It stands barely two feet tall, its fur a dense, grizzled coat of charcoal and russet that blends seamlessly into the dappled shadows of Australia’s wattle trees.

It’s also cute. Very cute.

“Whatever you do,” says Steph Swann, the chief executive officer of the Odonata Foundation, which runs this sanctuary at Mt. Rothwell. “Don’t call them that.”

It’s not easy. Behind her, framed by granite outcrops of the You Yang mountains, dozens of these fuzzy creatures are emerging from the early afternoon shadows. They’re curious, peeking over boulders as if they’re posing for a high-fashion shoot.

Swann’s request seems a little strange. After all, these animals are objectively adorable. But she has a good reason for the ban: The problem with labeling these creatures as simply “cute” is that it creates a dangerous mental shortcut.

“We see people look at the animals and say, ‘That’s cute,’ without understanding the importance of their function,” Swann explains.

In other words, when you reduce a species to its aesthetic value, you fail to see them for what they truly are: the linchpins of a functioning ecosystem. When you call them cute, you stop looking at what they mean, and they become a pattern for a stuffed toy.

Melbourne’s real sustainability project

To truly understand sustainability in a place like Melbourne, you have to look past the boardroom carbon pledges and the tourism industry’s talking points. The survival of these wallabies is linked to the health of the soil, the resilience of the climate, and ultimately, the nutritional value of the food on your dinner plate.

There’s a disconnect in how the world views a place like Melbourne and what’s actually happening on the ground. Visitors think of it as a place with a vibrant coffee shop culture, European architecture and culture that happens to have scored respectably on the latest Global Destination Sustainability Index (ranked 11th). But too often, they overlook the systemic conservation work happening in the bushland right outside the city limits.

Matthew Boyd, founder of Natureboss, a Melbourne-based corporate business events company, says bringing groups to a sanctuary like Mt. Rothwell creates instant perspective and a lasting connection—not just to the wallabies, but to the concept that being sustainable means much more than eliminating single-use plastics and installing a few solar panels.

When corporate groups come to the sanctuary, the smartphones disappear. They engage in Survivor-style scavenger hunts and meditation. By getting people into the dirt, the sanctuary proves that restoring ecosystems is highly actionable, achievable, and immediate.

“Once they see what’s happening here,” he says, “they understand.”

The business of saving species

The Odonata Foundation is strictly in the business of saving species, and business is booming. The organization is working around the clock to recover nine core species through a national network of sanctuaries.

Mt. Rothwell is a prime example of their high-impact, safe haven model. The 1,100-acre site is entirely enclosed by a specialized predator-proof fence that keeps out the foxes and feral cats that have decimated Australia’s native wildlife. This secure environment allows the foundation to manage 80 percent of the remaining Southern Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby population.

Visitors can transition from observers to active participants through public and private tours, corporate experiences, or the volunteer program. The scale of this engagement is immense. In 2024 alone, volunteers contributed over 10,000 hours to the muddy, essential work of habitat restoration and species care.

“Visitors can play a direct role by moving beyond passive observation,” says Matt Singleton, Odonata’s chief operating officer.

Walking with the soil engineers

A walk through the bush with Nigel Sharp, Odonata’s founder, shows the value of this sustainability project. He recounts the staggering history of Odonata’s work.

“We’re rescuing species that the rest of the world had essentially written off,” he says.

Take the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, a small, nocturnal marsupial. At one point, the entire mainland population consisted of fewer than 50 animals. Today, through Odonata’s breeding programs and sanctuary network, there are over 4,000 bandicoots.

And as for the Southern Brush-tailed Rock-Wallabies you’re not allowed to call cute? Their population once bottomed out at just 39. Now they’re everywhere.

But Sharp’s most fascinating revelation is the “why” behind the recovery. These animals are soil engineers, he explains. After reintroducing these small mammals, the team watched the soil’s functionality transform. Sharp shares an example of a massive summer rainstorm where the engineered soil—softened and turned over by thousands of tiny paws—held water so effectively that it actually brought a dormant natural spring back to life.

Sharp connects the dots directly to human survival.

“There’s a direct correlation between highly nutritious food produced and the level of soil carbon,” he explains.

Without these animals churning the earth, the soil degrades. When the soil degrades, the vegetables you eat lose their vitamins. In a very literal sense, the wallaby is responsible for the nutrient density of your dinner.

A cuteness compromise

The setting sun casts a long shadow across the granite, and the wallabies are out in force now. One joey peeks out from a pouch, and the impulse to say the forbidden word out loud is almost irresistible.

Steph Swann circles back to the topic of cuteness. She admits the frustration of people seeing a stuffed animal where they should see a critical ecosystem engineer. But she also acknowledges the reality of the world we live in. Protecting these species requires money, corporate volunteering, and global awareness.

She looks at the wallabies with a sense of pride—and slight resignation. If these animals can get visitors through the door—and a philanthropic donation or or two—then so be it, she sighs.

“You can call them cute,” she says. “As long as it helps save them.”

In 1948, the city of Portland, Oregon, intended to erect a flag pole in a downtown median strip. When the plan failed, a journalist whose office overlooked the tiny site planted flowers there and named it “Mills End,” after the wood scraps left over at lumber mills in the area.

In 1976, the two-foot-wide plot was renamed Mills End Park. Soon people began decorating it with items that included a horseshoe, a miniature Ferris wheel, and a minuscule swimming pool complete with a diving board. At one time, it was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest park in the world.   

Little parks with big attractions

This story demonstrates that large attractions can come in small sizes. Several little parks throughout the United States have equally intriguing stories to tell and warrant a visit and perhaps a photograph.

Other parks challenge Mills End in terms of size or lack of it. Waldo Park in Salem, Oregon, measures 12 by 20 feet. It consists of a giant sequoia tree surrounded by landscaping and marked by a plaque and sign.

It’s named for William Waldo, an attorney, and judge who planted the tree on his property in 1872 and later sold it to the city with the promise that the sapling would be preserved. In 1936, the tree was made a city park; since then, it has reached a height of 82 feet.

Petite parks perched on islands

Some petite parks occupy an island. In the 19th century, a man who owned an outcrop of less than an acre in Gardner Lake, Connecticut, (above) named it for his niece, and Minnie Island State Park retains her name. The thickly forest land rises 16 feet above the water and is accessible by boat.

Oak Point State Park (above) is a 1.5-acre enclave on South Bass Island in Lake Erie, Ohio, which was formed during the glacial period and still displays evidence of that time. Native Americans, British troops, and American Colonists disputed ownership of the area until an American fleet under the direction of Oliver Perry won control of Lake Erie in 1813. Later the island was home to a sheep ranch, fruit farm and wine grape orchards

The park is close to Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial (above), which celebrates one of the most decisive battles during the War of 1812 and the lasting peace between Britain, Canada, and the United States, which followed the fighting.

Small parks that tell sad stories

There also are parks that tell sadder tales. Elizabeth Crockett’s grave was the smallest Texas state park (260 square feet) until ownership passed to the state’s Historical Commission. She was the widow of David (Davy) Crockett, the renowned frontiersman, soldier, politician, and hero.

After his death, she is said to have mourned until her own by wearing black daily. Her gravesite is marked by a statue of Elizabeth, a hand shielding her eyes, peering into the distance, hoping to see her husband.

In the early 1900s, a man named Alfred LeFevre and his son Albert maintained a small park in West St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1930, 15-year-old Albert went swimming in the Mississippi River with several friends and drowned. His father got permission from the city government to name the area of Albert Park. 

He planted flowers for the rest of his life and meticulously maintained the park in his son’s honor. A plaque notes that Ripley’s Believe It or Not once declared it the smallest dedicated park in the United States.

The Resting Place of the Pickled Pioneer

Visitors to Washington State who stop at a State Parks highway pull-out near Raymond may relive the rather macabre story that ended there. It began in 1855 when 19-year-old Willie Keil, preparing to leave Missouri and follow the Oregon Trail west, suddenly died. 

In keeping with Willie’s wish to make the trip, his family had a wood barrel lined with lead, filled with 100-proof whisky, and their son was placed inside. After the six-month wagon train journey, during which Willie’s body was preserved, it was laid to rest at its present-day location. As the account of Willie’s trip spread, he became somewhat of a folk hero, known as “the pickled pioneer.”

The smallest National Park dedicated to Thaddeus Kosciuszko

Another hero was a Polish engineer named Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who aided the American colonists in their battle for freedom. He served in the Continental Army and designed and fortified military sites that proved critical in the War of independence.

A memorial in downtown Philadelphia (above), ensconced in .02 acres of space, is touted as the smallest site in the National Park System. It’s fittingly located close to Independence National Historical Park, where several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation’s founding are preserved.

Victor Block

After gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns, Victor Block retains the travel bug. He firmly believes that travel is the best possible education and claims he still has a lot to learn.  He loves to explore new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won many writing awards.

But I’m also lucky, because I usually fly with my adult sons. The boys let me use both armrests, and I can spread out and get up to stretch my legs whenever I want to, so there’s practically no conflict.

That’s not the usual reality of the middle seat experience.

For most travelers, the middle seat is a contact sport. As jacket weather makes already tight quarters feel even tighter, millions of passengers are about to spend hours wedged between strangers. They’ll fight over plastic armrests and slowly lose their minds at 35,000 feet.

Alex Gervash, an experienced commercial airline pilot, explains that the middle seat triggers a psychological mechanism called perceived loss of control.

“When you can see the aisle or the window, your nervous system stays calmer,” he says. “In the middle, both are blocked by strangers’ bodies. Your brain interprets this as confinement, and your fight-or-flight system activates at a low level for the entire flight.”

That doesn’t have to be you. The new rules of middle-seat survival require mastering armrest diplomacy with humor, building an impenetrable personal gear bubble, applying jacket weather hacks for extra space, and using ergonomic micro-movements to avoid physical injury.

Armrest diplomacy: Establishing the truce

Let’s start with the oldest argument in commercial aviation: who owns the armrests? The answer, according to etiquette professionals, is clear.

“Both middle armrests belong to the middle-seat passenger,” says Adeodata Czink, an etiquette expert with Business of Manners. The window seat gets the wall. The aisle seat gets freedom of movement. The middle seat gets both armrests — that’s the deal.

Jodi RR Smith of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting agrees, adding the nuance that consideration should temper ownership. If you’re a smaller person and the person next to you is “folding themselves into an origami-yoga pose” to fit in the seat, share. Humans aren’t just territorial creatures — they can also empathize. Use it.

But knowing the rule and enforcing it are two different things. Stephanie Ward, a veteran of basic economy middle seats, has a system. She introduces herself immediately, then deploys a single joke.

“The middle seat gets both armrests — that’s the rule — but I promise not to get up to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes,” she says.

People laugh. Then she plants her elbows, staking out her territory.

What kind of gear do you need to survive a middle seat?

If armrest diplomacy is the offense, gear is the defense. And nobody has assembled a more complete defensive package than Katharine Nohr, a Hawaii-based attorney who travels frequently and has spent years optimizing her middle-seat survival kit.

Her setup: two inflatable lumbar pillows (one for her back, one as a footrest), a tested inflatable neck pillow, an eye mask, a hood to cover her face, special slippers in a small case, an infinity scarf that doubles as a blanket, a water bottle clipped to the seat back with a carabiner, noise-canceling headphones, a small pouch with essentials, and a jacket engineered with pockets. The whole kit compresses into a thin backpack that fits inside a larger carry-on.

“I’m the most comfortable coach passenger on the plane,” she brags.

Jacket weather hacks: The coat as a tool

Fall and winter bring a complication: bulky outerwear. Coats don’t fit cleanly in overhead bins once the flight is full, and dragging a heavy jacket onto your lap in an already-compressed seat can feel like wearing a straitjacket.

