Category: travel

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Here Are Expert Tips for Traveling Alone as a Woman from a Travel Blogger

Traveling alone can be really scary, especially if you’re a woman. Simply walking down the street in a city in your home country is a challenging experience (hello, street harassers!), let alone in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language or have cell phone service.

That’s why Ciara Johnson, a popular Black travel blogger on Instagram, shared a series of solo travel tips for women.

Photo Credit: Twitter

“I’m a woman and I travel the world alone, from Mexico to Morocco to Cuba to Bosnia to many other countries. Here’s a thread on how I stay safe,” Ciara wrote on Twitter.

First, Ciara is “hyper aware” of her surroundings. “Scan your surroundings,” she said. “Is someone walking close to you? Does someone appear to be watching you? Did that car just pull beside you & slow down?” If you notice something awry, don’t hesitate to get out of there. Always trust your gut.

As Ciara writes: “It’s better to look a little paranoid than to be harassed, robbed, or worse.”

Photo Credit: Ciara Johnson

Second, Ciara recommends doing a lot of research before you go. You can never be too prepared, so look up “cultural norms, customs, how to dress, scams, natural disasters, political climate, etc.,” she writes. She also recommends looking for accounts by other solo female travelers, and checking reviews for hotels.

Third, Ciara uses technology wisely. She avoids pulling her phone out randomly on the street. But she does use Google Maps, translation apps, Uber. She makes sure to have access to data to keep her family and friends aware of her location.

“Make sure someone, anyone… knows where you are & where you’re staying,” she said.

Photo Credit: Ciara Johnson

Fourth, Ciara trusts other women before other men. Solo travelers have to rely on strangers to some extent, but don’t trust just anyone. “If I need directions, I usually ask a woman. This is not to say all women can be trusted, but I feel more comfortable trusting a woman on first instinct.”

And fifth, Ciara avoids giving out information that could be used against her. She doesn’t let her massive social media following know exactly where she travels until after she’s left, for example. She lies if someone asks if she’s travelig alone.

Armed with these tips, there’s nowhere you can’t go – and the experience is totally worth it!

The post Here Are Expert Tips for Traveling Alone as a Woman from a Travel Blogger appeared first on UberFacts.

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10 Ghost Tours That Will Seriously Give You the Creeps

I really, really love all things creepy. I’m talking about scary movies, scary books, scary everything.

If you like to dabble in scary tourism, this is just the list for you.

Today we take a look at 10 real-life, creepy tours recommended by the Buzzfeed community that are guaranteed to give you a good scare.

1. The Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, Colorado

“The Stanley Hotel (where The Shining was filmed) offers guided tours, and you can even spend the night in specific rooms that are reported to have ‘higher than usual activity.’ The guide said many people died building the hotel, and their ghosts will often come out to ensure guests are enjoying it.

While on the tour, one of the guides encouraged me to take a picture in this one dark hallway. When I had the film developed, there were two orbs, one on each side of me, clear as could be. So spooky.”

2. The Jennie Wade House – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

“After taking pictures on the Jennie Wade House tour, a bunch of my friends and I had photos turn out really strangely— there were giant clouds and shadows in weird spots.

At one point, we also heard footsteps upstairs and thought it was the other tour group, but then we found out they were in the basement.

A chain that was blocking off a section began to swing in circles with nobody touching it — scary!”

3. Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum – Las Vegas, Nevada

“Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum is located in a mansion that the state of Nevada deemed haunted after they found a pentagram, human flesh, and streaks of blood in it in the ’70s.

It contains 30 rooms of artifacts from Zak’s personal collection, including an allegedly demonic chair that was used during the Ed and Lorraine Warren exorcisms!”

4. Jack the Ripper Tour – London, England

“Last Halloween, a few friends and I went on the Jack the Ripper guided tour in London. Our host was amazing — she took us on a walk to all the spots where the murders had happened and the victims were found. She had photos and went into a LOT of detail about the killings.

The night itself was freezing cold, which literally added to the chill of everything!”

5. The Waverly Hills Sanatorium – Louisville, Kentucky

“I did an overnight paranormal investigation at the Waverly Hills Sanatorium just for fun, not believing I’d experience anything paranormal. It was life-changing!

I saw and heard things that night that I never thought could happen. It was both terrifying and fascinating.

I’d do it again any day.”

