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Take a tour of the Maya underworld—if you dare

There are hundreds of caves in Belize that served as portals to what the Maya called Xibalba—home to ancient death gods, rituals, and extraordinary relics left behind.

For many, the concept of Hell exists in another dimension. But in Belize , the entrance to the underworld is right below your feet. The small Central American nation is home to hundreds of caves, many of which visitors can explore. But they are more than just a place to go cave diving. These caves are said to be the pathway to Xibalba, or the Maya underworld.  

Cave tourism is one of Belize’s top activities, allowing travelers to explore Maya mythology and culture. A tremendous amount of effort has gone into opening various caves to make them accessible to visitors. However, archaeologists have barely tapped what’s beneath the surface. Here’s how to explore these eerie portals to the Maya underworld.

A caving wonderland

Xibalba (chee-bal-ba), meaning “place of fear,” was significant in ancient Maya culture. The Popol Vuh , the book of creation of the Q’eqchi’ people, described it as a court existing below the Earth’s surface, where the Maya death gods reigned supreme, and a crossroads of the living and the dead. According to Holley Moyes, a professor of archaeology at University of California, Merced and National Geographic Explorer , historians are still speculating on why ancient civilizations saw caves as portals to the underworld.  

“We do know that as early on as the Neanderthals, people were buried in the dark zones of caves in what we speculate might be some sort of bear-related cult,” says Moyes. “Think about it. What do bears do in winter? Hibernate in caves. They appear to be dead. Then they wake up and go about their business, so possibly ancient people saw this as a type of resurrection.”

The gods controlled every aspect of Maya life, from the weather ( Chac ) to the harvest ( Hun Hunahpu ) and even dictated one’s mate (Ixchel ). The region’s first inhabitants would enter the caverns for important rituals like burial, bloodletting, and sacrifice. Archaeologists are still finding evidence of these practices today.

( Who were the Maya? Decoding the ancient civilization’s secrets .)

One of Belize’s more popular cave experiences is Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) in western Belize, near San Ignacio. The Maya consider the ATM, meaning Cave of the Stone Sepulchre, a sacred location. The cavern safeguards the bones of 13 men, women, children, and the famous “ Crystal Maiden ,” who was thought to be a sacrifice. Decades of weathering and calcification gave the skeleton’s surface a gem-like appearance. Several other Maya artifacts and remains are completely calcified to the cave floor. In 2012, photography and video were banned to protect the artifacts.

Miguel Choco, a Q’eqchi’ Maya tour guide for The Lodge at Chaa Creek , says visiting Xibalba is key to understanding ancient Maya and their history. “It is vital to learn about the [context] of the ceremonial activities in the caves and why they concluded with human sacrifice,” he says, which usually happened when drought, infertility, and famine ravaged the population.

Choco adds that taking visitors to the caves allows him to share Maya history and how its legacy is not limited to the past. “The world must know we are still maintaining as much of the culture as possible,” he says.

( See rare footage of this ancient Maya sacrificial cave in Belize .)  

In fact, more than 11 percent of Belize’s population are Indigenous Mopan, Yucatec, and Q’eqchi’ Maya people. Many of them continue to practice ancient traditions, speak Mayan languages, and subscribe to mythologies passed down over the generations.  

How to explore the Maya underworld

It’s hard not to feel the presence of something ancient and meaningful when entering a Belizean cave, even those without visible skeletons. In central Belize, visitors can take a guided canoe cruise or swim into the underworld at Barton Creek Cave , the longest subterranean grotto in the nation. Pottery shards, jewelry, and the remains of at least 28 individuals ranging from children to adults have been found inside the 10 natural ledges, once a ceremonial site.

( Take a 360° panorama tour of one of the world’s largest caves in Vietnam .)

However, with only four miles of the cave mapped so far and several more to be explored, who knows what other relics remain. Archaeological work is still ongoing inside the cave, slowly revealing important clues to the downfall of the mighty civilization that once ruled from modern Mexico all the way down to El Salvador .

Not all of Belize’s caves come with outright tales of death, but they can still send a chill up the spine. Located about an hour away from the capital of Belmopan, the Caves Branch River flows through 19 caves of Nohoch Che’en , a popular tubing destination. The 1 1⁄2-hour floating tour takes travelers past towering stalactites and preserved Maya paintings on the ceilings.

( Here are 10 sacred caves around the world .)

At specific points along the journey, tubers enter pitch black areas. Headlamps are provided, but embracing the darkness is the best way to see the caves as the ancient Maya did.

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• UNDERWATER CAVES

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10 Beautiful Dangerous Places to Visit Now

From the highest to the lowest, from the coldest to the hottest, from the wettest to the driest, and more… we’ve rounded up some of the most extreme (and most beautiful) places on Earth. Put them on your bucket list, if you dare.

1. EXTREME UNDERGROUND BEAUTY: REED FLUTE CAVE, GUANGXI, CHINA

For a beautiful visual experience, explore the brightly colored Reed Flute Cave, in Guangxi, China. The artificial lights illuminate the oddly-shaped stalactites, stalagmites, and rock formations here.

This natural limestone cave is over 180 million years old. Ink inscriptions inside the cave prove that it has been a tourist attraction since at least 792 AD, during the time of the Tang dynasty. It was only rediscovered in the 1940s, and is now nicknamed the “Palace of Natural Arts.”

2. THE MOST EXTREME RIVER CAVE ON EARTH: XE BANG FAI RIVER CAVE. KHAMMOUANE PROVINCE, LAOS

You can paddle a kayak underground at Xe Bang Fai River Cave, in Khammouane Province, in central Laos. This is one of the largest river caves in the world at 4 miles long, with massive caverns that reach up to 390’ tall and 650’ wide!

Explore and admire the hanging stalactites, fossil passages, subterranean gardens, and beautiful foot-long cave pearls made from minerals. The upriver entrance is a sinkhole covered in lush forest! You won’t believe your eyes.

3. THE BIGGEST PURE VERTICAL DROP ON EARTH: MOUNT THOR, BAFFIN ISLAND, CANADA

If you’re not afraid of heights, Mount Thor, also known as Thor Peak, will blow your mind. It’s the biggest vertical drop on earth at 4,100 feet. The cliff overhangs at an average angle of 15 degrees, and is made of pure granite.

Adrenaline junkies and climbers are drawn to this extreme location in Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island, Canada. The mountain is part of the Baffin Mountains, which, in turn, are part of the Arctic Cordillera mountain range.

4. THE MOST REMOTE ISLAND ON EARTH: TRISTAN DA CUNHA ARCHIPELAGO

WIthin Tristan da Cunha, a tiny volcanic island chain, in the southern Atlantic Ocean, lies the most remote inhabited island in the world, also named Tristan da Cunha. Only 272 people live here.The nearest populated landmass is located 1,500 miles away.

Other beautiful islands in this archipelago include Nightingale Island, Inaccessible Island and Gough Island, all uninhabited, with wildlife reserves.

5. THE HIGHEST PLACE ON EARTH: MT. CHIMBORAZO, ECUADOR

Mt. Everest is the highest peak on earth at 29,029’ above sea level. But Mt. Chimborazo, an inactive volcano in the Andes range, in Ecuador, standing at just over 20,000’, is actually the highest point on Earth.

Earth is not a perfect sphere, with bulges raising its surface in varying degrees from its center. Because of its location on the equatorial bulge, Mt. Chimborazo is the furthest point from the earth’s center, and is closer to outer space, making it the tallest place on Earth.

6. THE LOWEST POINT ON EARTH: DEAD SEA, ISRAEL & JORDAN

The Dead Sea, located on the border of Israel and Jordan, is extreme in more ways than one. It’s the lowest point on the planet, at 1,378’ below sea level. It’s also one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth.

7.  THE WORLD’S HOTTEST PLACE: DALLOL, ETHIOPIA

If you’re searching for a respite from the cold this winter, try a trip to the hottest place on Earth. Dallol, Ethiopia has the highest annual average temperature (96℉) of any inhabited place on the planet.

Since Dallol is so close to the Equator and is located in a volcanically active region, the heat never subsides.

8. THE COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH: OYMYAKON, RUSSIA

If you can’t get enough of the cold and think you can face extreme weather, you may want to consider a vacation to Oymyakon, the coldest inhabited place on Earth. Nestled in the heart of Russian Siberia, the lowest temperature ever recorded here was -90℉, though the average winter isn’t far off. 

9. THE MOST DANGEROUS WALKWAY: EL CAMINITO DEL REY, MÁLAGA, SPAIN

For those who live life on the edge, El Caminito del Rey can provide the ultimate thrill. Known as “the world’s most dangerous walkway,” this footbridge is pinned along the steep walls of a gorge in Málaga, Spain. It’s only 3.2’ wide, and it stands precariously at 328’ above a rushing river.

It just reopened after extensive renovations in March 2015.

10. THE DRIEST PLACE ON EARTH: ATACAMA, CHILE

In Atacama, Chile, you’ll find extreme drought any time of year, because it’s the driest occupied place in the world. This 600 mile-long plateau sits on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains.

Centuries can pass without a big rainfall because of the cold ocean currents and the area’s high mountainous elevation. It is physically impossible for clouds to form over this desert. This has been true since before the age of dinosaurs, making it the world’s oldest desert as well.

Though dry, this desert is incredibly beautiful, with a landscape made up of stony terrain, salt flats, and felsic (made of silica) lava flows.

