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Easter Saturday: It’s that sweet lull between the weekend travel crowds. If you’re celebrating, we wish you a happy holiday season.
Now here are the biggest travel stories this week.
Cruise control
Most of us are no stranger to online impulse purchases – but Santa Cruz resident Chris Willson went one further when he bought a dilapidated cruise ship off Craigslist. Now he’s raising funds for a $3 million restoration and living on board full time.
Then there are the people who want to spend the rest of their lives on cruise ships, like Seattle couple Angela and Richard Burk, who’ve so far spent a full year at sea. Theirs is the second story in our new CNN travel series Monthly Ticket, which spotlights some of the most fascinating topics in the travel world. In April, we’re focusing on the cruise industry.
Chance Encounters
Love can be found in the most curious places, even a Greyhound bus or broken-down commuter train.
For Tiffany and Bridgette Woods, their journey began with a chance meeting at Sacramento Bus Station and 35 years later, they’ve embraced marriage, children and Tiffany’s gender transition along the way.
And in southeast England, when a scuba divemaster’s phone died as she sat in a delayed train carriage one winter’s night in Christmas 2018, she struck up conversation with a nearby asparagus farmer. A long-distance relationship began, which then led to marriage.
Tourism recovery
Covid shook up the world’s top destination rankings. Now a new set of cities, most of them in Europe, lead the list.
And while the pandemic meant that China’s Guangzhou Airport handled the most passengers in 2020, last year a bustling US hub reclaimed its title as the world’s busiest airport.
For the third week in a row, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t add a single new destination to its highest-risk Level 4 category for travel. But while Asia and the Caribbean have seen declines in Covid rates, much of Europe remains at the highest-risk ranking.
Airline news
Security officers at a Boston airport discovered a long blade inside a traveler’s cane earlier this month. The man said he “had no idea the blade was in there.”
Other strange items recently confiscated by the US Transport Security Administration include a meth-filled burrito, a deodorant stick packed with bullets, and a chainsaw.
The US federal transportation mask mandate has been extended until May 3, meaning that face coverings are still required aboard airplanes, trains and on public transport.
US budget airline JetBlue has cut its summer schedule because of a “challenging staffing situation” and, in Europe, the EU has blacklisted 21 Russian airlines, citing “serious safety concerns.”
It’s a wing thing
First, we taught you the fascinating history of evacuation slides. Now we bring you the wonderful world of winglets.
Winglets are the ubiquitous little swooshes at the end of modern aircraft wings, and they help airplanes save thousands of gallons of fuel each year. Here’s how.
And if wings are your thing, you may also be interested in the latest blended wing concepts, such as the Airbus zero-emissions ZEROe and the futuristic Flying-V.
Life on the road
A new book profiles people who have renovated vintage Airstreams that are beautiful both inside and out.
In case you missed it
To mark the release of the CNN film “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” we looked back at the most-viewed episodes of “Parts Unknown.”
Catch up on the latest installment of the “Parts Unknown” podcast here.
A never-before-seen Venice landmark has just opened to the public.
And it’s right inside St. Mark’s Square.
Today, April 16, is the start of US National Park Week 2022 and, in celebration, the NPS is offering free entry to all 423 of its sites.
Lovers of outdoor adventure, find out more here.
Get set, travel
Freddie Mercury put it best when he sang, “Mmm num ba de, dum bum ba be.” We’ve all felt our ears under pressure as we change altitude on an airplane, but we don’t have to suffer in silence. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have asked experts why ears pop and how ear pain can be prevented.