6. Manly Quarantine Station – Sydney, Australia

“Q Station is by far the scariest tour ever!! There’s so much amazing history to the place, which has pitch black buildings, cold spots, and decontamination showers.

Oh, and a couple of jump scares thrown in for good measure!”

7. French Quarter Ghost & Legends Tour – New Orleans, Louisiana

“This tour in the French Quarter of New Orleans is such a fun and interesting tour of all of the crazy happenings down there. It is especially terrifying to go see the Lalaurie Mansion, home of serial killer Madame Lalaurie.

Nic Cage used to own the home but he would never spend the night because of what had happened in it!”

8. The Crescent Hotel – Eureka Springs, Arkansas

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Its National Paranormal Day! 👻 So let's throw it back to 2012 when me and my uncle were into Ghost Hunting and he took us on a road trip from Missouri to the infamous Crescent Hotel located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Honestly, a really beautiful place with a chilling history. The Crescent Hotel is known to be one of the most haunted hotels in America. It was first a resort for the rich that became a hospital for cancer patients. Unfortunately, the "doctor" Norman Baker was running scams and likely performing dangerous experiments on the patients leading to their death. He was found to not have any medical training and was eventually arrested. When we went, we only caught a few orbs (seen in a few of the pics) on the haunted tour and my mom's arm got yanked while she was sleeping. Yes, we stayed overnight! What's crazy is that recently there has been an unearthing of jars filled with body parts. This discovery happened after the recent Ghost Adventures visit in February! Creepy! • • • #nationalparanormalday #Horrorjunkie #GhostHunting #GhostAdventures #EurekaSprings #Arkansas #TheCrescentHotel #MostHaunted #Haunts #Ghosts #Mansion #Roadtrip #Scary #Hotel #Missouri #Travel #GhostTown #Supernatural #Paranormal #Creepy

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“On the Crescent Hotel tour, they talk about many different ghosts that stay in certain rooms and areas.

Plus, they even have a cat ghost!!!”

9. The Sorrel-Weed House Tour – Savannah, Georgia

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#noghostswereseen

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“The Sorrel-Weed House Tour is all fun and games until you descend into the basement.

It’s hands down the creepiest place I’ve ever set foot in. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.”

10. The Joshua Ward House Tour – Salem, Massachusetts

“When I went on a tour of the Joshua Ward House — which was once the home of a High Sheriff in the Salem Witch Trials — I was suddenly overwhelmed by a chilling feeling when I was standing by the basement.

The next day, a bruise in the shape of a bite mark from HUMAN TEETH showed up on my ankle!”

Are your bags packed yet?

The post 10 Ghost Tours That Will Seriously Give You the Creeps appeared first on UberFacts.

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Flight Crew Members Reveal the Things That Happen Mid-Flight That Passengers Don’t Know About

You might actually not want to know this stuff if you don’t like flying in the first place. Fair warning if you want to take the chicken exit now!

#15. Weekend at Bernie’s.

“Not sure if it’s been mentioned already. I was learning to be cabin crew at college and in the event that someone dies onboard, the CC (Cabin Crew) make it less obvious that they have passed. Put glasses on them, maybe a hat. Essentially dress them up as subtle as possible to not alert and or panic the other passengers.”

#14. We’re just as annoyed as you are.

“Pilot here.

We only get paid when the doors are closed and the push back has commenced. If we’re delayed or sitting with the door open, we’re just as annoyed as you are.

At altitude we’re constantly in contact with air traffic control and change to different “center frequencies” (or control for other than US locations)

We’re also doing fuel checks to make sure the fuel burn isn’t abnormal, dodging weather, and probably bitching about scheduling”

#13. Temperature control.

“Ex airline employee here. Often we’d have someone on board with terrible body odor. You can set the temperature in one end of the cabin hotter and it localized the smell to one part of the plane. If you see coffee filter bags hanging anywhere its because someone smells like open ass somewhere on the plane.

FAs often talk about the “hot guy in 23B” or whatever seat he’s in.

Pilots fuck around a lot up front. They’ll take pictures, post on FB, watch movies, automation has taken over a lot of the work on long flights.

Edit: Not really on topic, but don’t ever walk barefoot or in socks on an airplane. The same mop that mops the lav, mops the galley.”

#12. Dodging thunderstorms.

