A new hotel in the clouds and a rare celestial event

04.22.23

High-altitude accommodation in Vietnam, the longest bicycle tunnel in the world, and a new museum dedicated to Amelia Earhart.

Here's the latest news and tips from the world of travel.

By Lilit Marcus

🌒 Celestial synchronicity

Terra Australis

This week, the moon and the sun briefly aligned over a remote patch of Western Australia. This hybrid solar eclipse brought people from around the globe to the small town of Exmouth, one of the only places that had a view of the full totality.

As one stargazer put it: "It's the three most significant planetary bodies for our existence going into perfect alignment, like three notes on a guitar."

Such celestial happenings remind us of why we travel in the first place -- to experience as much as we can of the world's richness.

🚴‍♀️ Towers and tunnels

It wasn't only the skyward happening making travel news this week. In Vietnam, the country's highest hotel opened, appropriately, inside the country's tallest skyscraper. The Vinpearl hotel's rooms all have floor-to-ceiling windows for stunning views over Ho Chi Minh City and the Saigon River.

From high above the ground, to deep beneath it: This week saw the world's longest, purpose-built cycling tunnel open in Bergen, Norway. The three-kilometer (1.86-mile) tunnel's name is Fyllingsdalstunnelen, and it was blasted into the rock of the mountains surrounding the city.

No need to take our word for its magnificence, though. "We Norwegians are usually modest people," Camilla Einarsen Heggernes, a spokesperson for rail company Bybanen Utbygging, told CNN, "But in this instance, we would say that the tunnel is 100% state of the art."

South America isn't left out of the party, either. Off the Galapagos Islands, scientists discovered a "pristine" coral reef 400 meters (1,310 feet) deep in the sea. The coral there is at least several thousand years old and more than 50% of it is living coral, which is great news for sustainability work in the area.

✈️ Honoring an aviation legend

Amelia Earhart wasn't just the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic. She also inspired generations of aviators and earned a permanent spot in American popular culture. Now, there's another place to honor her legacy: the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum, which opened April 14 in her hometown of Atchison, Kansas.

The museum was a passion project led by the late Ladd Seaburg, whose widow Karen continued the mission through to completion after his death. Its star attraction is what is said to be the world's only remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E aircraft, a twin of the one that Earhart famously flew.

Though Earhart's name is the most recognizable, other pioneering female flyers have gotten their own appreciations in recent years. Black aviatrix Bessie Coleman was honored with a Barbie doll, and the granddaughter of Jerrie "The Flying Housewife" Mock is working on a book about her grandma's life story.

🎢 What happens when the fun ends?

Claudia Himmelreich/McClatchy DC/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

That's the question posed by these no-longer-in-operation theme parks around the world. Six Flags New Orleans was a casualty of Hurricane Katrina, but it might get new life thanks to a development deal that pledges to transform the space into a family entertainment center.

And the Berliner Spreepark, which faded into history along with East Germany, has become a popular site for "ruin tourism." The area is still open to the public, with walking trails and boat rides past some of the most famous decaying attractions.

Still, none have a spookier heritage than Pripyat Amusement Park, which had the misfortune of being completed just before the nearby Chernobyl nuclear reactor melted down in 1986.

🔎 Hometown detectives crack the case

It sounds like the premise for a TV show: A group of Michigan residents decided it would try to locate several ships that sank in Lake Superior in 1914. But this isn't fiction -- this is real life. And you know what? It worked. Twice.

Members of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society have now found two of the three ships that all sank during the same storm. They pinpointed one in 2021 and the second, the Selden E. Marvin, last year. Watch the video to see the exact moment they realized their detective work had paid off.

🥾 Walking the Wall

Now that China has reopened to tourism, the Great Wall is high on many travelers' bucket list. However, if you want to skip the most crowded photo spots, check out our picks for the wall's most beautiful sections, from the fortress at Turtle City garrison to the Gothic Church in the small town of Bataizi.

Most visitors to the Great Wall walk along the top as part of their experience. To make sure you're in the best possible position to do so, our friends at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have rounded up the absolute best walking shoes for men and women from sneakers to ballet flats. Browse the whole list here.

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