Formerly a Holiday Inn (and long before that, a 60's era tennis club and hotel), the Verdanza Hotel in Puerto Rico underwent major renovations as it transitioned from chain to independent hotel. The local ownership remained the same, but the decor, attitude, and commitment to the environment is all new.

The vibe here is young - both the GM and the chef are the youngest to hold those titles in any hotels in the San Juan area. The sleek lobby features a colorful hanging chandelier as its focal point, and the bar, Coladas, is full of the hip and sexy people until late every night. The rooms have been completely redone, with the addition of mini-fridges, LCD TVs, iPod docks, better-quality bedding, and organic bath products.

Additional green features have also been implemented. The staff uniforms are made from recycled polyester, the used cooking oil from the kitchen is converted to biodiesel, the stationary is both recycled and recyclable, and the water used in the kiddie water park adjacent to the pool is reused. In the year that all lights have been replaced with LED lights, energy consumption has decreased by 50%.

We recently stayed at the Verdanza Hotel and discovered that, while the vibe is sleek and sexy on the surface, traces of the old Holiday Inn still seem to linger. The parking lot clearly visible from the pool's green vinyl lounge chairs suggest its former incarnation, while the white and orange pod-like chairs in the Eighty 20 Bistro and the complementary wired internet access point to the future. The added services and special events go above and beyond what you'd find at any Holiday Inn as well.

TripAdvisor recently released its list of the best and worst in the hotel industry. Now it's the hostel industry's turn. Hostel World just announced the winners of the "Hoscars", their annual ranking of the world's best and worst hostels, rated by cleanliness, location, staff, fun, security, and character.

Over 20,000 properties around the world were eligible for the awards, yet because most of the 900,000 or so Hostel World users who may have voted are from Europe, the world's best top ten seems to be a bit skewed geographically. All ten are located in Europe. Five of the top ten are located in Portugal.

This year's winner, The Traveller's House in Lisbon, won last year as well and is the first hostel to win two years in a row.

In other locations - the US, Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania - the top three hostels are listed. Additional awards were given out for categories such as best location, most fun, best character, most improved, cleanest, most secure, best small/large hotel, and best chain.

[via Guardian]

Tourists at the National Archives will no longer be able to document their visit, once a ban on photography inside the building goes into effect.

About a million people visit the National Archives each year and though flash photography is already banned inside because of the damage the ultraviolet radiation can cause to the old documents, it's estimated that 50,000 flashbulbs still go off each year (according to USA Today).

The National Archives, located in Washington, DC, houses important documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

The ban on photos will go into effect on February 24. After that date, those who want a souvenir of their visit can obtain a replica of one of the documents from the gift shop, for a fee of course.

Finding the willpower to eat healthy while traveling is hard enough when you have access to fresh markets and cooking utensils. It becomes even more of a challenge when you're on a road trip, trapped in a car for hours on end, with nothing but fast food restaurants and greasy spoon diners for roadside dining options. But with a little planning, a little extra time, and a lot of self-control, you can eat healthy while on a road trip. Here are few tips.

Start your day off right.
Begin your day with a carbohydrate feast and you'll be craving carbs again in a few hours. Put down the donut and instead, take the time to have a healthy breakfast at your hotel. Eat a good mix of whole grains and protein and you'll ingest fewer calories while staying full later into the afternoon.

Get some exercise.
Spending eight hours or more being sedentary in the car means that your body may be burning a lot fewer calories than normal. Reduce your intake accordingly and try to get a nominal amount of exercise. Even if all you do is take a 15-minute walk in the morning and then do a few bonus laps every time you stop along your route, you'll feel good having stretched your legs. Even better: plan your stops around scenic walks or hikes so you can do a little sightseeing while you get moving.

Tourists looking for a thrill in Los Angeles can now take a bus tour of the city's most dangerous ganglands. For $65, LA Gang Tours takes visitors around the city, pointing out gang graffiti and stopping at sights like the Los Angeles Riverbed, Florence Avenue, and the Pico Union Graffiti Lab.

It seems tourists are always drawn to places with a dangerous auras and violent pasts, places that are the complete opposite of our comfortable lives at home. The question is, do we go to these places, places like the slums of Mumbai, the townships of Johannesburg or the streets of South Central LA, because we want to understand what life is like for the people there, or do we go to gawk or just so we can say "I've been there"? And do these tours actually help the communities that are put on display, or do they make them a spectacle?

LA Gang Tours was created by Alfred Lomas, a former gang member, who says the tour will create 10 part-time jobs for ex-gang members who will lead tours and share their own stories. He says his goal is to help residents of South Central,"to give profits from the tours back to these areas for economic growth and development, provide job/entrepreneur training, micro-financing opportunities and to specialize in educating people from around the world about the Los Angeles inner city lifestyle, gang involvement and solutions."