“Not an airline pilot yet (just got hired by my first airline and start class next month) but I’ve been a pilot for 6 years. I primarily teach Chinese airline pilots how to fly but I’ve done some passenger operations in business aircraft on the side.

First of all, all the comments about pilots making cat sounds and Chewbacca noises is 100% true. Also, whenever someone leaves an area and switches frequencies, they yell “SEE YUH” and then a dozen other pilots will key up yelling “SEE YA” one after another. We also enjoy talking shit about people who say “with you,” “got em on the fish finder,” “any traffic please advise,” and “tree” and “fife.”

Also, the things that scare passengers don’t phase the pilots one bit. We don’t give a shit about turbulence or having to do a go-around. The things I don’t like are things you generally won’t know about – thunderstorm dodging, microburst alerts, ice, maintenance issues, etc.”

#11. You’re not being given the full answer.

“Pilot here, most of the time the passengers are not given the full answer on why a flight is delayed or cancelled. Airlines will typically blame cancellations on unrelated events (weather) instead of mechanical issues so they don’t have to pay for hotel rooms/meals etc…

Also, chemtrails are not real. For those of you who believe they are real, give your head a shake.”

#10. Constantly swearing.

“As an Air Traffic Controller we are constantly swearing and yelling at pilots when we’re not on the frequency and then when we key up we use our nice guy voices.”

#9. Gets me every time.

“The scariest moment of my day is when the FA opens the internal bag door (the closet we all throw our overnight bags in) without calling us in the flight deck first. That ding and master caution gets me everytime….”

#8. All the time.

“Pilots are on their phones or reading the newspaper all the time.”

#7. A dead body in the cargo hold.

“As said before in the last thread, there is a large list of things that can be broken but the aircraft can still fly.

Often there will be a dead body in the cargo hold.

There is a crash axe just laying around in the cabin. It’ll spilt open your skull (not tested) but it won’t actually get through the aircraft skin or windows (tested).

Lavatory doors can be opened from the outside by lifting the metal plate saying “lavatory” and pulling the pin under it.

Both pilots may not eat the same meal, but they might be eating at the same time while the plane flies itself.”

#6. In quarantine.

“This started off with us blissfully unaware…ended with mild pant shitting.

I was flying to France in one of those planes with the TV screen up front to show the flight path and where you currently are. I was just about to fall asleep when the captain asked over the PA if there was a doctor on board and if they could go to seat #. I knew this was bad. The flight path changed to Canada and we had to make an emergency landing. We were stuck there for 2 hours. When we finally got to France his entire row was quarantined off. I have no idea what the fuck happened”

#5. Mid-flight mess.

“A lady who was feeling very ill crapped her pants mid flight. A very kind FA managed to get her covered in a blanket and into the bathroom with barely anyone noticing and then gave her a pair of her own pants to wear so she wouldn’t be embarrassed.”

#4. You’re on guard.

“I’ve got an original one for you all. There is a radio frequency we all are required to monitor. Its called Guard. It’s for emergency use and is designed for maydays, and for Air Traffic Control to reach aircraft that may have lost radio contact, or to relay messages from aircraft to other aircraft, etc. every day this frequency is abused. You will hear hundreds of professional aviators meowing, yelling obscenities at each other, and making fun of one airline or another. Often times what will start it is some poor guy accidentally transmitting his PA announcement to passengers on the guard frequency, followed by the very “mature” outbreaks for about 5-10 minutes.

It’s the worst on the east coast.

Edit: just today I heard an airline aircraft trying to relay info about a medical emergency on this frequency through one of their fellow company aircraft. They couldn’t finish any of their sentences without people yelling “YER ON GUUUARD” “HEY NOBODY CARES ABOUT YER PASSENGER” “HEY YOU’RE ON GUARD TOO EH”

#3. Emergency backup.

“I was only a month or two out of IOE (initial operating experience) at my first airline job, flying right seat in a Regional Jet. I had just come back from the bathroom, when the captain pointed that several flight instruments on his side had failed, and he had reverted to using data from my side (basically told his main flight display to start using data from the second independent system).

Soon, however, THAT went bad too, the autopilot disconnected, and here we were at 25,000 ft or so, in icing, hand flying off a tiny little combined last-ditch backup instrument called an IESI (integrated electronic standby instrument, if memory serves).