Read more about Beautiful Danger all this week on BeautifulNow . And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness , Impact , Nature/Science , Food , Arts/Design , and Travel , Daily Fix posts.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter , Like us on Facebook . Follow us on Twitter , Instagram , Pinterest . Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Competition .

IMAGE CREDITS:

• Image: by Dennis Jarvis . China. Reed Flute Cave. Guangxi, China.
• Image: by Mike . Mirror Reflection in the Water in the Reed Flute Cave . Guangxi, China.
• Image: by Marshall Segal . Reed Flute Cave. Guangxi, China.
• Image: by David Bunnel . Xe Bang Fai River Cave . Khammouane Province, Laos.  
• Image: by Ansgar Walk. Mount Asgard. Baffin Island, Canada.
• Image: by NASA ASTER . Tristan da Cunha Island. Tristan da Cunha Archipelago.
• Image: by David Torres Costales. V icuña, one of two wild South American camelids. Mt. Chimborazo, Ecuador.
• Image: by Eduardo Navas . Chimborazo.  Mt. Chimborazo, Ecuador.
• Image: Courtesy of Aqaba Diving . Dead Sea . Dead Sea. Israel & Jordan.
• Image: by Itamar Grinberg. Courtesy of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism . Dead Sea Salt. Israel &  Jordan.
• Image: by Hervé Sthioul. Dallol, Flaque of Acidic et Formation de Sel. Dallol, Ethiopia.
• Image: by Marió Gonçalves . Oymyakon. Oymyakon, Russia.
• Image: by MichiNerja. El famoso Caminito del Rey. El Caminito del Rey. Málaga, Spain.
• Image: by Luca Galuzzi . Miscanti Lagoon San Pedro de Atacama Chile Luca Galuzzi. Atacama, Chile.
• Image: by Franceso Mocellin. Salar de Atacama, In the Background the Volcano Licancabur. Atacama, Chile.
• Image: by spiffae. Mt. Thor - Baffin Island, Canada - Largest Vertical Drop on Earth (4,101 ft). Mt. Thor. Baffin Island, Canada.
• Image: by Achilli Family | Journeys . Ethiopia, Dallol, Danakil Depression. Dallol, Ethiopia.
• Image: by Bernt Rostad . Reed Flute Cave - Nature's Art Palace. Reed Flute Cave. Guangxi, China.

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A trip to the last Blockbuster on Earth

Visiting the bend, ore., store is like stepping back in time.

BEND, Ore. — My family used to go to Blockbuster every Friday. Walking to the store on 19th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan, we’d wander through the aisles of DVDs, negotiating what to rent for our weekly ritual of making pizzas and watching movies, and I’d try to sweet-talk my way into a Nerds Rope or a box of watermelon Sour Patch Kids.

We cycled through countless discs before my parents signed up for Netflix’s DVD service. Our local store closed in 2010 — the year Blockbuster corporate filed for bankruptcy protection — and less than a decade later, almost all of Blockbuster’s 9,000 stores had followed suit.

These days, there’s only one Blockbuster left on Earth . It’s in Bend, Ore., about 820 miles from my home in Los Angeles.

But I’ve traveled farther for stupider reasons.

So I took a trip to Bend with my partner, Reanna (who loves DVDs even more than I do). Our journey there involved an extensive delay that stretched into 13 hours of travel — via cab, bus, plane and rental car — but it all felt worth it when we caught a glimpse of the glowing yellow Blockbuster sign in the distance.

‘A huge movie town’

Most of the tourism in Bend revolves around the city’s outdoor wonders, attracting people who love hiking, skiing, canoeing and exploring the local terrain.

But the city has always been filled with movie lovers, according to Ken Tisher, who owns the Blockbuster on Revere Avenue with his wife, Debbie.

“For those who don’t know, Bend is a huge movie town,” Ken said in the 2020 documentary “ The Last Blockbuster .”

The Tishers opened their first video rental store as Pacific Video in the early 1990s. With business booming, they launched two more locations, but when Blockbuster moved into town they had one option for survival: They made the store on Revere Ave into a Blockbuster franchise in 2000.

As a chain, Blockbuster peaked in 2004, when there were 9,000 locations worldwide. The company has shut down thousands of locations over the years, making the Bend Blockbuster the last Blockbuster in the United States in 2018 (after two stores in Alaska closed), and the only one in the world by April 2019 (after the second-to-last Blockbuster in a suburb of Perth, Australia, shut down).

Sandi Harding, the general manager of the Bend Blockbuster, has been working there since 2004. She watched the franchise’s decline from the front lines, giving countless interviews and figuring out how to keep the store stocked and relevant.

Since there’s no corporate supplier left, Harding buys candy and snacks in bulk from Costco and has figured out how to print and laminate new membership cards. Most of the DVD vendors that they have worked with have closed over the years, and the ones that are still open have minimum orders that are far too big for her store.

“I can’t afford to purchase movies through them, so I’m back to buying 100 percent of everything at Walmart and Target,” Harding told me.

The staff’s DIY efforts pay off: Harding estimates that they still get 500 to 1,000 customers over the course of a weekend.

“It’s all tourism driven now, where before it was all rental driven,” Harding said. “So it’s totally a different experience.”

The last on Earth

We made it to Bend a little before 7:30 p.m., exhausted but relieved that we didn’t miss our chance to indulge in some retro movie magic. It was a sleepy Sunday evening, so the store was nearly empty.

“The winter months used to be our bread and butter, like, that’s when we were the busiest: when people couldn’t go outside or travel,” Harding said. “Now it’s the opposite, the winter is quiet. So this time of year we get lots of projects done. We all take vacations, and we do things, because the summer is when we’re just crazy busy.”

Most of the store is straight out of the early 2000s: The walls are lined with DVDs and VHS tapes to purchase or rent; the location’s original triangular checkout counter has endured the test of time; and the staffers still wear blue and yellow shirts (though they’re not forced to don the retro polos ).

“The ticket tee that we have out there is the T-shirt we’ve always had here at the store for our employees,” Harding said, referring to the ticket stub design on the shirts that her employees wear. “But on the back of it used to say ‘your ticket to the movies,’ and then it went to ‘last one in America,’ and now it’s ‘last one on the planet.’”

The rentals are still reasonably priced: New releases cost $3.99 and older DVDs are just 99 cents. And these days, nobody complains about late fees.

“Now everybody is like, ‘Aw man, we miss it,’ which is always funny,” Harding said. “You’d be surprised how many people insist on paying their late fees now to support the store.”

Unsurprisingly, rentals and late fees aren’t enough to keep the store afloat. Harding estimates that 80 percent of its business comes from selling merchandise, including T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, postcards, keychains and popcorn-scented candles.

Most of that merch is made by local artisans, since Harding wants to support her fellow Oregonians.

“We’re proud of the fact that we’re able to source as much as we can here in town,” she said. “If we can’t have them made in Bend, we buy them through another small business.”

“People come in and see [the merch] and then I remember why we’ve got it, because people smell the candle or they see the T-shirt and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this so brings me back,’” she added.

A blast from the past

As I browsed the aisles of Blockbuster, it felt like I stepped into a memory. The space was still warm and comforting, the snack and drink options were abundant, and the staff clearly had great taste.

There are a few things in the store that bring visitors back to 2024: Some of Russell Crowe’s costumes — passed along from the closed Anchorage store — sit next to a wall of Blockbuster memorabilia and letters that have been sent to the store. A modest living room occupies one corner, reminiscent of the Airbnb experience the store offered in 2020. The checkout counter also has a guest book, so visitors can sign their names and leave sentimental notes.

“I opened up an account the other day for somebody from Seattle, and she was like, ‘We’re on our way home, but we had to stop and rent a movie. I’m going to mail it back to you.’” — Sandi Harding, general manager of the Bend Blockbuster

“We have almost 30 of those little guest books signed,” Harding said. “I’m actually looking forward to the day when I can sit down and just go through them all.”

The store has welcomed visitors from all six habitable continents, and Harding can rattle off plenty of states and countries that people have traveled from. She tries to be as accommodating as possible for those who are passing through town and want the full rental experience.

“I opened up an account the other day for somebody from Seattle, and she was like, ‘We’re on our way home, but we had to stop and rent a movie. I’m going to mail it back to you,’” Harding said. “Sometimes people just do it and walk around outside and put it back in the drop box, just because they want to have that experience of renting the movie and returning it.”

Reanna and I had one night in Bend at an Airbnb with a DVD player , so we took our time perusing the shelves. Instead of doom scrolling through a streaming app on my TV, or trusting an algorithm to pick something out, I looked at a wall of the staff’s Valentine’s Day picks, feeling a kinship with Santana, who recommended the 2018 remake of “A Star is Born,” and Aidan, whose picks included “Moonlight” and “Knocked Up.”

That sense of connection is really what we’re looking for when we visit an old school video store.

“Video stores and movie theaters have always kind of felt like my church,” Jared Rasic, a local critic, said in “The Last Blockbuster” documentary. “They’ve always felt like the place where I go to feel the most like the calm, normal human being that I’ve always wanted to be.”

Reanna and I eventually settled on renting “Gentlemen Broncos,” a sci-fi comedy directed by the man who made “Napoleon Dynamite,” and “Vanilla Sky,” a thriller starring Tom Cruise. After grabbing some merch, a locally brewed Blockbuster beer and a respectable assortment of candy and microwave popcorn, we were ready to check out.

We also got two membership cards along with our wares; small yellow and blue reminders that sit in our wallets and remind us that we might get the chance to go back one day.

Julia Carmel is a Los Angeles-based writer. You can follow them on X: @julcarm .