Christopher Jimenez, a board-certified hip and knee surgeon, has a better idea. He doesn’t wear a coat in the seat at all. Instead, he rolls it tight and uses it as a lumbar bolster at beltline height. This prevents in-flight back pain.

One underused option: Stow the coat in the overhead before your neighbors board. Flight attendants frown on this, but as former attendant Celeste Bell points out, “holding on to a big coat in a middle seat can feel claustrophobic.” She doesn’t wait until the flight is fully loaded and finds a slot for her winter coat.

Don’t wreck your body

Lou Ezrick, a physical therapist who sees the aftermath of holiday travel every January, has a warning: Avoid the isometric shrug.

“The single biggest physical mistake middle seat passengers make in cold weather is that they tense their shoulders upward against their neighbors reflexively,” Ezrick says. “They essentially do an isometric shrug for three hours straight.” The result: a guaranteed pain in the upper back. He recommends consciously dropping your shoulders down and back every 20 minutes. Set a phone timer if necessary.

Thomas Jeneby, a board-certified plastic surgeon who manages long operating room days, treats the middle seat like a surgical procedure: circulation and micro-movements matter more than willpower. His timed routine: every 30 to 40 minutes, do 10 ankle pumps, 5 glute squeezes, and 3 slow chin tucks. It takes about 90 seconds and dramatically reduces swelling and neck tension.

His middle-seat rule is “neutral spine, elbows in, pelvis anchored.” Keep your forearms vertical rather than splayed outward. Feet flat. Don’t torque your hips trying to create space that isn’t there.

Can an app get you out of the middle seat?

The best way to survive the middle seat is to never sit in it. American Airlines just made that a little easier. Last month, it added a feature to its app that watches the seat map for you. After you book, you tell the app whether you want a window, aisle or middle seat. If a matching seat opens up, the app moves you and sends a notification.

There’s fine print. You have to be an AAdvantage member traveling alone with an assigned seat, and the monitoring stops 24 hours before departure.

United has offered a similar tool in its app since 2024.

Whose fault is this?

Let’s assign blame where it belongs: with the airlines.

“The middle seat is about physics, not etiquette,” says Joe Cronin, president of International Citizens Group, an insurance company that works with frequent travelers.

Until they give you more room, it’s up to you to figure out a solution. The travelers who handle it best treat the middle seat as a psychological challenge rather than a physical one. They come prepared. They establish their space early, through humor or gear or a well-placed coat, without starting a turf war. They protect their bodies from the slow structural damage of static posture. And they manage their expectations enough to arrive functional.

Or you could just travel with your kids, where the concept of personal space is more negotiable.

And that’s exactly what they’ve done.

When you set foot inside the 19th-century neoclassical hotel, built on a UNESCO World Heritage Site about a two-hour train ride from Paris, everything is, well, different.

Sure, you have those panoramic views of the Loire, and of the iconic village of Candes-Saint-Martin just below. There’s a vast wine cellar with the press still intact. And there’s a medieval tower where you can sleep, if you’re feeling adventurous.

But keep looking.

A “non-elitist” art hotel in the Loire Valley

Château de Candes is both a wellness center and, for lack of a better term, an artist colony. Bertrand Pignet, the château’s general manager, calls it an art hotel. The property has hosted over 40 resident artists who create modernist paintings, sculptures and other forms of visual art on permanent display throughout the property.

“We wanted to break the image of a castle frozen in time and open it up to everyone in a non-elitist spirit,” he says.

The story behind this unconventional approach begins with his mother, Monique Pignet, who says she initially resisted the idea of buying a castle 17 years ago.

“I like Paris,” she says. “I like big cities.”

But when she saw Candes, particularly the views where the Loire and Vienne rivers meet, she was won over.

Monique and her husband, Didier, took on the painstaking restoration themselves. She meticulously oversaw construction of a new staircase to match the original style and preserved priceless 17th-century wallpaper.

Her guiding principle? Unity and calmness in design. It’s almost as if she’d planned to turn it into a wellness resort all along.

When fire juggling meets hospitality management

Bertrand and his wife, Jingwen, took over management in 2022. But like almost everything else at Château de Candes, this isn’t your typical hotel succession story.

Bertrand Pignet spent a decade as a professional fire juggler and dancer, traveling globally with his Chinese wife. They even reached the semi-finals of China’s Got Talent in 2021. Now they’re applying those performance skills to hospitality.

What do fire juggling and hospitality management have in common? Plenty. Both require discipline and organizational skills. You also need to understand your audience and its needs.

Bertrand Pignet says while many fire jugglers have a reputation for their intensity, his performances -- and he still performs from time to time -- are quietly poetic, often evoking an emotional response from his audience, not unlike the art displayed in the château’s park.

More than just another spa treatment

The Château de Candes offers something genuinely different from conventional luxury wellness retreats. The centerpiece is the Troglodyte Spa, buried within ancient caves originally used as prune-drying ovens. These caves are said to possess special “telluric” energy from the stone, that fosters deep relaxation.

“It has a very earthy smell,” says Monique Pignet. “The energy is good.”

The spa includes an indoor pool, sauna, relaxation areas, and massage cabins, all designed around a centuries-old cave.

But the wellness philosophy goes deeper. Hatha and vinyasa yoga classes take place in a geodesic dome within the château’s 12-acre park. Everything -- right down to the landscaping -- is done with wellness in mind. The rounded topiaries overlook a field of lavender.

“It’s calming,” she says.

The connection between art and wellness isn’t theoretical here. As Bertrand Pignet puts it: “Art can soothe you.” Most visitors to the art park finish their visit saying they feel like time itself was suspended as they walked through the oak forest.

At this château, the accommodations tell their own story

The 34 rooms spread across 21 independent units range from seven bedrooms in the main castle to two in a tower, as well as various small private houses. Each comes with its own kitchen -- a practical choice borne from Monique Pigner’s experience traveling with small children and wanting to cook for them.

“We wanted to make people feel at home,” she explains. The newly opened on-site restaurant, Baladin, reinforces this philosophy with homemade, locally sourced, organic, and vegetarian-friendly dishes at what she calls “friendly” prices.

This isn’t about creating a four-star hotel experience in the traditional sense. Rather, it’s about making you feel something.

The art of authentic hospitality

Guests who come to the château are looking for something out of the ordinary, says Bertrand Pignet.

“Usually the guests that come here are happy to be here because they were looking for something different, and they found it.”

The challenge, he acknowledges, is conveying the spirit of a place through words or images before guests arrive.

“It’s quite difficult,” he admits. “You can use words. You can put videos, photos, but it’s quite hard to tell the proper story without somehow simplifying it or choosing one aspect.”

That’s where the personal touch makes all the difference. When cyclists stop by the restaurant during their Loire Valley tours, Bertrand engages with them, shows them around, and often converts a meal into an overnight stay for their next visit.

There are some things you would expect. For example, the property offers authentic fishing trips down the river on a traditional wooden boat, and visits to nearby La Champignonnière du Saut aux Loups, a historic mushroom farm where visitors can taste local specialties like galipettes -- stuffed mushrooms cooked in traditional ovens.

What makes the Château de Candes tick

Walking through the château, you sense this isn’t hospitality by formula. It’s deeply personal and influenced by a family’s passions and quirky journey from Parisian city-dwellers to château owners to fire juggliers -- and back to French hospitality management.

The eclectic approach works. Maybe it’s the meeting of two rivers that creates a special energy. Maybe it’s the combination of ancient stones, contemporary art, and genuine family warmth. Or maybe it’s simply what happens when people stop trying to be like everyone else and start being themselves.

In a world where boutique hotels often feel like they’re following the same playbook, Château de Candes offers something rare: it’s a hotel where the owners threw out the manual and decided to go their own way.

Does it work? It depends on what kind of traveler you are. If you like predictable, cookie-cutter hotels, then perhaps not.

But if you’re the type who’s grown tired of places that all look the same, then maybe a château where fire jugglers serve breakfast and artists paint among ancient trees is exactly the kind of vacation you never knew you were looking for.

It squirts out of the milking robot into a double-walled steel tank, where chilled liquid circulates through a jacket around the inner wall, drawing the warmth out.

That energy moves into a hot water buffer, where it keeps the cattle troughs from icing over in January and then washes the milking equipment at the end of the day.

Upstairs from the tank, there are vacation rental apartments. Guests get heat from a wood-chip boiler fed by branches cleared from the farm’s own forest. On the ridge line, the oversize rotors of the community’s wind turbines turn slowly in a fall breeze.

Sandhof is a bio-farm in this rural community in the hills east of Freiburg, Germany. It has five wind turbines, a farm-scale biogas plant that heats the school and the public swimming pool, barn roofs covered in solar panels, hay dryers running on forest waste, and a tourism office fielding requests from visitors who want to see it all.

“Wind power and our bioenergy village status also serve our tourism sector,” says Karen Wittner, who directs tourism for the municipality. “We draw visitors from across Germany and abroad who want to see these installations firsthand and book specialized guided tours.”

It’s an interesting twist in the world of sustainable tourism. Freiamt didn’t build a sustainability attraction; it tried to harness green energy — and became a tourist attraction because of it.

The turbine on the ridge

Ernst Leimer got interested in wind in 1986, on a trip to the North Sea.

“I watched the wind turbines spin, and a switch flipped,” says Leimer, who chairs the local association that promotes wind energy in Freiamt.

Ten years later, a commercial developer showed up in the valley, offering farmers a great deal on land leases. Leimer had spent a decade reading the trade press by then. He knew what usually happened next.

“I knew questionable firms operated in the sector that only wanted to lock up land rights,” he says. “After three years, those firms would disappear, nothing was built, and the farmer got the land back without receiving money.”

The response was the village’s DIY green electric project. Leimer had a conversation with Ökostrom, a Freiburg energy company, with one condition attached: Residents had to be able to buy shares, so the capital would circulate at home.

The first town hall meeting drew 80 people, the second about 200. Organizers laid sign-up sheets on the tables. The first two turbines cost roughly $4.5 million each, of which more than $1 million had to come as equity. Local citizens raised all of it in eight weeks.

More followed. A 2011 turbine brought in 165 shareholders, and a 2014 project added 105 more, under a separate company, because Leimer keeps each turbine in its own entity so a bad year at one can’t drag down the others.

The money mostly stays in the community. Shareholders see about a 5% average annual return. The municipality collects trade tax plus a legal royalty of 0.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour sold, which Leimer estimates at roughly $1.7 million to the town over the life of the wind farm. A turbine straddling the municipal line splits its lease payments with the neighbors. Households along the access roads get small annual payments.

The turbine is a behemoth and an Instagrammable moment for visitors. The nacelle, which houses the gearbox, weighs about 500 metric tons, the tower 1,000 tons of steel and concrete over a 1,500-ton foundation. In heavy weather, the top of the tower sways about 3 ½ feet in each direction, while the fiberglass blades flex almost 20 feet under load.

The farm that heats the school’s swimming pool and then some

Down in the valley, Harald Reinbold used to raise bulls and pigs. He built a biogas plant as a second income stream, and then it took over the business.

His reasoning had nothing to do with carbon. Germany’s renewable energy law guaranteed a fixed rate per kilowatt hour for 20 years.

“That provided a degree of planning certainty that allowed us to secure financing,” he says. He points out that the same law paid for the wind and the solar.

The plant is a set of sealed tanks full of slurry, where bacteria eat grass silage, chopped corn and grain, then emit gas that’s about half methane. Since the livestock are gone, the manure comes in from neighboring farms. What goes back onto the fields afterward is a stabilized fertilizer that smells less than the starting product, with nutrients that crops take up faster. The digesters also assimilate corn straw and stalk residue that no animal can chew.

The gas burns in ordinary engines rated at 420 kilowatts. Waste heat off those engines runs a district heating loop that reaches nearby houses, the village school and the indoor pool. On the coldest nights, a wood-chip boiler and two big thermal buffer tanks cover the gap.

