Matador Network's Blog, page 912

Netflix Is a joke comedy festival

Netflix is taking its comedy brand, Netflix Is a Joke, off the screen and is launching Netflix Is a Joke Fest, a comedy event with over 100 live shows that will take place across more than 20 venues in Los Angeles. The festival will run from April 27 to May 3, and will emphasize performers with a Netflix series or special.

The all-star lineup includes Dave Chapelle, David Letterman, Amy Schumer, Ali Wong, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Jamie Foxx, Sarah Silverman, Kevin Hart, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Ken Jeong, and Martin Lawrence, and will end in a tribute to late comedy greats George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Joan Rivers, and Robin Williams.

Photo: Netflix Is a Joke Fest

In a statement, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said, “It’s our honor to transform L.A. for one week into the funniest place on earth. This festival is a unique celebration of the art of comedy, and the role it plays in reflecting our lives and defining culture. It’s a chance for comedy lovers to come together and see their favorite artists as well as discover new ones, and for us to be able to share the electricity and excitement of the festival in Los Angeles with Netflix members around the world.”

Venues will include the Wiltern, the Orpheum, the Largo, and the Laugh Factory, among others.

Tickets for Netflix Is a Joke Fest start at $15, and go as high as $500 depending on the performance. Select pre-sale tickets will be available starting Tuesday, March 3, and tickets for all events across the festival will go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, March 6, at 10:00 AM PT on the event’s website. If you’re unable to attend in person, you can catch 11 of the live shows streaming on Netflix at a later date.


More like this: The 7 most hilarious venues in Boston to have a laugh

The post Netflix is throwing a major comedy festival in Los Angeles this spring appeared first on Matador Network.

SNL LaGuardia parody

There’s something about a musical number that makes any situation less stressful. Maybe if airports actually had singing and dancing baggage handlers, flight attendants, and restaurant workers, the whole experience would be slightly more manageable. For now, we’ll just have to be content with SNL’s musical roasting of LaGuardia Airport. John Mulaney, who is known for his musical sketches when hosting SNL, delivered an instant classic this weekend with “Airport Sushi” — a comedic take on how frustrating the airport experience can be.

The sketch stars Mulaney as an airport cashier, Pete Davidson and Chris Redd as customers, Kenan Thompson as the Phantom of LaGuardia, Alex Moffat as a rat, Kate McKinnon as Auntie Orphan Annie, Cecily Strong as a sushi chef, and Bowen Yang as a profiled Asian in the wake of the coronavirus. And in perhaps the most exciting and unexpected cameo, Jake Gyllenhaal as a guy who travels in pajamas and enjoys the security process a little too much.

Songs include parodies of “America” from West Side Story, “Tomorrow” from Annie, “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, and a variation of “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors, with the lyrics changed to highlight xenophobia.

The climax features David Byrne, the musical guest, taking the stage as a baggage handler and parodying his song “Road to Nowhere” with a rendition of “Plane to Nowhere.”

Previous musical sketches from Mulaney have made fun of other highly New Yorker-specific gripes, including bodega bathrooms and ordering lobster at a diner, and we think airport sushi at LaGuardia makes for a welcome addition to the collection. Of course, the sketch is a highly exaggerated take on the typical airport experience, and perhaps unfairly picking on LaGuardia, but frequent travelers will find several moments with which they identify.


More like this: The 7 most frustrating airports around the world

The post John Mulaney roasts LaGuardia Airport in epic musical ‘SNL’ sketch appeared first on Matador Network.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Slytherin

Harry Potter fan experiences are overwhelmingly skewed to favor Gryffindor. And if you were sorted into Slytherin, you’re probably a bit salty that your house hasn’t exactly been fairly represented in fan tours. That’s about to change, however, as the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London will soon celebrate all things Slytherin, from April 3 to September 6, 2020.

Visitors will be able to visit a recreation of the Slytherin common room, complete with authentic props like the sofas, the fireplace, and the creepy, hand-crafted wall tapestries that adorn its cave-like walls.

Did you know that the Slytherin Common Room tapestry was inspired by a real medieval tapestry? pic.twitter.com/cbGGJukisu

— Warner Bros. Studio Tour London (@wbtourlondon) February 25, 2020

Elsewhere in the studio tour, Slytherin’s banners will hang from the ceiling in the Great Hall as if the house has won the House Cup, and original costumes of notable Slytherin witches and wizards — including Voldemort and the Malfoy family — will also be on display.

