Your summer Goa trip can go horribly wrong. Take these precautions

With the mercury shooting through the roof, Goa’s private lifeguard agency issued on Thursday an advisory for the hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals who head for the beaches in summer, especially in May, when the temperature in the coastal state peaks at 38-40 degrees Celsius. The advisory asks tourists to look out for rip tides and powerful underwater currents that are a major cause for drowning off beaches — a regular phenomenon in summer, while also advising swimmers and beach-goers to stay hydrated and avoid direct sunlight. “The…

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Travel and free sex, Miss Travel app is controversial app that helps people see the world for free

Some may call it prostitution, but Miss Travel app likes to call it dating. The app, which is also available as a service on a website, is getting popular because it apparently allows people to travel the world for “free”. Free if you discount the possibility — or rather certainty — of sex. Miss Travel apparently allows rich people — likely to be mostly men — to sponsor trips of other people, in return for companionship and — again not said so explicitly but implied — sex. The dating app…

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Anthony Bourdain changed the food, travel and media worlds

My wife and I went to Thailand last year on our honeymoon. Had we never known of Anthony Bourdain, we might have just headed for Hawaii (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But Bourdain changed me. And not just me. Bourdain changed the restaurant world. He changed the travel world. And he changed the media world. In no small way, he helped change the world at large. He made it feel simultaneously much smaller and much bigger. He died from an apparent suicide last week, and the world will…

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The future of travel? Expect nose-to-jowl and armpit-to-armpit journeys

Richard Quest on the historic Kangaroo route As someone who has closely tracked the evolution of business travel and the technology that fuels it, veteran CNN journalist Richard Quest has more than a vague sense of what the future of travel looks like. For the short term, he says, it’s not incredibly comfortable, or glamourous. Here’s an edited excerpt of our chat with him that ranges from his idea of luxury to the golden rule of travel.  How has travel informed your world view? Travel has informed my world view…

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Stokvel members love island holidays, this travel agency found

Earlier this year, Flight Centre launched a new product aimed at stokvel members.  It found that, apart from local destinations, members were saving up for holidays in Mauritius and Thailand. Earlier this year, the travel agency Flight Centre started a stokvel for travel. More than 80 stokvels have signed up, and so far the most popular destinations (apart from domestic trips) are Thailand and Mauritius. A maximum of 30 people can form part of a stokvel – but they don’t have to travel together. To sign-up, members complete a application form,…

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Travel blogger apologizes for clambering onto Pompeii columns for photo

Photo: Nils Travel/Instagram A Belgian Instagrammer has apologized after his picture of himself lounging on top of an ancient column amid the ruins of Pompeii caused outcry in Italy. Posting the photo online last week, the user Nils Travels – a self-described “full-time globetrotter” – initially bragged about finding “a little area that had NO people! Meaning, nobody to yell at me meaning I had to come down from this thing! Exactly what I needed!” But by Monday, the travel blogger had posted an apology after history enthusiasts spotted his…

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