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More of the Potterverse to Materialize in Orlando

© Shockingly Tasty When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened in Orlando, I was regaled by young and old with tales of chugging Butter Beer and other Potterian adventures. It sounded like a lot of fun, but now I’m glad that I held out. I’m not going until I can ride on the Hogwarts [...]

Owner Blasé About Horse-Riding Goats

Pygmy goat © Brit Angie Power seems amused by all the attention her animals are getting. The Internet has been abuzz with amazement over a video from the tourism authority of Newfoundland and Labrador that depicts one of her pygmy goats riding atop her Arabian horse. The film crew spotted the duo out in the [...]

Israeli PM Pays $127K For One Night’s Sleep

©Beverly Adams Have you ever ordered something without checking the price first and then had a rude surprise when the bill arrived? You were probably thinking, “How much can it possibly cost?” or “Let’s just get on with this.” It’s happened to most of us, but probably not to the extent that Benjamin Netanyahu is [...]

NASA To Display Original Star Trek Galileo Shuttle at Space Center

© JD Hancock Trekkies will soon be making tracks to Space Center Houston. Fans of the original series will be able to see the Galileo shuttlecraft, which goes on display after it was acquired and restored by two fans. The Galileo shuttle craft had been in storage in Ohio for years and was in very [...]

Former Guide Describes Being Swallowed By Hippo

© Doug88888 Have you ever been in a situation while travelling where you only realized afterward the magnitude of the danger you were in? A story has come to light which has me reassessing my earlier travels in Africa, where I was blissfully unaware that you can be swallowed by a hippopotamus. Former African river [...]

Florida: The Sunshine State

What springs to mind when you think of Florida? Buzzing theme parks and non-stop attractions, world-famous Disney characters, huge killer whales performing tricks or sparkling shores with endless swathes of soft golden sands? The Sunshine State is all of these things – and much more. Florida is home to some of the world’s best theme [...]

“Happy End” Photo Book Documents Decades-Old Plane Crash Sites

Dietmar Eckell is self-publishing a photo book featuring nothing but plane crash photography. He’s visited dozens of crash sites already – some nearly 70 years old. Aptly titled Happy End, the book will focus only on those crashes where all of the passengers survived. © Dietmar Eckell The images are striking, humbling, disconcerting, and fascinating. [...]

Big Year Expected for Cicadas, and The People Who Love Them

© Ken Slade Bug lovers are abuzz over reports of this year’s emergence of cicadas. Reports are starting to roll in to cicada-tracking websites (yes, that’s a thing) and early indications point to this being a big year. Billions of the flying insects are expected along the east coast of the United States and at [...]

After 9,000+ Successful Jumps, Skydiver Dies In Crash Landing

© Brian Walsh John Scott died doing what he loved — skydiving. You’re not going to find many people more experienced than he was. Scott had 30 years of experience, more than 9,000 successful jumps under his belt, and was a skydiving and parachute instructor for both civilian and military clientele in Alberta, Canada. He [...]

Man Collects Over 8,000 ‘Do Not Disturb’ Signs

© Quinn Dombrowski Everybody needs a hobby, and nearly everyone who travels has collected something or other along the way. For some of us it’s fridge magnets, postcards, jewelry, or bar coasters. For Edoardo Flores it’s Do Not Disturb signs. Flores has collected over 8,000 Do Not Disturb signs from hotels in 180 countries (in [...]

Frontier Airlines Is Doing You A Favour By Charging More

© Phillip Capper Frontier Airlines recently “enhanced” its service by introducing new surcharges for carry-on luggage that can be as high as $100. According to the airline, one of the most prevalent complaints from its customers was the lack of space in overhead bins for their cabin baggage. So, with its customers in mind Frontier [...]

Ultimate Ideas for an Alternative Themed Hen Weekend in London

So, you’ve been put in charge of organising your best mate’s hen do? You’ll likely be feeling honoured at being trusted with the task, but worried about whether you’ll organise a weekend that will live up to expectations. Of course, you want to arrange a hen weekend to remember and quite rightly so! This will [...]

Thirsty Trees Make Noise

© Tom Goskar Trees are quiet creatures, right? They don’t make much noise aside from pleasant fluttering of leaves and the occasional creaking or cracking of branches. Not so, according to French scientists. A recent study has determined that trees make a lot of noise when they are thirsty, but it’s too rapid for the [...]

London’s Top 10 Architectural Monstrosities (Including Some Tourist Favourites)

Architecture is always subjective. For everyone who sees the Barbican or Trellick Tower as brutalist monstrosities, you’ll find someone else who believes them to be modernist masterpieces (personally, I rather like the Barbican as architecture; I just wish it was easier to navigate!). But a few buildings really are monsters in my view which I’ve [...]

Rogue Moose Leads Cops to Grow-Op

© Blmiers2 The moose may have been loitering where it wasn’t welcome, but cops have it to thank for shutting down a marijuana growing operation. When a moose was found wandering in Burlington, Vermont, police and game officials were called in to handle the situation. As they guided the moose out of town and through [...]

Better with Age: Visiting the World’s Oldest Hotels

If there’s a hotel that’s been around for hundreds of years, you can assume something’s been done right and that you’re in for a good stay. After all, it’s an achievement for businesses to operate successfully for concurrent decades – never mind centuries! So with that thought in mind, let’s first take a look at [...]

Italy Faces Looming Shortage of Pizza Makers

© Michael Connell It seems few Italians want to make pizza anymore, at least not for a living. Unemployment may be high, and jobs scarce in Italy, and yet there is a serious shortage of pizza makers on the horizon. Italians eschew the work because it involves long hours for a relatively low wage. Demand [...]

Cops Investigate Mount Everest Brawl

© Claude Florin I once took a crime writing course and great emphasis was put on originality, and having interesting, yet plausible, circumstances for your sleuth to investigate. I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of a detective story set on Mount Everest. My mentor probably would have written it off as too far-fetched. Apparently [...]

Your Home May Not Be A National Park, But It Can Smell Like One

What does Denali smell like, anyway? ©Blmiers2 Love the wilderness? Wish you could take it home with you? Now you can make your home smell like your favourite National Park. In partnership with the National Park Foundation, Air Wick has come out with a new line of air fresheners that smell like several of America’s [...]

Stockholm Woos ABBA Fans with New Museum

© brainflakes Though the hefty admission price may be your budget’s Waterloo, Stockholm has a new attraction for fans of one of its major cultural exports. ABBA is getting its own museum. We have the Eurovision Song Contest to thank/blame for the worldwide popularity of this 70s pop group, and now you can revel in [...]

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