Always impeccably dressed, Slytherins represent their house pride even as adults with subtle snakelike touches in their costumes.

Highlights: Narcissa Malfoy's snakeskin ensemble, Lucius' bejewelled cane and the forked-tongue slit up the back of Professor Snape's dramatic cape. pic.twitter.com/gOOS2XAiYl

— Warner Bros. Studio Tour London (@wbtourlondon) February 25, 2020

Tickets for both the Slytherin common room tour and the other studio attractions must be booked in advance, with more information available on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour’s website.


More like this: 18 real-life places every Harry Potter fan needs to visit

The post Visit the Slytherin common room for the first time ever at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour appeared first on Matador Network.

What we lose in food shows

There are a few things we know for sure about David Chang. He is an exceptionally successful and ambitious restaurateur. He’s a charismatic (and controversial) television personality. And he seems to know everyone: comedians Seth Rogen, Kate McKinnon, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari; television hosts Padma Lakshmi, Bill Simmons, and Chrissy Teigen; and celebrity chefs from Madhur Jaffrey to Tom Collichio. David Chang has a lot of friends. And when Netflix recruited him for two food shows, Ugly Delicious and Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, he called them all.

It’s not just Chang’s shows. The celebrity guest star is now at the center of the formula for hybrid food-and-travel shows. The food has become a conduit through which they have an excuse to talk about themselves and each other.

The host in question — usually a celebrity himself (Samin Nosrat is the sole woman to host a food and travel show in the streaming era and she notably doesn’t indulge in the celebrity guest trap) — recruits his famous friends to eat, drink, and be merry with him. On Vice Media’s food show Fuck That’s Delicious, rapper Action Bronson butchers a tuna with Jonah Hill in Manhattan and samples street food in Rome with Mario Batali. On Chef Show, director and actor Jon Favreau essentially made an entire series out of cooking and eating dinner with his Marvel co-stars. And Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner is little more than an excuse for Chang to discuss fame and comedy, and sometimes social justice, with his famous friends over extravagant meals. The celebrity guests more often than not have absolutely no connection to the cities the pair visit.

A generous reading of this trend is that the sometimes laborious process of cooking can be made more entertaining with a celebrity guest as a distraction. To be fair, who doesn’t daydream about chatting with Gwenyth Paltrow or Chrissy Teigen over a glass of wine and a decadent meal? The allusion of closeness to fame can be gratifying.

And it makes sense, too, to hitch a familiar face to an unfamiliar cuisine to make it feel slightly more approachable. In the new season of Ugly Delicious, for instance, Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef and herself an accomplished chef, educates Chang on the origins of curry. That’s a celebrity appearance that makes sense in the context of the show.

But more often, the constant deluge of familiar faces is a self-indulgent power play. It’s a way of reminding the audience that to travel the world eating the most delicious food on the planet, whether at swanky restaurants or street carts, takes wealth, access, and privilege usually only afforded to celebrities. When food and travel shows are populated by celebrities, it reinforces the assumption that eating well and traveling abroad is the realm of rich people, and that for the rest of us, such a life can only be aspirational.

The second season of Ugly Delicious does a better job of balancing celebrity appearances with expert perspectives than similar shows. Chang has dinner at a steakhouse with the meat-focused chef at the Beatrice Inn, Angie Mar, along with food writers Helen Rosner and Lolis Eric Elie. He invites three of the most accomplished and insightful Indian-American food writers working today, Khushbu Shah, Priya Krishna, and Sonia Chopra, to discuss the colonization of Indian food and to supplement his conversation with Lakshmi. These are the strongest moments of the show, and what we would hope to see more of should the show get a third season. Other times, his focus on celebrity is tone-deaf and arbitrary.

At one point for instance, Chang invites artist David Choe and sports media mogul Bill Simmons to join him for lunch at Outback Steakhouse. The millionaire threesome cosplay as middle class (even though they eventually praise the quality of steak). Simmons is only there it seems, to exaggerate the cliche point that the famous former ESPN host is out of place eating steak at a chain restaurant.

At the risk of sounding self-righteous, Anthony Bourdain rarely, if ever, invited high-profile celebrities on his show to travel and eat with him (Barack Obama being the most notable exception). Instead, local “fixers” joined him — often journalists, musicians, chefs, painters, and poets who were not just intimately familiar with the city in question, but often invested in its social and economic prosperity. Bourdain went to each destination from a place of respect and curiosity. He not only seemed to genuinely care about the history and culture of every place he visited, but he was willing to learn, listen, and ask questions.