The weekend is almost here! Are you headed anywhere fun? I'm off to sunny Puerto Rico to escape Chicago's latest cold snap. Here are a few bonus travel stories to keep you dreaming of warmer days.

• Winter in the northern hemisphere means summer in Buenos Aires. If you're headed down south, here are a few places to gorge yourself silly, courtesy of Matador writer Tom Gates. [via Matador Nights]

• Nothing says summer like the sight of tan surfers catching some waves. How does a pro surfer globe-trot? Find out with BootsnAll's How I Travel profile of surfer Holly Beck. [via BootsnAll]

• Sometimes warm is just a state of mind. Check out this list of great winter escapes to places so cool, you may forget how cold it is outside. [via Outside]

• Even hotel chains are thinking about warmer climes right now. Andaz, "Hyatt's hip little sister" has announced plans to move into Costa Rica. [via Hotel Chatter]

More Gadlinks HERE.

Get ready, ABBA fans, because ABBAworld, the first official (and band-supported) ABBA museum has just opened in London.

The interactive museum will contain 25 rooms full of ABBA memorabilia, including behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, never-before-seen music videos and photos, and clothes, instruments, and personal belongings from each member of the band. In one room, you'll even find the helicopter pictured on the cover of the "Arrival" album.

Visitors will have the chance to feel like a part of the group too, as they see images of themselves projected into music videos and photos and onto album covers (which fans can then access online afterwards). The can test their trivia knowledge with quizzes, remix their own ABBA tunes and even be a "dancing queen" up on stage with a holographic projection of the band.

The exhibit is open daily now through March 28. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster for £21.45 per adult and £14.30 for kids.

The exhibition is expected to visit other cities, but so far no others have been announced.

Sometimes your travels take you around the world, to dangerous locales where you don't know the customs and need to always be on your guard to ensure your safety. And sometimes, they just take you to a visit with the in-laws, which can be equally awkward, confusing, and downright dangerous. Here are eight tips to help you survive a visit with you in-laws with your dignity, and your relationship, intact.

Bring a gift.
Whether this is your first time visiting your significant other's family or your tenth, it's always nice to bring a small token of your gratitude as thanks for the family's hospitality. Flowers or a nice bottle of wine is a good, safe first time gift (unless the family doesn't drink, then nix the wine idea), but you'll earn bonus points if you bring something a little more personal.

Ask your significant other for details about his or her parents and buy them something that you think they will enjoy - perhaps a favorite bottle of scotch for Dad or the latest cookbook for a Mom who fancies herself as the next Martha Stewart. If the two of you have recently been on a trip, be sure to bring back a few little souvenirs for the family. Keep the gift to a reasonable amount though, generally under $20. Showing up for a first meeting bearing elaborate or expensive gifts screams "desperate to be liked."

Dedicated foodies with dreams of dining at El Bulli, long considered to be one of the best (and often the best) restaurants in the world, are in for some disappointment. The mecca of molecular gastronomy will be closing for two years, in 2012 and 2013.

The restaurant, which is located on the Catalan coast of Spain and has received the coveted Michelin 3-star rating, was named the best restaurant in the world for the fourth straight year by Britain's Restaurant magazine and is considered to be one the places any food-lover must dine at before dying. Chef Ferran Adria assured devoted fans that though El Bulli will close temporarily, it isn't gone for good. He did say that there may be some major changes in store though. "In 2014, we will serve food somehow. I don't know if it will be for one guest or 1,000," he said.

What's the reason behind the closure? The Guardian cites Adria as saying that the long hours - he regularly puts in 15-hour days - were getting to him. Though Adria has also said before that El Bulli is not a profitable business, due to the limited seatings and the labor required to do each one. Perhaps the new model will be a better moneymaker.

Thinking you can try to get in before El Bulli shuts its doors? Think again. Seatings for 2010 have already sold out, so unless you are extremely well connected, you're out of luck. Not that you had much chance of getting a seat anyways. The restaurant only serves 50 guests per night, six months out of the year, and according the UK Guardian, more than 2 million people have vied for a mere 8,000 seats over the past few years.

Severe flooding in Peru has caused several landslides that have left hundreds (reports range from 1500 to 2500) of people stranded at Machu Picchu. Many of the landslides happened on Saturday, killing one tourist and his guide, and leaving others stuck in spots along the Inca Trail that leads to the site. The 40-mile railway that connects the ancient site to Cuzco was also blocked by the landslides, leaving tourists stranded and the city's only hotel overwhelmed as it tries to care for everyone.

According to the UK's Guardian, helicopters are the only option for getting supplies in and getting people out right now. Unfortunately, the going is slow and supplies at Machu Picchu are dwindling. And, says the AFP, some of those stranded are concerned that others are bribing officials in order to be rescued first. In the meantime, those who can't find accommodation are camping out by the train station or in the city square.

Over 1300 homes have been destroyed because of the flooding and landslides, which have been called the worst in 15 years. A 60-day state of emergency has been declared.