I spent a long weekend diving and cavorting around Vieques Island off of Puerto Rico a few months ago, and I was very pleased with the experience. I particularly enjoyed swimming at night and paddling in the Bio Bay Reserve there, a small inlet wherein swim gazzillions of luminescent plankton that seem to magically light up around you when you swim in the water. But one thing I noticed about Vieques was how dry and rather barren the island is. Don't know what I was expecting exactly. Maybe just a lot more palm trees.

The recollection of this aridness is what came to mind when I read this finely wrought piece about Guanica Dry Forest, a state forest on Puerto Rico's southwest coast. It is dry there...hence the name. But the author encounters a variety of birds and wildlife that help make the place seem far more exotic than a visit to Puerto Rico. She also comes across the "Guayacan Centenario," a plant older than Columbus. Or older than Columbus would be if here were still alive...in which case he'd likely be very shriveled and green. But I'd still have a beer with him. Anyway, my interest was piqued by this piece and I confess a tremor of regret that I never saw the Guanica Dry Forest during my own trip the PR. Perhaps next time.

I'm a very big fan of the writing of Thomas Swick over at the Florida Sun-Sentinal. The paper is one of those small-town (well, sort of) sheets that has managed to really create and maintain a voice all its own. Or at least, the travel section does ,largely because of Tom Swick. Here's a fine little piece, a page of bite-sized advice nuggets that might come in handy should you be making travel plans in the near future. What caught my eye was the first bite here:

In South America, don't tell people you're from America. -- Why, we wonder? Because THEY are from America, too.

I encountered that exact sentiment when I was living in South America way back when. I caught myself numerous times saying "Back in America" etc., and then getting both nasty looks and admonitions from my friends. But the list of advice doesn't stop there. There are a lot of great little bits here to perhaps print out and commit to memory.

Here are a few others:

In Muslim countries, don't express admiration for Danish cartoonists.

In the South Pacific, don't tell people they live in paradise.

In Cuba, don't say you hope things never change.

In Australia, don't go into a restroom marked "Sheilas" (if you're a man) or into one marked "Blokes" (if you're a woman).

Check it.

One of our frequent contributors to the Gadling Flickr site, bennyjewell, gets today's Photo of the Day honors for ths lovely shot that looks like it came right from the set of the Godfather II. There's no caption here, so I can't say for sure where the photo was taken, but my guess is that it was not Bakersfield. Nicely composed and lovely light, this is a keeper.

I'm always a little dubious when someone deigns to tell me what is and what is NOT allowed when it comes to male behavior. I occasionally read magazines like Details and when I come to the "Clothes a man should never wear" articles, I always find a few things from my own closet right there on the page.

Keeping up with what's in style costs too damn much money. Besides, yesterday's faux pas is today's hip new thing. But I do have to agree somewhat with a few of the drinks listed in this fun slide show admonishing males over what should NOT be ordered and consumed among alcoholic beverages.

To wit: anything blended, unless you're on the beach. In other words, fruity drinks with little umbrellas or massive hunks of fruit tipping off of them: a no-no. I buy this. Sugary drinks like Mai Tais are just not very masculine. You're not having dessert for goodness sakes, you're getting hammered with friends! Beer is bitter and wine is sour and scotch packs a punch for a reason. You're supposed to suffer just a small amount for the sinful indulgence of drinking them.

If it's all sugary and yum-yum, you'll drink all the time. And you'll not only become a drunkard, you'll be a fat drunkard from all that sugar. Or so goes my own concocted explanation for why I don't order sugary drinks. Alas, you may find a Pina Colada nice and fulfilling. So go ahead and order one. And have a nice little plate of quiche while you're at it.

Most travelers know of a little thing called The Lonely Planet Effect. In fact, I spoke with LP's former global editor Don George about this very topic in a podcast way back when. The idea is simple: Guidebooks like Lonely Planet are here to tell you about great places that still have the charm and exoticness of being "undiscovered". But there mere fact they are mentioned in Lonely Planet then discovers them and, potentially, ruins them by making them popular.

And so with this in mind, I hesitate to say much more about California's Channel Islands. Sure, I've written about them before, so the point is kind of moot, but I still feel that bringing to much attention to them is a good way to ruin what is a lovely, near pristine place just off the coast of California. Sigh.

