Billund, Denmark has been the home of Lego since 1934. For decades, children all over the world have enjoyed the colorful bricks and now, the company is giving back to them.

Billund currently houses a Legoland theme park and by 2016, the town will welcome “The Lego House,” adding to the company’s mission to make Billund the “Capital of Children”.

The Lego House will resemble a collection of Lego bricks, and will include exhibition areas, a café, retail, and access to several rooftop gardens. Danish architecture firm, Bjaarke Ingels Group will design Lego House, with construction set to begin in 2014.

Read more from Skift.com.

As any home improvement store salesperson will tell you, a fresh coat of paint makes a world of difference. Apparently that also holds true for historic cannons as well.

The cannons at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina did not receive a garish makeover or a slapdash spray of dayglo Rust-O-Leum. In fact they’ve been painstakingly conserved and restored by experts. Layers upon layers of paint were removed, and then the guns were treated with a preservative coat of epoxy before being repainted to prevent the metal from deteriorating.

These 17 cannons officially started the Civil War in America when they fired upon the federal fort at nearby Fort Sumter. Weighing up to 15,000 pounds each, heavy-duty machinery was required to reinstate the cannons in place when they were returned to public view on June 10th as part of the collection of historic artillery at the Fort Sumter National Monument.

Check out more about this in Gadling

Lasers. They’re useful for more than just tense moments in action films, scanning your groceries, and tormenting cats.

Scientists made a significant discovery in Cambodia and it’s all thanks to the use of lasers to map the area around the Angkor Wat temple complex. Airborne lasers were used to scan the landscape and discover evidence of a planned human settlement that had never been documented before. The ancient city linked the temple complex of Angkor Wat, which is still standing and is one of most visited landmarks in Asia.

Check out more about this on CBC News

While it may never become as easy as reading a sticker price, after mastering a few time-tested bartering tactics haggling can become a much more enjoyable and natural experience. One you may even find yourself missing when you return home and can no longer implement a half-off clothing sale on a whim.

The situation: After traveling all day on a rickety bus, you’ve arrived at the center of commerce for the majority of the local world, no, not the mall, but the local marketplace. You stand transfixed, overwhelmed by the chaotic hubbub and glittering baubles for sale. It takes a minute for you to adjust, but after a moment your consumer instincts kick in and you are ready to make a purchase. You select the stall of your preference; choose your item – now all you have to do is pay. If it were only that easy …

Market, Cairo © T U R K A I R O

Never Accept the First Price

In most cultures accepting a first quote is unheard of and a blatant declaration of your foreigner status and subsequent naiveté. A first price is used by vendors to test the waters, to gauge what you’ll accept as reasonable. I’ve had a 24 rupee rickshaw ride in India quoted to me for 400.

I’ve had a 24 rupee rickshaw ride in India quoted to me for 400.

If you have an idea of an appropriate price, use it to your advantage to evaluate the one being quoted to you. Exhibiting even a little bit of knowledge goes a long way in lowering prices as merchants will realize that you are willing to barter and not simply buy. If you have no idea what a price should be, take the time to shop around at other stalls and soon a median price will begin to emerge. Another tip is to ask local shoppers or consult a guidebook as a reference. I’ve found that mentioning an outside authority, be it another customer or a guidebook, helps quickly slash prices in half.

Quote Lower Than You’re Actually Willing to Pay

Once you have determined an appropriate price range, counter the initial quote with a price lower than you would actually be willing to pay. This suggestion will probably be met with exclamations of incredulity by the vendor, but know that it is all part of the negotiation dance that takes place hundreds of times a day. The vendor will then demand a higher price, in response slowly increase your original bid to the price you had in mind –the goal is to have it end up as the final sale price.

Buy in Bulk

Another easy way to make prices come down quickly or add value to your purchase is to buy in bulk. Buying multiple quantities is an easy way to get a “two-for-one deal” or other similar bargains. Once you suggest that you are willing to purchase multiple items, the deals often begin to flow freely and with little effort on your part.

Berries for Sale, Santa Monica © jchatoff

Sometimes this is all it takes and you can walk away satisfied with your purchase wondering why travelers constantly gripe about the headaches of haggling. But other times you find yourself in a situation where the vendor won’t budge and is persistently demanding an exorbitant sum. In such situations, having the following two tactics in your arsenal is crucial for successfully negotiating a deal.

