Poll: Best travel innovation of the past 10 years?

Name: Budget Travel LLC
Price range: $

By Erik Torkells

October 3, 2012

Have you participated in our poll yet? I just checked the results and I was very surprised. I'd tell you why, but I'm trying to get you to participate so you can see for yourself. Come on, it's for our 10th anniversary! Help us out! UPDATE: THIS POLL HAS BEEN CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR VOTING.

Plan Your Next Getaway

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Princeton's "gap year" subsidizing

The news that Princeton is creating a program so that incoming students can spend a year doing social work abroad made me deeply envious. As someone who has never taken more than two weeks off at a time since graduating from college (and I've taken all of two two-week vacations), I wish I'd spent some time getting a better sense of who I am and what the world is like. I do wonder, though, if 18-year-olds are ready for the experience; personally, I'd have been better off taking the year after college, not before it. Got any advice for any students thinking about one? And what would you do with a gap year?

Theme Parks

Federal judge says no to Segways at Disney World

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a federal judge has dismissed a potential class-action lawsuit against Walt Disney World that would have allowed disabled guests to use their own Segways at the theme parks. We first posted about the lawsuit back in November. Disney's contention has been that the theme parks offer alternative methods of transportation for the disabled and that Segways are a danger to the safety of its visitors if they're not operated properly. Currently, only trained employees are allowed to use the device in the parks or guests on specialized tours when the parks are closed (pictured to the right). It's important to note that U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell dismissed the case because the plaintiffs had shown no intention to actually visit the resort in the future—not necessarily because he agrees that Disney should not allow Segways. Did he make the right call? It's tough to say. On my many trips, I've been banged around not just by wheelchairs and motorized scooters, but strollers and scampering children, too! During busy periods, navigating a theme park can be an arduous task at best. But from what I've read, Segways are faster and more difficult to control than the above items (expect maybe the children), which can make them a risky proposition. So you tell us. Where does Disney's obligation to the safety of all of its guests end—and the rights of its disabled guests begin? Image: Epcot guests take a spin on a Segway during morning hours before the area opens (Disney)

Armed air marshals on all transatlantic flights?

Last week, officials in London announced the possibility that U.S. air marshals could soon be used on all transatlantic flights on U.S. carriers. These armed TSA employees currently fly undercover on some domestic and international flights as part of homeland security and anti-terrorism measures enacted after Sept. 11, 2001, although the program has been run on a smaller scale since 1970. (A full description of the air marshals’ history and purpose can be found on the TSA’s website.) This announcement follows a 10-page memorandum that the U.S. sent to many E.U. capitals requesting the use of air marshals and other security measures, according to Reuters. The news wire also reported that the U.S. wants to expand the Passenger Name Record, an agreement with European carriers in which the airlines give U.S. authorities 19 pieces of information about passengers flying to the U.S. 72 hours prior to departure. What security measures should the U.S. be implementing to improve passenger safety? Do armed marshals make you feel more or less secure? And should U.S. authorities have such unfiltered access to passengers’ personal information? —Liz Webber RELATED The TSA Starts a Blog and Explains its Liquid Carry-On Rules and News: Europe May Start Fingerprinting Visitors.

Inspiration

An explosive Chinese artist comes to New York

A headline-grabbing exhibition of 80 works by Cai Guo-Qiang, known for his pyrotechnic displays and gunpowder drawings, opens today at New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. It's the first time the Guggenheim has devoted a retrospective to a Chinese-born artist. On view through May 28, Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want To Believe spans two decades and features eight major installations, including Inopportune: Stage One (2004). First created as a horizontal display at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the nine cars have been reconfigured to hang from the ceiling of the museum's Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda. The result is both stunning and unnerving. Suspended by cables, seven white Chevrolet Metro sedans are pierced with tubes of blinking yellow, red, green and blue lights to simulate the stages of a bomb explosion. They appear to be floating in mid-air as the cables aren't very visible. An eighth car is parked in the lobby; the ninth car occupies the sixth floor. As you walk up the ramps in the museum's rotunda, you'll pass other installations that include nine life-size tigers, 99 life-size wolves, and 75 clay sculptures. The top three levels showcase canvases streaked with gunpowder and ink. Cai is putting his talents to work as director of visual and special effects for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. If his past work is any indication, the ceremonies are going to blow us away. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at E. 89th St., 212/423-3500, $18 adults, $15 for students and seniors (65+), free for children under 12. Closed Thursdays; Pay What You Wish on Fridays starting at 5:45 p.m. RELATED An Insider's Guide to the Beijing 2008 Olympics Image: Cai Guo-Qiang's Inopportune: Stage One, 2004 (David Heald/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation New York)

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