Thursday 22 September 2011

I somehow don't think there'd be many giant pink sea-snails

I am planning a trip away at the moment, but haven't decided where yet. On a whim, and with memories of Rex Harrison sticking a pin in a globe in 'Dr Doolittle', I thought I'd try a modern version: put my birth date and today's date into Google Earth as global co-ordinates, and go wherever in the world the virtual pin popped up:


Yeah. Or, I might not do that.

57 comments:

Ginge said...

Google would suggest a country rife with political unrest as the perfect vacation spot. Just like when it used to tell people to swim across the Atlantic if they wanted to get from New York to London.

Happy soon-to-be birthday!

Ro said...

I got the Sudan. Hmmm, nope. Better off sticking a pin in a glossy travel brochure, I think.

Kaitebon said...

But there might be a giant luna moth!

Anonymous said...

I got Libya too but only because my birthday is tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Some variations, if you try the dates American style, they'd put you in southern Nigeria.

"09 28 19.77,-09 22 20.11" would put you somewhere in Guinea.

"-28 09 19.77,22 09 20.11" would put you right smack in the middle of N14 in South Africa.

Not too shabby.

Anonymous said...

I'm obviously a technological incompetent; I keep getting a clothing warehouse in Preston and an invitation to buy Enrique Iglesias tickets - for last March!

Anonymous said...

Yaaay, cracked the technology! I got Boa Vista in the Cape Verde Islands which frankly sounds like exactly the sort of place I would enjoy; it even came up with Ghostship "Cabo Santa Maria", Isla Boavista - Cabo Verde - 06. January 1998.

You're welcome to borrow my birthday, John; that actually sounds like fun!

SRWilkin said...

Is this your very subtle attempt to tell us when your birthday is?

We'll have to send you another lemon, you seemed to like the other one so much...

Am making a note of the date by the way, prepare to be twitter spammed...

John Finnemore said...

SRWilkin - Oh dear. I promise it was NOT meant to do that, but I do see how very much it looks like it. Sorry.

Anon - Ah, yes, those are better. But they do involve me accepting the American date format, which would cause me a certain amount of pain...

Ficklepickle - That's an excellent result. I am actually tempted to nick it. A ghost-ship, you say... (Also, I'm a big fan of Preston warehouses)

Custard Socks said...

I couldn't resist. I got Paris. I wanted Albania *sulk*

Fittykitty said...

Democratic Republic of the Congo-think I might put off going there for a while....on the plus side though-I bet I`ll get a good exchange rate.

Miss Pear said...

*hmph* At least m'colleague got Paris and everyone else seems to have got somewhere interesting, albeit not all ideal as holiday destinations. What do I get?

10 DOWNING STREET.

Even I'm not dull enough to go there for a holiday. Although it might mean I can stage a political coup. EQUAL RIGHTS FOR SPAZZY PEAR-FACED PEOPLE!

...Gotta be better than Cameron, surely?

Ktbean said...

If I do the dates the right way round I end up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And sorry, but that just doesn't look like a great place to vacation.

If the dates are done backward though, you end up in Japan.

Jax said...

Hey! Just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of cabin pressure and thanks to you I got 37 people to play the traveling lemon game with me today.
(I'd imagine it's quite a bit harder to find a lemon in the biggest high school in my state than on Gertie)

thanks so much for all the creativity you put into cabin pressure and the souvenir program
~Jax, (USA)

Sabina said...

Even more intriguing when you start using telephone numbers ....I'm off to sit in the middle of the Indian ocean =)

Yoshimitzu said...

Strange. I managed to get Libya as well. It seems that maybe everyone who reads this blog is going to bump into each other quite soon. See you soon!

prwelly said...

I got a nice, presumably, national park in the Southern Sudan. Could be the new hip tourist spot, if one is up for a bit of an adventure.

Switching to the American date format, I ended up in the sea off the coast of Cameroon, in the Gulf of Guinea. Not my idea of fun. But this game kinda is.

Seems only a few, including the really unfortunate Miss Pear (10 Downing St!)made it out of Africa.

Try shutting your eyes and spinning a globe and letting your fingers stop on a spot...couldn't do much worse.

And, if I forget on the day to come post a message or some such, because I am busy and stuff, happy birthday for the 28th.

Anonymous said...

You may have inadvertently discovered Qadafi's hiding place.

Anonymous said...

I got Newport Pagnell! 5 miles away from where I live!! HeeHee, don't mind going there, good shopping:)

Thetravellinglemon said...

I just typed in my mobile number and apparently I am going to Ivory sky Dental clinic- the Phillpines.
Lol, eek don't much fancy that!!

Also, thank you mr finnemore for all the cabin pressure games, we have been playing rhyming journeys, evil names etc. Also for your... 'books that sound more interesting with the last letter knocked off' what do you think of The tale of Peter Rabbit- The tale of Peter Rabbi? Lol.
Also loving the sketch show.
thank you!!

