• Sand is thicker than blood: Summer travelers prefer beach over family, survey reveals

    Elizabeth Ruiz / EPA

    Beach vacations are popular, in part, because they are affordable to other getaways, according to findings from the 2012 Flip Flop Report, released Wednesday.

    By Rob Lovitt, msnbc.com contributor

    With summer starting just weeks away, you might be starting to plan that big trip to visit the folks or other family.


    Unless, that is, you’re like many travelers and you’re planning on hitting the beach instead.

    That’s among the findings of the 2012 Flip Flop Report, a global survey sponsored by Expedia.com and released on Wednesday. When asked if they could take only one holiday, 33 percent of respondents said they’d prefer the beach vs. 10 percent who said they’d want to visit family or relatives.

    “Beaches are definitely top of mind right now,” said Joe Megibow, vice president and general manager. “But even if you take seasonality out of it, beach-going and travel have been best friends for years.”

    The survey, which included 8,599 consumers in 21 countries, also found that:

    • 52 percent of respondents worldwide expected to vacation at the beach in the next 12 months, up from 45 percent last year, although, sadly, only 23 percent of Americans expected to do so;
    • When at the beach, 60 percent of Americans preferred doing nothing/relaxing vs. exercising (13 percent) and “posing for pictures you wouldn’t want business associates to see (2 percent);
    • 38 percent of Americans cited prevalence of sharks when picking a beach vacation vs. 67 percent of Singaporeans and 70 percent of Brazilians;
    • 2 percent of Americans have sunbathed nude vs. 8 percent of Spaniards and Indians and 15 percent of, wait for it, Germans.

    Silly statistics aside, the most telling insight, perhaps, is that 77 percent of travelers (and 78 percent of Americans) cited the “estimated price of total vacation” as their top concern when choosing a beach destination.

    “It’s less about whether they spend more or less; it’s more about how much buying power they have with their budget,” said Megibow. “As flights get more expensive, they don’t fly or they fly and spend fewer days.”

    That impression is echoed in two other reports released this week. On Tuesday, AAA released its annual Memorial Day forecast, projecting that budget-minded consumers will still travel but that they’ll stay closer to home, take shorter trips and decide to drive rather than fly.

    Also on Tuesday, a new report from Deloitte suggested that 54 percent of Americans would take a trip between June 1 and Labor Day, a slight increase over the 52 percent who did so last year. With airfares and gas prices up over last year, says the company, travelers will be on the lookout for deals, discounts and complimentary amenities.

    For fliers, that may mean choosing airlines that don’t charge to check bags or use onboard Wi-Fi; for hotel guests, seeking out complimentary breakfasts and free parking. At Expedia, the priority travelers are placing on their budgets has prompted the company to launch what Megibow says is its largest summer sale ever, with some 12,000 participating hotels in 700 destinations.

    As for the 77 percent of Americans who don’t expect to take a beach vacation in the next 12 months, one last study might be worth considering. Released last month, a paper by researchers at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health in the UK revealed that visits to coastal environments resulted in greater calmness, enjoyment and refreshment than visits to other outdoor locations, such as rural settings and urban parks.

    By that token — and regardless of the dent it may make in your budget — a beach vacation could be priceless.

    More stories you might like:

    Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

     

    2 comments

    Show more
    Explore related topics: , , , , , ,

  • Where and how to see the eclipse

    Reuters file

    A "ring of fire" glows around the dark moon on Jan. 26, 2009, as seen from Bandar Lampung in Indonesia during an annular solar eclipse.

    By Alan Boyle

    Eclipse-chasers have been known to plan their expeditions months or even years in advance, but if you can get to the western United States, there's still plenty of time to plan your party for this month's solar eclipse. If the skies are clear, all you have to do is look up — with the proper eye protection, of course.

    The May 20 event won't be quite as spectacular as a total solar eclipse, but if you can make it to a 200-mile-wide strip of territory that extends from the Oregon-California coast to northwestern Texas, you just might see a rare "Ring of Fire" eclipse near sunset. And that zone of annularity runs through some of the most picturesque parts of the country, including the Grand Canyon and 32 other national parks.

