When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

What's that bottle of nuclear-orange soft drink on the same shelf at Pepsi, Coke and other top-brand colas? Oh, it's just the best selling pop in Scotland: Irn Bru. Although we like to pronounce it by mumbling "urn bruh," the actual way to say is simply "Iron Brew." Irn Bru is not only hugely popular in the UK, but also in other places around the world where you'll find some Scots residing. For example, we recently ran across it in Nova Scotia. The entire history of this curious drink is of course available over at Wikipedia, and we're stunned to find that this stuff was first introduced back in 1901.

The taste: Don't be afraid to try some when you spy its bright orangeness up against the dark bottles of other colas. Irn Bru doesn't taste like orange pop, nor does it unpleasant. Our chief Irn Bru expert describes its taste "citrus-y, cream soda-y, energy drink-y without quite tasting like any one of the three." We agree. It's hard to pinpoint it as, you see, no one knows the full Irn Bru recipe aside from two folks at the top of the company.

The first two minutes of this commercial, featuring the notoriously surly Russell Crowe being entertainingly surly, are a fun jaunt through Sydney. There's a panoramic of the harbor, a trip to a bar, and a bit of self-deprecation regarding one of the star's more notorious temper flareups. It actually kind of makes us want to go to Australia.

At about 2:05 of this tourism ad, however, things take a turn. Without getting into too many details: there's a tongue that jumps out of Crowe's body, starts hopping away, and then gets pecked by a bird. After that Crowe more or less threatens listeners with physical harm if you don't start planning their trip to Oz right away. None of which particularly makes us want to go to Australia.

Among those affected by the oncoming wind and rain of Hurricane Earl are the Canada-bound cruise ships. Good thing we took our trip up to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick last month, huh?

The Bay of Fundy is said to be exactly where Earl will make landfall on Sunday, so expect this quaint Canadian area to be in the headlines for more than just their pretty autumn leaves and oddly high tidal range. Speaking of those tides—which see daily changes in the water level of around 55' in some parts—they are bound to be even crazier come this weekend. Tourists who flock to the Bay of Fundy just to see the water level rise dramatically will be in for a treat this weekend, if they aren't completely rained out of town.

Last month, we spent some time deep in the Bay of Fundy at the port of Saint John, New Brunswick. Although we missed the big tidal drop and rise, we did spend an inordinately long amount of time engulfed in thick and soupy fog. It was pretty awesome when it wasn't plain spooky.

Today, another film starring Geroge Clooney as the brooding, lone wolf leading man opens in theaters, but this one has a greater purpose.

In The American, George Clooney plays a hitman who travels to the Italian countryside, where he takes one last assignment. The movie was shot on location in Abruzzo, a mountainous region that stretches from Rome to the Adriatic Sea.

One of the places prominently featured in The American is Sulmona, a small city dotted with ancient landmarks and known for confetti—small sugar-coated almond candies. While filming in Sulmona, George and his girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, took advantage of the street market in the heart of the city, which is within walking distance of the Hotel Rojan.

The weather is still dry here in New York City, even though weathermen promised that the wrath of Hurricane Earl would be felt in high winds and heavy rain by now. Earl, however, seems a bit late to our Labor Day long weekend and we hope he doesn't come to the picnic at all.

According to the Weather Channel, the hurricane has decreased to a Category 2-level storm, but that doesn't mean that it'll end up being just a nice summer rainstorm by the time it hits Cape Cod Saturday. Luckily for everyone, Earl has kept far enough off the coast to only generate wind, rain and waves and none of the scary stuff that makes you fear your house could fall around you. Peak winds are 105 mph, but that's offshore.

The estimated hurricane path for the weekend has a fraction of that wind speed hitting the east coast above Long Island, until the bulk of the beast enters right into Canada's Bay of Fundy, between the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, bringing only 65 mph winds with it at that point. Earl has already done his damage to North Carolina and the Outer Banks, causing storm surge waves to wreck piers and flood roads.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay on top of all the new route announcements that come our way, so we’ve complied a little bit of a rundown below. As long as you can afford the fares, this should definitely help add to your passport stamp collection.

· Frontier:
We’re not sure if the warm cookies will be able to make it all the way there, but Frontier Airlines is launching new service to Liberia, Costa Rica this winter. Flights will start on February 13, and the final destination provides decent access to the resorts on the country’s western coast. The flights will come and go once a week from Denver. With plenty of options to other cities from Denver, this is a solid option to visit one of the world’s newest surf and sun hotspots.

Even though Florida tourism hasn't really been hit by the BP oil screw-up, country singer Vince Gill will come to the Gulf Coast region to do a free concert on September 25 in an effort to promote travel to the area.

According to his website, Gill is a fan of the Northwest Gulf Coast's beaches and coastal communities, so it prompted him to agree to headline the 90-minute concert dubbed Back to the Beach 2010 at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort's driving range.