While you were away: This week’s top travel stories

Antigua

Antigua makes room for “mega-resort”
What’s a “mega-resort”? We’re not sure exactly, but Chinese company Yida International Investment Group’s pulling out all the stops when it comes to their new $1 billion development in Antigua, as reported by Travel Weekly. The new vacation hub, set to be built next year on 1,600 acres once owned by a now-jailed U.S. financier, does promise some pretty mega amenities: Plans call for multiple hotels, a massive casino, residences, a school, hospital, marinas, golf courses, entertainment district and horse track.

The big burp
According to mashable.com, authorities in Iceland say that sub-glacial volcano Bardarbunga may soon erupt. The Bardarbunga volcanic system is located 190 miles from the capital city of Reykjavik but if it blows, it’s expected to cause much less of a disruption to air travel than its predecessor—the unpronounceable Eyjafjallajökull—did in 2010. We wonder: Is this really about seismic activity or is this just a case of Icelanders’ collective intestinal pain after a few too many puffins?

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Labor of love
More Americans are projected to travel over the upcoming Labor Day weekend than they have in the past six years, USA Today reports. Thanks in part to lower gas prices, an estimated 34.7 million travelers will travel a distance of more than 50 miles for their final vacation this summer, an increase of 1.3% over 2013. For those of us stuck working all weekend, the holiday should have a different name. May we suggest Labor Pains?

Revel, Revel
Atlantic City‘s Revel, the $2.4 billion resort and casino that opened in 2012 is shuttering its doors on September 1, says Yahoo!. Revel was meant to boost the city’s reputation as a premiere gambling destination (the city has been losing out to casinos in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut) but sources estimate it was losing between $1 and $2 million each week. If only we’d put money on its demise, talk about a winning bet.

Whistling Dixie
Buzzfeed.com has compiled a list of 22 words that have completely different meanings in the South. Topping the list are words like fixin’ which in Dixie means “getting ready to do something” and y’all which the site describes as “a word you use to address two or more people that’s used in almost every single sentence.” Missing from the list is the term “Buzzfeed” itself which in the South refers to the leftover slop you feed to your pig named Buzz. Or something like that.

Tagged: Caribbean, Las Vegas