Peter Greenberg, the Travel Detective, has written a new book called Don’t Go There!: The Travel Detective’s Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World which highlights where NOT to go on vacation. You can probably imagine the controversy and outrage this has caused with people whose favorite location made Greenberg’s list.

Peter Talks Don’t Go There

Well, with the title like Don’t Go There, you know I’m going to be naming names. Don’t Go There is my essential guide to the must-miss places of the world.

That’s right, it’s about the places you want to avoid.

There are about 34 communities that are now marching against me. And we’re just getting started, simply because we’re telling the truth.

Swiss Suicide Tourism

And as long as we are talking about controversial travel news the following story is one of the most controversial, and to my mind one of the saddest, travel stories I have ever read. We may not be talking about the best trip you would take but we are certainly talking about the last one you would take.

As you may have heard, an American traveled to Switzerland two years ago and enjoyed the Swiss’ openness to assisted suicide. After paying a nonprofit the 10,000 Swiss francs (about $8,300), Craig Ewert drank a glass of water laced with sodium pentobarbital and died within 30 minutes. He had a motor neuron disease and under Swiss law had a right to kill himself.

I heard he was all like “not with me” and she was all like “whatever”.

Qantas-BA merger off

Qantas said today that “after detailed discussions about a potential merger of the companies, talks have ended”. The terse Qantas statement went on, “Despite the potential longer term benefits for Qantas and BA, the airlines have not been able to come to an agreement over the key terms of the merger, at this time.

If you get drunk and beat your wife maybe the airline who served you alcohol is to blame… or maybe you are just an idiot.

Couple sues United, blames alcohol service for domestic abuse

“Can you get drunk on a flight, then sue the airline for giving you the booze?” That’s from the Chicago Tribune, which says the answer apparently is “yes.” The paper reports a married couple is suing United Airlines for “negligently” over-serving the husband alcohol during an Osaka-to-San Francisco flight. That, the couple alleges, caused the husband to beat his wife soon after their flight landed in California.

And finally a good idea for a place to go on New Year’s Eve to avoid drunken people beating their wives: Monterey California.

The Insider’s Guide to First Night Monterey

First Night is a celebration of the arts in Monterey. This city-wide festival is, according to First Night International, the fifth largest First Night celebration of the 139 celebrated around the globe. Events at the more than 30 performance venues start at 3pm and don’t end until midnight, providing a plethora of opportunities for families to ring in the new year with plenty to do. First Night is a meaningful, alcohol-free, kid-friendly alternative to the traditional New Year’s Eve celebration.

One of the things you would like to know BEFORE you get on the plane is whether the pilot is qualified to land the plane.

Pilot tells passengers “I am not qualified to land the plane”

A Flybe Airlines flight from Cardiff to Paris had to turn around because of fog at Charles De Gaulle Airport. The fog did not force the airport to close. Rather, the pilot, a man with 30 years of experience, had never completed low-visibility training for the particular aircraft that he was flying.

And finally a cool story, no seriously a really cool story.

Chill out, you beautiful people, the Versace beach is refrigerated

Versace, the renowned fashion house, is to create the world’s first refrigerated beach so that hotel guests can walk comfortably across the sand on scorching days.

The beach will be next to the the new Palazzo Versace hotel which is being built in Dubai where summer temperatures average 40C and can reach 50C.

Other interesting posts:

• Emirates Airlines’ flying to San Francisco raises issues
• Gargantuan gondola breaks three world records
• Beyond Green Travel with Costas Christ Top Ten Worst Green Travel Destinations

For the longest time there were few if any people in my travel photographs. Instead I liked scenes like this beach on the south coast of Bermuda that looked to be ready for people to come and have fun. I am a huge beach fan and the water here in Bermuda was particularly beautiful. Can you tell that the sand in Bermuda has a pink color to it?

related post: Why I Owned A Timeshare in Hawaii on Maui (for less than a day)

The Israeli government wants to show you another side of Israel than you usually see on the public beaches and is “sexing up” its image with bikini clad women.

If your life is getting a bit too hectic today I offer this relaxing minute courtesy of the DVD CALIFORNIA: Coastal Wildlife & Waterfalls DVD / WAVES: Virtual Vacations

Last year I wrote about my favorite beach in the world in an article title Favorite Beach - The Baths in Virgin Gorda. I found this video from an episode of the The Map which goes to Virgin Gorda. Skip the first 2 minutes if you must but the trail to the baths is one of those things that words alone don’t do justice. Getting there really is half the fun.

Hotels in British Virgin Islands