(CNN) Avgeek desktop gamers and wannabe airline captains can finally get the high-altitude fix they've been craving.

Following a prolonged period of hibernation, the rebooted Microsoft Flight Simulator, officially available on August 18, could be the perfect antidote to pandemic-induced cabin fever -- or to airplane cabin withdrawal symptoms, for those who've been bumped off their real-world flight plans due to Covid-19.

Or if looping the loop over the snow-capped Pyrenees is your thing, the new flightsim helps users master the controls of a Pitts aerobatic plane as it slices through snow and wind effects that mirror real-world weather, derived in real time from climatic data sources.

Alternatively, if you didn't manage to get your skiing holiday in this spring break, you could go off-piste and get some digital solace by landing your Cessna Citation executive jet at Courchevel Altiport.

Reality? Check.

Photo-realistic graphics are a given in the world of online gaming, but what separates this sim from its rivals is the facility to fly anywhere in a world reconstructed from high-definition satellite-generated Microsoft Bing mapping imagery.

Bing data is siphoned through Microsoft's machine-learning technology which then builds 1.5 billion houses and 2 trillion trees -- not to mention 37,000 airports, all hand-touched to ensure that each runway has the right length and that taxiways and parking stands are marked correctly.

The colossal quantity of data required to simulate this realistic world in real time is managed using Microsoft's Azure cloud-based platform. Azure does the heavy lifting, so your home computer doesn't need to be of the super-duper variety to deliver a convincing experience.

Take off from London City Airport on a frosty morning, and as you pass the Shard you can even peer through the glinting glazed superstructure into the highly detailed interior of the building -- just one of many architectural icons that have been modeled in geek-satisfying ultra-high-resolution to bring a sense of realism that transcends the norm for digital games.

That's quite a feat for a sim that many fans had assumed, just a few years ago, would never be resurrected, or supported by Microsoft -- given that the last revision was with the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX), its 10th version, in 2006.

In the meantime, other flight simulator rivals had built their own simmer followings, notably Laminar Research's X-Plane 11, which provides over 3,000 airports, an intuitive interface, high-resolution graphics and even pushback tugs and roaming fuel trucks at airports.

Another popular sim is AeroFly FS 2, that offers such features as route planning, an Instrument Landing System (ILS) Omnidirectional Radio Range (VOR), Non-directional Radio Beacon (NDB) plus Virtual Reality support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive without any additional software.

And for simmers taking their first steps in preparation for a career in aviation, Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D is also well liked, being specifically geared for prospective private, commercial and military pilots, and allowing users to create training scenarios using realistic environments.

A sense of community

Since announcing its intention to reboot Flight Simulator at E3 in June 2019 Microsoft has been honing the product and responding to the flightsim faithful with a raft of new features.

"We listened to the community and two things were loud and clear that came out of E3," Jorg Neumann, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, tells CNN Travel. "One was VR; the other one was seasons."

Virtual Reality, which is gaining traction in the gaming world as players shift to more immersive gaming formats, "is going to be supported this fall," says Neumann. That's just the start.

On seasonal weather variations Neumann enthuses that, "You can turn snow on and off now to make sure that when you fly in winter over Norway, for example, it actually looks appropriate."

Insomniacs haven't been forgotten either. For those who love night flying the sim can handle what's called NVFR (night visual flight rules). To do this Neumann's team recreated the glow above cities.

"We've taken the Kelvin temperature of different light types (the Kelvin scale is used to measure color temperature). And then the parking lots have completely different lights now than, say, sports stadiums or neighborhoods."

Attention to detail at airports has also been upgraded since the sim was previewed at E3. At that time the airports didn't have undulating runways, and simmers who tested the pre-Alpha version wanted to sense the feel of a genuine runway during takeoffs and landings.

"We heard quite a bit from the community that most runways aren't actually flat. So we added undulating runways and a bunch of what we call 'airport life' -- more and more vehicles were added to the airport nightlife," says Neumann.

Weather realism has been cranked up a number of notches too: For example, rain on the airplane's windshield is now affected by the propeller, because that's what happens on a real plane when a propeller spins -- it drives the raindrops over the windshield.

And if nature doesn't quite hit the spot, these elemental parameters can be overridden. If a player wants to test landing in a cross-wind, for instance, they can turn up the wind force or direction, make the sky cloudier, or intensify rainfall to make things even more challenging.

In the driving seat

A key aspect of the flightsim experience is the handling of the cockpit controls. Microsoft has improved the camera physics to get pilot head movements more accurate.

"It's super-important also for VR," explains Neumann. "In VR, you're very much immersed in the experience. Your head sort of bobs around a bit as the air shakes the plane, but also when you make sharp turns or flips, so that's all now improved."

To pass muster with simmers who are also pilots in the real world, Microsoft has improved cockpit lighting and instrumentation, adding advanced systems such as weather radar and transponders (the tech that enables airplanes to be tracked by air traffic controllers).

Ready to launch

This new incarnation of Microsoft Flight Simulator is being launched amid a crescendo of mounting anticipation, catalyzed by leaked images and video clips across social media of the sim in action. But the buzz is justified, according to its most ardent proponents:

"Microsoft combined the wishes and hopes of the whole flight simulation community and made it happen, and made it real -- that's how powerful the product is," Lisbon-based Srgio "HeliSimmer.com" Costa tells CNN Travel.

Costa is one of an elite cohort of hardcore FlightSim enthusiasts that were invited by Microsoft last summer to flight-test the sim at Microsoft's Renton, Washington, facilities during its pre-Alpha stage of development, and to provide ongoing feedback.

Enlisting the relentless enthusiasm of prominent figures in the FlightSim fellowship has been integral to redefining the sim.

"It's always important when you get the community involved in the development of a product that is targeted at that community," says Costa.

And, by funneling in the feedback, wishlists and expectations of the cream of its vast userbase of dedicated simmers, Microsoft has ratcheted up the pre-launch sizzle.

"After the first event [at E3], we opened up an Alpha [testing version] and embraced the simmer audience," says Microsoft's Neumann.

"We have people in the simmer community that are real-world pilots, and they give us a ton of feedback -- even to the extent that they say, 'Hey, I flew this sim and it doesn't feel quite right. I'm going to fly the real version of this plane this weekend and let you know how it really works'."

"And then, sure enough, on Monday, we get an email with a precise description of where our sim differs a little bit from the real world and then we make appropriate adjustments -- that back and forth has been constant."

Friends in high places

This close relationship between Microsoft and the simmer community has propelled the buy-in of Flight Simulator to new heights, with a level of engagement that converts consumers into active followers and advocates -- not that the sim didn't already have a gargantuan following.

"Getting the community to work with you, if done properly -- and Microsoft has done it very well -- is always a plus," says Srgio Costa with unbridled zeal.

"I think that's a very smart strategy for Microsoft and I think it will bring a lot of new blood into the market."

That market is a reference to the ever-expanding community of creators that make extra simulated planes and airports. Microsoft may have covered most of the bases with the new Flight Simulator, but has been careful to leave scope for its followers to produce 'add-ons' to augment the sim, which comes in three editions.

"We try to find the right balance. Third parties have built 1,000 airports or so over the years and we want them to be able to do this again on the new platform," says Neumann.

Of the 37,000 airports in the new system, 30 of these have been specially "hand-crafted" for Microsoft's Standard Edition ($59.99) of the sim, which includes 20 highly detailed planes.

This Standard Edition will also be available on day one (August 18, 2020) with Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta).

The Deluxe Edition ($89.99) includes everything from the Standard Edition plus five additional highly accurate planes with unique flight models and five additional handcrafted international airports.

A Premium Deluxe Edition ($119.99) includes everything from the Standard Edition plus 10 extra highly accurate planes with unique flight models, plus 10 additional handcrafted international airports.

There's no date yet for an Xbox One release.

Homeward bound

"But now we're facing completely different realities," says Neumann. "We're hearing from [furloughed] pilots that they keep fresh by playing the sim because they can't fly in the real world."

Then the FlightSim boss recounts a bout of homesickness a couple of weeks ago -- his parents live in Germany, but he can't visit them due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

"I was so homesick that I actually flew a plane and landed next to the lake where my parents live. And, it's real time, so it's actually the exact same time of day and the exact same weather that they were experiencing. And I picked up the phone to call them and said, 'Hey, I just want you to know, I know I can't be there with you, but I'm as close as I can possibly get.'"

Neumann's yearning for home seems to be emblematic of a universal aspiration right now, in our pandemic-smitten times, to get traveling again.

"I get from the simmer community that there's a real appreciation that we can still somehow reach across the planet, even if it's just in virtual format."

Paul Sillers is an aviation journalist specializing in passenger experience and future air travel tech. Follow him at @paulsillers

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Microsoft Flight Simulator's 2020 reboot may be the safest way to fly this year - CNN

Experience the red dunes of Dubai's Lahbab desert and enjoy activities like sandboarding, 4WD dune bash, camel riding, falcon interaction and more before enjoying a BBQ buffet dinner and live show. By OceanAir Travels.

Photo: OceanAir Travels

This experience from Walkabout Florence Tours allows foodies to delve into Florence's culinary scene with this pizza and gelato cooking experience - the highlight of which is enjoying the fruits of your labours.

Photo: Walkabout Florence Tours

Amsterdam's scenic canals are famous for a reason - enjoy a tour of the city on an open air boat, visiting landmarks like the Anne Frank House, the Jordaan, Rijksmuseum and more. Provided by Flagship Amsterdam.

Photo: Flagship Amsterdam

Discover Berlin with this half day walking tour from Original Berlin Walks and learn insider information on the German city's different eras and stop at monuments like the Berlin Wall, Holocaust Memorial and the rebuilt Reichstag.

Photo: Original Berlin Walks

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Top 10 experiences around the world revealed by TripAdvisor - Derry Journal

ATLANTA, Ga. To date, there are more than 18 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world. The virus has spread to every corner of the globe throughout 2020 and tragically caused nearly 700,000 deaths. So how did things get so bad? A new study finds the first cases in at least two-thirds of infected nations are linked to travel involving China, Italy, and Iran.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an examination of COVID-19 records during the first 11 weeks of the outbreak reveals a strong connection to the pandemic spreading out of these countries. From Dec. 31, 2019 to March 10, 2020, the first case of coronavirus in 75 of 99 affected nations (outside of China) involves a person traveling to an area where the virus was already spreading.

Of those cases, 27 percent of first infections involve a person traveling to Italy. Another 22 percent start with people visiting China, and 11 percent of nations were affected by contact with Iran.