A photo caption incorrectly said a visitor was from Cambi, Ore. They are from Canby, Ore. This article has been corrected.

Where to go

Our favorite destinations: These 12 destinations are at the top of our wish list for where to go this year, without crowds. In 2023, we explored an Alaskan bear paradise, Brooklyn’s famous pizzerias and a hidden gem in Italy, among other highlights ..

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7 Extreme Adventure Activities to Try—If You Dare

Caroline Morse Teel

Caroline Morse Teel is the Managing Editor for SmarterTravel Media. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline .

Caroline joined Boston-based SmarterTravel in 2011 after living in Ireland, London, and Manhattan. She's traveled to all seven continents, jumped out of planes, and bungeed off bridges in the pursuit of a good story. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path destinations, anything outdoorsy, and all things adventure.

Her stories have also appeared online at USA Today, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Yahoo, Boston.com, TripAdvisor, Buzzfeed, Jetsetter, Oyster, Airfarewatchdog, and others.

The Handy Item I Always Pack : "Earplugs. A good pair has saved my sleep and sanity many times!"

Ultimate Bucket List Experience : Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro.

Travel Motto : "Don't be boring."

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat : "Aisle (when the first class private suite isn't available)."

E-mail her at [email protected] .

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Bungee jumping and skydiving? So passé. All the cool travelers have moved on to these crazy adventure activities that you’ve probably never even heard of. So next time you’re in the mood for an adrenaline rush, try one of these—if you dare.

Adventure Activities for Daredevils

Think you’re brave enough to try these on your next vacation?

If regular surfing is just too tame for you, don’t worry—there are now gas-powered surfboards out there that will let you reach speeds of up to 30 mph on your board, with no need to paddle. Bonus: Unlike on a normal surfboard, you’ll be able to speed away from any sharks you encounter.

If you’ve ever endured a long day on the slopes in painful ski boots, you’ve probably wished that you could ski while sitting down. Now you can, thanks to ski bikes . These are lightweight bike frames that have no wheels—instead, you strap your feet into short skis and slide down the mountain in comfort. Ski bikes are becoming popular at many resorts (including Killington, Winter Park, and Steamboat), so you can rent one yourself this winter and check one of these adventure activities off your list.

The future is now and jetpacks are real. The jetpacks of today are water-powered—you’ll be strapped into a harness attached to two hoses that use the force of water to propel you into the air. You’ll be able to steer your jetpack while reaching heights of up to three stories.

Riding a Seabreacher

Do you dream of owning a personal flying submarine? If you have a spare $100,000, you can make that dream a reality with a Seabreacher . Not in the vacation budget? You can rent one at many beach destinations (like Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, and Miami), so you can get just enough of a taste to know what’s missing from your life. This personal watercraft mimics a whale, diving up to six feet down, leaping out of the water, and motoring on the water’s surface at speeds up to 50 mph.

Flowboarding

You may have spotted flowboarding while on a cruise ship or at a waterpark, or maybe just entertained yourself by watching flowboard wipeout montages . Flowboarding is basically surfing on fake, stationary waves in a small space. The waves don’t move forward, so riders can perform tricks and jumps without needing much room—or just desperately try to stay upright, as is the case for most people.

Ski Ramp Bungee Jumping

If you watched the Winter Olympics and thought you might want to give the giant ski jumps a go, the Bun J Ride is the safest way to try it. You’ll be strapped into a bungee harness before skiing down a nearly 100-foot slope that ends in a 131-foot drop. Luckily, you don’t have to stick your landing, as the bungee cords will pull you up for a wild ride before you hit the snow.

Ice Sailing

Real sailors don’t let a little frozen water stop them from getting out there—they simply turn to ice sailing, a sport that is exactly what the name implies. Specially designed sailboats use wind and sails, plus skate-like runners to glide along the ice. Be sure to bundle up—these boats can go fast, and the wind chill gets pretty cold at 50 mph. You can try it out everywhere from New England to Estonia.

More from SmarterTravel:

• 8 Crazy-Fun Sports to Mix Up Your Winter
• 10 Amazing Animal Adventures
• 7 Adventure Tours You’ll Need a Doctor’s Note For

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Caroline Morse Teel wants to try all of these adventure activities. Follow her on Instagram @TravelWithCaroline for photos of her adventures.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

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Step Inside the World’s Most Dangerous Garden (If You Dare)

The Poison Garden at England’s Alnwick Garden is beautiful—and filled with plants that can kill you

Natasha Geiling

The Alnwick Garden is one of north England's most beautiful attractions, where acres of colorful plants invite visitors to wander through rows of fragrant roses, manicured topiaries and cascading fountains. But within Alnwick's boundaries, kept behind black iron gates, is a place where visitors are explicitly told  not to  stop and smell the flowers: the Poison Garden, home to 100 infamous killers. 

In 1995, Jane Percy became the Duchess of Northumberland, a county in northeastern England that stretches to the border with Scotland, after her husband's brother died unexpectedly. With the title came the Alnwick Castle, the traditional seat of the Duke of Northumberland (it also served as the setting for Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films). After the family took up residence in the castle, Percy's husband asked her to do something with the gardens, which at the time were a disused commercial forestry boasting nothing more than rows and rows of Christmas trees.

"I think he thought, 'That will keep her quiet, she’ll just plant a few roses and that’ll be it,'" the duchess says. But Percy did more than plant a few roses. In 1996, she hired  Jacques Wirtz , a landscape architect who has worked with the Tuileries in Paris and the gardens of the French president's residence, to help reimagine the Alnwick Garden. Today, the gardens encompass 14 acres and attract over 600,000 visitors each year, making them one of North England's most popular tourist attractions.

"I realized I could do something really great if I had the right team,"says the duchess. But she knew she needed more than a good team—she needed something to set her project apart from the other gardens that dot the English countryside. "If you’re building something, especially a visitor attraction, it needs to be something really unique," she says. "One of the things I hate in this day and age is the standardization of everything. I thought, 'Let’s try and do something really different.'"

The duchess thought she might want to include an apothecary garden, but a trip to Italy set her on a slightly different course. After visiting the infamous Medici poison garden, the duchess became enthralled with the idea of creating a garden of plants that could kill instead of heal. Another trip—this one to the archeological site of the largest hospital in medieval Scotland , where the duchess learned about soporific sponges soaked in henbane, opium and hemlock used to anesthetize amputees during 15th-century surgeries—reinforced her interest in creating a garden of lethal plants. 

"I thought, 'This is a way to interest children,'" she says. "Children don’t care that aspirin comes from a bark of a tree. What’s really interesting is to know how a plant kills you, and how the patient dies, and what you feel like before you die."

So the duchess set about collecting poisonous plants for her envisioned Poison Garden. While selecting the 100 varieties that would eventually take root there, she had only one steadfast requirement: the plants had to tell a good story. This meant that exotic killers like South America's Brugmansia* would mingle with more common poisons, such as laurel hedges.

"What’s extraordinary about the plants is that it’s the most common ones that people don’t know are killers," the duchess says. Visitors are often surprised to learn that the laurel hedge, nearly ubiquitous in English gardens, can be highly toxic. But some visitors have had experience with laurel's sinister side—the duchess has heard a few talk about how, after loading up their cars with pruned laurel leaves to take to the dump, drivers have fallen asleep behind the wheel of their car from the toxic fumes the branches emit.

Because of the plants' dangerous qualities, visitors to the Poison Garden are prohibited from smelling, touching or tasting any of them. Still, even with guidelines in place, visitors can fall victim to the plants. This past summer, seven people reportedly fainted from inhaling toxic fumes while walking through the garden. "People think we're being overdramatic when we talk about [not smelling the plants], but I've seen the health and safety reports," the duchess says.

 As part of the Poison Garden's educational mission, the duchess grows a variety of drugs, from cannabis to cocaine (derived from the leaves of the coca plant), which she and garden guides use as a jumping-off point for drug education. "It's a way of educating children without having them realize they're being educated," she says.

Other poisonous plants might be less well-known to visitors, but are no less potent. One of the duchess's favorite plants is Brugmansia , or angel's trumpet, a member of the Solanaceae  family (which includes deadly nightshade) that grows in the wild in South America. "It's an amazing aphrodisiac before it kills you," she says, explaining that Victorian ladies would often keep a flower from the plant on their card tables and add small amounts of its pollen to their tea to incite an LSD-like trip. "[Angel's trumpet] is an amazing way to die because it's quite pain-free," the duchess says. "A great killer is usually an incredible aphrodisiac."

Whether a plant kills with pleasure or with pain, visitors can count on walking away from the Poison Garden with an entertaining anecdote. "Most plants that kill are quite interesting," says the duchess.

*Correction: The original sentence confused Brugmansia, which is native to South America, with belladonna, which is native to Europe.

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Natasha Geiling | | READ MORE

Natasha Geiling is an online reporter for Smithsonian magazine.

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• Airlines + Airports

How to Join the Mile High Club—If You Dare

Disclosure: The author and this publication in no way condone the commission of lewd acts in public. This article is intended in the spirit of fun and not as an instructional manual or encouragement of any kind!

In a new poll of 1,600 travelers, the website Jetsetter found that 15 percent of respondents said they have had sex on a plane. Another recent study by the British airfare search engine Jetcost surveyed over 700 British flight attendants and found that 21 percent of them had participated in sexual relations with a colleague , while 14 percent had done so with passengers. It appears that flying the friendly skies is getting friendlier all the time.