Feeding a digester is a lot more like keeping a sourdough starter than running a power plant. The bacteria eat once an hour, at a steady temperature, in a tank stirred constantly so the silage can’t raft up on top. Change the diet too fast, and the culture crashes.

Babysitting bacteria is just one more piece of Freiamt’s green initiative.

The smallest loop

Back at Sandhof, Thomas Reinbold farms about 40 hectares of grassland with almost 100 acres of forest behind it. The herd eats hay, never silage, which he says is easier on a cow’s gut. The milk carries more casein, so it makes better cheese.

The boiler in the yard has been running for two decades. Sandhof burns wood chips cut from its own woods, all of it material that would otherwise rot where it fell. The forest grows faster than the farm can burn it, so the surplus goes to other farms and to local hotels.

Thomas’s father bought the first wood-chip boiler in 2000. His explanation runs about 15 words:

“It keeps us independent of oil prices, which have spiked,” he says. “We are self-sufficient.”

That sentence explains the whole village. Nobody in Freiamt described what they’d built as environmentalism. Leimer organized to keep an outsider from tying up the valley’s farmland. Harald Reinbold wanted a second business. Thomas Reinbold burns his own timber because electric hay drying costs too much. The greenest town in this part of the Black Forest got that way by declining to send its money somewhere else.

Visitors have noticed, according to tourism officials. There are guided tours that cover the turbines, the biogas plant and the dairy, but perhaps the best way to experience it is to do a farmstay at a place like Sandhof.

There’s a catch, of course. Germany’s government price guarantee for green energy made every one of these projects bankable, and the clock runs out eventually. Leimer’s original turbine came down in 2025, its guarantee expired after 22 years of service. He put up a bigger one on a new, larger foundation.

The question isn’t whether the green energy initiatives in communities like Freiamt are working — it’s how much longer they will work. We’ll know the answer soon enough.

Well-hidden mountain stills in Appalachia were very productive during Prohibition. Photo by Cateyeperspective/Dreamstime.com

First, a little background. During the late 1800s, distilleries in the area were abundant. The mountain geography provided secluded protection for hidden stills. Corn was plentiful and easily turned into whiskey – and making moonshine was profitable. And then Prohibition hit! Consensus thinking at the time was that it would inhibit drinking and the making of it. But, of course, that was nonsense. Binge drinking probably got its start during Prohibition.

The demand for illegal alcohol skyrocketed – and the Franklin County bootleggers were more than happy to oblige, developing sophisticated transportation routes to move liquor up and down the East Coast. It famously claimed to produce more illicit liquor than anywhere else in the U.S. during Prohibition, entitling them to the moniker of “Moonshine Capital of the world,” a label they remain proud of to this day. My recent visit to the area reinforced that impression. After all, there’s a museum devoted to the very idea – albeit with a slightly different orientation.

MOONSHINE HISTORY ABOUNDS AT THE MOONSHINE EXPLOSION MUSEUM IN FRANKLIN COUNTRY, VIRGINIA

The Moonshine Explosion Museum is devoted to just that – a June 11, 1930, literal explosion of two over-heating Model-T Fords that drove into a garage for repair. Why did they explode? Trunks full of illegal liquor also over-heated. Charred remains of the cars are still ensconced in the basement of the original building that was built in 1912, but they weren’t discovered until 2017 during basement renovations – although the story proliferated well before and after.

But despite the museum’s singular name, it also paints a much more complete picture of the still celebrated history of moonshine, which helped many an Appalachian family to survive. The museum highlights the connection between “white lightning” (AKA Firewater, Hooch) and the community, fostering a sense of resilience and ingenuity – and, oh yes, a massive evasion of the law. Franklin County became known for its high-quality moonshine and the persistence of its moonshiners in resisting authorities.

And apparently, ramifications of that questionable ability exist today. Because many moonshiners modified cars to outrun law enforcement, the culture influenced early stock-car racing, and that tradition helped contribute to the origins of NASCAR. Not entirely sure how I feel about that particular legacy….

A Model-T Ford retrofitted to transport moonshine across the
East Coast during Prohibition. Photo by Trazvan/Dreamstime.com

But back to bootlegging – and the notorious Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935, the second longest trial in Virginia history. It involved a high-profile legal case involving 23 defendants accused of multiple large-scale moonshine operations. Many were convicted, but the illegal operations continued to thrive.

A visit to Twin Creeks distillery underscores the appeal of the original moonshine. For starters, Twin Creeks owner and master distiller, Chris Prillman, is the grandson of Peg Hatcher, one of the kingpins convicted in the Great Moonshine Conspiracy of 1935. That’s one hell of a family legacy! As much as it sounds like an oxymoron, they serve legal moonshine – slightly less high-octane than the mountain variety and government-regulated. It’s the only establishment in the area to do so. And Chris continues to pay tribute to his grandfather by crafting spirits just as he did.

THE GREAT MOONSHINE CONSPIRACY OF 1935 WAS THE SECOND LONGEST TRIAL IN VIRGINIA HISTORY

So, when I say master distiller, I mean Chris is still making his “bathtub gin” – the colloquial term for stills that are large enough to be utilitarian and small enough to be easily hidden – at home. Whether he’s still using a bathtub, I don’t know. Back at the distillery, I sampled – okay, guzzled – a coffee moonshine made by a local coffee shop owner who still refuses to divulge his recipe that far and away surpasses any Expresso Martini I’ve ever had.

The author happily imbibing moonshine at Twin Creeks Distillery
now that it’s legal. Photo by Victor Block

THE TWIN CREEKS DISTILLERY IN FRANKLIN COUNTY, VIRGINIA, SERVES UP MOONSHINE (ALMOST) JUST LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS

Flights of “cocktails” adorn the menu. Apparently, fancy cocktails were the norm during Prohibition as bartenders had to get creative in order to mask the taste of poor-quality liquor. Of course, Franklin County probably didn’t have any poor-quality hooch….

More family legacy is carried on by Twin Creeks’ manager, Kathy, whose father owns three of the original moonshine cars that led to NASCAR, with enhanced power and extra-large trunks designed to transport the profitable product.

Moonshine menu at Twin Creeks Distillery in Franklin County, Virginia.
Photo by Victor Block

According to Steven Ray Tickle, another proud moonshining legacy and star of the surprisingly popular TV show Moonshiners, “People mistakenly think moonshiners just want to break the law, but that’s not true. They just want to carry on a tradition that’s part of the American heritage. They helped found and fund the Declaration of Independence…. If you really love your country, you’re gonna have to love moonshine.”

So, if you’re thinking that pretty much brings the story of moonshine to the current day, keep reading. On yet another modern-day front, Franklin County’s moonshine era may seem like a relic of Prohibition, but the legal arguments surrounding home distilling are still alive. More than a century after moonshiners in Virginia’s Blue Ridge battled federal liquor laws, the question of who can legally make whiskey – and under what authority the government can stop them – remains unsettled. In an unexpected twist, a debate that once played out on the ridges and hollows of Virginia’s moonshine country – very much still “The Moonshine Capital of the World” – may soon be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. I’ll drink to that!

For more information, visit https://www.visitroanokeva.com; https://mainlymuseums.com/post/1339/the-moonshine-explosion-museum-where-history-meets-intrigue; https://twincreeksdistillery.com.

My wife and I were customers at one of the estimated nine million yard sales and garage sales that take place each year in the United States.

“Oh Look,” my wife Fyllis exclaimed with surprise and delight. “I’ve been looking for antique candle sticks like these for ages.”

“And I’ve been searching for an old-fashioned brief case like this one,” I replied, lifting my find from a pile of items spread out on a long table.

We were far from home, enjoying a vacation in upstate New York, when we came upon a yard sale while driving to a restaurant for lunch. While we’re not frequent fans of those outdoor displays, we decided to check this one out as part of our immersion in the destination we were visiting.

In addition to our acquisitions, we enjoyed chatting with other folks who were perusing, and sometimes purchasing, the merchandise, and observing what kinds of objects were native to the setting. In addition to what we bought, we spotted bottles of Loganberry soda, jars of tomato butter, Onieda flatware and other home-made and home-grown products and produce.

Check out yard sales near where you live and when you travel

Whether close to where you live or held at a destination you’re visiting, these events offer opportunities to pick up something you may have been seeking or an object that catches your fancy, and to interact with other shoppers and those with something to sell.

Yard sales also provide a bit of nostalgia, given their roots in past decades.  They began to spring up during the 1950s and 1960s when some people began to realize that they could pick up a bit of extra cash by selling goods they had accumulated but no longer needed, or wanted.

Since then, these activities have evolved to become in ways as recreational as they are financial. Buyers meet and greet their hosts, chat with other participants and may mingle with new neighbors. Some people enjoy perusing what others have collected over time, keeping an eye out for a rare item and haggling good naturedly over the price.

Yard sales come in a variety of types and sizes

These mini-marketplaces come in a variety of types and sizes, and await discovery by people close to home or far away. At the top of the list is what’s aptly titled “The  World’s Longest Yard Sale.” That describes what takes place along U.S. Route 127 as it winds 690 miles from Addison, Michigan to Gadsden, Tennessee, spanning six states along the way. Stretches of this rural highway introduce travelers to a variety of cultures and local dialects.

Some roadside marketplaces settle for a century-size length. Virginia’s 100-mile Yard Sale, which actually covers 10 additional miles, follows a meandering route through a number of towns. The focus is on antiques and vintage treasures.

The two-day Kansas-Oklahoma 100 Mile Highway Sale leads to a dozen tiny towns. In addition to individual vendors and small gatherings of dealers along the way, there are large group sites where several dozen people offer their wares.

In addition to clothes, kitchen gadgets, toys and other usual items, the 301 Endless Yard Sale in North Carolina includes some unexpected things like high end antiques, old farm equipment and even the occasional boat over its 100-plus mile route. More than 500 vendors set up along the way.

Yard sales with historic roots

Michigan’s Longest Garage Sale doubles the length of that path, as it winds over 200 miles along the U.S. Heritage Trail from New Buffalo to Detroit. Adding to the usual offerings are fresh garden produce, homemade jellies and jams, and live entertainment.

Another historic route hosts the U.S. 40 Yard Sale. It occupies an 800-plus mile section of Interstate Route 40 from Maryland to Missouri. That road was one of the first national highways created in 1926 when it linked New Jersey with California. Today, it’s traversed by thousands of visitors seeking bargains and hard-to-find collectibles.

If your travel schedule doesn’t coincide with any of the seasonal yard sale offerings, there’s always Indiana’s Antique Alley. That is a year-round destination for those seeking vintage treasures. Two interlocking loop trails lead to hundreds of dealers in the scenic eastern area of the state. They display everything from hand-crafted wood items and stained-glass pieces to furniture and vintage clothing.

If you visit a yard sale, you could find that long-sought item for which you’ve been searching for months or even years. Or you could just enjoy inspecting the displays, interacting with other shoppers and reliving a chapter from the country’s recent past.

For a list of yard sales which take place throughout the United States, log on to garagesalefinder.com and gsalr.com.

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn.  He loves to explore new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won many writing awards.

Each year, more than five million people usually visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The American Museum of Natural History, located nearby, attracts some four million callers annually.

Other museums around the country appeal to far fewer folks, but those who frequent them find much to educate, and in many cases entertain, them. We’re talking collections focused on potatoes and mustard, locks and alleged landings of unidentified flying objects, and other offbeat galleries. Some may be located near where you live, while others might tempt you to stop by when you’re traveling.

This museum is no small potatoes

The Idaho Potato Museum showcases that state’s famous spuds. Exhibits include the world’s largest potato chip, a 14 by 15-inch crisp; how fries were introduced to the White House by Thomas Jefferson, and 1,600-year-old vessels which are believed to be the first containers used specifically for potato storage.

