Destination: California
Gary Snyder: ‘Our Western Thoreau’
by Jim Benning | 02.28.07 | 3:35 PM ET
Gary Snyder might be best known as the inspiration for the character Japhy Ryder in Jack Kerouac’s novel “The Dharma Bums.” But Snyder is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and a fine essayist who has devoted much of his life to exploring ecology and Eastern philosophy. While he’s not exactly a travel writer, he has evoked the Sierra Nevada mountain range in his various works about as well as anyone. Which is why we note a new book from him, Back on the Fire: Essays.
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Yahoo! BuzzAmerican Travelers Embracing (Gasp!) Food Tourism
by Jim Benning | 02.28.07 | 1:20 PM ET
We all know Americans love their food, so it’s not surprising that food is playing a prominent role in their travels these days. Nevertheless, a new study confirms it, finding that 27 million Americans have recently made culinary experiences—including wine tours and cooking classes—a part of their holidays. Barry Glassner, author of the new book “Gospel of Food” (as well as the excellent “The Culture of Fear”) isn’t surprised. “We define ourselves by how we eat,” he told the AP. “We show others and we show ourselves what kind of people we are by how adventurous we are about food.” So where are Americans going for culinary tourism? Among U.S. states, California leads the way, followed by Florida and New York.
Related on World Hum:
* How To: Dig Dim Sum in Hong Kong
* The Pasta Nazi
* Confessions of a Chicken Man
Photo by Jim Benning.
Oscars Tourism Tips, or How to Stalk Celebrities Like the Paparazzi
by Jim Benning | 02.07.07 | 1:40 PM ET
Yes, apparently there is such a thing as “Oscars tourism.” Here’s but one bit of creepy advice—um, I mean a savvy insider tip—from an Associated Press story about how to plan a trip to Hollywood for the Academy Awards and spot celebrities: “Wander around. Don’t look like a tourist, but bring a camera. Stars could be lurking around any corner. Even hanging out in the valet line has its perks. Waiting for my sister-in-law and her husband to join us for drinks, we saw rapper Tyrese stroll by and actress Finola Hughes gave us a wave and a smile. Hardly an A-list spotting, but it was a start.”
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: The Explorers
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.07 | 9:38 AM ET
Travelers appear top of mind this week, not destinations. The journeys of Daisann McLane, Bill Bryson, Paulina Porizkova, Martin Sargent, celebrity watchers and Dora the Explorer lead off the Zeitgeist.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Daisann McLane: ‘Learning Cantonese’ in Hong Kong
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel Song Medley by Dora the Explorer
Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Paulina Porizkova: A Model Traveler
Most Read Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Oscars Tourism: Celebrity Sightings and a Hotel Within Gawking Distance of the Red Carpet
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* We like this book.
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Area-Daily.com Launches
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Farecast
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods
Most Dugg Travel Podcast
Digg (current)
Martin Sargent: Web Drifter
Amy Tan’s San Francisco: ‘This City is Like an Opera’
by Michael Yessis | 01.22.07 | 8:40 AM ET
When visiting San Francisco, Amy Tan says, bypass Chinatown and instead head for the Richmond. The author of The Joy Luck Club and occasional rock ‘n’ roller offers the good advice—tourists tend to go to Chinatown, while locals and newly arrived immigrants make Clement Street a vibrant place to eat and shop—and reveals a handful of her other favorite haunts in a “Their Town” round-up in the Washington Post. Tan is a Bay Area native who grew up hearing the “siren’s call” of the city in the 1960s.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: California Dreaming
by Michael Yessis | 01.12.07 | 8:40 AM ET
From Los Angeles to Big Sur, travelers have California on their minds this week. Supermodels, Walt Disney World, St. John and Sealand, too. Here’s the Zeitgeist:
Top-Ranked ‘Zeitgeist’ City
Hub Culture (2007)
Los Angeles
* The Walt Disney Concert Hall (pictured) and other attractions have helped turn L.A. into a city of the moment.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Big Sur Without the Crowds
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Ghostly Squid Boats of San Pedro
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
For Sale: World’s Smallest Island Nation
* The price for Sealand? $100 million, by one estimate.
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007 by Bob Sehlinger with Len Testa
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Paulina Porizkova: A Model Traveler
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Dance of the Flight Attendant
* A clever comic by Jen Wang.
‘The Ice Cave’: Journeys Into the Wild
by Emily Stone | 01.08.07 | 7:35 AM ET
Lucy Jane Bledsoe experienced wilderness from the Mojave to the Antarctic. Emily Stone calls her resulting essay collection layered, literary and unflinchingly honest about the solitude of travel.
