Destination: Europe
Checking In
by Alexander Basek | 01.22.09 | 8:01 PM ET
iStockPhoto Salutations! My name is Alexander Basek, and I’ll be blogging about hotels on World Hum. “But Alexander,” you interject, “do we even need a writer to cover hotels now that there’s Facebook, TripAdvisor and Twitter? The wisdom of crowds! Web 2.0!” Hold on: I love me some new media. I even got some hotel advice—unsolicited, useful hotel advice—from Twitter last week. That said, recommendations are a lot better when you know where the recommender is coming from, and once you get to know me, that’s what I aim to give you.
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Yahoo! BuzzBritish Man Jailed for Mutilating Antique Maps, Travelogues
by Eva Holland | 01.22.09 | 4:10 PM ET
A wealthy British book collector has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing from the British Library. Farhad Hakimzadeh had used a scalpel to slice pages and maps out of more than 150 rare books, most dating to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. His subject matter of choice? “The engagement by West European travellers with Mesopotamia, Persia and the Mogul empire—roughly the area from modern Syria to Bangladesh.” A British Library staffer called Hakimzadeh’s actions “an attack on the nation’s collective memory of its own past,” and added that he had damaged “our historical record with how this country has engaged in that part of the world.”
Sadly, cases of high-profile book vandalism and theft aren’t uncommon—but they never fail to shock me. (The theft, also from the British Library, of some of the first-ever maps of Canada a few years ago hit especially close to home.) I don’t want to get too Orwellian here, but something about the theft and destruction of irreplaceable historical documents, the literal dismantling of our physical historical record, strikes me as deeply sinister. It’s a relief to hear that there’s now one less perp running loose in the stacks.
Travel Movies Go to the Oscars
by Eva Holland | 01.22.09 | 10:39 AM ET
Yes, the Oscar nominations are in. And while this year’s crop of nominated travel flicks won’t exactly be waltzing down the red carpet with all eyes on them—as expected, the films that made noise at the Golden Globes got significantly less love from the Academy voters—a handful may yet manage to sneak in one of the side entrances and grab some hardware.
Morning Links: ‘Killer Blueline Buses,’ the Idea of America and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.22.09 | 8:07 AM ET
- Revealed: confessions of a hotel housekeeper.
- No little bottle of lotion in your hotel room? No fruit in your breakfast buffet? Blame the economy. Hotels are.
- “Killer blueline buses” pose a dilemma in Delhi: They’re dangerous, but they’re needed.
- MediaShift looks at Phil Balboni’s vision for GlobalPost.
- GlobalPost asks its correspondents “What does the idea of America mean to the world?”
- Newley Purnell posts about Matt Gross and multimedia travel journalism—with a World Hum shout out, too.
- Theodore Dalrymple on the “disturbing reality at a Paris Metro stop.”
- Nathan’s says its flagship hot dog shop will remain in Coney Island. Glad to hear the site of some great childhood memories is being preserved.
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Morning Links: Lego Hotel, Strange Travel Jobs and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.21.09 | 8:30 AM ET
- Throw a can of tomato juice on a plane, get charged with terrorism?
- San Diego’s Legoland looks to build a 250-room Lego-themed hotel.
- Passengers on US Airways Flight 1549—the one that landed in the Hudson River—are getting $5,000 each.
- The 10 strangest jobs in the travel industry by one count include driver of karaoke-equipped taxi and coconut safety engineer.
- All those extra charges on Ryanair add up to a lot of pounds.
- Environmental groups won a restraining order to stop oil and gas exploration of more than 100,000 acres of land in Utah.
- Brave New Traveler attends the Chuck Palahniuk school of travel.
- Jason Wilson throws down some presidential cocktails. Baracktail, anyone?
- Here are some photos of San Francisco’s Bush Street ... or is it Obama Street? Pranksters changed some signs overnight. When I lived in S.F. in 2000, signs were changed from Bush Street to Puppet Street.
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‘The Terminal’: Limbo I Can Relate To
by Eva Holland | 01.20.09 | 3:20 PM ET
This weekend, on a long distance bus ride, I found myself watching The Terminal. (You know, the one where Tom Hanks lives in JFK for a year and makes out with Catherine Zeta-Jones?) Under ordinary circumstances, I probably would have found it sweet, if fairly forgettable—but on the bus, with snowy, nondescript Western New York sliding by, I was surprised by the way the film’s themes, about waiting and limbo, grabbed me. Airport terminals have a static in-between-ness all their own, but long bus and train rides—despite, obviously, keeping travelers in motion—can have that same quality of suspended animation, too. Being in a strange place, surrounded by strange people, dozing and eating in semi-public, I felt much less like someone watching Hanks’ character from the outside, and more like a colleague—or, well, like a fellow-traveler.
Morning Links: Obama’s Places, Poe’s 200th Birthday and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.20.09 | 8:06 AM ET
- Barack Obama’s places: Six writers on six places the new president lived.
- Another Onion gem: ‘United Flight Crew Hits up Passengers for Gas Money’
- Modern Drunkard’s bars you won’t be going back to anytime soon.
- US Airways Flight 1549: A New York tourist attraction?
- JetBlue has added a few flights between Pittsburgh and Tampa to accommodate Steelers fans flying to the Super Bowl.
- Photos: Behind the scenes of the Tube in London.
- Happy 200th birthday, Edgar Allen Poe. Here’s where to go in five cities that claim his legacy.
- What’s it worth if you’re mauled by a javelina? A Dutch tourist believes $400,000.