We declared an emergency, asked ATC to point us in the direction of better weather, and tried to figure out what the hell was happening. Icing on BOTH primary pitot tubes maybe, though that shouldn’t happen (they are heated).

In any case, we ended up making a perfectly safe landing after a diversion, and the passengers never had any idea that, for a few minutes, I was really concerned that things were about to turn very, very bad and that we were down to our emergency backup gauge.

That’s the shortened version without most of the techno-babble anyway.”

#2. We weren’t hired for people skills.

“Pilot here. Late to the party as usual. But, sometimes the passengers may be having a nice quiet flight in the back while the pilots are upfront dodging thunderstorms and yelling their heads off.

We will not only transport dead bodies, but also live transplants, like hearts and lungs. I particularly like the live transplants because we get to cut to the front of the line for takeoff and we get all the short cuts to our destination.

Tip for those who get motion sickness: try not to move your head around. Pilots move their eyes instead of their heads to look at the instruments in the flight deck. Also try to sit in a seat over the wing. This area of the plane doesn’t rotate as much during climbs and decents.

Flight attendants can’t do pilot’s job, but pilots can’t do flight attendant’s jobs for sure. We aren’t hired for our people skills.

Don’t take off your shoes to go to the bathroom. People pee on the floor all the time.

Edit: Wow y’all rock! Thanks for the gold guys! Blue skies and tail winds!”

#1. The pilots are necessary.

“My uncle was a pilot. He says that most people don’t understand how much of the airplane is run by computers. The pilots are necessary but a lot of the elements of flying are automated nowadays.”

I never would have guessed!

The post Flight Crew Members Reveal the Things That Happen Mid-Flight That Passengers Don’t Know About appeared first on UberFacts.

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In 1987, Steve Rothstein purchased…

In 1987, Steve Rothstein purchased an AAirpass ticket for $233,509. During the 10 years Rothstein owned the pass, he flew more than 10 million miles, earned over 40 million frequent flier miles (all of which he gave away) and made more than 500 trips to England, costing the company $21 million. It was only revoked […]

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Take a Look at the Cheapest Summer Flights to Europe from Every U.S. State

No matter what state you live in, there’s a deal for you this summer to fly to Europe for a fun vacation. And whether you live on the West Coast, the East Coast, or the Midwest, all the prices are pretty reasonable.

For instance, I live in North Carolina and the cheapest flight is to Reykjavík, Iceland for $663. If you live in California, the cheapest jaunt is to Barcelona, Spain for $583. Not so bad!

Kayak.com crunched the numbers for the past year for flights from May 24-September 2, 2019 and came up with the median prices for these destinations for the summer. So you may see some fluctuation, but these are the middle-est prices.

Photo Credit: Thrillist

Let’s look at the whole list from each state (and Washington, D.C.). Where are you going this summer?!?!

Alabama

Airport: HSV
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $735
Airport: BHM
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $660

Alaska

Airport: ANC
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $693

Arizona

Airport: PHX
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $831
Airport: TUS
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $662

Arkansas

Airport: MEM
Destination: London, England – $985

California

Airport: LAX
Destination: Barcelona, Spain – $614

Airport: SFO
Destination: Barcelona, Spain – $583

Airport: SAN
Destination: Copenhagen, Denmark – $863

Colorado

Airport: DEN
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $618

Connecticut

Airport: BDL
Destination: Dublin, Ireland – $682

Delaware

Airport: BWI
Destination: Lisbon, Portugal – $686

Florida

Airport: MCO
Destination: London, England – $661

Airport: TPA
Destination: London, England – $661
Airport: MIA
Destination: Madrid, Spain – $550

