Our lonely planet continues to become less and less lonely. Thanks to the advent of social networking sites like Facebook, users can connect far-flung parts of the world at the tap of a keyboard. This fascinating map (click to enlarge) created by Facebook intern Paul Butler charts the interactions between Facebook users from around the globe, and it shows the unbelievable extent to which Facebook now touches even the most remote parts of the world.

If you're wondering, the brightly illuminated part of Western Africa is mostly Nigeria, so look out for a friend request from a Prince Abakaliki asking you to wire money to a Swiss bank account. Ignore!

More here.

In honor of tomorrow's planned National Opt-Out Day, we offer you this year's hottest holiday gift: the TSA bumper sticker. Warning: It's probably best not to post these on your luggage. We all know how the TSA feels about bumper stickers.

[via the FlyerTalk forum]

If you ever visit Iraq, it's probably best to tell your parents about the trip after you return. That's what my friend Jennifer Martin did, and she says it saved her parents from lots of (mostly) needless worry.

Jennifer has just returned from a week-long tour of Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous, surprisingly safe region of northern Iraq. (Venture further afield than Kurdistan and you're asking for trouble.) While most people would balk at visiting an area of the world virtually synonymous with war, Jennifer did some research about Kurdistan's security situation and decided to go for it, a decision which guarantees her an automatic victory in just about any travel-related pissing match.

I recently asked her a couple questions about visiting northern Iraq-- whether it's really safe to visit, what are some of the region's highlights, and how locals reacted upon meeting her. Here's what she had to say...

1. Most people would never dream of visiting Iraq because of concerns about their safety. How did you decide to visit the region of Kurdistan and, perhaps more importantly, how did you know it would be safe?

Over at Marginal Revolution, economist, traveler, and blogger extraordinaire Tyler Cowen is asked how he'd go about choosing a tattoo that he wouldn't later regret. Though I'll wager that Tyler won't be getting inked any time soon, his answer is characteristically thoughtful:

I would pick a country which I loved visiting, such as Mexico or Brazil, both of which have distinct shapes. It would be an excuse to narrate previous visits and I don't think it would repulse many people, other than the fact that it is a tattoo.

I'm with Tyler. Country outlines are a great option, as long as they're recognizable; it's probably best to avoid, say, Luxembourg or El Salvador. Flags can make fine choices as well. (Here's a guide to some of the best and worst.)

My personal choice for a tattoo would be the Arabic word "Yalla," meaning "Let's go" placed somewhere on my foot or ankle. I remember hearing the word, and using it myself, so many times in Morocco that the word will be forever linked with that trip. I also think written Arabic, even or perhaps especially if you can't understand it, often looks like a work of art on its own.

How 'bout you, Gadling nation? Any ideas for travel-related tattoos that we won't regret when we're old and wrinkly?

To see Gadling blogger Mike Barish's (safe for work!) tattoo, check out this post from the Gadling vault. To read Tyler's interview with Gadling, go here.

[Photo via Tattoo Designs]

You know you've arrived in Venezuela when you can't even walk down the grocery store aisle without seeing a sign decrying the excesses of capitalism.

I'll admit I had no idea there existed a "just price" for a liter of vegetable oil, but as you can see, it is clearly written in permanent marker right there on the advertisement. You can't argue with that. Turns out it's 4.73 Bolívares Fuertes, or a little over one US dollar. For that price, I'll suppress my capitalist instincts and enjoy the 32% savings!

This photo was taken at the Mercado Bicentenario, a government-owned grocery store located in Caracas, Venezuela.

[via Greg Mankiw]

Part of the fun of traveling is discovering how well (or not) national stereotypes hold up. I can't help but laugh when I meet a German traveler who insists on always being on time, or an Australian who loves to party, or a Brit with a dry sense of a humor. For some people, the farther they venture from home, the more their native country becomes apparent.

Some stereotypes, of course, are malicious and lead to lazy thinking and prejudice. But others, the relatively benign stereotypes, can be the source of laughs. In a recent project called Mapping Stereotypes, the Bulgarian graphic designer Yanko Tsvetkov demonstrates that people of all countries are guilty of stereotypical thinking about one another. But different countries have different stereotypes for each other. In the U.S., as shown by Tsvetkov's map Europe According to the United States of America (above), France is known for its "smelly people" and Italy is just like The Godfather. But Russians think of France as full of "fashion victims" and Italy as one large shopping center.

It's safe, it's affordable, and it's attracting travelers like never before. Colombia, the closest South American getaway to the United States, has seemingly appeared on just about every "hip new travel destination" list over the last few years, including the New York Times list of 31 Places to Go in 2010. So why is everyone raving about it? Here are ten reasons:

10. Medellin Named the world's most dangerous city only two decades ago thanks largely to the exploits of Pablo Escobar, Medellin has cleaned up its act in a big way since the drug lord's death in 1993. Nicknamed the City of Eternal Spring, Medellin's near-perfect climate, cosmopolitan atmosphere, and vibrant nightlife make it a must-visit Colombia destination.

If you can, schedule your trip so that you can witness Medellin's one-of-a-kind Feria de las Flores (Flower Festival) in early August. My fellow travelers who attended could not shut up about it. Check out Anthony Bourdain's thoughts on the city here.

A lesson to all the amateur hotel reviewers out there: wait until you get home to slam the place where you've just stayed.

A vacationing British couple learned this the hard way when the manager of their hotel called the police to ask the couple to leave after the couple allegedly wrote a negative review of the hotel on TripAdvisor. Adrian Healey and his girlfriend had been staying at the Golden Beach Hotel in the English town of Blackpool for two days when the hotel's manager allegedly barged into their room, accused them of slamming the hotel on TripAdvisor, and told them to leave. The police showed up shortly after.

"We asked for a refund but the hotel refused," said Healey. "I think it is shocking and people need to know about this."

"No offence had been committed by the couple, but the manager had requested them to leave the property," according to the police. "We advised the couple how to go about getting a refund. This is a civil matter."

Unsurprisingly, the hotel's reviews on TripAdvisor are, shall we say, "mixed." Don't expect them to get any better after this episode.

More here.

[Image Credit: MyBlackpoolHotels.com]

As an inveterate quotation-hoarder, I am always on the lookout for concise yet powerful expressions of wit and wisdom related to travel. Here are ten of my favorites, followed by a couple comments on why I find them so memorable and meaningful...

10. "We are sad at home and blame the weather and the ugliness of the buildings, but on the tropical island we learn... that the state of the skies and the appearance of our dwellings can never on their own underwrite our joy nor condemn us to misery." - Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel. Travel is many things-- mind-altering, exciting, challenging-- but it is not a panacea. Those who travel abroad because they're unhappy at home will find that travel does not cure all of life's ills.

9. "When one is traveling, one must expect to spend a certain amount of money foolishly." - Robertson Davies, as quoted by Chuck Thompson in Smile When You're Lying. It happens. Whether it's indulging at the hotel mini-bar or being ripped off by an unscrupulous taxi driver, people often see their money evaporate at alarming rates when they're traveling. Expect it, and most importantly, budget for it.

Backpackers in Colombia are divided into two groups: those who have made the exhausting five-day trek to Ciudad Perdida, and those who haven't.

Dating from the 800s, Ciudad Perdida (literally "Lost City") was once home to as many as four thousand Tayrona Indians, but its ruins were hidden by dense forest until grave robbers re-discovered the city in 1973 (and stole everything that wasn't nailed down). Located on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range near Colombia's northern coast, Ciudad Perdida's ruins are as impressive as they are remote, containing about 170 stone terraces that were once the foundations for Tayrona houses, markets, and ritual sites.