Jules' Undersea Lodge
Photo: Courtesy of Jules' Undersea Lodge

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to sleep underwater or inside a prison—there’s a hotel for that.

Offering more than just a bed near the sights, theme hotels are quickly becoming destinations for adventurous travelers.

Consider Wigwam Village in Arizona, where guests stay in tepees, a preferred sleeping arrangement of road-trippers in the 1940s. At Jules' Undersea Lodge in Florida, scuba training is required for check in.

Here, 10 reasons to skip the standard room and check into a cave, a giant wooden beagle or a simulated golf course.

Jules' Undersea Lodge

Key Largo, FL

Guests need scuba training—offered on site—to check into this hotel's underwater suites. Incredibly, there's room service: Staff divers will deliver well-wrapped pizzas from local restaurants ($500 per person per night).

Dog Bark Park Inn
Photo: Courtesy of Dog Bark Park Inn B&B

Dog Bark Park Inn

Cottonwood, ID

Originally a roadside attraction, this massive wooden beagle is now a B&B. Alongside, there's a port-a-potty hidden in a 12-foot-tall fire hydrant (doubles with breakfast from $92).

Wigwam Village
Photo: © David A Eastley/Alamy

Wigwam Village

Holbrook, AZ

1940s road-trippers witnessed the country's brief profusion of "wigwam hotels." A few remain, like this Arizona property where guests sleep in freestanding concrete tepees (doubles from $54 per night).

Beckham Creek Cave Lodge
Photo: Courtesy of Beckham Creek Cave Lodge

Beckham Creek Cave Lodge

Parthenon, AR

It took four years to turn this Ozarks cave into a hotel. Dehumidifiers keep dampness at bay, and natural sunlight penetrates the space through large windows (from $450 per night).

The Liberty Hotel
Photo: Courtesy of The Liberty Hotel

The Liberty Hotel

Boston, MA

For more than 100 years, this riverside property was a prison with a view. Today, it's a luxe hotel that retains the cell doors and catwalks from its past life. Visit Clink restaurant for crisp-seared Berkshire pork belly from Eleven Madison Park escapee Joseph Margate (doubles from $295).

Winvian
Photo: Courtesy of Winvian

Winvian

Litchfield Hills, CT

The Winvian's helicopter cottage houses a 17,000 lb chopper that's been turned into a private lounge. Want something cozier? Choose from the woodland compound's 18 other quirky rooms, like one modeled after the inside of a beaver's den (doubles from $650).

Kate's Lazy Meadow Motel
Photo: © BUTTER

Kate's Lazy Meadow Motel

Mt. Tremper, NY

True to form for flamboyantly retro B-52s singer Kate Pierson, her Catskills retreat is awash in vintage kitsch. Multihued appliances complement Midcentury-Modern sofas and easy chairs (cabins from $17).

Aurora Express Bed & Breakfast
Photo: Courtesy of Aurora Express Bed & Breakfast

Aurora Express Bed & Breakfast

Fairbanks, AK

Owners Mike and Sue Wilson pieced together their B&B from retired railroad cars, hauling them one by one to this ridge overlooking Fairbanks. The newest is an 85-foot-long dining car (double cars from $145).

Last year was a good one for the airline industry, with U.S. airlines churning out the highest profits in more than a decade. With the exception of American Airlines, every major carrier turned in positive profits for the year.

In the 2011 Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report released on April 4, quality is up as well.

But that doesn't mean airlines deserve high-fives all around. Soaring baggage fees, widespread airfare increases and the elimination of free food on many flights were major factors in improving the bottom line. Not surprisingly, customers were not happy in 2010. According to a Business Insider study conducted last November, which uses data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, four of the major U.S. carriers made its list of the "18 Worst Companies in America." The year also saw PR nightmares for the industry, including discrimination against disabled and overweight passengers and the episode involving a JetBlue flight attendant (the now famous Steven Slater) hitting his breaking point. 2011 has already seen a pilot misplace his handgun and a flight attendant put a baby in an overhead bin -- hardly a good way to start the year.

Meanest Major Carrier

United

United came in last place among all major airlines on our 2011 Meanest Airlines list with an AQR score of -1.31. United had the second-highest customer complaint rate (1.64 per 100,000 passengers) of all airlines in 2010, including the regional carriers.

Worst regional carrier: American Eagle
Photo: Scruffieb/Wikimedia Commons

Meanest Regional Carrier

American Eagle

American Eagle earned last place among all regional airlines on our 2011 Meanest Airlines list with an AQR score of -2.82. The major contributing factors were that they had the most incidents of mishandled baggage (7.15 reports per 1,000 passengers) and the highest involuntary denied boardings rate (4.02 per 10,000 passengers) in 2010.

