Last month I wrote a post about Franz Wisner's book, Honeymoon with my Brother, an account of two brother's travel around the world that lasted for two years.

In contrast, there's the story I read yesterday on Wallet Pop that illustrates the opposite of the brotherly love found in Wisner's book. The two brothers that the Wallet Pop post refers to were duking it out on a JetBlue flight Saturday because one of them smoked in the airplane's restroom. Now, that's a reason to clock someone. These two brothers weren't able to travel together for more than a few hours. Perhaps their book could be Travel Hell with my Brother and highlight all the sib trips that have gone wrong. It might make for great reality TV. Send the pair to various destinations and watch the sparks fly.

The result of the flight that was host to the seemingly endless brawl was a diversion to North Carolina. I'm sure the passengers have not finished telling tales about their trip to Florida. Travel Hell with Two Brothers

I know that flying can create stress between family members so I'm wondering what else led up to this. Or does this family actually live in a B-rate movie or have too many hours of watching Jerry Springer episodes under their belts?

The only time I remember people physically fighting when I've traveled, and I've traveled a lot, was a pushing, shouting and shoving match in a Greyhound bus line at Port Authority. The fight was between two unrelated people--also males. I attributed it partly to summer heat that makes people a bit crazy in New York. The other passengers in line stopped the fight by intervening and talking sense into the lunkheads who forgot that all they needed to know should have been learned in kindergarten.

Any great fights when you've traveled? Not yours, someone elses? The photo shows that a lack of sisterly love could apply.

In an article in the St. Petersburg Times, writer Bridget Hall Grumet tells about her experience waiting with her pre-toddler to pre-board, only to not pre-board after all. The unnamed airline had dropped the practice unbeknown to her. (She later mentions an American Airlines and United flight, but they are not the ones Grumet initially described.)

We've posted in the past about airlines who have stopped pre-boarding families with infants and small children. Southwest, American, Delta and United no longer have pre-boarding, although Grumet says that if you ask gate attendants with American and Delta, they may let you board early if you have a small child. Grumet personally found that to be true on an American flight.

Although Grumet misses the perk of boarding early with a kid because it makes settling in on a plane that much easier, she does understand the airlines' latest practice. The idea behind not making allowances for people with small children and infants, and others who need assistance, is that when they get on the plane in one group, it creates a bottleneck.

If people who need extra help are randomly spread out during the boarding process, it saves 10 to 12 minutes. That may not sound like much, but as airlines struggle to get people to their destinations on time, 10 to12 minutes can jam up arrivals and departures for more than that one airplane.

My thought is that if I were traveling with a small child, I'd not be in any hurry to board. Spend less time on the airplane. The problem with that strategy is that with overhead bins becoming more packed as people avoid the cost of checking a bag, there won't be space in the bins. Then you'd be stuck searching out a bin rows from your seat. See Heather's post on how the trying to find bin space can look to a flight attendant.

Here's one of my solutions for combating the headache of traveling on a plane with a small child. When at all possible, take the train. Stay tuned tomorrow for my post on how train travel worked out for me. My six year-old got us on the train first.

Admittedly, Russell Brand, the British comedian and actor, probably best known in the U.S. for his role as Aldous Snow, a rock star in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, can go a bit over the top with his humor.

Because he will be hosting the MTV Video Music Awards tonight, he is on U.S. entertainment radar again. However, it's an earlier appearance on David Letterman in May that caught my attention.

This account of why he missed his first scheduled appearance on David Letterman pokes a bit of fun at U.S. immigration without being anti-American. According to him, Brand wasn't allowed back in the U.S. after a trip to Britain to promote the movie because of his past record. Although he doesn't specifically state his past problems, they have to do with drug issues for which he has had treatment.

Basically, Brand's hilarious style of story-telling captures an interesting cast of players and circumstances at U.S. immigration. I do think he's embellishing, but it's funny. For example, he describes a Gambian man wearing an American flag tie under going questioning and hones in on the stereotypes of people who look suspicious.

There are some people who are determined to not wear clothes in the great outdoors. There are the people who do naked rock climbing, people who hang out on a nude beach (or play volleyball in the buff on a beach like those I saw once in Greece), people who sky dive nude, dance in the nude, go on cruises in the nude, and, like this German guy I read about, people who prefer to hike in nothing but a good pair of shoes.

