When it comes to driving in America, choosing the right car is half of the fun.  When you’ve got endless miles sat with the cruise control jammed into “on” you need to make sure you’re in a happy place so choosing the right car is essential.
Even with the price of fuel being so much cheaper in the US, I’ll be ignoring the thirsty supercars in favour of something slightly sensible.

So looking ahead to what the car industry has to offer in 2010 I’ve found there’s quite a few models that tick the right boxes.

Lincoln

A model I’ve never heard of before is from Ford’s luxury brand Lincoln – the Lincoln MKZ.  With headlamps that look slightly Saab and a front grille that’s straight from a Weber bbq, this beast of a car is an executive’s dream with it’s AWD and leather interior.

Acura

Another unfamilar brand to me, the Acura RDX is (according to a car encyclopedia) the luxury brand of Honda and once you’ve seen both the exterior and interior styling it starts to make sense.  The dashboard is feature packed as you’d expect with a great instrument cluser that looks more like something you’d find on Gran Turismo than inside what’s essentially a family 4-door AWD.

Chevrolet

Back to America for the final car and this time a GM Chevrolet.  The Chevy Equinox is a 5 seat crossover with a choice of two powerplants, both of which use fuel-saving direct injection technology.  The quality of the materials used in the build of this Chevy are reported to make the driving experience feel more like a Cadillac than a cheaper Chevrolet which is great news for the rental market where you’re not bothered about the badge on the front.

I can’t believe it.

After months of warnings being issued by the Police that cycling on pavements is bad m’kay, Peterborough council have gone and quietly painted a white line smack in the middle of the pavement across the Town Bridge.  As everyone knows, the white line creates an invisible shield between dangerous cyclists and vunerable pedestrians.

It’s not a perfect solution however as the pavement markings disappear at the North side of the bridge.  Why this side is so dangerous I’m not sure, can anyone suggest a reason?

Back in March I vented my disgust at how I thought Peterborough council were failing cyclists yet the council is all too quick to shout about their green credentials and Travelchoice initiatives.

I’d love to think that I’ve had some hand in this action from the council, but they rarely come out in public unless it’s in their own interest.  Shame really as this is finally going some way to improving cyclists access from the South of the city.

Launched at the start of the year, Hotelsespanol is a Spanish website that gets you some of the best prices I’ve seen for last minute hotels in Spain.

After looking for various last minute breaks to some of Spain’s liveliest cities, I decided on a small shortlist of Barcelona hoteles and Madrid hoteles:

Hotel Confortel Almirante, Barcelona:

Hotel Claris, Barcelona

Hotel Maria Elena Palace, Madrid

Barcelona has some really interesting attractions such as Casa Mila and a walk down La Rambla is a must for any tourist to this city.  You could even book a Las Ramblas hoteles and have all the shops and street market within easy walking distance.

If Barcelona’s not your thing or if you’re visiting elsewhere in Spain, then why not consider Madrid?  As a gateway to spain this city is a perfect choice for an overnight stop in a Spanish hotel before continuing on with your journey.

If like me, you’re hooked on watching Steven Fry’s travels across the USA in his London Taxi then you’ll no doubt be itching to visit some of the destinations on his journey.

Unlike Steven though, I’ll settle for a hotel rather than some good ol’ gin-u-wine American hospitality so finding a great hotel is essential.  Thankfully it’s the Internet to the rescue with fantastic websites like Cheaperthanhotels, with last minute deals and discounts for pre booked rooms. This is how the smart traveller books rooms and prices are often cheaper than what native Americans are paying!

Miami

Anyway, back to Steven’s journey and last nights (Sunday) episode saw him dipping into the Southern states and into Miami.  I can’t help but think he really missed everything that Florida has to offer – after all, he doesn’t really seem the type to take advantage of the glorious sunshine!  Stunning art-deco and cheap Miami hotels are easy to find in this part of the country.

New York

Theres the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Madison Square Garden and loads more. But the question is where do you stay in New York City?  You don’t need a little black book of hotel managers to find the best rates. Demand for hotels in New York is always high which often inflates the rates, but this is the only place you need to look for cheap hotels in New York City.

San Franciso

Whether you’re here on business or doing the tourist thing and visiting attractions such as Alcatraz prison, the Golden Gate Bridge and taking cable car trips through town, it’s a truly beautiful city that isn’t short of cheap San Francisco hotel deals that are just a few clicks away.

From 5-star (and above) luxury, to great value budget hotels, ‘cisco has it all!

You can catch up with Steven’s TV series with the BBC iPlayer

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of being stuck in a Spanish hotel or villa with nothing to watch on TV except local (Spanish) channels, MTV and if you’re lucky CNN, then your prayers have been answered.

I knew you could get satellite TV pretty much anywhere in the world, but Sky TV with Sky+ is the trump card.  Now you can pause and rewind live television, easily set up all your favourite programmes on series record and generally have a better life!

Watch TV your way, for under £100!

Muy bueno!

Seeing as the weather in Peterborough is apparently so good at the moment, I felt a well deserved blast on the bike was in order to get some fresh air, have a ponder over a few thoughts in my head and get attacked by what felt like hundreds thousands of airborne insects.

I’ve been out and about on two wheels a fair bit over the past few weeks but haven’t really ventured beyond the city limits and considering I keep seeing all these cycle network posts (hinting that there is some kind of bike path mecca awaiting me if I just went a little further), I thought now was the time to investigate.

The Peterborough Green Wheel cycle network project was part-funded by the Millennium commission

and makes up Peterborough’s contribution to the National Cycle Network and covers a distance of over 41 miles on it’s “outer route” which I’ve mapped out: Peterborough Green Wheel map.
The Green Wheel includes more “spoke” cycle routes that dissect the city and surrounding villages, which I’ll get round to adding to the map one day but today’s outing only took me out to deepest darkest Flag Fen and back.  I did get to see Peterborough’s millennium bridge though:

Oh and yes, the title of this post should DEFINITELY, without fail, be sung to the tune of the Queen track of the same name.

It seems like we booked it ages ago but come Monday, I’ll be jetting off to sunny Dubai and then onto India for two weeks of doing absolutely naff all.

Well, that and sampling the cuisine, sitting out in the sun whilst blighty suffers from yet more snow/rain/floods/wind.

It’s going to be grrreat!

I bet you love what I did there.

You may have guessed from the title of this post that it’s something to do with cooking burgers and exhausts and you wouldn’t be far wrong. In fact, you’d be absolutely right.

Some clever Iranians have spotted a gap in the cookware market and have designed a device to cook a burger from the heat of a vehicle’s exhaust. Spotting a gap in a market dominated by the likes of George Foreman and Jamie Oliver, the team have produced what looks like a cross between a frying pan and a lean-and-mean grilling machine.

Designed as part of a dining in 2015 competition, the burger cooker uses two chambers to keep the exhaust fumes and food contents separate, the upper chamber allowing the fumes to bypass and exit the device whilst the heat is transferred to the lower chamber where the meat (or whatever vegetarians eat) is cooked.

I’m not sure what the finished results would be like, after all it would be nice to be able to drain away any fat and I’m sure it’s not going to do your engine performance any favours.

Maybe this could be a new option for performance exhaust manufacturers like Scorpion Exhausts? McDonalds could make full use of boy racers sitting in their carparks on a Saturday evening and whilst they rev their engines, the burgers could be cooking!

View the designboom website for this and more of the dining in 2015 entries.