World's Best Places to Visit

Top destinations to pop the question You’ve probably spent more time than is reasonable thinking about how to propose to your dearest love in such a way as to minimise the chances of being cast back into the lonely doldrums of internet pornography and microwave meals for one. Whether you’re attached or single, you’ve probably fantasised about hiding a ring in a glass of cheap champagne, training a goose to cough a proposal into their lap, or driving a flaming monster truck around an oil field to spell the words ‘MARRY ME OR DIE.’ To help you get it right, online ticket retailer FloridaTix.com has put together a list of the top 10 most romantic places to propose. Instead of relying on a boring, unsexy survey, the company scoured YouTube for every wedding proposal video uploaded since 2005. That’s over 200,000 videos of people rubbing their ephemeral happiness in your face. Here’s the complete rundown: 10. The Empire State Building (New York, ...

UFO sighting near Heathrow Airport Pilot claims to have had a very close encounter of the third kind The captain was at 34,000ft and in command of his A320 Airbus when he claims to have seen the unidentified flying object out of his window. The incident report states: "He (the pilot) was under the apprehension that they were on collision course with no time to react. His immediate reaction was to duck to the right and reach over to alert the FO (first officer); there was no time to talk to alert him. The captain was fully expecting to experience some kind of impact with a conflicting aircraft." The incident took place about 20 miles west of Heathrow. In his report the captain claimed the ‘metallic’ bright silver ‘cigar/rugby ball-like’ UFO appeared just a few feet from his A320 airbus and he spotted it travelling towards him out of the left-hand side cockpit window at about 6:30pm on July 13 last year. The aircraft’s instrument...

Koala goes for cheeky grope Koala becomes global internet hit after being caught on camera A koala has become a global internet hit after a photo of him with a strategically placed paw on one of the "Best Jobs in the World" winners was posted on Facebook. The picture has had more than 3000 "likes" and been shared more than 300 times since it was uploaded to the Visit Queensland Facebook page on Friday. The photo, with Queensland winner Elisa Detrez, from France, was taken at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast last week. The saucy marsupial's grip has also generated plenty of comment from fans. "I think the koala is doing the best job" one wrote. "I've never seen a koala grin before," wrote another. Elisa, who was named winner of the park ranger job in Queensland on Friday, said she didn't realise where the koala's paw was at the time. "I was concentrating on the pictures and questions...

Backpackers resort to sleeping in McDonald’s playground Backpackers skimp on accommodation to sleep in McDonald’s playground in Sydney Being a backpacker on a round the world trip means you’ve got to run on an extremely tight budget. Often that means sleeping in the airport to save on accommodation, but what happens if it’s closed? You turn to McDonald’s of course. A number of backpackers have been using the McDonald’s playground in Sydney as a place to crash for the night. Earlier in the week, at least eight people shacked up at the McDonald’s on one night. “I’ve never spent so many hours in a McDonald’s,” said Anja Heins, who was awaiting a 6am flight. “They kicked us out (of the airport) at 11pm and said come back in the morning.” UK resident John Haycock asked: “Why on earth can’t they open the terminal? It’s not very comfortable in here and it’s hard to sleep.” Sydney...

Women finally ‘allowed’ to wear trousers in Paris 200-year-old French law is abolished Good news ladies; France has finally abolished an old law stating that women could not wear trousers in Paris. Previously, if you strutted the streets of the French capital in trousers you were risking the possibility of walking right into trouble, and into a jail cell. The law, which was initially created in 1799, meant that women had to ask police for special permission to “dress as men” in Paris. However, it has finally been revoked. The only time women were allowed to wear trousers was when “the woman was holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse.” There had been repeated attempts to repeal the law over the years, and it was officially overturned on January 31 by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France’s minister of women’s rights. It took so long to get rid of the law as it “wasn’t a priority.” However, when a member of t...

Ryanair’s sexy staff calendar adverts banned Back in November 2011 we ran a story ‘sexy staff strip for Ryanair calendar’. Apparently it was a little too sexy as Ryanair have had two UK newspaper adverts banned after complaints that they were sexist. According to the BBC, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 17 complaints about the adverts that depicted woman posing in their underwear with the headline: "Red Hot Fares & Crew! One way from £9.99". The airline said the adverts promoted its 2012 cabin crew charity calendar, and used images directly from it, adding that crew members had posed voluntarily for the pictures. Ryanair also argued that you often see similar images in the media the adverts were placed in. But the ASA did not agree, saying they believed most readers would interpret the images and the text as "linking female cabin crew with sexually suggestive behaviour". The ASA said: "We considered...

