Though Diwali – India's festival of lights – is more than a month away, decorations are already starting to spread through the capital of Delhi. According to Flickr user The Delhi Way, the city will be soon be "glittering in ferry lights, diyas and candles" - traditional symbols of the Hindu holiday, which are intended to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. Other Diwali traditions include wearing new clothes, sharing sweets with family and lighting firecrackers to drive off evil spirits.

Do you have any photos from traditional fall festivals? Upload your shots to the Gadling Flickr Pool and your image could be selected as our Photo of the Day.

Thanks to a new suitcase called "Hop," lugging your carry-on bag around the airport could get a wee bit simpler. Utilizing the Bluetooth connectivity in your telephone, the suitcase can wheel after its owner all on its own. The suitcase robot even tells the owner if it has gotten lost; the owner's phone will vibrate if the suitcase loses Bluetooth connectivity.

We think this is an ingenious idea, provided the suitcase can keep up with us running to catch a tight connection.

This isn't the first robot suitcase to be developed, however. Now, if only it could lift itself into the overhead compartment as well.

[Thanks to @wanderlust13 for alerting us via Twitter]

No, I'm not advocating you head outside and join a pickup kickball game, although that's not really a bad idea. Hotel gyms have undergone major improvements in recent years, with many adding upgraded equipment, locations, and even in-house yoga studios or fitness experts.

But, for frequent travelers, this is no substitute for your standard fitness routine. Enter GoRecess, which bills itself as an OpenTable-like software for fitness activities. Sort by studio name or class type and choose from standard options like bootcamps or weight-training or more popular trend classes, like barre and pole fitness or even pre-and post-natal workouts.

You could even sort by time, so that you can find classes that are starting soon in an area near you. It sure beats sorting Yelp for gyms that offer one-day or week-long trials, and we love that you can use this as a way to test-drive a new workout or studio in your hometown or keep up with your standard fitness routine while on the road.

One quick hint, however. Before you book through the site, go to the studio or gym's website and check for yourself. Often, you can find a "first class free" or a small "trial pack" that will get you discounted access beyond what you'll find listed.

What do you think? Will GoRecess help you stay fit on the road?

Travelers passing through Miami International Airport (MIA) most commonly are concerned about luggage, customs, security and making connections. Given the time, they might linger at an airport store in the mall-like shopping areas, have something to eat, work or just relax before a flight. But behind the scenes, an army of MIA workers handles situations travelers may never hear about from drug smuggling to terrorist threats, medical emergencies and more.

Tonight, the Travel Channel is taking us back stage to see how it all unfolds every day as 100,000 travelers make their way through one of the busiest airports in the world.

"This is one of many ways in which Travel Channel is trying to give viewers a different look at all aspects of travel," network general manager Andy Singer said in a Washington Post article. "And we think the Miami International Airport is a fascinating way to do that."

Pools rule, say families traveling together. A new report from Hilton shows that families value pool and water activities most, followed by spacious and potentially adjoining guest rooms and all-inclusive options.

These valued options make sense, given that parents often wish to save money while on vacation. All-inclusive options keep costs down (92% of US parents were interested in this option), while pools and water activities are often free value-adds at a resort that might not have much in the way of off-property activities.

Kids' clubs are another highly valued resort amenity for families - key considerations for kids' club use are safety, flexibility and diverse programming.

None of these stats are particularly surprising; although, we were a bit shocked that interest in all-inclusive packages was so high, given the limited number of these types of resorts available for domestic travel.

Where are parents looking to go? Top destinations where U.S. parents want to vacation now include Hawaii, Orlando, the Grand Canyon, Southern California and Continental Europe, while U.K. parents pair their top choice of Orlando with Disneyland Paris, Italy, Mallorca and Dubai.

Two soldiers' bodies from World War I have been discovered on an Italian mountain, the Telegraph reports.

Workers on the Presena glacier in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of the Dolomites in Italy found the bodies at an altitude of 9,850 feet. The glacier has been receding because of an unusually hot summer and the workers were covering it with a giant tarpaulin to keep it from thawing further.

The soldiers are believed to have been from an artillery unit of the Austro-Hungarian army and were killed in 1918. The skeletons were identified by remnants of uniform and insignia. No word yet on whether they can be named.

During World War I, Italy fought against Austro-Hungarian and German forces in the bitter cold of the mountaintops. One favorite tactic was to fire artillery shells above enemy positions to cause avalanches to bury them. In other cases soldiers died from wounds or exposure and were lost. Many of these bodies have been found in later years.

