Barcelona Unveils Website for Finding Legal Apartment Rentals
Posted on 07/18/2018, 4:45 PM
Barcelona has been cracking down on illegal apartment rentals lately.The Spanish city has closed about 2,000 of them for operating without a license, and slapped Airbnb with a fine of €600,000 (US$700,000) for allowing listings for unlicensed apartments on its website.The company has since agreed to ban illegal rentals in Barcelona—though it has yet to pay the fine.Airbnb's move hasn't kept illegal...
You Can Now Go Glamping on NYC's Governors Island
Posted on 07/18/2018, 12:45 AM
A secluded campground has opened in New York City. There are no typos in the preceding sentence. A grouping of 37 tents can now be found on Governors Island, a 172-acre piece of land floating between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. Once an Army and Coast Guard outpost, the redeveloped isle is partly a national monument and partly a setting for concerts, art exhibits, and other events open to the publ...
Nuts! Southwest Airlines Stops Serving Them on Flights
Posted on 07/10/2018, 5:30 PM
If you were on Family Feud and Steve Harvey asked you to name a snack served on an airplane, it's a cinch that peanuts would be on the board, probably as the number-one answer. Which is odd because peanuts aren't served on the planes of major airlines anymore, with only one or two exceptions. Delta is one—though according to Travel Weekly, that airline will "refrain from serving peanuts on a specif...
A Deadly End for the Yellowstone Daredevils
Posted on 07/08/2018, 8:00 PM
Two years ago, in the spring of 2016, a few young Canadians created an international scandal by treading into forbidden, protected areas of Yellowstone National Park and recording it for their social media followers in the name of living life to the fullest.The men were famous for shooting videos of themselves doing extremely dangerous things in beautiful places. We wrote at the time: "Hundreds of ...
California's Scenic Highway 1 Soon to Reopen in Full
Posted on 07/05/2018, 8:45 PM
For the first time in more than a year, all of California's spectacular Highway 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles will soon reopen to drivers. Parts of the 650-mile route, famous around the world for its coastal views (particularly in Big Sur), have been closed to travelers for months due to damage caused by heavy rains and a huge landslide in 2017.Caltrans, the state's transportation department,...
This Midwest American Town Is Turning 350 Years Old
Posted on 07/03/2018, 3:15 PM
You might have heard that New Orleans and San Antonio are each celebrating a 300th birthday this year. Both cities made our list of the Best Places to Go in 2018 for that very reason. But it's likely you missed the news about another riverside municipality's big milestone—even though it bests the other two by half a century. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan turns 350 this year. The Soo, as it's known by ...
Two Atlantic City Casinos Reopen Under New Management
Posted on 07/02/2018, 1:30 PM
Not long ago, Atlantic City seemed in danger of becoming a ghost town.A string of casino closures—five in two years, according to the Associated Press—came as a consequence of events such as the economic downturn of 2008, the legalization of gambling elsewhere in the U.S. (meaning Nevada and Atlantic City are no longer your only legal gaming options), and the financial chicanery that's easier to fi...
James Bond Museum Opening in Austrian Alps
Posted on 06/26/2018, 7:45 AM
You'll have to wait until the fall of 2019 for the next James Bond movie, which is being directed by Danny Boyle and stars Daniel Craig in what is reportedly his last outing as 007.Starting on July 12, though, the debonair British spy's fans (Live-and-Let-Diehards?) can visit a new Bond-themed museum set at one of the shooting locations for the previous installment, 2015's Spectre. The 007 Elements...
New Great Wolf Lodge Water Park Opens in Chicago Burbs
Posted on 06/22/2018, 7:30 PM
Midwesterners in search of chlorinated fun have a new destination in the Chicago suburbs. Great Wolf Lodge Illinois, the 17th outpost in a chain of Northwoods-themed indoor water park resorts across North America, has opened in Gurnee, the same town (located about 40 miles north of downtown Chicago) where you'll find Six Flags Great America. The new Great Wolf occupies space once belonging to anoth...
New Zealand to Start Taxing Tourists
Posted on 06/20/2018, 1:30 AM
The price of a vacation in New Zealand is about to go up. The country's government has announced plans to charge a new tax on tourists, expected to go into effect in the middle of 2019.International visitors staying less than 12 months will be charged somewhere in the range of NZ$25–35 (US$17–24). Citizens of Australia and most Pacific Island Forum countries will be exempt from the fee. According t...