Even jail time is not dissuading this German fellow from his naked hiking habits, according this Reuters article. This fellow was put in jail for ten days for in the buff walkabouts, but has vowed that he will continue to hit the trails without clothes even though it is against the law. Perhaps he sees a double standard? Hiking in the nude breaks Germany's indecency laws, although nude beaching it is okay in designated areas.

Interestingly, Germany has a German Nudist Association which is part of the German Sports Association. Nudism can be traced back to Germany as a way to be healthier, so the association fits the idea of fitness. This membership has created an increase in nude hiking love. Nude jogging also has a following, but loping along in just socks and running shoes also lands a fine.

In a way, one could say that if there are nude beaches there could be nude forests and nude mountains for those who like to scale cliffs. Whatever they do, I hope they're using a decent sunscreen.

Perhaps you've come across this story of Michael Lee White, the American teacher at a business college in China who has been accused of being a spy involved with the CIA and having a role in the recent small scale war in Georgia. Those teachers. Just kidding. White doesn't seem much like spy material from the description in the AP article.

He wears T-shirts that say "Save The Whale," for example. And if he is a spy, I certainly hope he would have better digs somewhere else. He's cramped up in a small apartment without a lot of furniture. Where's the glamor? This doesn't sound very James Bond like.

The reason White is under scrutiny is that his passport was found in the basement of a house in Georgia along with other items belonging to soldiers who high-tailed it out of there.

According to Michael Lee White, he lost his passport on a flight from Russia to the U.S. October 2005. And, he has never been in Georgia. Besides that, when the war was happening, he was back in the U.S. taking care of his sick father. The CIA also says that White is not in the CIA.

It seems to me that White will be cleared, and this will be chocked up to a weird travel story snafu, but it does hammer home the point, guard that passport carefully.

I know people who have lost their passports and it has always caused a problem. The good thing is that with a lost passport, you can create a paper trail to back up claims about your whereabouts.

Here are the four situations people I know have lost their passports. White's is similar to number 1. The others were the result of robbery.

Whenever there's a list of cities or neighborhoods like the ones that are dying or thriving the most, I flip through them looking for a connection.

I was surprised to find one on the list of Top-Earning Towns. It's not where I generally hang out--trust me, I couldn't even afford to live in a garage there, but I've been to New Canaan, Connecticut several times. It's the town near to where relatives of mine used to live until last year when they headed for new digs in North Carolina.

When I think of New Canaan, and the area around it, I don't think of big houses, but of a place where country roads still wind through woods of enormous trees edged by stone walls.

Sure there are big houses, but the area has retained the beauty of the natural environment. New Canaan, described on a realty company's Web site as evoking images of a Norman Rockwell painting, is a place where people's clothes are pressed. There is even a park called Bliss Park where the New Canaan Nature Center is located.

Besides visiting the town, this is a region of the U.S. to see fall foliage, and take in fruit and vegetable stands and antique stores along the way. This is also the land of small white churches with graveyards of weathered tombstones on gentle slopes of hillsides. Picturesque with a capital P.

Outside the Seattle Museum of Art is a kinetic sculpture called Hammering Man. The man who lifts and lowers his hammer four times per minute is one of several Hammering Man sculptures by artist Jonathan Borofsky.

Through his Hammering Man statues, Borofsky's aim is to pay tribute to the workers of the world, as well as, indicate that the world is linked together through our labors. The sculptures hammer away at the same time.

Borofsky's sculptures, in a way, are an artist's version of what Matt Harding demonstrates with his dancing. The same dance, but the location changes. (Read Jerry's Talking Travel interview with Matt here.)

The Seattle version is the second largest of Borofsky's Hammering Man creations. The largest is in Frankfurt, Germany. You can also see outside sculpture versions in Dallas, Texas; Seoul, Korea; and Basel, Switzerland. Other versions are in wood and are located at various museums.

Last summer, when we went to Seattle on the way to Montana, we passed this sculpture on a Seattle Duck's tour of the city. At the time, I didn't know that the piece was part of a larger concept and could not view the whole sculpture from where I was sitting. In order to see it, we drove back to the museum.