(For more information log onto Idahopotatomuseum.com)

More than 5,600 jars of mustard from over 60 countries greet callers at the National Mustard Museum in Middelton, Wisconsin. Other displays include hundreds of mustard memorabilia items and exhibits depicting the use of the condiment throughout history. Those who wish to take home a souvenir may choose from a long list of recipes, a mustard jar opener and clothing ranging from a “Mustard Happens” apron to a “Poupon U” T-shirt. (mustardmuseum.org)

Locks that keep the “bad guys” out

A unique bolt that sprays tear gas is among items seen at the Lock Museum of America in Terryville, Connecticut. It’s home to the largest collection of locks, keys, handcuffs and ornate door hardware anywhere.

The building occupies the site of the Eagle Lock Company, which during its lifespan (1833-1975) was the largest trunk and cabinet lock manufacturer in operation. The establishment claims to provide an introduction to “the genius of lock makers who over the centuries have constantly tried to stay one step ahead of the bad guys.” (lockmuseumofamerica.org)

An other-worldly experience

In 1947, a rancher in New Mexico discovered metal debris near a trench that spanned hundreds of feet. That became the basis for conspiracy theories alleging that the fragments were from an extraterrestrial spacecraft which had crashed. In fact, it belonged to a military balloon that was designed to detect nuclear tests by the Soviet Union.

That incident is recalled at the International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell. It preserves materials and information connected to the event and other unexplained phenomena related to unidentified flying objects. (roswellufomuseum.com)

Those who happen upon an unusual structure in Grand Marais, Michigan also might imagine that they have been transported to a never-never land. It’s a 16-foot-high building comprised of two oversized barrels, with windows shaped like pickle jar lids.

That quirky wooden wonder was erected in 1926 in the shape of a pickle barrel. The larger cask of the Pickle Barrel House, as it’s known, serves as the living area and bedroom, while the smaller adjacent drum contains the kitchen.

In keeping with its history, the furnishings echo 1920s décor. In keeping with its architectural theme, exhibits at the Pickle Barrel House Museum trace the history of the building, showcase the story of pickling and include vintage photographs and pickle-themed memorabilia. (michigan.org/attractions)

Art that’s “too bad to be ignored”

An equally quirky experience awaits guests at the Museum of Bad Art in Boston, whose motto is "Art too bad to be ignored." It was founded in 1933 after an antique dealer showed an appallingly bad painting he had recovered from the trash to friends, who suggested that he start a collection.

Perhaps surprisingly, the museum sets rigorous standards for works it will accept. Its tongue-in-cheek explanation is that "Nine out of ten pieces don't get in because they're not bad enough. What an artist considers to be bad doesn't always meet our low standards.” (museumofbadart.org)

Walking home to our apartment while exploring Venice, we share a wave through the window with the owner of Baba, our local osteria. Leaving for a day of sightseeing, a cup of my favorite pistachio gelato awaits me despite the early hour. At the Bar Dugole, we relax after a day of sightseeing and order the regular: vodka for my husband and Amaretto for me. And we sit and watch everyone else in Venice try to figure out where the hell they are! But more on that later.

Dorsoduro or San Marco - it is all Venice

Welcome to UNTOURS, a wonderful well-kept secret that may change your concept of travel forever. The program offers tourists a unique opportunity to not be tourists. Serving close to two dozen European countries, Untours inundates you with information, puts you up in unusual accommodations, provides whatever transportation is necessary to get around and voila! You are a local. (Yes, that works as well in Italian as it does in French…)
We were learning about our neighborhood but on our terms. Rise early or sleep in. Sightsee or stroll around town. Cook in or eat out. And whatever the choice, we returned to our apartment, a much roomier and warmer ambiance than any hotel would provide. The orientation told us where to get the best produce, meat, fish, pastries and, of course, wine and gelato, the afore-mentioned shop which just coincidentally was directly next door to our apartment.

Our favorite local discovery while exploring Venice? The Filler-Up Wine Shop. Bring in any empty bottle and fill it with the wine of your choice for $2.50-$4.00 a bottle – less than you would pay for a glass at a local trattoria. What a terrific way to recycle empty water bottles!

We stayed at a small but cozy 2-story apartment with a full kitchen, lovely balcony, and wood-beam ceilings.

First it just felt homey – then it was home. The fact that it was built in the 1700s was just a bonus. The building across the alley was so close I could reach across the balcony guard rail and tap on their window.

But then everything in Venice is in tight quarters. Venice is an old city – it looks old – sometimes very old. The water-logged foundations date back to the 11^thcentury; the newer building facades are as recent as the 15^th. So many buildings stripped of paint and plaster on both sides of a small alleyway, I expected them to crumble before my eyes until I reminded myself they have looked pretty much the same for over 500 years.

Going from the crowded parking lot area with throngs of cars, buses, and vans — the last vestiges of the auto industry I was to see for a week — I was transformed into another world, exploring Venice filled instead with canals, gondolas, water buses, cobbled streets, alleyways, bridges and cafes. Picture everything that makes any city run – buses, taxis, fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, postal services, FedEx deliveries, garbage pick-ups – but they're all boats! And the city still runs.

Expect to get lost while exploring Venice.

And thank goodness, because that is the best way to explore the city and find those gems that are not part of the major tourist itineraries.

Among those gems is Pinocchio Island, home to a local Geppetto whose real name is Roberto Comin, maker of magical marionettes. These brilliant little string creatures represented all aspects of Venetian historical and theatrical culture, lovingly produced by Comin for 25 years in a workshop over 350 years old. Requests now come in for characters from Shakespeare to Cleopatra and yes, a Johnny Depp look-alike that was given to the actor for his birthday. The costumes rival the intricacy and elegance of any Medici gown or regal accessory. Want a marionette dopple-ganger of yourself? It’s doable, but it'll cost you about $600.

Ghetto Campo de Nova — the original

Another unusual find, especially surprising in such a Catholic city, home to well over 100 churches, is a small square that is actually referred to as Ghetto Campo de Nova where there are five synagogues, several kosher restaurants and residents sporting traditional Jewish skull caps known as yarmulkes. The kosher menus include antipasto and spaghetti, as well as bagels and potato latkes. Talk about an ecumenical meal! With a little imagination and a lot of Manischewitz wine, you could be in Israel!

Getting lost is a given – did I mention that?

People spend as much time looking up at the signs designating different sections, squares and churches of the city as they do looking down at maps, phones and GPS's. My favorite response from a young street vendor: “Go right, over the next bridge, then ask someone else.” And then when you don't think things can get any worse, you see the sign you've been searching for and it points in both directions. I thought about giving up and going home, but I had no clue how to get there.

We wandered everywhere, sitting at cafes to eat or drink wine, always aware of how little English we heard – again reinforcing the idea of living like a local. And the more we wandered, the more enjoyable were the discoveries: a delightful mask store, street musicians in jeans playing Vivaldi, an out-of-the-way Leonardo DaVinci Museum.

Discovering Piazza San Marco, a World Heritage site and symbol of Venice.

Not every stop in Venice is off-the-beaten-path. Like the Spanish Steps in Rome and the Uffizi in Florence, it’s the symbol of the city. So if you want to avoid tourists, don't go there, especially not on a weekend. But part of the reason they're there used to be the pigeons. My unfiltered 19-year-old memory recalled the square covered with them. Decades later, my first thought was, “Where are all the pigeons?” Then I saw them. “Oh yes, over there by that guy with all the bird food.” But, after years of discouraging the pigeon population, the birds are not what they once were.

We took the vaporetto to the island of Murano.

We left the canals behind and felt the freedom of open waters as we entered the lagoon surrounding the city. Murano, world famous for its glass figurines, jewelry and home décor since the 11^thCentury, is a must-see destination if you want to be absolutely sure you're buying Murano glass and not a knock-off. A visit to the factory offers insight into how the glass is made, the colors created, the intricacies of the designs and the skills of the master glass blowers. Makes you better appreciate the high prices you then encounter in the gift shops...sort of....

I was amazed at the intricate convoluted shapes in colors so vibrant and translucent that the light passing through intensifies the whole experience. I wanted to decorate my whole house with cups, vases, dishes and elaborately designed decorative pieces, but I settled for a pair of earrings.

Visiting the Lido

As we exited another vaporetto at Lido, the beachfront community, we were transported to another era, that of a modern beach town hawking flip flops, beach toys and sunglasses. And then I saw a bus! One with actual wheels. Dorothy, you're not in Venice anymore!

A wide sand beach with crowded umbrellas and chaise lounges could be seen on one side, and isolated blankets on the other. Large elegant hotels front the tree-laden boulevards with greenery everywhere, a color sorely lacking in the squares and alleyways of Venice. It was a fun diversion, but I was so happy to get back home, pick up some Branzini from the fish market in Santa Margherita Square, plus a water bottle full of wine from the Filler-Up shop, and dine out on our balcony.

There's something more special about discovering such treasures.

The essence of the Untour experience can be summed up discver it yourself. There's something more special about discovering such treasureson your own rather than being herded there as part of a group, according to a pre-determined time schedule that dictates how long you can spend looking before it hurries you through because the bus — in this case, one on water — is leaving to go to the next stop.

It was so much nicer just to pick up some fresh fish, wave to shopkeepers we had befriended, and return home to sit on our porch, sip yet another glass of wine and savor our most recent exploits. And feel reassured that no one has ever been irretrievably lost while exploring Venice, but if so – how lucky for them. They're still there!

For more information, visitwww.untours.com.

Fyllis Hockman

Fyllis Hockman is a multi-award-winning travel journalist who has been traveling and writing for over 30 years — and is still as eager for the next trip as she was for the first. Her articles appear in newspapers across the country and websites across the internet. When not traveling, she is almost as happy watching plays or movies, working out, and sitting on a barstool next to her travel-writing husband.

Pamplona never sleeps during fiesta

Next Sunday is the first of eight runnings of bulls in Pamplona. The Fiesta of San Fermin in Pamplona, known as the Running of the Bulls in the US, is a nonstop, 24-hour party. From July 6 to July 14 there is always dancing in the streets, bands around every corner, and continuous supplies of wine from bottles being passed through the streets, carried by seemingly thousands in the crowd. Six bullfights are held every evening and the spectacular European-championship fireworks light the skies every night.

Originally a religious festival, not wild revelry

San Fermin is a religious festival commemorating the patron saint of Pamplona and I have been attending religiously for the past 47 years. Why do I go back year after year? Bullfights can be found in scores of other Spanish towns and proces­sions are a way of life in Spain. People dance everywhere and bands play throughout the world.

But in this fortress city in northern Spain in the foothills of the Pyrenees, these elements combine with the diverse personalities of people from around the world to create an addictive atmosphere. The magic of this fiesta in Pamplona is the virtual suspension of time combined with a chance to live life minute by minute once one is swept into the unique world of Fiesta. It is this creation of an altered state that makes this festival unique.

Made famous by Hemingway·in his novel "The Sun Also Rises," and described more recently by James Michener, who extolled the experience in a chapter in "The Drifters," the festival is most popularly known for its Running of the Bulls. It was Michener's book that introduced me to the fiesta. I made my first journey only months after reading his descriptions.

The morning run in Pamplona

The world's view of the fiesta is broadcast on TV and splashed across newspapers for two to three minutes each morning at 8 am. Six fighting bulls, averaging more than 1,000 pounds each, and seven steers run through throngs of anxious runners dressed in the traditional garb of white with red scarves. Most of the thousands of runners who cram the narrow course that winds between ancient buildings succumb to natural panic. They cringe in doorways and dive over fences to avoid the rampaging herd. But experienced runners dare death by coming as close to the horns of the fighting bulls as possible and then, hopefully, escaping injury by diving to the side at the last instant.

