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In the Star Wars universe, Tattooine is the home planet of the Skywalker family, but it looks like Tunisia because that’s where many of the exterior shots were filmed. In fact, Tatooine got its name from the town of Tataouine in Tunisia. A lot of the buildings and landscapes you know from the films look pretty much the same today, and many of them welcome tourists. This photo is of a fisherman’s hut which was used as the home of an old hermit named Ben Kenobi. Read about more of these Tunisians locations at LosApos. Link -via reddit
Nisheisha lives in Jamaica, but there’s no chance you will find her home. I have learned from experience that you never trust directions given by children or by people who do not drive. I’ve also learned from experience that those are the people who will ask you for a ride. Oh, they may be able to show you where they live, but you’ll be past a turn before they tell you to turn “back there.” Go ahead, ask a child near you for directions to some nearby landmark! -via Cynical-C
Andy Lewis performed a slacklining routine during the Super Bowl halftime show, and amazed the audience. If slacklining is new to you, you can find out all about this extreme sport (or is it an art?) in an interview with climbing legend Dean Potter at National Geographic News Watch. Oh, yeah, that’s him in the picture, at Yosemite Falls. See a video of Potter’s trip across the abyss at NatGeo. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
The future of waste receptacle technology is here, and it has an LCD screen that can tell you how your stocks are doing today, how long it will take you to get home on public transit, and what the weather looks like for tomorrow.
It’s bombproof, offers a free Wi-Fi connection, and it appears that the only thing that hasn’t improved is how it handles waste.
One hundred of these computerized trash bins are going to be placed in London’s financial district before the 2012 Olympic Games begin in July, so if you’re heading to London this summer you can stop by and say hi, then you’ll have a great story to tell your grandchildren!
Aric S. Queen was on a quest to be the first person at the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru, on January first. However, that involves some high-altitude walking uphill first thing in the morning, and he despaired as other hikers passed him by. But at the gate, serendipity gave Queen the opportunity to go first.
Ten-plus years of travel, forty-plus countries, countless marvels, but this is the only place I cried at seeing.
One photo was snapped from my phone — those four seconds were the maximum amount of time I wanted to take my eyes off of it.
For 30 seconds, I sat in silence – not even realizing what I had just done.
It took the sound of footsteps behind me to bring everything back to the present. And it took the sounds of voices to realize that when I had first gotten up – there were none.
An estimated 1.2 million people this year, and I was visitor no. 0,000,000,001.
Read Queen’s story and see a video of the adventure at Intelligent Travel magazine. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
(Image credit: Aric S. Queen)
Aliens may have been rating our planet as a travel destination all along! This set of reviews is from Matthieu Barrère’s webcomic Awful Drawings. Link -Thanks, Kim!
Your bread might get soggy, but the view is worth it. At the Villa Escudero resort in the Philippines, you can dine right next to a waterfall. Don’t bother wearing shoes because the water runs right through the dining and buffet area.
Link -via Bit Rebels | Photo: maryan54
Feeling
miserable today? Maybe you live in Miami, Florida. The city - famous for
mega-million mansions and South Beach clubs - has just gotten the unenviable
title of America's Most Miserable City.
Forbes Magazine took a look at 10 factors (including violent crimes, unemployment rates, and foreclosures) for the 200 largest metro areas in the United States to find the 10 most miserable cities in America. See if yours make the list:
Miami, Florida
The housing crisis has devastated Miami with 47% of homeowners sitting on underwater mortgages. Foreclosures have been rampant with 364,000 properties in the Miami area entering the foreclosure process since 2008 according to RealtyTrac.Detroit, Michigan
Detroit has closed schools and laid off police in an effort to avoid a bankruptcy filing this year. Home prices are down 54% the past three years, worst in the U.S. The median price was $38,000 last year in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn metro division.Flint, Michigan
Flint razed 775 abandoned homes in the year ending October 2011, to try and change the city landscape. The state of Michigan appointed an emergency manager last year to take over Flint's budget and operations. Crime remains a severe problem with the violent crime rate the third worst in the U.S.West Palm Beach, Florida
South Florida has long been stained by corruption. One of the latest examples: Jose Rodriguez, the mayor of Boynton Beach (part of the West Palm metropolitan division) was suspended from his office last month by Gov. Rick Scott after he was arrested for allegedly using his position to obstruct a child abuse probe involving his wife's estranged daughter. Home prices in the West Palm area are off 50% since 2006.
See the rest at Forbes: Link (Photo: Shutterstock)
Wish
there were words to describe how you feel while you travel the globe?
The Lonely Planet blog coined some brand new travel-related words that
may come in handy in your next journey:
automobilogic n.
The state of mind unique to road trips that convinces travelers that gummi bears and fried onion rings count as a daily serving of fruits and vegetables. Studies indicate that this may lead to automobesity.bratpacker n.
