Thousands of French Fries Mysteriously Blanket the English Coast
Durenne Loris/Unsplash
https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/england/experiences/news/thousands-of-french-fries-mysteriously-blanket-the-english-coast
The waters in England are chippy.
A series of shipping incidents have brought an array of items to beaches across England. Last weekend, a beach in East Sussex turned golden after uncooked French fries and onions washed ashore. The spillage was reported after two ships lost their cargo at sea in January. In December, West Sussex’s beaches were blanketed with bananas after another accident.
Earlier this month, two vessels lost 24 containers at sea due to strong winds caused by Storm Goretti. The coast guard confirmed the containers held nonhazardous contents. Many sank, but several washed up on Selsey, Rustington, Rottingdean, and Beachy Head.
In Eastbourne, onions appeared last Wednesday, according to resident Joel Bonnici, who spoke to CNN. Over the weekend, thousands of uncooked fries covered the beaches. “In some areas the chips were two-and-a-half feet deep into the ground,” Bonnici told BBC.
Residents have been helping remove the plastic bags that contained the onions. Plastic waste is an environmental hazard on the coast, where marine animals can ingest it. Removing the plastic became a priority for citizens, and many volunteered to help.
Environmental group Plastic Free Eastbourne urged people to assist with cleanup efforts. In a recent Facebook post, the group explained that more bags of onions and fries continue to wash up. “After each tide, more bags are still washing up. Please pick bags, plastic, bottle top, fishing gear…and leave by the bins provided by @Eastbourne council. These will be collected daily by their fantastic team.”
In December, 16 refrigerated shipping containers from the Baltic Klipper fell off the Isle of Wight, an island off England’s south coast. The containers—filled mostly with bananas—later appeared on West Sussex’s beaches. Authorities warned people not to eat the bananas, as they might not be safe for consumption. Plastic waste and debris also washed ashore, posing an environmental risk.
The West Sussex County Council asked the public to stay away from the beaches so crews could safely clean up the fruit and containers. In late December, the council also warned Boxing Day swimmers to be cautious, as metal fragments might remain in the sea.
The Baltic Klipper was transporting fruit from South America and had docked in Mexico and the Netherlands before heading to Portsmouth. The containers bore Tesco labels, indicating the fruit was destined for U.K. supermarkets.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch, which is investigating the incident, said rough seas and strong winds caused the mishap. Initial findings also indicated the containers were not properly secured. The agency noted, “Thirteen of the shipping containers have now washed ashore on the south coast at Selsey, Bognor Regis, and Pagham Harbour, which has resulted in foodstuffs and plastic insulation being deposited on the beach.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in Parliament that the cleanup was led and initiated solely by local volunteers, and praised their extraordinary efforts.
A Mexican-Owned Resort That Brings Local Tradition to Its Guests
Courtesy Velas Vallarta Velas Resorts
https://www.fodors.com/world/mexico-and-central-america/mexico/puerto-vallarta/experiences/news/how-this-mexican-owned-resort-celebrated-dios-de-los-muertos
Can a resort feel like a home away from home? At this Mexican-owned resort, the answer is yes.
Velas Resorts is a Mexico-owned resort collection, with each property committed to showcasing the country’s cultural heritage while creating unique opportunities for guests to engage with local traditions. I arrived at Velas Vallarta, an all-inclusive, family-friendly resort and the brand’s first property, to experience firsthand how the resort brings Mexico’s renowned Día de los Muertos celebration to its guests.
At first impression, the beachside resort is immaculate and scenic, from its winding brick pathways to its stunning arches. I could not stop photographing and filming the property from every angle at every hour; it seemed only to grow more beautiful as the day went on. The rooms proved as incredible as the property, with each offering a kitchenette, enviable views, and comforts that made it feel like a home away from home.
My favorite part of staying at this family-friendly and all-inclusive resort was the unique ways it engaged with local traditions and showcased Mexico’s cultural heritage. In honor of Día de los Muertos, guests were treated to a special guided Catrina Celebration, which included a traditional Ofrenda de Muertos arranged to honor and remember loved ones who have passed on, along with eight life-sized Catrinas, sculptures representing Puerto Vallarta’s history,
Beyond the Día de los Muertos festivities, Velas Vallarta offers a wide range of activities upon request that not only pamper but also connect you to the culture beyond the resort’s walls. I tried my hand at skull painting, water aerobics, morning yoga, enjoyed a stunning beachfront dinner, and took a tour of Puerto Vallarta’s downtown, where I was awed by the world‘s largest Catrina.
