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Travel through Europe with our writers:
Across Northern Europe, Balkan Odyssey
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Winter break just wrapped up–so it’s time to think about what to do when the kids are out of school this summer. Here, the “Wall Street Journal” and Lonely Planet share their top five family travel destinations for 2014. Can’t get to these places this year? Don’t worry, most of them are likely to still be around in 2015.
The litany of year-end travel-related lists continues. Today, it’s TripAdvisor, which unveiled its most reviewed cities. Leading the way: London, Rome and Paris, according to the Telegraph. The top U.S city was New York, which ranked fourth overall — a stunning blow for American exceptionalism.London venues received 459,000 reviews, 96,000 more than Rome.
According to the Telegraph, “TripAdvisor features more than 260 million monthly visitors and its community has contributed more than 125 million reviews and opinions to the site, up from 75 million reviews and opinions a year ago.”
Last night’s live production of The Sound of Music on NBC got more flak than Maria did for being an unsolvable problem nun. The acting was bad, the costumes St. Pauli-esque and the mountains… gasp! They were fake!
No. It’s all wrong. Those fake mountains.The captain is a vampire. And there’s only one Julie Andrews. Two minutes was enough #SoundofMusic
– Paola (@Paopalinaa) December 6, 2013
But there was one winner in last night’s performance: the city of Salzburg, Austria. Home of the Von Trapps, setting of the original movie and now site of thousands of Edelweiss-blasting tour buses and gazebo-worshipping 16-going-on-17-year-olds, Salzburg enjoyed a flurry of love last night.Some viewers reminisced about past visits to the Austrian city (and the nearby lake district):
Watching the Sound of Music tonight reminded me of this summer in Salzburg, Austria #takemeback pic.twitter.com/4spx45tgk5
– Abby Webb (@AbbyEWebb) December 6, 2013
Many were eager to show off their inner Maria:
#SoundofMusic live was nice, but will never top my run through Salzburg’s Mirabell Gardens singing do-re-mi and dancing along the fountain!
– Victoria Freile (@vfreile) December 6, 2013
I tried to do my best Sound of Music last year in Salzburg pic.twitter.com/hug5SLYtqX
– Adam Smith (@asmith83) December 6, 2013
For some, it inspired new interest in traveling to Austria:
Any of my HUE 2015 pals want to go with me to Salzburg to take The Sound of Music tour? I’m feeling more in the mood now! #soundofmusiclive
– Caroline Nelson (@cenfuturestar) December 6, 2013
Others piped in from Salzburg, where the Sound of Music is apparently still a hot jam after almost 50 years:
Our hotel in Salzburg plays the Sound of Music on a 24 hour loop. I can see the Alps from my window. Good life.
– Meghan (@meghanXrino) December 3, 2013
There was also the inevitable “there’s more to do in Salzburg than the Sound of Music”:
These hills are alive with more than the #soundofmusic. #Salzburg boasts of vibrant gardens & amazing architecture: http://t.co/VVI14AN152
– U.S. News Travel (@USNewsTravel) November 24, 2013
And finally, more Sound of Music Live bashing — this time in defense of the real place:
A sound of music movie not filmed in Salzburg is a fraud. Even if Carrie underwood is ridiculously attractive..
– Zac (@zpictures) December 6, 2013
So while Carrie Underwood and Vampire Bill may not be winning Emmys, it was a good night for the beautiful city of Salzburg. Which by the way does have more to offer than the Sound of Music, including a wonderful Christmas Market, which is open right now.
It’s a story almost as old as the Grand Tour of Europe itself: traveler takes tour in Italy, traveler gives it a poor review on TripAdvisor, guide allegedly calls traveler to complain about the review, traveler records phone call, call gets set to music and posted on YouTube where its language makes it NSFW (at least without earphones)..From YouTube:
A tourist gave a bad review on TripAdvisor for a very boring tour (he had 8 other tours with 4-5 stars in his profile – but this one was just bad). After the tour guide read it, he flipped out and called the tourist & decided to go into a tirade, despite being told he was being recorded. When I heard the story (from the tourist), I was shocked & offered to make this video of his story (I am better at MovieMaker). The tour guide’s name may not be able to be posted without his permission due to Italian privacy laws (TBD). But anyway, enjoy & be careful on review sites!
Fifty-one percent of British air travelers “don’t trust” female pilots, citing their inability to handle pressure, according to a poll conducted by U.K.-based travel site sunshine.co.uk and reported by The Daily Mail.
Twenty-six percent of respondents said the pilot’s gender was irrelevant while 14 percent were less likely to trust a male pilot. Respondents who did not trust a man heading the cockpit, cited their “hot headedness” and ability to be easily distracted as reasons for their distrust.One possible reason for the unease about female pilots: their relative rareness. Ten percent of respondents said their previous crews had been exclusively male. And the Huffington Post points out a 2010 FAA report that notes of the 266,000 commercial pilots in America, only about 8,715 were female.
