Another one of our favorite celebrity travel tidbits of 2007? Back in October, we reported:

Branson Swan Dives

On Wednesday evening, Sir Richard Branson celebrated Virgin America’s inaugural flights to Las Vegas by free-falling 40 stories – harnessed to a safety wire of course. But during the fall, a gust of wind slapped the daredevil billionaire into the side of the Palms Casino Resort. Branson emerged alive, but not without some scrapes and bruises.

Gee, I can’t imagine any better way to promote your new airline than crashing into solid objects at breakneck speeds.

On the upside, Branson did apparently scatter free Virgin America tickets as he fell, though none have been claimed. So be on the lookout in you’re in Vegas this weekend.

As part of the ongoing Virgin America festivities this week, Branson threw quite a shindig at the Wynn Las Vegas nightclub TRYST, where celebs like newlyweds (ew!) Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon (double ew!), Carmen Elektra and The Hills star Lauren Conrad showed up to take part.

Last Friday, U.S. snowboarding champ Shaun White (a.k.a. The Flying Tomato) got into some hot water over his antics in the gameroom at the Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, CO. The 2006 Olympic gold medalist was caught on hotel security video chasing a female companion with a pool stick before removing a fire extinguisher from the wall and discharging its contents onto the gameroom floor. It seems his shoes - and not his fiery red hair - were what identified White to the Breckenridge po-po. According to The Smoking Gun, police were able to match the tread pattern from the bottom of White’s shoes to the prints left in the dust from the extinguished extinguisher.

If you were to visit the Beaver Run Resort, we’d suggest skipping the gameroom entirely and heading for the Beaver Run Spa’s outdoor patio complete with hot tubs and Watsu water therapy pool overlooking the mountains. Rather hit the slopes instead? Then you’re in luck. The resort also offers ski-in, ski-out access to the Beaver Run Super Chair lift and the Quicksilver Six at Breckenridge.

Check out this video expose we found on Divine Caroline. But beware: you’ll never look at hotel drinking glasses the same way again!

If you had to guess how fellow hotel guests would score on the eco-friendly o-meter, would you expect them to be happily reusing towels and craving more in-room recycling bins? Or would you write them off as water-wasting jerks more likely to embrace the Lindsay Lohan and Courtney Love code of hotel etiquette rather than deigning to place once-used towels back on the rack for follow-up use? Now this is a sad commentary on my own pessimism, folks, but I certainly would have guessed the latter.

But according to a new study from hospitality industry market research firm A Closer Look that I read about on Green Lodging News, hotel guests are actually feeling a whole lot greener than I ever realized (there were only 701 respondents, so take that into consideration. Maybe everyone they surveyed lives in San Francisco…*). Among the study’s findings:

75 percent of respondents said a hotel’s green practices are important to them.

84 percent reported reusing towels when given the option by the hotel.

While only 6 percent of the survey group reported staying at a hotel with in-room recycling bins, 69 percent said they would use in-room bins if they were made available by the hotel.

One environmentally-friendly practice hotel guests don’t like? Bulk soap, shampoo and conditioner dispensers in the bathroom. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they preferred individually packaged amenities.**

39 percent of hotel guests in the survey said it is important or somewhat important that a hotel offer organic or eco-friendly food.

* The firm is based in Atlanta, so this is highly unlikely.

** I tend to agree. I know it sucks for the environment, but I get weird paranoia that someone has done something sketchy to the contents of the bulk dispensers. You know how crazy people can get in hotel rooms. If you don’t believe me, just watch Blue Crush.

Heading to China? Should you be planning to tote a Lonely Planet China guidebook along on the trip, now would be a good time to start fashioning a book cover for the volume, which has apparently been banned by the Chinese government for a map that makes Taiwan appear to be a separate country from China. Talk about a quick way to piss off the Chinese. We read about the ban over yonder at World Hum, but you can check out the original story in the Age.

As Gadling writer Catherine Bodry notes, we’ve all been that person. You know, the person who boards at the last minute, puts their seat back before take-off, refuses to lower the shade when the film starts, goes to the bathroom during beverage service and forces the flight attendants to clear the aisle in medias res.

To combat these common airline passenger faux pas, Delta, reports USA Today, is rolling out videos to curb our wayward in-flight manners.

Hey, if someone can convince fellow travelers to think before indiscriminately sticking their collective butts in my face during boarding, I’ll watch as many stupid airline etiquette videos as they can make.

