{"id":29469,"date":"2014-07-03T14:56:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T19:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?p=29469"},"modified":"2018-03-05T10:30:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T16:30:18","slug":"while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"While you were away: The week’s top travel stories"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The

Well, they do look happy. The British Airways “Happiness Blanket.<\/p><\/div>\n

Just in case you missed anything in travel news, we’ve collected the week’s top stories, with just a hint of spin\u2014from British Airways’ new mood blanket to a new list of the country’s 50 natural wonders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are you verruckt?!<\/b><\/p>\n

The tallest water slide in the world has opened at Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts in Kansas City, Kansas<\/a>, according to CNN<\/a>. The Guinness Book of World\u2019s Records-certified coaster named verruckt (the German word for \u201cinsane\u201d) measures 168-feet tall and is slated to open next week pending a technical glitch which they better get ironed out, otherwise they\u2019ll have to rename the ride Klage (German for \u201clawsuit\u201d).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Passing on gas?<\/b><\/p>\n

Get ready to feel pain at the pump if you\u2019re hitting the road this weekend. According to MarketWatch.com<\/a>, instability in Iraq is causing higher than normal gas prices\u2014the highest for an Independence Day weekend since 2008. The current national average of $3.67 to $3.70 isn\u2019t likely to ruin anyone\u2019s holiday plans however; AAA still estimates 41 million American will grin and bare the high prices to spend the weekend eating bad potato salad with relatives they forgot how much they hate while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Blanket statement<\/b><\/p>\n

British Airways<\/a> has taken to measuring its first-class passengers\u2019 satisfaction with a new mood-detecting \u201chappiness blanket,\u201d the Huffington Post<\/a> reports. Using neuro-sensors that transfer data to the fiber-optic LED-woven blankets via Bluetooth, the airline is able to determine mood levels. When a passenger is stressed the blanket turns red and when they are relaxed it turns blue. Just a guess: when the in-flight movie is Grown Ups 2<\/i> the blankets turn red and when passengers turn their heads to see how awful it is back in coach their blankets turn blue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Freedom rains<\/b><\/p>\n

The first tropical storm of the year may put the brakes on fireworks celebrations up and down the eastern seaboard CNN<\/a> reports. Tropical storm Arthur is likely to veer away from land heading into the long weekend as it morphs into a category one hurricane, but could rain on festivities planned on the National Mall in Washington D.C.<\/a> That\u2019s too bad, the idea of watching fireworks amid the excitement of a bitter, hyper-partisan crowd always makes for some added fun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To the wonders<\/b><\/p>\n

In anticipation of Independence Day, CNN Travel <\/a>has posted a round up of the top natural wonders in each of the 50 states. The site gives a shoutout to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, volcanic activity on Hawaii\u2019s Big Island and California\u2019s Redwood National and State Parks. Shockingly, Nevada\u2019s stark terrain and Nebraska\u2019s vast nothingness failed to make the list.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s new, from where we go, how we get there and where we stay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":29471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5,44],"tags":[72,1300],"class_list":["post-29469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-travel","category-florida","tag-hawaii-vacations","tag-london-vacations"],"acf":{"api_active":null,"api_title":null,"api_excerpt":null,"api_featured_image":null,"api_lob":null},"posts_api_cpm_point":[{"name":"","description":"","thumbnail":"","address":"Kansas, USA","latitude":"39.011902","longitude":"-98.48424649999998","icon":"\/images\/icons\/marker.png"}],"yoast_head":"\nWhile you were away: The week's top travel stories | Orbitz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We've collected the week's top travel stories, with a bit of spin\u2014from British Airways' new mood blanket to a new list of the country's 50 natural wonders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"While you were away: The week's top travel stories | Orbitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We've collected the week's top travel stories, with a bit of spin\u2014from British Airways' new mood blanket to a new list of the country's 50 natural wonders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orbitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Orbitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-03T19:56:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-05T16:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"309\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Heidemann\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jheidemann\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orbitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Heidemann\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jason Heidemann\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24\"},\"headline\":\"While you were away: The week’s top travel stories\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-03T19:56:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-05T16:30:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\"},\"wordCount\":475,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Hawaii vacations\",\"London vacations\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Family time\",\"Florida\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\",\"name\":\"While you were away: The week's top travel stories | Orbitz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-03T19:56:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-05T16:30:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24\"},\"description\":\"We've collected the week's top travel stories, with a bit of spin\u2014from British Airways' new mood blanket to a new list of the country's 50 natural wonders.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":309,\"caption\":\"Well, they do look happy. The British Airways \\\"Happiness Blanket.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"While you were away: The week’s top travel stories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Orbitz\",\"description\":\"Travel Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24\",\"name\":\"Jason Heidemann\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jason Heidemann\"},\"description\":\"Jason is a Lead Content Specialist for Expedia Group, and manages content initiatives across numerous Expedia-owned brands. His work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, the Huffington Post, Chicago Magazine, Passport and many others.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/jheidemann\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/author\/jheidemann\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"While you were away: The week's top travel stories | Orbitz","description":"We've collected the week's top travel stories, with a bit of spin\u2014from British Airways' new mood blanket to a new list of the country's 50 natural wonders.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"While you were away: The week's top travel stories | Orbitz","og_description":"We've collected the week's top travel stories, with a bit of spin\u2014from British Airways' new mood blanket to a new list of the country's 50 natural wonders.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/","og_site_name":"Orbitz","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Orbitz\/","article_published_time":"2014-07-03T19:56:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-05T16:30:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png","width":500,"height":309,"type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jason Heidemann","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jheidemann","twitter_site":"@orbitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Heidemann","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/"},"author":{"name":"Jason Heidemann","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24"},"headline":"While you were away: The week’s top travel stories","datePublished":"2014-07-03T19:56:05+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-05T16:30:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/"},"wordCount":475,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png","keywords":["Hawaii vacations","London vacations"],"articleSection":["Family time","Florida"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/","name":"While you were away: The week's top travel stories | Orbitz","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png","datePublished":"2014-07-03T19:56:05+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-05T16:30:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24"},"description":"We've collected the week's top travel stories, with a bit of spin\u2014from British Airways' new mood blanket to a new list of the country's 50 natural wonders.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png","width":500,"height":309,"caption":"Well, they do look happy. The British Airways \"Happiness Blanket."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/while-you-were-away-the-weeks-top-travel-stories\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"While you were away: The week’s top travel stories"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/","name":"Orbitz","description":"Travel Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24","name":"Jason Heidemann","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg","caption":"Jason Heidemann"},"description":"Jason is a Lead Content Specialist for Expedia Group, and manages content initiatives across numerous Expedia-owned brands. His work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, the Huffington Post, Chicago Magazine, Passport and many others.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/jheidemann"],"url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/author\/jheidemann\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/BritishAirways_HappyBlanket.500.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}