Our findings suggest that travel from just a few countries with substantial SARS-CoV-2 transmission may have seeded additional outbreaks around the world, says the CDCs Dr. Fatimah Dawood in a media release.

The CDC says this is the first study looking at how international travel spread COVID-19 before the outbreak was officially declared a pandemic. Over 32,000 cases in 99 countries outside of mainland China were recorded during the first 11 weeks of 2020.

Travel to Italy in particular had a devastating impact on several continents and the countries within. Three of the six first cases in Africa have ties to Italy. Over a third 16 of 45 nations in Europe and nearly 40 percent of countries in the Americas link initial infections to Italy.

Exposures linked to mainland China account for nearly all of the first cases in the Western Pacific 10 out of 12 countries. The Chinese city of Wuhan is suspected of being the origin point for SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19.

The scientists also link 44 percent of first cases in the Eastern Mediterranean to travel to and from Iran.

The CDC team says they have in-depth data on 1,200 of the initial coronavirus cases from 68 different countries. From that information, they are creating a picture of how and where the virus was spread in January, February, and March.

Among these early cases, the average age of a COVID-19 patient is 51. Just three percent are younger than 18 years-old and only two percent of the patients are healthcare workers.

During this pre-pandemic period, the CDC study shows the virus was most commonly passed on to others inside a household. These transmissions get an average of 2.6 people sick.The report also reveals faith-based groups and dinner parties played the biggest role in widespread transmission of COVID-19. An average of over 14 people were diagnosed with coronavirus after attending one of these gatherings.

Four large clusters in our analysis, and large outbreaks reported elsewhere, have been linked with transmission in faith-based settings, highlighting the need to partner with faith-based organizations when designing and implementing community mitigation efforts, says co-author Dr. Philip Ricks.

Dr. Ricks also points to several infection clusters in medical facilities, underscoring the need for better infection prevention practices inside hospitals.

The CDC says their report doesnt paint the entire picture of the pandemic because of limited data from low-income countries. Only six out of 46 countries in and around Africa had reported COVID-19 cases by the time the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Accurate data from these settings will be needed to assess the full global effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dawood explains.

The study appears in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

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CDC Blames Travel From 3 Countries For COVID-19 Spreading Around The World - Study Finds

Under more normal circumstances, summer is the time of year when many of us get bitten by the travel bug. In an alternate reality, I spent the first week of May on a road trip to Utah to attend my sisters college graduation; on the way there, a friend and I would have scheduled a stopover to explore Arches National Park.

In that same, unformed reality, Id be juggling the librarys jam-packed Summer Reading event calendar in order to find a few days that I could get away for a long weekend in Chicago; once there, Id happily wait 30 minutes for a table at an always-

bustling breakfast spot in Andersonville. After that, Id find my happy place at the Printers Row Lit Fest and then, perhaps, spend the evening sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in a room full of strangers at an improv comedy show.

Alas, none of those travel plans were meant to be this year and, like many of you, the hiatus is just another example of the gray area in which we currently exist.

But, look, my intent isnt to win the Debbie Downer crown. Ive decided that its perfectly OK to pine for what might have been while also and this part is important finding ways to adapt to the world as it is now.

So, please settle in for my latest round of suggestions about travel destinations virtual tours, and international experiences you can enjoy without leaving home.

Did you know that the British Virgin Islands are made up of four main islands and more than FIFTY smaller islands and cays? Yeah, neither did I. While beach-y locales arent really my vacation go-to, even I can appreciate the palm trees and gem-bright ocean views all of which are viewable, in real-time, via a collection of webcams scattered around the Islands (go to http://www.bvimariner.com/webcams). But if you prefer a bit more action, you can also take a catamaran and sightseeing trip courtesy of The Adventure Travelers. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCokzveH8HM)

One of my best friends is obsessed with Greenland and, thanks to this gorgeous, birds-eye view video of Greenlands otherworldly landscape and scenery, I totally understand her fascination now. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7hbWvHKns0)

Yellowstone National Park

If youve been reading this column long enough, you might recall that Im not exactly outdoorsy. I admit it: I have a terrible sense of direction and a healthy fear of things that go bump in the night (or in the bushes, during daylight), so, a well-marked nature walk is my idea of roughing it. The good news is that these video walks and virtual tours of Yellowstone National Park are right up my alley: all the stunning, scenic beauty of visiting sites like Dragons Mouth Spring or the Mud Volcano; plus, the availability of a plethora of photographs, sounds and videos mean I can still explore the park without the need for sunblock or bug spray. (www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/ virtualtours.htm)

If youre anything like me, vacationing isnt just about sightseeing; I also love to learn about a destinations history, art and culture firsthand; and theres perhaps no better place to find all three than in Austria. This walking tour takes you on a lovely, meandering journey with stops at the Love Lock Bridge, Mozarts birthplace, Mirabell Palace and Salzburg Cathedral. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhVMMfe6tuo)

I dont know about you, but when I think of Tokyo, in addition to the amazing food, stunning architecture and history, I definitely think of a techie dreamland.

Given, Im only passingly conversational when it comes to the language of gadgets and technology, but the teamLab Borderless exhibit at the MORI Building Digital Art Museum just might win me over. The exhibit is described as a group of artworks (that) move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries.

Suffice it to say, I cant even begin to describe the jaw-dropping, music- infused, multicolored, immersive nature of this digital artwork luckily, you can see it for yourself via this series of videos from the museum. (https://border less.teamlab.art/#highlight)

Krystal Corbray is programming and marketing librarian for Yakima Valley Libraries. She and other library staffers write this weekly column for SCENE. Learn more at http://www.yvl.org.

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At the Library: Can't travel? There are other ways to see the world - Yakima Herald-Republic

Students living on campus in the fall are emphatically discouraged from traveling for any reason and to any location outside the immediate Princeton area, read an email to students on Thursday from Associate Provost for International Affairs and Operations Aly Kassam-Remtulla.

Any University-affiliated group travel, including travel organized by student groups, is prohibited, the email explained.

Forbidden group travel will include travel for student activities, research, conferences, faculty-led group, and any other University-related purpose.

The travel guidelines will be in place for the entirety of the fall semester, and will be reassessed and updated at the beginning of each academic semester, according to the email.

Although University-affiliated group travel is prohibited, further guidelines enumerate the procedure for gaining permission for University-sponsored travel. Specifically, all University affiliates must register University-sponsored trips to any destination with the Global Safety & Security (GS&G) unit prior to departure.

Any destination was qualified in the guidelines as outside of Mercer County, New Jersey. The guideline marks a shift from a past requirement for undergraduate students to register their travel outside the New York-to-Philadelphia corridor.

The requirement for registering with GS&G will apply to all faculty members, staff, undergraduate students, and graduate students.

Additionally, when conducting University-sponsored travel, affiliates must comply with University and local, state, and federal public health guidelines, including mask wearing and physical distancing.

With regard to personal travel, undergraduate students who were invited back to live on campus are required to enroll the details of their personal travel outside Mercer County.

The requirement to register personal travel with the University will apply to students invited back who choose to live off campus and visit campus regularly.

Graduate students studying on campus, regardless of whether they live on University property, will also be required to register personal travel.

Faculty and staff members who live and work on campus will not be required, but are encouraged to register any non-routine, overnight personal travel outside of New Jersey.

Those graduate students, faculty members, and staff who commute to campus outside the county do not need to enroll their commutes as travel including in cases when the University subsidizes their commuting costs.

Kassam-Remtulla explained in the email that these determinations on travel policy were made due to the imperative of balancing our communitys need to remain connected to the broader world of research and learning opportunities, with the great risks and uncertainties of any journey during a pandemic.

The risk of bringing infections back to our campus or into the communities we visit took greater priority, and weighed heavily in the Universitys deliberations.

Varying governments responses to the pandemic also created sometimes insurmountable obstacles to the Universitys ability to support travelers in an emergency, read the email.

Kassam-Remtulla also noted that the guidelines were created in collaboration with the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, Office of the Dean of the College, Office of the Dean of the Graduate School, Office of the Dean of the Faculty, Human Resources, the Office of International Programs, the Davis International Center, University Health Services, Environmental Health and Safety, and Finance & Treasury.

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University-affiliated group travel prohibited, personal travel 'emphatically discouraged' in the fall, says U. - - The Daily Princetonian

Baking a pav and turning up to a backyard barbecue with the dessert in hand is about as Australian as it gets. On Christmas Day, soon after the last prawn has been peeled, the white meringue cake topped with cream and fruit takes pride of place on tables across the country. Its a dish synonymous with summer celebrations; a refreshing sweet treat on an often hot and sticky day. With many of us being brought up to believe it to be a local invention, its no wonder Australians feel such a strong affinity with pavlova.

The only problem is, New Zealanders feel the same way.

When I was growing up in the 1970s, I remember my mum would make a pavlova and take it to friends houses and parties, said Australian chef Peter Gilmore, who is known for his meringue-based Snow Egg dessert, which found fame in the 2010 series of MasterChef Australia. I think of the Australian variety having tropical fruit, like passionfruit and mangoes. So, when I put my Sydney Opera House-shaped version on the menu at [Sydney Opera House restaurant] Bennelong, passionfruit was the obvious choice for me to feature.

Like many in the industry, Gilmore had long believed the pavlova to be an Australian creation, only recently discovering New Zealand also makes the same claim. The dessert was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who was a megastar when she toured both countries in the 1920s.

On the Australia side, chef Herbert Bert Sachse is said to have created the pavlova at Perth's Esplanade Hotel in 1935, and it was named by the house manager, Harry Nairn, who remarked it was as light as pavlova. In an interview with Womans Day in 1973, Sachse said the proprietress, Elsie Ploughman, and Nairn recruited him to make something different and unique as a cake or sweet. I had always regretted that the meringue cake was invariably too hard and crusty, so I set out to create something that would have a crunchy top and would cut like a marshmallow, he said. After a month of experimentation and many failures I hit upon the recipe, which survives today.

New Zealanders often cite the story of an unnamed chef at a Wellington hotel, who is said to have invented the pavlova during the ballerinas only tour of the country in 1926. But emeritus professor Helen Leach, a New Zealander who specialises in food anthropology at the University of Otago and authored The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand's Culinary History, was unable to verify this version of events.