Over 47 years, I have experienced this group adrenalin rush along every cobblestone of the run in Pamplona. I have run toward the bulls as they first step out of the corral onto Calle Santo Domingo, whirling and sprinting for 50 yards through the 15-foot­-wide chute in front of the horns before diving to the side. I've seen a runner only an arm's length from me get caught by a bull, watching in anguished slow motion as he was tossed on the horns and eventually driven through the barricades by the 1,200-pound animal. I was transfixed as townspeople carried his bloody body to a nearby ambulance.

Running beside my youngest brother, I'd been trailing the bulls into the entrance of the bullring when one suddenly stopped and turned around. The ensuing panic was wild. My brother and I leaped to the barricades, clinging for our lives while the bull decided whom to charge.

Obviously, there is no logic to this event. It may be a form of sen­sation addiction.

The running is dangerous

Ambulances and first-aid stations are positioned alongside the barricaded streets and, after the run, do a brisk business. Dozens of runners are injured every day. During the past 100 years, hundreds have been seriously gored, but only 13 men have been killed by the bulls. Click here for a good video about how to run the bulls.

Some refer to this as a sport; others, perhaps more accurately, term it simple madness. No one really knows why the "running" started. Years ago the local butchers were also the men who herded the bulls into the arena from the corrals on the outskirts of town. This herding or running of the bulls down to the arena eventually developed into the exciting spectacle seen every morning from July 7-14.

Two ways to see a bullfight -— well dressed and formal or drunk and singing

The bulls that run in the streets of Pamplona each morning perform in the bullfights in the Plaza de Toros that evening. Some of the best bullfighters in Spain come to Pamplona to fight for what has been called the rowdiest bullfighting crowd in the world. Many of the spectators, mostly those sitting in the cheap seats under the blazing sun, spend the entire bullfight singing, dancing, and spraying each other with bottle after bottle of champagne. They register their displeasure with underperforming toreros by raining seat cushions and the fruit from their sangria buckets down on their heads.

The serious patrons of the fights sit well-dressed and clean in the expensive shaded seats reservedly observing what has been called a ballet in blood. Aficionados may tell you they love bullfighting, yet hate what the bull must endure. The only consolation is that these creatures are allowed to live a bucolic four to five years — a full two to three years longer than their beef-supplying brethren — and they die a "noble" death.

Pamplona means more than only bulls and bullfights

This fiesta is far more than sim­ply the early-morning run and evening bullfights, however. Officially this is a religious festival commemorating San Fermin, a black bishop martyred by the Moors. This Christian background is reflected in an occasional religious procession. The rest of the fiesta is pure escapism. While the bulls may conjure death and fear, the wild abandon of uninhibited drinking and nonstop dancing celebrates living life to its fullest.

Bars and cafes remain open virtually 24 hours a day. Each day is packed with street performers, marches, concerts, and hundreds of other activities. Local families pore through the newspapers and programs to carefully plan daily activities. At noon, papier-mache giants begin their march through the nar­row streets of the old town, halting regularly to dance to music provided by an accompanying traditional band.

Every night some of the world's most spectacular firework displays light up the sky for almost half an hour. This is the site of the annual European firework championships, where carefully selected companies explode their best and brightest pyrotechnics, leaving each night’s spectators with stiff necks vowing they have never seen anything to match it.

San Fermin's closing ceremony of takes place amidst throngs of revelers at midnight July 14.

Bands and crowds of people holding candles gather again in front of the town hall. As the bands begin to play a slow song of grief, the people fall to their knees, some hitting their heads on the streets in sorrow. They lament, "Woe is me. San Fermin is over. We must wait another year for San Fermin." The music quickens. The crowd again responds, dancing wildly and happily. The slow, sad dirge and the fast, happy music alternate, until the candles have burned to small nubs and dawn begins to peek over the mountains outside of Pamplona. Once again, this city rests, waiting for the next year and another exercise in exuberance.

Charlie Leocha

Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has worked in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.

Vicky Tohopu’s quiche defies French tradition. She binds it not with butter and flour, but with a grated breadfruit shell harvested steps from her open-air kitchen. Inside there’s a fragrant mixture of coconut, basil, and lime pulled from the valley’s volcanic soil.

Under the table, a puppy named Cleopatra, marked by natural eyeliner, chews on a guest’s slipper.

“Everything is vegan,” Tohopu says.

She gestures to the jungle surrounding the NIU Shack on the island of Raiatea. The air smells of wet earth and heavy rain, worlds away from the manicured, overwater-bungalow fantasy of French Polynesia.

Survival in the mountains

Tohopu built this mountain refuge to survive. Fifteen years ago, doctors gave her two months to live. She rejected the diagnosis and returned to her ancestral land. She unplugged herself from the grid, installed solar panels, and pumped fresh water from the river.

She healed herself through a radical return to nature, and now she feeds visitors the proof: fresh coconut water that fizzes on the tongue like soda, a natural carbonation that occurs as the nut dries and the sugars turn.

“This is the beginning of the process,” she tells visitors who come for yoga and plant-based cooking. “The real change happens when you get back home.”

Tahiti’s outer islands, where time moves differently

A different reality thrives on Tahiti’s outer islands. Here, sustainability is not a slogan, but a rhythm of life dictated by the land and the ancestors. In a world obsessed with speed and efficiency, these islanders believe real resilience requires a different currency entirely: patience.

The rhythm of the vanilla bean

On Huahine, a short ferry ride from Raiatea, slowness drives the economy.

On a plastic folding table at the La Mao plantation, the air is heavy and fragrant. Joe Maraama, a guide with a comedian’s timing, holds up a dark, wrinkled pod. Vanilla refuses to be rushed. The vine demands three years to mature. When the orchid finally blooms, it opens only in the morning; farmers must pollinate it by hand before noon. This clock dictates the island’s rhythm.

“You work only half a day,” Maraama says. “No rush.”

Locals surrender the afternoon to the Pacific pace: fishing, swimming, drinking beer, playing ukulele.

Harvest deepens the commitment. Beans can’t simply bake in the sun. Farmers have to cure them for three hours a day over four months to capture the flavor. Then, to distribute the oils and texture, farmers rub every bean by hand once or twice a week.

Maraama grins and pantomimes the motion. “One massage, one shot,” he laughs, referencing the local brew, Hinano Beer.

Tahitian vanilla commands a global price because farmers won’t hurry. Its value lies not just in flavor, but in the refusal to trade quality for speed.

Waiting for the tide to turn

Huahine’s landscape proves that working with the environment is better. Near the village of Maeva, ancient stone V-shapes cut across the water. These fish traps, some dating to 1888, catch mullet, snapper, and parrotfish riding the high tide back to the sea.

They require no bait, no lines and no fuel.

“The fish come in at high tide,” Maraama says. “At low tide, they can’t go out.”

This sustainable technology lets the fisherman sit back with a cooler of beer for 30 minutes. The ocean delivers dinner.

Ancestral practice meets modern living

Erwin Eperania, the sustainability coordinator for Tahiti Tourisme, says Tahiti is looking beyond carbon footprints on the outer islands.

“Sustainability is not just about conservation,” he says. “It’s about respect for land, sea, and the people whose hands care for them.”

The government moves to protect this fragile economy of patience. It has applied for a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) to shield the hand-massaged Tahitian vanilla bean from cheap global rivals.

Tahiti is also rewriting your itinerary. Officials encourage tour operators to send visitors to off-grid spots like the NIU Shack, perhaps to prove that luxury does not require air conditioning.

Yet challenges remain. Fresh water is scarce, and trash gets shipped back to Tahiti Nui.

Eperania offers a spiritual directive: “Let the Mana of each island set the pace.”

(Mana is a sacred force that embodies the life and spirit of the islands, the people, and the culture.)

Tourism officials hope travelers will stop rushing and settle into the local rhythm.

“When travelers slow down,” Eperania adds, “they leave a lighter footprint.”

On Raiatea and Huahine, locals measure their worth differently. They trade quick profit for quality, and connectivity for patience. The price of paradise is not a room rate. It is the willingness to slow down to massage a bean, or wait for the tide.

Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can’t. He’s the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can’t solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.

My husband and I are travel writers. Which means when we get to a destination, we explore every aspect, constantly seeking out stories. Until we got to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. That didn’t happen. And it was almost like – dare I say the word? – a vacation. But let’s back up a bit.

We are a lot older than our last trip thirty years ago when my husband had the temerity to actually hazard driving. To put the roads in context, they’re dangerous and death-defying. We weren’t trying that again. But to give them their due, as you drive around the harrowing roads (with someone else driving), sometimes the fear subsides sufficiently to ooh and ahh around every turn at yet another spectacular view -- cliches abound -- and yes, more so on Tortola than other Caribbean islands. It's not unusual to hear someone say, "Don't bother craning your neck -- it's just another magnificent view."

So this time we were greatly limited in our usual practice of exploring every nook and cranny. This time, no crannies. So other options. A guided island tour; a ferry to Jost Van Dyke island; a lobster fest on the island of Anegada. But we still had 10 days left and we were stranded. So we gave ourselves permission to enjoy the hotel beach and pool, something we’ve never had time for before.

WHILE THE ROADS IN TORTOLA MAY SEEM HAZARDOUS, THERE’S A THRILLING VIEW OR BREATH-TAKING SITE AROUND EVERY BEND AND TURN IN THE ROAD

So, yes, the beach is pristine, the azure sea inviting, the canopy trees enveloping, the chaise unimaginably relaxing. The reggae music in the background toe-tapping enticing. And I haven't even had my first Painkiller yet -- more on that later. I lay cocooned trying to visualize all the other island attractions I've yet to discover. I'm just not sure I want to. Fortunately, I pretty much wasn’t able to.

Later, sitting on my hotel balcony, another rum drink in hand and listening to the madding cacophony of coqui tree frogs singing their nightly repertoire, I couldn't be further away from the ambiance of my usual city life. I was very okay with that.

Although during certain times of year, swimming is discouraged on Tortola due to unusually powerful undertows, beaches still reign supreme on the island. There are beaches for snorkeling, some for diving, others surfing, secluded spots for quiet reflection, others attract the partying crowd. The BVI, comprised of 60 islands and cays with six inhabited, is also the "Sailing Capital of the World."

One getaway we allowed ourselves was a short ferry ride to Jost Van Dyke, BVI’s smallest inhabited island. White Bay, home of the infamous Soggy Dollar Bar, lives up to its name. So does the Soggy Dollar. Rumor has it that coming off the boats -- the only mode of transportation to the island – sailors’ money would get wet on the approach. The bar -- home to the original Painkiller (we're still getting to that) -- was willing to accept their mangled money -- i.e., their soggy dollars....

THE SOGGY DOLLAR BAR IN JOST VAN DYKE ISLAND IN THE BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS IS THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE LUSCIOUS PAINKILLER, THE BVI’S SIGNATURE RUM DRINK

People come for the express purpose of having a good time -- and are determined to do so. Painkillers help. These magical drinks -- Pusser's rum (and only Pusser's rum) with coconut cream and fruit juice -- were first created at the bar in the 1970's and has since become the signature drink throughout the BVI.

Because of high tides, swimming on Tortola is sometimes discouraged but the water on Jost van Dyke is calm and inviting. I was so afraid I was going to go home and have to admit I had spent two weeks in Tortola without going into the ocean. Thank you, Jost Van Dyke!

Rejuvenated by a swim, we headed out to the second most famous bar on the island -- Foxy's, part of a whole even-more commercial open-air market. It makes Soggy Dollar look like a laid-back neighborhood hangout. A large mural dominates the bar area.

But most of my unknown comrades were there for the atmosphere, loud music and a bar covered with pennants, hats, assorted license plates and dollar bills hanging precariously. With every corner covered, it's a lot to take in. Foxy Callwood, who opened the bar in 1968, is a man of many stories which he is more than happy to share and share....