Georgia

Airport: SAV
Destination: Amsterdam, Netherlands – $838

Airport: ATL
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $754

Hawaii

Airport: HNL
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $612

Airport: KOA
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $619

Idaho

Airport: SLC
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $685

Illinois

Airport: ORD
Destination: Dublin, Ireland – $721

Indiana

Airport: IND
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $720

Iowa

Airport: DSM
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $669

Kansas

Airport: MCI
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Kentucky

Airport: CVG
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $681

Airport: SDF
Destination: Milan, Italy – $985

Louisiana

Airport: MSY
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Maine

Airport: BGR
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $631

Maryland

Airport: BWI
Destination: Lisbon, Portugal – $686

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🌟DESTAQUE AMAR LISBOA 🌟 ______________________________________ 📷 Foto de @clickerjazz_photography 🏆✌🏆✌🏆 🌏 Local: Ascensor do Lavra, Lisboa ______________________________________ Foto seleccionada por: @josefmagalhaes ______________________________________ Founder | Admin: @josefmagalhaes ______________________________________ Tags recomendadas: #amar_lisboa #super_lisboa #mylisbonhistory #toplisbonphoto  #lisboacool #igers_portugal #igersportugal #super_portugal #icu_portugal #ig_portugal #loves_portugal #portugal_em_fotos #portugaloteuolhar #portugal_de_sonho #portugallovers #portugaligers #pt #portugal #tipsguidelisboa #lisboa #lisbon #ilovelisboa #iloveportugal #estaes_portugal #amar_portugal #instagramCML

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Massachusetts

Airport: BOS
Destination: Oslo, Norway – $596

Michigan

Airport: DTW
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $648

Airport: FNT
Destination: Dublin, Ireland – $798

Minnesota

Airport: MSP
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $487

Mississippi

Airport: GPT
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $646

Missouri

Airport: MCI
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $575

Airport: STL
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Montana

Airport: BIL
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $617

Nebraska

Airport: OMA
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $605

Nevada

Airport: LAS
Destination: London, England – $716

Airport: RNO
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $754

New Hampshire

Airport: BOS
Destination: Oslo, Norway – $596

New Jersey

Airport: EWR
Destination: Dublin, Ireland – $608

New Mexico

Airport: ABQ
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $635

New York

Airport: JFK
Destination: Madrid, Spain – $564

Airport: BUF
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Airport: LGA
Destination: Helsinki, Finland – $523

North Carolina

Airport: CLT
Destination: Lisbon, Portugal – $803

Airport: RDU
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $663

North Dakota

Airport: FAR
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $687

Ohio

Airport: CLE
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $453

Airport: CMH
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Oklahoma

Airport: OKC
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $656

Airport: TUL
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $654

Oregon

Airport: PDX
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $638

Pennsylvania

Airport: PHL
Destination: Cork, Ireland – $661

Airport: PIT
Destination: Frankfurt, Germany – $679

Rhode Island

Airport: PVD
Destination: Dublin, Ireland – $441

South Carolina

Airport: CHS
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $667

South Dakota

Airport: OMA
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $605

Tennessee

Airport: BNA
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $656

Texas

Airport: AUS
Destination: London, England – $752

Airport: IAH
Destination: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – $664

Utah

Airport: SLC
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $685

Vermont

Airport: BTV
Destination: Milan, Italy – $647

Virginia

Airport: ORF
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Airport: RIC
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $616

Washington

Airport: SEA
Destination: Manchester, England – $729

West Virginia

Airport: PIT
Destination: Frankfurt, Germany – $679

Wisconsin

Airport: MKE
Destination: Oslo, Norway – $694

Wyoming

Airport: BIL
Destination: Reykjavik, Iceland – $617

Washington, DC

Airport: IAD
Destination: Stockholm, Sweden – $685

The post Take a Look at the Cheapest Summer Flights to Europe from Every U.S. State appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Road Trip Expert Plotted Your Perfect Path Through Every National Park in the (Continental) US

Randy Olson is a road trip mastermind, and he’s back with the ultimate road trip through all 47 national parks located in the lower 48 United States. National parks are restricted from development for the preservation or conservation of important land and/or animals, and have been set aside in the States since President Ulysses S. Grant granted Yellowstone the status on March 1, 1872.

The map is an ideal route that leaves out the 12 national parks in Alaska, Hawaii, and other U.S. territories (cause including them it becomes less of a road trip). As with his other maps Olson created this one by plugging the destinations into the Gurobi TSP solver. TSP – the Traveling Salesman Problem – calculates the shortest route between cities while making a loop that has you ending up back where you started.

Image Credit: Randall Olson

He used it to create the ultimate road trip across America, the optimal strategy for finding Waldo (lol), and the ultimate Euro-trip that hits major European monuments.

For this one, Olson suggests setting aside at least 2 months to enjoy the 14,500 miles of driving and all of the sites along the way. Since the route goes in a circle, you can begin at any point you want and find your way back home.