    Outside the strip, Westerners will see a partial solar eclipse for the first time in seven years.

    "Think of Pac-Man taking a bite out of the sun," Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, said in a news release. "That 'bite' will take out 55 to 80 percent of the disk of the sun, depending on where you are, and that's still a very special experience."

    The park service has put together an interactive website that shows you where the eclipse will be visible, lists events tied to the eclipse and provides more online resources about the phenomenon. Don't dawdle over your travel plans: Some of the park events, such as a viewing session from New Mexico's Petroglyph National Monument, are already sold out.

    This eclipse will be an international spectacle that's not to be missed. Over the course of three and a half hours, the moon will blot out at least part of the sun, as seen from earthly locales stretching from Southeast Asia through China and the Pacific to North America and Greenland. Because of the moon's position with relation to Earth, the lunar disk will never block the sun completely, but will leave at least an edge of the solar disk exposed.

    Safety first
    For that reason, it's important to use the proper protection when gazing at the eclipse, even during the "Ring of Fire" phase. You can buy safety glasses for less than a buck each from Telescopes.net, with all of the proceeds going to support Astronomers Without Borders. Eclipse shades are available as well from Rainbow Symphony and lots of other online vendors.

    You can also put a solar filter on your telescope or binoculars — but regular sunglasses won't do the trick. The filters should be specially designed for solar viewing. Same goes for your camera: Unless you know what you're doing, taking a picture of the sun without the proper filter is a good way to ruin your point-and-shoot. NASA's top eclipse expert, Fred Espenak, offers a guide to photographing any kind of solar eclipse easily and safely.

    National Park Service

    A graphic shows U.S. national parks within the zone of annularity for the May 20 solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse can be seen from parks outside the zone that are marked in orange. Click on the interactive map.

    Another way to view the eclipse is to fashion a "pinhole camera" from a box, aluminum foil and a sheet of white paper — or even from just two squares of cardboard. This Exploratorium webpage shows you how. The simplest way to get a sense of the eclipse is to find a semi-shady spot and watch the circles of sunlight falling through tree leaves. During a partial eclipse, the circles will turn into half-moons or crescents. If the sun goes annular, you'll see bright rings on the ground.

    If you're in the Western states, the best time to look will be in the late afternoon of the 20th. NASA has put a clickable map online that shows you when the different stages of the eclipse occur for the locality you click. One caveat: The times are listed as Universal Time, so you'll have to subtract seven hours for Pacific Daylight Time, six hours for Mountain Time, or five hours for Central Time.

    Where to go
    You can track eclipse visibility using the maps available from NASA or the National Park Service, but how do you pick just the right place? Paul Doherty, senior staff scientist for the Exploratorium in San Francisco, advises matching up the maps with places that are accessible and tend to have clear skies. Eclipser's Forecast Desk provides long-term projections of global sky conditions for the hard-core eclipse-chaser, and when you get within 48 hours of the event, the Clear Sky Chart can give you a better idea what to expect.

    It's a good idea to scout out your location in advance if you can, and it's also a good idea to retain some flexibiliity in your itinerary, just in case you have to shift your base of operations to find a clear patch of sky. I'm planning to head for Crescent City, Calif., to see a close-to-sunset eclipse over the Pacific, but from what I've been hearing about the fogginess on the coast, it'd be prudent for me to check out some vantage points farther inland.

    Make sure you've got good western exposure, though. "You don't want mountains to be in the way," Doherty said. The farther east you go, the later the eclipse occurs — and the closer the sun will be to the western horizon. Some observers have dubbed Albuquerque, N.M., as the prime urban spot for seeing this eclipse, but the "Ring of Fire" will flash there just before sunset. That means you'll need a clear line of sight to the far horizon.

    Jan. 15, 2010: Astronomers believe a solar eclipse seen across Africa, Asia and the Indian Ocean may be the longest annular eclipse in more than 1,000 years. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Hang onto those glasses
    After the eclipse, you can put your sun-viewing glasses through another tryout during the transit of Venus on June 5. Over the course of several hours, the planet Venus will be visible as a tiny speck of black, making its way across the sun's disk for what Doherty calls a "micro-eclipse." This map from NASA shows that the transit will be visible from most of North America in the hours leading up to sunset (although Alaskans will be out of luck this time around).