Jane Russ said...

Oh come on John. Where's your sense of adventure?

Anonymous said...

I put the word "cake" into Google maps :P and the top result was in New York. So I'd recommend NY purely for the cake...

Anonymous said...

I just tried this for a laugh - wound up in Sudan! Now, fun as that sounds for a holiday destination...

sian said...

No, but there may be a pushme-pullyou or two....
Happy birthday for Wednesday

Daedalus said...

Wa-hey! The Poohtervention sketch leads off "Pick of the Week"!

And the show is the Comedy of the Week podcast!

Musical Lottie said...

Libya, and reversing the dates (day's date and birth date) sent me to Egypt. I'm not particularly enthralled about the idea of either of them - I think sticking a pin in a globe may be safer.

Mandy said...

It's a holiday in Sudan or Nigeria for me as well, depending on standard or US date organisation (does that say something about the age of people who read this blog!) ...

Happy nearly birthday, John!

kate b said...

Dear John

The south of France is beautiful this time of year, I have villa there... would you like to go?
Wherever you go - Happy Birthday...
Kate x

Jsemleslie said...

Using today's date here in the USA, 26 September, and my birthday, 16 July 1976, I get northwestern Sudan in European format...

In North American format, I also get Nigeria, on the border with Cameroon.

Anonymous said...

This won't work? With only a maximum number of 31 days in a month... You can only play with 31deg longitude and 31deg latitude. You won't be able to go West at all because no one can be born on a negative number of a month.
John I think you need to try a better way of choosing a holiday location.
:)

Robin Tamblyn said...

Happy Birthday to you, John - hope you have a good day! (I'm exactly one year and 8 days older....)

500angryprawns said...

Have a great day John. Your shows aren't just funny, they're memorably funny - and that's really something. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday, John! Thank you for bringing so much delight to the world. I hope you have a smashing day, and wish you all the best for the future.

Puck said...

Happy birthday from France!
Thank you for your brilliant shows and for my next holidays in Sudan (it seems like I'm going to meet lot of your fans there) ;)

Miss Pear said...

Happy Birthday, John, and thank you for giving us so much aural pleasure. Missus. When - if - I grow up, I would like to be like you, only slightly less hairy.

Also, well done on your performance on The Unbelievable Truth last night! You played the game like an old hand, and your lectures were very funny and unmistakably yours. Wanted to say so in person but, well, this is me we're talking about, so it doesn't happen, obviously! Hope to see you become a regular on the show now you've broken your duck... or quail.

Gordiana17 said...

Happy Birthday!

Laura G said...

Many happy returns!

Rajani said...

Happy birthday, John! You've cheered me up more often than I can say - I hope this returns the favor in some small way.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday John

Big John (but not very big John across the road)

Sabina said...

Happy Birthday Mr. Finnemore!!

Hope you have a wonderful day and this year brings you all you wish for! and I hope it brings us many more opportunities to listen to/watch/read your fantastically comic genius creations!

However most importantly hope you get lots of scrumptious birthday cake today!!

E. said...

Happy birthday John! :D

I won't try to write anything witty because I'm not.
Witty that is.

Ali said...

Happy Birthday! C:

Anna said...

Happy Birthday! I love your shows and I hope to see more from you soon! (Especially Cabin Pressure. =D)

Anonymous said...

All the best John! I hope you had a nice birthday :)

Coldhands said...

♫ Happy Birthday toooooo yoooouuuu ♫

LadyRedCrest said...

I ended up in Mali.

You know, that could be a romantic way to pick a honeymoon destination... depending on where you get, of course.

Robin Tamblyn said...

According to Amazon, "John Finnemore" is the co-author of "Peeps at Many Lands: overviews of six countries 1900-1916, plus ancient Egypt (Samizdat Edition with Active Tables of Contents)" so maybe you could check northeast Africa out? (in a time machine?)

Just realised I calculated the difference in our d.o.b.'s totally wrong before (should have been 1 year minus eight days, whoops)- one should never go blogging at 7.23 am...

Hope you had a fab birthday anyway!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday Mr John Finnemore! I just wanted to say how much I really like all your radio shows, I even chose you as the subject of my year 9 Spanish project! -An A3 sized poster on somebody you admire like a friend or celebrity- (And I aced it! Thank you google translate!)

Kim said...

My vacation spot would be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Halfway between UK and Cuba, but still better than Libya. Well, I always wanted to do a sailing trip...

Ruby Hall said...

I decided to try out the same approach myself on Google Earth and was treated to one of the most bizarre marketing videos I've ever seen. Two "pandas" had carnal knowledge of each other and then one "gave birth" to an air-conditioning mechanic. The speechmarks indicate the fact that they were very obviously people in unconvincing panda suits. I've no idea what was being said on the soundtrack as it was in Chinese. The video was on YouTube for HVAC Jacksonville 2, if you want to see it for yourself.

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Am making a note of the date by the way, prepare to be twitter spammed...
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