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You might not give much thought to what happens to inflatable pool floats when summer comes to a close. You may assume they are deflated and stored for next year. But it turns out, far more are abandoned at the end of the season. Luckily, a hotel in Majorca, Spain has created a “sanctuary” for all those plastic swans, inner tubes, donuts, and inflatable fruit slices. Many of the discarded inflatables at the Hipotels Gran Playa de Palma hotel are from wasteful guests who decided not to carry them home in their luggage....

Alaska Airlines is ready to help travelers plan their fall getaways — and is offering a sitewide 30% off sale to help them get off the ground. The sale, which is good on economy flights throughout the carrier’s 120 destination network (including Costa Rica, Hawaii, and Mexico), runs through 11:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday night, Alaska Airlines shared with Travel + Leisure. Those looking to treat themselves to an upgrade can snag a first-class ticket for 10% off the fare....

Anguilla — Travel + Leisure readers’ favorite island in the Caribbean, according to the 2020 World’s Best Awards survey — entered phase two of its reopening plan on Nov. 1, with new requirements for entry. As of November, all visitors are welcome to visit the island, on the condition that they meet the pre-entry requirements, which includes submitting an application that can be found on Anguilla Tourism Board’s website. Each applicant will be asked to fill out a home address and desired travel dates and be required to submit a negative PCR test taken within three to five days prior to arrival along with proof of health insurance that would cover medical expenses related to treatment of COVID-19....

Imagine England. No, not London or the Royals. Instead, think verdant pastures dotted with sheep, cozy thatch-roofed cottages, and hedge-rowed hills undulating into the distance. All of that is exactly what you’d see if you stood almost anywhere along England’s Jurassic Coast and looked inland. But turn around, slowly now, and you’ll see the pastures and hedgerows end abruptly — really, startlingly — at the edge of a craggy wall of red-rocked, 150-foot cliffs that drop straight down to a pristine beach....

Though 2020 is almost over we aren’t quite done introducing you to incredible travelers just yet. Travel + Leisure’s first podcast, Let’s Go Together, is continuing on its journey to introduce listeners to some of the most inspiring and spirited travelers in the world. So far this season we’ve met people working to preserve their native cultures in Alaska and Hawaii, an Olympic athlete traveling the world in her hijab, plus-size travelers who explained what it’s like traveling in a bigger body, and many more....

Flights to Fiji are particularly cheap right now, so if you’re in the mood for a getaway to paradise, don’t delay. Scott’s Cheap Flights found airfares on Fiji Airways starting at $586 round-trip from Honolulu, and starting in the $600s from Los Angeles and San Francisco. A quick search on Google Flights shows $626 from Honolulu and $700s from Los Angeles and San Francisco, so you may need to do some digging on your preferred flight search engine (Skyscanner and Momondo are great options) to find the deal for you....

I won’t argue about healthcare, climate change, or politics — even during an election year. But if you want to bring my blood dangerously close to its boiling point, tell me Tinder is just a hookup app. I will debate it’s more than that to the death. Forget Airbnb, Orbitz, Uber, or other must-have apps: The most valuable travel app on my phone is Tinder. In 2016 I wrote a Fox News article titled “10 top tips to up your international Tinder game....

As coronavirus hit Los Angeles and the west coast before sweeping the rest of the United States, the city continues to grapple with the fallout of the virus. In the LA area, more than 18,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded, including more than 800 deaths, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In fact, Health Director Barbara Ferrer told CNN on Friday that COVID-19 has now become the leading cause of death in Los Angeles County....

Pulsing green curtains and darting, twisting swirls of greens and reds…forests topped by a green mist and twitching displays over fells and mountains. Seeing the Northern Lights—also known as the aurora borealis—can be a magical experience, and one you’ll instantly want to capture on camera. It takes some preparation, but photographing the aurora borealis (or aurora australis if you’re in the southern hemisphere) isn’t hard to do. Dump the smartphone...

Even if you’re not a Broadway super fan, you’ve heard of — or literally heard — Idina Menzel. The legendary performer has played some of the most iconic roles in the history of The Great White Way, and also starred in television shows and movies. She originated the role of Elphaba in “Wicked,” sang her heart out as Maureen Johnson in both the movie and stage versions of “Rent,” and voiced Elsa in the blockbuster Disney movie “Frozen....

