Gill Press told Insider she was determined to get some sort of compensation after she and her husband, Warren Press, relocated from premium economy to economy on a 13-hour flight from Paris to Singapore.
15.09.2023 - 16:07 / nationalgeographic.com
New Zealand’s southwest corner is where the roads run out — leaving some 4,500sq miles of forest, fjords and jagged mountain chains that make up the country’s largest area of wilderness. Three of New Zealand’s 10 officially recognised Great Walks take dedicated hikers through the northern interior of this region, along the Routeburn, Milford and Kepler tracks. Soon, the coastal south will get its recognition too, as the Hump Ridge Track becomes the newest member of the top league of Kiwi hikes.
The 38-mile route was originally opened in 2001, but works over the last few years have aimed to upgrade the path and facilities to a high enough standard for it to become the 11th Great Walk. These trails, run by the Department of Conservation, traverse a wide range of New Zealand landscapes and are popular enough that hikers often need to book slots to walk them. The improved Hump Ridge Track is due to open in time for the start of New Zealand’s summer hiking season in November. The intermediate-level loop walk can be tackled in three days, including overnight stays at two backcountry lodges, perhaps under the beady eyes of a kea — an olive-green parrot known to enjoy picking at hikers’ possessions.
While the trail reaches almost 1,000m amid the sub-alpine scenery of the namesake Hump Ridge, it’s the views of long, deserted beaches along the Tasman Sea that set the experience apart from more vertiginous landscapes elsewhere in the Fiordland region. There are reminders, too, of sporadic attempts at development before logging was banned in the 1980s. The most impressive is the century-old wooden Percy Burn Viaduct. Although it was abandoned not long after opening amid a downturn in the timber industry, the tall bridge was restored to use five years ago and is a handy surprise to walkers emerging from the fern-choked forest on the edge of a deep valley.
1. Tongariro Northern Circuit
The volcanic heart of the North Island provides a bleakly impressive setting for a 28-mile loop around Mount Ngauruhoe — a stand-in for Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films. Part of the route is shared with the Tongariro Alpine Crossing day-hike, a stretch that includes the eye-popping Emerald Lakes.
2. Abel Tasman Coast Track
Near the northern end of the South Island, Abel Tasman National Park isn’t actually in the tropics, though you’d think so from its golden beaches, turquoise seas and thickly forested hills. A 37-mile one-way walking route traces the coast past waterfalls, across swing bridges and among thickets of tree ferns up to 20m tall.
3. Routeburn Track
You climb high and stay high on this 21-mile tramp across the Humboldt Mountains, part of the Southern Alps between Queenstown and Milford Sound. Once above the tree
Gill Press told Insider she was determined to get some sort of compensation after she and her husband, Warren Press, relocated from premium economy to economy on a 13-hour flight from Paris to Singapore.
As the summer travel season comes to a close, one airline is giving travelers a reason to start planning next summer's vacation. Delta Air Lines announced it will be operating its largest trans-Atlantic flight schedule ever, debuting just in time for summer 2024. The airline will be adding new destinations including Naples and bringing back service to Shannon, Ireland. According to Delta, next summer it will operate 260 weekly flights to 18 countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). This includes a new flight from JFK to Munich three times a week that will start on April 9, 2024, and a daily nonstop flight to Shannon, Ireland that will begin on May 23, 2024. The carrier will expand its existing service to Italy — it already flies to Milan, Venice, and Rome — with a new daily service to Naples. It will also resume service between Atlanta and Zurich, Switzerland, four times a week, which had originally been cut in 2019.
The landowners of a volcano that erupted in 2019, killing 22 people and injuring 25 others, have rejected arguments from workplace safety regulators that they bear legal responsibility for visitors' safety.
Queenstown, New Zealand, wouldn’t be Queenstown if it weren’t far away from everything—more than three hours’ flight from the closet foreign city of Sydney, a long transpacific slog from the west coast of the U.S., a diabolically long distance from western Europe. (This part of the world is called the Antipodes for a reason.) But being tucked away in the snowy mountains at the bottom of the world is what gives it its character: It’s a cosmopolitan frontier town, full of ruggedly individualistic locals and generous transplants, ski bums and worldly chefs, shepherds and sommeliers.
During training events for the America’s Cup sailing race in decades past, fast and light boats would zip close to race boats. Onboard photographers then clicked images and shot videos, providing competitors with insights into new designs and operational tactics.
Two summers ago, I sat on my unzipped suitcase in the middle of New Zealand's Auckland Airport and attempted to squeeze my bag shut.
In Lonely Plan-It, we take you step by step through how we planned some of the most complicated travel adventures. Here, Craig McLachlan explains how to make the most out of your biking adventure to this South Pacific paradise’s deep south.
Swap planes for trains and embark on adventures that are so much more than just a way to reach a destination. Whether it's multi-day journeys catching glimpses of waves crashing into cliffs or quick, scenic bursts of sparkling seas, these coastal train routes will make you appreciate life in the slow lane.
The 37th America’s Cup sailing race will take place in the year 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. However, the first of three preliminary regattas before that event has kicked off in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a coastal city some 30 coastal miles [50 kilometers] south of Barcelona. Out of six racing teams from New Zealand, the U.S., U.K, Switzerland, Italy and France, the French Orient Express team cooly breezed into a win on the first competitive event on a hot 85 degree [29 Celsius] Saturday mid-afternoon.
This story starts with a 20-something female journalist taking a drive out of the city to stay at a cabin in the woods – alone.
Thanks to Hyatt's newest Bonus Journeys promotion, World of Hyatt members can earn 3,000 bonus points for every three eligible nights on select stays at more than 1,250 Hyatt hotels and resorts from Oct. 6-Nov. 30.
Young travelers are hungry for adventure, and it’s taking them to Africa.