Back in September, Gadling brought you news of Ukrainian teens capturing an insane bridge climb over the Moskovskyi Bridge in Kiev. But Russian teens recently topped this daredevil act with their own ascent of the recently completed Russky Island Bridge, which finally connects the very isolated island in eastern Russia with Vladivostok and the mainland.

Eighteen-year-old Raskalov, one of the Russian teens in the video, has devoted a blog to his extreme, free-climbing endeavors. The mind-blowing photos on his blog are from atop Russia's tallest structures and include gorgeous scenery of famous Moscow squares, glimpses of snowy Siberia and more.

We recommend you watch the following video while on solid ground else you may get vertigo.

This is the age of hybrids. We drive hybrid cars, we consume hybrid vegetables and our favorite love-to-hate celebrity couples have hybrid names.

The travel industry is rife with hybrid words. In every segment of travel, from backpacking to luxury travel, there lurks a new word ready to please with its practicality (voluntourism) or annoy with its clever mash-up of disparate terms (glamping).

We here at Gadling are always on the look out for new travel trends. But just because we report on trends like glamping and flashpacking doesn't mean that we like the way these words sound when they roll off our tongues (not to mention the way they activate the red squiggly lines on our spell-checkers). Following is a list of the Gadling crew's least favorite hybrid travel terms along with definitions:

[Photo: Flickr/Horia Varlan]

Instagram frequently leaves me with a serious case of travel envy, particularly when my dashboard is filled with photos of islands. There they are: fringed with palms, festooned with colorful fishing fleets and bathed in the gold-pink light of sunset. Then come the rocky, overgrown and uninhabited islands, which poke out of the sea just for a photo op. Do they go back to sleep underwater when no humans are around? Perhaps my favorite island photo porn is the aerial shot so you can see every line, curve and undulation of the isle or isles below.

Following are some of the most awesome photos of islands that have popped up on Instagram recently. For more island inspiration, explore the #islands hashtag within the app or browse searchinstagram.com, which makes use of Instagram's API so that users can browse photos on their computer.


Kauai, Hawaii

Consider for a moment the events of 1625.

Dutch settlers in North America established the city of New Amsterdam, which would become, of course, New York City. Theaters throughout London closed for eight months due to an epidemic of bubonic plague. And somewhere in a studio or garden in Japan, a bonsai artist began training a Japanese White Pine, the very tree that would become the centerpiece of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in Washington, DC.

In 1976, thanks to Japan and its Bicentennial gift to the United States, the Department of Agriculture created the first museum in the world dedicated to the display of Japanese (bonsai) and Chinese (penjing) horticultural art. The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum now contains three pavilions - Chinese, Japanese and North American - with approximately 150 living sculptures interspersed with viewing stones (naturally shaped rocks that are the typical companions of bonsai) and strolling paths.

All manner of trees, from trident maples to California junipers are on view in miniature form in the museum. Highlights include a tree trained into the shape of a dragon; "Goshin," an artistic tree arrangement in the "forest style;" a shrunken, flat-topped Bald Cypress from the swamps of the American South; and the almost 400-year-old bonsai pine that is approximately the size of a front yard shrub. But what makes this museum a treat is its tranquility, a quality that is increasingly hard to find inside the Beltway. If you're looking for a moment of Zen, here's where to find it.

Gallery: The National Bonsai and Penjing Museum

If I had to pinpoint my very first pang of wanderlust, my memories would take me all the way back to the age of 5 or 6, when I first learned about Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are." While the main character Max is sequestered in his bedroom without dinner, he conjures up images of a "ceiling hung with vines" and "sailing in and out of weeks" aboard a "private boat" to "where the wild things are." Sendak's prose evoked the exoticism of travel, and no doubt sparked my fantasies about paddling down the Amazon, battling monsters in medieval castles in Europe and waking up among wild things while on safari in South Africa. Even the feeling of being homesick, an affliction that all travelers go through at some point or another, befalls Max. So, he goes back home.

For fans of the writing and illustrations of Maurice Sendak, who died today at the age of 83, "home" is in Philadelphia at the Rosenbach Museum and Library. The artist felt a kinship with museum founder Dr. A.S.W. Rosenbach and chose it to house his writings, including manuscripts and first editions of his books, and his distinctive artwork, which he realized in watercolor, pen-and-ink and pencil. In total, the Rosenbach Museum contains more than 10,000 pieces of art and stories ranging from the 1940s to the 21st century in the Maurice Sendak Collection. The Maurice Sendak Gallery on the first floor of the museum regularly displays notable ephemera from the collection.

[Getty Image: Spencer Platt]

How do you stay fit while you travel? The hotel gym? Walking around sightseeing? Unless you're an adrenaline junkie, you probably don't put too much thought into exercising while you're on the road. So this video of NerdFitness.com blogger Steve Kamb exercising around the world provides a refreshing and practical look at how you can stay active anywhere.

Check out Steve warming up with jumping jacks in Bangkok; jumping rope in Shanghai; pounding out the push-ups at Machu Picchu; and doing vertical push-ups in front of the Guinness factory in Dublin. Yeah, this guy is good. Onward, we see Steve running in Monte Carlo; doing some jaw-dropping pull-ups in Santa Monica, California; and swimming in Puerto Rico.