Its no surprise that both Australia and New Zealand would want to claim it as something they have given the world

However, Dr Leach found references to three types of dessert called pavlova in her homeland prior to Sachses offering. The first was the brand Davis Gelatines multicoloured, layered jelly in 1926. Next came small coffee and walnut-flavoured meringues, similar to kisses, which appeared in the city of Dunedin in 1928 and became popular throughout the country. Then in 1929, a recipe for a large meringue cake named after the ballerina appeared in the regional publication Dairy Farmers Annual. This third type of pavlova was the one that several decades later became the subject of the pavlova wars, which insist that the pavlova was created or invented and then stolen/falsely claimed by chefs/cooks across the Tasman, Dr Leach said.

US-based food scholar Darra Goldstein became fascinated with pavlova after her daughter moved to Australia in 2014, and later New Zealand, and she began collecting cookbooks from both countries. She included a chapter about it, written by Dr Leach, in the book she edited, The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets.

The author said that the precise origins of pavlova cant be determined, and that, in fact, its misguided to believe that recipes are invented rather, recipes evolve over time, often in more than one location, Goldstein said. When theres a dish as popular as pavlova, its no surprise that both Australia and New Zealand would want to claim it as something they have given the world. Friendly rivalries are always fun, and for some its a matter of national pride.

Thats certainly the case for New Zealander Dr Andrew Paul Wood and Australian Annabelle Utrecht, who met debating pavlovas origins on a mutual friends Facebook post. Both went away determined to prove the other wrong. But after they started digging deeper, they were surprised to find that the history of the pavlova goes back a lot further.

You may also be interested in: Is this the world's best falafel Did the Dutch steal this 'superfood'? The truth about the humble French fry

The pair have spent the past seven years piecing together what Utrecht describes as a culinary jigsaw puzzle, trawling through cookbooks, newspapers, still life paintings and archives from around the world. Originally, they planned to make a short documentary, but when they realised the pavlova story was much bigger than just a trans-Tasman battle, they decided to write a book, which has the working title Beat Until Stiff: The Secret History of the Pavlova and a Social History of Meringue Desserts.

To start with, we undertook a forensic examination of both the Kiwi and Australian legends, and new facts [were] quickly revealed that flip the narrative completely, Utrecht said. By the 18th Century, large meringue constructions incorporating cream and fruit elements could be found in aristocratic kitchens across German-speaking lands, so the thing we call a pavlova today is actually more than two centuries old.

Soon, she said, women in middle-class European kitchens began creating meringue cakes topped with whipped cream, nuts and fruit or fruit preserves. Utrecht said Europe was in turmoil with the Napoleonic wars in the 1800s and when people moved and settled in other lands, the pavlova-like desserts went with them. By 1860 you can find it in Great Britain, Russia and North America, she said. I have made a couple of cakes from 1850 that I have served to guests and asked what it was, and they say pavlova. But I tell them its not, its a schaum torte, which means foam cake in German. Utrecht said recipes for shaum torte arrived in South Australia in the lead-up to World War Two, when there was a large influx of German immigrants.

As power shifted between empires and kingdoms, the meringue went with it

But Utrecht said Sachse produced a sophisticated and highly stable pavlova. I have baked his pavlova a couple of times and guests love his cake because its the closest thing to the pavlova in their minds, she said. When I baked the 1929 New Zealand pavlova I was really surprised; its actually a meringue sandwich, not the pavlova we have today. But the next pavlovas that came out of New Zealand by around 1932 to 1933 were single-level cakes topped with fruit and cream.

As for the name, the pair also discovered hundreds of recipes for sweet and savoury dishes named after Anna Pavlova in the northern hemisphere. They include Strawberries Pavlova, an Edwardian-period glac served with a garnish of raspberries, which appeared in the New Zealand Herald in 1911 but Utrecht believes it was reprinted from England. If you go back even earlier in 1911, there was a pavlova dessert in the United States that included a meringue component that could only be obtained under Pavlovas name for a limited time, she said.

Dr Wood said he was particularly surprised to come across a frogs legs pavlova in New York. Annabelle is really the maestro in the kitchen and she tested just about every recipe that we have dug up, but we have not trialled that one, he said.

Dr Wood was even more astonished to find a recipe in medieval Arabic books, including the 13th-Century Syrian cookbook Kitab al-Wusla il al-Habib fi Wasf al-Tayyibat wa al-Tib (Book of the Bond of Friendship in the Description of Good Dishes and Perfumes) that, while not a meringue, if you squinted at it in the right way is similar to an Italian meringue, which is made by pouring a sugar syrup over the top of egg whites rather than the baked kind that were familiar with.

We think this sort of cooking with meringues and sugar syrup probably passed into Europe via Portuguese-controlled territories in Africa (formerly Arab-held), or through the Moorish occupation of Spain, Sicily and France, he said. The earliest European references turn up in places like Italy and Spain, where there was a large Muslim population in the medieval ages. Sugar was incredibly expensive, so these treats were confections destined for the wealthiest of tables, like that of the Imperial Habsburgs, who also happened to be rich in New World sugar. Baked meringues (petite arrangements) can be found in the Spanish Habsburg's Imperial Madrid kitchen by the late 16th and early 17th Century. By the 18th Century, larger and more sophisticated meringue productions begin to reveal themselves in cookbooks, and by the end of the 1700s, very large and sophisticated meringue cakes can be found in the homes of Habsburg nobles, like that of an Austrian meringue cake, three meringue layers high, filled with fruit preserves. Going into the 1800s, meringue cakes became incredibly popular among the wealthy middle classes too.

But he believes the Australasian-style pavlova, perfected by Sachse, was honed by housewives in Americas Midwest by the late 19th Century. Thats where they started adding things like cornflour, he said. Our pavlova usually has a starch ingredient that makes it stiffer and stronger. But the fruit is the big thing; thats probably the biggest difference between Australian and New Zealand pavlova. The New Zealand pavlova is very much a kiwi fruit thing, whereas in Australia you have passionfruit and occasional atrocities Ive seen, like pineapple. In Britain, its very much about strawberries, while in older versions chopped walnut was a big thing.

The thing we call a pavlova today is actually more than two centuries old

Ultimately, Dr Wood said the pair see the great, great granddaddy of the large meringue cake, as we would understand the pavlova, as being the Spanische Windtorte (souffle cake), which was an Austrian dessert consisting of a meringue shell or layers, filled with whipped cream and fruit. It was the first of its kind, and known to be baked in Habsburg kitchens during the late 1700s, he said.

Identical in nature, baiser torte and schaum torte recipes only began to surface during the 1800s when geopolitical factors motivated nomenclature changes in non-Habsburg kingdoms. A large section of our book is dedicated to examining European geopolitics and why the Windtorte was renamed so often.

Dr Wood said its been fascinating following the social history of pavlova, and the family tree of meringues, looking at how meringue cakes possibly started on the African continent and evolved in the Habsburg and Roman Empires in Central Europe. As power shifted between empires and kingdoms, the meringue went with it, he said.

But he admits eating, breathing and sleeping pavlova for the past few years has taken its toll. We had no idea it was going to be this involved when we started it, he said. Im not interested in making them or eating them anymore. For years my family has asked me to make a big pavlova for Christmas, but now its the last thing I want to do.

Food Wars is a series from BBC Travel that invites you to feel the heat when passions flare around beloved dishes that shape a cultures identity.

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The first lighthouse on record was built between 300 and 280 BC by the Egyptians. Called Pharos of Alexandria,it was used to guide boats to the island of Pharos and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Since then, these beacons of light have helped ships navigate rough waters, rocky coasts and treacherous sailing.

Here are 15 unique and beautiful lighthouses around the world.

Photo courtesy of E+ / chrisp0

The Cape Reinga Lighthouse is located at the tip of New Zealand where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. From this vantage point, you can watch as the two sea currents swirl together. When it was built in 1941, it was one of the least accessible lighthouses in the country.

Photo courtesy of iStock / AdamParent

Cape Neddick Light, also known as "Nubble Light," was built in 1879 and is still in use today. Though not accessible to the general public, it can be viewed from the mainland by telescope.

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When the Fingal Head Light was first built in 1872, the lighthouse keeper had to row from the pilot station on Tweed Heads to Fingal every evening to manually light the flame. Today, the light is powered by electricity.

Photo courtesy of iStock / Gerald Zaffuts

The lighthouse on Alcatraz Island was there long before the infamous prison, and, having been built in 1854, it was actually the first lighthouse constructed on the West Coast of the United States. After being damaged in an earthquake, the original was replaced with a new tower in 1909.

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The region of Galicia in Spain draws tourists from around the world to see its beautiful lighthouses strewn along rocky coasts. Illa Pancha Lighthouse, pictured here, was built in 1880.

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George Washington himself commissioned Portland Head Light to be built in 1787, and it was first lit in 1791. It's the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Photo courtesy of iStock / Ignacio Leonardi

Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse in Beagle Channel is located on a solitary rock that's five nautical miles east of Ushuaia, the provincial capital. Their motto is "end of the world, beginning of everything." And that's exactly what it seems like at this lighthouse located at the southern end of Argentina: the very end of the Earth.

Les Eclaireurs was put into service in 1920.

Photo courtesy of iStock / TonyCataldo

Overlooking a great expanse of the Pacific Ocean, this lighthouse was first built in 1899. After cracks threatened to destroy the integrity of the structure, the tower was rebuilt in 1917. This particularly scenic lighthouse was featured on a U.S. postage stamp in 2007.

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The beacon with many names, it's been called Hog Island Lighthouse, Paradise Island Lighthouse and Nassau Harbor Lighthouse. It's the oldest lighthouse in the Bahamas, having been built in 1817. The walk to the lighthouse from nearby Atlantis resort can be challenging, and the lighthouse has been neglected, so visitors approach at their own risk.

Photo courtesy of iStock / Ron and Patty Thomas

The name "Marshall Point Light Station" might not be familiar to most, but millions of people saw the lighthouse when it was used as the ending point of Forrest's epic run in "Forrest Gump." The lighthouse was built in 1832.

Photo courtesy of iStock / ChrisBoswell

West Point Light was first built in Seattle in 1881, and it was lit by a kerosene lamp for 44 years before it was finally connected to an electric grid. The best views of the lighthouse are looking south with Mount Rainier towering behind it.

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Peggy's Point, also known as Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, is the crown jewel of Nova Scotia's "Lighthouse Route." It's noted as one of the most recognizable lighthouses in the world. The structure seen today was built in 1914, replacing the original that was constructed in 1868.