Fun fact: though it seems like a modern concept, the term “Mile-High Club” actually dates back to 1914. That was when an enterprising young aviator with the improbably apropos name of Lawrence Burst Sperry invented the prototype for autopilot. In addition to making air travel smoother and safer, Sperry (who was a bit of a playboy) discovered it had the added benefit of freeing up his hands…for more amorous maneuvers.

In fact, just two years later, Sperry and a married socialite named Cynthia Polk were rescued from a small plane crash in the waters of the Atlantic just off Long Island. Stark naked. Sperry explained their nudity by saying their clothes had been ripped off in the crash, but common sense implied otherwise. One cheeky tabloid of the time headlined it, “Aerial Petting Leads to Wetting.” Ah, the golden age of travel.

More than 100 years later, his legacy runs strong, with aspirational mile-high clubbers still finding plenty of reasons to hook up at high altitude.

“It’s something they can check off their bucket list ,” says one crewmember we spoke to, who flies with a U.S. carrier. “It’s like an elite club people want to join. I went skydiving, I bungee jumped. I had an orgasm at 35,000 feet.”

That said, joining is getting harder and harder (if you’ll excuse the wording) with more and more folks getting packed into the back of the plane. And that’s not to mention the question of cleanliness. But for those of you looking to earn a membership card on your next flight, we asked our anonymous airline crew sources for tips on how you can canoodle without getting caught.

Stick to long-hauls.

“Long-haul flights, and relatively empty ones are best, ” says one flight attendant with a major legacy carrier. “A lot of them are overnight, so people have some time to drink, the cabin gets dark, and off you go.” Our flight attendants also clock the most copulation on flights to popular party destinations like Vegas or the Maldives.

Skip to the Loo.

Though you’d be hard pressed to think of a less romantic location, the lavatory might just be your best option. Our source’s tip? “Use the handicapped lav because it’s larger and there’s more space to maneuver. Plus they have handicap rails so you have something to grip.” Just remember, says another, “We can get into the bathroom at any point,” so don’t think that lock will keep you safe.

Bathroom queue? No problem.

Popular imagination has these altitudinal assignations involving full-on fornication in the lavatory. But in reality, our sources say most would-be joiners never even leave their seats. “Most of the time it’s a cheeky under-the-blanket knuckle shuffle,” says a flight attendant with a major Asia-Pacific carrier. Just remember, airplanes are public conveyances, so if you get caught in your seat, you could get in trouble with the law.

You might want the middle seat, for once.

On the aisle, chances are it will be too busy for you to get busy. Instead, opt for the window and middle seat.

Perfect your timing.

“Do it when the cabin crew are seated and the seatbelt sign is on,” says one source. “Takeoff, landing, severe turbulence. Who knows, that could help!” Another suggests, “Crew service is also a good time. If the crew is up at the front of the cabin with the cart, no one is in the back, and that’s a perfect opportunity to use the lavatory.”

Keep it cool.

When flight attendants catch naughty nooky-makers, their primary goal is getting them to stop without alerting other passengers or making a scene. “I tell them you can’t do that here, it’s not acceptable. I don’t want to embarrass them and I don’t want to involve other passengers.” So if you get caught, be cool and act like nothing happened. Then pick up where you left off back on the ground.

One final word of advice from our international crew: “Everything is dull at altitude; your sense of taste , smell, everything. If you’re expecting an earth-shattering big bang, it’s not going to happen.”

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Weird Foods To Try in All 50 States (If You Dare)

Posted: July 31, 2023 | Last updated: August 1, 2023

Part of the fun of traveling is having experiences wholly unique to your destination. If you’re a foodie, that likely involves trying the best or craziest dishes it has to offer. 

If you're going on a trip in the coming weeks, you should  avoid wasting your money  on food you could get anywhere. Here are some of the weirdest vacation foods you can find in every state.

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Alabama: Orange pineapple ice cream

If you find yourself in Alabama, you have to try some orange pineapple ice cream from Trowbridge’s in Florence. 

This unique recipe, which sounds more fitting of Hawaii, has been handed down for generations and provides the perfect treat on a warm day.

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Alaska: Reindeer dog

We know every state or city has its version of a hot dog. But can any of them compete with Alaskan reindeer dogs? 

These sausages — served at Red Umbrella Reindeer in Anchorage — typically include actual reindeer meat, as well as beef and pork.

Arizona: Cheese crisps

Sometimes, simple is successful.

Head to any Mexican restaurant in the Tucson area, and you‘re bound to find cheese crisps — thin, toasted tortillas topped with shredded cheese and brushed with butter — on the menu.

El Minuto Cafe in Tucson might do it best, with several options for toppings, including green chiles, shredded beef, and chorizo.

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Arkansas: Possum pie

Possum pie is an extremely popular (and decadent) dessert found throughout spots in Arkansas. 

This pie doesn’t have possum in it, but instead creamy layers of chocolate, cream cheese, and shortbread crust. Try it at Stoby’s Restaurant in Conway.

California: Sushi burrito

Asian and Mexican influences meet to form an unusual yet delectable dish called the sushi burrito. 

As the name suggests, it’s typically made with different sushi elements but served in the form of a burrito. An instant classic that’s beloved at Sushirrito in San Francisco.

Colorado: Rocky Mountain oysters

Visiting the mile-high city of Denver or another locale in Colorado? Check out the Rocky Mountain oysters at just about any bar and grill or brewery, including Buckhorn Exchange in Denver. 

They’re supposed to be a real deep-fried treat, but be warned, they aren’t oysters. They’re bull testicles.

Connecticut: Peanut butter and jelly wings

Peanut butter and jelly is an iconic duo, but on chicken wings? For some Connecticut residents and visitors, there’s nothing better. 

If you like sweet and savory mixes (think chicken and waffles), these wings served at the Dew Drop Inn in Derby might be right up your alley.

Delaware: Salt water taffy

Even if you’re not from the Northeast, you might be familiar with salt water taffy. 

Getting the taste of salt in your mouth from swimming in the ocean doesn’t sound too fun, but eating some sweet (and salty!) candy while visiting Delaware beaches doesn’t sound bad at all. 

Candy Kitchen  in Rehoboth Beach has a great selection.

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Florida: Conch fritters

Have you eaten snails? What about sea snails? That’s basically what a conch is; fry them up, and you’ve got yourself a tasty treat. 

They’re all the rage at DJ’s Clam Shack in Key West.

Georgia: Chicken and waffles

No matter how mainstream chicken and waffles become, they’re still a bit strange, albeit delicious. You typically stick with savory or sweet items on a plate, but this dish throws traditional senses out the window and puts them together. 

Find some top chicken and waffles at Buttermilk Kitchen in Atlanta.

Hawaii: Loco moco

Amazing culture, beautiful beaches, and comforting food — what’s not to like about Hawaii? The loco moco, or a mix of burger patties, rice, gravy, and runny eggs, fits right in. 

It sounds a bit out there, but it might be the ideal dish from Rainbow Drive-In (offered in five locations) after a long day of surfing or exploring.

Idaho: Ice cream potato

Idaho fully embraces its potato culture by offering all sorts of potato dishes, including the ice cream potato. 

This dish looks like a classic baked potato with all the toppings, but there’s no potato in it — it’s just a fun dessert scooped up at Westside Drive-In in Boise.

Illinois: Chicago dog

It’s no reindeer dog, but Chicago-style hot dogs can definitely come off as strange to a first-time visitor. 

For anyone who’s never had all the best garden picks, including tomato and pickle, included on their hot dog, you’ve got to try one from Portillo’s in the city.

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Indiana: Peanut butter burger

Hear us out: a burger with a nice slathering of peanut butter across the bun. It’s a bit out of the box, but it’s caught on in certain parts of Indiana. 

If you’re visiting The Hoosier State, don’t miss out on a peanut butter burger served at Triple XXX Family Restaurant in West Lafayette. It‘s called the Duane Purvis All American.

Iowa: Breaded pork tenderloin

There’s nothing innately weird about a breaded pork tenderloin — that is, until you throw a giant one between two sides of a bun. Then it becomes weirdly awesome. 

Some restaurants in Iowa, like Smitty’s Tenderloins in Des Moines, have perfected this phenomenal sandwich.

Kansas: Chili and cinnamon rolls

Of things we would not think to mix, these are two of them. 

But chili and cinnamon rolls have won over the hearts and stomachs of many a Midwesterner, as evidenced by the menu at Carriage Crossing Restaurant & Bakery in Yoder. Consider us convinced.

Kentucky: Beer cheese

Is it beer or cheese? It’s both in a way, but it’s more of a dip than anything. And it’s the ideal complement for pretzels, chips, and other snacks you might find at a pub or party with friends. 

Kentucky claims beer cheese as its own, so look for it on your next visit. It’s a favorite at Wunderbar in Covington.

Louisiana: Alligator

From fried gator tail to cajun alligator chili, Louisiana is home to a wide variety of these reptilian dishes. 

Alligator is a far cry from your typical beef, pork, and poultry, but it’s a common deal here — and worth a try at Cochon in New Orleans.

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Maine: Duck gravy poutine

Poutine is typically already decadent enough, but for some reason having duck gravy seems to make it more so. 

Duck isn’t a common food for many Americans, and neither is poutine, so the combination, served at Duckfat in Portland, could be a new experience for visitors to Maine.

Maryland: Old Bay everything

If you haven’t been to Maryland, prepare yourself for a healthy obsession with Old Bay seasoning.

As the locals might say, it’s wicked good, especially on seafood, wings, and everything else. Wicked Sisters in Baltimore knows how to sprinkle it on.