The inner lives of the grotesquely rich and famous already oversaturate every aspect of entertainment. People who preserve ancestral recipes and cooking techniques in the aftermath of war and colonialism are much more interesting. So are cooks who operate egalitarian family-owned street food stalls that serve local people among tidal waves of tourism. Stewards of the cuisine of the marginalized, from former slaves to indigenous peoples, are interesting. Activists who understand that no amount of star power can distract from the fact that food and eating are inherently political are interesting.

If celebrities want to talk to each other, they should launch a talk show. Food and travel shows, at their best, investigate how history, social justice, and cultural nuance manifest in the kitchen, and what those traditions mean to regular people. The new season of Ugly Delicious does delve into these subjects, but Chang is still seduced by his own celebrity. Imagine how many bridges of understanding celebrity chefs like him could build if they focused less on fame and more on food.


More like this: The defining moments that changed the food industry every year of the 2010s

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Coronavirus and cruise ship travel

The line between legitimate concern and paranoia is a fine one, and in the close confines of a cruise ship, that line gets broken pretty easily. Surrounded in small quarters by thousands of strangers from all over the world, the thought of even a tiny pathogen in the air can send people into an all-out panic. And when COVID-2019 — aka the coronavirus — is leading the evening news every night, well, imaginations can run wild.

On cruise ships, it’s not a completely unreasonable fear. Last year the Centers for Disease Control identified 10 outbreaks of other illnesses aboard cruise ships. And when stories of the Diamond Princess — where 691 passengers have contracted coronavirus after the ship was quarantined off the coast of Yokohama, Japan, on February 3 — hit the news, it seemed avoiding cruise ships for the foreseeable future is a wise idea.

But is it really? Granted, cruise ships can spread germs faster than, say, locking yourself in your home. But should we really be concerned on a ship that only shuttled between Miami and Nassau?

Cruise ships aren’t messing around with this.

This past week saw a couple of concerning advisories from the federal government. The CDC basically told Americans to prepare for the coronavirus to arrive here, with helpful disease-preventing tips like “avoid people who are sick” and “cover your sneeze with a tissue.”

That came on the heels of an advisory from the US State Department urging people with cruises in Asia to consider canceling their plans.

And while both actions are good advice to take, they don’t necessarily mean you need to up and cancel your floating vacation dreams. Cruise lines know their livelihood depends on passengers not contracting deadly illnesses on their ships and have taken exceptional measures to ensure coronavirus does not end up on their ships.

The Cruise Line International Association — effectively the trade group for cruise lines that comprises 90 percent of the industry — announced that all its member ships would deny boarding to anyone who’d traveled to China, Hong Kong, or Macau within 14 days. That denial goes for anyone who has come in close contact with people traveling to those places as well.

The two-week window is the generally agreed upon incubation period for the virus.

Other cruise lines have taken it a step further. Royal Caribbean, for example, extended that list of countries to Iran, South Korea, and the Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto. It will also require mandatory health screening for anyone who’s been to Japan, Singapore, Thailand, or the rest of Italy. Any passenger with fever or low blood oximetry will be denied boarding as well.

Norwegian Cruise Lines extended the China travel blackout period to 30 days.

MSC Cruise Lines is using thermal cameras aboard the ship to detect anyone with a body temperature over 100.4 Fahrenheit. These cameras will be used not only as passengers embark on their cruises but also at ports of call, as well, in case someone develops symptoms along the way.

That all is paired with increased sanitation procedures and onboard medical screenings of anyone who appears symptomatic. Major cruise lines have canceled about 40 cruises in Asia and rerouted others around affected areas, and they’ve said they’ll cancel more if the outbreak persists. Stock prices have dropped, but no new onboard cases have emerged.

The point is that the cruise lines are not taking this lightly, and the odds of anyone with coronavirus getting aboard a ship at this point are pretty small.

Only one quarantined ship actually had the virus.

You may have also read headlines about cruise ships being denied entry into ports because passengers aboard had coronavirus. Or, rather, you probably read headlines.

The truth is that only the Diamond Princess has been a disaster, and that is largely because passengers were not let off the ship, so previously non-infected people became infected because they couldn’t escape.

