Charles the cat's free flight home. Photo Credit: lragerich

Charles the cat apparently has a nose for adventure, but he’s currently keeping mum about how he managed to travel 1300 miles from his home in Albuquerque New Mexico to Chicago.

Charles disappeared eight months ago when his owner was out of town and a friend was caring for him while Robin Alex, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans.

According to the Associated Press, the Chicago Animal Care Control picked up Charles, who had been micro chipped. A quick telephone call to Alex let her know Charles had been found safe and sound.

However, Alex couldn’t afford the round trip airfare to bring Charles home, but another Albuquerque resident, Lucien Sims heard about Charles’ story and just happened to be on his way to Chicago for a wedding and offered to pick him up and bring him home from the Chicago shelter.

Sims personally organized all of Charles’ return flight arrangements. He managed to get a company to donate a cat carrier and American Airlines agreed to provide Charles with a free flight.

Charles is now safely back home in New Mexico.

Apple's iPad a no go in Israel. Photo credit: Yutaka Tsutano

If you’re planning to show off your newly purchased iPad in the Holy Land, think again. Israel’s Communications Ministry is banning all iPads from the country, until the iPad complies with Israeli Wi-Fi standards. Customs officials have already confiscated 10 iPads at Ben-Gurion International Airport, including those of people who purchased them in the US and declared them at Israeli customs and paid the additional compulsory 16% VAT for the devices. While owners living in Israel have had their iPads confiscated, tourists who bring them into the country will apparently get them back once they leave.

The Ministry of Communications said the ban was instituted earlier this week because the iPad’s Wi-Fi wireless technology was built to  U.S. standard, which allows stronger signals than those allowed in Europe and Israel.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, communications ministry spokesman Yechiel Shaviv said the iPad’s Wi-Fi technology violates Israeli law “and will overpower other wireless devices in Israel.” He also said that once Apple releases an iPad with European specifications the ban would be lifted.

Photo credit: David Jones

A courier in Europe trying to get to the UK with bone marrow for an urgent transplant was trapped as a result of the fallout from the Icelandic volcano travel chaos. However, thanks to Twitter, he’s now on his way back to England.

The courier – Michael – was in Germany to pick up the bone marrow for the Anthony Nolan Trust, but was stranded in Brussels on the way back to the UK, and the stem cells he was carrying can degrade in 72 hours.

After hearing of his plight the Anthony Nolan Trust sent out the following tweet:  “URGENT! Our courier stuck in Brussels carrying marrow. Needs 2 get on Eurostar/tunnel from 8pm UK time 2nyt. Can u help?”

In less than an hour and after thousands of re-tweets, they posted “A HUGE thank you to Eurostar who have seen all of our tweets and have guaranteed us that our courier has a seat on the train tonight. Yay!!”

The Trust is continuing updates of Michael the courier’s progress and you can follow them on @anthonynolan.

Ash from the Icelandic Volcano Photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Business and leisure travelers aren’t the only people disrupted by the Icelandic volcano.  Die hard sports competitors are scrambling to find any mode of transport to get them to their tournaments on time.

With flights cancelled to Madrid and Hamburg, the British soccer clubs Liverpool and Fulham have been forced to hit the road and the railways to get to the Europa League semifinals set to take place in Hamburg on Thursday. The rail and road trip is expected to take 10 to 12 hours to complete.

Three elite Kenyan runners are scheduled to run the London Marathon on Sunday, but may be exhausted come race day.  Marathon organizers arranged to fly defending champion Sammy Wanjiru, Duncan Kibet and Emmanuel Mutai from Nairobi to Europe on a private jet on Tuesday, but the flight was postponed a day. The plane is now set to fly from Nairobi to Spain on Wednesday, where the athletes will have to take another flight to Britain. Runners usually anticipate three to four days to prepare for a marathon in the race’s city, but that’s unlikely to happen for these Kenyans.

Cricket organizers are also making plans to fly up to seven teams from Dubai to the World Twenty20 in the West Indies, which begins on April 30. The International Cricket Council says the plan calls for Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, South Africa and Bangladesh to travel through Dubai on Sunday or Monday before being flown to the West Indies on a charter flight.

Over at the chess world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, the match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is scheduled for April 23, but Anand has been stranded in Frankfurt since Saturday and has asked the World Chess Federation to postpone the match at least three days. Golf bloggers are hoping that the cloud will be clear to allow travel to the Masters and US Open Championships.

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Anand it would take 28 hours to reach Sofia by train and he wouldn’t be “in a mental state to play immediately after traveling such a distance.” However, Bulgarian Chess Federation president Stefan Sergiev said the opening ceremony could not be postponed because of commercial contracts.

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