    The same eclipse safety rules apply to the transit: Don't gaze directly at the sun with your naked eye. Use the proper solar filters on your telescope, binoculars or camera. Feel free to make a pinhole projector, although Venus' tiny speck will be much harder to track than the effects of a solar eclipse.

    Looking even farther ahead, there's a total solar eclipse on tap for Nov. 13, with the track of totality running across the northern tip of Australia and a wide expanse of the Pacific. That's the year's big prize for eclipse-chasers, but time is running out to make arrangements for a trip to Cairns or a Pacific cruise.

    "A year or two is the rule for getting to a total solar eclipse," Doherty said. "But there's always this tradeoff between time ahead and money spent. If you want to go the less expensive way, plan early. If you're willing to pay a little bit more, go late."

    The good news is that Americans have plenty of time to plan for a convenient total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017. On that day, the path of totality will stretch diagonally across the United States, from Oregon to North Carolina. 

    "That eclipse, you're just going to be able to drive to," Doherty said. "So if you miss this one, start planning now for 2017."

    Tune us in online
    To hear more tales of eclipses past, present and future, join us tonight for "Virtually Speaking Science," an hourlong talk show that plays out on BlogTalkRadio and in the Second Life virtual world. Doherty (a.k.a. Patio Plasma) and I will be at the StellaNova Small Auditorium, courtesy of the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics, starting at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT/SLT).

    If you miss the live event, don't worry: It'll be archived by "Virtually Speaking" on BlogTalkRadio as well as iTunes.

    On Friday, head on over to the Cosmic Log Facebook page for our weekly "Where in the Cosmos" picture puzzle. If you're the first to solve the riddle, you'll be eligible to receive a pair of sun-viewing safety glasses for this month's eclipse and next month's transit. In the meantime, check out these podcasts from previous episodes of "Virtually Speaking Science," plus links to eclipse-related resources:

    Corrections for 10:25 p.m. ET: A couple of the Web links went to information about the November total solar eclipse when they should have referred to the May annular solar eclipse, but that's been fixed. I've also fixed the reference to the eclipse's timing in Albuquerque. From that location, the annular phase will last a little more than four minutes, from 7:33 to 7:38 p.m. MT, followed by sunset a little after 8 p.m. I originally (and erroneously) wrote that the "Ring of Fire" would occur four minutes before sunset.  

    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

  • Shakespeare celebrated at world festival

    By Jane L. Levere, msnbc.com contributor

    The World Shakespeare Festival will show all of the Bard's 37 plays, each in a different language, and each by a different international company, at the Globe Theatre in London. NBC News' Peter Jeary reports.

    The World Shakespeare Festival, the biggest celebration ever of the Bard and his work, begins in the United Kingdom on April 23, his birthday.

    Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), the renowned theater company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon in England, the festival is an unprecedented collaboration among over 50 arts organizations from around the world. Offering almost 70 Shakespeare productions, the festival will run through November. 

    What makes the festival extraordinary is the diversity of its productions: There will be performances of Shakespeare plays and other works inspired by Shakespeare's plays, done in dozens of different languages by professional, semi-professional and amateur actors from dozens of different countries.

     


    Andrew Shuttleworth, marketing communications manager for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, plans to attend the festival in the summer. Shuttleworth acted as a child and young adult growing up in Maine, in “Macbeth,” “King Lear,” and “The Taming of the Shrew.”

    “The aspect of the World Shakespeare Festival that I’m most excited about is that it’s not just high-level productions, it’s also a celebration of community, amateur, and youth Shakespeare,” Shuttleworth told msnbc.com.

    “There’s something extremely cool about a festival that embraces immaculately produced theater right alongside rough-hewn, smaller-budget shows. Small shows can be just as inventive, just as much fun as the big ones.”

    The festival is part of the London 2012 Festival, which is itself the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad, an arts event held as part of Olympics celebrations. The 2012 Summer Olympic games will take place in London from July 27 to August 12.

