Now, I’ve never been a fan of organized, group tours for obvious reasons. Let’s be honest, I’m sure these young ladies are nice enough:

© shira gal

… but I don’t wanna spend the better part of a day stuffed into a tour bus (sans bathroom) with them. Imagine a grueling, full day slog through a series of 90-second photo opps at every “must-see” tourist spot in said destination. Not fun.

But we’ve been fans of the tour-providing folks at Viator for years now because, well, first of all they’re just cool people – real travelers who “get it”. But also because they deliver something completely different. Their goal is to make you “feel like you’re traveling with an insider, everywhere you go, every time you travel.” So their tours are more like this:

… all “jumping for joy” and whatnot. Which is why we’ve partnered with them for 2014 as an official Viator Ambassador (say it out loud – it has quite a nice ring) to personally experience and share some of their best tours with you. While we haven’t yet decided which tours we’ll be taking part in, these look promising, no?

• Learning to make empanadas in Buenos Aires
• Getting into the Sistine Chapel before it opens to the public
• Checking out the filming sites of the Game of Thrones in Croatia
• Holding a baby panda in Chengdu
• An exclusive tour of the Corona brewery in Mexico
• Flying a fighter plane in Las Vegas
• Playing ninja for a day in Tokyo

Wait … “ninja for day”? Seriously?! If that doesn’t sell you, how about a few salesy bullet points (in lieu of my usual PowerPoint presentation) about why Viator rules:

• Tours available in more than 1,500 destinations worldwide
• Every tour is pre-vetted for quality and service – only the best, most memorable experiences are featured on the site
• Providers that don’t meet expected service levels are removed
• Activities are supported by more than 500,000 verified customer reviews, photos and videos posted by real travelers
• Every tour is backed by a low-price guarantee

In short, watch this space as we tour the world with Viator in 2014 and bring you a new firsthand tour experience each month. Some seriously awesome travel experiences to come!

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So, it’s nice to know that there are still remote and relatively untouched locations here on earth for the more adventurous traveler to explore. Greenland, anyone?

In 2015, Natural Habitat Adventures (the same folks who took us to the world’s polar bear headquarters in Churchill, Manitoba) are launching Base Camp Greenland — a luxury expedition ecolodge on the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

In short, they’re building the equivalent of a deluxe African safari tented camp in the middle of the “Arctic Riviera,” an isolated section of the East Greenland coast known for its mild, dry summer climate and some of the most stunning landscapes in the Far North. Daily hiking, kayaking and Zodiac excursions will provide an intimate introduction to this stunning, pristine wilderness.

Bucketlist: updated.

The post Time to Update the Bucketlist Again with “Base Camp Greenland” appeared first on Vagabondish.

The oldest known human footprints outside of Africa were found on the eastern coast of England. The discovery by a team from the British Museum, Queen Mary College, and the Natural History Museum is a highly significant archaeological find. The footprints in Happisburgh were preserved in silt and sand and could be as ancient as one million years old.

Researchers believe they have identified the footprints of five individuals that are probably a family group. Among them are the footprints of one adult male and at least two children.

Curious visitors to Happisburgh will be disappointed, however. The footprints were washed away by the sea two weeks after they were discovered, though they were well documented. The site continues to be studied and archaeologists are hopeful that they will make more discoveries from that period at the site.

Check out more about this on the British Museum’s blog

The post 800,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered in England appeared first on Vagabondish.

Les Lehmann is recovering in hospital after being shot nine times and brutally beaten by armed intruders who were trespassing on the property of the vacation condominium complex Lehmann manages in the Dominican Republic.

Lehmann is being hailed as a hero for his determination to defend his guests from the intruders, who were armed with guns and zip ties. It was unclear whether the assailants were intent on robbery or something more sinister, as zip ties are typically employed to bind and confine people, and Lehmann was concerned for the safety of a school group from Quebec that had just checked into the property.

After being knocked to the ground and viciously beaten, including several kicks to the head and torso, Lehmann continued to fight back and was shot nine times at close range. Even after receiving the gunshot wounds, which luckily missed all of his organs, Lehmann came at his attackers with a baseball bat, knocking one of them unconscious and disarming him. Security footage shows the other intruder dragging his unconscious accomplice away while Lehmann attempts to crawl after them.

