The dream of chic Italian travel is basically crowd control at this point. Summer has barely begun, and already mobs of eager tourists pack shoulder to shoulder, squeezing through narrow streets in Positano, crowding train platforms in Cinque Terre with large backpacks, and congregating aimlessly around fountains in Rome, in what some critics have referred … Read more
They wanted to give these tourists “the Boot.” Thousands of tourists inundated a picturesque Italian town this past weekend, creating a “gridlock” that obstructed traffic and forced other sightseers to wait “hours” to get in, as seen in dramatic footage circulating on X. The shocking scenes were recorded at Sirmione, a village of just over … Read more
Crackling fires have long been a gathering place where idyllic chestnuts are roasted, stories shared and souls warmed, whether around a hearth or at a campsite. Some folks cut their own wood and let it season, but most buy their wood without much thought about where it came from. As it happens, where our firewood … Read more
Overtourism has made it all the way to the “North Pole.” A small city in Finland dubbed the “official hometown of Santa Claus” has been overrun with eager travelers this holiday season — and frustrated residents are adding them all to the naughty list. Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland and home to the Santa Claus Village … Read more
They’re delivering a stern warning. Fed up with thousands of tourists turning up in literal boatloads nearly every day during the warmer months, Juneau, Alaska is taking drastic measures. Politicians in the 49th state’s capital city are preparing to vote in “ship free Saturdays” — which would bar cruise ships with over 250 people from … Read more
Some people visit the Chelsea Hotel because they want to be in the vicinity of the rooms where Bob Dylan wrote “Sara,” Sid Vicious stabbed Nancy Spungen, Arthur Miller recovered from his divorce from Marilyn Monroe and Janis Joplin pleasured Leonard Cohen. But, Taylor Swift fans are flocking to the counterculture landmark because she sings … Read more
This Italian island is overrun by so many goats that locals are begging people to sail away with as many as they can catch. Alicudi is the least inhabited — when you’re counting people, that is — of the seven Aeolian islands floating off the northern coast of Sicily. It is home to about 100 residents … Read more
A controversial “illegal immigrant magnet” community in Texas has another problem to add to a list that includes cartels, crime and squalor: abused and abandoned animals. Colony Ridge, located some 35 miles north of Houston and one of the biggest housing developments in the country, has more than 1,000 neglected animals in desperate need of … Read more