Wanna do something really cool? Let’s dig a hole to the other side of the earth. There’s this really nifty Google map tool called the Map Tunnelling Tool (H/T to Valerie Conners, Worldhum), which tells you which part of the other side of the earth is directly below you.

See, the earth is round. And if Sen. McCain or any of his drill happy cohorts really drilled way deep down, they’d come out the other side. Check out the tool and find out where you’d end up at if the earth split open, swallowed you up and spit you out from the other side. If you’re on the East Coast, you’ll end up dunked into the Indian Ocean just off the Australian beaches. And if you’re a Californian nutty enough to want to dig your way  through , then you’d still be in the water, but closer to South Africa.

Speaking of California, TripAdvisor ® has come up with a list of the top 10 wine destinations in the world, according to TripAdvisor editors and traveler popularity. The list is topped by Bordeaux, France, which is not all that surprising.

Good news, for California, is that Napa Valley comes in second, and Sonoma Valley takes 7th place. Napa Valley has long been synonymous with superb wine and striking scenery, both of which draw millions of wine lovers to the region each year. Home to nearly 400 unique wineries, the valley has a Mediterranean climate that is ideal for growing a variety of grapes, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Zinfandel. Napa valley Photo by ian_ransley via flickr (creative commons).

You can see the full list on the TripAdvisor website - www.tripadvisor.com. I’m sure the Napa hotels and their CVB will be happy to hear that, and they’ll do their best to get ply visitors and guests with even more alcohol. Basically, you know what I think? Napa vacations sound so wonderful after the fact because everyone is too drunk to notice anything, and the world looks darn good when you’re all liquored up. 

Oh, and one more thing. The world’s smallest man, He PingPing (2 feet 5 inches), brought traffic in New York to a screeching halt as he took a walk on 42nd Street. Pingping, who lives in Inner Mongolia, was in the city to launch the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, which certified him as the smallest guy walking the Earth. “I wanna pick him up and put him in my purse!” said one woman on the street.

Posted on September 20th, 2008 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News