If you’re a national parks enthusiast, you’re going to geek out from the Cascades all the way to the Dry Tortugas, and, for bonus material, the site also points out stops for hundreds of monuments, battlefields, and historic sites you’ll want to check out along the way.

Check out the “Optimal U.S. National Parks Centennial Road Trip” map if this sounds like something calling your name, and make sure to Instagram your trip – I want to see it!

The post A Road Trip Expert Plotted Your Perfect Path Through Every National Park in the (Continental) US appeared first on UberFacts.

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A Road Trip Expert Plotted Your Perfect Path Through Every National Park in the (Continental) US

Randy Olson is a road trip mastermind, and he’s back with the ultimate road trip through all 47 national parks located in the lower 48 United States. National parks are restricted from development for the preservation or conservation of important land and/or animals, and have been set aside in the States since President Ulysses S. Grant granted Yellowstone the status on March 1, 1872.

The map is an ideal route that leaves out the 12 national parks in Alaska, Hawaii, and other U.S. territories (cause including them it becomes less of a road trip). As with his other maps Olson created this one by plugging the destinations into the Gurobi TSP solver. TSP – the Traveling Salesman Problem – calculates the shortest route between cities while making a loop that has you ending up back where you started.

Image Credit: Randall Olson

He used it to create the ultimate road trip across America, the optimal strategy for finding Waldo (lol), and the ultimate Euro-trip that hits major European monuments.

For this one, Olson suggests setting aside at least 2 months to enjoy the 14,500 miles of driving and all of the sites along the way. Since the route goes in a circle, you can begin at any point you want and find your way back home.

If you’re a national parks enthusiast, you’re going to geek out from the Cascades all the way to the Dry Tortugas, and, for bonus material, the site also points out stops for hundreds of monuments, battlefields, and historic sites you’ll want to check out along the way.

Check out the “Optimal U.S. National Parks Centennial Road Trip” map if this sounds like something calling your name, and make sure to Instagram your trip – I want to see it!

The post A Road Trip Expert Plotted Your Perfect Path Through Every National Park in the (Continental) US appeared first on UberFacts.

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This American’s Experience with Iceland’s Healthcare System Really Strikes a Nerve

Stop me if you’re heard this somewhere, possibly from your local politician: “We have the best health care ever invented! Of all time! Can’t be touched!”

I think most people know that A WHOLE LOT of other countries on the planet have much better health care than Americans do – plus, overseas it’s CHEAP. But that’s not what politicians and insurance companies want you to hear.

A woman named Mary Robinette Kowal shared her health care experience in Iceland, and her tweets went viral. I think that this will be very eye-opening for a lot of you. It sure was for me.

Let’s take a look at Kowal’s Twitter thread.

3 dollars…

Kowal offered a little clarification about an earlier tweet.

We get your point, Ms. Kowal. Something to think about…

What do you think? Share in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!

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15 Tour Guides Share the Worst Thing Someone Has Done Under Their Supervision

It never ceases to amaze me how many adults – all of whom I presume graduated kindergarten – still don’t know how to act right. Seriously, it’s not that hard to have basic decency in public, and yet there are SO MANY people who apparently struggle with it.

In this AskReddit article, people share the worst things they’ve seen while conducting outings for tourists.

Yeesh!

1. The tour is over!

“I used to work at a heritage site. It was an old military installation with a lot of remaining original structures (bunk beds, cafeteria equipment, computers etc.).

Everyday it was a constant effort to remind people (read: kids) NOT to jump on the beds, not to slam doors open, not to punch every button like it owes them money.

The absolute worst was a group of kids on a school trip. Within the first ten minutes we’re walking through the tech portion of the exhibit, where we had a wall lined with Burroughs large systems machines (B5000’s), all behind this little fence about waist-high. I turn to demonstrate some of the pieces, and when I look back at the group one of them had jumped over the barrier, opened one of the units and started pulling out handfuls of digital tape from the reels inside.

I just about jumped on the kid when their teacher did just that. She jumped the barrier, smacked the kid’s hands and took him outside. I immediately ended the tour and had them all refunded, as I couldn’t imagine what else could happen.”

2. Segway disaster

“Somewhat relevant, there’s a small hill on a pedestrian footpath outside my university. Once, I witnessed a segway tour attempt to use this path. The first segway slowed to a stop as it reached the top of this hill. The second segway sped up in an attempt to make it over, and crashed into the first segway. One by one, each segway crashed into the one in front of it, toppling over each other. The pathway now has a “no bikes or segways” sign.”

