Have you heard about Jim Clay Harper (a.k.a. “Ether”) and his girlfriend, Danielle Bremner (a.k.a. “Dani”)?

They’re the couple who allegedly tagged their way across Europe, enjoying the continent’s train system and making their own graphic improvements along the way.

Harper and Bremner, described by the New York City Police Department as some of the world’s most traveled artists…ahem, vandals, were arrested last week upon their return to the U.S. after having train-hopped from London to Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt, and Hamburg, leaving a trail of graffiti behind them.

Next stop for the couple?

If convicted of the charges of which they stand accused, Harper and Bremner may be taking a seven year all-inclusive in the state pen.

Maybe prison staff will let them work the paint detail.

Feature photo: watz (creative commons)
Photo: funkandjazz (creative commons)

No matter where you travel, you’re sure to come across McDonald’s and KFC.

But you don’t REALLY want to eat there, do you?

The Internet offers some great resources for hungry travelers. From the high-budget to the low-budget, there’s no excuse for not going 100% local when you eat.

Chowhound, one of the web’s oldest and most popular food guides, has a home page that’s organized by region, both U.S. and international. With stories, blogs, videos, and unflinching praise and criticism by the site’s hounds, few corners of the Earth have been left untouched by Chowhound’s foodies.

Road tripping across the USA? Check out Traveling USA, which is comprehensive in its coverage of all types of culinary sites: from candy shops to roadside stands. You can search by state, too!

If you want to plan a trip around travel, check out Epicurious’s Dining & Travel blog. While many of the itineraries tend to focus on US destinations and on higher-end restaurants, the articles on this blog are delicious enough to savor as an armchair traveler. My favorite recent article is The Top 10 Farm-to-Table Restaurants. What’s nice about this article is that it overlooks predictable locavore restaurants like Chez Panisse, for lesser known restaurants in less frequented cities and towns.

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Hungry for more? Check out Matador’s menu of food-related articles: 8 Surefire Ways to Spice Up Your Travels, What Every Backpacker Should Know About Cooking for Themselves, and The Ultimate Vegan’s Guide to Finding Food on the Road.

And food, of course, is great fodder for blogs. Check out some of my Matador favorites: An informative blog about eating in Japan by Matador member lizardlee; Common Denominators: Soy Sauce and Chilies by noellejt; and Hechizo: Culinary Enchantment in Tulum by Michelle in Playa.

Feature photo: dfinnecy (creative commons)
Photo: hazy jenius (creative commons)

But does it still beat the life of the cubicle jockey?

I’m betting the answer is: Yes!

Sick of the office life? Want more adrenalin (with or without polar bears) in your day?

Be sure to check out the Traveler’s Notebook series on Travel and Adventure Jobs, and how to get ‘em.

Some of Barack Obama’s supporters take things further than others…

Photo courtesy of Abram Plaut at Yo! Japan.

There’s lots of bad news in the world.

War.

Poverty.

Threats to the environment.

But amidst all the doomsday forecasts, there’s lots of good news, too.

And the Global Oneness Project wants you to know all about it.

The Global Oneness Project, an organization dedicated to the exploration of “how the radically simple notion of interconnectedness can be lived in our increasingly complex world,” travels the world in search of stories about people and organizations doing transformative community building. What they find is turned into short documentaries distributed for free.

This week’s freebie is a DVD of short films produced by the Global Oneness Project. Taking the viewer from India to Ecuador, every short film–ranging from 4 to 17 minutes in length–is a straight up shot of positive stoke about the state of the world.

I’ll send my copy to the first person who posts a link to their Matador profile in the comments section below. Don’t have one? No problem… sign up for a free account here.

Photos by: Global Oneness Project (creative commons)

Photo by Mulling It Over

Drought conditions in the Black Rock desert could mean burners are in for an even wilder ride than usual at Burning Man this year.

According to this Wired story, serious dust storms could cause chaos at the week-long festival - but the severity of them will depend on the strength of the winds.

From the story: “…it’s still too early to tell whether the winds will bring the pain to Burning Man. Not that it will matter much to attendees, who can’t do much more than hunker down and wait the storms out.”

“They are sort of a captive audience when the dust storm comes up,” said one researcher of the burners on the playa. “In a more typical situation, you just get the hell off of it.”

Undeterred by dust storms big or small? Headed to Black Rock City this week?

Be sure to check out Matador’s First-Timers Guide to Burning Man.

So, if you haven’t been following news from outer space lately, here’s an update.

Last year, Galactic Suite Limited established itself as a private corporation dedicated to pioneering the space tourism industry. Shortly thereafter, Galactic Suite announced that it would be devloping “orbital resorts” in space, with rooms available to deep-pocketed tourists (the cost is $4 million USD for three nights) as early as 2012.

Travelers buying a space travel package will start their 18 week vacation on a tropical island–not yet identified–where they will receive training that simulates that received by astronauts. With the training under their belts, travelers will then be launched into space, where they’ll confirm whether Galactic Suite’s sales pitch is true: Watch a sunset 15 times a day. Orbit the world in 80 minutes.

Earlier this week, Galactic Suite announced that it already has some reservations, and that everything’s on track for the official opening in 2012.

What do you think about space tourism? Would you sign up for a Galactic Suite trip if you had the money? Share your thoughts below.

Feature photo: Carmelo Aquilina (creative commons)

Actually, make that the Bird’s Nest, plus the rest of Beijing’s flashiest Olympic venues.

Yup, in playing cards.

The answer? 140,000.

Check it out:

And it seems the card-stacker in the top video isn’t the only one into teeny tiny models of the Olympic Village.

Here’s the whole thing - right down to the sailing venues - in Lego:

Some of our favorite Engrish signs found at home and abroad…

Photo: Augapfel (creative commons)

Photo: Shamam (creative commons)

Photo: Stardog Champion (creative commons)

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Photo: xiaming (creative commons)

Feature photo: xiaming (creative commons)

Today’s crash of Spanair flight JK5022 upon take off at Madrid’s Barajas Airport was the latest in a series of recent air disasters that have anxious passengers wondering about airline safety.

The cause of the crash, which killed at least 153 of the 172 people on board, has not yet been determined.

While most aspects of flight safety are beyond passengers’ control, experts do offer some tips to frequent flyers:

-Choose non-stop flights over multi-stop routes: Because most accidents, like today’s crash, occur during take-off or landing, reducing the number of take-off and landing events decreases the likelihood of crash potential.

-Choose larger planes over smaller ones: In major accidents, larger planes with greater passenger capacity offer statistically significant survival advantages compared to planes with fewer than 30 seats.

-Know your emergency exit: Simple enough, and though it won’t always save your life, it may increase your chances.

-Fly with safe airlines: Though any airline and any aircraft can experience adverse events, AirSafe.com maintains a list of the airlines that have had no fatalities since 1970. They even list airlines by region.

-Learn the six basic crash positions: Morbid? Yes. Life-saving? Potentially. Check out AirSafe.com’s video on the six basic crash positions: