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travel posts
Video of the Day - A ride through Lisbon
Aug 2nd, 2011 at 8:00PM:
Can you describe your favorite city in one word? Yellow Bus Tours, a tour guide company in Portugal, recently asked tourists of Lisbon to describe the Portuguese capital in one word.
Set to a montage of beautiful scenes shot in and around the city, the video sets a vibe that certainly makes the city look inviting. Kudos to Yellow Bus Tours for capturing the feel of the city & ...
Ramadan begins today: what travelers can expect
Aug 1st, 2011 at 12:30PM: Today begins the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, a month long period of prayer and reflection, fasting and sacrifice, as well as feasting and acts of charity and kindness.
Travelers should exercise extra patience and flexibility this month where Ramadan is celebrated, but enjoy the special atmosphere and festivities.
If traveling in a Muslim country during August, expect closures, a slower pace, ...Galapagos ranked #1 destination by focused adventure travel site
Jul 16th, 2011 at 7:00AM: AvidTrips this week announced the results of its first Top Adventures survey taken in June 25 at this year's Adventures NYC in Central Park. From a field of 60 domestic and international adventure destinations, the results reveal the world's top three adventure travel destinations as The Galapagos Islands, the South Island of New Zealand, and Machu Picchu respectively. That caught my attention. ...Mummies of the World exhibition opens in Philadelphia
Jun 21st, 2011 at 9:30AM:
Mummies are endlessly fascinating. To see a centuries-old body so well preserved brings the past vividly to life. While Egyptian mummies get most of the press, bodies in many regions were mummified by natural processes after being deposited in peat bogs or very dry caves.
Mummies of the World is a state-of-the-art exhibition bringing together 150 mummies and related artifacts. It opened last ...Travel scams and how to avoid them
Jun 11th, 2011 at 7:00AM: Free trips that are not really free, discount pricing that's not really available and memberships in travel clubs that don't really exist? These are some of the ploys used by crooks posing as legitimate travel agents to take our money. Make no doubt about it, these people are criminals and law enforcement is after them.
Sunshine states of Florida and California have strict rules and government ...Photo of the day: open road in Texas
Jun 8th, 2011 at 4:00PM:
There are plenty of motorcyclists in Texas and there's also plenty of open road. Texas: where summer never really fully ends. I haven't ever driven a motorcycle myself, but I have spent hours upon hours hitching rides as a motorcycle passenger--it's fun. But not only is it fun, it's also so... summer.
Whether you're navigating roads this summer on a bike, by car, or on foot, there is ...Does your passport photo still look like you?
Jun 4th, 2011 at 4:00PM:
My boyfriend got his current passport on his 17th birthday. Now on the verge of his 27th year, the picture inside barely resembles him. He changed and grew as stamps were added, but his passport photo remained the same. His shaggy, teenage hair has morphed into a more clean cut look, and these days his face is looking a little less tan and a little more grown up. But somehow, customs agents ...Fortnighter launches, providing customized expert travel advice
Jun 2nd, 2011 at 1:30PM:
Ever wish you could have a travel magazine or guidebook written just for you, catering to your specific interests and full of up-to-date travel advice? The new travel website Fortnighter offers just that--customized itineraries written by professional travel writers.
How does it work?
Start with a destination, specify who you're traveling with (solo, as a couple, or with friends), and the ...Lost and Liberated in the Dordogne
May 27th, 2011 at 9:00AM: "I'm lost. I'm late. I'm sorry," I blurted into the phone, in French.
Silence.
"So, Monsieur Manouvrier, if it's OK I would still like to meet you today."
"You are an hour late. Do you think I have nothing better to do? You Americans think you are so important?" he bellowed, barely breathing between salvos. "Do you think we are so honored to speak to an American that we will stop ...Iceland volcano cancels flights
May 24th, 2011 at 7:00AM:
Here we go again.
After last year's misery from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, now another Icelandic volcano, Grimsvötn, is causing a new round of worries.
More than 250 flights have already been canceled as a cloud of volcanic ash blows over Scotland. Most of Ireland, northern Wales, and northern England will see the ash later today.