    The festival will include the following productions:

    • Thirty-seven of Shakespeare’s plays performed in as many different languages at Shakespeare’s Globe, a 20th century reconstruction, on the South Bank of the Thames in London, of a theater built by Shakespeare in the late 16th century.  These plays will range from a production of “Cymbeline” by a theater company from the world's youngest country, South Sudan, and the three “Henry VI” plays by the national theaters of Serbia, Albania and Macedonia, to a performance of “Love’s Labor’s Lost” performed in British Sign Language by Deafinitely Theater, and a production of “Richard III” by the National Theater of China.
    • A multimedia production of “Troilus and Cressida” by the RSC and The Wooster Group of New York from Aug. 3 to Aug. 18 in Stratford-upon-Avon.
    • A production of “Desdemona,” based on a character from “Othello,” by American novelist Toni Morrison, Malian singer and songwriter Rokia Traoré, and American director Peter Sellars, at the Barbican in London on July 19 and 20.
    • A full-scale production of “West Side Story,” featuring professionals, semi-professionals and amateurs, in Gateshead from July 4 to July 7.
    • “In a Pickle,” a play described as a “voyage of discovery through the landscapes of Shakespeare’s imagination,” for children age two to four, in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and Newcastle Upon Tyne in May and June.
    • A special exhibit, called “Shakespeare: Staging the World,” on display at the British Museum in London from July 19 to Nov. 25.  Featuring almost 200 objects ranging from paintings to everyday items like a sweetmeat fork, it will explore the emerging role of London as a world city four hundred years ago, interpreted through the perspective of Shakespeare’s plays.
    • A social networking platform, myShakespeare, designed to generate a global conversation on Shakespeare, with discussions about his influence on everything from culture to politics to economics. The festival has invited artists from around the world to create new work for the site.

    Michael Boyd, artistic director of the RSC, believes that these and the festival's many other events have the power to unite individuals across cultures: “People of all races, creeds and continents have chosen to gather around [Shakespeare's] work to share stories of what it is like to be human, to fall in love or fall from grace, to be subject to the abuse of power, or to live with the dreams of angels in the shadow of our own mortality.”

    More from msnbc.com:

  • Tunisia still wants sun lovers, new Islamist government says

    Lionel Bonaventure / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Tourists look at the sea in Sidi Bou Said on October 19, 2011, days before a historic national election in Tunisia.

    By Reuters and Alastair Jamieson, msnbc.com

    Sun worshippers are welcome on Tunisia's beaches even though an Islamist government now runs the Mediterranean country which relies heavily on tourism to fill its coffers, its prime minister said on Monday.

    "We will respect the traditions of our visitors in their food, and clothing and lifestyle," Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said at a conference to promote tourism held on the island of Djerba, known for its white sandy beaches and luxury spas.

    As if to reinforce his message, a wide selection of alcoholic beverages was on offer at the opening ceremony of the tourism conference on Sunday night.

    That message is in stark contrast to neighboring Libya, which earlier this year told msnbc.com it does not intend to follow Tunisia and Morocco down the road of mass tourism and relatively widespread alcohol sales.

    Jebali's moderate Islamist Ennahda party took power at the head of a coalition in an election after last year's revolution, which ousted veteran leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring.

    Could sun-soaked Libya be the Mediterranean's next tourism hot spot?

    Tunisia, which relies on tourism for almost 7 percent of its gross domestic product, saw visitor numbers and tourist revenues drop by more than a third after the revolution.

    "Unfortunately, some want to paint Tunisia as a jungle and sow fear of the Ennahda government but this does not reflect reality and the proof is that these critics speak freely," Jebali told journalists on the sidelines of the conference.

    Fethi Belaid / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Residents of Tunisian town of Hammamet hold placards reading "Don't touch my tourism!" as take part in a silent march named "citizen walk in support of tourism " in April 2011.

    About 5 million tourists visited the country last year, down from 7 million in 2010 as fears over security caused tourists to flee or to cancel bookings.

    Tunisia has since made a relatively smooth transition to democracy and tourists are returning to its coastal resorts. But occasional protests and lingering fears that Ennahda will slowly seek to Islamise society have held back the recovery, as has the economic crisis in Europe.

