Articles

Zac Thompson

Article / Passportable

Meow! It's Japan's New Covid-Fighting Kitty Cat Mascot

Japan is putting the cat in catastrophe with its new pandemic mascot, a coronavirus-combatting kitty named Koronon. On most days, the mascot can be spotted in busy parts of Tokyo such…

Article / Passportable

Princess Diana Hotel Package Obsessively Retraces Her Stay in Chicago

Just in time for the release of The Crown's fourth season on Netflix, the Drake hotel in Chicago has put together a royal package that takes our still-burning cultural obsession with…

Article / Passportable

Lego's Epic Colosseum Set Is Company’s Largest Ever

The biggest Lego set ever created goes on sale on Black Friday. The Danish toy company's plastic-brick replica of Rome's Colosseum contains an anxiety-sparking 9,036 pieces. Can you…

Article / Passportable

Move Over, Monkey Christ: The Potato Head of Palencia Is Spain’s Newest Botched Restoration

The restoration of another artwork in Spain has gone hilariously awry. As you'll see in the before-and-after photo above, the sculpture of a smiling woman on the facade of a bank in…

Article / Cruise

You Can Take a Tiny Sub to the "Titanic" Shipwreck—for $125,000

Starting in May 2021, OceanGate Expeditions will take small crews of "citizen scientists" in a 5-person sub to see the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean.

Article / Passportable

New Museum Honors Recipients of the U.S. Military’s Medal of Honor

Since it was established in 1861, only 3,525 U.S. service members have received the Medal of Honor, the military's highest decoration for valor. A new museum in Chattanooga,…

Article / Passportable

Curious About Delaware? New Driving Trail Shows Off Joe Biden’s Home State

As the home state of Joe Biden, Delaware was talked about more than usual during the 2020 election season. But many of us still don't know much about the second-smallest U.S. state…

Article / Arthur Frommer Online

Why Key West's Ban on Big Ships Will Change Caribbean Cruises

Once a quiet fishing village and quirky haven for writers, artists, and free spirits, the Florida Straits city of Key West veered toward tourist-trap territory starting in the…

Article / Slideshows

Travel by Design: See The Places That Inspire Architects and Other Creative Minds

What’s it like to go on vacation with an architect? It’s not all staring at Doric columns and flying buttresses, according to a new book of photographs snapped by more than 150 leading…

Article / Slideshows

Can You Recognize These World-Famous Landmarks from Above?

It’s hard to disguise a colossal green lady in New York Harbor. Or a 1,000-foot-tall pointy whatsit in the middle of Paris. Yet a newly released series of images adds a little mystery…

Article / Arts and Culture

Freedom Trail: A New Walking Tour of the D.C. Area's Underground Railroad

A new guided walking tour near Washingon, D.C., explores the area's African American history and hidden connection to the Underground Railroad. 

Article / Passportable

Iconic Neon Cowgirl "Vegas Vickie" Kicking It Again at New Casino

Circa Resort & Casino, which opened this week on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, is the city's first casino built from the ground up in four decades. But not everything on…

Article / Passportable

WATCH: Kazakhstan Makes Nice—Very Nice!—with Borat By Taking His Catchphrase

The premise of the newly released Borat sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, is that Sacha Baron Cohen's titular character, a clueless Kazakh journalist, must deliver an animal or,…

Article / Passportable

Costa Rica Fully Reopens to Tourism—No Test, No Quarantine Required

Starting November 1, all international travelers, including those from anywhere in the United States, are welcome to visit Costa Rica—and neither a quarantine period nor a negative…

Article / Passportable

The Word Is Out: Language Museum Opens in D.C.

UPDATE, October 23, 2020: Originally scheduled to open in the spring of 2020, the Planet Word language museum in Washington, D.C., began welcoming visitors on Thursday, October 22,…

Article / Passportable

WATCH: Rare Waterfalls Appear All Over Australia's Uluru

Visitors at Uluru in Australia's Northern Territory got a rare treat this week: the sight of waterfalls tumbling over the surface of the red sandstone monolith. That only happens when…

Article / Passportable

Feeling Stressed? Watch These Soothing Aerial Videos of Icelandic Scenery

With coronavirus infection rates surging yet again and the U.S. presidential campaign nearing its nerve-racking climax, we could use something soothing for a change. Fortunately,…

Article / Passportable

Can You Find the Secret Location of Mississippi’s Tiniest Museum?

Here's all you'll get in the way of an address for a new museum in Hattiesburg, Mississippi: It's in an alley downtown. Billed as the state's tiniest showcase for collections "of all…

Article / Passportable

Bid for a Piece of Hotel History in the Waldorf Astoria Auction

Midtown Manhattan's famed Waldorf Astoria New York (301 Park Ave.) closed for renovations in 2017. When the 47-floor building's hotel rooms and residences finally reopen in 2022,…

Article / Passportable

Take a Cinematic Driving Tour Through the Hometown of the “Halloween” Creator

We'll say this for Michael Myers, the embodiment of pure evil in the Halloween movies: At least he wears a mask when he's within 6 feet of people. His bare-faced victims, on the other…

Article / Passportable

The World’s Longest Suspension Bridge Has a See-Through Walkway

The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge will soon be getting visitors' spines tingling, hearts pounding, and regrets overflowing above a gorge in Portugal. Held up by steel…

Article / Passportable

Tourist Returns "Cursed" Artifacts She Stole from Pompeii

The Brady Bunch tried to warn you. As the wholesome blended family learned in the sitcom's Hawaii episodes, you can't just grab any ancient artifact you find on vacation. The thing…

Article / Passportable

U.S. Army Museum Finally Has an Opening Date—Take a Preview Video Tour

The opening of the newly constructed National Museum of the United States Army was originally scheduled for summer 2020. The coronavirus pandemic put a delay in those plans, but now…

Article / Passportable

WATCH: Cruise Ship Captain Kate McCue Schools a Rude Commenter

Captain Kate McCue of Celebrity Cruises was already worthy of admiration—in 2015, she became the first American woman ever to captain a mega-ship. As if that wasn't impressive enough,…

Article / Passportable

Amazing New Observatory Floats Two Miles Up in the Italian Alps

Here's a strong candidate for any traveler's post-pandemic wish list. The brand-new, glass-and-steel Ötzi Peak 3251m observation deck overlooks the Italian Alps at an altitude of…