City of Ice Opens in China
Posted on 01/10/2017, 12:00 AM
(photo: @theeconomist / Instagram) If you take your vacation cues from Elsa in Frozen, you'll want to make your way immediately to northern China, where the 33rd annual Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival has officially launched. The yearly event is best known for its enormous illuminated sculptures, built this year with 180,000 cubic meters of ice—all of which came from the nea...
Famous Sequoia "Tunnel Tree" Toppled
Posted on 01/09/2017, 4:30 PM
The tree in 1899 The Pioneer Cabin Tree, a historic tourist attraction carved out of a giant sequoia in the 1880s, was felled by a winter storm in Northern California this week. The 150-foot-tall tree, a part of Calaveras State Park's "Big Tree Trail" near Arnold, California, had been leaning badly over the past few years. For some of its history, cars were permitted to drive throug...
New Travel Trend: Camping in Medieval Churches in England
Posted on 01/09/2017, 12:00 AM
Camping in churches—or "champing"—is an increasingly popular activity in southeastern England. Possibly because adherents don't call it "churmping." The growing trend dates to 2014, when the Churches Conservation Trust opened the medieval All Saints' Church in Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, to overnight guests willing to pay a relatively small fee (it's currently £55/US$68 per night). The f...
Forthcoming Decisions by Trump May Have a Major, and Not Always Favorable, Impact on the U.S. Travel Industry
Posted on 01/07/2017, 7:00 PM
Your right to travel has always been intertwined with political affairs, and this moment in American history poses more questions about the future of travel than most....
$7 Billion Renovation Planned for NYC's JFK Airport
Posted on 01/06/2017, 12:00 AM
New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport is getting a makeover. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced plans for a $7 billion renovation of the facility, which served 60 million passengers in 2016. A big part of the project involves making the airport's various pieces better connected. Under the proposal, newer terminals would be expanded and older ones would be reloca...
Carnival's New "Ocean Medallions" Track Every Move—And Make Spending Thoughtless
Posted on 01/05/2017, 1:45 PM
Inspired by Disney's controversial MagicBand system, the largest cruise line company in the world launches new disks that will track guests' every whim and move....
New, Lower Train Fare Between UK and Continental Europe for Eurail Pass Holders
Posted on 01/05/2017, 12:00 AM
Britain isn't always keen on linking up with the rest of Europe, but here's a rare exception that could benefit budget-conscious travelers. Eurostar, which offers high-speed passenger service between the UK and the European continent via the Channel Tunnel, has been added to Eurail, a network connecting 28 different member countries, each of them accessible with one of Eurail's passes. Fro...
Computer Outage at Airport Customs Caused by Software Update, Not Hackers
Posted on 01/04/2017, 12:00 AM
Holiday travelers returning to the United States from international locations on Monday were greeted with enormous lines and long waits at airports, thanks to a four-hour computer outage affecting U.S. Customs and Border Protection. On the bright side, hackers were not involved. Instead, agency officials say that a software update initiated on December 28 caused the trouble, which lasted fr...
Berlin's Long-Delayed New Airport Probably Won't Open in 2017
Posted on 01/03/2017, 12:00 AM
Currently five years overdue and counting, Berlin's new international airport is scheduled to open at last in late 2017. Then again, maybe not. The project's chief executive, Karsten Muehlenfeld, has told a German newspaper that the chance of winding things up in 2017 is "only very small now." Originally planned for a 2012 opening, the airport, which has been under construction since 20...
Bid for the Chance to Ride in Alaska's Iditarod Race
Posted on 12/30/2016, 12:00 AM
Here's a winter travel idea for those of you with a sense of adventure: Until January 20, you can bid for the chance to ride in the basket of a musher's sled in the 2017 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. Winners of the auction will get an 11-mile ride at the ceremonial start of the race in Anchorage. That's just a tiny fraction of the full route, which stretches across more than 1,000 ...
