Destination: England

Jan Morris Reveals her Favorite Cities

She fields this question in the Guardian: What is her favorite of them all?

Dear God, what a question! To my mind cities are distillations of human life itself, in all its nuances, with all its contradictions and anomalies, changing from one year to another, changing with the weather, changing with history, changing with the state of the world, changing above all in one’s own personal responses. How can I have a favourite? Sometimes I prefer one city, sometimes another. Inconstancy governs my responses to cities—fidelity in personal matters, promiscuity in civic affairs.

Morris does have a ready answer, though, when asked about her least favorite city: Indianapolis. (Via @ben_coop)


World Travel Watch: Demonstrations in Venezuela, Clashes in Namibia and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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In Defense of British Food, Redux

I went there a few months back. Now, Matador Nights has joined the cause, with an excellent starter guide for anyone we’ve convinced to give British food a fair shot.


Photo You Must See: ‘Between the Crosses, Row on Row’

Photo You Must See: ‘Between the Crosses, Row on Row’ REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

A Union Jack is seen among the crosses and poppies of Westminster Abbey’s Field of Remembrance. Remembrance Day services were held at the Abbey this past Sunday.


Finding T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’

The Guardian’s Stephen Moss visits the promenade shelter where Eliot is supposed to have written part of his most famous poem. The result is pretty grim:

There is no commemorative plaque, several panes of glass are broken or missing, and the windows on one side are emblazoned with the words FALSE TEETH in large green letters. It seems a careless way to treat the place in which the greatest poem of the 20th century was written.

Careless, true—but also strangely appropriate, don’t you think? (Via The Book Bench)


Photo You Must See: London’s Oxford Circus From Above

Photo You Must See: London’s Oxford Circus From Above REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Double-decker buses pass through the diagonal crossing at Oxford Circus in London. The new design was inspired by Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing.


Mapped: The U.S. Interstates, in the Style of the London Underground Map

See it in Senex Prime’s Flickr stream. (Via Coudal)


World Travel Watch: Dengue in Nicaragua, Instability in Bosnia and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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London’s Heathrow: The Worst Airport in the World?

Poor Heathrow. It’s taken the title in a passenger poll for the second year in a row. Charles de Gaulle, LAX, Frankfurt and Miami rounded out the bottom five.


Interview With Nicholas Kristof: Traveling and Tweeting Under ‘Half the Sky’

Nicholas Kristof Photo by Fred R. Conrad

David Frey asks the author about his dream vacation, Twitter, travel to hellholes and the trip that changed his life

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Video You Must See: ‘Artificial’ in the London Underground



Paul Bryan captures the artificial atmospheric conditions of the London Underground.


Mapped: The Cheeses of Britain and Ireland

Another tasty bite of geographical fun—and more proof that British food is worth defending. (Via @LPUSAstaff)


The Titanic Memorial Cruise: Tasteless or Touching?

Miles Morgan Travel, the company behind the Titanic Memorial Cruise, tells Reuters it has “come in for a little bit of criticism,” but stresses the upcoming trip is meant to be “a commemoration not a ghoulish recreation of the original journey.”

It may or may not be ghoulish, but it is a recreation. The cruise will depart Southampton, England on April 8, 2012, 100 years to the day after the original Titanic’s departure. On April 12, 2012, it will stop at the exact spot Titanic sank.

“I’ve had several people in tears on the phone,” Miles Morgan said. “I was reading the itinerary to one woman and she literally broke down.”


Photo You Must See: Virgin Over Heathrow

Photo You Must See: Virgin Over Heathrow REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

A Virgin Atlantic plane flies low over nearby houses before landing at London’s Heathrow Airport.


British Airways: Introducing the ‘Son of Concorde’

With BA’s luxury London-New York route launching this week—exactly forty years after the Concorde’s first flight—the Independent’s Simon Calder takes a closer look at the new service, and at the history of luxury and business class-only air travel.