The ride-sharing company Uber introduced a submarine-hiring service, scUber, on May 27. A submersible with pilot can be hired for one hour by one or two people using the Uber app (available on iPhone and Android).
A scUber submersible is currently available at two Great Barrier Reef locations: Heron Island, off the coast of Gladstone, and Agincourt Reef, off the coast of Cairns, both in Queensland, Australia.
Visitors to Tokyo can take open-top bus tours of two areas of the city with VIP View (www.vipview.jp/en): the Bay Course along Tokyo Bay and the City Course through the central city, each lasting about 70 minutes.
During the drive, and using GPS to pinpoint the bus’ location, recorded commentary in English is piped through the bus’ sound system. Headphones with a 3.5mm jack are required and can be purchased for ¥100 on location.
A ferry rated to carry 100 passengers but carrying at least 200 sank in swift waters in the Tigris River in Mosul, Iraq, on March 21, killing more than 80 people. The ship, most of whose passengers were Kurds celebrating Nowruz, or New Year, was heading to Umm Rabaen, a river island popular with tourists, north of the city center.
Before the incident, officials had warned boat operators that the level of the Tigris was unusually high, as the gates at Mosul Dam had been opened.
A man opened fire on a public tram in Utrecht, Netherlands, on March 18, killing three people and injuring five others. The suspect, identified as a Turkish national, was arrested hours later after a city-wide manhunt. He had a criminal history and recently had been released from prison while awaiting trial on a rape case.
Authorities suspect the shooting may have been an act of terrorism, at least in part due to a letter found in the suspect’s stolen getaway car.
Before my 11-day trip to Jordan and Lebanon in October 2018, I watched a few videos of people driving in Beirut. That's when I decided against renting a car in Lebanon.
After a little research and sending some emails, I engaged the services of Claude Shalhoub at Beirut Online Taxi (phone +96171659399, email taxis.beirut@gmail.com or visit www.beirutonlinetaxi.com). The determining factors were prompt email replies, sound reasoning of why their fare was appropriate, and the flexibility with and suggestions for my desired itinerary.
A tour bus carrying 40 passengers, including Americans, overturned on the highway between Guantánamo and Baracoa, Cuba, on Jan. 11, killing seven people and injuring 33. Those killed were three Cubans, two Argentinians, a German and a Frenchman.
The bus was being operated by the state-run company Viazul. Witnesses said the bus was trying to overtake another car at the time of the accident. The driver told investigators that a wet road caused him to lose control of the vehicle.
A commercial court in Brussels, Belgium, declared on Jan. 3 that the activities of the ride-sharing company Uber were illegal. The court determined that only drivers with taxi licenses driving for approved taxi companies could be hired for rides in the city.
Belgium's government is split between two semiautonomous sides: the French-speaking southern half and the Dutch-speaking northern half. Due to the split, the court's ruling only affects Uber in the Dutch areas of the country, which includes Brussels. Uber is still free to operate in the French section.
A tour bus carrying a group of Vietnamese travelers was struck by a roadside bomb near the Giza pyramid complex on Dec. 28. Three people were killed and 11 were injured. Reportedly, the bus had deviated from its assigned route without security forces having been notified.
At press time, no group had claimed responsibility for the bomb. After the attack, Egyptian security forces killed at least 40 militants in Sinai in military raids.
After traveling between Venice and Bolzano in 2017, I wrote about the difficulties I experienced boarding a couple of trains. Specifically, the door to my coach did not open once, and later we were directed to wait for the train at the wrong place (Jan. '18, pg. 47).
In researching my 2018 trip to Italy, I found that the bus on that route took 4 hours, 40 minutes and received poor reviews (sometimes the bus never arrived!), so I went to the other extreme and, for the first time, booked a car and driver.