Photo courtesy of iStock / gaspr13

The tiny island of Porer is located just off the coast of Croatia, near the town of Premantura. You can actually spend the night in this lighthouse and do some diving in the surrounding Adriatic Sea.

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Nugget Point is named for the boulders that can be seen in the water right below the point, called "nuggets" by Captain Cook. The lighthouse was built and first lit in 1870. The walk to the point is about 20 minutes and is absolutely stunning.

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Point Reyes Lighthouse was built in 1870 and has a twin at Cape Mendocino. This 16-sided lighthouse is almost always enveloped in heavy, freezing fog and wind, but visitors who catch it on a clear day are in for an incredible view.

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Unique and beautiful lighthouses around the world - USA Today 10Best

With travel having been on pause for the past few months, tastemakers and expert leaders have had some time to reflect and think about the future of the travel industry. But, with many companies simply fighting to survive, will the progress made in sustainable travel before the pandemic hit be lost? Here, for Forbes, I talk to two experts to find out how they define the future of travel.

Greg Miller gets to grips with nature in West Virginia.

Greg Miller, the executive director of CREST (Center for Responsible Travel), says he is hoping that the travel industry sees this as a chance to reboot tourism to a more sustainable and responsible model, combatting issues like over-tourism.

Do you think that the pandemic will have a positive effect on the planet?

The pandemic will have little impact on the planet directly, with the exception of the temporary lapse in human-induced pollution, land and marine habitat alteration, and reduced global greenhouse gas emissions. The massive, negative impacts of the pandemic are directed at, and felt by, human populations. If there is a positive affect from the pandemic, it is on our collective human perception of our impacts and what we can and must do as a society to respond, adapt, and be resilient. Those lessons, while very uneven, should help humanity address the bigger crisis of climate change.

Green travel: Vinales, Cuba

Will we eventually return to how we were travelling before frequently and carelessly or is this a dawn of a new age?

Clearly, there will be a slow emergence of travel, with a focus on safe, closer-to-home alternatives. The Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) wants to see significant, enduring change toward quality over quantity tourism, with an individual and societal commitment to responsible travel practices. The economic impacts of Covid-19 have made consumers more aware of how their spending choices impact local communities, and we hope to see that awareness reflected in their travel practices.

CREST is part of a coalition of six global nonprofit organizations that have come together to form the Future of Tourism Coalition with a mission to place destination communities at the center of tourisms recovery. Were calling on destinations, companies, and other tourism stakeholders to sign on to our13 Guiding Principles, which set a bold new vision for tourisms future.

How do countries, which rely heavily on tourism, combat over-tourism, especially when they will be trying to claw back business ?

CREST seeks a paradigm shift in post-pandemic tourism recovery, with a deliberate and strategic commitment from countries to a quality over quantity approach to tourism development. It is the quality of visitation, not the quantity of visitors that countries and destinations need to seek and measure. Tourism development needs to measure what matters for a sustainable future.

Tapping into local cultures is important for the future of sustainable travel.

How do you feel about the future of travel?

I firmly believe that tourism done right, through a responsible travel lens and with a commitment to an equitable and sustainable future, can be a force for good to rebuild a better world. Responsible travel is an essential element to biodiversity conservation, the stewardship of natural and cultural sites and peoples, and the foundation for experience-based economies in much of the world. The future of a robust, healthy human society is inextricably linked to a future of travel built around ourGuiding Principles.

Jessica Hall Upchurch is the vice-chair and sustainability strategist at Virtuoso, the global luxury travel network made up on over 20,000 advisors in more than 50 countries. She predicts that the pandemic will lead to a tipping point where there will be a heightened level of awareness to make sustainability not just good practice, but good business as well.

How will the pandemic affect the future of travel?

Right now, its hard to fully know what to expect in the future, though its safe to say life wont look the same and neither will the travel experience. There are many unknowns and consumer confidence is unsteady because rules and restrictions dont only vary by country, they can vary by county and state. The one thing that does feel certain is that people will travel again; the pent-up demand is there. Our travel advisors tell us the mood started to change about three weeks ago, when the panicked calls of cancellations and postponements shifted to clients calling with enquiries about when and where to travel next. And savvy travelers learned that when youre in the midst of a global crisis, you want a travel advisor on your side.

The andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge is rooted in conservation.

Virtuoso recently polled clients to gage their appetite for travel in the future. Roughly one-third said they would be interested in traveling within the next three months, either on a multi-day road trip or a domestic destination a short flight away. International travel will have a longer recovery period, with another 30 per cent of respondents saying it would be six to 12 months before they look to travel overseas.

There are steps beyond having a Covid-19 vaccine that will make people more willing to travel sooner than later, and that includes relaxed cancellation policies. The industry is coming together to try and restore confidence, and organizations, like the World Travel and Tourism Council, are working towards creating a seamless traveler experience.

Will people be moreaware of theenvironment and good practice or will they just want to have a holidayagain at any cost?

There has never been an event, at least in my lifetime, that has so universally affected every inhabitant of this planet. This crisis has touched the lives of everyone in some way, and many have felt it more acutely than others. With every tragedy, though, comes the opportunity to learn from it and we will see that in the travel community as well as many others.

The notion of were all in this together not only pertains to the virus, it also shows how we are all interconnected regardless of geography, culture, language, age and economic standing. We now have a better understanding of how one action, big or small, can impact someone half a world away, and it will change what we want from travel and how we experience it going forward.Therewill be an even greater focus on mindful travel, creating what were calling the conscious comeback.

Embracing nature and dark skies at andBeyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge.

How can businesses embrace sustainability as good business practice, not just a goodmoral one?

Companies that engage in sustainable tourism have been waiting for consumers to catch up, and this pandemic has led to a tipping point where the travelers heightened level of awareness makes sustainability not just good practice, but good business as well.

andBeyond, an organization rooted in conservation, has determined that a profitable company with a solid income and business plan creates a steadier stream of support for charitable causes and initiatives. Since CEO Joss Kent introduced this model, andBeyond now brings in more than $1 billion per year.

The three pillars of sustainability we promote within Virtuoso arecelebrating cultures,supporting local economies and protecting the planet. Wildlife conservation has long been associated with sustainability and honoring cultural heritage has as well. The economic impact has not been as closely associated with sustainability, yettravel and tourism is a significant driver in global GDP and its impact on local economies is equally, if not even more, significant. As local businesses were forced to close, we deepened our appreciation for the reliance we have upon them and gained a heightened sense of desire to support our local businesses and local economies throughout the world. A key part of the conscious comeback is feeding tourism dollars back into cities, towns and villages, all of which rely on that revenue to support their citizens.

andBeyond Bateleur Camp is found in Kenya's Masai Mara.

Travel companies not already supporting sustainability should take note. They have an opportunity to rethink how they want to do business in the long-term. While theres no doubt that just getting back to work is front of mind for everyone, looking ahead at how we protect the planet, its people and their cultures and economies, is a way to ensure tourism remains a viable industry for future generations.

While the safety protocols airlines, hotels, cruise lines and local attractions have in place will play a significant role in restoring consumer confidence, the focus needs to be on how this can be done without harsh chemicals. Travel entities are learning from each other and finding ways to sustainably sanitize, a practice that protects the health of staff, guests and the environment. One of the strengths of the Virtuoso network is the ability to share best practices amongst peers and apply them to improve products and services for the end traveler, and thats what were seeing happen.

At andBeyond Bateleur Camp guests can gain insight into local cultures as well as interacting ... [+] closely with wildlife.

Do you think this time of stillness we have experienced will have a positive effect on the future of travel?

Its been beautiful to see is how this pause has allowed some spots under strain to heal. Pollution has declined, urban waterways are cleaner, wildlife is reclaiming land that it was driven from decades ago. While its unrealistic to think it will stay this way, the realization of how were impacting the planet may now better inform our decisions as both citizens and travelers.

The appreciation for nature has never been greater, and travelers want to explore the beauty of national and state parks. Similarly, there is a strong desire to restore mental and spiritual wellbeing, and places that allow people to recharge and escape the realities theyve been facing will also be on the rise.

The return of tourism is crucial to ending poaching, reducing poverty and protecting some of the worlds most beloved sights. The stillness has had positive effects, but pausing for too long could potentially cause long-term damage.

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From The Experts: Will The Pandemic Make Us Care More About Our Planet? - Forbes

BANGKOK, 6 August 2020:Travel may have come to a standstill in Mekong Region countries, but itwont stop tourism stakeholders engaging in make-believe during a half-dayvirtual summit hosted by the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office 25 August.

The Virtual Destination Mekong Summit willbe organised by public-private partnership Destination Mekong, with thesponsorship of UNWTO affiliate member Chameleon Strategies, under the theme ofBalanced Tourism Recovery for a Better Future.

Registration is free. For the programme, and registration visithttps://www.destinationmekong.com/dms2020/

Pursuing the lofty notion that the travelindustry can manage a post-Covid-19 balanced recovery and create a betterfuture is a big ask. In reality, tourism stakeholders are fighting forsurvival. Any kind of recovery would be welcomed, and as for a better future,most tour operators are more concerned that as long as governments keep bordersshut to safeguard the health of the populace, they have no future.

It remains to be seen if the virtual summitcan reach conclusions and present recommendations that might steer thegovernments of the six Mekong Region countries to establish a consensus on healthpolicy and travel directives that will also throw a lifeline to the tourism andhospitality industries that are drowning fast in the global Covid-19 storm.

It will need to address the fact that theregions tour operators have not served any genuine tourists since mid-March.Their rice bowl has shattered, and experts predict that within the next threeto four months at least 50% of the Mekong Regions travel firms will closeshop. Big names will go.

As long as the 14-day quarantine ruleapplies in the Mekong Region tourism is dead in the water.

The introduction of expensive insurancecover and even cash deposits (Cambodia) is another deterrent at the bordergate.

Finally, travel bubbles are a mythicalstory for the travel media to spin and provide false hope to small enterprisesstripped of their cash flow.

Governments in the Mekong Region need to domore to financially support tour companies to reinvent themselves and possiblyfind ways to tap domestic markets no matter how small while they navigate apath to survival.

There is a need for more clarity, and travel rules should be streamlined and made less cumbersome. The entry procedures need to be better managed and identical in all Southeast Asian nations to build travel confidence. When Mekong Region countries erect obstacle courses to prevent their own citizens from returning home, then we can only assume it is even more difficult for foreigners to contemplate travel to the Mekong Region. That situation could continue until late 2021.