Someone who believes they have a revolutionary system for packing luggage and insists on explaining it to anyone who will listen.comeuppants n.
When an obnoxious person loses their luggage and has no change of clothes.crankophone n.
Someone who tries to make themselves understood in a foreign country simply by speaking louder in their own tongue.filibluster v.
To cause pointless delay by creating a scene in the airport security line to prove some point about personal privacy rights that no one behind you cares about.
Come to think of it, I know a few crankophones! Read more at the Lonely Planet Blog: Link
This ain't your neighborhood Barnes & Noble, that's for sure! Flavorwire has the gallery of 20 most beautiful bookstores in the world. (The one above is the El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Take a look, before Amazon puts them all out of business! Link
The planned expedition led by Norwegian Jarle Andhoy was already shady, and now there’s an unwilling member along for the ride. The yacht took off in a hurry as immigration officials arrived to investigate Andhoy at an Auckland harbor, while a mechanic was on board repairing an anchor on the 52-foot boat Nilaya.
Mr Andhoy and three crew members have embarked on an unpermitted voyage to Antarctica’s Ross Sea, in defiance of both the Norwegian and New Zealand governments.
A previous trip he made to Antarctica almost a year ago ended in disaster when his yacht Berserk sank in a fierce storm and three men died.
Declaring himself “a Viking”, the Norwegian adventurer says he is seeking the wreckage of the Berserk, which was serving as a supply ship for an attempt to reach the South Pole on quad bikes.
New Zealand authorities, who co-ordinated an extensive search and rescue operation last year in which Mr Andhoy and a companion were airlifted to safety, are furious about his return voyage.
Authorities are looking for the Nilaya, which Andhoy has said does not have a locator beacon. It is assumed to not have adequate provisions for an extra expedition member, either. Link -via Arbroath
If watching Return Of The Jedi left you with a longing for a life in the trees, a yearning for an Ewokian lifestyle that just won’t go away, then you’ll want to visit Oregon, where builder of dream houses Michael Garnier runs his Out ‘n’ About Treehouse Treesort.
The Ewok village inspired bed-and-breakfast is best described as “woodsy”, with nine treehouses connected by bridges and staircases and the ultra fun sounding zipline option, for getting around in a heroic hurry.
Enjoy the video tour, and see how treehouses can be an unusual yet fun vacation option.
Link –via DesignTAXI
We’ve written a lot about Disneyland, but for those long-term, die-hard fans, you can help imagineer Rolly Crump with his memoirs. Obviously he has all the actually memories he needs, but vintage pictures of the park are another story. Sure he could get them from the company itself, but if you know a lot about the corporation, you know they aren’t the easiest to work with when it comes to copyrighted images.
“We need your help, oh great citizens of the Internet! I’m writing a book with former Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump, and we’re looking for some old photos for it that you may have in your collection. We’re looking for stuff from his time at Disney (such as Adventureland Bazaar in 1963, Tower of Four Winds, The Enchanted Tiki Room in the 60s, It’s A Small World at World’s Fair, The Land in 1980s) and his outside work (like Bear-y Tales at Knott’s Berry Farm, Circus World, and Busch Gardens). Anything that Rolly has brought to life, we’d love to see your photos of it. We will gladly give you credit AND a signed copy of the book if we use your images!”
I know some of you Neatorama readers have been visiting the park for decades, so here’s a good opportunity to take advantage of those old family vacation photos.
Link Via BoingBoing
Taman Negara in Malaysia is the world’s oldest rainforest. It has flourished since the land rose from the sea during the Jurassic era, around 130 million years ago. Even ice ages haven’t affected the forest.
Far outnumbering the human inhabitants are the flora and fauna of Taman Negara. Within the park boundaries there are tigers, Malayan tapirs, elephants, wild boar, various species of deer, leopards, sun bears, civets and wild ox, to name just a few.
Add to this between 200-300 species of birds and thousands of insects making their lives on the jungle floor. Taman Negara has one of the richest ecologies on earth, protected both by its impenetrability and Malaysian law.
Read more about Taman Negara at Environmental Graffiti. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user taylorandayumi)
New York comedian Mark Malkoff visited every Starbucks in Manhattan, raced a Big Wheel against a bus, and treated people to free cab rides. His latest stunt is to take a trip to Los Angeles and avoid hotel bills by bunking at various celebrity’s homes. Thirteen of the people he contacted said, “Sure!” -Thanks, Mark!
Chinese steamed buns stuffed with meats or other delicious fillings are always a treat, but Japan might have just upped the ante with their new pizza buns found at the local 7-Elevens.While the reviewer at Serious Eats doesn’t seem to be too fond of the actual product, I think we can all agree that the idea has a lot of great potential.
What do you guys think? Yum or yuck?
