World’s best airports for food and drink

By Maureen O'Hare, Apr 8: Airport dining: There’s no more captive consumer than a traveller caught between airport security and the departure gate, which is why Food & Wine’s 2024 roundup of the world’s best airports for food and drink got our mouths watering.

It’s no surprise that Singapore’s renowned Changi Airport has been declared No. 1. As well as boasting the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, it has more than 200 food vendors from which to choose, as well as a hawker street market, robot bartenders and an outpost of Raffles where you can drink a signature Singapore Sling.

At No. 2 is Tokyo-Narita International Airport, where guests can delight in Japan’s culinary traditions.

And at No. 3, the luxury environs of Dubai International Airport offer treats such as a pastry shop specializing in eclairs, as well as all the trusty international restaurant chains you’ll want to remind you of home.

The great outdoors

Europe’s highest pedestrian suspension bridge has opened in Italy, 574 feet (175 meters) above a ravine in Umbria. The half-mile journey across the Sellano bridge takes 30 to 45 minutes and – as if the drop didn’t provide enough drama – there’s a 223-foot incline at one end. Think you could handle it?

Over in Africa, the roaring waters of Kalandula Falls in Angola are said to be sacred, and rituals were once performed there to calm the gods. As one of Africa’s hugest waterfalls, perpetually shrouded in an ethereal mist, it’s easy to see how it earned its hallowed reputation.

While down in South America, an American woman and a Costa Rican guy met hiking Machu Picchu in 2010 but didn’t swap details and never expected to meet up again. Fate, of course, had other plans for this pair. In a bar in Aguas Calientes, they talked to Shakira and things got “a little celestial.” 

Grand designs

A groundbreaking “blended wing” demonstrator plane has been cleared to fly in California. The radical triangular shape of JetZero’s Pathfinder allows the whole aircraft to generate lift, minimizing drag.

Nearby in Colorado, Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator plane has successfully started test flights. CEO Blake Scholl tells CNN his team’s goal is to cut flights to “half the time or less it takes today” and that supersonic planes will replace conventional jets in our lifetime.

Starting over

Hey Duolingo, teach us about “buena vida.”

This week, we have the tale of a US woman who decided to change life’s tune by moving to Mexico and opening a music school. She travels back to the States about twice a year but has no plans to return for good.

And then we have this couple, also from the United States, who, after years of unsuccessful IVF and multiple health issues, found unexpected happiness in Spain. “Andalusia has taken us in, cared for us in a way we never could have imagined,” says one. “Like interest on a bank account, we never knew we had.”