Travel

India welcomes back tourists but smog shrouds Taj Mahal

by Laurence THOMANN Agence France-Presse AGRA, India (AFP) – Foreign tourists have been welcomed back to India after pandemic travel bans but intrepid travellers will have to brave the intense pollution season to visit the country’s most famous attraction. Around the palatial gardens of the Taj Mahal, air quality deteriorates each winter, enveloping the white marble mausoleum in a thick coat of hazardous smog. The problem is replicated across whole swathes of northern India, where […]

Iran museums reopen after year-long Covid break

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran reopened museums in Tehran and other cities Sunday after a more than year-long closure because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Museums in Tehran and other large cities that are no longer red-coded, meaning the risk of contracting the virus was very high, reopened on Sunday,” the director of Iran’s museums, Mohammad-Reza Kargar, told AFP. “Tourists and visitors are welcome to return while observing (sanitary) measures.” A country with a millennia-long history, […]

Travel through clips and pics —Safe travel

One of the greatest joys of travelling is the memories that you keep. We follow EBC’s Malou Francisco’s journey through her pictures and clips to give us a glimpse of people, places and their culture. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6H6q1dOGxI[/embedyt]

A look at the curious “white houses” of Thorn in The Netherlands

  By Marilou Francisco EBC Europe Bureau/ Eagle News Service (Eagle News) — If the United States has the White House, the Netherlands has these old historical white houses which can be found in the town of Thorn in the Dutch province of Limburg, to the south of the country. The town is dubbed as the “White Village” because of these centuries-old white brick houses in the historical center of the town. Although Thorn is […]

Covid case cuts short Singapore ‘cruise to nowhere’

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — An ocean liner on a “cruise to nowhere” was forced to make an earlier-than-scheduled return to Singapore Wednesday after a coronavirus case was detected on board, reports said. The cruises — starting and ending in Singapore, with no stops — were launched last year as part of the travel industry’s attempt to bounce back from a pandemic-induced crunch. They have proved popular among those seeking an escape from the tiny city-state, […]

‘Experience of a lifetime’: Billionaire Branson achieves space dream

  by Lucie AUBOURG Agence France Presse British billionaire Richard Branson flew into space Sunday aboard a Virgin Galactic vessel, a voyage he described as the “experience of a lifetime” — and one he hopes will usher in an era of lucrative space tourism. The mission’s success allowed the swashbuckling septuagenarian to one-up fellow tycoon Jeff Bezos — who owns space company Blue Origin and is set to launch on July 20 — in the […]

Dubai does it again: now world’s deepest pool

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — The city of superlatives with the world’s tallest tower among its many records, Dubai now has the deepest swimming pool on the planet complete with a “sunken city” for divers to explore. Deep Dive Dubai, which opened Wednesday but initially by invitation only, prides itself as “the only diving facility in the world” where you can go down 60 meters (almost 200 feet), 15 meters deeper than any other […]

New Yorkers enjoy new park floating on Hudson River

by Laura BONILLA NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — A new public park skimming the surface of the Hudson River atop 132 concrete “tulips” opened Friday for New Yorkers eager to emerge from a year of onerous pandemic restrictions. Little Island, which can be accessed free-of-charge by two pedestrian bridges, offers lush green spaces and scenic views into southern Manhattan and New Jersey for those who want to get away without getting away. Its opening […]

Huge Titanic replica to open as Chinese tourist destination

by Noel Celis and Qian Ye SUINING, China (AFP) — The Titanic is being brought back from the deep, more than a century after its ill-fated maiden voyage, at a landlocked Chinese theme park where tourists can soon splash out for a night on a fullscale replica. The project’s main backer was inspired to recreate the world’s most infamous cruise liner by the 1997 box office hit of the same name — once the world’s […]

First tiny home village inside city limits built in Lake Dallas Downtown District

    Tiny homes have definitely been a hit in recent years and the attraction to these small but efficient dwellings doesn’t seem to be fading any time soon. In fact, the first ever tiny home village has been built inside city limits. With more on the big news for tiny home lovers, Eagle News Service correspondent Nenita Manaois gives the details from Texas in this Eagle News America report (Eagle News Service)

Cruises eye smoother waters with vaccines, ‘health bubbles’

by Katell PRIGENT PARIS, France (AFP) — With tests, vaccinations and isolation areas, cruise ship companies are hoping for smoother sailing this travel season after fears over Covid-stricken ships rocked the industry last year. Cruise companies have lost tens of billions of dollars while hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs as countries banned ships from their ports. The industry’s woes started in February last year when the Diamond Princess and its 4,000 passengers […]