Desktop globetrotter: August 12

Clockwise from top, left: Fremantle Prison, crabs from the Gulf of Mexico, flight attendant Steven Slater, jellyfish on the Costa Blanca. Photo / AP, Supplied

A weekly round-up of travel news and debate from around the globe

AN UNWELCOME SUMMER INVASION: Holidaymakers on Spain's Costa Blanca have been driven from the water as thousands of jellyfish make a nuisance of themselves. Since the weekend, more than 700 people have been stung by the almost transparent creatures - 380 people were attacked on Tuesday alone.

SEAFOOD HAVEN TRIES TO SALVAGE REPUTATION: Nearly four months after the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reopened all but 22 per cent of the gulf's federal waters for fishing. But while extensive testing has satisfied authorities the area's seafood is safe to eat, convincing the public may take much longer, writes The Times-Picayne's Chris Kirkham.

NOTHING LIKE A JAUNT ACROSS THE CHANNEL: Eurotunnel management apologised last week after 20 passengers on one of its trains remained locked inside two wagons following a trip across the English Channel... before being shuttled back from whence they came.

The passengers were in seven cars which had been loaded behind a wagon left empty following a fuel spill. Eurotunnel staff in Calais, France, didn't realise there were more vehicles loaded behind the empty wagon, meaning the train returned to England with the passengers still aboard.

"Something like this has never happened before in our 16-year history, and it is very embarrassing for us," a spokesperson for Eurotunnel was quoted as saying.

ALWAYS MORE TO SEE: UNESCO's World Heritage Committee last week announced the addition of 21 new sites to its list of places that have outstanding universal value. Each site is recognised as having either natural or cultural significance.

No New Zealand sites were added, but our neighbours across the Tasman have had several convict sites recognised as "the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts".

Other sites from around the Pacific to be recognised were Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands archipelago - where the USA carried out nuclear testing in the 1940s and '50s - and Kiribati's Phoenix Island Protected Area - the largest designated Marine Protected Area in the world.

Papahanaumokuakea, a cluster of small Hawaiian islands and atolls, was recognised as a 'mixed site' - a place which has both natural and cultural significance.

National Geographic's website has a great photo gallery of the new 'natural sites'.

Also updated last week was the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. The USA's Everglades National Park and Madagascar's Atsinanana Rainforests were two of the four sites to be added, though the most controversy centred around the Galapagos Islands being removed from the list. Despite opposition from some quarters, Ecuador's government welcomed the news, according to this report from the Latin American Herald Tribune.

HOW TO REALLY MAKE AN EXIT: Of course, the only travel-related piece of news people have really been talking about this week is the dramatic resignation of frustrated flight attendant Steven Slater.

In case you missed it, Slater lost his cool when a passenger failed to obey his instructions aboard a JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to New York. Being hit in the head by the baggage said passenger was pulling from an overhead locker was the last straw. Slater, 39, reportedly cursed at the passenger, announced his resignation over the plane's intercom system, grabbed a couple of beers and exited the plane (which had landed) via an emergency chute.

This article on the CBS News website has links to some more reaction and coverage of the saga. While Ann Hood reflects in this piece on salon.com about how miserable air travel has become.

A Taiwanese-based news station has even created an animated video of the alleged chain of events:

In case you were wondering...

While we're on Steven Slater, this article from livescience.com examines air rage and some of its causes.

And finally, from Japan...

This video captures the finale of the Edogawa Hanabi Taikai (fireworks display) which lit up the night sky over Tokyo last weekend. More than 10,000 fireworks were let off above the Edo River as part of the annual display.