Though it has long been stated that the Great Wall of China is visible from the moon, this myth was debunked in 1969 by American astronaut Alan Bean, who reported that when his spacecraft was only a few thousand miles from Earth (the moon is about 230,000 miles distant), no trace of human building was visible. The Great Wall is not even visible from the International Space Station, orbiting 205 to 270 miles out, though the pyramids at Giza can be discerned.

Am I having a stroke?

“My right hand is numb,” my wife, Flory, mumbled while we were watching a show in the lounge of the ms Prinsendam.

As her face became paler, she started to slide down in her seat. I tried to talk to her, but she had no idea what I was saying.

A woman nearby called 911. The doctor arrived promptly.

Was she having a stroke or perhaps a mini-stroke? I worried.

TIAs, or mini-strokes

When the flow of blood to a part of...

I don’t give much thought to petty crime when I travel abroad. I’m well aware that it happens; I’ve been preaching about the importance of wearing a money belt for decades. And for decades — probably about a total of 4,000 days of travel — I’ve never been hit by a thief. Well, my happy streak finally ended. I was pickpocketed in Paris last summer.

It was my own fault. I wasn’t wearing my money belt — a small pouch worn at the waist...