The only other instance of a positive test was aboard Holland America’s MS Westerdam, which was denied entry to five countries until it was allowed to dock in Cambodia. One passenger tested positive after it docked, and the CDC later reported that test was actually a false positive.

The other instances were for the most part precautionary. The World Dream was quarantined in Hong Kong after it was revealed to have carried virus-containing passengers on a previous voyage. After four days in quarantine, it found no passengers or crew with the virus.

Ditto for Royal’s Anthem of the Seas, which was detained in Bayonne, New Jersey, on its way to the Caribbean. Though 27 passengers were suspected of having the virus, none did. This was also the case for the Costa Smeralda, which was held in Rome when one couple showed symptoms. The 6,000 passengers were allowed to leave shortly after the couple tested negative.

The most recent case was the MSC Meraviglia, which was turned away from Jamaica this week when one crew member tested positive for influenza. Though he tested positive for Type A influenza and not the coronavirus, both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands refused to let the ship — which had sailed there from Miami — dock. But, again, no one onboard had coronavirus.

So despite frequent reports of suspected coronavirus aboard cruise ships, aside from the Diamond Princess, it has not been an issue. You just have to read past the headlines to understand that.

Even if your cruise gets canceled, you’re not totally screwed.

Should your cruise plans get derailed by the coronavirus, you still have some recourse. Cruise lines are refunding the cost of the cruise to anyone they deny boarding due to new procedures, and obviously any cruise that’s completely canceled will be refunded.

However, if you decide to cancel your own cruise booking out of abundant caution, you will likely not be offered a refund since the cruise line themselves would cancel the cruise if there was a legitimate concern. Similarly, if you have travel insurance, it likely won’t cover anything coronavirus-related, which is the case for most impacted travel.

So, while you might feel like we’re nearing the end of times every time you turn on the TV and see people walking through airports with surgical masks, cruise ships shouldn’t be any more cause for concern than usual. Take the CDC’s advice and exercise proper sanitation, avoid people who refuse to sneeze into a tissue, and wipe down surfaces before touching them, and you shouldn’t be much worse off than you are on land.

Though nothing in life is guaranteed, the cruise lines are taking exceptional precautions to keep coronavirus off their ships. And though chatter onboard may run wild, the reality is that your cruise is likely safe, and you should proceed with your vacation as planned.


More like this: Everything travelers need to know about the coronavirus outbreak

The post How much do we need to worry about coronavirus on cruises? Not much. appeared first on Matador Network.

Most beautiful villages in Austria

With each popular film or television show comes a deluge of tourists to the production’s filming location or the fictional setting where it takes place. Take, as examples, the boom of visitors in Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast and Northern Ireland to see where Game of Thrones was filmed or the tourism industry built around the Lord of the Rings movie series. Now, the same is happening in fairytale-esque Hallstatt, Austria, where fans of the Frozen franchise are crowding the Alpine hamlet (even though both films were influenced by scenery in Norway).

As pretty and historic as it is, Hallstatt residents say the town can’t handle the touristic onslaught. It’s always been a popular destination, and it’s even a UNESCO World Heritage site, but the number of buses winding through the steep streets has tripled over the last five years, as one example of the issues the village faces. Tourism-curbing measures are in place, and residents seek to reduce the number of visitors by a third. Fortunately for the people of Hallstatt and tourists alike, a number of villages throughout Austria are equally gorgeous and have the infrastructure to provide extensive hospitality.

1. Bad Gastein

Photo: nikolpetr/Shutterstock

The spa town of Bad Gastein is set in a gorge and flanked by the snow-capped Hohe Tauern mountains. It’s only a 1.5-hour train ride south of the city of Salzburg, and it’s home to healing thermal lakes and plummeting waterfalls that provide a backdrop for the bi-annual Gastein Yoga Days, one of the biggest yoga events in Europe. Of course, being an Austrian mountain town, there’s amazing skiing to be had from November to April. The tiny town is not yet inundated by tourists, and it has beautiful hotels, inns, hostels, and huts to accommodate many more than it currently receives.

2. Zell am See

Photo: mRGB/Shutterstock

The medieval town of Zell am See, located on Lake Zell just south of Saltzburg, can easily compete with pretty Hallstatt. With the clear waters of the lake, mountain peaks, and verdant hills reminiscent of The Sound of Music, the village is picture perfect. But it’s not just relying on its looks to attract visitors; there are activities to partake in all year-round, from skiing and ice skating on the lake in the winter to hiking, biking, and boating in the summer. The village is also very family-friendly, with a mystical forest attraction and three enclosed water parks on the lakeshore. Every February, the town hosts Balloonalps, a week of balloon experiences, including rides above snowy landscapes and evening shows during which illuminated hot air balloons glow in the night sky. Zell am See also has some adult fun with its sophisticated casino located in the luxurious Grand Hotel.

