Galeries Lafayette in Morocco receives first Guinness World Record for largest in-store shop facade

by Jessica Festa on

The Galeries Lafayette, a department store in Casablanca, Morocco, has received an award from the Guinness Book of World Records for having “the largest in-store shop façade”. The façade has a combined area of 36,402.68 square feet (about 46 feet high and almost 791 feet wide) that takes over the three story store located in the Morocco Mall.

The Galeries Lafayette is set to open on December 5, 2011, along with the Morocco Mall itself.

While winning the Guinness Book of World Records spot is exciting, it is also worth noting that the Morocco Mall is the first destination mall in Africa and is being built as an economic development initiative of the Mediterranean Region, Southern Europe, and Africa. Construction began in 2007 and the mall is said to be on of the five largest in the world. People visiting the Morocco Mall will be immersed in a world of shopping and entertainment and will be able to visit the third musical fountain to be built in the world.

For more information on the Morocco Mall, click here.

Want to have your travel stories published in a book?

by Jessica Festa on

Have you ever wanted to have your travel stories published in a book? Well, now here’s your chance. The bloggers behind wegetthere operate under the strong belief that “travel means freedom”, and they strive to create a community of travelers, explorers, and adventurers. Taking their mission one step further, the bloggers have decided to put together a book, relevantly titled “Travel Means Freedom”, written by the travel community.

Anyone is eligible to share their travel stories. All that you must do is click here to be guided through the 3 steps:

  • Download the Microsoft Word template for your story.
  • Write a travel story that is about 1,000 words long.
  • Submit the contact information form.

That’s it! Submissions are being accepted through November 22, 2011. The book will be available in print and digital format, and selected contributors will receive 80% of the profits made from digital book sales. To learn more and submit your story, click here.

Occupy Lego land at Occupy Wall Street

by Elizabeth Seward on

Occupy Wall Street, based in New York City, is something everyone, or most everyone, knows about at this point. The movement, circled around protests that exclaim against, among other things, corporate greed, has become contagious. It has spread to cities across the world–at my last check, over 1,000 cities. The Occupy movement is a worldwide movement, and for that, it has nearly become an attraction. In fact, I have heard many people talking about going down to or driving past Occupy Austin just to see it. Not to be a part of it, but to see it, like a landmark, like a tourist attraction. And c’est la vie, I have no comments on that. But the Occupy Lego land installation present at the famous home-base for the movement, Occupy Wall Street, that I have a comment on: It’s meta enough to be hilarious. And hilarious enough to be a little attraction itself, within what has become a large attraction. Has anyone seen this? You can check out some more photos of the display here.

New Seven Wonders of Natural World revealed amidst controversy

by Kraig Becker on

After four years of hype and fanfare, the new seven wonders of the natural world were unveiled last Friday, honoring some of the most amazing landscapes on the planet. But as the competition drew to a close, dark clouds of controversy formed, casting a shadow over the entire affair.

The selection process for the new seven wonders began back in 2007, when 440 natural wonders, from 220 countries, were first submitted for consideration. Over the course of several rounds of voting and judging, that number was eventually reduced to 28 finalist. The seven winners were selected from that list following months of online voting.

According to the preliminary results, the new seven wonders include the following: the Amazon Rainforest (South America); Halong Bay (Vietnam); Iguazu Falls (Argentina/Brazil), Jeju Island (South Korea); Komodo National Park (Indonesia); Puerto Princesa Subterranean River (Philippines) and Table Mountain (South Africa).

The organizers behind the new seven wonders are quick to note that this list is for the provisional winners, as they are currently conducting a recount of the votes to ensure that the correct wonders have been named. The results are now being independently verified and they expect to confirm the winners in early 2012.

On the eve of the announcement of those winners, disturbing stories began to emerge about how organizers were attempting to collect millions of dollars from the nations that were home to the finalists. When the search for the new wonders first began more than four years ago, countries were required to pay a $199 entry fee, but as the selection process narrowed the candidates, some countries were asked to pay large sums of cash to aid in a world-wide marketing campaign. The Indonesian government claimed, for example, that the organizers wanted $10 million to cover licensing fees and an additional $47 million to host the official closing ceremony. Earlier, the Maldives withdrew from the competition altogether when costs to participate spiraled upwards towards $500,000.For their part, organizers of the new seven wonders competition say that their branding efforts were optional, and that allegations of charging exorbitant prices are completely “baseless.” They also refused to discuss exactly how much individual countries were charged for taking part in the branding campaign, but did acknowledge that the fees varied by nation.

Considering that the entire “new seven” idea was the brainchild of an international marketing firm, it should come as no surprise that it was seen as a way to make some money. Critics have pointed out however, that the firm should have secured financial backing prior to announcing the campaign four years ago, thus avoiding any attempts to seek funds from the countries involved.

Which brings up another issue with the whole competition. Since the organizers also don’t disclose voting numbers, we have to take it on faith that they are reporting the correct winners. After all, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that a country that paid the large fees would receive some kind of preferential treatment over those that bulked at them. I suppose the independent verification system is suppose to keep everything on the up-and-up, but there is no denying that there were some strange decisions made along the way.

Those issues aside, what are your feeling on the list of the new seven wonders of the natural world? Did we end up with some good selections or are there others sites that were more worth of inclusion

Explorer to make back-to-back journey to North and South Pole

by Kraig Becker on

British adventurer Mark Wood is currently in Punta Arenas, Chile where he is preparing to start an epic journey. If all goes as planned, later this week, Mark will fly to the Antarctic, where he’ll begin a four-month odyssey that will take him to both the North and South Poles back-toback. While he certainly won’t be the first person to visit those two remote places, he does hope to become the first to make consecutive journeys to the opposite ends of the Earth.

Weather permitting, the first stage of the expedition will begin on Wednesday, when Wood will start his solo and unassisted trek to the South Pole. That leg of the journey is expected to take roughly 50 days to complete and will cover approximately 680 miles of ice and snow. Upon arriving at his destination, Wood will be picked up by plane and shuttled back to Chile, where he’ll immediately set off for Canada to start the second stage of the expedition. That will entail crossing another 700 miles of ice, over an estimated 65 day period, culminating with his arrival at the North Pole. If he is successful, he’ll then be plucked from the ice once again, and flown directly to an environmental conference that will focus on the effects of climate change.

In order to reach the two Poles, Wood will travel on skis, dragging a sled behind him. That sled will be weighted down with his gear, food, and other supplies, enabling him to survive for weeks on end, by himself, without any outside assistance. While on the trail, he’ll burn in excess of 8000 calories per day, enduring bitterly cold temperatures, whiteout conditions, and treacherous terrain.
Wood is making this journey to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on our planet and he is asking for support from others to help him achieve his goal. But rather than looking for monetary donations, Mark is instead asking for others to pledge to do some simple environmental actions that will cumulatively amount to a savings 100,000 kilograms of CO2. You can find out more about this program, and pledge your support, on the expedition’s DoNation page.

It will be a tremendous display of strength and endurance if Wood is able to pull this off. Spending 115 nearly-consecutive days in polar environments, alone no less, will take its toll on anyone. Additionally, the changes to our planet have made it increasingly more difficult to travel by foot to the North Pole, so he’ll have to have a bit of luck on his side for that to happen as well. Still, you have to applaud his ambitions and wish him the best along the way.

[Photo courtesy of Mark Wood]