From more on the Italian Front, there is an excellent website and photo collection here.

The Presena glacier isn't the only one melting. The entire Alps is seeing less ice cover, reducing the number of ski slopes and increasing the risk of avalanches for trekkers.


[Photo courtesy German Federal Archive]

We get some pretty strange pitches at Gadling, many of which we're certain no self-respecting human should ever use in the privacy of their own home, let alone while traveling through a crowded airport. Alas, some of these gems have made their way to the interwebs, for sale to real live travelers just like you. Below, you'll find a roundup of those we've decided are too strange NOT to share. Buy at your own discretion.

When traveling, interacting with locals can really enhance your trip. From showing you lesser-known sights to teaching you about local culture and giving you offbeat tips you wouldn't find in a guidebook, residents in the city you visit are worth getting to know. To help give you some travel insight, here are 10 locals to befriend on your next trip.

The Taxi Driver

Many travelers don't realize when they get into a cab they are actually stepping through a portal of information. They spend their days driving people all over the city, so they know the best places to go for just about anything you're looking for. Ask them for dining information, where to get a great view of the city, the best markets for getting a deal and what some of the more offbeat sites are. I'll usually even ask them to put together an itinerary for me with the question: "If you had friends visiting, how would you spend a day with them?"

Additionally, taxi drivers can tell you more than just where to go and what to see. These people have seen it all, and in my experience, are usually extremely open, fun and talkative. Even when I'm home in New York, my friends and I will often get into taxis and ask the driver to pretend we're in the Cash Cab and ask us trivia questions. I can't think of a driver who has ever declined. When I travel I always have about 10 million questions about everything from food to dating and fashion, and my cab drivers are the ones who get bombarded with them. And unless you ask something extremely inappropriate, they're usually happy to answer.

The World Wide Web is saturated with amateurish blogs created by people who'd be lucky to command the devoted readership of their immediate family members, let alone the wider public. There are scores of blogs managed by Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) and while many of them are worth reading, some are downright bizarre. This post will steer you toward some Foreign Service related blogs that are well worth your time.

Gallery: The Foreign Service Experience

I started this series nine months ago to help people get a better understanding of what life in the U.S. Foreign Service is like. Many of the posts have been about my experiences but I've also introduced readers to an intrepid, single female diplomat fresh off of tours in Syria and Pakistan, a diplomatic courier, a USAID Foreign Service Officer currently serving in Afghanistan and others. But spend some time at the sites listed below to get a flavor of what it's like to represent the U.S. Government in The Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Bolivia, Pakistan and dozens of other exotic locales.

Saying that Scottevest is a company that makes jackets is akin to saying Apple is a company that makes cellphones. Both statements are technically correct, but both also fail to tell the whole story. Scottevest puts the emphasis not only on comfort and good looks but also function. Popular amongst travelers and gadget lovers alike, their jackets incorporate numerous internal pockets that keep all of our gear organized and close at hand, whether we're going around the block or around the world.

Today Scottevest unveils their latest creation: the Fleece 7.0. The jacket maintains the company's legacy quite nicely while incorporating some new design choices that make it easier and more logical to use. On top of that, this might be the best looking and most comfortable Scottevest ever created. Its stylish exterior does nothing to reveal all of the technology and other important items that are well hidden underneath.

If you're already familiar with the products from Scottevest you are probably aware of the numerous pockets that line the interior of their jackets. With the Fleece 7.0 the layout of each of those pockets has been re-examined with the expressed intention of making each of them better. For instance, previous Scottevest offerings have included a pocket specifically designed to carry an iPad, and this new jacket is no different. This time out though, that pocket has been redesigned to make it easier to gain access to the device, whether you're wearing the jacket or not. That same iPad pocket is also now lined with soft fabrics designed to clean fingerprints from the screen as it is taken in and out.

Perhaps the biggest change to the jacket is the placement of a pocket designed specifically for smartphones. That pocket incorporates Clear Touch fabrics that allow users to interact with their phone's touch screen without having to remove it from the jacket itself. This isn't exactly new, as Scottevest has built similar pockets into their products for some time, but they've now moved that pocket from the chest down to the lower left side of the Fleece 7.0. On the surface this might not seem like much of an innovation, but the new placement does indeed make it much easier to interact with your phone. In its new location, the smartphone pocket isn't nearly as awkward to access when making or receiving calls, or launching your favorite apps. The new Clear Touch fabrics are more responsive and natural feeling as well, which helps to improve the overall experience too.