The first case of Covid-19 outside of Chinaoccurred in Thailand, 13 January 2020. Seven months later, Covid-19 fatigue issetting in across the region. The end game is not yet in sight. We fear secondand third waves and entire health systems in all Mekong Region countries arestressed to breaking point.

Medical experts warn Covid-19 is rumblingaround our region. Balance and better are not the watchwords. For thetravel and hospitality firms at ground zero how to survive and avert disasterare top of mind.

IATA predicts airlines will not see asubstantial recovery until 2024. By then, the entire travel landscape will havechanged dramatically. Summit attendees should grapple with the real issues theones that will mend the rice bowl fast for thousands of SMEs suffering thefinancial fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Destination Mekong Summit will be emceed by well-known academic JutamasWisangsing of Perfect Link Consulting, and Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office executive director, Jens Thraenhart.

It will have two short takeaway sessions,led by Horwath HTL Global Tourism Practice Leader SiniaTopalovi, calling infrom Croatia.

The opening keynote will be given by the author of the upcoming book Travel & Covid-19, Professor Dr Simon Hudson of South Carolina University in the USA, who will look at case studies from all over the world.

Reflections from past crisis and ideas will be discussed by WeearasakKowsurat, a Thai senator and former minister of tourism and Sports of Thailand and Htay Aung, former minister of hotels and tourism.

Steven Schipani from the Southeast AsiaDepartment of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will lead a session with thevice-chairman of the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VNAT), Ha Van Sieu, and the director-general of theMinistry of Tourism of Cambodia, Rathasak Thong, about economic developmentmeasures as well as tourism recovery in the region.

Finally, the World Travel and Tourism Council CEO, Gloria Guevara, former UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, former minister of tourism and Sports of Thailand, KobkarnWattanavrangkul, and the Pacific Asia Travel Association CEO Mario Hardy will present recommendations and opinions.

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Mekong Virtual Summit must tackle realities - TTR Weekly

Ever since the world stopped to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone has been dreaming of someday leaving self-isolation and getting to travel the world again. Lucky for fans, Kesha is giving us a look at what the world looks like for her.

On Tuesday (August 4), Kesha released her official music video for "Little Bit of Love" off of her latest albumHigh Road. The new visual, shot entirely in quarantine by Kesha and her boyfriend Brad using an iPhone and a green screen, sees Kesha dreaming about a whirlwind adventure with her cat, Mr. Peep$.

The clip opens with Kesha fighting off the quarantine blues by snuggling up for a nap with her cat. Quickly, the video transforms into a fantastical dreamscape where Mr. Peep$ (now played by Brad wearing a black bodysuit and a cat mask) and Kesha travel all throughout the globe, causing mayhem wherever they arrive.

Scenes show Kesha and her feline friend towering over Manhattan in Godzilla fashion, robbing a bank, sharing a gondola ride through Venice, and even riding gigantic chickens to escape a group of cats in suits chasing them through the desert all before Kesha wakes up in her bed to find Mr. Peep$ pawing at her.

Check out the hilarious new video for "Little Bit of Love" below:

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Watch Kesha Travel the World With a Cat-Person in Her Absurdist 'Little Bit of Love' Video - Billboard

Theres nothing quite like skimming across the open ocean or braving the rapids in a kayak. Whether you opt for a peaceful excursion or a more thrilling endeavor, there are plenty of spots to choose from. From Alaska to Antarctica, these unreal locations will have you going home with bragging rights, no doubt.

Editor's note:Please check the latest travel restrictions before planning any trip and always follow government advice.

Kayaking off the coast ofLa Jollacan be amazing year-round, however, if you go from July through September, its extra special. Thats when leopard sharks show up in droves. Because of the nutrient-packed, shallow water and dense kelp forests, it makes a really great place for pregnant leopard sharks to cruise along. But, dont worry, they are typically no longer than 4 feet long and are harmless. Not only do you get to see them, but you will also experience four microhabitats throughout theLa Jolla Underwater Park.

Keep your eyes peeled for shovel nose guitar fish, dolphins, sea lions, lobsters and turtles. You can take an hour-long leopard-shark tour withEveryday Californiaor opt for a sea-cave tour. Hike Mt Soledad after for views of San Diego County.

Off the shores ofMakena Beach, on Mauis southern coastline, is a beautiful kayaking spot. Here, a series of underwater lava formations, created by submarine volcanoes, makes an ideal home for green sea turtles.Maui Kayak Adventurestakes guests out tothis area for a morning kayaking session and snorkel. Thanks to the clear, turquoise water, its easy to spot marine life like angelfish, moray eels, octopus, butterfly fish and moray eels. Keep an eye out for gorgeous red pencil sea urchins (they make for great photos), and stick around afterward for a beach cleanup. Keep your distance from turtles; these guys are endangered.

This is a bucket-list kayak adventure like no other. First things first: wiggle your way into a heavy-duty dry suit, thick gloves and booties to keep the body heat in. This will protect you from the 32F (0C)water. You are in the worlds coldest, driest, windiest locale, after all. Start paddling and soaking in your surreal surroundings. Penguins are easy to come by.

They hang out on the shoreline and hop from rock to rock, toboggan down the mountains, dive into the ocean and dart beneath your kayak. If youre lucky, youll also spot Weddell seals lounging on the snow banks. You may also see crabeater seals, orcas and humpback whales. Overhead, its easy to spot fast-flying petrels, Antarctic ternsand albatrosses with wingspans up to11 feet. The only noise is the sound of ice chunks, called bergey bits, clinking against each other, perhaps some avalanches and the click of your camera. So, how exactly do you get there?

Theres nothing quite likesitting silently in your kayak as bears frolic on the shore, just 50 feetaway. Here its not uncommon to come across sea otters, seals, sea stars, bald eagles, and pods of humpbacks. During whale season (AprNov), youll see several in every direction breaching and flippering. The Southeast panhandles famousInside Passageis home to moose, grizzlies and puffins, too.

VisitRock Springs Run State Reserve, about a 45-minute drive fromOrlando, to paddle your way upstream through super clear, 70F(21C) water. On a warm day, it istheplace to be. The only sounds around will be the rhythmic drumming of woodpeckers and the steady hum of cicadas. Make your way down the narrow canal toward a spot called Bonsai Bend where branches of hundred-year-old oak trees nearly dip into the water.Get Up and Go Kayakingtakes guests through this picturesque area in clear kayaks, which serve as a gigantic magnifying glass.

Certainly makes it easy to spot otters and fish and they glide by. And in the surrounding forest, you can sometimes see deer, herons and egrets. Its pretty rare, but every now and then a black bear may wander by. Check out Jacobs Island where you can climb a tree platform and plunge into the water below. As you paddle downstream back to the entryway, consider climbing the tree and taking your turn on the rope swing. Pro tip: hit the springs on a weekday morning. Its much less crowded then.

Get to know the localmarine life as you explore designated areas ofGalpagos National Park. Keep a lookout for rays and sea turtles swimming along, marine iguanas lounging on the rocks and blue-footed boobies flying overhead. Just be sure to bring your snorkel mask and fins; theres a lot to explore. Youre bound to see penguins darting to and fro, and its quite possible youll come face-to-furry face with the supercharged sea lions as they burst into a gentle swirl of back flips, leaving a trail of bubbles in their wake.

Gore Creek, which runs through Vail Village, is known for its fun rapids. Check in withAlpine Quest Sportsto rent a kayak and be prepared for some serious fun.

Even in the summertime, the water is chilly, so you may want to rent a dry suit. And if you arent up for kayaking, theres always stand-up paddle boarding, rafting or SUPsquatching (a giant paddleboard that typically carries eight to 10 people).

Kayaking among ruins on the Turquoise Coast

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7 epic places to kayak around the world - Lonely Planet Travel News

When the Covid-19 pandemic changed the world earlier this year many African countries were quick to react. Borders were closed and protocols from past or existing epidemics (TB, HIV, Ebola) were rolled out. Of the many industries hit by lockdowns, tourisman industry that indirectly employs 24.6 million people across the continent (6.8% of total employment)was hit particularly hard.

In July, Safaribookings.com surveyed 306 safari operators and found that over 90% had seen a 75% or more decrease in both booking requests and actual bookings due to the coronavirus outbreak. The World Travel and Tourism Councils (WTTC) best case scenario is $53 billion hit to GDP across the continent; its worst case scenario is a $120 billion loss in GDP contribution.

Tourism is one of the largest industries worldwide and provides 7% of Africas GDP, says Dr. Annika Surmeier, an economic geographer working at the University of Manchester and the University of Cape Town. National lockdowns and travel bans to reduce the spread of Covid-19 had devastating effects on the tourism industry and hundreds of thousands of people, often women or people from poor communities, have lost their jobs.

The Radisson Hotel Group has close to 100 hotels in Africa. Tim Cordon, senior VP for the Middle East and Africa, says they have tried to save jobs where possible: We really have focused on perhaps reducing hours, temporary layoffs or cutting costs in other parts of our business rather than taking very difficult decisions with our teams.

Cordon estimates it will take a period of 24 months in terms of recovery before were likely to reach our performance levels of last year.

The pandemic hit as Africas tourism industry became the second fastest growing in the world. International visitors were showing more interest in tourism beyond safarisGhana welcomed around a million visitors in 2019, up from 803,000 in 2009, as its Year of the Return campaign generated a lot of positive coverage. Airbnb were rapidly expanding in Africa and in 2018 held the first Airbnb Africa Travel Summit in the Cape Town township of Langa. Ethiopian Airlines had been offering new routes to develop pan-African travel and helped make Addis Ababa, a key tourist gateway for all of Africa.

Some of that optimism hasnt gone away: earlier in July, Radisson announced six new hotels in South Africa, Mali, Nigeria, Ghana and Ethiopia. But the industry is mostly in a waiting pattern as its beholden not just to pandemic restrictions being made by each African country, but also in the countries where visitors usually come from such as the United States, the UK and more recently China.

South Africa, which has the second largest tourism industry in Africa, relies on the tourism industry to indirectly contribute up to 9.1% of South Africas total employment1.5 million peopleand 7% of its GDP.

But the strict Level 5 lockdown in Africas most advanced economy, introduced in late March, has not prevented it from having by far the most confirmed Covid-19 cases of any African country. And the challenges the country is facing with Covid-19 could mean the tourism industry will have to wait till 2021 before its borders are fully reopened. Provincial borders are currently open for business travel, but not leisure tourism.

