Travel Roundup: 12 Amazing Things That Happened This Year

Travel Roundup: 12 Amazing Things That Happened This Year

This year has been a turbulent year worldwide. A combination of political instability, aggression and natural forces have made headlines.

The travel industry has suffered, as one might expect when normally safe areas suddenly become different. However, beneath the gloomy picture lie a series of strange, sweet or surprising events that have entertained or inspired us throughout the year.

These range from the silly (see April) to the spectacular (December) and remind us that as long as humans live on Earth, there will always be incredible people, places and events.

January: Beagle 2 is found

The British probe Beagle 2 lay lost on the surface of Mars for over a decade. The probe, which was deployed to much fanfare on December 19, 2003, was named after the ship that took Charles Darwin on his voyage around the world.

“[HMS Beagle] has led to a real quantum leap in our knowledge of life on Earth,” said project leader Professor Colin Pillinger. “We hope Beagle 2 will do the same for life on Mars.”

alt="Travel summary 2015: Beagle found">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. from Arizona/University of Leicester

Unfortunately, the team did not receive contact at the expected time of landing on Mars (Christmas Day 2003). After repeated contact attempts, the mission was declared lost two months later.

Its fate remained a mystery for over a decade until it was found intact on the Martian surface in January 2015 by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera. It is believed that two of the probe's four solar panels failed to deploy and blocked the communications antenna.

Mission director Mark Sims said of the discovery: "I'm delighted that Beagle 2 has finally been found on Mars. Every Christmas Day since 2003, I've wondered what happened to Beagle 2. To be honest, I've pretty much given up hope of ever knowing."

February: Cold weather leads to record murder slump in New York City

alt="Travel Overview 2015: NYC">Dreamtime

New York City experienced a 12-day streak without a murder, the longest on record. Experts attributed the change to extremely cold weather that kept residents off the streets and out of trouble. Temperatures dropped to -16ºC (-2ºF) with wind chills making it seem even colder.

March: New record for highest ridge walk

Tightrope artist Freddy Nock took our breath away when he broke the 30-year record for the highest tightrope walk in the world. The course between two Swiss peaks started at the Biancograt at 3,532 m (11,589 ft) above sea level and extended 347 m (1,138 ft) to Piz Prievlus, the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps.

The walk along a plastic rope that was only 18 mm thick took 39 minutes. It broke the previous record for the highest tightrope walk, set by Philippe Petit with his legendary 411 m high walk between the two towers of New York's World Trade Center in 1974.

April: Kim Jong-Un climbs North Korea's highest peak

Kim Jong-un climbs North Korea's highest mountain: https://t.co/21fV7gd3cq

– Atlas & Boots (@atlasandboots) January 4, 2016

The 32-year-old smiles at the view, looking extremely rested for someone who has just climbed the highest peak in the country - before breakfast.

His rise is one of several fantastic feats the dictator has accomplished, including learning to drive at the age of three, winning a yacht race against the CEO of a yacht company at the age of nine, and shooting the largest round of golf in history despite never having played the game before.

National media reported that each of his 17 bodyguards confirmed the record-breaking feat. In that case it must be true...

May: Pilot orders pizza for all flight delays

When a flight to Atlanta was grounded for four hours due to delays caused by bad weather in Tennessee, passengers naturally began to grow impatient. However, the mood on board changed when they were gifted the universal solution to resentment: pizza. The pilot of the Delta Airlines flight had stacks of pizza delivered in the luggage cart, much to the delight of everyone on board. Passengers took to Twitter to praise Delta for its pizza policy.

We're sitting on a runway stuck on a @Delta flight because of the weather. So they're throwing us a pizza party! pic.twitter.com/QO0ntZvs4I — Riley Vasquez (@RileyVasquez) May 26, 2015

June: Kate Moss flies easyJet

alt="2015 Travel Summary: Kate Moss">Dreamtime

In June, Kate Moss made headlines after causing trouble on an easyJet flight from Bodrum. Turkey, to London Luton Airport. The Daily Mail reported that Moss was escorted off the plane for "guzzling vodka from her carry-on bag" after being refused alcohol. She was picked up by police in Luton but no arrests were made.

