TravelBits
Fairy-Tale Come True
In the far-flung northern region of Asturias, Spain, a tiny port town has preserved its hardscrabble maritime spirit and kept the selfie-snapping hordes at bay. Cudillero is a kind of fairy-tale place, full of colorful cliff-top houses — a sleepy coastal oasis where you wake up to the distant clang of buoys, take barefoot walks on empty beaches, and while away afternoons at harborside cafés. Luckily, a 5-hour drive from Madrid, or a 3-hour jaunt from Bilboa or Santiago de Compostela, puts that fantasy right in front of you.
Source: youngadventures.com
No Posting Please
Even first-time fliers know that an airline boarding pass contains certain information about a traveler. A passenger’s name, flight number, and seat assignment are all printed in plain sight. But privacy experts warn that these tickets, whether a paper print out or an electronic version, contain more personal information than meets the eye. Specifically, the barcode on a boarding pass can pull up data like a frequent flyer number, contact information, or other identification details. As such, the paper versions of the travel document should be disposed of with care, and you should never post them on social media.
Source: The Independent
Bringing Fido Along
Dog lovers agree, camping is more fun when you can bring your canine along. But even though bringing your pup may seem like a no-brainer, finding nearby dog-friendly camping is a bit more complicated than you might think. So here is a list of the best dog-friendly campgrounds across the U.S. with a little help from Campspot, a campground booking platform that has a handy “pet-friendly” filter.- 4 Paws Kingdom Campground & Dog Retreat in Rutherfordton, NC
- Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resort in Luray, VA
- Riverside Campground & Cabins in Big Sur, CA
- Sun Outdoors Moab Downtown in Moab, UT
- Sagadahoc Bay Campground in Georgetown, ME
- Sun Outdoors Texas Hill Country in New Braunfels, TX
- Sun Outdoors Rocky Mountains in Granby, CO
- Dark Sky RV Campground in Kanab, UT
- Elkamp Eastcreek in Mineral, WA
- Lost River Valley Campground in North Woodstock, NH
Sun-Toasted
Surrounded by palm-forested headlands on Karnataka’s isolated far-north coast, Gokarna’s luscious sand-and-rock coves have morphed into some of India’s most beloved beaches, yet still retain their laid-back, off-grid beauty. South from spiritual Gokarna town (a major pilgrimage destination), honey-hued sand ripples into the turquoise Arabian Sea, with perfect swimming and fuss-free guesthouses, like Namaste Yoga Farm, mingling with surf schools, yoga shalas, swaying hammocks, kayak-hire shops and more.
Source: Lonely Planet
Room with a View
Travelers looking to unwind in an elegant oceanfront setting with classic California beach views can now head to the new Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach, Curio Collection by Hilton, which officially opened on October 12.
After undergoing a top-to-bottom multimillion-dollar renovation, the sprawling 9-acre property, located in Oxnard, about an hour north of Los Angeles, now features 250 suites inspired by its picturesque beachfront location and the laid-back Southern California lifestyle.
Source: Hospitality Net
Chill Out
Not everyone who heads to a national park wants an exhausting active experience. Set right against the Virgin River, on the body of water that flows through Zion National Park’s famed Narrows hike, sits the Cliffrose Lodge and Gardens, where you can take a dip in their waterfall hot tub after a day of hiking. And you don’t have to do the 10-mile, round-trip Narrows hike. You can ride along the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway instead. Then head back to have a sundowner on your private patio facing Zion’s magnificence and drop off into your plush mattress. Source: Twist Travel Magazine
Simply Historic
The glamour of traveling across Europe by train — popularized by Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express — is making a comeback. Designers are renovating original carriages from the historic Orient Express route, with plans to reboot the storied train in the next few years. The Orient Express was a transcontinental passenger route that launched in 1883, running from Paris to Istanbul, then called Constantinople. Now, French travel and hospitality company Accor wants to restore the iconic route to its former glory. Thanks to the expert sleuthing of French historian Arthur Mettetal, the company is currently renovating 17 carriages from the original Nostalgie-Istanbul-Orient-Express, which date back to the 1920s and ’30s.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
The Largest in the World
There is one park that, ahem, blows all of the others out of the water. The champion of the world — timpani, please — is Suntago Waterworld at Park of Poland in Warsaw. Opened in 2020, it boasts more than 721,000 square feet, barely edging out the longtime champion, Tropical Islands in Germany. Suntago Waterworld includes 32 water slides (including one at 320-meters that is the longest in Europe), 18 swimming pools, and 10 hot tubs. Meanwhile in North America, DreamWorks Water Park at the American Dream mega-complex in New Jersey lays claim to North America’s largest indoor water park at more than 370,260 square feet, or 8.5 acres.
