Destination: England
London’s Heathrow: The Worst Airport in the World?
by Eva Holland | 10.21.09 | 2:02 PM ET
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.
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Yahoo! BuzzInterview With Nicholas Kristof: Traveling and Tweeting Under ‘Half the Sky’
by David Frey | 10.21.09 | 10:53 AM ET
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
Video You Must See: ‘Artificial’ in the London Underground
by Kevin Fay | 10.21.09 | 10:04 AM ET
Paul Bryan captures the artificial atmospheric conditions of the London Underground.
Mapped: The Cheeses of Britain and Ireland
by Eva Holland | 10.08.09 | 10:57 AM ET
Another tasty bite of geographical fun—and more proof that British food is worth defending. (Via @LPUSAstaff)
The Titanic Memorial Cruise: Tasteless or Touching?
by Michael Yessis | 10.07.09 | 3:43 PM ET
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
by World Hum | 10.01.09 | 5:02 PM ET
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’
by Eva Holland | 09.30.09 | 4:42 PM ET
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.
Is it a ‘Golden Age’ for British Indie Bookstores?
by Eva Holland | 09.28.09 | 3:51 PM ET
Apparently, more than 60 new stores have opened in the U.K. in the past 15 months. That’s a nice counterweight to all the closures we’ve been covering. (Via The Book Bench)
The ‘Entity Formerly Known as the British Empire’ Has Some Advice for an America in Decline
by Michael Yessis | 09.28.09 | 12:31 PM ET
More McSweeney’s hilarity from World Hum contributor Kate Hahn. Here’s one bit of advice for the U.S. from the former British Empire, delivered from a bar on the Costa del Sol:
Look, I’ve been there. Coffers empty. Troops everywhere. Economy sour. Your empire’s finished. But just because I’m retired doesn’t mean I can’t be useful. Here’s how you get through it.
First off: lean on your family. And by that I don’t mean the hearth-and-home sort, I mean royals. Make the office of the president of the United States more regal. Pomp and circumstance distracts you from the fact that you don’t matter anymore. Have guards stand outside the White House gates in some kind of regalia. Celebrate the president’s birthday—not just the dead ones, the one you have now. What’s his ... Bomama ... Obama, yes, yes, the Kenyan.
Ah, Kenya. Mine once. Moment for Kenya.
London Bridge vs. Tower Bridge: The Twitter Smackdown!
by Michael Yessis | 09.25.09 | 11:20 AM ET
It’s @ImLondonBridge vs. @towerbridge in the Tussle on the Thames! And @ImLondonBridge is kicking ass, spurred on by what the Telegraph calls the “tedium and pomposity” of its more photogenic rival’s tweets—@towerbridge only seems to tweet whenever it raises to let ships pass.
The Telegraph tells the whole amusing story, and shares some of its favorite taunts from @ImLondonBridge:
If you took a film of @towerbridge and speeded it up, it would look like the world’s least exciting pinball machine. Without any balls.
Hey @towerbridge. When are you going to do something again? You’re even more boring when you’re just sitting there. Yawn.
Coo-ee @towerbridge. When are you going to do your impersonation of the fourth guy from the Village People again? I simply can’t wait.
But @ImLondonBridge isn’t all taunt. It showed its softer side with its tribute to Patrick Swayze.
Greyhound Hits the Road in Britain
by Eva Holland | 09.15.09 | 12:47 PM ET
The iconic—or infamous?—U.S. bus company rolled out its first British service yesterday, and the Guardian went along for the inaugural ride. Writer Steven Morris, with visions of Route 66 and “gleaming metallic 1950s” style vehicles dancing in his head, was underwhelmed by the modern-day Greyhound reality. He writes: “The closest Peggy Sue—as this bus is rather jarringly called—got to swamps was a sewage works on the fringes of London. The Thames had to stand in for the Pacific Ocean. On a chilly morning, the desert seemed a very long way away.”
Three Would-Be Airliner Bombers Convicted
by Eva Holland | 09.10.09 | 2:59 PM ET
Three men charged with planning to bomb several trans-Atlantic flights were found guilty of conspiracy to murder in London this week. The trio was behind the August 2006 liquid-explosives plot at Heathrow that ushered in the current restrictions on liquids and gels.
Margaret Drabble’s Favorite Literary Landscapes
by Eva Holland | 09.10.09 | 10:48 AM ET
The author picks 10 British spots that have inspired her fellow writers, from Tennyson’s Tintagel to Godrevy Lighthouse, of “To the Lighthouse” fame.
The Best British Beaches
by Eva Holland | 08.26.09 | 4:52 PM ET
I know, I know: Most folks don’t head to the U.K. for their sand ‘n’ surf fix—but this list of 50 great British beaches just might leave you tempted. I can vouch for several of the picks in Cornwall and Northumberland.
London to Edinburgh in 2:16
by Eva Holland | 08.26.09 | 4:15 PM ET
That would be the journey time—down from 4.5 hours—if a new high-speed rail plan goes ahead in Britain. The possible line is just one of several high-speed rail proposals we’ve been keeping tabs on.