The Austin Marathon from The Daily Texan on Vimeo.

The Austin Marathon took over the streets of Austin, Texas this past weekend. Established in 1992, the Austin Marathon began just a few blocks north of the Texas State Capitol. The marathon's course took runners through several other Austin landmarks, as well. The Colorado River, the downtown area, Hyde Park, UT, and Memorial Stadium were all attractions to be seen during the 2012 race. Kenya's Edward Kiptum was this year's winner. From Kenya to Austin, Texas, Kiptum, who trains in Mexico, came a long way to win a race. But what drives marathon runners to run, let alone run around the world?

Gallery: Austin Marathon

Who doesn't love a great spa experience? While a traditional Swedish massage or hot stone treatment is always relaxing, why not try something different and 100% natural?

All over the world, there are regions featuring geothermal pools, hot springs, and water heated by volcanic activity that also contain healing and curative properties. And this isn't something new; even the Incas and the Romans enjoyed taking a dip in these natural spas. Minerals in the water help to alleviate ailments and diseases like asthma, psoriasis, muscle pain, acne, arthritis, neuralgia, and more. And not only is it healthy, its relaxing too.

For a closer look at some of the world's most amazing natural spas check out the gallery below.

[flickr photo via snowpeak]

Gallery: Best Natural Spas Around the World

Working loyalty programs for airlines, cruise lines, hotels or rental car agencies can be tricky business. Core benefits of one program are often overshadowed by promotional offers from another. Navigating our way around them in an organized manner to get the most benefit, then keeping track of what we earn can take a lot of time that few are willing to invest. Those who do not travel all that much often find themselves belonging to a bunch of programs with little value racked up on any of them. Still, the benefits of being a member can be worth our time, even for an occasional traveler, armed with the right strategy.

"To make sure you get more benefits, either in free flights or elite traveler perks, consolidate your miles into as few airlines as possible," recommends iFly. "The more miles that you can build on one card, by using that airline or its partners, the faster you get your rewards."

That strategy works for hotel chains as well and focusing on programs that offer more can help. Third-party web sites like FindTheBest rank airlines, hotels and others for us, consolidating benefits, perk thresholds and more to easily see which programs are a good fit for an individual's travel profile.

"At FindTheBest, we present you with the facts - stripped of any marketing influence - so that you can make quick and informed decisions. We present the facts in easy-to-use tables with smart filters, so that you can decide what is best,"says FindTheBest on its web site.

Once points start coming in, another helpful website, AwardWallet, can make keeping track of them easy. AwardWallet is a free service that helps us manage reward balances, supporting over 400 loyalty programs. AwardWallet is also used by businesses to manage their corporate reward balances.

It's impossible to survive consecutive days of Carnival blocos, parties, and parades without adding hits of nutrition to your daily beer diet. For this, Rio de Janeiro's street food vendors have you covered.

Street food can be found everywhere in Rio de Janeiro, particularly during big events like Carnival and New Year's. Mobile carts and stands offer cheap, tasty Brazilian eats -- vital for travelers struggling to stay on a budget in a city where a side order of restaurant french fries can cost upwards of 25 reais (US$14). Though much of the fare isn't healthy by a long shot, there are specialties that will fill you up without throwing you into a food coma that will render you incapable anything beyond a nap on Ipanema Beach. Here's what's kept me going all week.


Espetinhos
Brazil's version of shish kabob, espetinhos are tasty morsels of barbequed meat on a stick. The most common are sausage and chicken, and many Brazilians add ketchup or hot sauce and throw some farinha de mandioca, a type of crunchy flour, on top.

A new wing of Albania's National Museum in Tirana opened yesterday that's dedicated to the abuses of its former Communist government.

Under the harsh rule of Enver Hoxha, shown here in a photo courtesy Forrásjelölés Hasonló, some 100,000 Albanians were executed or sent to prison or forced labor camps, this in a country of only three million people. Torture and intimidation were rife and a network of informers made everyone paranoid.

For a disturbing look at the surreal daily life in this regime, read The Country Where No One Ever Dies by Albanian author Ornela Vorpsi. The last days of Communist rule are seen through the eyes of an adolescent girl whose main dream is simply to be left alone.

That was the dream of a lot of Albanians. The new wing to the museum displays photographs and artifacts documenting the torture and extermination of dissidents. People lived in fear of disappearing into a jail or camp. Hopefully this exhibition will go a small way towards helping Albania come to terms with its past and heal some open wounds.

Visible evidence of the old regime is everywhere in Albania. While Tirana is undergoing a beautification program and the countless statues of Hoxha have been pulled down, thousands of bunkers still litter the country's beaches, fields, and neighborhoods. The paranoid regime put up an estimated 700,000 of the ugly things despite needing roads and adequate housing for its citizens. One set of them can be seen in the photo below courtesy the Concrete Mushrooms Project.

*After an extended hiatus (we blame the whole getting lost in the desert thing) Transmongolia is back. Click here for our previous coverage of the 2011 Mongol Rally.

