the embassy has closed; I found a web site address that no longer functions, and Google Maps also doesn't acknowledge its existence. LtPowers (talk) 19:10, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Passports and crayons

So I was considering visiting Molossia, which requires citizens of the U.S. to produce their passport, and wondered whether they (he) would stamp my passport, and what that would mean. Does anyone know what happens if you put random stamps in your passport? Or forge an actual country's stamps? Or just create a drawing with crayons on one page? I'm curious about the laws, and not just U.S. law.

Asked by: Peter ^Talk 05:47, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

If you don't want to find out what the inside of Guantanamo looks like, don't even ask such questions. --Nricardo (talk) 07:07, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

I got a touristy stamp from Dorasan yeok in my last passport, afterwards I showed the passport tens of times in various countries (including USA). Afterwards I handed the passport to the police with the application for a new one (we had to do that over here until last year). No one ever said anything about that stamp. I think unofficial stamps are OK as long as they do not look unofficial. On the other hand I think someone could complain if you start drawing random stuff in your passport. Forging actual stamps is the last thing I would do with a passport. Especially if you would travel to one of those countries whose stamps you had previously forged or a country denying entry to people with certain stamps in their passport (Israel/Arab countries, Armenia/Azerbaijan, Kosovo/Serbia etc.) you could in the worst case find yourself in a prison cell and in the best case just you'd just get deported/denied entry. ϒpsilon (talk) 09:09, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

The tourist stamp from Dorasan does (I believe) have official sanction from the South Korean government, so you could actually claim it was 'official'. I also understood that because U.S. citizens are not allowed by U.S. law to legally travel to Cuba, they would receive a stamp of a simple drawing of an elephant instead of an official visa which would get the bearer into trouble. I'm not sure if this is still the case. --Andrewssi2 (talk) 00:22, 19 October 2013 (UTC)