The press gleefully reported the undeniably creative insult Moss hurled at the pilot as she exited the plane: “A simple bitch.” It's not the bad behavior that we find astonishing, or the brilliant insult, but the fact that Kate Moss, one of the most successful supermodels of all time, flew on easyJet in the first place. Even we, with our meager budgets, avoid it like the plague.

July: Cuba's flag flies over the embassy in Washington

alt="Travel Summary 2015 Cuba Flag">Dreamtime

Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba were officially restored when Cuba's foreign minister raised his country's flag at a newly named embassy in Washington.

To put this in context, the last time Washington hosted a Cuban foreign minister in this manner was in 1958, when John Foster Dulles was President Eisenhower's secretary of state. The July events followed a series of historic diplomatic talks between Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro.

As a result of the change, U.S. citizens are now essentially free to travel to Cuba as their activities fall into one of 12 broad categories (e.g., visits to close relatives, professional research, journalistic or religious activities). As Washington-based attorney Robert Muse put it: If you can't think of a way to fit into these categories, you're not really trying.

August: Delta joins airline ban on trophy killings

alt="Travel report 2015: Cecil">Dreamtime

The killing of Zimbabwe's Cecil the Lion not only sparked debate about trophy hunting, but also drew attention to the airlines that transport hunted trophies as cargo. Earlier this year, several major airlines, including British Airways, Emirates, Air France and Qantas, said they would ban the transport of hunted trophies.

Delta, which operates popular direct routes between the U.S. and several African countries, was initially reluctant to follow suit but changed its position under growing pressure from travelers and activists. Spokesman Morgan Durrant said in a statement: "Effective immediately, Delta will officially ban the shipment of all lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo trophies worldwide as cargo."

September: Humans of New York tells stories of refugees

In September, Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York traveled for ten days through Greece, Hungary, Croatia, and Austria to learn the stories of refugees traveling across Europe. The resulting photo series and accompanying narrative are poignant in some places and downright heartbreaking in others.

old=““>Honey

Using his signature style – spare prose and simple sentiment – ​​Stanton humanizes a group of people who in other media have been likened to swarms and vermin. The stories, understated but powerful, show the depth of human connection but also their fragility.

October: Strange twins sit together in flight

Events took a surreal turn in October when Glasgow photographer Neil Thomas Douglas boarded a plane and found his doppelganger in the seat next to his.

The guy on the right is my friend @elrottencrotch's husband. The guy on the left is a STRANGER he met on a flight last night! pic.twitter.com/kwBFOOEoMc — Lee Beattie (@leebeattie) October 30, 2015

Of course, they took a photo, which was later shared on Twitter. There it took off, garnering over 23,000 retweets and 26,000 likes. The similarity is so striking that it has been widely reported in the media, including the Guardian, BBC and Telegraph.

The coincidence continued as the pair later checked into the same hotel individually and ended up in the same pub. Douglas told reporters: "I went into the pub and there was my twin again. Total madness. We had a laugh and a beer."

November: The Atacama Desert blooms with color

The Atacama Desert is typically the driest place on earth and certainly felt that way when we visited earlier this year. The 1,000 km (600 mi) strip of land along South America's Pacific coast averages about 15 mm (0.6 in) of precipitation per year.

Periods of four years without rainfall have been recorded in the central sector, and some weather stations have never received any rain at all. It's even more astonishing that this happened:

old=““>Javier Rubilar, Creative/Commons

Flowers bloom in Atacama every five to seven years, but this year was the most spectacular. The rare spring sight is said to be the result of El Niño, which caused the heaviest rainfall in two decades.

December: Tim Peake becomes the first British astronaut on the ISS

Major Tim Peake became the first British astronaut on the ISS after a flawless rocket launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. In less than 10 minutes aboard Russia's Soyuz-FG rocket, Peake and his two fellow astronauts officially entered space.

Peake, a former Army aviator and helicopter test pilot, later spoke to family and friends via a live link. “It was a beautiful start,” he told them. "This sunrise was absolutely spectacular. We also enjoyed a moonrise which was beautiful to see. To Europe and the UK, I hope you enjoyed the show."

Mission statement: Dreamstime