Friday around the planet

Friday Around the Planet is a list of travel-related news and inspiration you might have missed over the past week.

I'm just days away from taking my first flight since the Pandemic.

My heart is throbbing with anticipation, like it was when I first traveled across the ocean. I will be arriving in Paris, the first city I have ever visited in Europe.

The opening of the Internationale de la Gastronomie and du Vin is making me want to go. The 1,750 square meters of exhibition space is not far from the Unesco Climate Burgundy vineyards and the Route de Grand crus and offers everything from cooking classes to wine tasting. It will open to the public on May 6.

The most notable this week was the repeal of the mask requirement on public transit in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority when it required masks on public transportation, according to a federal court ruling.

For now, the federal mandate is not valid because the US Department of Justice appealed the ruling. If you are traveling internationally to a destination that requires you to wear one, you may need to wear one if you are from a local company.

Changes were made to how the CDC issues travel advisories. The highest level will come with an advisory of not to travel for special circumstances. According to the CDC, those include rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern, and healthcare infrastructure collapse.

Some places that were devastated by overtourism are taking steps to emerge from the crisis in a more sustainable way.

destinations took steps to accomplish that this week.

Over the Easter holiday weekend, Venice saw a huge influx of visitors returning tourism to its pre-pandemic levels. Ahead of the summer travel season, the lagoon city moved forward with a plan to regulate the amount of arriving tourists. In June, people have to book to enter the city.

There are several other notable openings around the world.

For the first time in its 500-year history, visitors will be able to enter the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice. One of the most photographed buildings in the city, it stretches the entire length of the north side of the Piazza San Marco or St Mark's Square and opened on April 13 following an extensive five-year renovation project.

More than 200 works and artifacts from Jean-Michel Basquiat's collection have never been shown publicly until now, as part of a New York City exhibition dedicated to the artist.

Also in NYC, Museum of Modern Art has dedicated a collection gallery to works by artists born in present-day Ukraine. Titled “In Solidarity,” the exhibition opened on the fifth floor in March.