St. Helena Island:

Famously isolated, but not for long


There are few inhabited places on earth as isolated or as intriguing as St. Helena Island. This lush, subtropical island in the South Atlantic has an agreeable climate, old English charm and architecture, and a rich history beginning with its discovery by the Portuguese in 1502.


The nearest mainland is more than 1600 km on the west coast of Africa making it one of the most remote inhabited islands on earth. The only means of access is by sea and scheduled service is provided by the world’s last remaining Royal Mail Ship. This extreme isolation has preserved St. Helena’s charm and kept it largely undiscovered from the outside world. All of this will change dramatically with the planned opening of an international airport in 2012.

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La Réunion: France’s Indian Ocean Travel Secret


Located southeast of Madagascar, La Réunion (Reunion Island) is a beautiful volcanic island extremely popular with the French as a tourist destination but remains largely unknown outside of the Francophone world. La Réunion is an overseas départment of France with the same political status of
other regions of France located on the European mainland.


Unlike the neighboring Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, it can be difficult find anyone on La Réunion who speaks English. Tourist facilities are much less developed than on Mauritius with only small hotels and no large resorts. Hospitals, services, and infrastructure, especially the roads, however, are all of a very high European standard thanks to subsidies from the French state and the European Union.


After touring the island for almost two weeks, I can see why the French prefer to keep it to themselves. Reunion Island is stunningly beautiful, the people are quite friendly, and the food is amazingly good throughout the island. 

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California Academy of Sciences’ Very Green Building in San Francisco


After nearly 10 years of planning and construction, the California Academy of Sciences opened a spectacular new home in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on September 27, 2008. Designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano, the new Academy building was officially certified on Oct. 7, 2008 by the U.S. Green Building Council as the greenest museum building in the world. This innovative building received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating of 54 points, giving it the highest sustainability rating of any museum building in the world.

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