Paris (Global Adventures): France has introduced a new five-star category to its hotel ranking system to bring its hospitality industry closer to international norms. The new system replaces the previous ratings from 0 to 4-star that date back to 1986. Paris now has 13 five-star hotels, according to the city's tourism office. Hotels that volunteer [...]

Paris (Global Adventures): Jacques Rougerie, a French marine architect, has designed a floating research lab called the SeaOrbiter. The futuristic structure is intended to observe sea life and the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. It will permit a better understanding of marine phenomena and a new inventory of ocean wealth for the preservation [...]

Newton (Global Adventures): Americans expect to travel more in 2010 than in 2009. Forty-one percent of U.S. respondents said they plan to spend more on leisure travel in 2010 than they did in 2009 and 92 percent of travelers are planning to take two or more leisure trips in the coming year, up from 89 [...]

New York (Global Adventures): American Express Business Travel sees a modest increase in airfares and says that travelers appear to be moving back to the front of the plane, showing positive signs companies may likely be feeling more optimistic about the economy. International and domestic airfares paid from North America increased quarter-over-quarter. However, they continue [...]

Arlington (Global Adventures): Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NOAA have recorded the deepest erupting volcano yet discovered. High-definition video of the undersea eruption of the West Mata Volcano (links can be found here: link1 and link2) is just "spectacular." "For the first time we have been able to examine, up close, [...]

Space (Global Adventures): If you are looking for a vacation above it all, the space hotel could hold the top spot on your must-see vacation list. The long-planned orbiting complex is on track to open in 2012, according to the owners. Space vacationers can book a three-night stay at the Galactic Suite Space Resort for [...]

Sydney (Global Adventures): Scientists in Australia have discovered an octopus that actually makes use of tools. They say that the behavior has never been seen before in an invertebrate. Dr. Mark Norman and Dr. Julian Finn spent more than 500 hours filming and observing the veined octopus picking out halved coconut shells from the sea [...]