As Borofsky says about this particular work, "At its heart, society reveres the workers. The Hammering Man is the worker in all of us."

The statue, and the others like it, seems fitting for a Labor Day shout out.

China's blend of art traditions, mixing the modern with the traditional, and the secular with the religious, is quite evident in the production of "Zen Shaolin" that is being shown at an outdoor theater in Henan Province.

From what I read in the New York Times article about the production, for anyone heading to China, or who is in China now, I'd take this in if I had the chance. Earlier today, I posted a video of the production of Swan Lake by the Guangdong Acrobatics Troupe of China. Multiply that several times, and you might come close to what I imagine "Zen Shaolin" must be like.

"Zen Shaolin" has a cast of 500 people, for example, and was created by Tan Dun, the guy who composed the music to "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."

How big is the backstage, I wonder? Along with the cast of hundreds, the backdrop is a valley in the mountains near Shaolin Temple. How cool is that?

The set is elaborate as to not be dwarfed by the surroundings, and from the description of the storyline, the production blends ancient Chinese tales, martial arts, Zen Buddhism and modern day sensibilities.

One of the reasons for the creation of this outdoor theater production is to bring tourists to the area. There have been 300,000 who have come so far. Just another version of the story "If you build it they will come." That is if you have a good idea and the timing is right.

In the case of "Zen Shaolin," I'd say it sounds like pay dirt. (For more photos, check out the NY Times slide show)

First off, Happy Labor Day weekend if you happen to be in the United States. For anyone else, happy weekend and don't work too hard. If you've read Gadling this week, perhaps you noticed posts on changes occurring , new additions to the travel field and what this means for travelers.

1. Josh, for example, talked about the upcoming opening of the Holiday Inn in Hanoi and what this signifies for the city. My first trip to Hanoi was in 1994 and I've been back four more times. As he noted,and what I've also noticed with each visit, the increased affluence has brought considerable change. Josh muses about the outcome.

2. If you're one of those people who have noticed how air travel just isn't what it used to be (how could you not notice) Scott's read "The top eight things I miss most about the current state of air travel" may seem familiar. Oh, how I long for the good old days, and I've never been on the Concorde.

3. Abha pointed us in the direction of a new travel guide resource called Trazzler.com that tailors recommendations to your location and the type of travel you are interested in such as culinary arts.

4. In case you're looking for the latest food snob trend, Jeffery found the answer at Forbes.com and added his two cents into the discussion. For all you backpackers who settle for cheese and bread while hopping on and off trains in Europe, you can go more upscale than those little triangles of cheese that doesn't need much refrigeration. Jeffery, is not a cheese wiz, but you might be able to convince him with a bottle of wine. (In case you missed it, I made a play on words. Cheese wiz = Cheez Whiz)

5. Here's a trend in weight saving that I, for one, don't hope other airlines start using. Grant wrote about how Jazz Airlines, a subsidiary of Air Canada is doing away with life vests. If the plane lands in water, passengers need to hold onto their seat cushions as flotation devices.

You've probably noticed if you've browsed your local paper that Labor Day weekend, along with kicking off football, is a great one for festivals. Last night I started off my Labor Day weekend early by heading to the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival. I proclaimed it a hit after we had only been there for about 15 minutes.

So did my brother and a friend of his. They live in the heart of Manhattan and said several times over how clean it is was. Seriously. Folks in Millersport know how to use trash cans. Plus, the corn can't be beat. It was not uncommon to see people with a pile of buttered ears in front of them, all to be chowed down in one sitting.

For other places to head to make this Labor Day weekend a stand out, Intelligent Travel has a post of festival offerings. These are unusual events that capture the fun you can find without a lot of effort besides getting in the car and going.

If you can't make it to one of these this year, consider them for next year's Labor Day. Why stay at home when there's corn to eat , grapes to stomp, dancing to do, and more?

• Kansas City Irish Fest in Kansas City, Missouri
• The Irvington Stomp in Irvington, Virginia.
• Marshall County Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, Indiana
• Hard Crab Derby and Fair in Crisfield, Maryland
• New York State Festival of Balloons in Dansville, New York
• Albuquerque/Denver Tango Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Head to the Intelligent Travel Website for links to each festival. Make sure you click on Irvington Stomp. What a hoot.