Destination: California

Man Loses Job, Survives on Hotel Points and Frequent Flier Miles

This week Jim Kennedy is at the Holiday Inn Express in San Clemente using United miles. The Orange County Register has a great package about his plight, including this audio slideshow:

(via Slatest)


The Accidental Tsunami Rider

The Accidental Tsunami Rider iStockPhoto

After Chile's earthquake, Jill K. Robinson paddled her kayak into California's Half Moon Bay and felt the energy from a hemisphere away

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Boing Boing Does the Road Trip

Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder is cruising Southern California in a Buick, making an eclectic series of roadside stops. His latest? The very quirky Museum of Jurassic Technology.


LAX ‘Can’t Hide the Wrinkles Anymore’

Photo by monkeytime via Flickr, (Creative Commons)

Call me crazy, but I never tire of Thomas Friedman’s shots at the sad state of America’s airports. This week: LAX. Zing!

It’s worth noting (and Friedman doesn’t) that a major upgrade of the airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal is underway. That’s at least some good news.


Forests to Burn

Forests to Burn Photo by Joshua Berman

Joshua Berman spent a glorious summer exploring some of America's most beautiful wilderness areas -- with a drip torch in hand

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‘Fly Girls’: Reality TV at 37,000 Feet

Yup, a slice of Airworld is coming to prime time. The CW has picked up eight episodes of the new reality show, which follows five Virgin America flight attendants from the air to their Los Angeles “crash pad” and beyond. The Los Angeles Times describes “Fly Girls” as having “a ‘Gossip Girl’-meets- ‘The Hills’-vibe”—which, I’ll admit, doesn’t have me rushing to write the air dates in my calendar. The same story offers some interesting points about the intersection of infomercial and entertainment on the show.


Kogi Truck Chef Turns Restaurateur

Now that his Korean taco trucks have made their mark on the Los Angeles food scene, chef Roy Choi is ready for his next challenge: the restaurant biz. Choi’s new restaurant will open in West Los Angeles in February, but the famous Kogi taco won’t be on the menu. Instead, he tells the Wall Street Journal that he plans to “update the rice bowl.” (Via @JohnnyJet)


Video You Must See: People in Yosemite

(Via The Daily Dish)


The Best Travel Videos of 2009

The Best Travel Videos of 2009 iStockPhoto

We watched a lot of travel videos this year to come up with these: the 12 most hilarious, moving and memorable

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What Would Los Angeles Look Like Without Traffic?

This series of eerie, terrific photos is an ongoing project from Tom Baker. (via Coudal)


Video You Must See: Mountain Light in California

(Via The Daily Dish)


Travel Song of the Day: ‘Lodi’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival


Don’t Bring Your Minivan to Yosemite

Why not? Because the park’s resident bear population prefers breaking into the vehicles over other models. Seriously.


Photo You Must See: Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles

Photo You Must See: Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A view of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.


George Saunders Goes to Tent City, U.S.A.

It’s in Fresno, California, and he lived there this April. Saunders writes on his website:

It was a very moving, sort of scary experience, that had the effect of re-energizing certain tendencies in my fiction and in me as a person, I guess, among these: respect for the real; a distrust of the American capitalist juggernaut; suspicion of my own Pollyannaish tendencies; new enthusiasm for the variety and weirdness of the world.

His 12,000-word piece about it—and an audio slideshow—can be found at GQ.