Fried foods and ‘revenge travel’: Indulgence is back

By Lilit Marcus, CNN

This week in travel: an upside-down train, the meaning of “revenge travel” and the world’s greatest fried foods.

Trending travel

“Revenge travel” sounds menacing, but the trendy phrase actually describes people splurging on big vacations now that many Covid restrictions have been dropped. Longer times away, first-class upgrades and bucket list destinations are all excellent cures for FOMO.

Here’s more about what it is and who’s doing it. And we’ve got some ideas for your next big trip: A cruise to Antarctica or an Australian adventure, for starters.

While more and more countries open to tourism, a few have remained all but closed during the pandemic.

One of those holdouts was Japan, but there’s hope on the horizon. The country announced this week that it will experiment with a few small tour groups in May as a test to see how a full reopening could go later this year. The government floated the number of around 50 tourists for the trial.

This week, four countries moved into the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “high” risk category for travel, including a tourism favorite in Africa.

Dollars to doughnuts

Chimichangas or calamari? Why not both?

This roundup of the world’s most delicious fried foods will have you rethinking your weekend menu — or possibly impulse buying an air fryer online at 3 a.m. (Not that we’ve ever done anything like this.)

Prefer meat dishes to fried dough?

“Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” recently paid a visit to Umbria, where locals consume the country’s highest per capita amount of pork. Wild boar ragu, anyone?

Tune in Sunday as Tucci sets out to explore how Italian immigration has transformed the food scene in his adopted hometown of London.

People, pedestrians and personalities

London’s long-awaited Elizabeth Line train (a.k.a. Crossrail) got a visit from its namesake this week. Ninety-six-year-old Queen Elizabeth II appeared at Paddington Station to inaugurate the new transit line and wore bright yellow for the big day.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic unveiled the world’s longest suspension footbridge on May 13. The aptly named SkyBridge 721 is 721 meters long (about 2,365 feet). Austrian blogger Victoria Fellner summed up her experience on the bridge with the word “queasy.”

If you’ve ever dreamed about moving to Italy and buying one of those one-euro houses, Francesco Curione may be able to help. The “007 of lost Italian documents” can help unearth proof of a long-unknown ancestor and help those who qualify secure Italian citizenship. Grazie mille!

Riding the rails

Wuppertal, Germany, is home to the Schwebebahn, a suspended train that looks like it’s upside down. Not only are its glass-and-metal cars great for sightseeing, the train once transported a celebrity elephant.

Transit lovers, take note: Jerusalem will be getting a cable car. Israel’s highest court approved the controversial plan this week, with construction to begin imminently. Once the car is complete, visitors will be able to travel from west Jerusalem to the Old City in just four minutes.

In case you missed it

Most people walk down Rome’s Spanish Steps.

But this guy decided to drive a Maserati.

Planning some US domestic travel this summer?

The CDC advises getting a Covid test as close to departure time as possible.

What would happen if a squid and a yacht had a baby?

Its name is “Zion.”

The best travel beauty bags

It’s hard enough to get all your favorite beauty and skincare products in travel sizes without thinking about the right container to store them in. Luckily, our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have a list of fashionable and functional makeup-artist-approved cosmetic bags.

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Top image: An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands, along the central coast of Queensland, Australia. (Sarah Lai/AFP via Getty Images)