Park visitors won’t get forty shillings on a drum, but if French politician Yves Jégo has his way, they will get to experience the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte. He plans to build, at a projected cost of $280 million, a theme park inspired by the French emperor:
The plan is to build the unlikely amusement park on the site of the brilliant but doomed French leader’s final victory against the Austrians in the Battle of Montereau in 1814 just south of Paris.
The 1815 Battle of Waterloo, in which the Duke of Wellington ended Napoleon’s rule in France, could be recreated on a daily basis with visitors perhaps even able be able to take part in the reenactments.
They will also be able to take in a water show recreating the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, in which Lord Nelson scored a decisive victory over a French and Spanish coalition aboard HMS Victory but died in the process.
Link -via Samizdata | Image: Jacques-Louis David -via Direktor
Venice is sinking very slowly -only about two inches every 100 years. But worse, the Adriatic sea is rising around Venice as well. A proposed plan to save the Italian city involves “inflating” its porous foundation with sea water to raise the whole town about a foot. Forty billion gallons of water would need to be pumped! Read more about the plan at National Geographic News. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!
(Image credit: Jim Richardson/National Geographic)
Photo: Hugo!/Flickr
No, that's not a photo of a flooded village. Rather, it's of the city of Ganvié in the Republic of Benin, which calls itself "The Venice of Africa." Kuriositas has the details on the history of this curious city:
At the beginning of the seventeenth century the country was called Dahomey and was one of the most powerful states in West Africa. The major ethnic and linguistic group was the Fon and they had made a deal with the Portuguese. Rather than their own people being captured and sold in to slavery they made a contract with the Portuguese to hunt and sell tribes people from smaller ethnic groups.
The Fon warriors were numerous and powerful and there was little other groups of people could do to defend themselves against this onslaught. Then, someone among the Tofinu people came up with an idea. Their name is lost to history but one wise person realized that they could take advantage of the religious practices of their
The Fon were forbidden by their religion to advance upon and water bound settlement. Any groups of people who lived on water were, by the law of the Fon, safe. Lake Nokoué is simply immense. Ganvié was established as a means to escape being sold in to a lifetime’s slavery and shipped across the world in appalling conditions. No wonder its name means the collectivity of those who found peace at last. The alternative translation is the much more to the point We Survived.enemy.
Link - via Look At This
Yesterday marked 100 years since Robert Falcon Scott and the others of his expedition reached the South Pole. Photographer Herbert Ponting recorded images of the journey, although he did not personally accompany Scott all the way to the Pole.
Staying behind likely saved Ponting’s life: Upon reaching the Pole, Scott and his team discovered that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had gotten there first, on December 14, 1911. (Find out how Amundsen won the Pole, in his own words.) Then, weakened by extreme cold and dwindling supplies, Scott’s entire party died on the return journey, in late March 1912.
Ponting’s photographs survived as well, to this day. National Geographic News has a gallery of those historic images posted in honor of the 100th anniversary. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
(Image credit: Herbert G. Ponting/National Geographic)
Worried about some pastry scarfing TSA agent “confiscating” your cupcakes for further analysis in their belly? Then get your hands on these TSA-compliant cupcakes from Silver Spoon Bakery, featuring posts with Richard Nixon saying “I am NOT a gel!”, and let them make a statement for you.
Let those hungry TSA agents know you’re wise to their cupcake stealing ways, or put a smile on their normally stoic faces when they get a load of what Tricky Dick has to say about it!
Link –via Geekosystem
Image: Ivan Meljac
Where else but Iceland would you expect to find big chunks of ice on the beach, instead of sand? Behold the (brr!) beautiful beach of Jökulsárlón as photographed by French photographer Ivan Meljac, and featured in Quiet Moments in Iceland's Landscapes by Fotopedia.
Did
you leave your phone at the hotel? Don't feel bad, because that ain't
nothing compared to what some people left behind at Travelodge hotels!
The list of lost-and-found items compiled by the budget hotel chain include Frederick the Hamster and an 18-month-old baby.
Among the quirkier items left behind include a life-size Mr Blobby costume, a case full of 100 Duchess of Cambridge masks, and an urn containing the ashes of a guest’s late wife.
One careless visitor left a box contained £50,000 worth of watches and a newlywed bride nearly lost her Vera Wang wedding gown when her husband forgot to pack it.
Staff at Nuneaton Travelodge were even treated to a Christmas surprise when a couple left an entire Santa’s grotto is their room.
They appear to have held their own early celebrations, and left a whole Christmas tree with decorations, lights, a model reindeer, a Father Christmas outfit and a turkey dinner behind.
An 18-month-old boy was accidentally left behind in a Winchester Travelodge, after his busy parents each thought the other had placed him in his car seat.
They drove away to attend a wedding, before realising their toddler son was not in the back of their car moments later.