Gap year taxi breaks world record Three British adventurers on their gap year have broken the Guinness World Record for the longest ever taxi journey, clocking up 32,000 miles in a 10-month adventure. Paul Archer (24), Johno Ellison (28) and Leigh Purnell (24) set off in February 2011 in a journey that spanned 41 countries and three continents. They started off in the UK and travelled through Europe, Russia, the Middle East, India, China and South East Asia with their final destination Sydney, Australia. Their round the world trip is all in the aid of charity and they aim to raise £20,000 for the Red Cross. If the taxi meter had been running it would have cost the trio an estimated £54,000. Mr Archer, of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, said they came up with the idea on a night out. He said: “We were in a taxi and it seemed like the longest journey ever. We decided to check out what the longest taxi ride was and break it. "Failure wasn...

Albania voted ‘top value destination’ for 2012 For those of you looking for a cheap holiday or gap year for 2012 then look no further than Albania. Frommer’s, the travel guidebook, have unveiled their awards and destinations for 2012 and the Albanian Riviera scooped the award for ‘top value destination’. The Albanian Riviera is a section of coastline running along the south of Albania, described by Frommer’s as: “Unsung, undeveloped and eminently affordable, the Albanian Riviera has all the natural attractions of its Croatian counterpart further north but without the crowds and considerable expense. Here you have white-sand beaches, crystal-clear waters, and Mediterranean villages barely changed since long before King Zog.” Backpacking Albania is a popular option for InterRailing but it seems as if it’s going to be popular for short gaps and gap years in 2012. One of the most popular things to do in Albania is to walk a...

Congratulations to Travel Bug Robert for his latest win at the oh-so-prestigious Trippy Awards as Filmmaker of the 12 months above at Trip Movies. Rob uploaded a whopping 32 video clips in 2010 alone, documenting journeys in such areas as L.A., Brussels and Ireland. In honor of the end of Mardi Gras, we’ve posted Rob’s video from his trek out into the New Orleans nightlife, impromptu jazz band and all.

Did you know that Australians are apparently the world’s worst tippers? In accordance to whom? Waiters, bartenders, surly New Zealanders? Nope, the Australians themselves. Turns out, they’re self-avowed undesirable tippers, but not out of spite. As one particular Australian notes, it is a culture issue. We just do not do it it is not part of our culture. Some Aussies do try out but we invariably get it wrong: the incorrect quantity, done the incorrect way, provided to the wrong man or woman. And that is the primary issue. It is not that Australians do not want to tip (although that is element of it), it’s that we really do not actually fully grasp how the full point is completed when we attempt. So, following time a four-top rated group of Aussies sits down in your area in New York (oh guy, this lingo is definitely bringing me back to my waiter days), be prepared to either have an awkward explanation as to the cultural distinctions among the U.S. and back residence, or go residenc...

So, now that it’s officially summertime on the calendar, and Montana has ultimately caught up to the strategy of “summer,” I’m obtaining pretty jacked up. I say this for the reason that, as I was viewing the morning session of Sportcenter to catch up on missed Globe Cup action, I recognized the World Cup is just a sliver of awesome occasions taking place in amazing areas. Apart from soccer in South Africa, Wimbledon just begun in England, and the Tour de France is suitable close to the corner. Three of the world’s premier sporting events — what an amazing time of year! Childish jubilation aside, I started to debate with myself about which occasion would be the coolest to attend given the location and the occasion itself. Wimbledon has its tennis traditions and prestige, and is held at the All England Club in London — London’s not a bad area to waste a handful of hrs among events. The World Cup includes 32 distinctive national soccer teams playing in nine diverse South African cities ...

Currently being a man I was entirely oblivious to the odd very little corner of the web devoted to girls displaying off what they carry in their handbags (a cousin to this is the displaying-off-what-I-purchased videos on YouTube). On Flickr you can obtain groups such as Whatsinmybag and Whatsinyourbag, collections consisting of thousands of this kind of photos. Not acquiring a great deal curiosity in what makeup ladies are carrying close to, I wondered if there was a little something very similar for travelers. Nicely, there is. For the traveler, you can find: Whatsinmybag Travel and Whatsinyourbag Travel. You can even uncover video clips of the similar thing. (I swear, I didn’t even know this was a “thing” when I took images of my personal pre-packed bag before my Argentina trip, Colombia journey, or Ireland journey.) In the curiosity of traveler envy, I made the decision to select out some of my favored pre-packed bag photos, and to try out to peg what form of traveler just about ...

It’s that time of 12 months yet again: Groundhog Day! Oh yeah, and it is Trippy Awards season, where all the glamor and pizazz that is the travel video globe comes out on show to the planet. But critically, head more than to TripFilms.com during February to vote for your favored video, with the grand prize currently being an all-cost-paid journey to China (an award I misplaced last year to “Justin” — a feat not be repeated once more this year due to Jutin becoming securely locked in my basement for the month).

Rather humorous parody of those oh-so-famed “Where The Hell Is Matt” movies. I existing, “Where The Hell Is Shut-in Matt.” (Editor’s Note: I have no relation, other than my very first identify, to both of these Matts. Thankfully.)