Since the dawn of commercial flight, there has been a growing concern among health officials that modern travel is responsible for the rapid spread of dangerous, contagious diseases.

In the past, a random disease could infect an isolated tribe and kill them all off before the virus spread beyond their borders. Today, a backpacker could pick up a contagious disease in Papua New Guinea and be back home in Chicago coughing on people three days later.

Take SARS, for example. Acute Respiratory Syndrome first appeared in Asia in February 2003. Just a few months later the disease--which can only be transmitted by close, personal contact--had spread across the globe infecting people in more than 25 countries.

Such a rapid epidemic was only possible because of the massive proliferation of international flights crisscrossing the globe. One infected person in a single airplane landing at Heathrow could spread a disease like SARS around the globe within a day. This is scary stuff, folks!

Travel, when done right, is an active, engaging adventure during which every day reveals something new and exciting.

But every once in a while, travel is nothing more than a well deserved excuse to escape from the real world and do absolutely nothing. And this is exactly the way I usually feel at the end of the calendar year when I'm burnt out, overworked, and in desperate need of reinvigoration.

And so, my girlfriend and I headed to the South Pacific this last Christmas vacation for some well deserved R & R.

I wasn't sure we would actually get there because I had waited too long to book anything and when my girlfriend started calling around in mid-December, a few travel agents actually laughed at her.

And then we found a gem. Laurel from True Tahiti Vacations took on the challenge and in less than a day, had done a phenomenal job of putting together the perfect package for our one-week escape to the Tahitian island of Moorea. She pulled off a minor miracle in the middle of high season and did everything imaginable for us-even offering the professional services of her husband, a local tattoo artist on Moorea who practices his art in the traditional Tahitian manner: with a wooden tapping stick and needles made of shark's teeth. And don't worry mom, this was one souvenir we both passed on.

Every Friday evening, some time before most people have clocked out of work and begin heading home for the weekend, a plane takes off from LAX.

Like so many other flights at this time, this one is also heading to Las Vegas. It's not full of gamblers, however, but rather a disproportionate amount of silicone that bounces and jiggles through the warm, desert-air turbulence all the way to Vegas where, for the remainder of Friday and Saturday night, it will continue quivering away at $20 a pop.

This, folks, is the Southwest Stripper Plane.

The passengers are LA's greatest temporary export, heading off for a weekend of singles and 20s to help baby pay the rent. They are blessed with the sun-kissed glory of Southern California and enhanced by the world's greatest plastic surgeons, and of course every single one is a struggling teacher, college student, or some other admirable profession that will keep suckers reaching into their wallet time after time to help out their worthy cause, whatever it might be.

Here's one that should really stump you: a mural and a bust. But who is it and where can you find this strange, unexpected monument that otherwise has no connection to the city in which it's located?

Figure out who the person is, and you'll figure out where the monument can be found.

Plug away in the comments section below if you want to take a guess, but keep in mind that this week we are looking for the city and the name of the person honored with this monument.

Come back on Friday and all will be revealed.

Good luck!

(And do me proud; this will be my final WOE for awhile. More on that later.)

One of the world's greatest hiking trails has finally opened. And if you're a backpacking glutton, you can take it all the way across the European Alps.

And how far is that you ask?

Well, if you start in Monaco, work your way up to Chaminox, and then cross over into Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, and then finally, down to Slovenia, you would have covered 3,100 miles.

Via Alpina officially opened in 2005 after many years of effort to link together the numerous trails crisscrossing Europe's most fantastic mountain range. This would never have been possible prior to the formation of the EU since the trans-Alp trail crosses borders so often. The section known as the Red Trail, for example, crosses back and forth 44 times--backpackers would have filled up an entire passport with stamps just hiking the trail 20 years ago.

But now, all one needs is a warm sleeping bag, some gorp and donkey-like endurance to travel the same distance. The best thing about stitching all these trails together, however, is that the Alps are extraordinarily user-friendly thanks to a series of huts where backpackers can spend the night during their journey. In addition, large swaths of trail pass through villages and resort areas where trail blazers can stop for a beer and schnitzel instead of eating dehydrated food for 44 days straight.

If you're considering such an adventure yourself, check out the trail's official site, Via-Alpina.org, where you can download maps, read trail descriptions, and even hook up with hiking partners.

Stuck at LAX for a few hours on a layover and hankering for one of the best burgers in all of California? Well, you're in luck.

There's an In-N-Out Burger just around the corner from the airport, and Gadling knows a little trick to get you there for free.