Do the Fake: Act Like You’re Going to Walk Away

If the vendor refuses to negotiate but you’ve found the perfect gift for mom and nothing else will do, throw up your hands in frustration and start to walk away. Draw on those high school drama classes and make it believable. Usually the threat of completely losing a transaction will have the vendor calling after you with a lowered price, allowing discussions to start anew.

Exploit The Threat of Competition

Another option is to employ the competitor threat. In the midst of negotiation, simply mention that you are willing to go elsewhere for your purchase. Working in a similar manner to walking away, vendors become much more willing to negotiate after they realize that they might lose business to one of their neighbors. Use this to your advantage to achieve your desired price.

A Word of Caution

While it’s great to get a good deal, it’s also important to keep exchange rates and perspective in mind when in the heat of the haggle. I’ve stopped myself before realizing that I’ve been resisting making a purchase over the equivalent of 50 cents. My budget can survive the 50 cent foreigner markup without making too much of a dent; however, the local equivalent can have a significant impact on the vendor’s daily earnings. While what price you settle on is up to you, it’s important to realize when you are negotiating for real value or just fighting over nickels and dimes.

Now, it’s finally time to make your purchase. The money is exchanged and the item received. Congratulations you have successfully completed your first market transaction! After a few more purchases, you’ll be bartering like a pro and creating your own ingenious tactics. Just expect some resistance when you return home and try to get your morning latte down to $2.50 from $3.

What are your tips for haggling like a pro? Share them with us in the comments below!

A tidal wave of outrage and condemnation continues to gain momentum in response to the death of a dolphin after tourists hauled it out of the water to pose for pictures with it.

The dolphin had been swept ashore on a beach in Hainan province in China, possibly after an encounter with a boat. Instead of seeking help for the dolphin, a group of tourists manhandled it and posed for a series of photos with the distressed creature. It later died of internal bleeding.

Scorn for this behaviour has been plentiful and persistent, creating a firestorm of criticism on social media.

Find out more about this on News.com.au

For Rosa De Filippo and her fiance, the last thing they needed to hear about their August trip to Sicily was an added expense. The couple’s Thompson Airlines tickets came to about $2,800 and upon finding out that they weren’t seated together, they were told that Thompson charges passengers for the seating change.

Even for honeymooners, Thompson Air applies a fee (about $12 per person) for couples that want to be seated together. TUI Travel (which owns Thompson Air) confirmed that the fee applies to all travelers, apart from parents sitting with children.

Read more on the couple’s experience at The Daily Mail.

The reality is that few of us will ever visit Mt. Everest, however thanks to this incredible time-lapse video by Elia Saikaly, we can feel as though we are on top of the world. The video encompasses numerous different scenes and various times of day and night, and represents a huge amount of time spent capturing the astounding landscape.

via Gadling

Relaxing in Maldives © Nattu

Finding family-friendly activities and where to dine or grab a craft cocktail in unfamiliar cities can be daunting.

Join Bing and Vagabondish on Twitter tomorrow at 3pm to learn the tools and tips for traveling like a pro. Whether you plan to soak up the sun on a beach in the tropics, navigate the streets of Rome, or go on a cross country road trip, we’ll be sharing money saving tricks, tips for planning fun activities, and more to make your vacation as fun and stress-free as possible.

To participate in the chat, just follow @Bing, @fareologist and @vagabondish on Wednesday, June 19 from 12-1 pm PT and include the hashtag #BingIt in your tweets.

I look forward to chatting with you tomorrow!

The Queen Anne’s Revenge was one of the most notorious ships ever to have graced the seas. The frigate belonged to Blackbeard the pirate, and sank in 1718 after years of striking fear in the hearts of mariners. It has also entered the public consciousness more recently as part of the fictional storyline of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

The wreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge was only discovered in 1996 and marine archaeologists have now excavated approximately half of it.

Divers will soon retrieve a set of eight cannons from the ship. It sank after it was intentionally beached in North Carolina. The cannons and any other artifacts retrieved from the site are expected to take years to study and restore as they are covered in barnacles.

Find out more about this on News.com.au