Massachusetts: Fluffernutter

You’d be forgiven for not knowing what a fluffernutter sandwich is, but you’d be remiss not to try one if given the opportunity. 

It’s traditionally a sandwich made with white bread, peanut butter, and marshmallow creme, but you find fried variations at Local 149 in Boston.

Michigan: Pasty

What in the world is a pasty? For Michiganders, it’s an everyday delight and something you have to try if you’re in the area. Think of a warm, flaky meat pie and you’ll be right about on target.

Mackinaw Pastie & Cookie Co.  in Mackinaw City takes the treat to a new level with their signature crimped ends.

Minnesota: Jucy Lucy

The name doesn’t immediately let you know what type of food we’re dealing with, but let it be known that the “Jucy Lucy” is a double burger with cheese. 

Sounds simple enough, but as many foodies know, a good story and history can go a long way in making food taste better — ask anyone at Matt’s in Minneapolis.

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Mississippi: Hot tamale pie

It’s not exactly a tamale or a pie, but it has some elements of both. 

Either way, it’s a cheesy grits, pork, and green chile concoction served at Ajax Diner in Oxford. It’s known to be a crowd-pleaser and should be on your Mississippi foods list.

Missouri: Provel cheese

Even more than the thin crust and square slices, provel cheese — typically a mixture of cheddar, swiss, and provolone — is what makes St. Louis pizza unique.

The creamy and gooey cheese is said to have been invented in St. Louis in 1947. It is enjoyed on pizza and even in salads at Imo’s Pizza and various other eateries in eastern Missouri.

Montana: Bison

Bison can’t be found in many places, but Montana is one of the states where you can both find and eat this type of meat. 

In particular, bison burgers and steaks are popular dishes among locals and visitors alike. It’s a well-loved dish at Ted’s Montana Grill in Bozeman.

Nebraska: Runza sandwich

Runza is a restaurant chain based out of Nebraska and home to the original Runza sandwich and its offshoots. This type of sandwich is more like an enclosed hot roll with different fillings, which often include beef, cabbage, and onions. 

If you’ve been to Nebraska but haven’t been to a Runza, have you really been?

Nevada: Mochi ice cream pops

Nevada has so much food to choose from, especially in Las Vegas, and mochi ice cream pops are one of your options. These little treats are found on a stick and can provide a small, chilled relief from the Nevada heat. 

If you’ve never had mochi before, this is a fun introduction. You can sample at Jaburritos in Las Vegas.

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New Hampshire: Apple cider doughnut

Since New Hampshire already has plenty of apple cider, why not mix it with something equally delicious? 

The resulting apple cider doughnuts are a welcome surprise for anyone visiting this part of New England for the first time. These treats are very popular during harvest season at Applecrest Farm Orchards in Hampton Falls.

New Jersey: Pork roll

Pork roll is exactly what you might imagine it to be, a roll of unsliced pork. It’s typically used in different breakfast dishes, including pork roll sandwiches. 

If you’re in Jersey, you’re likely to find a nearby diner or other type of restaurant that serves pork roll. The Committed Pig in Morristown is one such spot.

New Mexico: Green chile sundae

It’s New Mexico, so you know there’s bound to be green chile somewhere, even in your dessert.

If you don’t believe me, check out the green chile sundae that’s made with frozen custard and a green chile topping at Caliche’s Frozen Custard in Las Cruces. Now that’s something you likely won’t find anywhere else.

New York: OddFellow Ice Cream

Speaking of unique frozen desserts, how about something from OddFellows Ice Cream in New York? 

The menu changes seasonally, but OddFellows Ice Cream in Brooklyn currently has options such as passionfruit apricot pistachio, miso peanut butter brownie, and much more. They‘ve even served foie gras ice cream before.

North Carolina: Livermush

Does it sound appetizing? Be honest. 

Despite its interesting name, livermush is a mainstay in North Carolina cuisine. There’s even an annual festival for everyone to celebrate this sliceable concoction that pairs well with eggs or toast. You can find it at The Shelby Cafe in Shelby.

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North Dakota: Knoephla soup

You might find this to be a strange soup because of the unfamiliar name, but once you realize it’s basically chicken and dumplings, there’s no turning back. 

North Dakotans are all in on this hearty dish, and you’re invited to partake as well. One spot that serves it is Deaner’s Diner in West Fargo.

Ohio: Cincinnati chili

Chili comes from Texas or thereabouts, right? Perhaps, but Cincinnati chili comes from Ohio, and it’s a lot different — in a good way. 

This type of chili has loads of cheese, often resembles spaghetti, and has a sweeter flavor — and is a menu item at Skyline Chili in Cincinnati. If you’re not intrigued, you should be.

Oklahoma: Fry bread tacos

We all know tacos, but do you know about fry bread tacos? It’s basically dough that’s been fried and topped with loads of goodness, which could include meat, beans, and cheese. 

Fry bread is a hit at FireLake Fry Bread Taco in Shawnee, much of wider Oklahoma, as well as other states — and using it for tacos is a stroke of culinary genius.

Oregon: Salt & Straw ice cream

Pear and blue cheese, arbequina olive oil, honey lavender, and strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper are all ice cream flavors from Salt & Straw in Portland. And those might be considered some of the less strange options. 

But guess what? These scoops are a hit, and you have to try it if you’re near a store.

Pennsylvania: Scrapple

Pork roll is to New Jersey as scrapple is to Pennsylvania. They’re similar, but don’t ever call them the same, at least not in the same room as a local. 

Scrapple is a dish that resembles a loaf of meat and is often made of pork, cornmeal, and spices. It’s typically served with breakfast dishes, so be on the lookout for diners and similar restaurants.

It’s a hot item at Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant & Smorgasbord, located in the town it’s named after.

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Rhode Island: Stuffed quahog

Despite its name, a quahog has nothing to do with pigs or hogs. A stuffed quahog is a large stuffed clam that’s enjoyed in and around Rhode Island. 

Each recipe is different, but you can typically expect the stuffing to be made from bread crumbs, onion, celery, and spices. Iggy’s Doughboys and Chowder House serves up their own recipe in Warwick.

South Carolina: Frogmore stew

Frogmore stew, or a low country boil, typically includes shrimp, corn on the cob, potatoes, and sausage — and it’s a menu item at Bowens Island Restaurant in Charleston. 

It could involve some crab as well, but frogs aren’t part of the recipe, other than helping with the name.

South Dakota: Wojapi

Wojapi originates from indigenous South Dakota and is a sauce traditionally made from chokecherries and root flour. 

Not sure what chokecherries are? No worries — these days, you might find wojapi made from different types of berries. They’re offered at pow-wows across South Dakota.

Tennessee: Nashville hot chicken

You‘ve likely had a chicken sandwich. Probably even a spicy chicken sandwich. Nashville hot chicken is in a different stratosphere.

Heat permeates from its very core, with the patty having been marinated in hot sauce, breaded, then coated in, yes, more hot sauce. It‘s a delicious and exhilarating meal.

If you‘re looking for the most authentic, head to Prince‘s Hot Chicken in Nashville.

Texas: Frito pie

This isn’t your typical pie because it’s savory, not sweet, and it’s more like nachos or a casserole than a pie. 

But it’s a classic throughout Texas and the Southwest and doesn’t have to be more complicated than a bunch of Fritos, ground beef, beans, cheese, and your pick of veggies.

The folks at Micklethwait Craft Meats  in Austin know just how to make them.

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Utah: Jolly elf

This is actually a beverage, and it’s one of many you can order from Swig in Lehi, famously called the home of the “dirty soda,” or soda that typically includes different additions such as syrups and fruit. 

The jolly elf is a Mountain Dew with passion fruit, strawberry puree, and fresh orange. Add some mango for an extra kick.

Vermont: Phish Food

Don’t worry, it’s not little bits of food you drop into a fish tank. Rather, it’s one of many popular flavors of ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s — a Vermont original.

You can visit the original Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury for tours and, of course, lots of ice cream.

Virginia: Peanut soup

The name doesn’t automatically evoke a sense of craving or delight, but it might if you’re from Virginia. 

This creamy and buttery soup traces its roots back to colonial times and before, which could make for the perfect accompaniment on a visit to the Old Dominion. 

King’s Arms Tavern in Williamsburg offers peanut soup on its menu.

Washington: Geoduck

What may sound like a sort of Pokémon is actually a strange-looking clam that can often be found in Washington, notably at the Taylor Shellfish restaurant in Seattle.

Geoduck sashimi is a worthwhile choice if you’re looking for new seafood options.

West Virginia: Pepperoni roll

There’s nothing terribly strange about pepperoni and bread, but its popularity in West Virginia is a bit different. 

These tasty delights trace their origins back to Italian immigrants working in coal mines in the area, and their popularity has only grown since.

Find them at Country Club Bakery in Fairmont.

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Wisconsin: Fried cheese curds

Cheese curds are made from curdled milk and are often squeaky when eaten. They already taste good by themselves, but if you fry them up and serve them with a favorite dipping sauce, you’ll be onto something. 

Since nobody knows cheese better than Wisconsin, this is where you should dig into some cheese curds. The Old Fashioned in Madison sells a lot.

Wyoming: Jackalope sausage

There’s no such thing as a jackrabbit with antelope horns, right? Maybe, but that hasn’t stopped jackalope sausage from existing. 

Take a bite out of this mythical creature the next time you visit the Cowboy State. Wyoming Buffalo Company in Cody has them packaged to go.

Bottom line

There are so many fascinating eats offered around the country — some items more daring than others. If you’re planning a road trip, use this list for meal inspiration on your travels.

