The Best Outstanding Romantic Travel Ideas

These suggestions, ranging from a one-night getaway to a trek halfway around the world, will give you some ideas to create a memorable romantic vacation.

When work, family and other responsibilities take over your life, it's easy to put your relationship on the back burner. Reconnect with your true love by planning a romantic vacation together.

These 10 suggestions, ranging from a one-night getaway to a trek halfway around the world, will give you some ideas to create a memorable romantic vacation. You can let go of stress, have some fun, and remember why you fell in love. 

• Hawaii. The minute you arrive in Hawaii, you start to relax. By the time you've taken your first walk on a scenic Hawaiian beach or enjoyed the sunset with a tropical cocktail, you're ready to let go of everyday worries and focus on each other. Each island has its own charm, and offers accommodations to fit every travel budget, but they all share tropical breezes, lush greenery, vibrant flowers, blue skies and that welcoming, peaceful feeling of "Aloha." 

• San Francisco. Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco, but for many lovers San Francisco is where hearts connect. Walk hand-in-hand along Ocean Beach, or take a sunset stroll on the walking path at Crissy Field. Make a toast to your love at Top of the Mark, the Mark Hopkins Hotel bar that offers 360-degree views of the city. Look for the statue of Cupid in the Embarcadero along San Francisco's eastern waterfront, and find a delicious range of fine to casual dining at Embarcadero Center. 

• Paris. Considered by many to be the most romantic city in the world, Paris offers many delights for lovers of all ages. Stroll along the Seine, hold hands in a romantic Paris bistro, sail a toy boat on the pond at Luxembourg Garden, or share a kiss on one of Paris's many beautiful bridges. Whatever you choose to do, it's more romantic when you're in Paris, the City of Light.   

• An Impromptu Overnight Adventure. Depending on where you live, a spur-of-the-moment getaway with your partner could take you to a luxury hotel, a charming local B&B, or maybe even camping in your own backyard. Where you go is less important than shaking up your routine a bit and spending time alone together.

• Italy. Synonymous with romance, Italy offers many wonderful locales to celebrate your love. The cliffside city of Positano on Italy's Amalfi coast offers stunning vistas, delicious seafood and a temperate climate. Lake Como, where George Clooney has a villa, is surrounded by rolling hills and ringed by romantic resorts and towns. And every lover's trip to Italy should include a visit to Venice.  Enjoy a gondola ride through the canals and explore Venice's narrow, winding streets and the open Plaza San Marco. End the day with a delicious plate of pasta and a local wine.   

• Prague, Czech Republic. Since the late 1980's, when Prague broke from communism, savvy travelers have made this magical city a popular destination. World-class architecture, cobblestone streets, the Vltava river winding through the city, and charming locals all combine to create a romantic mood. Prague is especially beautiful at night, so after you enjoy the city's fine wines and gourmet restaurants, leave time to stroll through Prague with the one you love. 

• Disney Adult-Exclusive Adventures. Who says Disney is just for kids? If you enjoy hassle-free travel, where the details are taken care of and you can just relax, check out the selection of Adult-Exclusive vacations from Disney. Whether you tour Italy's wine country, canoe in a glacier-fed Canadian lake or zip-line through a Costa Rican rainforest, these Disney vacations are specially designed for adventurous adults. 

• Take a Cruise. Ocean breezes, personal service, spectacular scenery and excellent food, plus your own private cabin. Maybe that's why so many romantics choose cruises.  There's a cruise to fit any budget, from a 4-day island trip to a transatlantic ocean adventure. For smaller crowds and more personal service, choose cruise lines with smaller ships or sailing vessels. 

• Plan a Weekend Spa Vacation. If you only have a couple of days to get away, don't despair. You can recharge your body, mind and relationship with a weekend spa getaway. Many resort spas offer couples' packages so you can swim and enjoy a sauna or in-room massages together. All that pampering—plus fine food and beautiful surroundings—could be pricey for a whole week, but many resort spas offer affordable weekend packages. With an emphasis on luxury, relaxation and reconnection, a spa weekend could be money well spent. 

• Bali. If you saw the movie, "Eat, Pray, Love" you've seen some of the beauty that Bali offers. Lush tropical forests, picturesque rice terraces, pristine white sand beaches and friendly Balinese people all combine to make you feel like you're in another world. Bali offers a range of romantic vacation options, ranging from quiet Nusa Lembongan to the nightlife in Kuta. Check guide books, travel sites and online traveler reviews, then make your plans. 

