The “Best Job in the World” was awarded to an englishman this week, but a winery in Napa is offering a “A Really Good Job”:

A Really Good Job

Murphy-Goode Winery… is

offering you a “Really Goode Job” — a six-month job paying $10,000 a month plus accommodations!

We want to hire a social media whiz (your title will be “Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent”) who will report on the cool lifestyle of Sonoma County Wine Country and, of course, tell people what you’re learning about winemaking.

Rail Europe would like you to forget that it is 2009 and a year of economic upheaval and party like it was 1959.

Rail Europe turns back time for tickets

Rail Europe is celebrating half a century of its popular Eurail Pass and is inviting travelers on board with a special promotion. Beginning May 12, the company will offer its Eurail ticket at the 1959 rate: $125 for a five-day, three-country rail pass.

First “Cruise with Purpose” Shore Excursion

Juneau’s local tour operator Gastineau Guiding has created the first Cruise with Purpose shore excursion, in partnership with the Alaska Sea Grant’s Marine Advisory Program and the Alaska Marine Conservation Alliance.

This program was designed especially for Holland America Line. Guests board an exploration vessel out of Auke Bay to look for and help document individual humpback and orca whales.

How can you tell when an unaccompanied minor is really a runaway?

Florida runaway, 13, hops Southwest plane to San Jose to see mom

Someone thought it was odd that a 13-year-old boy was walking alone through San Jose’s airport at a time when he probably should have been safe at home doing schoolwork.

That someone was right.

The travel blog “Traveling the Green Way” had an interesting article about volunteer vacations:

Top 8 Volunteer Travel Trends

“Sixty-four percent (64%) of females are currently volunteering or have volunteered before, compared to only 51% of males.”

“The top overall volunteer travel destinations were Peru (23%) and Brazil (14%). For Americans, the top destinations were Peru (16%) and Costa Rica (15%).”

Other articles that I liked this week:

• The World’s 15 Most Bike Friendly Cities
• Is Unesco damaging the world’s treasures?
• Travel Photography: National Photo Month
• Aggro-Tourism: Stress-Busting Vacations

If travel makes you nervous already then you probably should not read the following story.

TSA tests scanners to measure anxiety

Newspaper accounts are using words like �Orwellian� and �the stuff of science-fiction nightmare� to describe a new kind of technology being tested by the Homeland Security Department and Transportation Security Administration. The technology would use an array of scanners at security checkpoints that could detect all kinds of readings from individual who pass through them � measuring their heart rate, body temperature and breathing speed to look for unusually high levels of anxiety. Anyone who displays such symptoms presumably would be pulled out of line for additional scrutiny and questioning.

I could relate to this story since my last trip would best be categorized as religious voluntourism.

Religion to help nation’s tourism industry

The travel industry is always searching for new markets and new products. Ecotourism took off in the 1990s. More recently, “voluntourism,” which combines vacation travel with volunteer work at the destination, has become popular. Currently, one of the fastest growing segments of the industry is religious tourism, which includes pilgrimages, short-term missionary work, monastic retreats, faith-based camps, and visiting sites of religious significance. TJ contributor Steven Crook investigates Taiwan’s potential to become a destination for international religious tourists.

This story says that brits hate Ryanair… it does not say they don’t fly on it.

Ryanair voted least favourite airline for third year running

British travellers have voted Ryanair their least favourite airline for the third year in a row in a TripAdvisor poll.

Of the 450 Brits questioned, 30% voted the low-cost airline as their least favourite.

Ryanair is not content to be hated just by the residence of Great Britain.

Ryanair boss sets sights on no-frills transatlantic flights with new airline

Passengers could be taking budget flights between the US and Europe on a Ryanair-backed airline in less than three years, the low-cost carrier’s chief executive claimed yesterday.

Friends don’t let friends fly drunk… or stupid.

‘Drunk’ man aboard Turkish Airlines flight claimed to have bomb

A drunken man claiming to have a bomb tried to hijack a Russian-bound Turkish Airlines plane on Wednesday but was quickly overpowered by fellow passengers, officials said.

Please keep your voices down when the pilot turns on the no talking sign.

Passenger to pay for airline noise

Flight passengers are likely to be charged for the noises airplanes make. The government is pushing for a bill containing such plans to secure resources to build soundproof facilities for residents near the airport area who are suffering noise pollution, but critics say the government is offloading its responsibility on passengers, who are already paying the fuel surcharge for soaring oil prices.