Rapper Pimp C (a.k.a. Chad Butler) of musical duo UGK was found dead today in his room on the sixth floor of the Mondrian LA Hotel in West Hollywood. According to reports from TMZ.com and the Associated Press, the L.A. County Fire Department arrived at the hotel in response to a 911 call and discovered the 33-year-old in bed. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

While many recognize Pimp C and rapper Bun B, the other member of UGK, as pioneers in the Southern hip-hop movement, they are best known in the mainstream for appearing in hit songs from Outkast (International Player’s Anthem) and Jay-Z (Big Pimpin’). The cause of death has not yet been announced.

Yup. You read that right. Spirit Airlines sent out a promotional email touting its new M.I.L.F. sale. Although the airline claims it wasn’t aware of the acronym’s notorious connotations and that - as far as its sale is concerned - M.I.L.F. stands for Many Islands, Low Fares, the rumor is that the marketing arm knew full-well what it was doing by launching a sale with that title. And wouldn’t ya know? It worked. The blogosphere is awhirl with commentary on the subject.

P.S. The $9 fares offered in the promo have all been snapped up.

Yup, reality TV star Kim Kardashian (who made her way onto television thanks to esteemed accomplishments like starring in a sex tape and being born with a near-scandalous badonkadonk) has caused quite a ruckus with her claim that she was robbed of almost $50,000 in personal belongings at the John F. Kennedy International Airport earlier this month. Kardashian has garnered lots of sympathy press (I mean, it’s just always so sad when a girl is separated from her Cartier watch) with her claim that valuables like diamonds, a laptop and a digital camera were stolen from her bags while fans and Delta airline employees surrounded her to get autographs and pictures. Yesterday, the New York Post reported that authorities suspected that the undeniably attention-hungry star had fabricated the incident as part of a publicity stunt. But today, TMZ.com turned up with documents it says prove Kardashian’s innocence.

While you chew on the disturbing news that Kardashian actually has enough fans to mask a robbery in progress, consider her plight a tale of what not to do while traveling through major airports: don’t leave your bags lying around - especially when they have diamonds in them. Sheesh.

Celebrity Travel News 11.16.07

Foot Fetish

The Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills figured heavily in the news this week, thanks to Britney Spears. The nutty singer reportedly ran over a photographer’s foot as she was attempting to drive out of the hotel parking lot. You can see it all with your own peepers below.

While some cry foul and accuse the pop star of poor driving (this was apparently the third foot she’s run over this month), anyone who knows anything about the paparazzi knows that those guys are practically plastered to the side of her car wherever she goes. They have a right to snap away in public places, but it’s their own darn fault if they get their feet banged up in the process.

Also at the Four Seasons this week? Another blonde pop star known as Shakira. But the paps didn’t snap any pictures of her, as far as we could tell. Instead, her visit got reported, thanks to a Fox News writer who chanced upon her in the elevator. We hear Shakira spent the ride obsessing about her looks and asking anyone who would listen whether she looked okay.

Queer Eye for the Traveling Guy

Elsewhere in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times writer Valli Herman visited the W Los Angeles – Westwood and gave the swish new interiors designed by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy alum Thom Filicia the thumbs up. Our take? The new environs look, um, exactly like every living space from the television series. And of course, plenty of throw pillows and candles. Because throw pillows and candles make everything better.

French Connection

Jennie Garth – if she still counts as a celebrity – was spotted lifting her glass in honor of Beaujolais recently at the Paris Las Vegas Resort. We got way too much Garth way back when she was a real celeb during the halcyon days of Beverly Hills 90210 (will there ever be a character as unintentionally funny as Steve Sanders?), so we’re going to show you a photograph of the Paris Las Vegas Resort pool instead:

Dude Looks Like a Lady

Tomorrow night, travelers to the Bay Area can get a load of celebrity judges Sandra Bernhard, author and personality James St. James (a.k.a. club kid who piggy-backed off convicted murdered Michael Alig’s notoriety), Peaches Christ and Anna Conda at the annual Miss Trannyshack Pageant, which, if you don’t know, is a very San Francisco affair featuring some of the best-dressed dames who aren’t really dames this side of Texas. Actually, better make that anywhere.

Dumb Tattoo News

Celebs from Julianne Moore (love her) to Heath Ledger (so-so) descended on the Bowery Hotel in Manhattan this week for a screening of the film I’m Not There, which features a bevy of big name actors playing different aspects of Bob Dylan’s complex personality. The big news from the event? Heath Ledger sported a new tattoo during a screening. It’s of a dragonfly. Fascinating. He might as well have gotten a dolphin inked around his ankle while he was at it. We would have preferred something a little more hardcore. Like skulls or something. Or maybe Jake Gyllenhaal, though that’s really more Reese’s territory these days. Also in attendance? Richard Gere, Bruce Greenwood and a wasted looking Todd Haynes, the film’s director.