The resort’s food, too, was fantastic. From fresh fruit and breakfast burritos to short rib tacos, one night I enjoyed a Mexican Fiesta with local dishes and sweets, including corn tortillas and fresh churros, a meal serenaded by a local all-female mariachi band.
Over the course of the stay, I began to feel as though I was being hosted in a local’s home, which speaks volumes to Velas Vallarta. This is not a sterile resort environment where guests come and go, having never explored the local culture. Here, strangers become family, and Mexico’s culture is woven into every moment.
Yes, Vacations Really Do Make You Super Horny — Science Explains the Libido Surge
Jacob Lund/Shutterstock
https://www.fodors.com/news/news/vacations-really-do-make-you-super-horny-science-explains-the-libido-surge
And what it says about your sex life back home.
Whether it’s a weekend escape or a long-awaited international trip, many travelers notice the same surprising side effect of being away: suddenly feeling hornier than usual. Something about new places, loosened routines, and time away from everyday pressures can make attraction feel stronger, bolder, and harder to ignore.
From couples rediscovering chemistry to solo travelers feeling newly open to connection, vacation has a way of flipping a switch. Here’s why travel so often turns up the heat.
Why Vacation Spikes Desire
Whether you’re traveling with a partner or on your own, a vacation can dial up desire, with one big reason being novelty. New environments, fresh sensory input, and unfamiliar experiences naturally grab the brain’s attention and shift us out of autopilot.
“New environments increase the neurotransmitter dopamine, which heightens curiosity, motivation, and reward-seeking behavior,” says Byrd Aruna, a certified sexuality educator. “At the same time, dopamine also lowers inhibition and increases openness to experiences like pleasure and connection.”
Travel delivers that novelty in abundance, from the sights and smells of a new place to different languages, foods, textures, and rhythms of the day. All that stimulation creates excitement, raises heart rate, and keeps the senses fully engaged.
“The brain does not neatly separate sexual arousal from general excitement,” says Aruna. “So that buzz you feel exploring a new city can bleed into attraction and desire.” That heightened state can spark powerful chemistry, whether it’s with the partner you’re traveling with or someone new you meet along the way.
Breaking Free From the Bedroom Script
For couples, travel can feel especially charged because it disrupts the sexual routines that often form over time. “Couples, particularly in long-term relationships, co-create sexual patterns, or scripts, that they tend to follow with each other,” explains Dr. Lauren Wiklund, a licensed clinical psychologist and private practice owner. “The how, when, and by whom intimacy is initiated tends to develop into a pretty consistent pattern of our roles and unspoken rules for engaging.”
At home, trying to change those patterns can stir up shame or self-consciousness. “When you’re in a different place, your sexual scripts can be thrown out the window with the rest of your routine, offering a new opportunity to engage in intimacy in unique ways,” says Wiklund, which can make it easier to feel more sexually bold and adventurous.
Travel also strips away many of the pressures that dull erotic energy in daily life, like work stress, caregiving responsibilities, and endless to-do lists. “Desire is a very sensitive response in our nervous systems,” says Dr. Marni Feuerman, a licensed psychotherapist and relationship expert, noting that when those pressures ease, it becomes much easier for desire to surface. With fewer distractions, partners can see each other through fresh eyes. New settings, unstructured time, and shared novel experiences activate the brain’s reward system, which is closely tied to desire. As Feuerman puts it, “In a multitude of ways, travel recreates the conditions of early dating such as curiosity, intrigue, attention, and emotional availability.”
Solo Travel Can Feel Extra Flirty
Couples aren’t the only ones feeling the heat. Solo travelers often feel hornier on vacation, too, and anonymity plays a big role. “When you’re far from your usual social ecosystem, the stakes drop because fewer people will know and remember you,” says Aruna. “This alone reduces shame and self-consciousness around meeting new people, flirting, or having a one-night stand.” Without familiar roles or expectations, people may feel freer to explore attraction and pleasure.
Being on your own also shifts where your attention goes. Instead of staying focused on an inner circle of partners, family, or friends, your awareness naturally moves outward toward new connections. Aruna notes that solo travel creates more unstructured time, like sitting alone at a café, navigating a new city, or striking up conversation out of necessity, which can open the door to unexpected chemistry.
When the Environment Gets You in the Mood
A vacation libido boost isn’t just about your surroundings, but about how that environment interacts with your body and mind. While warm weather and tropical beaches often get credit for turning people on, Wiklund points out that arousal is deeply personal. What feels sexy to one person might stress anothe“Your unique body and how you interpret sensory input are crucial to determine what elements might elevate arousal or openness,” says Wiklund.