Delta has the highest complaint rate
Photo: Makaristos/Wikimedia Commons

Most Complained About Airline

Delta

Delta had the highest consumer complaint rate (2.00 complaints per 100,000 passengers) of all the carriers surveyed for the 2011 Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report. Delta placed #5 among major airlines on our 2011 Meanest Airlines list with an AQR score of -1.22.

Jet Blue: Most Documented Incidents
Photo: Pylon757/Flickr

Most Documented Incidents

JetBlue

With only 17 documented incidents out of approximately 219,000 flights in 2010, the "least safe" major (minimum of 600 flights a day on average) airline is still very safe. Fortunately, commercial air travel in the United States these days is about as safe as it gets.

Delta, US Airways and Continental all share hefty baggage charges
Photo: jeremyfoo/Flickr

Most Likely to Overcharge for Bags

Delta / US Airways / Continental

This worst culprit in this category depends on the type of baggage you're checking. Delta, US Airways and Continental all share a similar fee structure, with some variance.

1st Bag: $25 ($23 if checked online with Delta or Continental)

2nd Bag: $35 ($32 if checked online with Delta or Continental)

3rd Bag: $125 for Delta & US Airways; $100-$200 for Continental

51-70 lbs: $90 for Delta & US Airways; $200 for Continental

71-100 lbs: $175 for Delta & US Airways; Continental will not accept luggage heavier than 70 lbs as checked baggage

Larger than 62 inches: $175 for Delta & US Airways; $100-$200 for Continental

American Eagle is the most likely to bump you
Photo: ColumbusCameraOp/Flickr

Most Likely to Bump You

American Eagle

American Eagle had the highest rate of involuntary denied boardings in 2010, with a rate of 4.02 per 10,000 passengers. American Eagle was the worst overall airline on our 2011 Meanest Airlines list with an AQR score of -2.82.

Comair has the worst on-time rate
Photo: lifesabmovie/Flickr

Most Likely to be Late

Comair

Comair was the tardiest airline in 2010. With only 73.1 percent of flights arriving on time, the airline had the worst on -time performance of all of the airlines surveyed for the 2011 Airline Quality Rating (AQR) report. Comair placed #3 among regional airlines on our 2011 Meanest Airlines list with an AQR score of -1.56.

American Eagle had the most incidents of mishandled baggage in 2010
Photo: abdallahh/Flickr

Most Likely to Mishandle Your Bag

American Eagle

American Eagle had the most incidents of mishandled baggage in 2010, with 7.15 reports per 1,000 passengers. American Eagle was the worst overall airline on our 2011 Meanest Airlines list with an AQR score of -2.82.

Two views of the slide connecting the New York penthouse apartments Photo: Turett Collaborative Architects

Fresh off snatching up a pair of penthouses in a brand new luxury condo building, our hero was faced with a dilemma: How to combine the two apartments into one bonkers bachelor pad to rule them all?

The answer was surprisingly simple: Duh, a slide!

Turett Collaborative Architects created this indoor funzone, and they explain the whole crazy scheme on their website. What they don't include is the identity of the manchild who commissioned the slide, nor the building that has been turned into a playground. We did the homework.

Here's what the architects said about it:

"TCA has had a lot of experience connecting smaller apartments together into a seamless whole, but this adventurous client requested something we'd never seen before. In a newly constructed multi-residential development, in the East Village of NYC, TCA had the opportunity to meet a unique client's desire to combine two penthouse condos... with a helical slide. In this transformation, two identical 1-bedroom units, one atop the other, were combined into a duplex 2-bedroom home with the option to descend in the usual way on a new Italian-made "Rintal" stair, or more speedily, in a seated position, careening through the new double-height atrium.

No word if you can also climb the slide connecting the NYC apartments Photo: Turett Collaborative Architects

"The half-tube stainless steel slide starts on the top floor near the office, and lands below near both the living and dining areas. The sculptural slide is housed in a newly created 18’ tall double-height space, which includes custom designed glass railings. The image of the stainless steel curves in front of the oversized window to the city beyond, to say nothing of the irrepressible glee of grown adults on the slide, is surprisingly poetic; with careful detailing, the playground element is an unexpectedly elegant addition to the space.

"Upon completion, the owner enjoys not only the newly combined total of 2,400 square feet, but also a new game room, office, putting green on the terrace, and of course, the slide."

Perhaps you won't be surprised to find out that this penthouse combo is in the East Village's most notorious party pad, the A Building. According to public records, Penthouses F & G were bought on the same day in October 2008 for a combined $3.14 million. The buyer was Phil Galfond, who we're guessing is the same Phil Galfond that makes his living as a professional poker player and lives in New York City. If there's one guy you'd expect to have a metal slide linking his two downtown Manhattan penthouses, it's a 26-year-old poker pro, right? Our only question is, dude, why leave out a ball pit at the bottom?

Wheeeee!

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