Grand Canyon, uncrowded: what I found in peak season will surprise you
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The Advertiser
7 days ago
- The Advertiser
Grand Canyon, uncrowded: what I found in peak season will surprise you
Our Hummer is the loudest thing in the Grand Canyon. As one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it's unusually quiet for a summer Saturday. The windy weather has grounded today's helicopter tours, and there are hardly any tourists at 11am. This is not how I had pictured Arizona's most popular attraction. After this year's cutbacks and mass layoffs across the United States' national parks, I expected staff shortages and long queues. Instead, we breeze through the entrance, passing half-empty campgrounds and uncrowded lookouts. Chaos begone.
The Advertiser
20-07-2025
- The Advertiser
Vietnam tourist boat capsizes in Halong Bay, killing 38
Three more bodies have been found after a tourist boat capsized in northern Vietnam's famous Halong Bay, raising the death toll to at least 38. The bodies of three crew members, trapped inside the cabin, had been found, the Department of National Defence Search and Rescue told dpa on Sunday. Among the confirmed dead are eight children. The boat, carrying 48 tourists and five crew members, capsized about 2pm on Saturday as Storm Wipha approached the country across the South China Sea. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged authorities to prioritise rescue operations. Authorities mobilised 323 personnel for the rescue operation, including border guards, the navy, police and port authorities. Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spans over 1500sq/km and is dotted with nearly 2000 islands and islets. It is one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of visitors each year. Most of the tourists were from the capital Hanoi, local newspaper VnExpress teams found 11 survivors, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said citing local authorities. A 14-year-old boy was reportedly among the survivors, and he was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull. Storm Wipha, the third typhoon to hit the South China Sea this year, is projected to make landfall along Vietnam's northern coast early next week. Weather linked to the storm also disrupted air travel. Noi Bai Airport said nine arriving flights were diverted to other airports and three departing flights were temporarily grounded on Saturday. with Reuters and dpa Three more bodies have been found after a tourist boat capsized in northern Vietnam's famous Halong Bay, raising the death toll to at least 38. The bodies of three crew members, trapped inside the cabin, had been found, the Department of National Defence Search and Rescue told dpa on Sunday. Among the confirmed dead are eight children. The boat, carrying 48 tourists and five crew members, capsized about 2pm on Saturday as Storm Wipha approached the country across the South China Sea. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged authorities to prioritise rescue operations. Authorities mobilised 323 personnel for the rescue operation, including border guards, the navy, police and port authorities. Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spans over 1500sq/km and is dotted with nearly 2000 islands and islets. It is one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of visitors each year. Most of the tourists were from the capital Hanoi, local newspaper VnExpress teams found 11 survivors, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said citing local authorities. A 14-year-old boy was reportedly among the survivors, and he was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull. Storm Wipha, the third typhoon to hit the South China Sea this year, is projected to make landfall along Vietnam's northern coast early next week. Weather linked to the storm also disrupted air travel. Noi Bai Airport said nine arriving flights were diverted to other airports and three departing flights were temporarily grounded on Saturday. with Reuters and dpa Three more bodies have been found after a tourist boat capsized in northern Vietnam's famous Halong Bay, raising the death toll to at least 38. The bodies of three crew members, trapped inside the cabin, had been found, the Department of National Defence Search and Rescue told dpa on Sunday. Among the confirmed dead are eight children. The boat, carrying 48 tourists and five crew members, capsized about 2pm on Saturday as Storm Wipha approached the country across the South China Sea. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged authorities to prioritise rescue operations. Authorities mobilised 323 personnel for the rescue operation, including border guards, the navy, police and port authorities. Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spans over 1500sq/km and is dotted with nearly 2000 islands and islets. It is one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of visitors each year. Most of the tourists were from the capital Hanoi, local newspaper VnExpress teams found 11 survivors, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said citing local authorities. A 14-year-old boy was reportedly among the survivors, and he was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull. Storm Wipha, the third typhoon to hit the South China Sea this year, is projected to make landfall along Vietnam's northern coast early next week. Weather linked to the storm also disrupted air travel. Noi Bai Airport said nine arriving flights were diverted to other airports and three departing flights were temporarily grounded on Saturday. with Reuters and dpa Three more bodies have been found after a tourist boat capsized in northern Vietnam's famous Halong Bay, raising the death toll to at least 38. The bodies of three crew members, trapped inside the cabin, had been found, the Department of National Defence Search and Rescue told dpa on Sunday. Among the confirmed dead are eight children. The boat, carrying 48 tourists and five crew members, capsized about 2pm on Saturday as Storm Wipha approached the country across the South China Sea. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged authorities to prioritise rescue operations. Authorities mobilised 323 personnel for the rescue operation, including border guards, the navy, police and port authorities. Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, spans over 1500sq/km and is dotted with nearly 2000 islands and islets. It is one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of visitors each year. Most of the tourists were from the capital Hanoi, local newspaper VnExpress teams found 11 survivors, the state-run Vietnam News Agency said citing local authorities. A 14-year-old boy was reportedly among the survivors, and he was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull. Storm Wipha, the third typhoon to hit the South China Sea this year, is projected to make landfall along Vietnam's northern coast early next week. Weather linked to the storm also disrupted air travel. Noi Bai Airport said nine arriving flights were diverted to other airports and three departing flights were temporarily grounded on Saturday. with Reuters and dpa
Sydney Morning Herald
19-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
The ‘unethical' travel-hack trend hotels hate
Gemma Davies*, 33 and from Manchester in the UK, caught the honeymoon upgrade bug on a trip to Vietnam in 2024. Davies had been sent an advance questionnaire from a cruise she had booked with her girlfriend in Hạ Long Bay, a Unesco World Heritage Site famed for its limestone islands and emerald waters. Davies had noticed Tripadvisor reviewers who were on their honeymoon had been given generous upgrades on the two-night riverboat cruise. 'The questionnaire asked me if we were celebrating anything and I thought: why not say we're on honeymoon too? Although to be honest we have zero intention of getting married!' When the couple arrived, their cabin had been upgraded and their bed was adorned with towels folded into swan shapes and scattered rose petals. 'That was lovely,' Davies recalls. The trouble came when the pair arrived for their seating at dinner and found staff had flanked their table with a 'ginormous' illuminated heart and a banner reading 'happy honeymoon'. 'Everyone started cheering and clapping, which I found hilarious,' Davies recalls. 'My girlfriend, who is an introvert, said: 'Oh my God, what have you done?'' Despite the 'challenge' of spending two days posing as honeymooners, Davies reprised the freebie-hunting tactic at two further hotels in Vietnam, where the couple enjoyed room upgrades, free cakes and champagne and more towel swans and petals – and left glowing reviews after their stays. 'I don't see it as taking the p--- at all,' Davies argues. 'It's more a way of amplifying your experience as a hotel guest.' Advice pieces on how to blag perks such as hotel and flight upgrades have been a staple of travel magazines since the 1990s. What's new these days is a subculture of unabashed social media 'travel hacks'. When, on Apr 20, TikTokker @ wrote the post: 'Unethical travel hack: fake a honeymoon at check-in!', superimposed on a picture of the sea-view balcony of his upgraded suite in Greece, it received half a million views and tens of thousands of likes. But not everyone celebrated Rod's 'win'. Italian hotel receptionist Leila Al Azawi responded: 'If you are on a REAL honeymoon and don't get special attention you can say thank you to all these liars who try every other day!', while Greek hotelier Panos weighed in: 'As a hotel worker, we know your tricks; don't be so sure!'.
