wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Scientist and explorer John Oldale shares a wealth of fascinating facts and the unexpected stories behind them. His book A World of Curiosities: Surprising, Interesting, and Downright Unbelievable Facts from Every Nation on the Planet touches on history, travel, politics, natural history and more.

This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans will travel abroad, not to see ancient ruins or visit historic sites, but to undergo affordable medical care. These medical tourists will go to Mexico, Thailand, Costa Rica and elsewhere for everything from root canals to hip replacements. And while this type of tourism has been around for decades, it’s become more and more popular as health-care costs in the U.S. continue to rise. Paul Vehorn is a behavioral psychologist who’s visited Thailand for two different procedures, and James Surowiecki is a journalist with the New Yorker who explores what the bigger economic implications of medical tourism might be in his article entitled “Club Med.”

It's long been said that when you travel, the best way to get to know a new place is to meet the people who live there. And, while it's not always possible, perhaps the best way to know the locals is to live among them, maybe spend a night or two on their couch. Patricia Marx wrote about couch surfing for The New Yorker. Valerie is a couch surfer from Chicago.

The company, now in bankruptcy protection, would eliminate as many as 16 percent of its jobs. "But we will also preserve tens of thousands of jobs that would have been lost if we had not embarked on this path," CEO Tom Horton says.

Divers and rescue personnel are still trying to reach areas of the cruise ship Costa Concordia that haven't yet been explored in a bid to see if any of the 29 people who remain unaccounted for after Friday's crash off the Italian coast are alive.

Prompted by "cupcakegate," the Transportation Security Administration clarified its cupcake policy in a blog post.

Among the changes: Pilots must have more time off and "a 10-hour minimum rest period" prior to going on duty.

Eric Weiner describes tackling our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? His book Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine is the story of his search and his travels—from Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas, to Turkey to China, where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel, where he studies Kabbalah, and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians.

Weighed down by losses, a weak economy and the ripple effects of Europe's financial crisis, the company is looking to reorganize. It says operations will continue as normal.

Linda Leaming talks about traveling though South Asia and finding an unexpected path to happiness and enlightenment. In her memoir Married to Bhutan: How One Woman Got Lost, Said “I Do,” and Found Bliss, she offers a rare glimpse into the quirky mountain kingdom, which is so different from the super-efficient, striving Western world.

Passengers in at least four jets that landed in Hartford during Saturday's snowstorm weren't able to get out of the planes for a long, long time. Then they had to sleep at the airport.

Canadian writers Wayne Grady and Merilyn Simonds, one the descendent of an American slave, the other educated at an American school in Brazil, write about their trip around the perimeter of the U.S. and discuss their new book, Breakfast at the Exit Cafe: Travels Through America.

In the days after Hurricane Irene, many travelers find themselves stranded after cancelled flights or suspended train service kept them from going where they wanted to go. Even without extreme weather conditions complicating travel, most travelers have an an airline horror story or two, and many times the source of the problem is not the cancelled trip or lost bag, but inadequate customer service or lack of information from the airline. Several airlines are seeking to remedy this problem by using social networking for customer relations — a tactic many different types of companies are employing nowadays.

Hurricane Irene knocked out public transport from from the Carolinas through New England, and that includes all three of New York’s major airports. A big whack of all commercial flights in the U.S. are routed through New York, as many 12,000 flights have been cancelled. Business was hit as well. Samsung was forced to delay the planned release of it’s newest phone, because it couldn't can get shipments to New York. And on an individual level weddings had to be cancelled, the convention goers got stuck in Vegas for another weekend and then there's those who rode out Irene at JFK.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's latest set of "flier protection" rules go into effect Tuesday. The department can now impose large fines on international flights that wait on the tarmac for more than four hours.

Linda Leaming talks about traveling though South Asia and finding an unexpected path to happiness and enlightenment. In her memoir Married to Bhutan: How One Woman Got Lost, Said “I Do,” and Found Bliss, she offers a rare glimpse into the quirky mountain kingdom, which is so different from the super-efficient, striving Western world.

Colin Thubron gives the account of a journey to the holiest mountain on earth, the solitary peak of Kailash in Tibet. It’s the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage for both Buddhists and Hindus. In To a Mountain in Tibet, Thubron writes of his journey, an entry into the culture of today's Tibet, and a pilgrimage in the wake his mother's death and the loss of his family.

Earlier this morning, Rep. John Mica (R-FL) told The Takeaway the Democrats were to blame for partial shutdown at the Federal Aviation Agency, after Congress failed to pas a funding extension last weekend. But what does this shutdown mean for consumers at the airport? Barbara Peterson, senior aviation correspondent for Conde Nast Traveler, talks about how airfare has changed since the government can no longer collect taxes on airline tickets.

Partisan fighting over the debt ceiling on Capitol Hill has affected more than just the markets. Over the weekend, Congress failed to pass a funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration, following a disagreement over cuts in subsidies. As a result, the U.S. government was forced to suspend collection of federal airline taxes, at a loss of approximately $200 million per week. The F.A.A had to furlough 4,000 employees, and airport modernization projects worth billions of dollars are now on hold.

Nancy Solomon, writer for travel blog Ciao Bambino!, answers listener questions about flying across the country with a toddler.