They thought love had passed them by. Then a trip in their 60s changed everything

(CNN) — In our latest roundup of travel news: love in later life, dark tourism from Chernobyl to Germany, plus a European airline launches an “all you can fly” pass.

New experiences, new love

There are many chapters in life, and a new adventure might always be waiting at the turn of the page.

American Judy Curtis and Englishman John Nears were both widowed and retired when they crossed paths on a train traveling through Peru in 2004. Their fortuitous meeting led them to unexpected happiness.

University professor Kenneth Harl had been single all his life and expected to stay that way. Then at 60, he went to Turkey to research his next history book. Instead, it was his future that came calling, in the shape of local woman Sema Tegkul. One question changed everything. “Do you believe in love at first sight?” she asked.

Dark tourism

There are numerous tourist destinations around the world that draw visitors keen to learn more about a site’s complex or tragic or isolated history.

Chernobyl once brought tourists to Ukraine to see the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. Visitors are still coming, but now to see scars of more recent terror.

In Hamburg, Germany, a former Nazi bunker has been turned into a Hard Rock hotel with a rooftop garden. A new exhibition on the first floor tells the building’s history.

Kalaupapa in Hawaii is one of the most out-of-the-way sites in the US National Park Service. It’s a scenic paradise, but it’s also the world’s most famous colony for people with Hansen’s disease, better known as leprosy.

Finally, North Korea will reopen to international tourism this winter, tour operators say. Here’s what it’s like to go to summer camp in the isolated nation.

Escape the city

We’re deep into sizzle season in the Northern Hemisphere, and our cities are feeling it the most.

Buildings, roads and sidewalks radiate more heat than grass and trees, pushing temperatures up by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit, in what’s known as the urban heat island effect.

What finer escape then, than Lord Howe Island, a remote island some 370 miles off the east coast of Australia where the winter temperatures are currently a breezy 37 F. Its mountains are verdant and its beaches pristine-white, but to protect all that lovely splendor, only 400 tourists at a time are allowed to visit.

If you don’t make the cut this year, our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have rounded up the best anti-chafing products for sweating it out in the city.

Theme parks and thrills

Disney has announced a whole bunch of theme park projects that will be coming in the years ahead. Visitors will be able to fly like Iron Man, join a battle in Wakanda and venture into an eerie land dedicated to Disney villains.

That follows the news in June that a controversial Disney World attraction was being replaced by its ride featuring its first Black princess, Tiana. Watch here.

Some different thrills are being offered in Norway, with the opening of a 131-foot-long “floating” staircase dangling over a fjord. “It might make most people’s legs tremble a bit,” says the ladder’s operations manager.

American spotlight: Grand Rapids, Michigan

CNN Travel recently unveiled its top 10 best towns to visit for 2024. Our No. 8 choice is Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In the heart of Michigan’s fruit belt, a region rich with orchards and gardens, Grand Rapids is perhaps best known for its fermented produce, having held the Beer City USA title since 2012.

It’s a city of crafters, designers, innovators and artists, with a long lineage stretching from its renowned furniture designers of the 19th century to the impressive public art, meticulous flower beds and cutting-edge industrial design of today.

In case you missed it

A European airline has launched an “all you can fly” pass.

Although it’s been named the worst airline for UK flight delays three years in a row.

Some iconic travel destinations criminalize homosexuality. 

LGBTQ travelers are split on whether they should visit.

“Worst season ever.”

How things got ugly on Greece’s “Instagram island.” 

Overtourism in Japan is causing a baby boom.

In deer.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.