3. Feldkirch

Photo: trabantos/Shutterstock

Near the borders with Switzerland and Lichtenstein in the state of Vorarlberg, Feldkirch is known as Austria’s most energy-efficient city. Many travelers pass through on the way to other destinations, but they’re missing the 13th-century Schattenburg castle, with a museum and eateries inside, as well as the Gothic St. Nickolaus Cathedral. Outdoors folk will find plenty to do, especially hikers.

4. Kufstein

Photo: Tatiana Popova/Shutterstock

Kufstein is known not just for its attractive chalets — of which there are plenty in the walkable city center — but for the gigantic Kufstein Fortress located on a hilltop and accessible via the Kaiser Maximmian sky gondola. Another attraction, the world’s largest freestanding organ, is inside the fortress. The “Heroes’ Organ” was built to honor deceased World War I soldiers, and an organist plays a recital on it daily at noon, and at 6:00 PM in July and August, to remind anyone within earshot about the importance of maintaining peace.

5. Maria Wörth

Photo: Maria Wörth Tourismus/Facebook

Situated in Southern Austria, close to the borders with Slovenia and Italy, Maria Wörth is best known for its scenic peninsula. The little piece of land on the southern shore of crystal-clear Lake Wörthersee is home to two churches that look like they’re floating on the water. Nature remains pristine here: Visitors go for the forests and meadows surrounding the municipality.

6. St. Gilgen

Photo: VitalyPeklich/Shutterstock

Many members of Mozart’s family lived in the small village on the shore of Lake Wolfgang, though the composer himself never lived there. Situated in the state of Salzburg, wealthy Viennese people keep summer houses in and around the lake. As with many other mountain villages, St. Gilgen has a cable car providing panoramic views, but what sets the village aside are its baroque churches, most notably the 750 AD Roman Catholic Parish Church of St. Egidus around which St. Gilgen was established.

7. Lienz

Photo: Vania Tonova/Shutterstock

Lienz’s southern location in the state of Tyrol provides a warmer, almost Mediterranean, climate and fun activities like summertime tobogganing at Adventure World Assling. The Lienz Dolomite range provides the town’s backdrop, and its fascinating, craggy, spire-like formations are attractive to climbers and hikers. Lienz is famous for its boutique shopping and gastronomic scene, and for the 750-year-old medieval Bruck castle with its museum and gothic frescoes.


More like this: The 7 best coffee houses in Vienna

The post 7 Austrian villages that are just as beautiful as Hallstatt appeared first on Matador Network.

Cheap flights in March

Baseball, once America’s national pastime, is now a sport much of America gets excited about because it involves day drinking on a Sunday. Regardless of your reasons, if you’ve got even a modicum of excitement for baseball season, now might be the time to plan a trip to some of MLB’s great ballparks. Not just because they have more character than any other venue in sports but also because there are gonna be some crazy cheap airfares next month to top baseball cities. How do we know? Because our good friends at Skyscanner ran a ton of historic flight data, crunched the numbers, and found 10 cities both in the US and abroad that’ll see flight prices drop next month.

On the domestic side, oil up your glove and head to the ballpark because flights to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park will be cheaper than game tickets. New York and Boston lead the pack with average flight prices of $257 and $244 respectively, both down eight percent. If you’d like an entire stadium to yourself, airfare to Oakland will be down seven percent to $223. Or you can catch the World Series champion Washington Nationals live and in person, with flights down a tick to $267. The rest of the domestic scoreboard:

Photo: Luciano Mortula – LGM/Shutterstock

1. New York, New York — $257 (9%)

2. Boston, Massachusetts — $244 (9%)

3. Buffalo, New York — $242 (8%)

4. Oakland, California — $223 (7%)

5. West Palm Beach, Florida — $275 (7%)

6. Jacksonville, Florida — $241 (5%)

7. Seattle, Washington — $274 (5%)

8. San Juan, Puerto Rico — $224 (4%)

9. Washington, DC — $267 (2%)

10. Chicago, Illinois — $238 (2%)

Do you care about baseball about as much as you do who’s winning The Masked Singer? No problem. Flights to international destinations — that also don’t care about baseball — will see significantly better savings. Cali, Colombia, will have the biggest price drops, down 31 percent to $396. Though if you’re keen on Scandinavia, now may be the time to book with Helsinki ($540), Copenhagen ($513), Oslo ($484), and Stockholm ($558) all cracking the top 10. Here are the rest of the best international flight deals.