Other than a complete break down or having to wait days for a spare part to arrive, there are few things as disheartening on the Mongol Rally as driving in the completely wrong direction for hundreds of kilometers. After recovering from a near-disastrous rendezvous with the Chinese-Mongolia border, our humble ambulance regained its eventual path toward Ulaanbaatar.

With a scheduled welcome party arranged in Mongolia's capital just a few days away, we hurried to get back on track as fast as possible; while gradually losing more members of our convoy with every deep pit and poorly spotted rock in the road.

The end was in sight, but the final sprint across the steppe would still test the endurance of our newly formed friendships and our overworked engine.

President's Day technically marks the observance of George Washington's birthday, but the holiday is widely viewed as a catch-all day to reflect on the accomplishments of all the founding fathers. Historians can argue over which of our founding fathers was most instrumental in establishing American institutions, but it's hard to find anyone who lived a more eventful life than Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson was an architect, a statesman, a writer, a voracious reader, a linguist, a diplomat, a gardener, a meteorologist, a botanist, a foodie before the term existed, a vintner and a traveler, among other things. In an age when travel was an ordeal, Jefferson nourished his hungry intellect by traveling the world. He spoke six languages and used them on the road. In 1784, when he was named the U.S. Ambassador to France, he and his 12-year-old daughter, Martha, took a lengthy trip through 7 U.S. states before departing for Paris.

And during his five years in Paris, he traveled extensively on the continent. In 1787, he took a 3 ½ month trip around France and Italy on his own dime, and in 1791, as the U.S. Secretary of State, he took a month-long "botanizing excursion" through New England with James Madison.

Jefferson constructed his home at Monticello, which means "little mountain" in Italian, bit-by-bit over a forty year period (1768-1809) and his travels helped shape his vision for the grand estate. When Jefferson retired in 1809, at 66, he moved into Monticello and never left the state of Virginia again. But he continued to indulge passions and tastes he acquired overseas, including fine French wines and books in a variety of languages, which is probably why he spent most of his retirement deeply in debt.

I'd been to Monticello before and consider this remarkable place, which is dramatically situated high above the city of Charlottesville amidst a stunning landscape of rolling hills, horse farms and vineyards, an essential stop for any traveler with an interest in early American history. I returned to Monticello this year on President's Day in order to check out their new "behind the scenes tour." Last summer, the foundation that operates the site relocated some of their staff offices out of the second and third floors of the house in order to open up more of the site to visitors.

A Swedish man, who had been missing for more than two months, was found alive, but in extremely poor condition, in a remote region of that country last week. The man was forced to survive on just snow and ice, after becoming stranded when his car got stuck in deep snow.

Last Friday, the 44-year old Peter Skyllberg was discovered by two others who passed his semi-buried vehicle while snowmobiling down a seldom-used forest road. At first, they thought that the car had been abandoned, but upon further inspection, they were surprised to find a man inside. At the time, Skyllberg was said to be malnourished and lacking almost all ability to speak or move.

Over the course of the two months that he was stranded, Skyllberg had no food and was forced to melt snow and ice for drinking water. The lack of nourishment wasn't his only concern however, as during the time that he was missing, Europe has been enduring a major deep freeze. Temperatures in the region have routinely dipped as low as -20ºF in recent weeks, which is extremely dangerous for prolonged exposure.

Survival experts say it is a miracle that the man is alive. The human body can survive a long time on just water, but two months is pushing those limits to the extreme. The cold weather could have easily resulted in his death as well, but it is believed that the snow in which his car was encased provided a measure of insulation that helped to keep Skyllberg warm and alive.

As of this past weekend, Skyllberg remained in intensive care at the Umea University Hospital, where he will no doubt face a long road to recovery.

[Photo credit: Rolf Hojer/Scanpix/Reuters]

Visualtraveling - 'Holy Cow' from Patrik Wallner on Vimeo.

Visualtraveling created this ten minute film piece titled 'Holy Cow' with footage from travels centered around skateboarding in South Asia. The documented journey took place over the course of a month. This video features, primarily, awesome shots of skateboarders boarding in cool places, doing neat things with their skateboards--the kinds of things I most certainly do not know how to do. The video also features non-skateboarding things. Stunning landscape shots, interesting architecture, bright colors, unique cars and other vehicles, and crowds of spectators complete this 'skateboarding' video which, like so many skateboarding videos, is equally functional as a travel video.

The scene outside the Sambodrome stadium on the first night of Rio Carnival's famed samba school parades was madness. Hordes of people moved in all directions while scalpers hawked tickets, street vendors fried food, and costumed paraders maneuvered in huge feathered costumes. As far as Fat Tuesday celebrations go, this was tops.

In the middle of the chaos, these two talented little girls attracted a crowd with their quick samba moves, coy winks, and adorable smiles. What showboats! If Rio's samba schools are recruiting for future parades, they need look no further. These girls provided as much entertainment as the show inside the stadium.

Check out Gadling's full range of Rio Carnival 2012 coverage here.