‘It’s scary’: The Caribbean beach where planes zoom above your head
By Maureen O’Hare, CNN
(CNN) — Our pre-Thanksgiving travel news roundup is all about transportation, from flight attendants’ holiday survival tips to Egypt’s new high-speed rail and how the world’s oldest passenger ship began a new life on land.
A unique airport and a unique plane
Maho Beach, on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, is a paradise for plane fans and thrill-seekers. The landing strip at Princess Juliana International Airport is separated from the beach by a single road, meaning that at peak season up to 70 flights a day come whizzing over the sand, almost close enough to touch.
“It’s scary,” says airport worker Franklin Wilson. “It feels like it’s coming straight at you.”
For many pilots, however, it’s a dream come true, says Wilson’s colleague Irving Maduro. “They love seeing the people on the beach below them.”
There will be plenty of time for window-gazing on Qantas Airways’ new passenger jet, which has been designed to fly nonstop for up to 22 hours. The Australian airline released the first images of the plane this month, which will fly direct from Sydney to London and New York.
High-speed rail projects
The US government shutdown has ended, but it could take months for air travel to fully recover. Wouldn’t it be nice if Americans had an attractive alternative, such as a joined-up network of high-speed rail?
CNN has reimagined three of the busiest flight and road trip routes across the US mainland as high-speed rail lines — offering a vision of a faster, better, more connected future. Explore our interactive to find out more.
Egypt unveiled new 155-miles-per-hour trains this month, 41 of which will be used on the nation’s planned 2,000-kilometer (1,200-mile), high-speed network. It won’t be the continent’s first. Africa’s first high-speed line, which connects Tangier and Casablanca at speeds up to 200 miles per hour, opened in Morocco in 2018.
Holiday survival tips
Thanksgiving travel is stressful every year, but the 2025 edition definitely has the potential to be extra jitter-inducing. We asked flight attendants to share their secrets to surviving holiday travel, from booking directly with the airline to why you should always wipe down surfaces.
And CNN’s Pete Muntean went behind the scenes of Southwest Airlines’ network operations control, where they monitor every flight in real time.
On the busiest days of the Thanksgiving rush, up to 600,000 people a day will be in the air, but airline COO Andrew Watterson isn’t expecting drama. He says, “The weather is good and we’re properly staffed.” Watch here.
If you do run into trouble this year, though, we have some explainers on what to do if your flight is canceled or your luggage is lost, delayed, stolen or damaged.
Epic voyages
Of course, there are more challenging journeys than a delayed short-haul flight back to mom’s place.
Couple Torin and Paige Rouse, for example, are walking 12,000 miles through all 50 US states. They spoke to CNN about the support they have been finding among strangers.
“We were expecting to sleep under a lot more bridges,” says Torin, but “people were coming out of the woodwork to help us along the way.”
CNN’s Stephanie Halasz swam from Asia to Europe this August as part of the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race in Istanbul. More than 2,800 swimmers signed up to take on the four-mile course this year, facing challenges including strong currents and jellyfish.
Finally, two British women recently rowed 8,000 miles across the Pacific to raise money for charity. They’re Miriam Payne and the aptly named Jess Rowe. Watch here to see what it was like living on a rowboat for five months.
New life for an old passenger ship
The world’s oldest passenger ship, the SS Medina, made its maiden voyage back in 1914. Now, thanks to an $18-million investment from a Singaporean businessman, it has a new life on land as a hotel. CNN took a tour.
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