Oh, and consider using a high-quality travel credit card while you do. It could help you make that next  food pilgrimage.

You always have to eat, so you might as well make an adventure out of it and try something unique to the area you’re visiting.

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• 7 things to do if you’re barely scraping by financially.
• 12 legit ways to earn extra cash.
• Can you retire early? Take this quiz and find out.
• 9 simple ways to make up to an extra $200/day

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Flying cars are coming! Here's how they could change the way you travel.

If you'd told me a few weeks ago that flying cars will change the way we travel, I probably would have laughed at you. 

But when Elon Musk hinted there might be a flying Tesla soon, the internet started buzzing with flying car news. And now people are talking.

“There's absolutely a sense that the time has come,” said aviation industry investment banker Joey Smith at Cassel Salpeter & Co . "Numerous well-funded companies are racing to build a viable production vehicle, and they could take to the skies as early as next year."

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What's more, attitudes toward Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) – that's a fancy term for flying cars and other personal flying vehicles – have shifted. A new study suggests Americans, and particularly younger urban consumers, are warming to the idea of flying to their next destination. Even so, the definition of a flying car is a little hard to pin down. I'll explain in a minute.

Don't expect to open your apartment window and see a scene out of a sci-fi movie like "Minority Report" anytime soon. (You know, lanes of flying vehicles lining the sky.) It'll be a slow rollout, but it has the potential to change the way we travel like we haven't seen since the introduction of the jet engine.

'Flying feels different': Here's how air travel has changed recently

Air travel smells worse than ever. Here's how to fix it.

What kind of flying vehicles are out there?

Personal flying vehicles defy simple classification, which may be part of their allure. There are STOLs and VTOLs, quadcopters, octocopters and hexacopters. Some are electric, some are gas-powered. 

Don't be confused by all the acronyms. I think it's OK to just call them flying cars.

Right now, the ones generating the most noise are electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs). These aircraft take off and land like a helicopter. For example, Joby's air taxi service in Manhattan plans to use its eVTOL , which looks like an oversized drone, to shuttle passengers from New York to JFK Airport next year.

My categorization is a little unconventional, but here's how I see it: There are really just two types of flying cars. The first are cars that can drive on the road and fly, just like the ones in "Back to the Future." 

One of the most high-profile of these is the Model A being developed by Alef Aeronautics . It's an eVTOL that looks like a sports car. But once it takes off, the passenger cabin pivots and the vehicle flies sideways, which looks a little jarring but very cool.

The second type of flying vehicle doesn't even bother with the road. For example, the Lilium Jet is both a fixed-wing aircraft and an eVTOL. But you won't see it on the highway unless it's making an emergency landing – so technically, it's not a flying car.

Like I said, these flying vehicles aren't easy to categorize. And it hasn't really mattered until now because you could only find them in aviation magazines and science fiction movies. But now there are serious discussions about flying cars, and developers have started taking orders. The future is almost here.

Flying cars aren't cleared for takeoff – yet

Don't get too excited. A few things still have to be worked out, say experts. For example, eVTOL manufacturers have struggled with several challenges. It's not just how to design lightweight aircraft made from the right composite materials and with adequate battery life. It's also piloting the flying car. Issues such as autonomous flight capability and pilot training have proven to be big barriers. 

There are also regulatory roadblocks. The Federal Aviation Administration, which has oversight of these new vehicles, has adopted a "crawl-walk-run" approach. And it's still in "crawl" mode. Last year, it laid down some rules for flying cars. Among them: They have to use existing heliports and they must have a human pilot. But there are no special traffic lanes in the sky for these vehicles yet.

The UK is also preparing for flying cars. In March, the government said it envisioned eVTOLs taking to the skies within four years . 

Observers are skeptical of the proposed timeline. Charles Leocha, president of the consumer group Travelers United , has worked on regulations for low-level unmanned aerial vehicles for the last decade. He said the wheels are turning slowly.

“The FAA is at least a decade away from allowing or approving any kind of flying car," he added.

All of that has made people reluctant to order a flying car – if they can afford one. Most vehicles can range from $150,000 to as much as $10 million.

"Prospective buyers are likely to hold off until regulatory barriers are dismantled," said Francesco Cerroni, a mobility expert at the design firm Buro Happold .

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Where to find personal flying vehicles now

If you want to see a flying vehicle for yourself, here's where to find them (outside of the movie theater):

• Lift Aircraft , which manufactures a single-seat eVTOL called Hexa, is offering test flights on its single-seat Hexas this spring. It's scheduled to be in Lakeland Linder International Airport in Florida in April and Austin in May.
• Early next year, you'll be able to hail an air taxi from Abu Dhabi and Dubai on a four-passenger Midnight aircraft. The eVTOL, operated by UAE-based Falcon Aviation , will cover the 81-mile trip in just 30 minutes. By road, the drive can take a few hours in traffic.
• There's even a flying car driving school. Netherlands auto manufacturer PAL-V will show you the ins and outs of flying a car. They even have a flying car showroom in Munich where you can buy your own gyroplane/car combination. (It'll cost you about $550,000.)

Bottom line: Flying cars remain rare. But change is on the horizon.

How flying cars could change the way we travel

High prices and continued doubts about the viability of zipping around town like George Jetson haven't stopped people from thinking about the future. Experts seem to agree that safe VTOLs with FAA approval could change travel forever.

"It would reduce congestion by removing some traffic on the road and create a new aviation sector, with new jobs," said Raj Rajkumar, professor of computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Flying cars could dramatically cut the drive time between destinations typically served by short-haul commercial flights. So instead of catching a shuttle flight from Washington to New York, you'd just fly there in your own car in a fraction of the time it used to take to drive.

But that's just the beginning. As these vehicles become faster and more affordable, they hold the promise of competing with commercial aviation. Imagine flying your family car from the suburbs of an East Coast city to Florida for your next vacation in less time than it would take you to go to the airport, get through security, wait for your departure, fly, land, collect your luggage and rent an earthbound car?

The thought of ditching airlines, with their awful customer service and addictive loyalty programs, may be the greatest promise of the AAV revolution.

If you'd asked me a few weeks ago if such a future was possible, I would have been very skeptical. Now, I'm just a little skeptical.

This is the second of a two-part series on the future of air travel .

Christopher Elliott  is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded  Elliott Advocacy , a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes  Elliott Confidential , a travel newsletter, and the  Elliott Report , a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can  reach him here  or email him at  [email protected] .

Dinnertime. If you Dare…

Koreans like their seafood fresh. So much so that dinnertime can sometimes turn into a scary game of “if you dare,” with the most challenging offering being sannakji – an octopus so fresh, that it’s still wriggling around on the plate when it’s set down before you.

Eating Sannakji (Click for video.)

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shelley✒️Travel-Stained.com (@travelstained)

I’ve never been able to place a writhing tentacle anywhere close to my mouth, but hubby says it’s tasty, never mind the suction cups attaching themselves to your teeth, tongue and throat, on the way down.

But care is definitely required if you plan on eating this dangerous food. Sannakji (or more accurately, eating sannakji while drunk) is responsible for 6 choking deaths in South Korea every year!

Would you try sannakji? What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever eaten?

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busandiegans

I’m slightly scared but I feel like we need to try this while we are living in Korea this year…. Nice post 🙂

Shelley @Travel-Stained

Haha, well you’ll be braver than me! We’ve been living in Seoul for 6 years, and I STILL haven’t tried it, but my hubby eats it up like no tomorrow. Welcome to Korea though – are you here teaching?

I am afraid of fish (and most sea life), but I did it. I BELIEVE IN YOU. hahahaha.

Haha, I’m impressed. I’m NOT afraid of fish, and yet a sannakji will never cross my lips. Ewwwww

Yikes! Sounds too exotic for me. Those metallic chopsticks are so slippery!

This might be the one meal where the slipperiness of the metallic chopsticks isn’t an issue. Those suckers are hard to detach! 🙂

He lifts it eagerly, but I have to say the chewing looks a bit … uncertain! What is certain is that I would never try it! I ate some crispy bugs in China, but I’m not the most intrepid eater!

I can’t even do the crispy bugs! I’m decidedly North American in my eating habits. I think hubby has an easier time, cuz he grew up in Albania, Greece and Italy. Bugs, larvae, live octopus, slimy things, frogs, intestines, you name it, he’s all over it. GROSS is all I have to say.

I’m with you!

mikeyb @ screenkicker

I can’t even eat octopus that’s dead and thoroughly cooked. I’ll have nightmares now!

Haha, I know a few people that have octopus phobias. Surely, you’ve seen Old Boy? Now, that’s a nightmare-inducing sannakji scene. 😮

It’s one of my favourite films! Choi Min-sik had do the octopus eating three times. He’s a Buddhist so he had to say a long prayer for the octopuses each time he ate one!

When I saw that movie, I had no idea about the whole sannakji thing here in Korea…what a great and horrifying scene. Lol…lucky he only had to do it 3 times!! 🙂

If I ever go to Korea I’ll make sure to avoid that!

delicieuxpate

Thanks for bringing back memories. Tried once in Jejudo, interesting experience and quite tasty. The trick we were told is to chew quickly. If one swallows with it still moving/ alive, it’s quite dangerous and may cause suffocation perhaps?

Ohh you are braver than me. It must’ve been incredibly fresh in Jejudo. 🙂 Yes, I think the risk is of suffocation with the suction cups sticking to the wrong place if you don’t chew it enough before swallowing.