Tourists are seen at a Safari watching a herd of buffaloes at a game reserve adjacent to Kruger National Park in South Africa, April 11, 2019

Minister of Tourism Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubanes July budget speech made for daunting listening: a potential 75% decline in revenue for 2020; 438,000 tourism jobs at risk; $2.8 billion lost in three months.

South African accommodation providers have been on a rollercoaster over the past two months.

In June, president Ramaphosa said properties could reopen for intra-provincial leisure tourismbut, the day after issuing communications to the same effect three weeks later, the government announced there had been a mistake and in fact, overnight stays for leisure purposes were still prohibited.

Story continues

One lodge owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported that having been closed for four months with no government support, shed welcomed guests who still wanted to stay. Many other propertiesfaced with a choice between breaking the rules and closing up shop did the same.

At the end of July, the government responded to pressure and announced that accommodation for intra-provincial leisure tourism could officially reopen.

Kenya has the continents sixth largest tourism industry, accounting for 8.2% of the countrys economy and 8.5% total employment in 2019. The sector has lost $750 million so far this year; revenue is expected to drop by at least 60% by the end of 2020.

Like South Africa, it also relies on international tourismbut has a more developed domestic tourism market, which has acted as a buffer when past events affected overseas arrivals (the Westgate terrorist attack, for example). Domestic spending in Kenya accounted for 66% of tourism revenue last year, which is a hopeful figure in the current climate.

With far fewer identified Covid cases than South Africa, Kenya is preparing to reopen its borders to certain countries in August. It relaunched domestic tourism earlier in July, with Covid protocols including social distancing of 1.5 meters, use of protective equipment and recent Covid-free certificates for core staff.

Photographs from the gate at the Maasai Maraat this time of year usually packed with tourists from all over the world gathered to see the famous wildebeest migration river crossings show cars full of domestic tourists queuing for entry for the first time in four months.

Morocco, the continents fourth largest tourism sector, sees around 11 million international annual arrivals. Last year tourism contributed 12% of the countrys GDP.

Having locked down four months ago, Morocco reopened its borders in July, but only for citizens and foreign residents. With major cities now closed off to contain coronavirus outbreaks, domestic tourism has taken a blow. Local tourism experts suggest they could lose 10.5 million tourists over 2020.

When the pandemic hit, Egypt was just emerging from a slump in international tourism. Last year, the industry contributed $29.5 billion to GDP, making it the largest tourism market in Africa. Ironically, the pandemic took hold in Egypt back in March via European tourists.

Tourists gather at the Great Pyramids of Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt Mar. 8, just ahead of the lockdown

After a shutdown in March, domestic tourism operations resumed under certain conditions in May: hotels, for example, could only work on a 25% occupancy rate, relaxed to 50% in June.

International tourism resumed in July, but with the second highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa (though new cases are declining), 14-day quarantine-on-return requirements from major source markets such as the UK will be problematic.

Cordon points out that making guests feel safe, with robust health protocols, will be a major part of the tourism recovery phase but hes optimistic.

The travel industry has rebounded from numerous past crises, and we strongly believe we will bounce back this time too, Cordon says, but with fresh and innovative perspectives.

Surmeier also believes this indefinite pause may present an opportunity to build back better.

When actors along tourism value chains collaborate, she says, they can create more resilient, sustainable and inclusive tourism industries in Africa and beyond.

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Africas fast-growing tourism industry could lose up to $120 billion and millions of jobs - Yahoo Finance

Baros Maldives, a private retreat in the Indian Ocean, has been ranked the world's best luxury hotel in Tripadvisor's 2020 Travelers' Choice Awards and it's not hard to see why.

Guests can choose from 75 villas, each of which comes with a private deck, an in-villa bar, a pillow menu, and an outdoor rain shower. Many have their own private pools. There are multiple fine dining options to indulge in, as well as boat and sea excursions. Baros was also named the world's most romantic resort by World Travel Awards for the past seven years in a row.

After closing in April due to the coronavirus pandemic, the resort reopens on October 1st with a special nightly rate of $502 for a Deluxe Villa.

Baros has ramped up its safety and hygiene measures. The resort will be operating at limited occupancy and will keep all villas vacant for 48 hours in between guests. In addition to wearing face masks and gloves, all staff will take daily temperature checks and undergo daily contact tracing. All spa treatments will take place in a private villa. A complete rundown of the resort's safety measures can be seen here.

The Maldives has long been a high-end resort destination. Kudadoo, a solar-powered, adults-only resort in the Maldives, was named the world's best new luxury resort in 2019.

Here's a look at Baros Maldives, the best luxury hotel in the world, according to Tripadvisor.

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A private island resort in the Maldives has been named the world's best luxury hotel. Look inside the retreat, where guests sleep in villas that cost...

World travel and communications recorded on Twitter. Data from the Twitter streaming API through September 1, 2011. Photo: Eric Fischer

Chinas activities and presence in the Arctic have been the subject of rigorous and detailed analysis ranging from scientific cooperation and exploration to climate change, energy security, and infrastructure.1)Kopra, S. (2020). China and its Arctic Trajectories: The Arctic Institutes China Series 2020. Available from http://www.thearcticinstitute.org/china-arctic-trajectories-the-arctic-institute-china-series-2020/ However, less attention has been paid to the very subtle and critical link between its Arctic strategy, or Polar Silk Road Strategy (PSR), and its much grander Digital Silk Road strategy (DSR). In an important, and yet understudied sense, Chinas PSR seems to constitute a complementary, and thus important, part of its DSR.

Although Chinas spending on digital infrastructure still lags behind its investment in energy and other hard infrastructure projects along its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) its spending on digital infrastructure represents the only growing segment of its overall BRI project. In fact, the Economist reports that not only has its investment in digital infrastructure not stopped, but it has gained pace and urgency in the aftermath of the COVID 19 outbreak.2)The Economist. (2020). The Digital Side of the Belt and Road Initiative Is Growing. Available from http://www.economist.com/special-report/2020/02/06/the-digital-side-of-the-belt-and-road-initiative-is-growing Whats more, the scope of its investment in and spending on digital infrastructure has widened, moving above and beyond the initial focus on fiber-optic cables to include cloud computing, smart cities, and big data projects.

Given the commonly acknowledged multi-dimensionality of Chinas Arctic policy as well as the increasing strategic prevalence of DSR, the time is ripe to investigate Chinas intent and/or motivation in developing and implementing its PSR strategy by, as a first step, highlighting the link between the Arctic and Chinas strategic objective of establishing a healthy and impactful presence in global digital infrastructure.

One of the key reasons for the introduction of the DSR was the Chinese governments realisation that the smooth functioning of its various infrastructural projects within the framework of its BRI requires the harmonisation and standardisation of data and digital applications. As such, in implementing its DSR, China is not only building cellular wireless infrastructure but it is also constructing submarine and terrestrial optic cables as well as data centres to the point that it now has a stake in 11% of existing cables and 24% of planned cables as either owner or supplier.3)Wheeler, A. (2020). Chinas Digital Silk Road (DSR): the new frontier in the Digital Arms Race? Available from http://www.silkroadbriefing.com/news/2020/02/19/chinas-digital-silk-road-dsr-new-frontier-digital-arms-race/ It is also promoting the wider adaptation of its domestically produced technologies and cyber norms and standards, which could potentially boost its efforts at setting the legal framework for global internet governance at the United Nations (UN).

Increased access to data and the availability of advanced digital infrastructure both at home and abroad is also of paramount importance if Beijing is to be able to reap the economic benefits of intelligent connectivity. In contrast to connectivity, which can be understood as a mix of ICT infrastructure, intelligent connectivity has an added AI component built into it whereby AI plays a dual role: it both synchronises and optimises how different ICT infrastructures function together. It also assists with faster and arguably better decision making by human agents in charge of those ICT infrastructures.4)Huawei. (2019). Powering Intelligent Connectivity with Global Collaboration: Mapping your transformation into a digital economy with GCI 2019. Available from http://www.huawei.com/minisite/gci/assets/files/gci_2019_whitepaper_en.pdf?v=20191217v2

Chinas BRI as a whole could be considered as an express track for its tech giants to establish a healthy and firm presence in the global digital infrastructure, and it is no exaggeration to claim that the DSR is the heart of the BRI as a whole. This is because access to, and control over, data is, and will increasingly become an important source of power5)Blanchette, J and Hillman, J. E. (2020). Chinas Digital Silk Road after the Coronavirus. Available form http://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-digital-silk-road-after-coronavirus What is less explored in these discussions is the potent fact that a significant part of the global digital infrastructure is deep under oceans; that is, the bulk of global data is transferred via undersea cables simply because transmission via cables is both cheaper and faster.6)CCDCOE. (2019). Strategic Importance of, and Dependence on, Undersea Cables. Available from ccdcoe.org/uploads/2019/11/Undersea-cables-Final-NOV-2019.pdf And herein lies an advantage that is unique to the Arctic Ocean. While all sea cables are at risk of intentional interference by a limited number of technologically capable states, such as Russia and the USA, cables laid in the Arctic Ocean are less vulnerable to damage from threats related to earthquake, tsunamis, anchors, and fisheries.7)Buchanan, E. (2018). Sea Cables in a Thawing Arctic. Available from http://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/sea-cables-thawing-arctic.