In all, Steve traveled to 16 countries over 18 months and shot footage of himself exercising in all of them. While Steve's self-funded, round-the-world trip is impressive, I think the true moral of this story is that there's no reason you can't stay fit - or even get fitter - while on vacation. All you need is your body and some spectacular destinations for inspiration.

Going on a guided tour is one of the best ways to get to know a new city. But sometimes we just can't fit it into our itinerary. Perhaps the cost doesn't work within our budget, the timing doesn't fit with our schedule or the tour is already full. For these reasons, guided tour apps have become a favorite tool for traveling smart phone users.

The Rama app, which is known for quirky, focused history tours such as the Guillotine in Paris, America in London and Detroit's Skyscrapers, has re-launched with 31 unique food tours from around the world. A few I'd like to check out include Istanbul in Berlin, which explores the Turkish food scene in the German capital; Newcastle by Breakfast, which scopes out five of the best places in Newcastle for a full English breakfast; Little India Insider, a guide to South Asian eats in Jackson Heights, Queens; Dim Sum Stories, a food tour through Hong Kong; and Free Tapas in Madrid.

Local experts write all of Rama's history and food tours and many include offline maps for easy touring in places without a dependable 3G/4G of Wi-Fi connection. Tours are available as in-app purchases ranging from free to $2.99 and each comes with a useful introduction to let you know what you can expect before purchasing and embarking on the tour. For example, the food tours provide information on how much money you can expect to spend when sampling the local fare while the history tours give a time and distance estimate.

One refreshing aspect of the Rama app – at least for this writer – is that it gives users the opportunity to connect with the tour writers. Each "About the Author" section provides details on the writer's personal blog, background and provides his or her email address and, where applicable, Twitter handle. Imagine being able to contact your tour author with additional questions as you follow his tour! Sure, there's room for abuse here. But I think the personalization is a nice touch.

Rama is free in the iTunes store. Download it here.

Places of worship have long been points of interest for travelers. Solemn and usually quite ornate, these buildings provide a window onto a community's history and values and often give visitors a much-needed pause while pounding the sightseeing pavement. Cathedrals are typical for this kind of touring. But have you ever thought to pay a visit to a synagogue?

My fascination with exploring synagogues began on a trip to Willemstad, Curaçao, home of Mikvé Israel-Emanuel, the oldest active Jewish congregation in the Americas built in 1651. Several years later, I had the opportunity to visit the Paradesi Synagogue in Cochin, Kerala, India. Constructed in 1568, it is the oldest "active" synagogue in India - "active" because there are fewer than 20 Jews left in Cochin, most having emigrated to Israel. Coincidentally, I learned about the Jews of Cochin from an exhibit at the 6th and I Synagogue, a historic synagogue in Washington, DC, that is now used primarily as a community center and arts space.

The Jewish diaspora is thriving in many parts of the world. Yet in places like Cochin and Mumbai, the local Jewish community is dwindling, giving impetus to visiting some synagogues before they are shuttered or left to become museums. The following are some of the synagogues I have seen or wish to explore on my travels.

Gallery: Historic Synagogues

As part of austerity measures enacted by the Italian Parliament this spring, the city of Rome will soon begin construction of a glass dome that will envelope the Trevi Fountain, one of that city's most iconic attractions. The dome, which will enclose the Palazzo Polli, the Baroque structure that serves as the backdrop of the famous fountain, and close off the cobblestone street Via delle Muratte, will allow the city to collect admission to the landmark.

"The fountain has always been free of charge," explains Gianni Bugiardo, an official with the Rome Tourism Board, "but it is also one of the top 10 things that tourists want to see. So, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to raise funds for the state and create a new tourist experience." This is not the first time that the Eternal City has sought to enclose one of its landmarks. In 2006, city officials re-opened the Ara Pacis, an ancient altar dedicated to Caesar Augustus, in a glassed-in pavilion designed by architect Richard Meier.

The plans to close off the Trevi Fountain have been met with controversy, of course, with many Romans arguing that the new structure will interfere with the ancient cityscape. On the contrary, Maria Dandolovia, who lives a coin's throw from the fountain, is upbeat about the project. "So many tourists come here in the middle of the night and try to re-create that famous scene from La Dolce Vita," Ms. Dandolovia says with a sigh. "Perhaps when they close off la fontana, I can finally get a good night's sleep."

[Image via Wikipedia]

Room Key, the hotel booking venture backed by six leading hotel brands, announced on Wednesday that it has expanded to include hotel inventory in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Partner hotels will be searchable on the RoomKey.com website and four new country-specific sites: www.roomkey.co.uk (UK), www.roomkey.ca (Canada), www.roomkey.com.au (Australia) and www.roomkey.co.nz (New Zealand).

When RoomKey.com launched in January 2012, it included only U.S. hotel listings from its six hotelier founders: Choice Hotels International, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Marriott International and Wyndham Hotel Group. Within two months, Room Key has developed partnerships with Best Western as well as Preferred Hotel Group and Worldhotels, two hotel companies with a roster of hundreds of independently-owned luxury hotels, resorts and residences.

Room Key's super simple hotel search remains the same across all five of its portals. Though users can now view search results in the currency of their choice.

Photo courtesy RoomKey.com