Photo: oscar garces/Shutterstock

1. Cali, Colombia — $396 (31%)

2. Helsinki, Finland — $540 (27%)

3. Geneva, Switzerland — $608 (26%)

4. Tirana, Albania — $754 (24%)

5. Copenhagen, Denmark — $513 (24%)

6. Oslo, Norway — $484 (23%)

7. Stockholm, Sweden — $558 (23%)

8. Bogota, Colombia — $429 (22%)

9. São Paulo, Brazil — $738 (22%)

10. Melbourne, Australia — $802 (21%)

Much like the future of the Houston Astros’ championship, these prices aren’t guaranteed. One of the biggest curveballs to the travel season right now is the coronavirus, which could deeply impact flight prices. Certain destinations may end up trying to lure visitors back while others could see a rise in flight prices due to an influx of tourists with diverted travel plans. Or flight routes could be canceled altogether. But if you’re booking these flights for summer travel, fingers crossed the virus won’t still be impacting travel in a major way.


More like this: The best places to travel this April

The post Flights to these cities are going to drop hard in March appeared first on Matador Network.

Bus tour of Denali National Park

If you only have one day in Denali National Park and want to get deep into the park, you’ll have to hop on a bus. Self transit is not a viable option deep into the park, so leave the car at your lodging or campsite — which actually works in your favor because you can focus on what’s happening beyond the highway. You have two options: a tour bus or a transit bus. No matter which you choose, allow a full day that starts early and keeps you busy into the early evening. The tour bus option relieves you of needing to plan and pack for lunch and provides narration on the park’s history, natural sights, and wildlife. On the other hand, the transit bus is not narrated, and you’ll have to provide your own lunch — but it gives you more freedom to “make your own adventure.” This is how each option would look.

Option 1 — Via tour bus

Photo: Ludmila Ruzickova/Shutterstock

Denali Backcountry Adventure can get you to mile 92 and back in the same day, ensuring you see the entirety of the park. They’ll also provide lunch. It’s a long day, but it goes by quickly. If you’re staying in Denali Cabins at mile 229 on the George Parks Highway, the bus will pick you up first at 6:00 AM. If you’re staying elsewhere in the area, make a request, and you’ll get picked up around 6:30 AM. By 7:00 AM, you’re in the park.

Your driver will be a seasoned pro on all things Denali, filling you with facts — like how the park experiences 3,000 earthquakes per year — and pointing out wildlife with near x-ray vision. The bus will stop for any sighting, including the 20,310-foot Denali peak. Though the wildlife will change with each ride, the peak generally stays on the bus’s left-hand side on the ride there, if it’s out at all. It’s generally believed that clouds surround the peak 70 percent of the time, though every second is its own chance.

The entrance sits at 1,585 feet in elevation. By the time you hit Polychrome Overlook at mile 45.9, your first stop to stretch your legs and take photos, you’ll be at 3,695 feet, and that’s after peaking at Sable Pass’s 3,900 feet. Colorful rocks and rainbow-colored flora have given this pass its name. Bookmark this spot if you have more time later for exploring.

Mile 53

Photo: Michael Rosebrock/Shutterstock

Your next stop is the Toklat Rest Stop at mile 53. Here, at times, the expanse can seem too rugged for life, while at other times a caribou will wander up to your bus to say hello. The braided streams of the Toklat River shine brightly under the sun.

Mile 66

Then it’s off to Eielson Visitor Center at mile 66. Some great views of Denali can be had behind the center, and you’ll have a few minutes to wander the trails that appear to wind all the way to the mountain. Chat with a guide, check out the center’s art gallery, snap some photos, and get excited — the mountain is officially in view.

Apart from stopping for wildlife and views of Denali, your bus will now drive straight to mile 92. You’ll have lunch at Denali Backcountry Lodge. Expect salads, soups, sandwiches, house-made desserts, and plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. You’ll have time to go on a short botany walk, pan for gold, or just hang out with a warm cup of coffee on the porch, overlooking Moose Creek.