An In-N-Out is located on nearby Sepulveda Boulevard right next to the Parking Spot--a parking structure that conveniently provides free shuttle service. All you have to do is wait under the red "Hotel and Courtesy Shuttle" sign outside of any airport terminal, and when the yellow and black polka-dotted Parking Spot shuttle swings by, jump on board. It will take you literally next door to In-N-Out. Follow your nose through the back door, across the parking lot, and right inside where you need to order a double-double and fries to enjoy the best layover of your life.

There are a few things to be very careful about, however.

What scares me most about bed & breakfasts is the fear that they might be nothing more than someone's home with a couple of converted rooms for paying guests. Sure, living in a local's house can be a cool thing, but sharing a bathroom with the family and enduring a half-baked attempt at breakfast can quickly ruin a holiday.

So how does one find and book a truly great B&B?

The problem is that B&Bs tend to be owner run and operated so there is never the confidence and assurance of quality one is guaranteed when booking with a brand name hotel chain. And there's no telling until you get there whether Martha Stewart or Leona Helmsley is running the place.

There is, however, an organization which can help out.

Select Registry: Distinguished Inns of North America is comprised of 400 member properties throughout America and Canada which have passed a rigorous and anonymous quality assurance inspection program. Only the very best inns make the cut, which means that Select Registry has indeed become a brand itself, a mark of quality which guarantees the very best and consistently delivers on that promise.

At 14,496 feet, Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the continental United States.

It has always been a dream of mine to climb Whitney and last summer I finally had the opportunity thanks to my friend Patti who collected $15 from me and my friends and applied for a permit. Unfortunately, the date we finally received from the Forest Service was the same weekend I was going to be in Alaska fishing. Damn!

And so last August I jumped on a plane and headed north while my friends drove up Highway 395 and pulled off something far greater than hauling in an 8 pound salmon.

"It was grueling," Patti told me later, "but a tremendous accomplishment." And then she added with a laugh, "and one I will never, ever repeat."

Gallery: California: Mt. Whitney

Mt. Whitney is not a technical climb, but it is a truly exhausting one due to the high altitude and thin air which makes your lungs work overtime for less oxygen and your muscles burn with fatigue.

Although Whitney would have kicked my butt, I was nonetheless disappointed I wasn't able to go. I was even more disappointed after seeing Patti's photographs. The group had lucked out with perfect weather and the cloudless skies and crisp mountain air made for some stunningly beautiful shots.

So, do yourself a favor. Spare a few moments to check out the gallery and summit Mt. Whitney in the same manner as I did this summer: virtually.

Related:
Packing out Last Night's Dinner
Photo of the Day
Pack it out... All out on Mt. Whitney

Far below the city streets, in the very bowels of Moscow, a ragtag group of modern-day troglodytes oversee the countless, eerie miles of subterranean tunnels and caves which crisscross their way through the Russian capital.

Most tourists are only aware of Moscow's phenomenal metro system and limit their time underground to short trips between various stations. The metro, however, is just the tip of the iceberg, as they say.

Vadim Mikhailov (above) knows this because he heads up a group called the Diggers of the Underground Planet. The members don't technically dig, but they do spend a great deal of their time with flashlight in hand, exploring the six to twelve layers of underground Moscow. Since organizing into a group in 1990, the Diggers have been mapping out the abandoned subway tunnels, sewer systems, drainage tunnels, bunkers, riverbeds, waterfalls, lakes, laboratories, torture chambers, mass graves and more. This 850-year old city has lots to hide.

Perhaps the most infamous underground secret is the private subway Stalin had built which reportedly runs to a number of locations including the Kremlin and even to the suburbs outside of Moscow where Stalin had his dacha. This metro is apparently still in operation and therefore a wise Mikhailov never comments on it.

We've posted a number of times here on Gadling about the impact of movies as a travel motivator. In other words, which movies portray a sense of place strong enough to make you want to visit?

Budget Travel recently came up with their own top ten "travel inspiring" movies released in the last year, with the Bourne Ultimatum coming in at number one thanks to six countries featured in the film and an exciting rooftop chase through the ancient medina of Tangiers (above). Although Martha blogged about this a few weeks ago, I'd like to update the post with a few other thoughts.

First off, CNN picked up on the story as well and recently interviewed Budget Travel Senior Editor Liz Ozaist. The interview not only expands on the article, but also includes clips from the movies. Click here to watch the video.

In addition, the Budget Travel article takes their list to the next, logical step and provides information on how to visit the actual locations where the movies were filmed. Casablanca Travel and Tours, for example, conducts a $120 tour of the Tangier medina that shadows the Bourne chase scenes.

Now, if only Budget Travel can teach us how to get our hands on multiple passports, then perhaps we can truly follow in the footsteps of uber-traveler Matthew Bourne.