I’ve eaten octopus but it was fully cooked. Not sure I could handle it fighting back.

Lol…yes, I definitely can’t. Don’t need a war going on in my mouth, that’s for sure. :p

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Planning to Combine Business and Leisure Travel? You’re Not Alone.

As employees increasingly add leisure time to their business trips, companies are trying to figure out where their duty of care obligations begin and end.

Credit... Aart-Jan Venema

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By Amy Zipkin

• April 7, 2024 Updated 2:44 p.m. ET

On a Sunday in late January, Melinda Buchmann, who lives in Florida and supervises client relations for RevShoppe, a 30-person remote company advising organizations on sales techniques and strategies, arrived in Banff, Alberta, to help set up a four-day company meeting.

The last day of the event, her husband, Josh, a director of strategic partnerships for the delivery company DoorDash , who also works remotely, joined her. They spent two leisurely days hiking in Banff National Park and visiting Lake Louise.

“I take advantage, because I don’t know when I’m going to return,” Ms. Buchmann said of the decision to combine downtime with a business trip.

As postpandemic work life has changed, and arrangements now include full-time office attendance as well as hybrid and remote work, so, too, has business travel. The phenomenon known as bleisure, or blended business and leisure travel, was initially embraced largely by digital nomads . But such combined travel is now also popular with people outside that group . Allied Market Research, a subsidiary of Allied Analytics, based in Portland, Ore., estimated that the bleisure travel market was $315.3 billion in 2022 and would reach $731.4 billion by 2032.

As employees increasingly add leisure time to their business trips, companies are struggling to determine where their legal obligation to protect employees from harm — their so-called duty of care — begins and ends. And workers may think that because their trip started with business, they will get all the help they need if something goes wrong on the leisure end. Instead, they should generally consider the leisure part of a trip as a regular vacation where they cover all expenses and contingencies.

Companies are responsible for knowing where their employees are during a business trip, covering expenses if an accident or emergency occurs, securing new lodging if a hotel is damaged, even swapping out a broken down rental car. Still, it’s not entirely clear if that coverage ends completely after the conference or the last client meeting.

Companies recognize that threats are increasing, said Robert Cole, senior research analyst focusing on lodging and leisure travel at Phocuswright, a market research company. They are trying to figure out how to take care of a valuable company resource, the employee, without leaving themselves open to financial risk or potential litigation.

“Crafting a comprehensive policy that balances business objectives, employee well-being and legal considerations can be challenging,” Nikolaos Gkolfinopoulos, head of tourism at ICF, a consulting and technology services company in Reston, Va., wrote in an email.

Employees may be on their own without realizing it and may be surprised by out-of-pocket expenses if they require hospital care abroad or evacuation, said Suzanne Morrow, chief executive of InsureMyTrip , an online insurance travel comparison site in Warwick, R.I.

Ms. Morrow said medical coverage provided by a company “is generally only for the dates of the actual business trip abroad.” If travelers are extending the trip for personal travel, she added, “they would want to secure emergency medical coverage for that additional time abroad.”

Employers and employees are left to figure out when the business portion of the trip ends and the leisure segment begins, a significant detail if an employee has a medical emergency. “Where does the corporation liability end?” said Kathy Bedell, senior vice president at BCD Travel, a travel management company.

Companies have varying policies to deal with the new travel amalgam. The chief executive of RevShoppe, Patricia McLaren, based in Austin, Texas, said the company provided flexible travel options and allowed employees to work anywhere they choose.

Even so, there are constraints. The company requires all employees, including executives, to sign liability and insurance waivers when they are on a voluntary company-sponsored trip, such as an off-site meeting. Such waivers typically place responsibility on employees for their own well-being. And if they bring someone, they are responsible for that person’s expenses.

Employees are responsible for requesting the paid time off and notifying their managers of their whereabouts, although that part is not a requirement. Managers have to ensure adequate staffing, Ms. McLaren said.

Elsewhere, employees may not bother to mention the leisure portion of their trip. Eliot Lees, a vice president and managing director at ICF, said he had been on trips as a child with his parents when they combined business and leisure. His parents were academics, who would piggyback vacations onto conferences.

Now he does the same. “I don’t think I ever asked for approval,” he said. (ICF has no formal business-leisure travel policy. It’s allowed as part of personal time off.) After a conference in the Netherlands last year, he spent four days hiking in the northern part of the country.

“I go anywhere, and take more risks than I should,” he said. He said he didn’t carry personal travel or accident insurance.

Any nonchalance may quickly evaporate if a threat emerges. Security experts say even low-risk locations can become high-risk for a few days or weeks of the year.

“Companies are concerned about losing visibility into a traveler’s whereabouts if they booked flights and hotels outside their corporate travel management company,” Benjamin Thorne, senior intelligence manager in London for Crisis24, a subsidiary of GardaWorld, wrote in an email. “The company may think the traveler is in one city when, in reality, they could have booked a holiday package to another nearby city. This lack of visibility by the company makes it difficult to support travelers when a disaster occurs.”

He also raised the possibility that “a traveler with bleisure travel reservations and expectations may find their work trip canceled due to changes in the risk environment or company policy, disrupting their leisure plans.”

Will a company step in off hours if there’s a problem? “That depends on how you are booked,” Mr. Cole, the senior research analyst at Phocuswright, said. A rule of thumb is the further you get from corporate control, the greater the gray area gets.

Half of GoldSpring Consulting’s clients take the responsibility for the entire trip, said Will Tate, a partner at the consultancy based in Cross Roads, Texas, and a certified public accountant. They don’t want the reputational risk. The other half say: “The business trip ended Friday. That’s when we end our duty of care.”

Some companies are trying to define and narrow the gray area. “If you are clearly on personal time, there is no legal requirement for your employer to provide for you,” said Nicole Page, a lawyer whose practice includes employment law at Reavis Page Jump in New York.

Uber provides employees with advisories before a trip, travel assessments, safety tips while traveling and emergency travel assistance, including medical aid, airport travel support, urgent and emergency assistance, and lost or stolen personal property insurance whether they are on business or pleasure travel or a combination.

And at DoorDash, Chris Cherry, head of global safety and security, wrote in an email that “while personal travel is not something we track, we have received requests to extend our travel support capabilities to personal travel.” Mr. Cherry said in those cases, the company has manually added employee leisure itineraries to its travel risk management system and “provided the same level of overwatch that we do for regular business travel.”

The Buchmanns plan to travel this month to Barcelona, Spain, for the McDonald’s Worldwide Convention. DoorDash will have a booth, and Mr. Buchmann will work on the exhibit floor and also entertain clients.

Ms. Buchmann will accompany him. She plans to go sightseeing in the morning, and work in the afternoons and evenings Barcelona time. She will also take three days of paid time off and has shared her plans with Ms. McLaren, the RevShoppe chief executive.

They will stay a day after the conference and plan to visit the Dalí Theater and Museum in Figueres. “I’m sure there will be no shortage of tapas and window shopping along way,” Mr. Buchmann said. He expects to be back at work the next Monday.

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If You Dare (The MacCarrick Brothers, Book 1) Mass Market Paperback – May 1, 2005

• Book 1 of 3 The MacCarrick Brothers
• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Pocket Books
• Publication date May 1, 2005
• Dimensions 4.19 x 0.9 x 6.75 inches
• ISBN-10 9781416503590
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1416503595
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pocket Books (May 1, 2005)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781416503590
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416503590
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 0.9 x 6.75 inches
• #62,031 in Historical Romances
• #76,836 in American Literature (Books)

About the author

Kresley cole.

Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series, the young adult Arcana Chronicles series, the erotic Game Maker series, and five award-winning historical romances. Her books have been published in 23 countries and consistently appear on the bestseller lists in the U.S. and abroad. 

A master's grad and former athlete, Kresley has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings. She lives in Florida with her family and too many pets. 

Sign up for Kresley's eNewsletter at: https://bit.ly/KresleyNews to receive book updates and new release information. 

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Five Things You Should Do If Traveling to See the Eclipse

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This NASA map shows the April 8 total solar eclipse path stretching from Texas to Maine. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout all 48 contiguous U.S. states.

A rare total solar eclipse will fill the skies from Texas to Maine on April 8, immersing people along its path into darkness. Millions are expected to travel to see the rare phenomenon and the American Red Cross has steps people should follow if planning a trip to see the eclipse.

Pack an emergency kit in case you get stuck in traffic or can’t find a place to stay . Include water, non-perishable food, a flashlight, battery-powered radio, first aid kit, medications, supplies for an infant if applicable, a multi-purpose tool, personal hygiene items including toilet paper, cell phone chargers, extra cash, blankets, maps of the area and emergency contact information. Make a plan for where you’ll stay overnight, if needed.

Check the weather forecast ahead of time and plan accordingly .

Keep your gas tank full so you don’t run out while stuck in traffic.

Let someone know where you are going and the route you plan to take to get there.

Pick an easy to remember meeting location if someone gets separated from your group.

The eclipse will begin at sunrise over the Pacific Ocean, cutting through Mexico’s Pacific Coast at about 11:07 a.m. PT (8:07 a.m. ET) and then enter the U.S in Texas. The path goes through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse. The eclipse will then enter Canada and exit North America around Newfoundland, Canada. Full details from NASA are available here .

Some 31 million people living along the eclipse path will witness the rare total solar eclipse, while people in all contiguous U.S. states will be able to see at least a partial eclipse. Compared to the most recent solar eclipse in Aug. 2017, the viewing path for the 2024 total eclipse is wider and passes over more cities and densely populated areas. The upcoming eclipse is also expected to last twice as long, for about 4.5 minutes. The next opportunity to see a total solar eclipse cross over the U.S. after April 8 is more than two decades away on Aug. 23, 2044, according to NASA.