THE J.R O’NEILL BOTANICAL GARDENS IN ROAD TOWN, TORTOLA IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL TREAT

The city center of Road Town, Tortola’s capital, offers your typical cruise ship fare so the less said the better. Not a dig at Tortola -- just true of every Caribbean Island. But right in town is the J.R. O'Neill Botanical Gardens -- a hidden oasis that justifies a trip to town. A labyrinth of interlocking paths engulfed in greenery -- admittedly a tad redundant since the entire island blankets you in greenery.

Small, large, low, high and enormous, with leaves the size of surfboards that make you stop and stare. Plants are light, dark, thin, thick, mottled, marbled – a mini-rainforest in the middle of a city.

Did I mention the roosters -- they're everywhere, either strutting about in their feathered finery or sparking a cringe-worthy pillow on the head during their very early morning greetings – repeated multiple time throughout the day. There’s no stopping them.

Alas, again without a car, we returned to our pool and our beachfront. We managed to adjust very well to our new reality. We’ve never had time to read books on a working trip before. We could get used to this…

For more information, visit BVITOURISM.COM or call: 1-800-835-8530.

Bobby Chase and Sarah Butler are childhood friends, so they were excited when their parents told them they were going on a family vacation to a working farm. Because the adults don’t know each other, the youngsters understood that they would be heading to different places. They looked forward to sharing stories about their experiences when they returned home.

Much to their surprise, their accounts had little in common. The Chases visited the Dogwood Hills Guest Farm in Harriet, Arkansas, which invites the public to “Stay with us and learn.”

Among tasks that Bobby enjoyed were gathering freshly laid eggs, feeding animals, picking berries and helping in the garden. His parents took classes in cooking, cheese and pasta making, quilting and other crafts. (For more information log onto thefarmex.com.)

Much of Sarah’s time at the Leaping Lamb Farm in Alsea, Oregon was spent hiking, taking nature walks, fishing with her father, observing the resident donkey and peacock,  and playing with the cats that live in the barn. (leapinglambfarm.com)

In each case, the young people experienced just a sampling of activities and attractions that were available. That variety is typical of many farms and ranches which welcome guests to enjoy an immersion in a way of life which otherwise they may never experience.

Unwind and meet animals at farm and ranch vacations

For those seeking a relaxing respite from city life, or a change of pace from their daily routine, going to a farm or ranch can provide an opportunity to slow down, take part in some new kinds of tasks, and get up close and personal with a variety of animals. A number of these sanctuaries also offer an unexpected selection of things to see and do, along with always comfortable, in some cases luxurious, accommodations.

There are farms that are home to animals beyond the usual chickens, cows and other familiar beasts. For examples, the Heritage Farm in Flora, Indiana touts itself as a petting zoo. The big attraction is a herd of dozens of alpacas, and among chores involving them are feeding, helping the shearers and assisting with their health care. A 400-foot zip line provides a much faster experience, and accommodations range from a modern guest house to an 1850s log cabin. (heritagefarmevents.com)

Some farm and ranch vacations immerse guests in history

History also lives at the White Stallion Ranch nears Tucson, Arizona. Its original house was built in the 1900s of mud and straw adobe brick, and a section of that early construction is still visible. Accommodations have greatly expanded to include 43 guest rooms and a four-bedroom hacienda. Given the name, it’s not surprising that activities are focused on horseback riding, cattle sorting and penning, and other cowboy-related routines. In addition, the ranch offers a choice of other things to do that includes archery, rock climbing, tennis, a swimming pool and a spa and fitness center. (whitestallion.com)

Guests at the Abbey Road Farm Winery in Carlton, Oregon sleep in an even more unusual setting. It has comfortable suites in three silos, two of which were part of the property’s original grain storage facilities and that are outfitted now with plush beds, heated floors and Jacuzzi tubs. This vineyard produces small-batch wines which guests may sample, along with gourmet multi-course breakfasts prepared by the onsite chef. (abbeyroadfarm.com)

Learning about ecofriendly practices during farm and ranch stays

Those seeking a more basic place to lay their head at night may be interested in knowing about Otter Creek Farm in Johnsonville, New York. The choices there include a new rustic “corn crib” creek side cabin and comfortable, well-stocked tents. Along with walks around the 465-acre spread and hobnobbing with the animals, guests may take a tour to learn about regenerative farming practices, which include such environmentally friendly approaches as topsoil renewal, biodiversity and resilience to climate change. (ottercreek.eatfromfarms.com)

There’s no surprise what the main focus is at the Bison Ranch Lodge in Pingree, North Dakota. This third-generation family farm and ranch operates as a hunting outfitter for customers who come to fill their freezer with bison meat. It also offers fishing, bird watching and enjoying the serenity of the open prairie. The Lodge utilizes reclaimed barn wood and other items acquired from the property and nearby farms and ranches. (bisonranchlodge.com)

You may meet and greet some unusual creatures while vacationing at a farm or ranch

Given its name, you probably can guess who awaits at the Fat Sheep Farm & Cabins in Harland, Vermont. Honored as that state’s best farm by Yankee Magazine, it invites visitors to help feed the animals, collect eggs, milk the sheep and – depending upon the time of year -- learn about cheese making. Anyone looking to come face to face with different denizens of the spread may check out the Nigerian Dwarf Goats, miniature dairy animals whose milk has high butterfat content that’s makes it well suited to turning out butter and cheese. (fatsheepfarmvermont.com)

Websites are available to help people seeking a farm or ranch visit narrow their search.  FarmStayUS.com employs filters that zero in on the kinds of facilities and activities users are seeking. These include accommodations, activities and amenities.

FarmStayPlanet.com offers visits to farms, vineyards, ranches and other related venues around the world. It donates part of its revenue to charities that support small farmers in East Africa and work to reduce animal suffering in the agriculture industry.

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn.  He loves to explore new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won many writing awards.

Betty Gordon and her husband Don were looking forward to a wide range of leisure activities and sightseeing opportunities as they checked into their vacation hotel. When they departed several days later, they had enjoyed everything on their wish list.

They had taken dips in the property’s swimming pool and sunbathed on an oceanfront beach. They took a horse-drawn sightseeing carriage ride along the city’s cobblestone streets through its historic neighborhoods. They visited what’s described as the largest inclusive playground in the world, which was designed to be welcoming to children with a variety of disabilities.

That facility was of particular interest to Betty, who has been confined to a wheelchair for many years. Despite that challenge, she has been able to live, travel and participate in activities which in the past would have been beyond her capability.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people – about 16 percent of the global population – currently experience significant disability. This number is increasing due in part to population aging.

In the United States, one in four adults (28.7 percent) has some type of disability.  These include challenges relating to mobility, hearing loss, cognition and other conditions.

In recent years, government-mandated alterations to facilities, improvements provided by companies seeking to attract these customers and other changes have opened the United States, and the world, to exploration by people who in the past could not avail themselves of that opportunity.

The Gordons were benefiting from some of these changes. Their experience only scratched the surface of alternatives to travel that await those who seek them out.  From basics like wheelchair ramps and push-button door openers to some surprising facilities and services, the range of assistance available to people with a handicap who seek to travel is broad and growing.

Help at hotels

The Marriott, Hilton and Intercontinental Hotels are among world-wide chains that share a reputation for offering wheelchair accessible rooms and other disabled-friendly facilities. Many individual properties also fit into that category.

The Otesaga Resort Hotel, a top-flight retreat in Cooperstown, New York has ADA-compliant guess rooms with wheelchair roll-in showers, roll-under sinks, lowly placed  light switches and other features. Ramp slopes to common areas and a pool lift are among the amenities.  (For more information log onto otesaga.com.)

Those seeking to challenge Lady Luck in Las Vegas, Nevada also find a friendly environment. The Main Strip, where most of the hotels, attractions and activities are located, is very accessible, with wide, smooth sidewalks in most stretches. Among welcoming hotels is the world-famous Bellagio, located mid-Strip, which offers three types of accessible rooms, has a swimming pool with a lift and includes its own casino. (visitlasvegas.com)

Accessible-friendly cities

Other cities also reach out to those seeking a disabled-supportive environment. Betty and Don Gordon found much to like about Charleston, South Carolina. For starters, it has been named several times by Conde Nast Traveler as the #1 Small US City. The terrain is flat and its historic area is compressed and welcoming to pedestrians. That makes it ideal for a walking or wheelchair tour. For those who prefer to ride, free wheelchair-accessible shuttle buses loop around the city. (charlestoncvb.com)

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and the adjoining 60-mile stretch of ocean coastline, offer a something-for-everyone choice of seashore settings. Its tourism office has adopted a Sensory Friendly Pledge to create a welcoming, inclusive beach experience for everyone. Trained personnel are available at attractions and restaurants to support visitors who may require assistance, and the city’s airport has a program which allows travelers with a disability to alert personnel that they may require assistance. (visitmyrtlebeach.com)

London is continuingly improving accessibility throughout the city with inclusive designs such as step-free access, ramps and smooth surfaces. These and other facilities help residents and visitors who need assistance to access the transport network, top sights and accommodations. (london.gov.uk)

The bus system in Paris is fully accessible, with frequent services to most areas in the city. Many of the major tourist sites in the city have elevators, ramps, and staff available to help people who need it. An added bonus is that most of the museums and cultural activities in the city are available free, or at a heavily discounted rate, for people with disabilities and their caregivers.

Priority access to the Eiffel Tower is offered to visitors with a disability.  They also pay a reduced ticket price, as does a person accompanying them. (paris.fr)

Going by train or ship

In the United States, Amtrak has a menu of options for disabled travelers, beginning with wheelchair lifts and other boarding assistance. Most train stations in major cities, and many others, are accessible. A horizontal bar, which is detectable by someone using a cane, alerts people that they are approaching the ticket counter. Passengers with mobility impairments may be pre-boarded. If meals are offered, they can be brought to a person’s room or seat. (amtrak.com)

Many railway companies in Europe offer assistance for passengers with a disability or reduced mobility who need assistance along the way. Those who need to bring a caregiver along on the journey may be eligible to apply for a complimentary Eurail Pass for that person. (eurail.com)

Passengers aboard cruise ships who require individual help also have options. For example, every vessel in the American Cruise Lines fleet has accessible staterooms with wide doors and bathrooms large enough to accommodate a wheelchair along with grab rails, a shower bench and other conveniences. Most have an elevator that reaches every stateroom deck. Guests may complete an Accessability Questionnaire before they embark. American Cruise Lines’ ships navigate U.S. waterways and coastlines, and offer more than 50 itineraries. (americancruiselines.com)

Most ocean-going cruise ships also are disabled friendly. Because many of them were built relatively recently, they were designed with accessibility features in mind. They offer staterooms which provide easy access to people in a wheelchair, accessible bathrooms and mobility assistance in getting off, and back on, a vessel when it is docked at a port. (cruisecritic.com) 

Plan Ahead

It’s wise to check in advance about available facilities and services how and where you will be traveling, and staying. What assistance does the transportation carrier offer?  What facilities does a hotel provide?

Because only a small number of hotel rooms are designed for guests with a disability, make your reservations well ahead of when you will begin your trip.

Check the hotel’s website or call to discuss its accessibility features. Make sure that what it has available will meet your specific needs.

When you arrive, inspect the room before you unpack. Does it contain everything you’ll need? Is it large enough to maneuver in comfortably?

You might wish to look at the accessiblego.com website. It enables people with disabilities to book their travel arrangements.

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn.  He loves to explore new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won many writing awards.

Cal Singh, who runs the company says, “Weeks of preparation can be lost by one delay.”

He’s rebuilt his entire travel operation around that lesson. Every business trip now includes backup flights, refundable bookings, and extra insurance. Because he learned what airlines don’t want you to know: They’re not in the business of making you whole. They’re in the business of getting you from point A to point B. Everything else is your problem.

It’s not just business travelers, of course. Donna Glass’ experience with United tells the same story. Her recent flight from San Francisco to Orlando was delayed multiple times and then switched to a completely different aircraft. She arrived in Florida early the next morning, having spent more than 12 hours in the airport.

