Sweet! According to a New York scientist, teleportation and forcefields could be possible within decades. How’s that for advancement in travel? Watch out airlines, wormholes, here we come.

Here’s an unusual travel-related summer internship: The Four Points by Sheraton Best Brews Summer Intern. Yup, the intern selected will have beer tasting as one of his or her duties for the hotel brand. Says the press release:

This isn’t your frat brother’s job though, the internship will come with the frothy perks of tasting and toasting, but will also include learning the inner workings of the Four Points by Sheraton Best Brews program and the ever expanding craft beer industry and beer business. Like all executive internships, this position will start pouring in June and tap out in August.

I’m still trying to figure out exactly what craft beer has to do with Four Points by Sheraton. While I work on that, anyone who wants to apply should get cracking. The deadline for applications in April 26.

Looking for a place to rest your head in North Seattle? We think it might be a good idea to avoid one block in particular. That would be the 12000 block of North Seattle’s N. Aurora Ave., where not one, but two motels have been shut down by the Washington State Health Department in the last week.

Inspectors reportedly first found mold and unsanitary conditions at the Orion Motel and shut it down last week. Next on the chopping block? The Seattle Motor Inn, where health inspectors apparently discovered vanities concealing buckets of “dark brown, fetid water,” mattresses with exposed wires, contaminated water in the pool and inoperable smoke detectors. Eww!

When a handsome bull is in the room, it seems some folks just can’t keep their hands to themselves. Such was the case with Bodacious the Bull, a life-size bronze statue that once marked the entrance to celebrity chef Mario Batali’s new-ish steakhouse Carnevino, located in the Palazzo Las Vegas Resort Casino Hotel.

On multiple occasions, the restaurant witnessed female Vegas-goers groping, climbing and otherwise engaging in “inappropriate fondling” activities with the bull while their co-conspirators snapped pictures.

Whether it was his well-defined musculature or ample rear that attracted them, we shall never know. After a spate of incidents, one of which allegedly involving George Clooney’s girlfriend Sarah Larson, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, management at the restaurant confirmed this week that the bull has been moved to one of the restaurant’s back rooms.

But Carnevino wasn’t trying to protect Bodacious and his prominent posterior from molestation at the hands of casino-crazed vacationers. Instead, the restaurant cited legal and safety concerns as the reason for the bull’s relocation.

Bodacious Moved for Decency’s Sake

How’s this sound for a good time: pack your bags, say your goodbyes and prepare yourself for a hop across the pond without knowing whether you’ll be allowed to board your departing flight or whether you’ll have to schlep yourself and the aforementioned luggage all the way back home before the night is through? It’s something no one in their right mind would do - unless, of course, you’re one of those people who likes a good challenge, a little suspense and a free trip to London.

Such is the premise behind the United Airlines Suitcase Party, to be held on March 30th in Denver at Pints Pub in celebration of the airline’s inaugural flight from Denver to London. But you can’t win the two-day trip to London (we hear they tuck a nice little piece of jet lag under your pillow each night) just by showing up and looking pretty. Oh, no. You’ve got to put your creative skills to work decorating your suitcase. A panel of judges will pick a winning suitcase (and the human attached to it) to board a plane to London that very night. The winner will be allowed to bring one travel companion along for the ride.

Hectic as a two-day trip to London may be in reality, they sure do make it sound like a good time in the press release:

“We are asking Denver to show off its creativity and civic pride at our Suitcase Party, and one lucky winner will hop on that evening’s flight to London,” says Mike Scanlan, United’s general manager at Denver International Airport. “Nothing more than a passport, a decorated suitcase, and an understanding boss will be needed to enjoy a trip to London.”

We predict that you will also need underwear, a toothbrush and twice the amount of money you’d spend over a weekend in the U.S.

May the best suitcase decorator win!

Pack Creatively and Bring Your Passport to Pints Pub

And now for the winner in the strangest vacation souvenir category…. A traveler spooked Munich airport security yesterday when she arrived fresh from her Brazilian vacation en route to Naples with none other than her own brother’s skeletal remains stuffed in her luggage. But this was no sicko crime gone awry. The woman, an Italian, was simply fulfilling her dead brother’s last wish, to be taken from the place of his death, Sao Paulo, and buried in his homeland’s soil. And she had the documentation from the Brazilian government to prove it - a very important point, as authorities are not known for relying solely on verbal explanations where skeletal remains are concerned.

Woman Stopped Over Skeleton in Luggage

Pretty funny stuff, via Engadget. A traveler carrying one of the new MacBook Air laptops (touted as the world’s thinnest laptop for its ability to fit into a manila folder) baffled security agents with the high-tech device’s lack of drives or ports. The laptop aroused enough suspicion to keep the traveler, one Michael Nygard, detained long enough to miss his flight. Luckily for Nygard, a younger, in-the-know TSA worker stepped in to explain the laptop’s mysterious features to the wary security team.

Here’s a tip: If you’re trying to breakup with your boyfriend, don’t cook up some loony scheme to accomplish the task by calling in repeated airport bomb threats. Nah-gunnah-happen, folks. Instead, such a tactic is likely to have the following outcome:

Woman Gets 2 Years for Break-Up Bomb Hoax

Of course, in this case, it is worth noting that the woman’s crackhead logic did kinda end up producing the intended effect. She will, in fact, get some relief from her unpalatable relationship. Two years of it, to be exact.

Some unsuspecting guests at Disney’s Pop Century Resort were recently bilked out of close to $11,000 after handing over their credit card numbers to phone callers pretending to be resort employees. Luckily for the guests, Disney refunded the money. But news of the scam is a reminder to travelers that - as the old adage goes - when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If a person claiming to be a hotel employee calls your room and requests a credit card number for any reason, tell them you’ll be happy to clear up the matter in person with a visit to the front desk. There’s absolutely no reason a hotel employee should need to take your credit card number over the phone when you’re a current guest.

Credit Card Scam Hits Unsuspecting Walt Disney World Resort Guests

It seems the placebo effect is alive and kicking. Thank you, Airborne, for proving this scientific wonder to the general populous once again. Yesterday, the well-known peddler of herbal supplements aimed at travelers made headlines when it agreed to pay a $23.3 million settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against the company for false advertising. While Airborne refuses to admit any wrongdoing or false claims, its willingness to drop megabucks to halt the lawsuit speaks volumes.

According to AP news reports:

“There’s no credible evidence that what’s in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment,” said CSPI Senior nutritionist David Schardt. “Airborne is basically on overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that’s been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed.”

I’ll admit it. I was one of the suckers who thought these things actually worked. God knows how many of those things I’ve taken. But I’m looking on the bright side. No more narsty glasses of fizzing Airborne before hopping on the plane.

If you were similarly duped, you could be eligible to receive a refund for the Airborne products you purchased. You can find info at the link below:

Airborne Settlement Information