Hurricane-hit Fort Myers lists tourism reopenings on website

Reeling from Hurricane Ian, the Fort Myers area in southwest Florida still faces a long rebuilding. Now the regional tourism bureau has begun compiling and updating a list of hotel and attraction reopenings at VisitFortMyers.com/open. Several resorts have recently reopened, including the Marriott Sanibel Harbour in Fort Myers, the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village, and the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs. The popular Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers has also reopened, and Lee County park openings are listed at leeparks.org. As for the hardest-hit barrier islands, the Sanibel Causeway remains open only to those with an entry permit, and access to Fort Myers Beach is limited to residents only.

Simon Peter Groebner

An abundance of hungry bears has forced the closure of some popular trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The cautionary step comes in a year when multiple bear incidents have been reported in and around the park, including an Oct. 22 incident in which a bear burst into a cabin and attacked a man in nearby Gatlinburg. Acorns and grapes are attracting the bears. The predators will sometimes travel more than 30 miles to reach particular stands of oak trees, where acorns pile up on the ground. Bear attacks are rare in the park, but one occurred in June at the Elkmont Campground, when a 350-pound bear ripped into a family's tent at 5:20 a.m. and scratched a woman and her 3-year-old daughter.

Raleigh News & Observer

Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas will get the title of world's largest cruise ship when it sails out of Miami in 2024. While the 20-deck ship's 250,800 gross tons and 1,198 feet in length bests the current world's largest ship Wonder of the Seas' 235,600 gross tons and 1,188-foot-length, Icon of the Seas will actually have less passenger capacity based on double occupancy — 5,610 compared with Wonder's 5,734. The size of the rooms, and the expected growth of family travel, though, means Icon's maximum capacity of 7,600 exceeds Wonder's 7,084. According to the Points Guy, not long after reservations opened only 26 of the 2,805 cabins remained for the first sailing in January 2024, and none of the 179 suites was available.

Tribune News Services

There's a trend on TikTok where professionals share five things they would never do after working in their field. Now, a flight attendant who goes by @DanidBoyy1 has gone viral with her response to the trend. Here are five things she would never do on a plane: use the bathroom without shoes on; fall asleep with her face touching the window; touch anything in the bathroom with bare hands; use the tray table without sanitizing it; and join the mile-high club. Most of Danielle's don'ts had to do with sanitation. When it comes to falling asleep on the window, she notes that "So many people — hundreds, if not thousands — have had access to that window and have been touching it."