Her airline offered her two $15 food vouchers and 7,500 frequent-flyer miles.

“We lost an entire day in Orlando,” Donna said. “The airline basically blew us off.”

Here’s the real question regulators refuse to ask: Is that fair?

The compensation illusion

When airlines talk about “reasonable compensation,” they’re working from a narrow playbook. The DOT focuses on immediate, basic costs like the price of your airfare. Europe goes further with its consumer protections, offering compensation for delays. But even the strictest rules exclude the real-world damage caused by delays.

Airlines are just following the law. But the law was written in a different era, when travel was simpler and airlines were more generous with their passengers. Now, delays are chronic and airlines are watching every penny. Regulators haven’t caught up.

Jacob Wedderburn-Day, CEO of Stasher, an airport luggage storage network, sees the ripple effects every day. He’s watched thousands of passengers absorb costs that go way beyond a meal voucher.

The hidden costs are very high, and the passengers pay nearly all of them.

“The hidden costs are very high, and the passengers pay nearly all of them,” Wedderburn-Day said. “Airlines are basing fair compensation on their own operating expenses and regulatory requirements, rather than actual economic impact on travelers.”

Maybe that’s the problem. The delay tax exists because airlines calculate compensation based on what it costs themto reschedule flights, not what it costs you to miss the reason you flew in the first place.

TinLeg, a travel insurance company, has the receipts: In 2025, the average payout was $388 per claim. The single biggest culprit was airline delays. TinLeg found nearly 28 percent of all claims were tied to flight delays, up from 26 percent in 2024.

Sometimes, airlines will voluntarily cover some of your expenses, such as toiletries or a change of clothes, to a point.

Even when airlines are generous, there’s a catch

If you can get an airline to compensate you for your expenses, which can happen, there’s a problem that customers create for themselves. Raymond Yorke at Redpoint Resolutions has watched travelers leave money on the table because they didn’t document everything.

“The travelers who get reimbursed quickest are almost always those who kept receipts, took photos, saved emails, and wrote down what happened, in real time,” Yorke says.

A safer bet is to buy travel insurance, but you still have to keep your documentation for some claims. (With bigger travel insurance companies, flight delay claims are automatic and don’t require any documentation.)

“A proper travel protection plan can fill the gap airlines won’t,” says Carlos Cividanes, vice president of business strategy and development at TravelSafe Travel Insurance.

But even travel insurance won’t end the delay tax.

What needs to change?

Justice’s point about the cascading effects of delays is central to understanding why the current system is broken. It treats delays as isolated incidents affecting one person. But when you’re running a company, leading a team, or managing a critical life moment, a delay ripples outward.

Michal Strahilevitz, a professor of marketing at Saint Mary’s College of California who studies business ethics, thinks the whole compensation framework is backwards.

“Airlines do not compensate passengers for pain, suffering, or emotional distress caused by delays,” she says. “But in an ideal world, they would at least try.”

The data backs that up. AirHelp surveyed Americans and found that 41 percent lost money on their last flight disruption. Meanwhile, 91 percent believe airlines should pay compensation for disruptions. And 84 percent of Americans would support an EU-style compensation model, one that actually accounts for losses.

Airlines need to be financially responsible for the total economic cost of delays that they incur.

“Airlines need to be financially responsible for the total economic cost of delays that they incur, and not merely direct costs,” says Wedderburn-Day of Stasher. “There is no incentive yet to change because travelers all bear downstream costs. The model changes only when airlines start to experience the financial bite of chronic unreliability.”

That’s true. Right now, airlines have no reason to operate more reliably because they don’t pay the true cost of delays. The expense is yours to bear. Until that changes, expect more delay taxes.

So here’s my advice: If you’re planning to fly, build redundancy into your bookings. Get insurance. And document everything. Because airlines aren’t going to make you whole. The system isn’t designed to.

At least, not yet.

Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can’t. He’s the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can’t solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.

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Dan and Doris Beatty spent the afternoon at an inviting oceanside beach. While they enjoyed the sun, sand, and surf, they had to deal with no-see-‘em biting bugs, be mindful of the strong offshore current, and, when they returned to their hotel room, wash residual grit from their bodies.

The scene was different for Sam and Judy Crawford. While they also lolled on chaise lounges to soak up the sun’s rays and cooled off in clear water, they ended their relaxing afternoon silt and sting-free. That’s because they were replicating a visit to a beach on the roof of the inner-city hotel where they were staying.

These rooftop pools provide people with added appeal and places to replicate a seaside sojourn without having to travel from their place of accommodation. Many make up for any lack of ocean views with attractions and ambiance.

Rooftop Swimming Pools Are Perfect for “Staycation” experiences

Gas prices are rising, and airport congestion is still unpredictable. Many folks are rethinking long-haul trips in favor of closer-to-home escapes. Some are opting for a “staycation” summer, finding an escape right where they live.

For residents of the Nation’s Capital, and those who visit it, that can include the hidden rooftop pool at the Arlo Washington, DC hotel. Framed by plush loungers and set against a bold, colorful wall mural, it offers sweeping panoramic views of the U.S. Capitol Building and city skyline.

Art also enhances the experience for guests atop the Arlo Wynwood in Miami, Florida. Along with a 360-degree view of the city below, the heated swimming bath is overlooked by a larger-than-life mural created by an acclaimed graffiti artist.

Playing Chess by a Rooftop Swimming Pool in Florida

It’s oversized chess pieces that greet those enjoying the Rooftop and Pool Lounge at Hotel Effie in Sandestin, Florida. That is the only such installation along the self-proclaimed Emerald Coast, which stretches about 100 miles along the Gulf of Mexico. If they’re not relaxing in a private cabana or enjoying breathtaking views that stretch to the horizon, guests may participate in wine tastings, yoga, bingo nights, and other enticing activities.

People travel far to gaze in awe at the New York City skyline, and there are few more dramatic views than that from the rooftop pool deck at the Arlo Williamsburg Hotel in Brooklyn. A dramatic Water Tower Bar overlooks the pool and poolside cabanas. Guests of the property may book a complimentary pool time slot, and others may reserve a time slot through resortpass.com.

For a classic yet unexpected location, look no further than the rooftop’s Water Tower. These kinds of structures are an iconic sight throughout the city, but at Art Williamsburg, that edifice can serve as your very own private event venue. Perfect for gatherings, photo shoots, weddings, cocktail and other occasions, the Water Tower has a private bar, can be furnished for your event, and is accessible by elevator.

People Take a Chance at a Rooftop Swimming Pool in Las Vegas

Have you ever surfed on a rooftop? You can ride the FlowRider Wave Ride at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Its advanced waveform technology provides a safe yet thrilling environment where people can “hang ten” and test their boarding skills. The innovative design gently absorbs impacts, allowing everyone to master the waves with confidence and enjoy a unique experience right on the Las Vegas Strip.

Dallas Joule Hotel pool

Another thrill awaits those checking out the rooftop pool at the Joule Hotel in Dallas. It’s cantilevered over the streets below, and the clear-walled edge gives the fortunately false impression that swimmers might plunge off the top of the building.

Worrying that you may fall to your death, or trying to surf high above city streets, may not be on your bucket list. However, they’re among the unusual and unexpected activities that swimming pools perched on the roofs of some buildings offer and are available to those who wish to take part.

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn. He loves exploring new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won numerous writing awards.

Names like Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head conjure beauty and long, sandy shorelines. But how many of us know the history and tourism in Oahu. Have you visited the Bishop Museum and the Iolani Palace? These sights exemplify the stark differences between tourist Hawaii and natural Hawaii.

For my short-lived visit, I stayed in the far southwest corner of the island. However, I filled every day with activities, both natural and historic. When I suggested that I put together a post about the two sides of Hawaii — history and nature — the response was positive. So, here it is.

The history and tourism in Oahu of the Hawaiian Islands

Prior to visiting Hawaii, I recommend that travelers read James Michener's Hawaii. This novel based on history provides an overview of the islands and their development.

Michener looks at the different ethnic groups and how they came to be on the islands. The original group fled from Bora Bora. This formed the royalty of the island. Then the missionaries came. Michener leads the reader through the establishment of Chinese and Japanese families as members of the community and shows how each of them contributed to the development of the islands. Michener uses historical facts to develop the story of his novel.

From missionaries to businessmen

The novel begins in the ninth century and ends in the mid-1950s. The novel shows how the descendants of the original missionaries became the leading families in terms of business, wealth, and politics. The many intermarriages resulted in all of the originals becoming known as the family. Some married Hawaiians. Most were sent to America to be educated. When they left the ministry they went into business on the islands. Over the years, these businesses developed into the most powerful and successful ones on the islands.

Visit the Bishop Museum, founded in 1889 when the Islands were a kingdom. The museum originally was intended to house the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last heir to Kamehameha I. Bishop Museum boasts the largest collection of Hawaii and Pacific area artifacts in the world. The restored Picture Gallery provides a window into the nineteenth century. Pieces from the Museum’s extraordinary collection of oil paintings and rare books from the museum library will be displayed on a rotating basis.

Learn about the independent kingdom of Hawaii

TheIolani Royal Palace sits as the spiritual center of old Hawaii. This unique state started as an independent kingdom. The Iolani Palace, the home of the monarchy, had electricity, plumbing, and phone service prior to both the White House and Buckingham Palace. Much of the furniture which had been sold when the building was turned into an office. The building has been repurchased and restored. Here the businessmen who took over the government imprisoned the last Hawaiian Queen.

Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial are devoted to the surprise attack that started WWII with Japan. The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center is operated by the National Park Service and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day). Admission and parking are free to all visitors. Get tickets online prior to coming to the memorial or the National Park Service gives out over 1,300 free walk-up tickets each day on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to arrive early for these walk-up tickets; the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center opens at 7 a.m.

The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, the final resting place for many of the 1,177 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941, when their ship was bombed by the Japanese Naval Forces. This loss of life represents over half of the Americans killed during the worst naval disaster in American history.

READ ALSO: 5 Under-the-radar national parks to visit this year

Touristic Hawaii — History and tourism in Oahu

These sites mentioned above, except for the Arizona Memorial, are little known outside of Hawaii. Most visitors come to these islands to enjoy the wonderful weather, beaches, surfing, and tropical vegetation. Waikiki is a name known far and wide for luxury beach vacations and swaying palm trees. For me, this Honolulu beach is far too urban.

Since I had a rental car, I had the freedom to drive across the island. Rental cars are not terribly expensive and they make staying in vacation homes much easier and convenient.

See the Kapi'olani Farmers Market and a drive north from Diamond Head

I drove to the big Kapiʻolani Community College (KCC) farmers market and bought greens for dinner and papaya for the next day's breakfast. The stalls were filled with exotic fruits and vegetables. The market operates on Saturday morning from 7:30 until 11 a.m. and on Tuesday evenings from 4-7 p.m.

A spectacular drive up Highway 72 takes visitors from Diamond Head to the Makapuu lighthouse. The setting for this point is wonderful and is reached by hiking about three miles (round trip) up a trail from a carpark. Parking can be tight and the trail is a path populated with families, strollers, pooches, and camera-clad sightseers. From the top of the point, the views northward up the Makapu’u beach stretching toward the North Shore is breathtaking.

Enjoy few tourists and wild nature on the western side of Hawaii

On the other side of the island, the drive up the western shore of Hawaii will quickly convince travelers that Hawaii is not only a haven for the wealthy. Here, small houses are packed into communities and cars seem to fill everyone's yards. The beaches stretch for the most part rugged, but some seem manicured. This side of Hawaii escaped discovery by most guidebooks and tourists. It shows us the hidden rugged part and the uncrowded part of today's history and tourism in Oahu.

