By DAVID BEAR, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The beach is just the beginning ..."

That is the tourism slogan for Antigua and Barbuda, the multi-island nation in the British West Indies, and it's accurate, to a degree.

"Your election will not only transform America, it can transform the world. Your message of change will ignite hope and action in people of many countries who might still be passive in the face of inadequacies and injustice."

-- Baldwin Spencer, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, in a congratulatory letter to Barack Obama, Nov. 5, 2008

Antigua, pronounced locally as "An-TEE-ga" rather than "An-TEE-gwa," was named by Columbus in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World, after the Church of Santa Maria la Antigua in Valladolid, Spain. But English settlers made the "u" silent.

Conversely, Barbuda is "Bar-BEEOO-dah," not "Bar-boo-dah."

Like living torpedoes, a dozen bottlenose dolphins scrambled into the pressure wave streaming off the bow of the American Safari Quest as the 120-foot-long vessel charged across these azure waters at 12 mph.
The sleek gray mammals bulleted along with us, jostling each other for position, dipping in and out of the artificial surf, breaching and blowing with pure exhilaration.

OSLO, Norway -- Call it the bridge of happy babel. The joyous crowd thronging across the wide stone arch seem to speak a dozen languages. In addition to Norwegian, I detect snatches of German, English, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese and several other tongues about which I have no clue.

LOGAN, Ohio -- Fall is the most glorious Appalachian season, as mountainous deciduous forests are transformed into roiling waves of red, gold and yellow. Regional residents are fortunate to have nature's beautiful and bountiful displays around every corner, but leaf-ophiles looking for new landscapes to savor will certainly appreciate Ohio's Hocking Hills.

There's no doubt air travelers have to negotiate numerous hurdles on their way to catch a flight these days, so it makes sense to do what you can to help the process go smoothly. Consider the following:

"Is there a doctor on board?"That's a flight announcement no air traveler ever wants to hear, but based on available data, it's a question heard more frequently on commercial airlines these days.

The quintuple whammy of a stuttering economy, soaring energy costs, stringent security, eviscerated flight schedules and weak dollars has Americans reconsidering taking vacations abroad.

Whew. This time next year, air travelers who require supplemental oxygen will be able to breathe a bit more easily. Negotiating airports and security will be simpler for passengers with impaired sight, hearing or mobility as well.