An energetic Roborovski hamster was also found in his cage in Knutsford, after his forgetful owner drove back to Bristol without him.
When
Douglas MacAyeal at the University of Chicago gave undergraduate science
interns the boring task of digitizing satellite photos of Antarctic lakes,
little did he know that he would stumble upon a neat geographical curiosity:
the lakes don't stay put - in fact, they
move rapidly along the coastline.
MacAyeal thinks the explanation lies in the unusual location of the George VI ice shelf, trapped as it is in a narrow channel between Alexander Island and the Antarctic mainland. As the ice sheet squeezes through the channel, its outer edges buckle into a series of crests and troughs. The lakes sit in the troughs. The ice shelf pushes into Alexander Island at an oblique angle, so the end of each trough tracks along the coast, dragging its lake with it.
Many of the pools in this list are spectacular because of their location or view, but the pool at the Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas has a shark aquarium in the middle of it! The salt-water aquarium is separated from the swimming area, but only by glass -and they even have a water slide running through the shark enclosure! Link -via the Presurfer
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You probably already know that China has a one child per couple policy, but you might not know how it is enforced or who is granted exceptions to the rule. The answers to these questions can be found over at Mental Floss and they are simply fascinating.
Provincial governments are responsible for enforcing the policy and do so through a mix of rewards and punishments doled out by local officials. In most provinces, having a an extra child gets you a fine, the amount of which varies across provinces. In some places, the fine is a set amount (usually in the thousands of dollars), and in others it’s based on a percentage of the violator’s annual income. In some provinces, policy violators can also have their property and/or belongings confiscated and lose their jobs.
Who knew they even can fire you from your job for having an extra baby?
The Treehotel is a group of unusual tree houses in northern Sweden that guests can rent. All six sides of this one are mirrored, creating beautiful images as the sky and trees reflect on the surface. Others look like a bird’s nest and a flying saucer.
Link -via My Modern Met | Official Website | Photo: Peter Lundstrom
Oddity Central reports that Taiwan’s garbage trucks commonly play music in order to alert people of their arrival in a neighborhood. Among the more popular tunes is Beethoven’s “Für Elise.” They often switch to thematic songs during Christmas and the Chinese New Year. Which songs do you think would be ideal for garbage trucks?
The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in the Philippines was built decades ago, but was never put into use. The facility’s maintenance is quite an expense, but its owner, the National Power Corporation, has turned the site into a tourist attraction! You can take a tour of the nuclear reactor (something you certainly cannot do in the U.S.) and stay in a cabana on the beautiful beach nearby, which also serves as a turtle sanctuary. Relax, there is no uranium here! But if you can’t just pick up and go to Bataan, take a tour with a gallery of photographs and information from National Geographic News. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!
(Image credit: Jay Directo, AFP/Getty Images)
I recently posted an article about discontinued snack foods, and many of our readers pointed out that some of the foods were still available in other countries. As it turns out, fast food companies operate in a similar manner, offering local favorites to other countries that they would never consider selling in America. Here are a few American fast food establishments and the dishes they don’t offer in America.
In Canada, poutine, fries covered in cheese curds and gravy, is offered at almost every fast food restaurant, but BK offers their own varieties that fit in with the rest of their food –most notably, the Angry Poutine with fried onions and peppers on top.
In Puerto Rico, mallorcas, sweet pastry buns, are a popular breakfast treat and Burger King takes full advantage of the popularity of these buns by offering the King Mallorca, filled with ham, eggs and three different cheeses. If you want something even more filling, you might want to try their Enormous Omelet, which isn’t an omelet at all, but actually one of the restaurant’s long hamburger buns filled with a hamburger patty, two eggs, bacon and cheese. Later in the day, you can always snack on some King Wings, which are buffalo wings marinated in honey –why aren’t these sold in America yet?
In many countries, including the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico, you can enjoy the deliciously fatty Cheesy Whopper, which features a deep fried disc of cheese on top of a standard Whopper.
Personally, I want to try the Hawaiian BK Chicken available in New Zealand, which is like all the other chicken sandwiches Burger King sells, only it features bacon and pineapple. Sign me up!
The variety of KFC’s international menus is simply astounding, as the American version exclusively limits itself to fried chicken and a few sides, while the international franchises seem to have no limits on what they serve. On the more standard side, there is the Fillet Tower Burger, which is available throughout Europe and other locations, which is essentially just a chicken sandwich topped with a hashbrown. On the other end of the spectrum is the menu from Thailand, which features stir fries, a tuna and corn salad, fish fingers (like chicken fingers, but fish) and a donut filled with shrimp meat. China offers a similarly strange menu compared to the standard KFC fare, as it includes corn salad, beef wraps, red bean porridge, shrimp burgers and an egg and vegetable soup.
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