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The Critics: ‘Last Chance Harvey’
by Eva Holland | 01.16.09 | 10:30 AM ET
The reviews are in for Last Chance Harvey, the travel-infused romance that hits theaters today. Opinions vary on the quality of the film overall, but everyone seems to agree that the efforts from stars Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman are a rare treat.
“Just about everything works in this small and surprisingly hopeful film,” writes Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times, “with beautifully attenuated performances by Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, who slip into the characters Hopkins has sewn for them like an old sweater.” LA Weekly’s Aaron Hillis agrees—at least in part. “Hoffman and Thompson—despite the 20-plus years between them, and her graceful restraint in contrast to his creepy assertiveness—have a genuinely sweet chemistry,” he writes, “which is the exact and only reason to seek this one out.”
Morning Links: Glum Gladiators, ‘Nutters and Nudies’ and More
by Valerie Conners | 01.16.09 | 8:39 AM ET
- Yesterday’s incredible US Airways rescue in the Hudson River has yielded a medley of media coverage including eye-popping slideshows, surprising facts about bird strikes on planes and even a sprinkling of gallows humor.
- One New York City diner is taking the ultimate road trip to Alabama.
- Boston.com is featuring a series of stunning photos taken from NASA’s Earth Observatory website.
- Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn announced plans for the band’s third album, dubbed the “Syria Sessions” and inspired by Arabic orchestral music. The band will head to Syria to record in March.
- The backlash against Slumdog Millionaire has begun, including harsh words from one critic describing the film as “poverty porn.”
- With the number of foreign tourists to Rome down more than 12 percent from last year, the dolce vita is no more for the city’s “glum” gladiators, carriage drivers and other tourism operators.
- Vegas’s iconic topless showgirl review, “Les Folies Bergere,” is closing after entertaining oglers for 49 years.
- We previously noted Australia’s call for applicants for the “best job in the world.” Now, the video applications are rolling in, and there’s no shortage of “nutters and nudies.”
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Interview With Joel Hopkins: Seeing London Anew
by Eva Holland | 01.16.09 | 6:06 AM ET
Eva Holland talks to the writer-director of "Last Chance Harvey" about travel and his new movie
Morning Links: Skycar, Disney Shanghai and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.15.09 | 9:07 AM ET
- Disney and Shanghai have reportedly agreed on plans for a new Disney theme park in China.
- Google has added a transit layer to its maps in 50 world cities.
- The Skycar—a flying car—departed from London to Timbuktu with Neil Laughton behind the wheel.
- CNN offers video profiles of Dubai’s Emirates terminal and the airport of the year, Hong Kong International Airport.
- What about the world’s worst airports?
- Hu Jintao warns of potential travel problems in China for Chinese New Year.
- Men’s Fitness names Salt Lake City the fittest city in the U.S. The fattest? Miami.
- Slideshow: Paragliding over Africa.
- A Japanese website maps smells around the world. Apparently, there’s a “toasty odor of cow dung” somewhere out there.
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If You Build an Eco-City, Will They Come?
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.14.09 | 2:06 PM ET
Photo by bschmove (Creative Commons). Green is trendy, and the very fashion-minded Milan loves trends. So if all goes as planned, by 2013 a chic, eco-mini-city called Milano Santa Monica will open some seven kilometers outside Milan’s city center in a town called Segrate. If this place actually looks like the computer-generated images on its website, it’s going to be beautiful. Imagine two million square meters of lush green space with well-designed and energy-efficient apartments and shops, and a pedestrian mall with a waterway, parks and lots of trees.
R.I.P. London’s Astoria
by Eva Holland | 01.14.09 | 10:14 AM ET
The legendary London venue is closing down this week to make way for a new rail line. The Astoria and its annex, Astoria 2, have hosted everyone from Nirvana and David Bowie to Iggy Pop and Eminem over the years.
“People tend to get misty-eyed about the demise of historic dives, and in this sense the Astoria does not disappoint,” Ian Winwood writes in the Guardian. “The security people can be difficult, the beer is always too warm and if it weren’t for the musicians on stage the loudest sound in the room would be people’s feet un-sticking themselves from the floor. ... The Astoria is inconvenient and exciting, just like London itself.”
Morning Links: A New Way to See the Prado, Cuban Tourism and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.14.09 | 8:00 AM ET
El Tres De Mayo by Goya (via Wikipedia) - An American in Spain writes about studying Euskera, the “clearest sign of Basque identity.”
- Greenpeace buys land in effort to halt a third runway at Heathrow. It’s now the prime minister’s move.
- Here’s an interesting project: Masterpieces from the Prado on Google Earth.
- Jonathan Raban on the best presidential writers. He notes some of the travel bits of Barack Obama’s “Dreams From My Father.”
- Cuba reported huge tourism numbers in 2008. It could grow if Obama implements the policy outlined by Hillary Clinton.
- A steady flow of flights from Europe—and “tightened restrictions in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia”—are fueling sex tourism in Mombasa, Kenya.
- A couple of long-term travelers share ten lessons of the road. No. 2: Smile.
- The BBC offers some tips on landing that best job in the world.
- Lawlessness reigns at San Diego’s skate parks. Given the city’s financial shape, officials decided not to staff them. Skateboarders have flocked to the parks for the “[f]reedom to smoke while they skate, drink beer, bring dogs, ride minibikes amid the skateboards and scrawl graffiti.”
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Seven Great Time-Lapse Travel Videos
by Jim Benning | 01.13.09 | 9:09 AM ET
Jim Benning sifts through YouTube's accelerated videos to find the seven best