At the far northern end of the shoreline, the road stops. It is a dead-end. Prior to the road ending, there is a small cave, Kaneana Cave, where legend says mankind emerged and his existence spread throughout the Waianae Coast. On the road back to civilization Makaha Beach Park has some good surfing and a nearby town with a collection of stores and a surprisingly good Hawaiian restaurant filled with locals, Hannara Restaurant. It serves everything from breakfast to Korean to Hawaiian specialties like Kalua Pig and cabbage, Lau Lau, Poi, and Loco Moco. If looking for local culture, this is the place.

It is tourist time again with Disney, Olina Beach, and a Luau

Finally, we come to the cluster of upscale hotels at Ko Olina. Here, the Four Seasons, Disney's Aulani Resort, and Marriott's Olina Beach Club rise side by side. At the far northern sector of the neighborhood, Paradise Cove Luau beckons. Some come to Hawaii and never leave this corner of Oahu. There is swimming in four lagoons and a manicured landscaped garden surrounding the area. The nearby Paradise Cove Luau is one of Oahu's top entertainment venues, with a full show, rides on outrigger canoes, and a luau show complete with a roasted pig pulled freshly from the pit. A more perfect place to end your trip through the history and tourism in Oahu cannot be found.

To finish off any tour of Oahu make sure to make your way to Kamehameha Bakery for their Malasadas. The local transportation worker who told us about this place lit up when he described malasadas. Ours did, too, when we tasted them. These wonderful pastries and donuts provide a reason themselves to return to this industrial section of Honolulu, not too far from the airport. I'll even bet your taxi driver knows his or her way to get here when visitors head to the airport to depart. Also, if kids are in tow, make sure to try Hawaiian shave ice (not shaved ice).

Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has worked in Washington, DC, for the past 19 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.

A crowd gathered in Philadelphia recently to enjoy a reenactment of George Washington’s commissioning and wreath-laying at the tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier. Nearby, people were allowed to board a collection of historic ships to sail along the Delaware River.

Celebrating America’s semiquincentennial birthday

These are among the examples of activities being planned and undertaken to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. They recall the moment when the Founding Fathers, who had gathered in Philadelphia, declared independence of the 13 American colonies from Great Britain.

This historic event joined together disparate people with equally diverse backgrounds. It took place in Virginia, where Jamestown was established in 1607 as the first permanent English settlement in the New World. The Massachusetts Plymouth Colony, which was created in 1620. Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore in 1632.

Solemn and serious activities will recall America’s 250th anniversary

These and other states and cities have planned a year-long list of festivities to recognize and honor this special birthday. Some will be solemn and serious, others less so. All will attract people from near and far who seek to recall and commemorate the nation’s birth and past accomplishments. Wherever you live, whatever your interests, there’s likely to be a choice of exciting and educational events that you may wish to attend.

Philadelphia will be a hub of celebration of the United States special birthday

Those activities in Philadelphia were kicking off a year-long party. At the Museum of the American Revolution, located just steps away from Independence Hall, immersive galleries, interactive exhibits and theater experiences relate compelling stories of the people and complex events that helped to spark the American rebellion.

Celebration of the birth of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in the self- proclaimed City of Brotherly Love got underway this fall with a parade of ships along the Delaware River, a Toast to the Navy gala, and a gathering at the tavern, which was the birthplace of the Marine Corps.

States will also get into the action. A web-based hub has been posted that helps residents of and visitors to Delaware locate sites associated with the semiquincentennial remembrance. It includes a three-day Revolutionary War driving itinerary; a calendar of events listing special exhibitions and other related activities. Visitors will get an overview of places with strong ties to the Revolutionary War. Among these are Cooch’s Bridge, the sight of the only significant military action in the state, and the Grand Opera House, the former site of a hospital that treated wounded from both sides during the fighting.

Massachusetts offers an immersion in early American history

A road trip through Massachusetts is like an immersion in history. That state kicked off its fetes by reliving the Battle of Lexington when, on April 19, 1775, the British sent 700 soldiers from Boston to destroy ammunition and other supplies, and the town’s militia confronted them, leaving eight colonists dead. George Washington then wrote, “The first blood was spilled,” and the American Revolutionary War had begun.

After Lexington, the British marched to Concord to ransack more military equipment.

Among the displays at that town’s museum is the iron-and-glass lantern that Paul Revere famously carried during his “midnight ride,” which is recalled in the familiar poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Events in Philadelphia and along the Delaware River that recall and recount the genesis of the U.S. Navy aren’t the only water-related activities planned. American Cruise Lines, the largest river cruise company in the country, will launch an array of extended sailings throughout the year in honor of the nation’s founding. They will include Great United States, Spring Across America, and Civil War Battlefields itineraries.

Whether you prefer to wander by water, mull over museum displays or. check out places where important chapters of U.S. history were written, numerous opportunities will abound throughout the country to celebrate the nation’s special birthday.

For information about these 250th-anniversary events throughout the United States, log onto america250.org.

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn. He loves exploring new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won numerous writing awards.

In February 1926, a Black historian, journalist, and author named Carter Godwin Woodson launched the celebration of “Negro History Week.” Fifty years later, President Gerald Ford proclaimed Black History Month, asking Americans “to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

In 2026, people throughout the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence. States and cities, museums, and libraries will host special exhibitions. Other places will be the sites of programs to recognize and recall that momentous occasion and the role of Black history, life, and culture in the nation’s and the world’s story.

The specific programs will vary widely, as will the contributions and causes of Africans and people of African descent. These events take on added importance at a time when some efforts are underway to ban books and excise them from the country’s schools, libraries, and public culture. Despite differences among projects, they share a common goal.

Black History Month Surprises

Some offer up enticing surprises. For example, many people are unaware that Brooklyn, New York — which stood firmly with the North’s Union states in the Civil War era — had significant ties to slavery. An exhibit in that borough has exposed that painful chapter of the past.

Boston’s Museum of African American History tells the story of men and women who changed the course of America’s past in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Black Heritage Trail explores the history of the city’s Black community in the 1800s, including the Underground Railroad, the abolition movement, and the early struggles for civil rights.

Atlanta, Georgia, was home to many civil rights leaders. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, which includes several sites related to King’s life and work. He was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in 1968 while leaning over a balcony railing, speaking with Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Washington, DC, is a treasure trove of museums that highlight the role Black citizens played in U.S. history. The centerpiece is the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum’s collection includes more than 40,000 objects, not all of which are on display.

Detroit is another center of African-American lore. It was home to some of the largest hiding places, called “stations,” along the Underground Railroad route followed by people fleeing slavery to freedom in the North. Exhibits in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History includes the reproduction of a slave ship with life-size sculptures of people in shackles, as well as more uplifting exhibits like a case displaying products of Black inventors.

Celebrating Black History Month in Small Towns

Some small towns also pay homage to pages of African-American history. Memories of the Civil War are evoked around Winchester, Virginia (population about 27,000). The Star Fort was built by Union troops in 1863 at a place where a Confederate artillery emplacement stood. The house that served as Stonewall Jackson’s headquarters contains his prayer table, initialed prayer book, and other personal and family artifacts.

People and Places that played Big Roles in Black History

Any discussion of Black heroes must include Harriet Tubman, the abolitionist who, after escaping slavery, led dozens of other enslaved people to freedom. She used a network of antislavery activists and “safe houses” along the Underground Railroad route. In 1863, Tubman led an expedition of African-American soldiers in South Carolina, which rescued more than 750 former slaves.

Places associated with this remarkable woman are scattered far and wide. Among exhibits at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May, New Jersey, are African masks, metal shackles used on enslaved people, and vintage photos. I was intrigued by Harriet’s quote that “I was conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say – that I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn. He loves exploring new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won numerous writing awards.

It’s an area of rugged foothills, limestone valleys, and dense forests. They occupied a canyon that separates the Appalachian Plateau from the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.

The primary reason why this locale managed to escape the most dire consequences of the economic crash was the presence of the Pennsylvania State University. That institution provided both jobs and financial stability to those who lived and worked nearby, even through the depth of the Depression.

Somewhat later, a husband-wife team of newspaper columnists began referring to State College, the town where Pennsylvania State University is located, as the “Happy Valley.” That name stuck.

I recently visited the community and other nearby towns and returned home with an understanding of why Happy Valley is an apt title and description.

Penn State’s Art, Arboretum, and more Penn State offers a unique atmosphere characterized by youth, vibrancy, and culture.

Founded in 1855, it enrolls about 90,000 students each year and has 20 campuses throughout Pennsylvania, including its main site, University Park, adjacent to downtown State College.

The university and its surrounding grounds themselves offer an inviting choice of attractions. One is the collection at the Palmer Museum of Art. It spans centuries and represents a diversity of cultures, from American and African creations to works on paper.

The Museum is situated within The Arboretum at Penn State, a lovely, curated landscape that seamlessly blends art, architecture, and nature. Among its many features are 10 acres of garden spaces, 14 acres of rolling meadows, colorful seasonal plantings, sculptures, and gentle walking paths over which to explore the site.

Nearby, outdoor art turns the entire downtown heart of State College into an outdoor museum. A downtown Art Walk trail features 40 murals, sculptures, statues, stained glass and other works.

Treats for the Taste Buds in Pennsylvania’s Happy Valley

Treats for the taste buds rather than the eyes are served up at the Penn State Berkey Creamery, the largest university ice cream maker in the United States. The milk which is used comes from university cows and agricultural students contribute to making the delicious dessert. Among rotating flavors are some unusual choices like White Out, Monster Mash and Peachy Paterno, named after the university’s long-time football coach.

Those dairy delights hint at the variety of field-to-fork foods which add to the destination’s appeal. Amish family farms provide beef, cheese and produce that are raised and grown with loving care.

The Heirloom Farmer offers milk, muffins, honey and more, harvested from nearby fields. The history of the Way Fruit Farm dates back to 1872, when 1,000 apple trees were planned, and it continues under ownership of the sixth generation of the original owner’s family.

Museums recount history in the Happy Valley of Pennsylvania

History also lives in museums, which recount various chapters of the area’s story. Iron-making began in Pennsylvania as early as 1720 and evolved into a key industry due to the abundance of high-quality iron ore, limestone, and trees. While advances in technology led to the closure of most iron furnaces in the late 19th century, I was immersed in the heyday of that industry at the Eagle Iron Works and in Curtin Village. The story of how the region’s leading industry came to be is told there through hands-on demonstrations and walking tours. The Curtin Mansion engulfs visitors in the genteel ambiance of an upscale Federal-era manor house.

The Boal Estate has been that family’s home for over 200 years, and displays the original furnishings, artwork, and artifacts from around the globe. I found the adjacent small, but imposing, Columbus Chapel more intriguing. It houses what’s said to be the most extensive collection of Christopher-related items in North America, including an Admiral’s Desk, which is believed to have belonged to the famous explorer.

The Matson Museum of Anthropology displays casts of ancient fossil life. Artifacts that highlight various aspects of farming and rural life are on display at the Pasto Agricultural Museum.

Towns and Tourism in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania

To me, tiny towns that are scattered about the area, each with its own character and appeal, are equally varied and inviting. Boalsburg is a walkable community that clings to its quaint village atmosphere. Philipsburg displays ties to the region’s industrial past. Founded in 1795, Bellefonte (pronounced Bell-font) retains much of its original Victorian architecture. 

Another magnet for tourism is a diverse list of year-round festivals that appeal to a wide range of interests. From street fair to music fest, farm celebrations to a craft market, they add to the long list of attractions that draw more than five million travelers a year to experience and enjoy what State College and its nearby neighbors have to offer.

For more information, log onto happyvalley.com.

Victor Block

Victor Block retains the travel bug after gallivanting throughout the United States and to more than 75 other countries worldwide and writing about what he sees, does, and learns. He believes travel is the best possible education and claims he still has much to learn. He loves exploring new destinations and cultures, and his stories about them have won numerous writing awards.

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