Vice President Biden is hardly alone on the rails these days. When the sequester sparked the return of Amtrak Joe (as a senator, Biden famously made about 8,000 trips between Delaware to D.C. on the train), it coincided with a report from the Brookings Institution that ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Transportation
Report: Amtrak's Growing But Bleeding Money On Long Trips
Vice President Biden is hardly alone on the rails these days. When the sequester sparked the return of Amtrak Joe (as a senator, Biden famously made about 8,000 trips between Delaware to D.C. on the train), it coincided with a report from the Brookings Institution that ...Space Travel Update: What NASA Is Up To These Days
With the Space Shuttle program coming to an end and commercial space flight organizations providing service to the International Space Station, one might wonder what the people at NASA are doing these days. While we're not sure about other NASA facilities, Kennedy Space ...Here's How They Roll In Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a beautiful country. There are stunning beaches, active volcanoes, mountains, mangrove swamps, picturesque islands and just about every type of terrain you can imagine. But on a recent visit to Nicaragua, I found all of the creative ways that people travel even ...FlightCar Makes Peer-To-Peer Rentals More Convenient
If you can get comfortable with the idea of a stranger driving your car - or if you have the capacity to not think about it while the vehicle is out of your sight - it might make sense to rent your wheels while you're out of town.
But the leading peer-to-peer rental ...How (Not) To Walk Across The Costa Rica/Nicaragua Border
You can learn a lot about a country by walking into it across a land border. VIP's enter at the airport or zoom through in a car, but when you walk across the frontier, especially in a developing country, you get a window into how ordinary people and traders travel.
...Fabled Sunstone Discovered In English Shipwreck
A team of French archaeologists believe they have found a sunstone, a strange crystal that was said to help mariners locate the sun even on overcast days.
Some of the medieval Norse Sagas mention this device. In "Rauðúlfs þáttr," King Olaf asks ...Speed Through Airport Security Checkpoints, One Way Or Another
As airport security checkpoints get more crowded and lines get longer, travelers are arriving earlier than ever to make that flight on time. Arrive late; miss the flight. Once at the gate, passengers may wait longer than normal as airlines juggle the start of boarding ...Impact Of Sequester Cuts On Travel: Houston Is The Third World Airport Not Managua
As Americans, we've been bred to believe that the way we do things should be a model for the rest of the world. But after spending a good chunk of my Friday, day one of the sequester federal spending cuts, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston, I have to ...Robbed By Cab Drivers In Nicaragua And Chicago In The Same Week?
Where the hell is Camilo?
Those were the words that I kept repeating to myself, sometimes replacing the word "hell" with more sinister, unpublishable expletives. I was sitting in the Rancho Marsella restaurant at Playa Marsella, a remote beach that is 20 minutes down a ...Biking In Guatemala City? One Group Is Proving It's Possible
On a recent Saturday, the streets were filled with bicycles. Bells rang and horns sounded as the cyclists wound their way throughout the city like a moving train of youth and energy.
This wasn't in Portland, or Paris, or any of dozens of bicycle-friendly cities ...Braving The Back Roads Of Guanacaste In Costa Rica, The World's Happiest Country
Take a look at a road map of Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula and you'll see a jumble of squiggly lines that seem to meander in circles with no clear pattern. Before setting off in a rental car from Santa Teresa, at the foot of Nicoya, heading towards Rincon de la Vieja ...Save On Road Trip Expenses With The Right Credit Card
Planning a road trip anytime soon? Odds are the price of gas is a consideration if not a major concern. As gas prices continue to rise, travelers are looking for new ways to save. Tuning up the car, using smartphone apps to find the lowest price around, inflating tires ...Friday Rocket Blast To Be Streamed Live
Earlier this week, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) fired up their Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft in a successful test to prepare for launch to the International Space Station, set for Friday, March 1, at 10:10 a.m. EST. Space travel fans can follow along ...The Great Los Angeles Train Resurgence
I was on a commuter train – in Los Angeles. I kept repeating these words to myself as the Metrolink light rail whisked me through East LA, the city's underwhelming skyline in the distance. Union Station was the next stop and terminus. From there I'd gawk at the ...Video: Japanese Customer Service Is Different From Ours
In keeping with Japan's reputation as a most hospitable country comes this video from LiveLeak. Two Canadian backpackers are attempting to purchase subway tickets so they can visit Tsukiji Fish Market, but have problems with the dispenser.
No worries! Apparently, in ...
The World According To A Costa Rican Cab Driver
I would never think of getting in a cab in my hometown of Chicago and asking for a lift to Indianapolis, Iowa City or Milwaukee. But when I'm outside the U.S. without a rental car, I sometimes resort to long-distance taxi rides as a way of getting from point A to point B. On ...Video: A Week In The Life Of The International Space Station
The International Space Station is one of the wonders of modern technology. A series of interconnected orbital modules are home to a rotating crew of astronauts and cosmonauts plus a host of ongoing experiments. While the ISS only gets into the news every now and then, ...
The World's Prettiest Destination Tunnels
Size matters – with tunnels, anyway. Most lists of the world's most spectacular designs pant over the longest passageways, like Norway's Laedral Tunnel, currently the record-holder at 15.25 miles.
But beauty before distance, I say. Give me the arched canopy of ...A Vintage Submarine And Icebreaker In Tallinn's Seaplane Harbour
Tallinn has been an important port and Estonia's connection with the world since before recorded history. Because of this, the city has not one, but two museums dedicated to the sea. The Maritime Museum is housed in Fat Margaret, an old cannon tower that once protected the ...Mission To Mars Planned By Private Space Leaders
When we last heard from Dennis Tito, it was when the New York-born American engineer was catching a $20 million ride on the International Space Station. That was in 2001 and he did so against the wishes of NASA, instead hitting up the Russian Federal Space Agency for the ...