    Jebali said bookings had improved for 2012 and Tunisia hoped to regain its 7 million tourists and top that by encouraging visits to historical, cultural sites and the southern desert.

    In an effort to allay fears that Tunisia would impose sharia, or Islamic law, as some conservative Islamists have demanded, Jebali said a constitution is being drafted that would protect the "civil" nature of the state.

    "We want to reassure everyone and even our own people that there is nothing to fear from freedom and democracy," he said.

  • Light show projects image of Titanic onto giant iceberg

    Swiss light artist Gerry Hofstetter projected pictures of the Titanic on a giant iceberg off Greenland to mark the 100th anniversary of its maiden voyage.

    Mike Kessler / Gerry Hofstetter Marketing via EPA

    A light projection of the Titanic on a 500-meter-long iceberg in the Northern Polar sea of Greenland, during the night of 13 April 2012.

    Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter is one of the best-known light artists working today. He uses light to project huge images in unexpected places, like a cross on the famous Matterhorn peak in the Alps, and hieroglyphics on the outside of the pyramids in Giza. His projects transform monuments, buildings and landscapes into something new. Sometimes his work has a serious tone, as when he projected polar bears on melting glaciers, but he also does fun lightshows for clients for events such as festivals and openings. His goal is to illuminate each of the world’s greatest monuments and sacred places.

    See more of Hofstetter’s work on his website.  

    See photos of a projection in Switzerland by Hofstetter for the Jungfrau railway's anniversary on PhotoBlog.

    Related content:

    Slideshow: Titanic: 100 years later

    Hulton Archives / Getty Images; AFP - Getty Images

    A look at the memorials, museum exhibits and memorabilia that commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, including the photos from 1912 that capture the anticipation and the aftermath around this "unsinkable" ship.

    Launch slideshow

    One century after the Titanic sank during its maiden voyage, the historic day is being commemorated around the world. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    Slideshow: Titanic Belfast

    David Moir / Reuters

    The Titanic Belfast Experience is a new visitor attraction location in Belfast's Titanic Quarter, on the original site of the Harland and Wolff shipyard -  birthplace of RMS Titanic.

    Launch slideshow

  • The world's most beautiful spring flowers

    Steve Ann Toon / Corbis

    The King protea (Protea cynaroides) is the national flower of South Africa.

    By Laura Kiniry , Frommers.com

    If you don't know when and where to see the best blossoms, chances are you won't -- the timing of the prettiest blooms varies by region and can last just a few weeks.


    Whether you want to see Arizona's wildflowers or Scotland's heather, you won't want to miss these six great destinations.

    Slideshow: See these and other colorful spring blooms

    Wildflowers in Southern Arizona

    When to go: It really depends on rainfall, but typically March and April. This is when the hills and roadsides across southern Arizona pop with red, gold and blue. The region is best known for bright yellow brittlebush and Mexican gold poppies. You may also see wildflowers ranging from African daises to the bright-orange desert globemallow.

    Where to see the best flowers: Picacho Peak State Park (the name means "Big Peak" in Spanish), about 45 miles northwest of Tucson and 60 miles south of Phoenix along Interstate 10. Several hiking trails -- including the easy Children's Cave Trail -- offer closer views.

    Greenery of Italy's Tuscany region

    When to go: May, when Tuscany's countryside is covered with the lush greens of grape vines, olive groves and cypress trees. Many towns throughout the region host parties and festivals to celebrate the season. Along with the greenery, keep an eye out for crimson-colored poppies as well as plenty of lilacs, rosemary and wisteria. 

    Where to see the best flowers: Head to Tuscany's many vineyards and olive groves. Held in Montespertoli in Tuscany's Chianti wine region, the Chianti Wine Festival takes place May 26 to June 3, 2012.

    Wildflowers in Sweden

    When to go: May and June, after the snow has melted and when the Swedish countryside is bathing in bluets, poppies and marguerite daises. The country also boasts 45 varietals of orchids. At this time of year, the sun above the country's northern half never really sets, offering more time to appreciate spring's beauty.