On the other hand, cold climate and availability of land are the two commonly cited factors behind claims on the suitability of the Arctic regions for the establishment of data centres.8)Raspotnik, A and Steinicke, S. (2017). The Arctics Economic Future is Digital. Available from http://www.thearcticinstitute.org/arctic-economic-future-digital/ However, for these regions to be able to attract data centres they first need to address the current lack of sufficient telecommunication and data infrastructure which are prerequisite for the establishment of such centres. As such, there is an urgent need for the establishment of both more cross-border connection and direct subsea cables connecting the Arctic regions to Asia and America.9)Middleton, A and Ronning, B. (2020). Data Centers as Critical Infrastructure in the Arctic. Available from http://www.highnorthnews.com/en/data-centers-critical-infrastructure-arctic

Enter the Arctic Connect Project. Spearheaded by the Finnish government, majority owned by the European data communications company Cinia, and driven by Beijings BRI, Arctic Connect is in essence a revival of ROTACS (Russian Optical Trans-Arctic Cable System), which seeks to bridge the digital gap between Europe, Russia, and Asia. This is why Helsinki calls the project a win-win-win for the Eurasian region. One of the key objectives of the project is to encourage operators of data centres to relocate to the Arctic regions of Scandinavia, especially since Chinas leadership expects the project to reduce network communication delays by around 40 percent. Such a reduction, in turn, would have significant economic advantages both for manufacturers that need fast and high-capacity connections, as well as tech or internet giants like the Google and Amazon.10)Pfeiffer, T and Khrennikov, I. (2019). Melting Arctic Means New, and Faster, Subsea Cables Available from gcaptain.com/melting-arctic-means-new-and-faster-subsea-cables/

What is more, not only will the proposed Arctic cables be 1,500-2,000 km shorter than existing links from Europe to Eastern Asia, but their existence will also increase intercontinental data transfers by around 100 milliseconds and could prove more reliable than cables which go through the Indian Ocean and strategically volatile chockepoints such as the Suez Canal and Strait of Malacca.11)Pfeiffer, T and Khrennikov, I. (2019). Melting Arctic Means New, and Faster, Subsea Cables Available from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-12/global-warming-gives-traders-and-google-an-arctic-speed-lane Once in place, therefore, the system can address some of the current digital shortcomings in the region, and in doing so, attract more data centre players to the North

All in all, the fact that the two initiatives are closely intertwined ought not to be surprising. After all, the Arctic is home to both a vast amount of untapped resources, as well as some of the most cyber-advanced nations in the world. According to the latest Network Readiness Index, for example, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, and USA are amongst the most connected and cyber resilient countries globally.12)Dutta, S, Lanvin, B, Bratt, M, and Rossini, C. (2019). Section I The 2019 Network Readiness Index in Dutta, S, Lanvin, B. (2019) The Network Readiness Index 2019: Towards a Future-Ready Society. Available from networkreadinessindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/The-Network-Readiness-Index-2019-New-version-March-2020-2.pdf The case of Scandinavian nations is of particular interest in this context since they seem capable of satisfying Beijings demand for acquiring technological know-how in a number of sectors, including renewable energy, cybersecurity, space technology, and Arctic shipping.13)Sverdrup-Thygeson, B and Hellstrom, J. (2018). Quintet out of Tune? Chinas Bilateral Relations with the Nordic States in Sverdrup-Thygeson, B., Lindgren, W. Y., and Lanteigne, M. (2018) China and Nordic diplomacy. London; New York: Routledge. pp.1-10.

Currently, Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE are involved in numerous overseas ICT projects ranging from the development of 5G networks, smart cities, data centres, and undersea and terrestrial telecommunications cables in spite of mounting US pressure to curb their ability for doing so. The problem in the Arctic is that Americas allies do not have the same threat perception as Washington. From Washingtons perspective, Chinas growing Arctic role is largely a military threat. However, some of the Nordic members of the Arctic Council see enormous commercial benefits in Chinas Arctic presence in spite of their rising concerns with regard to potential security (not military) risks of increased Chinese activities in the region. This is clearly evident in the case of the Arctic Connect project.

How these interests develop and whether or not they will be able to cement and maintain commercial partnerships in spite of their political and strategic differences is difficult to say. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to state that a more comprehensive understanding of Beijings Arctic strategy requires one to analyse its PSR within the context of its DSR, which itself should be seen as an extension of Chinas resource diplomacy in search of securing access to this centurys fuel: data.

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Data Hunting in Subzero Temperatures: The Arctic as a New Frontier in Beijing's Push for Digital Connectivity - The Arctic Institute

Back in the air: Lagardre Travel Retail is the key retail operator at Orly Airport. The gateway has ... [+] been welcoming passengers again for just over a month.

Sales collapses at two of the biggest players in the global duty-free and travel retail business have topped 50% in the first half of the year, intensifying the scramble to stem losses.

Today, Dufrywhose best known retail fascias include Hudson and World Duty Freeannounced a fall in turnover of almost 61% to Swiss francs 1.59 billion ($1.73 billion) due to the scarcity of traveling shoppersmainly in airports, but also in rail stations and other travel environments such as cruise lines.

This has pushed the Swiss retailer to a ballooning operating loss of Swiss francs CHF933 million in the first half of 2020, versus a profit of Swiss francs 123 million in the same period last year. The variation in dollars is an eye-watering $1.15 billion. Dufrys stock fell as much as 7.6% this morning on the news before making a full recovery.

The sales fall is closer to Dufrys worst-case scenario planning of a 70% decline for the full-year 2020 than the best case of a 40% slide. While passenger flows have been gradually returning since mid-June, sales in July remained poor, down by 82% (compared to July 2019), albeit an improvement on Aprils 94% plunge.

CEO of Dufry Group, Julin Daz noted that while conditions are tough for the travel retail industry, more than 1,000 of its shops were back in operation in July. By the end of August, the company expects to have around 1,200 units openabout half of its total estatebut representing 70% of sales capacity.

Dufry has also initiated cost-cutting measures with the aim of generating fixed cost savings of around Swiss francs 1 billion this year. Of this, almost one third will be in minimum annual guarantee reliefs from airport landlords. One of Dufrys biggest negotiations in this area is expected to be with airport operator Aena in Spain.

A simplified management structure will be in place from September. Daz said: By taking out one organizational level, the teams covering our global functions and countries will increase efficiency and get closer to the market and our customers.

The new organization replaces a fairly well-defined geographical management structure with one that may not be quite as clear to somein fact only North America remains an intact entity at the most senior executive level. So how that closeness to market plays out remains to be seen. From a bureaucracy viewpoint the changes should at least increase Dufrys agility and decision-making.

Hard knocks: Dufry's top region of Europe saw the biggest percentage fall in sales.

The duty-free market leader has not mentioned any specific retail initiatives to overcome the Covid-19 crisis but it has committed to increasing its small Asian footprint which is just 15% of turnover currently. Instead the company has slowed down its store refurbishment program to cut capital expenditure, but continued with projects which are likely to lead to sales opportunities.

Shops in London, U.K., Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece, Macau in Greater China, Guayaquil in Ecuador, and U.S. airport locations of Los Angeles and New York were all renewed. They cover 68,350 square feet or 1.4% of the overall retail space operated by Dufry.

In the first two months of the year the company also opened some new stores in airport locations in Helsinki, Finland; Perth, Australia; Indianapolis; Calgary, Canada; and Florianpolis, Brazil. These locations cover 0.6% of Dufrys overall retail space. The company hopes these refurbishments and new openings will engage shopper interest and drive footfall.

Dufrys French rival Lagardre Travel Retail did better in the first half with like-for-like revenue down 55% to 947 million ($1.1 billion) but its parent company, Lagardere, also saw its share price tumble on the news before recovering on Friday and today.

Lagardre Travel Retail posted an operating loss of 209 million in the first half, after recording a profit of 46 million in the same period in 2019. The variation of 255 million ($300 million) though significant is dwarfed by Dufrys whopping $1.15 billion (see above).

Distinctive: The Buy Paris Collection fascia is a fashion-focused offering from Lagardre Travel ... [+] Retail.

Like Dufry, Lagardre Travel Retail, has gradually restarted operations on what it calls a bespoke basis since April, in step with the reopening of railway stations and airports. A sales trough in April of minus 91%, is expected to reduce to around minus 65% once July numbers are in.

That relatively strong rebound has been helped by Lagardre Travel Retails exposure to China, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and to Asia-Pacific in general. Resilience in Mainland China, led to a revenue fall of just 0.7% year-on-year in the second quarter, on the back of 2019 openings, strong online and social media sales, and a resumption of domestic travel. Asia-Pacific revenue overall was down by 52% in the first half.

This was better than other regions. First-half business in France slipped by almost 60%not helped by strikes in early 2020; EMEA (excluding France) retreated by 53%; and North America contracted by 53.2%. In a statement the company said: Short-term uncertainties as to when air travel will resume do not call into question (our) strong business model or leadership.

The regional results compare well against rival Dufry even though the way the two companies split their regions is not exactly identical. Dufrys most important division of Europe and Africa was off by 66%, while the second biggest region of North America was down by 58%. Central and South America was least affected, contracting 56%.

Last week, Lagardre Travel Retail also launched a new catering concept called Pick & Go available across its various store formats including duty free. In the Covid-19 era, the aim is to give travelers safe and easy access to a range of pre-packaged food products, including a menu for kidswhile driving desperately-needed incremental revenue.

The range is an alternative to airline catering which many carriers and train operators have stopped due to the pandemic.

The Pick & Go concept gives travelers a quick alternative to on-board food which has been ... [+] temporarily stopped due to Covid-19.

Mlanie Guilldou, Lagardre Travel Retail foodservice executive vice president, commented: Pick & Go responds to the needs of customers who want a safe and affordable alternative to on-board catering, and of landlords who want to maximize the time passengers spend in airports and stations.

The roll-out started in France on July 28, with at least 15 countries earmarked for the concept between now and October.

For both Dufry and Lagardre Travel Retail the second quarter will hopefully have seen the worst sales declines now out of the way. Although secondary Covid-19 spikes are being seen in the U.S. and new lockdowns are appearing around the world, travel has restarted in a small way.

While not impossible, whole country lockdowns as seen from March through May, seem unlikely as governments opt for localized actions instead so that they can simultaneously attempt to invigorate their fragile economies. Travel quarantines will instead be a key determiner of vacation planning this summerand duty-free spending in turn.

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Is This As Bad As It Will Get For Dufry And Lagardere? - Forbes

Booking.com is laying off a quarter of its workforce more than 4,000 people with the global pandemic snuffing out travel.

Layoffs will begin next month and run through the end of the year, according to parent company Booking Holdings Inc.

Booking Holdings, based in Norwalk, Connecticut, also owns the restaurant reservation company OpenTable and Priceline.com.

The number of room reserved at Booking.com during the first quarter of this year tumbled 43%, to 124 million.

The company warned investors in May to brace for worse in the second financial quarter, the results of which are due Thursday.

Booking.com, based in Amsterdam, is a dominant player in Europe, where it controls more than 60% of online travel bookings, according to a 2018 report from Hospitality Europe. But bookings have plummeted as travel from major markets like the U.S. and China has slowed significantly.

The number of people passing through U.S. airport checkpoints is running about 70% lower than a year ago, according to figures from the Transportation Security Administration. Travel plunged about 95% by mid-April, then rose steadily until leveling off throughout July. More than 700,000 people were screened each of the last five days, through Monday, the first time that has happened since mid-March.

The World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations, said late last month that there was a 56% drop in tourist arrivals between January and May. Thats about 300 million people, and $320 billion in lost international tourism receipts.

Booking.com has 17,500 employees and more than 200 offices worldwide.

