Spain was 2007's hottest spot

Viewers can offer feedback on eight TV pilots that The Travel Channel is considering. Visit travelchannel.com/pilot-week to vote. The shows premiering the week of December 17 include: Feasty Boys Eat America, Hamburger Paradise, 10 Things You Don't Know About: Florida, 10 Things You Don't Know: Hawaii, 25 Mind Blowing Escapes, Extreme Hotels, Art Attack, and The Deal Hunter. If one can judge a show by its title, 25 Mind Blowing Escapes seems the most interesting to me.

Here's the bad idea of the day, from AP/Yahoo.com: "A man nearly died from alcohol poisoning after quaffing a liter (two pints) of vodka at an airport security check instead of handing it over to comply with new carry-on rules, police said Wednesday. The incident occurred at the Nuremberg [Germany] airport on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old man was switching planes on his way home to Dresden from a holiday in Egypt." The report says he's at a clinic. Here's hoping he'll recover.

Unlike airplanes, airships are lighter-than-air vehicles—similar to blimps but faster. Airships wouldn't need airports for takeoff and landing, allowing them a wider range of places to pick up and drop off passengers. Airships also have the potential to be less damaging to the environment than airplanes and cars, although this hasn't been proven yet. In October, a company called Aeros began developing a working prototype, using funding from the military's research agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Here's a simulation of what it would look like: Unfortunately, airships are unlikely to be a budget travel option, at least not at first. Current designs require costly equipment, and Aeros is pitching their first airship as a vehicle to transport executives, most likely between the U.S. and Europe.

A new website, TaxiwayEcho.com, is forecasting new nonstop domestic routes that have "high likelihoods of being established." The site says that in tests it has successfully predicted new routes by major airlines about three out of four times. But its guesses about small, regional carrier routes have been worse than flipping a coin. Here are some of its predictions for nonstop routes: For Boston: Omaha, Sacramento, San Antonio, and Tucson. For Chicago's Midway: Jacksonville, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Richmond, and Rochester. For Columbus: Buffalo, Houston, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, and Providence. For Dallas: Akron, Buffalo, Sarasota, Tallahassee, and White Plains. For Denver: Albany, Buffalo, Long Beach, and Richmond. For Detroit: Chattanooga, Huntington, Lynchburg, Sarasota, and Wichita. For Fort Myers: Las Vegas, Nashville, Phoenix, Raleigh/Durham, and Washington (Dulles). For Houston (Intercontinental): Madison, Moline, and Springfield. For Indianapolis: Austin, Houston, Portland (Ore.), Salt Lake City, and San Diego. For Las Vegas: Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Richmond, and Sarasota. For Minneapolis/St. Paul: Akron, Birmingham, Pensacola, Sarasota, and Syracuse. For Louisville: Fort Lauderdale, Houston (Lobby), Los Angeles, and Washington (Dulles). For New Orleans: Columbus, Milwaukee, Norfolk, and Oakland. For Omaha: Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Tampa. For Philadelphia: Albuquerque, Grand Rapids, Little Rock, and Oklahoma City. For Reno: Baltimore/Washington, Minneapolis, Orlando, and San Antonio. For Salt Lake City: Houston, Indianapolis, and Wichita. For Saint Louis: Buffalo, Oakland, Providence, and White Plains. For other cities, visit TaxiwayEcho.