    Where to see the best flowers: Lapland's Sarek National Park in northern Sweden is a wildflower hotspot accessible to more seasoned hikers. The island of Gotland (accessible by ferry from greater Stockholm) off Sweden's east coast is home to 35 of the country's 45 orchid varieties.

    Heather in Scotland

    When to go: July to September. While heather is not exclusive to Scotland, it's hard to think of one without the other. Come late summer or early fall, the Scottish Highlands are awash in soft lavender shades. You'll find heather growing throughout forests, across moors, and within bogs. 

    Where to see the best flowers: Heather is abundant throughout all of Scotland by August. Hotspots include the heather garden of Threave Castle in Dumfries and Galloway; Cairngorms National Park (heather moorland covers more than 41 percent of the park's landscape) in northeast Scotland; and the highroads around South Loch Ness.

    Wildflowers of South Africa

    When to go: July through October (the country's spring season). South Africa's semi-desert landscape springs to life with hues of purple, yellow and orange, most notably during August and September. 

    Where to see the best flowers: About a five-hour drive north of Cape Town, Namaqualand is a wildflower paradise. Stop by the region's Goegap Nature Reserve, a great place to picnic among more than 600 indigenous plant species. Overnight accommodations are nearby. One hour west of Cape Town along the coast, you'll find the village of Darling, host to September's annual Darling Wildflower Show for nearly 100 years.

    Orchids & rhododendrons in Bhutan

    When to go: Late March to May are the best months to admire the country's flowering plants, orchids and rhododendrons. Though generally elusive, the Himalayan blue poppy -- Bhutan's national flower -- may be seen on treks around the country's Gangkhar Puensum region, notably in June and July. Expect to see buttercups, larkspurs, lilies and geraniums at higher elevations. The more temperate regions are covered in orchids, violets, and white, pink and red rhododendrons.

    Where to see the best flowers: Mountain passes such as Dochula Pass and Pelela Pass are prime areas to see wildflowers. The Chele La Nature Trek, which offers a panoramic view of the higher Himalayas, is lined with blue poppy, orchids, and rhododendron varietals.

    More from Frommers.com

     

     

  • Take a look inside the Titanic Belfast attraction

    Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

    The Titanic Belfast attraction nears completion in The Titanic Quarter on March 13 in Belfast. Belfast's Titanic Quarter is a regeneration area on the original site of the Harland and Wolff shipyard - birthplace of RMS Titanic.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    A model-like sculpture of the Titanic on display at the new Titanic Belfast Visitor's Center.

    Northern Ireland's capital, Belfast, scarred by 30 years of Catholic-Protestant violence and mired in Europe's economic doldrums, is gambling on a gleaming new Titanic tourist attraction to bring it fame beyond the Troubles — and a renewed sense of civic pride.

    "What happened to the Titanic was a disaster," said Tim Husbands, chief executive of Titanic Belfast, a 100 million pound ($160 million) visitor attraction due to open March 31, in advance of the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. "But the ship wasn't."

    Belfast is banking on the global reach of the Titanic name, a fame given new momentum by James Cameron's hit 1997 movie, which set Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's star-crossed love story aboard the doomed liner.

    -- The Associated Press

    Related link:

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    An employee of The Titanic Belfast attraction stands in front of screens showing computer generated images of a restaurant on The Titanic on March 13.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    A replica of the the famous staircase onboard the Titanic is on display in the new Titanic Belfast Visitor's Center.

    Peter MacDiarmid / Getty Images

    A visitor takes a phone picture of the slipway at the Titanic Belfast attraction on March 13.

    Peter Morrison / AP

    Brett Irwin of the Public Record Office moves old plans of Harland and Wolff ships from the 19th century in the Titanic Drawing Offices.

    Peter Muhly / AFP - Getty Images

    A Titanic related mural is pictured near a Loyalist paramilitary mural in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 13.

  • Marriott International Inc. via AP

    An undated archive photo shows the swimming pool at the Twin Bridges Marriott, in Arlington, Va.

    Classic photo of guests lounging by the pool at America's first Marriott hotel

    Bill Marriott gave an interview to The Associated Press Wednesday to discuss his forty years in the business and impending retirement from the company that bears his family's name.