3. What an a**hole

“I was working on a tourist island in Australia when this man pulled out almost all the back feathers of a peacock because he wanted to keep one. He sneaked up behind it, and grabbed a huge handful and yanked them all out. He was immediately escorted off the island. The peacock had a huge bare patch and most of its beautiful feathers were gone 🙁 “

4. That’s nice

“Friend of mine does tours of whiskey museums in Dublin. Someone took a shit in one of the exhibition rooms.”

5. Don’t mess with Ted

“I worked at a living history farm museum. I had a kid that was climbing on stuff the whole tour in the farm house and trying to get behind the Smith in the blacksmith shop during a demo.

After the tour when people are allowed to roam the grounds, I hear his mom screaming and look over to the barn and this kid has climbed the fence into the field with our long horn oxen and is trying to poke them with a stick. I walk over and calmly told him to get out of the field before our lazy oxen decide they’ve had enough, but this jack off decides to look me in the eye and smack Ted on the ass with the stick like it’s a riding crop.

Ted, bless him, just kinda jumps a little and whips his head around with a WTF dude look on his face. But seeing as he’s a long horn, he just wipes this kid out with one of his horns when he turned his head. Kid goes flying into the dirt and is having a meltdown. Mom is freaking out. I’m like, dude, get the hell out of the pen before Ted actually gets mad.

So this kid is crying and trying to climb the fence out of the field and Bill, who has been watching this whole thing waits until the kid is almost over the fence and walks up to him and nudges him in the ass with his nose and pushes him off the top of the fence. It was everything I could do to keep from laughing.

Kid was fine, Ted was fine, but the kid and his mom were promptly kicked out of the museum. Their dad and little sister were allowed to stay because she was well behaved and was just enjoying petting the goats at the petting zoo. So since the kid had to leave but his sister didn’t there was a temper tantrum in the parking lot that could be heard all the way to the other side of the farm. But the oxen got some extra grain that night, so I guess they won in the end.”

6. Okay, this one takes the cake

“Led a scuba diving tour. While signing the safety waivers and all that one very old man kept telling us that he had a DNR (do not resuscitate). We plainly told him that we are not bound to a DNR and if he passed out for any reason we would attempt to resuscitate by our safety training.

Pretty much all the divers are assuming this guy is gonna kill himself down there (prob spit out the reg and go quietly into the night).

Dive happens, pretty much everyone is hawkeyed on this guy. I see him go behind a large coral head and lay down in the sand and spit out his reg. He is only at about 60 ft so I grab him and wrestle him to the surface. He will not take my back up regulator so I slam it against his mouth a purge air Into his face.

We get to the surface and he is fighting me non stop trying to pull all of his gear off. I throw a very hard punch to his jaw and knock him out ( actually trained to do this during dive rescues to keep the panicked person from killing you too).

3 weeks later and he tries to sue my dive shop and myself personally.”

7. Karma is real

“Was on a tour in New Orleans. Guy gets drunk and basically makes a fool of himself and slaps his partner. Everyone else on the tour is like ‘whoa not cool, take a hike’. Gf leaves with him. Next morning we’re all on the bus waiting to roll out to the next destination and we’re not moving.

30 minutes later we’re all getting pissed off, then the couple get on the bus looking sheepish. By the next stop we learn, the drunk guy ran a bath at the hotel, passed out and it flooded the bathroom, and four floors below into the hotel lobby. The hotel wouldn’t let them leave without paying thousands of dollars. Karma for him.”

8. And here we have…

“They took a big shit in front of the group. So, we tour through streets and parks and make it really clear that the toilets at the beginning of the tour are the only ones for the first 90 minutes of tour. We get to a park about 30 mins into the tour. Not a big park mind you, it is basically a big roundabout with a swing set, bench and two trees.

I’m in the middle of my spiel in the park when I see a guy at the back of the group, step away, pull his pants down and squat on the grass. Of course I was stunned and lost my flow which had everyone looking around only to recoil in horror as this guy drops a log like it was nothing. He wasn’t even ashamed.”

9. An extreme act of stupidity

“About 15 years ago, I worked as a deckhand on a line of boats that took people out to Fort Sumter. The trip was about an hour each way. One day, we were about halfway there and two teenagers decided it would be fun to jump off and try to swim to shore.

