| Long-neglected, ridiculed LA River reborn and Mongolia's 'three manly games' |
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Los Angeles (CNN) -- For the first time in decades the Los Angeles River, once polluted and ridiculed, is open to kayakers and canoeists this summer under a federally authorized two-month program.Prior to now, the namesake river of the nation's second largest city was too contaminated for public recreation and was deemed off-limits -- but not for mockery and jokes over its condition.A state legislator opined in the 1980s that the river should be paved over to create yet another highway in automobile-addicted Los Angeles. Because vast lengths of the banks are lined with concrete, some locals belittle it as a "flood control channel."Now the river -- perhaps better known in the national imagination as a setting in such films as "Grease" and "Terminator 2" -- is enjoying a landmark step toward its revitalization. [Read the full article] Editor's note: Brett Snyder writes a weekly CNN.com travel column. Snyder is the founder of air travel assistance site Cranky Concierge, and he writes the consumer air travel blog The Cranky Flier.(CNN) -- The long-delayed and much-awaited Boeing 787 aircraft has finished testing and will see its first customer delivery next month to All Nippon Airways. Soon, you'll be able to hop on board this bird yourself, but would you even know it if you did?Aircraft manufacturers like to promote the greatness of their new airplanes when it comes to passenger comfort, but many of those promises require the airline to actually configure planes the way the manufacturer suggests. That usually doesn't happen, despite grandiose ideas.With the 787's entry into service approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the promises of the 787 to see which will actually hold up.This is a favorite myth of any new airplane. [Read the full article] It's not because he's visited before. It's because he's autistic and has an uncanny ability to memorize maps."He's actually a big help when traveling," jokes his mother, Kim Mance, founder of women's travel blog Galavanting and the Travel Blog Exchange, a community of travel writers and bloggers.Mance's other son, 10-year-old son Stephen, has used a wheelchair since surgery to remove a spinal tumor left him paralyzed from the waist down. Mance always has to make extra phone calls to ensure there's an accessible subway or hotel room, but that hasn't stopped her from vacationing with her sons all over the world.While she mostly travels for work, Mance says taking Peter on trips since he was diagnosed with autism at age 2½ helped him not get "rutted into routine." Some autistic children can't stand to have their schedules disrupted, she explained. [Read the full article] 
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