RED CROSS GETTING READY With so many people expected to travel to view the total eclipse, there could be major traffic issues and potential fuel shortages. Communication systems may also experience disruptions due to heightened demand. As part of our regular collaboration for large-scale, public events, the Red Cross is coordinating with local emergency management agencies along the viewing path to respond if necessary.

In addition to the five safety steps above, you should download the free Red Cross First Aid app so you’ll know what to do if emergency help is delayed and the free Emergency app for weather alerts, open Red Cross shelter locations and safety steps for different emergencies. Choose whether you want to view the content in English or Spanish with an easy-to-find language selector. Find these and all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

EYE SAFETY It is not safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection for solar viewing. Viewing any part of the bright sun through a camera lens, binoculars or a telescope without a special-purpose solar filter secured over the front of the optics will instantly cause severe eye injury.

According to NASA, when watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes, which happens before and after totality, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses or a safe, handheld solar viewer at all times. Eclipse glasses are NOT regular sunglasses. No matter how dark the lenses are tinted, regular sunglasses are not safe for viewing the sun. Safe solar viewers are thousands of times darker and ought to comply with the  ISO 12312-2  international standard. More information is available here.

About the American Red Cross:

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Tips for joining the Mile High Club, if you dare

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Have you ever been tempted to join the exclusive Mile High Club? Or maybe you’re already a member? Or maybe you’re just wondering what is the mile high club ?

To be allowed entry, one must go all-out amorous at 5,280 feet – although cruising altitude (in both senses of the word) of around 35,000 feet is more common.

If you’re considering enrollment, here we give you some facts, a few words of caution and some tips for those deciding to buy a ticket to paradise.

1.) You might become (in)famous

A 20-year-old British woman, who had a bit more red wine on a 4-hour flight than appropriate, was asking male passengers to join the Mile High Club. Not only did Demi Burton get no takers, she became boisterous and ultimately ended up with a jail sentence. Just remember: Joining the club requires a clear mind and the ability to make strategic moves. Therefore we recommend drinking in moderation.

2.) Join the ranks of thousands

According to a poll, more people talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to doing the deed at lofty levels. So stand out by putting your money where your mouth is. According to a Jetsetter poll , the number of frisky fliers is 15% of adults. That would mean that, if you are sitting on the Airbus A380, which is the largest commercial airplane, the chances are that 75 out of the 500 passengers are already in it or will be joining the club.

3.) Get in line with A-listers

If you do happen to score, you’ll be in infamous company. Self-proclaimed mile-high celeb members include John Legend, Kim Kardashian, Janet Jackson, Liam Neeson, John Travolta, Gwyneth Paltrow, and, of course, Richard Branson. During a chat on Tyra Banks’ talk show when asked where the craziest place Janet Jackson had done it was, she replied, “On a plane… an airplane… commercial.” And when Tyra asked her if it was in the bathroom, Janet said, “No. That’s what makes it worse…. it was in my seat.”

4.) A time-honored tradition

As the story goes, charter member Lawrence “Gyro” Sperry, inventor of the automatic pilot, found a creative way to use his hands when not flicking the flight knobs. On a 1916 flight with a married socialite, the autopilot was accidentally disengaged, resulting in the couple, wearing only their birthday suits, ending up in the Atlantic near Long Island, New York. Although their altitude was way shy of a mile, an idea sprung to life, as did the tabloid headline “Aerial Petting Ends in Wetting.” (Sperry was no slouch. He’s also credited with the turn and bank indicator, seat pack parachute and retractable landing gear.)

5.) Nourish your mind and body

Relationship advisers say that occasionally moving the action from the boudoir can raise the temperature and reignite the passion. Physiologically speaking, the sense of adventure when flying and the forbidden aspect along with a plane’s hum and vibrations can heighten the sensations!

6.) Exercise your rights (and thighs)

Reports of would-be members contorting themselves to make love in the lavatory include mentions of Charley horses, twisted backs and strained necks. What better motivation do you need to get those muscles moving and finally make use of that gym membership you’ve been paying for?

7.) Add some luxury to your high flying

Lovebirds can make it easier on themselves by flocking to their own nest. Some private aviation companies target twosomes, offering them their own canoodling cocoons. Love Cloud , for instance, zips across Las Vegas in a Cessna with a customized romantic interior that includes “sex position pillows.” A curtain and the pilot’s noise-canceling headphones allow privacy. Flamingo Air , which flies out of Cincinnati, offers a bed behind a private curtained-off area, as well as “champagne, chocolates and a very discreet pilot.”

8.) Win naming rights

If your consummation results in conception, you can rightfully name the kid Sky. Fun fact: David Copperfield’s daughter’s name is Sky (born in 2010), so maybe he joined the club already? If you don’t like the name Sky, other options include Alya (meaning “sky, heaven” in Arabic), Azzurra (from “azure, sky blue” in Italian) and Lani (meaning “sky, heaven, royal and majesty” in Hawaiian).

9.) The solo option

For a more convenient buzz, bring your own vibrating apparatus. According to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), “adult toys” are allowed in carry-on bags (as well as checked). But beware that airlines in some countries do have restrictions on these kinds of toys, so do your research before getting that buzz on.

10.) Do it between the book covers

For the shy ones, isn’t it easier to just read the book? Start with the classic “Coffee Tea or Me?” first published in the swinging ‘60s and written as a memoir by two randy stewardesses. More recently, there’s “The Mile High Club” in the Kinky Friedman series; “Mile High Club: First Class All the Way with the Rich and Famous”; and so many more. Or snack on a smorgasbord of “true tales” at www.milehighclub.com .

11.) Avoid things going very wrong

It could happen like it did on “The Mindy Project,” where Mindy and her paramour try to get it on in the airplane lavatory. They not only fail, but his arm gets stuck in the trash bin and her hair is flushed down the toilet. Not so unrealistic, actually, so remember to tie your hair back first.

12.) Shrink away from shrinking lavatories

While the average public toilet stall is 34 inches wide, many planes flown by major U.S. carriers have shrunk their lavatories to 24 inches wide to make room for more seats. That’s barely enough room to turn around, much less follow the Kama Sutra. Plus aren’t airplane bathrooms off-putting enough already without exposing even more of your body for longer periods of time?

13.) Keep up with the times

Mile-high hanky-panky is so 20th-century. The days of free-wheeling flying fun are over. Heightened security measures include using only the toilet in your ticketed cabin and not “congregating” near the toilet, which can mean no waiting in line. Also, flight attendants are trained to size up passengers and keep an eye on them, the opposite of what you want if you’re going for the gold.

14.) Keep the law off your back (and your shirt on)

Your legal rights when engaging in on-board escapades, especially if you stay seated, are as murky as the overhead PA system. Better to not flirt with getting booted, arrested or publicly humiliated.

For those so inclined to do the deed, here are a few tips on how to get away with it

• International flights are best, as there’s less attention, so therefore more opportunity to get away from prying eyes.
• If you want to join the club in style and not be cramped up in a tiny lavatory, check out the Emirates Airbus A380, which has two showers in First Class. Of course, the First Class flight attendant-to-traveler ratio is very low, so watch out.
• For the rest of us in Economy, some carriers have larger lavatories in the middle. Sneak peeks before you sneak off.
• Bonus points for handicap accessible bathrooms, which are roomier and have bars, which help with positioning and stability.
• Don’t enter the restroom together, and don’t exit at the same time either.
• Aim for late at night when passengers are sleeping or during food service when crew members are clustered in one area and passengers are distracted.

Stay Sexy and Safe!

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Watch If You Dare

What many are saying is the most disturbing film of 2018, 'Watch If You Dare' revolves around a series of horrifying incidents. If you press play, look away. What many are saying is the most disturbing film of 2018, 'Watch If You Dare' revolves around a series of horrifying incidents. If you press play, look away. What many are saying is the most disturbing film of 2018, 'Watch If You Dare' revolves around a series of horrifying incidents. If you press play, look away.

• Christopher G. Moore
• Jill Gevargizian
• Andy Stewart
• Eric Havens
• Jeff Alguire
• David Berberian
• Jaysen P. Buterin
• 20 User reviews
• 4 Critic reviews

• French Milt (segment 'Foodies')
• John Lando (segment 'Foodies')

• Snake (segment 'Knob Goblins')
• Shannon Von Vester (segment 'Foodies')

• Beth (segment 'Foodies')
• Alicia (segment 'The Stylist')
• French Milt Groupie #1 (segment 'Foodies')
• Dr. Blair (segment 'Knob Goblins')
• Policeman #2 (segment 'Ink')

• Ron (segment 'Knob Goblins')
• Policeman #1 (segment 'Ink')
• Tattooist (segment 'Ink')

• Man on Phone (segment 'Ink')

• The Man (segment 'Ink')
• Shopkeeper (segment 'Ink')
• Burton (segment 'Knob Goblins')
• Brandon X (segment 'Foodies')
• Greg (segment 'Foodies')
• Jill Gevargizian (segment 'The Stylist')
• Andy Stewart (segment 'Ink')
• Eric Havens (segment 'The Stylist')
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• Connections Features The Stylist (2016)

User reviews 20

• May 25, 2019
• How long is Watch If You Dare? Powered by Alexa
• November 8, 2018 (United States)
• United States
• WOWNow Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 11 minutes

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