Tracking wildlife

Photo: Chase Dekker/Shutterstock

By 2:30 PM, you’re back on the bus and back on the hunt for wildlife. The bus won’t stop as often on the way back in order to get you back to your car or lodge by 7:30 PM. Talk about a whirlwind day.

Note: The Kantishna Experience is a similar 12-hour tour. There’s also the five-hour Denali Natural History Tour, which stops at mile 27, and the eight-hour Tundra Wilderness Tour, which stops at either mile 53 or 62, depending on the day.

Option 2 — Via transit bus

Photo: FloridaStock/Shutterstock

Transit buses are non-narrated, so you’ll have to do your own research should you opt for this route. They’re also an easy-to-identify shade of green. If you’re looking to hoof it on your own, this is the way to go. There are four main destinations: Toklat River (mile 53), Eielson Visitor Center (mile 66), Wonder Lake (mile 85), and Kantishna (mile 92). Get off your bus when you wish, explore the park, and hail any (green) bus down on your return. If seats are available and you have a ticket, they’ll let you on. Here is a suggested itinerary.

Early morning

Catch a bus at Denali Bus Depot. Buses depart the depot every half hour in the morning — although the bus schedule changes with the seasons, so you should check it just in case. If you catch a 7:30 AM bus, you will be at Polychrome Pass by 10:00 AM.

Mid-morning options

Get off the bus at Polychrome Pass. Note the glaciers tucked into the valley’s ridges and the streams flowing north to the East Fork River. The gravel bars make for some easy, beautiful hiking along these iconic multicolored ridges. You’ve done your research, so you know that hiking south to the foothills is a good, solid route. Besides, the five Polychrome Glaciers are some of the most accessible in the park, and that’s a sight not to miss.

Midday

Photo: Terry W Ryder/Shutterstock

Stop for lunch at the base of the Alaska Range. From here, travel east and west along the foothills, time depending, taking in the vivid colors, the flora and fauna, and the glaciers — all the while keeping an eye on the river, your compass back to the main road.

Afternoon option

If you were to journey on the bus one stop further, you’d be at Toklat River, where you can have some great hiking and wildlife experiences. The bus stops at the confluence of the east and west forks of the river. You walk along the gravel bar of the eastern branch of the river and enjoy some classic mountain views hanging above the open tundra in this area.

Early evening

Photo: stellamc/Shutterstock

You want to be back on the main road near Toklat by 6:20 PM or Polychrome by 6:50 PM because the latest bus back departs Toklat at 6:35 PM and Polychrome at 7:00 PM, arriving back at the depot at 9:20 PM. If you miss that bus, you’re in the wilderness overnight and without a permit.


More like this: The 10 least-visited national parks in the US, and why you should go

The post How to see Denali National Park by bus in one day appeared first on Matador Network.

Coronavirus and travel insurance

COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, has added a major concern to the minds of travelers since its initial detection in late December. Now that the cases have spread from China to countries around the globe, questions about travel insurance policies are increasingly top of mind. While coverage and exclusions vary on a case-by-case basis, here’s a general overview of what to expect from your travel insurance provider, should you be visiting an impacted area or need to cancel travel plans.

The basics of travel insurance and coronavirus

As of late February, there are no specific exclusions for coronavirus in any major travel insurance policy outside of China. However, factors such as government travel restrictions, pre-existing conditions, and the proliferation of a global pandemic can all exclude a traveler’s eligibility for coverage on claims filed due to the coronavirus. This means that should you travel somewhere where a restriction is in place, you are likely not eligible to file a claim. It also suggests that purchasing a travel insurance policy after contracting the virus, or even after visiting a place where the virus is prevalent, also excludes eligibility.

Two general rules of thumb to keep in mind surrounding travel insurance: First, if there has been a Level 3 Travel Warning issued by the US Center For Disease Control and Prevention for a specific destination within the past six months, claims filed for cancellation, sickness, or emergency assistance are generally not covered. The same is true if a Level 3 warning is issued while you are in that location if you fail to leave within 10 days. For example, any travel to Wuhan, China, is unlikely to be covered for at least six months following the end of a Level 3 restriction, and a traveler who was in Wuhan for more than 10 days following the January 23 declaration is unlikely to be covered.

Second, natural disasters, pandemics and endemics, and public health emergencies are generally not covered by travel insurance, even if they happen once you’ve already arrived. This is amplified when the World Health Organization has issued a travel restriction or the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 3 warning, which cautions to avoid all non-essential travel.

