Catalonia Fines Airbnb, Threatens to Block Locals From Using Site

MADRID—Tapas, shopping, beaches, the famous Gaudi architecture: Catalonia, and in particular its capital Barcelona, has a lot to entice tourists with. But a chance to live like a local and rent a room through Airbnb may soon no longer be one of them.

Catalonia’s regional government said Tuesday that Airbnb is in “serious” breach of regional law and that it has ordered the company to pay €30,000 ($41,000) in fines within the month or begin adhering to Catalan law.

Chile’s president bows to pressure, reopens Torres del Paine

A week since fire began, 80 percent of national park declared safe for tourists to return. The world-famous Torres del Paine National Park in far southern Chilean reopened to the public on Wednesday, according to President Sebastián Piñera, despite large wildfires on park grounds that are still not fully contained.

Around the World in 50 Years

Albert Podell was an editor for Playboy and other men’s adventure magazines in the 1960s. He commissioned travel stories from others until one day, he decided to embark on an expedition himself, and he’s never looked back. Fifty years later he is one of the few who can say they’ve visited every country in the world.

For Podell, it began on a car trip, which at the time broke the record for the longest route around the world. Visiting all the world’s countries wasn’t easy: war, revolution and the break-up of the Soviet Union were all sizeable obstacles that extended his mission.

Now he’s written a book, Around the World in Fifty Years, about his exploits, from eating live monkey brain in Hong Kong to parking his land rover in the middle of a minefield in Morocco.

He shares with us his tips on travel.