Posted on: 4 September 2008 |
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The Wrap is on the trail of the week's more interesting travel stories
Backpackers guide to a fallacy
If you ever need to find out what’s really going on in a destination, backpackers generally have their finger on the pulse.
And so it was that Reuters has been out onto the streets of Bangkok this week to assess the impact of Thailand’s state of emergency on tourists in the capital. And their verdict? Get on with it! There’s nothing to worry about.
Crisis? What crisis, ask backpackers in Bangkok.
Jeff marks the spot
Most of us have sat uncomfortably through a long haul flight, unable to sleep, bored with the movies and annoyed by the screaming child in the seat behind.
Jeff Wise, writing for Travel+Leisure in CNN online, found the answer while working toward his pilot's license.
He discovered pilotage, the art of figuring out where you are by studying what you see on the ground.
“It's surprisingly hard,” he writes. “Things don't always appear quite like you expect them to. But once you learn to understand the view from on high, the once-incomprehensible jumble becomes infused with meaning and, by extension, beauty.
“After learning how to interpret the landscape, flying wasn't just transportation anymore. It was a real-life IMAX show,” he says.
Take Jeff’s advice and your next long haul trip could be a whole new experience.
But don’t forget to request a window seat.
Get amazing airplane views: 7 tips.
A lot to bear in Churchill
Every autumn, hundreds of polar bears descend on the small Canadian town of Churchill, the self-proclaimed “Polar Bear Capital of the World”
The Daily Telegraph’s Diana Preston has been watching the bears as they prepare for their annual migration north.
Every October the vicinity is invaded by nearly 1,000 bears making their way to Hudson Bay as it begins to freeze over.
She is given two pieces of advice on meeting a bear in Churchill. DO NOT RUN and DO NOT PLAY DEAD.
Seems the bears can run at 25mph and playing dead is plain dumb as the bears aren’t fussy whether their meals are still moving or not.
Churchill, Canada: Polar bear capital.