Travelers dreaming of la dolce vita can stop fantasizing and start booking as Italy started welcoming vaccinated tourists on Sunday — including Americans. The country reopened its borders to foreign tourists from several destinations traveling on “COVID-free” flights, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio, wrote in a Facebook post. Travelers on these flights are required to get tested before departure and again on arrival, regardless of their vaccination status, but are exempt from quarantine....

The Biltmore Mayfair may have opened in 2019, but it still feels like a brand-new property. Once a four-star Millennium hotel, the property re-emerged in five-star splendor just a few months before COVID-19 locked-down London. Jack Hardy/Courtesy of The Biltmore Mayfair, LXR Hotels & Resorts Returning to Londontown after nearly two years of closures feels like a homecoming for travelers from all over the world. Something about returning to the streets of SoHo and Covent Garden, seeing the crowds flood back to Piccadilly Circus, and once again cozying up in pubs across London feels like a true reclaim of UK travel....

Norwegian Cruise Line has canceled cruises on eight ships, due to “ongoing travel restrictions” and COVID-19. The cruise line made the decision to cancel sailings starting Wednesday Jan. 5, and lasting through April 23, Norwegian announced. The canceled trips include sailings on the Norwegian Pearl, which the Associated Press reported was forced to return to port in Miami on Wednesday following an outbreak of COVID-19 cases on board. Danny Lehman/Courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line...

The USS Arizona Memorial will reopen for tours in Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor. The National Park Service announced that access to the national memorial, which has been closed for the past months due to the coronavirus pandemic, will once again reopen on July 10. Visitors will be able to partake in a 45-minute tour wherein they will board a U.S. Navy vessel and travel to the site where the USS Arizona sank....

For better or (mostly) worse, this year has been everything but ordinary. Whether or not you’ve found your silver lining, an unusually bad year deserves a unique send-off that will wipe the slate clean. For Hop Valley, an Oregon-based craft brewery, that means freezing the personal items that represent your worst 2020 memories and smashing them into a million little pieces. Using the same Cryo Hops technology that freezes the brewery’s hops at subzero temperatures to create a smoother IPA, Hop Valley will deep-freeze your unwanted items before dropping them from 30 feet in the air — a plunge that will obliterate them and hopefully get rid of any bad vibes....

It’s been a whirlwind year for luxury handbag label Senreve. In March, its collaboration with actress Lucy Hale went viral on Instagram. Later, its convertible Alunna crossbody was named 2021’s “best work-life bag” by Fast Company thanks to its “innovative” and “extremely versatile” design. Today, the brand is back with more big news: The Alunna is now available for preorder in three limited-edition colors that are bound to fly off virtual shelves....

France’s environment minister is holding a crisis meeting over the unconventional ways some resorts in the Alps and Pyrenees are powdering their slopes due to the lack of snow. Several ski resorts have started flying in snow from elsewhere via helicopter, angering french officials who prioritize working against climate change. “Snowing ski resorts by helicopter is not possible,” environmental minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday, according to The Local France. “We can not have stations that are victims of climate change, that have no more snow and, at the same time, contribute to aggravating climate change....

American Citizens currently abroad may return back to the United States with an expired passport until the end of March extending the previous deadline. U.S. citizens currently abroad with a passport that expired on or after Jan. 1, 2020 may be able to use their expired passport until March, 31, 2022, the State Department announced last week, citing delays in passport processing due to the pandemic. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will accept for admission certain expired U....

If Rocky Raccoon were to check into his room today, there’s a lesser chance that he would find Gideon’s Bible. Bibles are disappearing from hotel drawers around the country, according to a survey from STR, a hospitality analytics company. Over the past decade, about 15 percent of hotels have stopped providing in-room religious materials. In 2006, almost every single hotel (95 percent) put a Bible in their bedside drawer. Today that number is only 79 percent....

The British royal family is quite keen on social media in recent years. The Queen herself joined and posted to her own feed back in 2019. That same year, the family even hired a head of digital engagement. And now, another member of the royal family wants is getting in on the fun. On Dec. 31, the royal family announced the creation of @duchessofcornwallreadingroom, an Instagram account run by Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, which celebrates her love of books and a place where she shares her personal reading recommendations....