World Briefs
On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 took off from Hilo International Airport at 1:25 PM for the short flight to Honolulu. On board were 90 passengers and five crew members. At approximately 1:48 the aircraft reached its flight altitude of 24,000 feet when a section of the hull on the forward left side of the plane ruptured. The aircraft suffered an immediate and explosive decompression, ripping away a large section of the hull along the roof of the plane.
Cinco de Mayo ("5th of May") is more than an excuse to drink margaritas. The festival actually commemorates the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 - a victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over the French. The date is observed as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride around the world. The Battle of Puebla delayed the French invasion of Mexico City. Five years later, Mexican forces defeated the French and expelled them from Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that commemorates a battle fought in Mexico on the fifth of May in 1862—a battle that became an unexpected victory for the Mexican army over the French forces. Mexico was attacked by foreign troops because President Benito Juárez defaulted on his payments to European nations after war had depleted the country’s ability to pay. Mexico had endured three wars that put their country [...]
Spring is one of the best times to visit a new country. It isn’t too hot or cold, and you get to experience everything a city has to offer without bad weather ruining everything. While there are dozens of places you can go to in springs, there are certainly a few standouts. If you want to go on a holiday to celebrate Spring, or simply want to enjoy the best a country has to offer, here are the best 10 places to visit during Spring months. Italy Italy is easily one of the best holiday destinations no matter the time of year, but Spring is undoubtedly the best season to visit. The fields are green, the orchards and plants are blossoming, and cool breezes complement the warm sun. Whether you spend it in the cities of Rome, Florence or Naples, on the beach, or in the vast countryside, [...]
On January 13, 1888, a small group of explorers and scientists, 33 in all, gathered at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC. (A place where DC members of the famed Explorers Club, including World Footprints, meet today.) They proposed to organize a society "to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural, historical, and natural resources." Two weeks later, they incorporated the National Geographic Society . Alexander Graham Bell, the Society's second president, proposed a magazine, sales of which would help fund the Society's activities. In 1899, Bell's son-in-law Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor was named the first full-time editor of National Geographic magazine. He served the organization for fifty-five years (until 1954), and members of the Grosvenor family have played important roles in the organization since. Bell and Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor devised the successful marketing notion of Society membership and the first major use of [...]
New York City's La Guardia Airport opened on this day in 1938. Located in Queens County on New York's Long Island, the airfield was originally named Glenn H. Curtiss Airport but it was re-named after Fiorello H. La Guardia, a former mayor of New York City who presided over the airport's construction. It's central location and proximity to the city center make La Guardia a favorite hub for many travelers. La Guardia is the smallest of the city's three primary airports behind JFK and Newark's Liberty International.
A mere 88 years ago, women had no Constitutionally guaranteed right to vote in elections. In January of 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced that he was supporting a new amendment to the US Constitution that would give women the right to vote. The House of Representatives passed the 19th amendment, but it failed in the Senate after a series of delays. The National Woman's Party began a campaign to oust members of Congress who voted against the 19th Amendment - with great success. The following year, both Houses of Congress were overwhelmingly pro-suffrage. On May 21, 1919 the House of Representatives passed the 19th amendment by a vote of 304 to 89 and in June, the Senate passed it by a margin of 56 to 24. After ratification by the States, the Nineteenth Amendment was certified on August 26, 1920. Beginning in the 1800s, women organized, petitioned, and [...]
Movies and television series can often open your eyes to new and wonderful locations, creating a tourist destination where previously few people visited. A classic example is Game of Thrones; the HBO show was a global success, and it created tourist hot spots of its filming locations. Forbes explains how Dubrovnik was so popular; it had to limit visitors to its old town to 4,000 per day. How did it become so popular?
If you love traveling and take vacations away from home, you're not alone. An estimated 1.4 billion people on the planet travel somewhere at least once every year. Unfortunately, the travel industry is partly responsible for the increase in greenhouse gas emissions compared to other sectors. Concerns over climate change and environmental issues should cause every traveler to pause and consider their carbon footprint. And by adhering to the following good travel habits, we can work together to reduce our wanderlust carbon footprints. Consider RV Road Trips Recreational Vehicles (RVs) were already popular and became even more so during the pandemic of 2020. That's a good thing because according to RV Insight, RV vacations are more environmentally friendly than traditional airline/hotel vacations. The study compared the carbon emissions of a family of four traveling by RV for vacation with that of flying to a hotel and renting a car. [...]
On May 14, 1796, Edward Jenner, an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, administered the first smallpox vaccination to 8 year old James Phipps. The basis for smallpox vaccination began in 1796 when the English doctor Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had gotten cowpox were protected from smallpox. Jenner also knew about variolation and guessed that exposure to cowpox could be used to protect against smallpox. To test his theory, Dr. Jenner took material from a cowpox sore on milkmaid Sarah Nelmes’ hand and inoculated it into the arm of James Phipps, the 9-year-old son of Jenner’s gardener. Months later, Jenner exposed Phipps several times to variola virus, but Phipps never developed smallpox. In 1977, with assistance from the World Health Organization, the smallpox virus became the first disease in the world to be eradicated from the global population as a result of smallpox [...]
The year 2020 has been about the coronavirus pandemic. It's affected the world, touching all spheres of life, be it economic, social or political. Countries like Singapore were favored for being the best prepared to handle the coronavirus due to their prior experience with the SARS virus that had spread across the Asian countries at rapid speed in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, it seems that the coronavirus is a more nefarious enemy that has proven far more difficult to handle than most experts had first believed.
The travel advisory which had been put in place for 5 months, advising against international travel, has been lifted by the US State Department. In a news release on Thursday, the state agency said it had coordinated the lifting of the travel advisory the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They had issued the Advisory on March 19, 2020, at the highest threat alert level-4. The State Department noted on the revised travel advisory that health and safety conditions had improved in some countries while others had the potential of deteriorating. The state agency has returned to the previous system of having a country-specific travel advisory. They argued that this would provide travelers with more information that was detailed and actionable. To help them make informed travel decisions, the customary travel levels 1 through 4 threat advisories, which were provided for individual countries, provided more detailed information. Croatia [...]
Allianz, which is a financial and travel insurance company, conducted a survey of 4,300 random clients who had purchased a policy between June 19, 2019, and February 29, 2020, with the policy ending by March 1, 2020. The survey’s intention was to ask: “what would make you comfortable enough to travel?”