Quoted from MSN

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Facebook Boston? Zuckerberg Recruits Harvard, MIT Students

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg returned to his alma mater—Harvard—today on a recruiting swing for the world's most popular social network. He made another trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well. I caught the (very) brief press conference at MIT, where Zuckerberg only had time to answer a few questions.

The first was about what he meant when he recently said he would have kept Facebook in Boston—he re-clarified that Facebook couldn't have become what it became had he not gone off to Silicon Valley, but knowing what he knows now, he thinks he could have kept the company here.

The second question was something along the lines of "What can we do the next time a company like Facebook comes along to make sure it doesn't leave Boston?" Zuck gave a similar answer as the one above, saying Facebook needed to be out in Silicon Valley but that there are a lot of smart people here and, as such, cool companies can be built here.

The third question was about Facebook's efforts to curb cyberbullying. "Facebook is a product where we think a lot of good comes from it," said Zuckerberg, continuing, "And cyber bullying is one unfortunate thing online that we work really hard to prevent." He talked about Facebook's efforts to curb cyberbullying by allowing people to report abusive behavior. "We just think it's a huge problem online and one that needs to be weeded out," said Zuckerberg. "And the solutions, we think, are social."

And with that, he was gone.

Clearly none of us had enough time with Zuckerberg to really get into anything substantial, but the big story here is that he's in Boston specifically on a recruitment tour of Harvard and MIT.

At MIT, Zuckerberg first met with members of the faculty and then was on his way to talk to a group of 500 students. Those particular students were selected via a lottery process that drew from 2,600 applicants and was "sampled most heavily from electrical engineering and computer science students," which is the largest major at MIT according to the school's media relations manager, Kimberly Allen. Zuckerberg is conducting a similar recruitment tour at Harvard today as well.

There's also an invite-only event tonight for a handful of students—60 invites went out, according to Allen—from both MIT and Harvard. "The whole thing is recruiting. That's his point of being here," said Allen. And according to Harvard's press office, today marks Zuckerberg's first visit back to the campus "since leaving in 2004 to launch Facebook."

So the speculation begins as to why Zuckerberg himself would make the trip all the way out to Boston to talk to select groups of students from MIT and Harvard, and then hold an even more exclusive event tonight to talk to a hand-picked group of students. Both today and during Zuckerberg's recently-reported remarks, he mentioned Boston and New York in the same breath—so keep a close eye on both those markets.

Quoted from Time

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The Internet Weighs About as Much as a Strawberry

Last week, the world was shocked—shocked!—to discover that downloading an electronic book to a device such as a Kindle actually increases the weight of the Kindle. Not by any truly measurable amount, said the New York Times, but still: adding data to a device apparently results in trapped electrons which "have a higher energy than the untrapped ones."

And though the amount of data contained in a tiny e-book file is so miniscule as to render it almost irrelevant, the results become more meaningful when you measure a much larger set of data. In that spirit, how much does all the information on the entire internet weigh?

The conclusion: about as much as a strawberry. Check out the above video for the explanation, which includes details about the Kindle stuff, too.

Quoted from Techland

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'Anonymous' Abandons Attack Against Mexican Drug Cartel?

Just days after announcing its intent to reveal information about civilians who have assisted the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas, the group has seemingly backed down for fear of possible violent reprisals.

REUTERS

Two apparently self-identified Anonymous members, Skill3r and Glynnis Paroubek, were quoted in Mexican newspaper Milenio as saying, "We didn't want irresponsible administrators to condemn participants [in the operation] to death. We've discussed it extensively and we all decided to remove it."

This statement follows a post on the Anonymous Mexico Facebook page that reads in part: "Our fight is not of this kind and our ideals are not in tune with that operation. The note [announcing Operation Cartel] published in many electronic media is completely false."

The decision may be a smart one; global intelligence company Stratfor released a report yesterday claiming that "Los Zetas are deploying their own teams of computer experts to track those individuals involved in the online anti-cartel campaign, which indicates that the criminal group is taking the campaign very seriously," a comment which comes with the extra weight of earlier internet-related murders as a warning to "internet snitches" trying to intervene in the drug war.

Despite this, it's possible that Anonymous is split over the decision to withdraw from this particular operation; according to a tweet from Anonymous member Sabu, "#OpCartel is very much alive and like I said to others in private our war is on corruption on both sides of the spectrum. Vamous a GUERRA!" We may not know until November 5th whether or not the operation is still in existence... which, admittedly, may be part of the plan.

Quoted from Techland

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