For travel to and from Europe

Photo: Paolo Bona/Shutterstock

Travel insurance providers have not, as of late February, defined a specific exclusion for the coronavirus as it relates to travel in Europe. The WHO and CDC have issued their highest-level travel advisories for China and South Korea, but no restrictions have been issued for Italy, Spain, or any of the other countries with confirmed cases. Therefore, COVID-19 is currently treated as any other sickness that a traveler may contract while abroad. But factors such as pre-existing conditions still apply, and should a travel warning be issued, failure to evacuate a country or location where a warning has been issued within 10 days will likely exempt a policy from being able to file a claim. If you purchased an insurance policy before traveling to Europe, and your travel plans do not include travel to or from China, you may be eligible to file a cancellation claim or request emergency assistance, depending on your specific policy.

Should the virus proliferate and trigger additional restrictions or make conditions notably unsafe in a place where you have confirmed travel, travel itineraries and insurance policies purchased prior to late December may have a higher chance of success with cancellation or other claims filed. This is because the coronavirus had not yet been covered extensively in the media nor had it spread outside of China, likely saving the traveler from any fault in needing to cancel.

For travel to and from China

Given that the United States and other countries have issued top-level travel restrictions to China, odds of having treatment for COVID-19 covered if you visit anytime soon are slim. World Nomads, a leading travel insurance provider, states on its website: “Any policies that may offer coverage associated with contagious disease will no longer cover claims arising from any event related to coronavirus (2019-nCoV) for travel to and/or from China on policies purchased after 1:00pm CST on January 22, 2020.”

The statement goes on to clarify that should you already have been in China prior to that date, you are not eligible for coverage unless you contract the illness and are quarantined because of it. In this case, you may be eligible for emergency medical and cancellation coverage.

According to insubuy.com, travelers who had visited Hubei province before the Level 3 warning was issued on January 23, and who left the city within 10 days afterward, may be eligible for sickness coverage on a case-by-case basis. Visitors arriving after January 23 are not eligible for coverage on most policies.

Should you have to travel to China for family or emergency reasons before the outbreak is fully contained and travel insurance providers reinstate coverage for contagious diseases, take precautions such as wearing a mask, washing hands frequently, and avoiding areas where the disease is prevalent.

What if I traveled to a country with confirmed cases, and purchased coverage once there because I felt sick?

Photo: cpt.kama/Shutterstock

If this is the case, you’d better hope that sickness wasn’t COVID-19. Travel insurance providers are generally not responsible for pre-existing conditions, particularly anything that happened prior to the dates specified in the policy as they correlate with the locations specified in the policy. So, if you purchased insurance for a trip to Thailand in March, your insurance covers — to the extent listed in your policy — what happens in Thailand in March. Should you add an extended layover in Hong Kong on your way without adding to your coverage prior to arrival, you’re probably out of luck.

While you could argue that since no symptoms were shown until after your arrival in Thailand and that you may have contracted it at the airport in Bangkok, the insurance provider is likely going to request your full travel itinerary from the time you left home. They’ll see that stop in Hong Kong, and your case may be gone with the wind.


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Overturned cargo ship in Georgia

The city of Brunswick, Georgia, has had to deal with an unusual eyesore off its coast for the past six months — an overturned cargo ship carrying 4,200 cars. In September, the cargo ship, called the Golden Ray, capsized as it was leaving the Port of Brunswick, and six months later it’s still there. Now, however, crews will begin efforts to remove the ship in piecemeal, cutting it up into segments and removing each individually.

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An offshore wreck like this has never happened before in the US, which is why it has taken so long to remove it. The 656-foot ship can be seen from nearby bridges and islands, and now the dismantling effort will be a spectacle that many will undoubtedly turn out to see.

The removal won’t be easy, however. Richard Burke, professor of marine engineering and naval architecture at the State University of New York Maritime College, said to NPR, “There are a number of things you have to worry about. First of all, the ship has — now the remains of — 4,200 vehicles.” Since the ship is on its side, that will also complicate the operation. Locals are concerned that the removal process will result in debris, as well as car oil and batteries contaminating the marine ecosystem.

On the bright side, no crew members were injured during the capsizing, and most of the ship’s fuel was removed from its tanks (after a fuel and oil leak in the fall after the ship overturned), preventing any seriously harmful damage to the environment.


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