Across the board, feelings of relaxation and safety tend to be major mood-setters. “If a warm sunny beach helps your mind and body feel relaxed, then that environment might facilitate arousal for you,” adds Wiklund. “But if a warm sunny beach brings up concerns about sun exposure, crowds, or water safety, then you might be feeling more anxious and less open.”
Ultimately, it’s not just about the setting itself, but how that environment interacts with your thoughts, emotions, and physical responses. “If you’re feeling elevated arousal on vacation, it is more likely that the sensory elements of your trip facilitate feelings of relaxation and safety in your body so that you can access your natural arousal and feel empowered to be open and available sexually,” says Wiklund. “Arousal is a whole mind-body experience.”
What That Vacation Horniness Says About Home
For couples, a surge in vacation desire can also reveal what’s missing in everyday life, whether that’s time together, playfulness, affection, emotional engagement, or simply feeling wanted. “It doesn’t mean the relationship is distressed, but it often means intimacy has been minimized for responsibility,” says Feuerman. “Travel reveals that when conditions are right, desire is still very much alive.”
If you meet someone new while traveling, it can help to pause and reflect on what’s fueling the attraction. Ask yourself whether you’d still feel curious about this person without the backdrop of travel.
“Context-driven attraction often feels intense but narrow because it thrives on immediacy, fantasy, and the shared bubble of being somewhere else that’s not ‘home,’” explains Aruna. “Genuine compatibility tends to include curiosity beyond the moment, such as thinking about the future and learning more about who the person is.”
And if that attraction fades once routine returns, that doesn’t mean the connection was fake. It simply means the attraction was shaped by the context you were in.
“Understanding that helps people enjoy the experience without overinterpreting it,” says Aruna.
Hilton's Nassetta discusses Minnesota, organic growth
During a roundtable, Nassetta spoke about hotels that temporarily closed in St. Paul, defended their decision to cut ties with another hotel and talked 'organic growth.'
https://www.hotelinvestmenttoday.com/Development/Brands/Hiltons-Nassetta-discusses-Minnesota-organic-growth?
By Christina Jelski
NEW YORK -- Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta on Tuesday said that hotels in Minnesota that temporarily paused operations on January 18 had received bomb threats, as protests of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions continued in the state.
Those hotels, the DoubleTree St. Paul Downtown and InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront, are owned by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe tribal government. DoubleTree is part of Hilton’s brand portfolio (the InterContinental brand is owned by IHG Hotels & Resorts).
Speaking at a media roundtable in New York, Nassetta said, “They were getting bomb threats, and they did not feel comfortable operating the hotel in those circumstances.”
Nassetta also defended Hilton’s decision to cut ties with a Minnesota Hampton hotel that declined to host ICE agents.
He said the move to terminate the Hampton Inn Lakeville’s franchise agreement came after the hotel’s ownership acknowledged the incident was “not in keeping with our policy” and agreed to fix it but ultimately failed to follow through.
The situation drew attention after ICE questioned the hotel about canceled reservations in a social media post.
“We’re a welcoming place for all,” Nassetta said. “The minute we start trying to call balls and strikes, where would it end? We are not going to get into... politics and the division that’s going on.”
But the situation at the DoubleTree was a “different issue.”
“A safety and security issue is a different issue,” he said. “If they’re closed, they’re closed to everybody.”
When asked whether international hotel investors remain comfortable working with an American-based brand given the current U.S. political climate, Nassetta said he’s “not losing a lot of sleep on it.”
“Hilton has been global for so long,” he said. “We’ve been around the world for 80 years. I think in most places, we [have been] such an embedded part of their communities for so long, they don’t really think of us quite the same way.”
He added that there’s “no evidence in terms of the deals” that suggests any impact from U.S. politics on international business.
Hilton’s strategy: ‘Organic’ growth
Nassetta also outlined Hilton’s growth strategy and said the company was open to further brand expansion in the lifestyle space and adjacent segments, including a potential student housing concept that would complement the company’s 2024 acquisition of Graduate Hotels.
He also pointed to potential for a brand that sits “underneath Graduate” for smaller college towns, as well as a possible gap in the lifestyle space between Hilton’s Motto and Canopy flags.
All-inclusive expansion will also remain a focus. While the company currently has about 6,000 rooms in the segment, Nassetta said Hilton plans to double that count.
“Our core Honors customer loves [all-inclusive] because it’s a great value proposition,” Nassetta said, adding that the company has deals “in different stages of development and gestation” that he expects will bring the portfolio to a size comparable to Marriott’s all-inclusive offerings.
Nassetta added, however, that he doesn’t anticipate more merger activity “anytime soon,” describing the company’s most recent acquisitions as “unique situations.”
“I think what you’re going to see out of us is organic,” he said.
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