Several Scottish airports have been ...DayZipping launches Android app, brings fresh trips to fresh places
May 17th, 2011 at 9:00AM:
It wasn't quite a year ago that an Atlanta-based startup dubbed DayZipping set out to change the way people interacted with new places. But having a growing pool of day trips -- journeys that can be completed within one to eight hours by foot, bike, car or train -- only does a user so much good on the big screen. At last week's Google I/O conference, the company launched their first foray into ...Zurich to vote on suicide tourism
May 15th, 2011 at 10:00AM: Zurich is set to vote on whether to continue allowing foreigners to seek assisted suicide in the city.
Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, but the public has become increasingly concerned about the number of people coming to their country with the intention of killing themselves.
Two proposals are on the table: one to ban assisted suicide for everyone, the other to limit it to city ...The weather delay blues
May 15th, 2011 at 8:00AM:
Ahh... travel. It can be such a magnificent, wonderful thing. Exploring other cultures, visiting beautiful destinations, and sampling local cuisines are all magically sublime experiences. But when things don't quite go as planned, it can be an extremely frustrating affair. One that makes us wonder why we ever left home in the first place.
I received a sobering reminder of this little fact ...Ten (more) random observations about Ethiopia
Apr 26th, 2011 at 9:30AM:
When writing last year's Ethiopia travel series, I collected twelve random observations about Ethiopia. These were interesting bits of information that didn't fit in any of my articles. While writing my Harar travel series, I collected ten more.
1. The standard traveler's money belt that hangs from your neck and is tucked under your shirt is very amusing to Ethiopians because Oromo women ...Travel caution urged but experiences await, what to do?
Apr 23rd, 2011 at 12:00PM:
Troubling events around the world can often bring official alerts and warnings against travel to protect us from harm. Savvy travelers know to pay attention to those words of caution, but not let them define their adventures. Connecting with experienced travelers can bring a fuzzy picture of what is actually happening on the ground into focus. A clear picture of the real situation from a trusted ...Bamburgh Castle excavation reveals Anglo-Saxon building
Apr 22nd, 2011 at 11:00AM:
An excavation in the courtyard of Bamburgh Castle has uncovered an Anglo-Saxon hall, the BBC reports.
It was already known that there was a castle here from the 6th century AD, when England was a patchwork of small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The kingdom of Northumbria was the largest and one of the most powerful. Little was known about the Anglo-Saxon period at Bamburgh, however, because of the ...Lesbian couple sues hotel after being denied double room
Apr 22nd, 2011 at 8:30AM: A lesbian couple is suing a hotel in England after being refused a double room.
Rebecca Nash and Hope Stubbings say they tried to check into the Brunswick Square Hotel in Brighton but were refused a room because the hotel only gives rooms to couples.
This is surprising for a number of reasons. First, it's illegal in the UK for hotels to refuse rooms to gay and lesbian couples. Second, ...The worst zoo I ever saw
Apr 21st, 2011 at 9:00AM: I feel sorry for my Harari friends.
During my stay in Harar, Ethiopia, they were so hospitable, so eager to ensure I had a 100% positive impression of their city and country. For the most part I did, and I left for the capital Addis Ababa with lots of great things to say about Ethiopia.
They should have warned me not to visit the Lion Zoo in Addis Ababa.
It's billed as a natural wonder, ...Harla: Ethiopia's lost civilization
Mar 29th, 2011 at 9:30AM:
Eastern Ethiopia's history is shrouded in mystery. Most archaeologists investigate early hominids like Lucy, the famous Australopithecus afarensis, or study the great civilizations of the north like Gondar and Axum. The east, though, is virtually unknown, and only enigmatic ruins and strange legends remain.
Scattered around eastern Ethiopia all the way to Somaliland and the Red Sea are the ...Travel and Jewish ceremonies a great match, who knew?
Mar 28th, 2011 at 5:00PM:
In the days of old, like a few years ago, traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies were held in traditional ways. Study the Torah. Read the Torah. Give a report about the Torah. Something along those lines. Kinda boring but part of the deal. It was the after-party that got all the press. Now, things are changing as families look for new ways to celebrate one of the Jewish faith's most ...