Find out more about this in The National Post

The post Man Defends School Group, Fends Off Intruders After Being Shot Nine Times appeared first on Vagabondish.

A craft brewer’s dream of delivering beer to customers by airborne drone have been dashed by federal regulators.

Lakemaid Beer had a working model of an unmanned delivery drone that successfully performed a test flight, delivering a 12-pack of beer to a group of Minnesota anglers out on Lake Mille Lacs.

Once the Federal Aviation Authority got wind of the innovative alcohol delivery system, the Wisconsin brewery received a significant volume of paperwork, including a document that describes how the commercial use of drones is banned in the United States.

Check out more about this on CBC News.

The post Brewer’s Beer Delivery Drone Dreams Thwarted by FAA appeared first on Vagabondish.

Anti-Bieber sentiment is running high on on both sides of the 49th parallel. The young pop singer’s increasingly obnoxious antics and frequent run-ins with the law of late have left the public weary of his presence and many wish he would just go away.

Travel agency FlightNetwork.com has attempted to put those thoughts into action by offering complimentary one-way airfare for Justin Bieber and his entourage to leave Canada. The company’s spokesman suggested that the singer may benefit from taking a breather and exploring the world. The world outside of Canada, that is, and preferably out of the public eye.

Check out more about this on Travel + Escape.

The post Canadian Travel Firm Offers Justin Bieber Free One-Way Ticket Out of the Country appeared first on Vagabondish.

A trio of while lion cubs has been born at a zoo in Poland, and while their mega cuteness is already working its way across the internet, they are expected to become a crowd favourite at the zoo once they are old enough to be seen by visitors.

White lions have been extinct in the wild for over a decade, and the three cubs were born in captivity to their mother Azira at Zoo Safari in Borysewo, Poland.

Find out more about this in The Daily Mail

The post Rare, Adorable White Lion Cubs Set to be Star Attraction in Poland appeared first on Vagabondish.

A South China Airlines flight from Guangzhou to Vancouver was rather more eventful than anyone anticipated when an intoxicated passenger went berserk halfway through the journey.

Abdul Zain Ali was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on arrival in Vancouver Sunday morning. That was the end of a lengthy ordeal for the cabin crew and passengers, who had to resort to inventive measures to restrain the rampaging 25-year-old Australian.

It started when Ali woke everyone up in the middle of the 11.5-hour flight when he ran up and down the aisles screaming. Flight attendants confined the man to the galley and kept watch over him, later moving him to the very back row of the plane, but then this situation grew worse, the violent man had to be handcuffed and several individuals had to use the weight of their bodies to keep the him restrained.

Find out more about this on CBC News

The post Drunken In-Flight Rampage Lands Aussie Man in Custody appeared first on Vagabondish.

Ann Arbor, Michigan is set to become a hotbed of driverless vehicles. The Mobility Transportation Center at University of Michigan plans to create a fleet of 2,000 autonomous vehicles.

The Michigan city has nearly completed a project testing radio transmitters at intersections and a 32-acre test site is in the works before the vehicles are deployed on public roads. The fleet is expected to hit the streets in approximately eight years.

Find out more about this on strombo.com

The post 2,000 Autonomous Cars Coming to Ann Arbor appeared first on Vagabondish.

New heights of Chuck-Norris-calibre badassery have been reached by Dr. James Grant of New Zealand.

While spearfishing in Colac Bay, the 24-year-old junior doctor felt a tug on his leg and immediately sprang into action, using his diving knife to stab and scare away the sevengill shark that had bitten his leg.

After swimming to shore, Grant used a first aid kit to bandage his wounds when his friends didn’t believe he was serious about having been bitten by a shark and didn’t come to his aid. Once he’d patched himself up, Grant and his buddies were reunited and went for beers in a nearby town. It was only when pub stuff noticed him bleeding on the floor and offered him a bandage that the wounded man proceeded to hospital for treatment.

Check out more about this in The Huffington Post

The post Doctor Fights Shark, Treats Own Wounds, Goes for a Beer appeared first on Vagabondish.