Want to spend the summer pool-hopping? Hotels.com has a job for you
If you enjoy spending your summer poolside, Hotels.com has a job for you. The company is seeking applications for a “poolhop” position. “This summer, we’re hiring our first-ever ‘Poolhop’ to travel across the country researching the most epic hotel pools from coast to coast,” an online application reads. “It’s a...
Moscow’s Pushkin Museum presents Modernist art treasures
Iconic art works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gaugin, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso went on show Wednesday in a major exhibition at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum. The treasures hail from the early 20th century collection of Russian businessman Sergei Shchukin, whose collection was confiscated and then divided up by...
Billions of mosquito lookalikes plague New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — Billions of mosquito lookalikes are showing up in the New Orleans area, blanketing car windshields, littering the ground with little bodies and even scaring some folks. They’re aquatic midges, often called “blind mosquitoes.” They don’t bite, and they’re good for the environment, but they sure can be...
Arctic Norway island wants to be ‘time-free’ during summer
Residents on an Arctic Norwegian island with 69 days of constant light in the summer say they want to go “time-free” and be more flexible with school and working hours to make the most of the long days. Resident Kjell Ove Hveding says people on the island of Sommaroey —...
Travel tip: Calling all Chevys for car gathering in Carlisle
If names like Nomad, Bel Air, Corvette and Camaro make your heart beat a little faster, we have just the thing for you. The Carlisle Chevrolet Nationals, set for June 21-22 at the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Cumberland County, will welcome all Chevys, old and new, and other vehicles under the...
Universal: Harry Potter faithful wait 10 hours in line to ride new Hagrid coaster
ORLANDO, Fla. — Fans of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter are waiting up to 10 hours in a long, slithering line as Universal Orlando opened its new roller coaster — Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure — to the public for the first time Thursday morning. Potter fans and coaster...
Krispy Kreme goes all in with mega Times Square store
Don’t look now, but a trip to New York City’s Times Square just got a lot sweeter. Krispy Kreme, the doughnut store extraordinaire, announced it is opening the first-of-its-kind flagship store in Times Square in early 2020. With its 4,500 square feet of retail space, the shop “will serve more...
Largely unregulated, facial-recognition technology comes to airport gates
NEW YORK — You won’t need to pull out your ticket to board the flight to Cancun at JetBlue’s Gate 18 at John F. Kennedy Airport. Put away your passport, too. All this convenience costs is your face. You get only one of those, so I hope it’s worth it....
Travel tip: AARP survey says Baby Boomers are on the move
Baby Boomers aren’t just sitting at home watching the grass grow. An AARP survey of 2019 Boomer travel plans revealed these tidbits: • Boomers surveyed expect to take four or five trips this year, with half traveling in the U.S. only and half traveling domestically and abroad. • Their travel...
Flying well with kids takes more than a wing and a prayer
If you’re flying somewhere with young kids this summer, you deserve a medal. Few things seem to irk fellow passengers like babies, toddlers and their parents. According to surveys done by
Expedia.com, seat kickers and inattentive parents rank up there with aromatic passengers (those who lack in hygiene or overindulge...
Muhammad Ali’s Pa. training camp opens to the public
The rustic Pennsylvania training camp where Muhammad Ali prepared for some of his most famous fights has undergone an elaborate restoration, opening to the public Saturday as a shrine to the heavyweight icon’s life and career. The famed Deer Lake camp was in disrepair when California real estate investor Mike...
World’s first 360-degree rooftop infinity pool to open atop London skyscraper
Now you can cheat death … and feel quite refreshed doing it. A UK-based pool manufacturer, Compass Pools, has announced plans to build a 360-degree infinity pool atop a 55-story skyscraper in London. It would be the world’s first such pool. The company says the 58,500-gallon pool would be made...
Mystery object found in Outer Banks briefly stumps experts
Some strange stuff ends up on the beach in the Outer Banks. This thing had the experts scratching their heads. The staff at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina took to Facebook for help identifying an unusual item that a visitor found on the shore. The cluster of bony...
12 easy, healthy snacks for your road trip
It’s officially summer travel season. While you can’t avoid the inevitable dirty gas station bathrooms and frustrating traffic jams of a summer road trip, you can pack some snacks to make sure that you don’t get “hangry” and reach for unhealthy fast food. I know, I know. “Road trip food...
2 Kennywood roller coasters make ‘tallest, scariest’ list
Just in time for summer, two Kennywood roller coasters — one wooden, one steel — make the Pennsylvania Tourism Office’s list of the 10 “tallest and scariest” roller coasters in Pennsylvania. Coming in at No. 3 is Phantom’s Revenge, a steel coaster that reaches speeds of 85 mph and a...
Disneyland adds another crowd-management fix at Star Wars land
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Anticipating huge crowds for the opening of its newest expansion, Disneyland allowed only park visitors with reservations to enter Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge during the first three weeks after opening. But the crowds were so overwhelming over the weekend that even with the reservations system, the theme...
Universal water park closes early, workers taken to hospital
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Volcano Bay water park at Universal Orlando Resort closed early Sunday and at least four workers were taken to hospitals for what theme park officials say were “technical issues.” Workers and some guests complained that they felt like they were being electrically shocked. Visiting from Boston,...
Travel tip: Presque Isle State Park plans June lagoon tours
When you’ve had enough of sand and sun, there’s still plenty to do at Presque Isle State Park in Erie. Here are some June programs led by the park naturalists: • Stand-up paddle-boarding tour of the lagoons ($35 fee), 5 p.m. June 4 • Pontoon boat ride through the lagoons,...
Pa. museum gets massive, century-old steam engine running again
A century-old steam engine has been put on display at Pennsylvania’s National Museum of Industrial History after workers got it running again for the first time in nearly four decades. The 115-ton Corliss engine once pumped 8 million gallons of water a day for the York Water Co. in York....
Union warns Disney World fire department is understaffed
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Firefighters for Walt Disney World’s private government say they’re understaffed and that poses a safety risk as the Florida theme park resort grows even bigger with this year’s openings of a new Star Wars land and air gondolas. “We just don’t have enough firefighters on...
Travelers leave nearly $1 million in TSA bins every year
Stressed passengers cruising through airport security checkpoints are abandoning nearly a million dollars in cash each year. And the Transportation Security Administration has been claiming finders keepers. But now someone else wants that money. The Department of Homeland Security is looking to fund border security and they spotted that $3...
4 ways to be a good traveler in the age of overtourism
In Paris, the Louvre Museum closed for a day this week because workers said the crowds were too big to handle. In the Himalayas, climbers at Mount Everest are concerned that the peak has gotten too crowded, contributing to the highest death toll in years. In cities and destinations around...
Travel tip: Take a jaunt across Pennsylvania’s back roads
Remember when families piled into the car and took a leisurely Sunday drive along the back roads? No? Well, then maybe it’s time to revive that tradition. At takebackroads.com, there are suggestions for seven back-road jaunts across the Keystone State. Of course, the Laurel Highlands Scenic Byway, traversing routes 381...
Plan before leaving home to keep kids safe while traveling
We were visiting Thailand when I encountered my worst parenting nightmare — my 5-year-old daughter disappeared. She was with us in the courtyard of the guesthouse, until she wasn’t. My husband and I spent 35 terrifying minutes trying to locate her. She eventually returned safely on her own from what...
Mon Incline makes list of world’s coolest public transit rides
We in Pittsburgh know how cool the Inclines are. Now, maybe the rest of the world will get clued in. Atlas Obscura, one of the web’s neatest travel sites, has released a list: 18 of the World’s Most Wondrous Public Transportation Options. “One of the greatest ways to experience a...