    Today there are 3,718 Marriott hotels in 73 countries, but the interview was accompanied by this very cool archive photo of the first — the Twin Bridges Motor Hotel in Arlington, Va., which was opened by Bill's parents in 1957.

  • London wakes to one of its legendary fogs

    "When one of the thick, yellowish compounds known as a "pea-soup" fog falls on London it makes day darker than the darkest night; it arrests all traffic, obliterates all landmarks, and, as Mrs. Browning says, it looks 'as if a sponge had wiped out London.' The city is transformed into ghostland." The New York Times, December 29, 1889.

    Dylan Martinez / Reuters

    Fog engulfs London Bridge as commuters make their way towards the financial district across the River Thames during the early morning rush hour in London, England on March 15, 2012.

    By David R Arnott, msnbc.com

    The fog was indeed thick as I crossed the Thames on my way into work in London this morning. In its wake, thank goodness, have come bright blue skies and city's warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures expected to reach into the high sixties. 

    Andrew Winning / Reuters

    The pods on the London Eye cast shadows against a thick morning fog as the spring sun shine begins to burn it off in central London, March 15, 2012.

    Matt Dunham / AP

    Commuters walk through fog as seen from the north side of Westminster Bridge in London on March 15, 2012.

     

  • Views of the Mediterranean from a Greek ferry

    Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

    Sea waves hit the Blue Star Paros vessel during a nine-hour trip to the Greek islands of Paros, Naxos, Ios and Santorini, in the Aegean Sea on March 14, 2012.

    Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

    A Greek passenger seen on the Blue Star Paros vessel during a nine-hour trip to the Greek islands of Paros, Naxos, Ios and Santorini.

    Yannis Behrakis / Reuters

    Foreign tourists admire the volcanic island of Santorini.

    See more images from Greece in PhotoBlog.

  • Mind the gap: London's tube gets spruced up for the Olympics

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    Commuters travel in a carriage on a London Underground train on March 5, in London, England. London's underground rail system, commonly called the tube, is the oldest of its kind in the world dating back to 1890. It carries approximately a quarter of a million people around its network every day along its 249 miles of track and 270 stations. The network has undergone several years of upgrade work and refurbishment in preparation for the Olympic Games which take place this summer. During this time the tube is expected to carry millions of visitors to and from the Olympic Parks.

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    A train moves along a platform at an Underground station on February 28, 2012 in London, England.

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    Commuters make their way on the escalator at Angel underground station on March 5, in London, England.

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    A commuter makes his way through an underground tube station on February 14, in London, England.

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    A conductor signals the departure of a train at an Underground station on March 5 in London, England.

    Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

    A general view of the Gloucester Road Underground sign on February 28, in London, England.

    Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

    Oda / Getty Images

    From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

    Launch slideshow

      London's underground rail system, commonly called the tube, is the oldest of its kind in the world dating back to 1890. It carries approximately a quarter of a million people around its network every day along its 249 miles of track and 270 stations. The network has undergone several years of upgrade work and refurbishment in preparation for the Olympic Games which take place this summer. During this time the tube is expected to carry millions of visitors to and from the Olympic Parks.

  • Colorful signs of spring at Indian festival

    Ajay Verma / Reuters

    Students, with their faces smeared in colored powder, celebrate Holi, also known as the festival of colors, at a college in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh March 2. The traditional event heralds the beginning of spring and will be celebrated all over India on March 8.

    Ajay Verma / Reuters

    A student, with her face smeared in colored powder, celebrates Holi, also known as the festival of colors, at a college in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh on March 2.

    Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

    Indian villagers smear themselves with colors during the Lathmar Holi festival at the Radha Rani temple in Barsana, on March 2.

    Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

    Indian villagers smear themselves with colours during the Lathmar Holi festival at the Radha Rani temple in Barsana, on March 2. During the Lathmar Holi festival, the women of Barsana, the legendary hometown of Radha, consort of Hindu God Krishna, attack the men from Nandgaon, the hometown of Hindu God Krishna, with wooden sticks in response to their efforts to put color on them.

    Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

    Indian women beat men with wooden sticks during the Lathmar Holi festival in Barsana, on March 2.

     

Older posts
Advertise | AdChoices