It's A Wonderful Life (1946) began as a short story called "The Greatest Gift". Writer Philip Van Doren Stern was unable to sell it to a publisher, so he sent the tale out as a long Christmas card to friends. His agent subsequently sold the fable to RKO pictures, where it went through s ...

It's hard to say where old Hollywood ended and new Hollywood began. People in the industry don't think of themselves as making history, they are just going to work. But the day in 1967 that Jack Warner cleaned out his desk at Warner Bros. studio, George Lucas and Frances Ford Coppola arr ...

During the silent era it was thought a waste of money to make a movie with more than one star. Personalities like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton were considered potent enough box office on their own. But with dwindling attendance during the great depression MGM decided t ...

Meeting famous people is often a surreal experience for both parties. In 1956 when Elvis Presley arrived in Hollywood he and his entourage stayed at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. One day he got into the elevator. "What floor" asked the operator. "Tenth please." The operator looked ...

Gene Hackman once lamented that the worst thing about becoming a famous actor is that you lose the ability to observe people without being noticed yourself. But some performers are so good at disguises that notoriety is no obstacle. A case in point was John Barrymore trying to buy his ...

Amazon Lodges I had always been told that if you wanted to see wildlife do not go to the Amazon. That the jungle was so dense that you could never see the wildlife and that the wildlife was mostly nocturnal. Well, I recently decided to venture into the Jungle, after a conference in Man ...

The Amazonat Jungle Lodge is offering in addition to her standard programming combined land/water expeditions in which the guests will stay part of the time at the lodge and part of the time in a regional boat. In addition the Lodge is working exclusively with the worldwide re-known pri ...

Feeling cranky about air travel Get a grip. Not on the arm of your passenger seat--on reality, history, and the incredible accomplishment of human flight. We've just celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Although there ...

Fast, easy and efficient could describe life in Singapore. You dont stroll along the streets in a world of your own with time to spare and you definitely do not walk when a taxi is waiting nearby. Life in Singapore is geared towards the making of money and any spare moment given is put t ...

A failed or neglected city springs to mind when walking around Macau during the day time. Around the outskirts of the Islands the doors of modern buildings never seem to open. Hotel restaurants tend to sole customers with reluctance: public gardens remain empty except for the lone tramp ...

For me, living in Morelia was a very rewarding experience. It was certainly far different than what I had been used to in the United States. When I went there in 1997, technology existed, however, technicians were at times limited in their knowledge compared to their counterparts in the ...

By: Dr. Suni Boraston, Vancouver, Travel Medicine Specialist (NC)Emporiatic enteritis, Rangoon runs, Maladie de la Mer Rouge, Aden gut, Aztec two-step, Montezuma's revengeI learned the definition of all of these terms when I was on vacation in Mexico. As a doctor, I am always very caref ...

(NC)The long-awaited vacations of 1.3 million Canadians may be ruined every year by Travellers' Diarrhea, also referred to as Montezuma's Revenge. While rarely life threatening, Travellers' Diarrhea has a way of disrupting a perfectly planned vacation by keeping you running to the bathro ...

Dr. Suni Boraston Vancouver, BC Q: I am going on a vacation to Mexico and have been told that you cannot eat or drink anything without being affected by Montezuma's Revenge. Is this true and is it worth going if I am going to be sick for the entire trip Signed: "questioning my vacatio ...

Two visits to Budapest. Two apartments, walking distance from downtown. I did not even set foot in the Hilton. My mother and I saw Budapest like only someone who stays away from the Americanized hotels can. We stayed with the locals. We came to feel the city, not just see it. Sever ...

Carelessness is the number one reason for a passport application being rejected or delayed or for a passport being lost, stolen, or damaged. What steps are necessary to prevent these things from happening How can you take care of your passport Below are 16 practical tips you can follow ...

It takes a special person to travel with kids a parent. Children have their own needs. Their idea of a vacation is more "adventurous" than a parent's. They need constant stimulation and they can get as tired as they are tiring. There are many top ten type lists of tips for traveling ...

"I'm coming home. I've been away too long. Been away so long. I'm coming home" Ian Thomas, in Coming Home I still recall my road warrior days. It seemed like every other week, I was hopping on a plane for Orlando or Vancouver or Palm Springs or Washington or Chicago or Toronto. It ...

Drive along one of South Africa's scenic strips and you will notice a landscape composed of a backdrop of wide open spaces, blue mountains and blood-red sunsets. These scenes abound, but given the nature of the culture in South Africa, your attention could swiftly switch to a small boy g ...

Orlando is one of the top tourism destinations in the world. It features Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World. People come from every continent to take in these famous theme parks, and especially to meet Big Mickey. But there is another Orlando, a city full of unexpected ...