In which we present a regular round-up of news from the world of Grown-up Travel
Colosseum in Rome is leaning, officials say
The Guardian
Experts say ancient building has started to tilt, with south side 40cm lower than north, and may need urgent repairs.
The ancient Colosseum in Rome is slanting about 40cm lower on the south side than on the north, and authorities are investigating whether it needs urgent repairs.
Experts first noticed the incline about a year ago and have been monitoring it for the past few months, Rossella Rea, director at the 2,000-year-old monument, said in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, another of Italy’s most popular attractions, was reopened in 2001 after being shut for more than a decade as engineers worked to prevent it from falling over and to make it safe for visitors.
Rea has asked La Sapienza University and the environmental geology institute IGAG to study the problem and report back in a year.
Tests have begun to observe the effects that traffic on nearby busy roads may have on the monument.
Prof Giorgio Monti, from La Sapienza’s construction technology department, said there might be a crack in the base below the amphitheatre.
E-readers edge out holiday paperback
The Telegraph
More holidaymakers are taking e-readers than the traditional book, a new survey suggests.
The popularity of the holiday paperback appears to be on the wane, according to a new survey.
More people will reach for e-readers, such as a Kindle, rather than a traditional book, the results of research carried out by a holiday company suggest.
Almost 2000 people who travelled abroad on holiday in the last 12 months were surveyed by the travel agency, sunshine.co.uk.
Of those who had taken some holiday reading, 51 per cent had used an e-reader while 49 per cent had opted for a traditional book.
Holidaymakers aged 40 and above were most likely to use an e-readers, with only 11 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds using them.
Of those who used an e-reader, 44 per cent said it was easier to hold while 29 per cent said it was easier to see in the sun.
When couples take separate vacations
Toronto Sun
This summer, I decided to take a couple of weeks for a much-needed getaway in southern California. I lounged by the Manhattan Beach pier, spent some quality time with my parents and sister, and brought my two boys to the wallet-destroyer known as Disneyland.
My wife stayed home.
As I write this, she’s in Haiti, visiting her hometown in the country’s west. She’s eating local dishes like diri ak djon-djon (rice with black mushrooms), getting all the village gossip from her father, and getting respite from the summer heat in the river that snakes down from the mountains.
I’m here in Brooklyn.
There’s nothing wrong with our marriage, at least as far as I know. But the last couple of years we’ve fit in a couple of separate vacations, and it seems to be working just fine. She gets to go where she wants, I go where I want, and we both get a little head space away from the relentless demands of being full-time parents.
“I’m seeing more and more people not even batting an eye about going away alone for a couple of weeks,” says Iris Krasnow, who, as author of “The Secret Lives of Wives,” interviewed more than 200 women about their marriages. “In fact I get more mail and comments on that subject than about anything else in my whole book. You don’t have to be joined at the hip, in order to make your marriage endure.”
Case in point: Krasnow herself. She recently got back from two and a half weeks along the California beaches, a continent away from her family home in Annapolis, Maryland. Apart from her four sons, two pets and one husband, she was able to carve out a little time just for her.
“I go to a little hideaway, shut the shades, and sip my glass of cabernet,” says Krasnow, a journalism professor at American University. “The ocean’s mine, the cottage is mine. As a writer who needs solitude but never gets it, I need those getaways – and I always come back refreshed.”
Boy hit in the face by bird on world’s tallest rollercoaster
News.com.au
A rollercoaster ride took an unexpected twist for a boy who was hit in the face by a bird.
Shane Matus, 12, was riding at the front of the Kingda Ka rollercoaster at Six Flags in Jackson Township, US, when a pigeon slammed into his face.
The ride is the world’s tallest rollercoaster at 139 metres high and is capable of reaching speeds of up to 206km/h.
“When it hit me I was like, ‘What the-? Did somebody throw a ball or something?’ When I started spitting out feathers, I was like, that was a bird,” Shane told the UK’s Daily Mail.
He was taken to hospital suffering extensive bruising, scratches – and shock.
“They say the bird exploded,” he said.
“It hurt a lot for like three seconds. People behind us had feathers and blood all over them.”