This is in Charleston harbor, which has a pretty solid tidal current, lots of boat traffic, and probably more sharks than one would like to think about.

We ended up having to perform a water rescue on them. Then continued on to the fort, with the Coast Guard coming and picking them up. All in all, an extreme act of stupidity.”

10. Got what you deserved

“Used to be a tourguide at a primate sanctuary with a strict ‘no touching policy’. At the end of the tour there’s a suspension bridge, tourists go first, guide goes last as per the rules.

I always warn the tourists that the other side is the territory of a Hanuman langur and he doesn’t fuck around, keep your distance etc. He doesn’t attack people out of nowhere, but he likes showing his teeth and screaming, which scares tourists.

Anyway, one tour I get to the other side of the bridge, and a tourist got bitten. He says a monkey just bit him out of nowhere. Asked the other tourists, no he tried to fucking pet the Hanuman. Dumbass got what he deserved.”

11. Might’ve been a goner

“On an open topped tour bus in London – woman tries to dangle her toddler over the railing, then starts saying she’s going to complain to my manager when I told her to stop. Caught her doing it again and company policy said that anyone endangering their kids like that was to be removed from the tour, so the driver had to come up and march her off.

She still insisted she did nothing wrong. Like, she literally had the kid’s feet on the side rail of the (moving) bus and was just holding him loosely round the waist. One low hanging tree branch, of which there were many on the route, and that kid was gone.”

12. People are dumb

“Worked at an aquarium, this dude arrived in the amazon exhibit room featuring the tank where every fish in it can hurt you and promptly started dangling his sister’s kid over the exhibit. I immediately stepped up to him and pushed the kid back from over it, firmly explaining that this wasn’t allowed and that I’d have to call security.

Thank god, the kid’s mother was on my side and started tearing into the man. It took her five minutes of “No, that was absolutely not appropriate,” for him to get the message that he’d seriously f*cked up.

Some people never do get the whole ‘pointy venomous fish bad, no dangling kids’ thing.”

13. Not funny

“Not a tour guide, but was doing an English language camp for foreign kids.

Took the kids on a day trip to London, which involved going up the London Eye. While in the queue, one of the kids started shouting that he had a bomb in his bag and he was going to blow everyone up. Almost got all 20 kids in the group kicked out.”

14. You’re outta here!

“I work at a brewery tap room and take people on brewery tours. During fermentation CO2 is produced and excess comes out through a run off pipe and into a water bucket. One of the attendees (who was being a pain and trying to be funny but nobody was laughing) asked me what the pipe was for, so I gladly explained.

He then asked what would happen if he breathed it in… in disbelief of his stupidity I told him he would pass out/damage his brain, he then proceeded to grab the pipe and take a breath. He was then ejected and barred. Some people are just beyond belief.”

15. Never again

“Took a class of middle schoolers to a museum and one of my asshole students dragged his hand across a 3,000 year old Indian painting. Later on I found out the object was almost certainly a reproduction but I nearly died of rage on the spot.

The student was with us on a 45 day placement for severe behavioral issues. He earned enough point in school to qualify for the field trip. Never again.”

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Taco Bell Has Plans to Open Up Its Own Resort in Palm Springs

Taco Bell fans, rejoice! It’s time to pack your bags and load up on hot sauce, because they just made a BIG announcement: Taco Bell will temporarily take over a resort in Palm Springs, California, giving fans a whole new level of Taco Bell experience.

I told you I wasn’t playing. I don’t joke about tacos, and I don’t joke about vacation. FYI.

The Bell will open on August 9, 2019, and will start taking reservations in June. The Taco Bell website says,

“Get ready for “Bell”hops and Baja Blasts, Fire Sauce and Sauce Packet floaties, because The Bell: A Taco Bell Hotel and Resort is opening for a limited time in Palm Springs this August, meant for 18+ superfans. Complete with exclusive Taco Bell menu items and plenty of surprises, The Bell is sure to be the spicy twist of your summer. So pack your swimsuit, mark your calendars and start the countdown, because The Bell is about to make all of your taco dreams come true.”

There will also be a gift shop stocked with Taco Bell-themed clothing, naturally.

It’s still unclear how long the Taco Bell pop-up hotel will actually be open for, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see…

Well, I’ll see you in Palm Springs!

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