| The indispensable guide to Disney World and Topanga: Malibu's hippie cousin? |
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If there's such a thing as an archetypal Disney fanatic, I'm pretty sure that I don't fit the mold.I don't own Mickey Mouse T-shirts or have a Disney license plate on my car. There are no movie posters, bobblehead dolls or other assorted Disneyana decorating my cubicle.But as hard as it is for my colleagues at Budget Travel to believe, I've been to Walt Disney World more times than I can count. In fact, when my family and I try to tally the total number of days we've logged in the parks, we usually start with some complex mental math only to throw up our hands and agree, "A few hundred."Having grown up in Tampa, about an hour from Disney World, I've had some of my most memorable life experiences with Mickey and the gang. [Read the full article] The Transportation Security Administration is investigating between 25 and 30 officers who allegedly routinely failed to check luggage during early morning flights out of Hawaii's Honolulu International Airport.The investigation, first reported by KITV 4 in Honolulu and confirmed by CNN, involves the alleged failure of the officers to check thousands of checked bags for explosives on nine daily morning departures. The lapses are believed to have occurred for as long as four months, KITV 4 reported.TSA officers are required to screen 100% of all checked bags before they are stored in the cargo holds of passenger aircraft.The investigation does not involve officers at airport checkpoints, where carry-on bags are screened.A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that investigators are conducting polygraph tests to determine the extent of the security lapse and the exact number of officers who failed their responsibility at the airport. [Read the full article] Dusseldorf is often overlooked in favor of its more popular sister Cologne, but this elegant, modern city on the eastern bank of the Rhine River has risen steadily to defy its origins as the dorf (village) at the mouth of the river Dussel, a tributary of the Rhine.The heart and capital of the North Rhine-Westphalia region as well as the German advertisement and fashion industry, Dusseldorf has risen to become an important international business and financial hub.But it also has a contemporary arts and culture scene that has solidly placed the city on the map. Its art museums, world-class architecture and a thriving design scene continue to attract visitors from around the world.If Dusseldorf is the Hautstadt -- a play of the German word haupstadt (capital) and the French haute -- of Germany, the Konigsallee is its display window. The Ko, as the locals call it, is a kilometer-long luxury shopping boulevard. [Read the full article] 
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