Tag Archive for: travel

Sewer Pipe Suite Life

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A concrete sewer pipe as hotel room? That’s repurposing for a practical purpose! DasPark Hotel is the sort of wild idea you’d expect to be just another conceptual prototype, but this creation of Austrian art grad Andreas Strauss is real and operational.

Located in Linz, Austria, the unique hotel adds a back wall, large front door and small window to standard concrete sewer pipes to create an affordable stay for students and other adventurous travelers.

From dasparkhotel.net,

The external simplicity surrounds an unexpectedly comfortable interior – full headroom, double bed, storage, light, power, woolly blanket and light cotton sleeping bag. All other hotelery devices (Toilets, showers, minibar, cafe, etc) are supplied by the surrounding public space.

Just how affordable, you ask? The cost is the biggest surprise of all.

Because we obtain sanitation, breakfast and other hotel facilities from existing public infrastructure, it is possible for us to work with the very simple, user-friendly “pay as you wish” system. A night in dasparkhotel costs just as much as you can afford or want to pay.

(Tipped by a post on bookpaperscissors.tumblr.net, thanks!)

Catering To Your Deep Love of Seafood

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Why just dine on fresh seafood when you can dine with fresh seafood? Go ahead, enjoy a “reverse aquarium” dining experience and don’t give it a thought that the act is possibly being witnessed by your meal’s relatives.

The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island’s Ithaa undersea restaurant is 16 feet below sea level with stunning views of reef and marine life. Don’t expect to just impulsively paddle into this unique venue without advance reservations, as it seats just 12 guests. Prepare yourself for a depth charge, as meals run between US$120 to US$250. But hey, we’re talking once-in-a-lifetime here, right?

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island Ithaa

Your other option for dining underwater is the Eilat, Israel Red Sea Star Underwater Restaurant, Bar and Observatory, with an ocean fantasy decor that will have you scanning the crowd for Sponge Bob Squarepants. This place seats 105 diners with easier-to-swallow price points ($US10 to $20).

Before the restaurant was built in 1998, the site was devoid of sea life, the victim of pollution, sewage and over-development. Over several years, clean up included restoration of the active and colorful coral reef that originally thrived there decades ago. As the habitat was recreated, the fish soon followed.

Red Sea Star Underwater Restaurant, Bar and Observatory

(Read more at trifter.com; more photos of the Red Sea Star are here.)