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Here are the answers to the Geoquiz questions from the Travel section of today's News & Record. It's on the back page of the Ideas section.

1. What is the longest river in Europe?

Answer: The Volga, which extends nearly 2,200 miles before emptying into the Caspian Sea.

2. Where is the Peach State?

Answer: Georgia, where the peach is the state fruit. Named for George II, who was king of England at the time the colony was founded, the state also is known as the Empire State of the South.
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The Washington Post offers its list of top romantic dinner sites if you're visiting D.C. for Valentine's Day. (Although, they probably offer that romantic ambience the other 364 days of the year as well.)

PARIS (AP) — Air France canceled up to 40 percent of its long-distance flights Wednesday because of a strike by pilots and other personnel over their right to hold unannounced walkouts.

The airline is recommending that passengers postpone any flights planned through Thursday night, when the strike is expected to end.

Flights operated with partner airlines in the Skyteam alliance are also affected by the cancellations, an official with the Paris airport authority said.

As the strike entered its third day Wednesday, Air France said it expected to run 60 percent of long-haul flights and 70 percent of medium and short-range flights worldwide. The airline normally operates about 1,800 flights a day.

Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports saw six flights cancelled at the last minute Wednesday morning in addition to those announced to passengers the night before, the official with the Paris airport authority said. She was not authorized to be publicly named because of the agency's policies.

The airports, normally bustling with global air traffic, were emptier than usual because of the canceled flights. But passengers who weren't warned ahead of time of cancellations expressed frustration and desperation.

"There's no solution, now it's our vacation that's ruined," said Norman Sicolt, who traveled to Paris from his hometown of Troyes in central France and hoped to head to Thailand on Wednesday but was stuck at Charles de Gaulle instead.

"We have been at the sales desk of the company, but there are no flights before February 12," too late to salvage their trip, he said.

The striking workers — including pilots, cabin and ground crews — are protesting a draft law that would require air transport workers to give 48 hours notice before going on strike.

The government argues the bill is needed to protect passengers in a country where strikes occur regularly. A similar law concerning strikes on other public transport was passed a few years ago but doesn't affect air traffic.

North Carolina's coastal Beaufort tied for first place in Budget Travel's contest for coolest small town in America.

Voting was so fierce, Budget Travel says, that its website crashed with Beaufort in the lead just ahead of Hammondsport, N.Y.

"However, since voters in several parts of the country had been locked out due to the site crash, Budget Travel editors decided it was impossible to determine which town would have won had all things been equal for all voters," Budget Travel wrote on its blog.

"We have to declare a tie," Lisa Schneider, the general manager for digital products, said on the blog. "It's the only thing that's fair under these circumstances."

In all, 360,000 votes were cast, with Beaufort receiving 36.2 percent, Budget Travel said. Hammondsport ended with 36 percent.

Read more about the contest here.

My best friend and I are thinking about taking a trip to Australia next year. Yeah, I know, that's a ways off. But I'd like to get some ideas for where to go and what to do in case we actually do get to visit.

For instance, should we spend two weeks in Australia or give one week to neighboring New Zealand or perhaps Fiji?

I can't swim and my friend, for medical reasons, can no longer scuba dive. So is there any reason to visit the Great Barrier Reef?

Are there any out-of-the-way places, some place off the beaten tourist path, that someone would recommend?

I'm excited about finally taking another big trip. It's been six years since we went to Barcelona and Marseilles. We had so much fun on that trip. I've been wanting to go somewhere really cool since then, but haven't had the time or the money. I hope I can scrounge up enough of both by 2013!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

- Jennifer Fernandez,  wires editor

Sandy beaches, shag dancing and saving lives. And you don't have to travel far to do all three.

The East Coast Shag Classic at Wrightsville Beach Feb. 16-18 will raise money for  Women of Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women and their families battling cancer.

The music lineup includes Jim Quick and the Coastline Band on Feb. 16, The Band of Oz on Feb. 17 and The Mark Roberts Band and The Fantastic Shakers on Feb. 18.

The weekend will include shag lessons and line dancing.

Women of Hope provides direct financial support, education, support groups, mentoring and outreach for women with cancer and their families.

For reservations and complete information visit www.EastCoastShagClassic.com

In a special report to CNN, writer Katia Hetter, looks at travel for people who are challenged with restrictive diets, from vegan to gluten-free.

But how do you do that on the road, in foreign countries such as Turkey, Switzerland, Spain or Peru?

Read on to find out tips from travel writer and blogger Hilary Davidson and how she coped on such trips.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park remains the busiest of the nation's parks by far, despite a drop in attendance last year.

 Smokies Superintendent Dale Ditmanson said park officials are looking at new ways to draw visitors. The 500,000-acre forested park on the Tennessee-North Carolina state line drew 9,008,831 visitors last year, down a half-million from 2010.

The park topped 10 million visitors in 1999 and 2000, and it averaged about 9.3 million visits a year from 2006-2010. Park officials believe 2010 got a bump because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with about 9.5 million visitors.

A massive advertising campaign on behalf of the Gulf coast beaches likely dragged down the 2011 numbers.

A spokesman for several commercial attractions in the Smokies foothills agreed.

"All national parks are down, so the Smokies are no exception. I think this year, people just decided to stay closer to home," said Rick Laney.

Laney said the massive advertising campaign designed to lure travelers back to the Gulf coast had an effect.

Inside the park, any decline is imperceptible, said Ditmanson.

"We're a busy place and our facilities and our resources are impacted by a lot of use," he said, then added "That's OK. We like people"

- The Associated Press