The Enduring Appeal of ‘The Endless Summer’
by Jim Benning | 12.11.06 | 1:52 PM ET
The classic surf film celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Its popularity lives on, Jim Benning writes, because it's one of the greatest wanderlust-inducing documentaries ever made -- and a potent antidote to winter.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Cuba, Cabo and Chinese Restaurants
by Michael Yessis | 12.08.06 | 9:06 AM ET
And some travel icons shall take over the Zeitgeist. This week travelers are looking to Rick Steves, Pico Iyer and, once again, to Bill Bryson for their travel fix. Let’s go, but let’s not take Comair Flight 5463.
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel With Rick Steves
* And don’t forget: It’s time again for Rick Steves’ European Christmas.
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Pico Iyer: On Travel and Travel Writing
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
The East Is West: The Best Chinese Restaurants in Southern California
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
New Hope for Legal Travel to Cuba?
Most Read Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Airline Luggage Complaints Remain High
* This year could be the worst for lost, delayed, damaged or stolen baggage since 1991.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
How to Remove Tourists from Your Photos
John Flinn Does the Tonight Show
by Jim Benning | 12.04.06 | 7:51 AM ET
In the audience, that is. The San Francisco Chronicle travel editor writes that it’s easier getting tickets to TV show tapings than ever. He even appeared on TV briefly after Jay Leno’s monologue. As he explains in Sunday’s paper, he was the guy next to the three firefighters.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Beauty and the Borat
by Michael Yessis | 10.20.06 | 7:35 AM ET
The most gorgeous city in the United States—that would be San Francisco—steps into the Zeitgeist spotlight this week, along with Hawaii, road tripping, airlines of all sorts and the nemesis the government of Kazakhstan, Borat.
Top United States City
Conde Nast Traveler (Readers’ Choice Awards)
San Francisco
* The city has finished first in the magazine’s survey in 18 of its 19 years. Guess readers can’t get enough of this view.
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Affordable San Francisco
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
RealTravel
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Oprah Winfrey, Amanda Congdon and the New Golden Age of the Cross-Country Road Trip
Most Popular Food & Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Airline Will Cater to Smokers
Top Ranked Travel Podcast
Podcast Alley (October)
808Talk
* 808 is the area code for Hawaii, which seems to have already rebounded after the recent 6.7 earthquake.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
* The New York Times has the first chapter of Bryson’s memoir of growing up in 1950s Iowa.
Top International Route Airline
Conde Nast Traveler (Readers’ Choice Awards)
Singapore Airlines
* The carrier has also topped its category for every year of the magazine’s survey but one.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum
A Week in the Life of American Airlines
Lonely Planet’s ‘The Perfect Day’
by Jim Benning | 10.17.06 | 3:14 PM ET
Most of us, when pressed, could describe our ideal day in a city we know well. It might begin with breakfast out and strolling along a favorite street. It might culminate with dinner and a trip to a favorite club to take in some live music. In between, we’d see something of the town, check out a particular neighborhood or two. That’s the concept behind Lonely Planet’s new book, The Perfect Day. It features short, perfect-day scenarios in 100 cities around the globe, from Kuala Lumpur to Philadelphia. Each city gets one page with several paragraphs and a photo. It’s a fun read. Of course, the perfect days described are perfect only for the people who wrote them, so part of the pleasure in flipping through the book is arguing with the selections for a given city.
The Winding Road to Joshua Tree
by Deanne Stillman | 09.21.06 | 1:05 PM ET
Photo by Galen Hunt. She moved to Los Angeles, found herself in the midst of a personal monsoon and began skipping dinner parties. Then Deanne Stillman rearranged her life around trips to her new church: Joshua Tree National Park.
Out: Palm Trees. In: Oak Trees.
by Jim Benning | 09.14.06 | 1:36 PM ET
Few features define the Los Angeles landscape more than towering palms. They’re the stuff of postcard images. They earn appreciative nods in just about every L.A. travel story—a quick Google search turned up this gem: “From sun, sand and palm trees, to hiking and biking in the mountains, the Los Angeles area has something for everyone.” But according to city officials, they couldn’t be less environmentally correct or more expensive. As a result, few of the dying trees planted before the 1932 Olympics are being replaced by young palms. A USA Today story about this—and how oaks just might become L.A.‘s new palms—offers a fascinating glimpse into the way economics and changing environmental attitudes can re-shape a landscape.
Generation X: Dragging RVs into the 21st Century
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.06 | 9:49 AM ET
Who said my generation was full of slackers who weren’t going to accomplish anything? According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, we are in the process of reinvigorating the recreational vehicle industry. We are outfitting RVs with disco ball lights, Tiki fabrics and flat-screen TVs! We are sleeping off hangovers in bar parking lots! And we are even protecting ourselves from terrorism! Hooray for us! “Generation Xers, who grew up on Star Wars, Ataris and Cabbage Patch Kids, have become the fastest-growing group of RV buyers, a trend that is forcing the $14-billion industry to rethink how it designs and markets the ultimate toys for grown-ups,” writes the Times’ Kimi Yoshino.