Well, Frommer's has kind of beaten me to the punch here, anyway. Just a few days ago they listed the Channel Islands as their Park of the Week, providing a nicely detailed article on the park. It's actually quite informative. I actually learned a few things such as the fact that the park is home to over 2,000 plants and animals, of which 145 are found nowhere else in the world. That makes them a bit like California's Galapagos.

When I was there one of the things I most enjoyed doing was paddling the massive sea caves around Santa Cruz Island. There's some info about doing that as well as myriad other activities to keep you busy should you decide to make the trip. I highly recommend you do, but be careful about telling all your friends. I'd hate to see the place become California's off-shore Disneyland.

Rock and Roll history buffs (aren't we all?) should know about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH (Hello Cleveland!). The museum houses a groupie's dreamload of objects, clothing, and memorabilia that once belonged to various rock Gods like John Lennon and Buddy Holly. Check out the 1979 Fender Precision electric bass guitar broken at the neck by the Clash's Paul Simonon, or Jimi Hendrix famous 1968 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst electric guitar. Oh, baby, to be able to pick Hey Joe on that thing. In fact, there is an upcoming exhibition on Hendrix that starts Monday featuring the Jimi Hendrix Surround Sound Theater. Ah yes. There are literally thousands of items in the museum's permanent collection, and the site is quite good, too, with a list of the 500 songs that influenced Rock and Roll that is definitely worth a look (and some careful scrutiny).

I go on and on here about how much I love our country's national parks. I don't have a particular fondness for the National Park Service's parent agency, The Department of the Interior (where I worked for two years and which, under the Bush administration has become, according to some, a wretched hive of scum and villainy). But the real people who make the National Park Service run are the rangers, the guys who are on the ground, taking care of the parks and making sure that visitors are both safe and educated about the value of the parks.

Well this may come as a surprise, but lots of other countries have national parks as well. And they have rangers too! Fancy that. And as you might imagine, each of these rangers has a story to tell. And what better way to bring that story to you, dear consumer of visual media, than through a movie.

And so, starting its grand unveiling today a new movie called The Thin Green Line is Out to tell the stories of rangers around the globe. From parks in Africa and Australia to those right here at home, the film is an epic document about how those people on the ground, are taking care of these vital resources. It's an appropriate day to do this, by the way, because today is World Ranger Day, easily Yogi Bear's most favorite day of the year...after World Honey Day, of course. Oh, and National Picnic Basket Day.

So take the time to head to a park this summer, and shake hands with a ranger.

Give a quick look-see to Traveladventures.org, a site that offers personal "travel impressions" from over 100 countries. The place bills itself as a way to get "Around the World in 80 Clicks", and it provides tons of country information to pretty much anywhere you want to go, along with with short descriptive articles and loads of pictures. Places covered are countries like Dubai and Denmark. Give it a look-see if you're taveling soon.

It pains me to think that there will come a time when people think of Seinfeld the way I now think of, say I Love Lucy. Already, you watch some of those older episodes and the pictures a bit faded, the styles dated and even some of the jokes a bit worn. I don't want Seinfeld to get any older. I want to show to range in my thoughts as fresh as the bread I buy at the local bakery. Having lived in New York for the last (almost) eight years, I feel like Seinfeld and New York are one, and to see the show get old kind of makes me feel old.

All of that is a long preamble to a nice little Google mash up I saw over at Gothamist that refreshes the Seinfeld allure, if just for a moment. The map shows many of the spots in Manhattan where various scenes and episodes took place. Take, for example, Jerry's apartment on 81st and Columbus, where, the map tells us, Jerry actually DID live while here doing stand up. And, of course, the location in mid-town of the infamous Soup Nazi, who has made quite a little business keeping that character alive. So, good stuff for Seinfeld fans and New Yorkers alike.

File this one into the parental nightmare category. A gentleman named Greg Henry put his seven-year old son on a flight with the expectation that the child would be looked after by the airline. But why would we trust anyone with our children who can't even take care of our suitcase? Herr Henry is probably asking himself that question after the child was apparently "lost" at the airport. The airline actually put a tag on the child identifying him as an unaccompanied minor, but that didn't seem to matter. Now, never mind the questionable judgment of a parent who would send his seven year old on a flight alone, we do have to wonder what the airline did here to "lose" the child. Of course, all turned out well with the kid. He lived and all. But one wonders if there might be a better system available to account for traveling kids.