(AP)

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Booking.com Cuts Workforce By Thousands As Travel Atrophies - Yeshiva World News

CHARLOTTE, NC As you all are reading, travel is at level 0 from the USA. Some airlines have started to serve more domestic routes and have added a few more flights. Travel Vendors are again advertising for trips in the48 states. Hawaii is beginning to reopen, with the information they may soon ease some travel restrictions by September. Canada is still closed to US Residents.

All of this brought Barbara and me to a planning session. We have a Son in South Florida. He works in the health care industry as Director of Trauma Services. His wife is also in healthcare as a Surgical Technician. If we were going to visit them, we had 2 concerns.

1/ We could not take them away from work just to entertain us while we were there. We had no intention of joining the masses at South Florida Beaches.

2/ We had to protect ourselves from overexposure, as well as keep from exposing them to something we might be carrying.

A second reason to consider going to Florida is to experience what travel is like during these extraordinary times. Florida had just opened up the Keys to tourists. We researched all we could and found the keys were getting larger crowds on weekends, but weekdays were still pretty slow. Barbara and I made the following arrangements;

Depart Concord to Miami on Sunday, on Allegiant Airlines. Arrive 10:30 am.

Rent Car from Enterprise for Sunday to Friday

Drive to meet family. Dinner at a beach restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

Stay 1 night at Hampton Inn, Miami Airport

Drive to Key West on Monday. Stay at Crowne Plaza Key West La Concha. Return the rental car on Friday at 5 pm.

Return home on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale. All told, we were pleasantly surprised by the changes and new procedures to keep us safe. We enjoyed all of the trips, had no disappointments, and stayed healthy. Here is what we found.

Join us next week for more of Where in the World is Phil- August 2020, Part 2

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Where in the World is Phil, August 2020- Part 1 - Mint Hill Times

A top agent for Sothebys International, Lisa Williams is smart, competitive and a force of nature in the real estate marketand its no wonder, because she absolutely loves what she does.

It really doesnt matter if its a waterfront estate or a little cottage somewhere, when it comes together, people are happy, and Im grateful to play a part in that, she says.

Its a path she started on shortly after exploring her university options.

My family background is building and development, so after some travel and a stint at UVic, it seemed the natural direction to go, she says. I love the fact that every day is different. And Ive met so many fascinating people over the years, many of whom are now friends.

READ MORE: BLVD TV Interviews Jason Binab from the Agency Victoria

Riding has been another big part of Lisas life.

Ive been riding since I was about 10, and competing on the Hunter Jumper circuit since about 18, she says. I think the riding really gave me the ability to focus under pressure, think fast and react according to changing situations.

She adds: Im definitely competitive, but having said that, I think you have to learn how to lose to really understand the winning part.

That understanding helped fuel Lisas determination as well.

I get the biggest reward from being a problem-solver and bringing really tough deals together. If there is a solution to be found, I wont sleep until I figure it out.

And on her days off?

Ha! I dont have many of those! she laughs. If the world ever gets to a new normal, Id love to travel more. Expanding my repertoire in the kitchen would be great too. And growing up, we did a lot of boating as a family, so being out on the water will always be something I love.

READ MORE: Boulevard Interview with Blaise MacDonald

Envy:

Whose shoes would you like to walk in?

I have to say that Im pretty happy walking in mine most of the time (hats off to John Fluevog for great style and amazingly comfortable shoes), but Id love to have walked in Steve Nashs shoes during his NBA run. I think Steve is the epitome of hard work and focus equalling success. In a world of brash big talkers, Steve moved faster, thought smarter and delivered with grace and style. What an amazing ambassador for Canada!

Gluttony:

What is the food you could eat over and over again?

Im addicted to the Prawn Phad Thai from Baan Thai Wok & Bar. Its amazing! Also pretzelsridiculousbut they have to have just the right amount of salt.

Greed:

Youre given $1 million that you have to spend selfishly. What would you spend it on?

Pre-COVID-19, I wouldnt hesitate to say world travel and enjoying new culinary experiences. Now, I think it would be having a sunny little getaway place on one of the Gulf Islands to share with family and friendsand a faster boat to come and go!

Wrath:

Pet peeves?

Conceit, laziness and, the worst, entitlement.

Sloth:

Where would you spend a long time doing nothing?

I dont like to sit still for very long, but Im quite happy doing nothing on the beach at Sidney Spit, or up in Desolation Sound, provided nothing includes some wine, fresh prawns or crab on the portable barbecue, and some good music and friends to share it with!

Pride:

What is the one thing youre secretly proud of?

On the play side, Ive been lucky to have been able to compete and win at some top-level Hunter Jumper competitions in New York, DC, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and California. Its a special partnership with the right horse, and a pretty incredible feeling to win under pressure. With real estate, Im proud to be the highest-selling agent in Victoria and will be the first to reach the billion-dollar milestone in overall sales this year. Im grateful to be able to do what I love, and lucky to live in such a special place in the world! Since COVID, I know I definitely appreciate it more than ever.

Lust:

What makes your heart beat faster?

Speed. Winning. Making the deal happen and calling the clients to tell them. Music, dancing, great food and wine, laughing so hard it hurts. And of course, being in love!

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Secrets and lives, and the 7 sins - Victoria News

The around the world to-go dinners from North Fork Shack will transport you through the food (credit: Felicia LaLomia).

It might not be feasible to travel outside of the country right now, but you can get a little culinary tour of the globe without leaving Long Island. North Fork Shack is offering to-go dinners most weekends that showcase a different countrys cuisine.

Since everyones travel plans have to be put on hold because of the pandemic, we decided to help by making dinner exciting and fun, Samy Sabil, co-owner, said. The idea was a way to leave home and travel through food.

The idea came from the downtime Sabil and his business partner Ryan Flatley typically have in the winters when they travel the world. We leave the country and travel and basically just eat and drink our way through, he said. So after doing all that, we got a love for all different foods and its simplicity and different flavors from different countries.

Past weekends have featured the cuisines of Morocco, where Sabil is from, Spain, France and Hawaii, all places the pair have traveled to. Over the next few weekends, North Fork Shack will be expanding to new countries. We decided to challenge ourselves and experience dishes from countries we have never been to but hope to visit one day soon, Sabil said.

This weekend kicks it off with a full Cuban menu. Creamy frijoles with onions and green peppers, smoky roasted eggplant and zucchini spears rolled in cuban cheese and cilantro, smashed and fried sweet plantains and a flavorful chicken and rice dish made with saffron, spices, green peas, red peppers and white wine are all included in the family style dinner.

This one, we just did research, Sabil said. We try to think of what really works for this time of the year thats not too heavy, but at the same time, be adventurous enough for people to try something thats outside of the box.

Following the Cuban menu is Mediterranean, French, Irish, Scottish and German. I feel like our customers are enjoying the excitement and suspense of finding out what the menu is for the weekend, he said. We have been getting many comments about how fun it is to try something different and not have to make any decisions.

The price of each family style dinner around the world is typically $50 for two people and comes with five courses. To keep up on all the dinners, follow North Fork Shack on Instagram or head to their website. They often sell out before the weekend rolls around, so get your order in as soon as possible.

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Cure your travel blues with North Fork Shack's international to-go dinners - Northforker

Want to see the world without the lengthy plane rides? Youre not alone there. Particularly with the current global climate, many people are finding themselves without exotic vacation plans, dreaming of that next ticket abroad to somewhere new and exciting.

Therefore, Disneyland Paris has just released a new set of brochures for the resort, cleverly styled as around-the-world travel guides. After all, with all the culture, adventure, and theming across Disneyland Paris, anyone can travel around the world in record time, all within the magic of the parks.

Each French-language guide is themed to a different continental area, and includes a list of themed attractions, restaurants, and shops throughout the Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios parks. Lets take a closer look together

The resort may be located in France, but there is much more European representation in the Disneyland Park! This first brochure focuses mainly on Fantasyland, and the different attractions which can be found there.

Representing the United Kingdom are the Alice in Wonderland themed attractions, such as Mad Hatters Tea Cups and Alices Curious Labyrinth, with Peter Pans Flight and Le Carrousel de Lancelot also based off British stories. The Les Voyages de Pinocchio ride and Pizzeria Bella Notte bring some Italian culture to the park too.

Of course, the Europe brochure also details the stunning French culture throughout the park, from the fairytale-inspired Sleeping Beauty Castle to Remys plaza outside the Ratatouille attraction in the Walt Disney Studios Park.

The second brochure focuses on all of the details inspired by North and South America, and Oceania.

What could be more iconic than Main Street, U.S.A? The first sight guests see as they enter the Disneyland park is themed to resemble the American town Walt Disney himself grew up in, bringing the classic American design over from Disneyland and Walt Disney World to the Paris park. Also featured in this brochure are the attractions and restaurants located in Frontierland, inspired by the American Far-West. Included here are the Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as well as the Cowboy Cookout Barbecue and Silver Spur Steakhouse.

Australia is represented over in the Walt Disney Studios Park, as guests can spin through the fast-paced East Australian Current aboard a turtle shell on Crushs Coaster. Back in the Disneyland park, the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and the pirate ship and caverns inside Adventure Isle will transport guests straight to the Caribbean Islands.

This third brochure focuses on elements themed to the continents of Africa and Asia, as well as touching on the areas of the land inspired by the legend of the Arabian Nights. The latter can be explored within stores like Les Tresors de Scheherezade, and sampled in the Moroccan-influenced Restaurant Agrabah Cafe.

African influences can be found across Disneyland Paris too, most especially in performances of The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands, and during the spectacular annual Lion King and Jungle Festival.

Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril offers archaeological Indian influences to the Disneyland Park, and the theme of the nearby Colonel Hathis Pizza Outpost offers inspiration from the India-based The Jungle Book!

As if the world wasnt enough, Disneyland Paris also offers guests the experience of intergalactic adventure too, which is detailed in this final travel guide.

The Disneyland Parks Discoveryland is where guests can find all manners of intergalactic adventure, from the steampunk-style architecture of Cafe Hyperion to the Star Wars battles in Hyperspace Mountain and Star Tours.

You can read all four travel brochures in full here. We already knew that the Disneyland Paris advertising game is strong, following many adorable tv-spots over the years, but we particularly love this new promotional format for the resort. It is wonderful to appreciate the stunning and innovative theming across each park, and the clever cultural dedications behind every element. Will you be travelling around the world in Disneyland Paris soon?

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Disneyland Paris Launches New Brochures in the Clever Style of Around-the-World Travel Guides - wdwnt.com