Source: Trip Savvy
Road Trippin’
Few scenic byways pack as much into such a short drive as New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway. Traversing the White Mountain National Forest as it climbs to the 2,855-foot Kancamagus Pass between Conway and Lincoln, NH, the Kancamagus Highway offers nearly endless opportunities for hiking, camping, swimming, visiting waterfalls and historic sites, and making frequent stops to pause and enjoy views of mountains, valleys, and rivers. Favorite attractions include Little Falls, Rocky Gorge, Bear Notch Road, and Lincoln Woods. Source: roadtrippers.com
Electrifying Commute
Delta Air Lines is stepping into the future with a new partnership that will allow customers to get to and from the airport by electric plane. The carrier will partner with Joby, which operates all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, to shuttle passengers from the city to the airport. To start, Delta expects to roll out this service in New York and Los Angeles in 2024.
Source: Travel + Leisure
Airport Escort Service
Debuting in 2019 at Dulles International Airport, SkySquad is a service that helps travelers with their bags, brings them through security as expeditiously as possible, ushers them to their gate, and more. Everyone who works for SkySquad is badged and background-checked so that they can accompany their customers to any public part of the terminal, including through the security area and even past it. Its basic fee for such chaperoning is $49 for couples and singles and $99 for families. Those prices cover the journey from curb to gate and all it may entail, whether that may include repacking bags at security, carrying car seats, or keeping an eye on luggage during your bathroom pit stops, shopping excursions, or play breaks for the wee ones.
Source: Frommers
Hitting All Fifty
Unclaimed Baggage, a popular tourist destination in Scottsboro, AL, and the country’s only merchant of lost baggage, embarked on a 50-state road tour in celebration of its 50th anniversary, surprising and delighting fans with games, giveaways, and unique experiences. Led by “Hugo,” the restored vintage 1965 Chevrolet truck named after Unclaimed Baggage’s founder, it was a popular sighting on social media, having posed with some of the country’s most iconic and unusual roadside attractions.
Source: PR Newswire
Tinder for Travel?
A new mobile app designed for travelers combines the wanderlust- and envy-inducing qualities of Instagram vacation pics with the helpfulness of an online map and the judginess of Tinder swiping. Called OfftheGrid, the app, which launched in September, lets users upload and comment on vacation photos and videos, share details of upcoming trips, find destination inspiration, follow other travelers, and even set up IRL meetups on the road.
Source: techcrunch.com
Time to Hit the Beach
The regulatory gauntlet in the Caribbean is now mostly gone, and, right on cue, there are freshly ready places to stay. Rock House Turks and Caicos is a new residential oasis (you can own or rent) that sits on a limestone escarpment overlooking a private stretch of white sand beach in Providenciales. Its 46 “villas” (from studios to four-bedroom stand-alones) are all clean stone lines, floor-to-ceiling windows, and terraces. There’s an infinity pool, restaurant, and gym, a cool cave-like lounge, and a Capriesque beach club with a 120-foot jetty from which boat and yacht tours depart.
Source: Town and Country
Grand Dame of Creole Cuisine
Antoine’s has the distinction of being not only the oldest family-run restaurant in New Orleans, a city known for its lavish, historic dining rooms, but the oldest family-run restaurant in the nation. A bucket-list restaurant for anyone interested in American foodways — or American history, for that matter — the kitchen here is faithful to the preservation of Creole traditions. The fifth-generation owners who oversee this swanky, old-time French Quarter institution have kept all its old-world elegance meticulously preserved — from the luxe chandeliers and drapes to the famous oysters Rockefeller, which was invented here.
Source: Lonely Planet
World’s Most Picturesque High-Dive?
For hundreds of years divers have leaped from the Old Bridge in the southern city of Mostar into the river below and the plunge is still a storied tradition in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first recorded dive from the Old Bridge took place in the 17th century. The bridge is between 20-27 metres (65-89 feet) high depending on the height of the river and during the Red Bull competition a raised diving platform is added onto the bridge, making the jump even higher. To put it into context, Olympic divers jump from boards which are 3 or 10 metres high.
Source: The New York Times
Far and Away
Trekking enthusiasts have long known that the Indian Himalayas provide some of the most rewarding and scenic landscapes in the world. Now even its most remote regions are more accessible than ever due to a new network of roadways making it much more accessible. Until recently, a trip to this part of the country from Delhi would’ve taken two to three weeks. However, new roadways have shortened the journey considerably so that one of the world’s most isolated places just got easier to explore.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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