Destination: Europe
The Year’s Six Best Global Pop Albums
by Ben Keene | 02.06.09 | 10:49 AM ET
REUTERS/Ints Kalnins Ben Keene wants a new category added at the Grammys: Global Pop for the Traveling Mind. Herewith, his nominees.
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Yahoo! BuzzCutting the Cord on Expensive Hotel Internet Service
by Alexander Basek | 02.05.09 | 4:01 PM ET
Thank you, Shangri-La Hotels, for breaking the cycle of expensive internet access. The hotel chain announced that it’s offering free Wi-Fi throughout its 60 properties as of, oh, right now. It’s about damn time—not at Shangri-La specifically, but for hotels in general to start offering this “service” for free, as it should be.
What’s galling is how the higher-end properties love to tack on this charge, while smaller one-off properties tend to give it away for free. It’s shortsighted and unrepresentative of how people travel: wouldn’t you prefer to have free internet access as opposed to free access to, say, Headline News? Not that we don’t all love Nancy Grace. Besides, I’m probably preaching to the internet choir here.
Still, it’s hard to forgo the internet when you work while you travel. I paid exorbitant internet fees many a time in 2008, and I’m sure it’ll happen again in ‘09. At the top of my list: a $15-a-day fee at the Grand Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. It’s a beautiful, historic hotel—James Bond even stayed there in Casino Royale—but it’s tough to feel as suave as Daniel Craig when you have to trudge downstairs for an ethernet cable first.
Would You Like the Chicken, the Fish or the Dead Hamster?
by David Farley | 02.05.09 | 12:20 PM ET
Oh, airline food. Always getting the bad rap. We love to hate airline food. The hate brings us together. It’s airplane conversation starter. I might be one of the few people who doesn’t dislike airline food. Consider the context: you’re eating 30,000 feet above the earth. If I were sitting in a Michelin-starred restaurant, eating soggy croquettes out of a tin tray, I’d probably be a bit disappointed. But on a plane I’m captive. Which is why I watch (and actually enjoy) Drew Barrymore movies while I’m flying. I fork the rubbery chicken into my mouth and like it.
Then there’s this guy. The Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer who had had enough. Food, that is. He wrote a scathing—and humorous—letter to Sir Richard Branson, Virgin’s founder and CEO, about his latest meal on the London-to-Mumbai flight. An excerpt after the jump.
Rome: All the ‘Angels and Demons’ You Can Handle
by Eva Holland | 02.05.09 | 10:04 AM ET
As we’ve noted before, expectations (and concerns) are high for Dan Brown-related tourism in Rome as the release of the big-screen adaptation of “Angels and Demons” draws nearer.
The movie isn’t due out until May, but that hasn’t stopped Roman tour operators from getting an early start. In fact, as Jessica Spiegel points out in a post at WhyGoItaly, “Angels and Demons” themed tours have been popular with visitors to Rome ever since the Dan Brown phenomenon really took off a few years back. She’s got the details on six different tours on offer in the Eternal City (Six! And people say nobody reads anymore), along with a stern warning to anyone who might be planning to bring a chisel along for the ride. For those so inclined, the movie trailer is after the jump.
Sailor Girl
by Cullen Thomas | 02.05.09 | 8:54 AM ET
Photo by Edie Platt Cullen Thomas considered his mission -- joining his mother on a perilous sea -- a noble one. But he presumed too much.
Morning Links: Americans Behaving Badly, Disappointing Attractions and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.05.09 | 8:47 AM ET
- Tamaulipas declared itself bilingual, the first Mexican state to do so.
- Ben Groundwater lists his picks for the world’s most disappointing tourist attractions.
- Aeroflot apologizes for pilot’s “slurred preflight announcement,” but denies he was drunk.
- McSweeney’s reveals what happens when “the 4-year-old crash-lands in the Andes.”
- The sites of London can be compressed into “just four handy photographs,” writes Matthew Summers-Sparks.
- Trains, slum rooftops and Google Earth all factor into this art project in Kibera, Kenya. (Via Daily Dish)
- A man was caught at customs in Melbourne with birds beneath his trousers.
- Here’s where Americans are getting arrested abroad. Not surprised at all by the top spot: Tijuana.
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Morning Links: Australia’s Great Ocean Road, LEGO N.Y. and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.04.09 | 8:21 AM ET
- World Hum contributor Tony Perrottet drives Australia’s Great Ocean Road.
- Scott McCartney: “Perhaps no other consumer-service business is so rule-bound as the airline industry.”
- Travelers can now link Delta and Northwest frequent flier accounts.
- Arjun Basu meditates on the size of airports.
- Photos: The making of an Interstate highway (via Coudal)
- Slate calls Aung San Suu Kyi “the world’s most effectively sidelined leader.”
- These baggage handlers at Edinburgh Airport “played tig” while waiting for planes to land.
- I LEGO N.Y. is currently the most emailed story at the New York Times.
- Video: Did you know Steve Martin was on Flight 1549?
- I’m fantasizing about a future of travel that involves this.
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Filmed Here: ‘When Harry Met Sally…’
by Eva Holland | 02.03.09 | 3:47 PM ET
Movie tourism: to some, it may be an embarrassing, empty and needy exercise. But to me, it’s at worst a harmless detour from more weighty travel fare, and—in a best-case scenario—can even be a surprisingly illuminating way of looking at the world. By chasing the spots where ghosts of film crews past still linger, you can find yourself stumbling on unexpected treasures, or seeing well-worn landmarks in a new light.
I’ve dabbled in the practice before, but this year I’ve decided to get serious. During my present stay in New York City, and beyond, I plan on seeking out some major movie-making landmarks, and (naturally) sharing my findings here.
And where better to open an occasional series on movie tourism hot spots than Manhattan’s Katz’s Deli, of When Harry Met Sally fame?
‘Who Would Ever Want to Invite You Into Their Home?’
by Ramon Stoppelenburg | 02.03.09 | 10:04 AM ET
Ramon Stoppelenberg asked the world to let him stay for a day. The world said, "Come on over."
Morning Links: Weird Hotels, Flight 1549: The Game and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.03.09 | 8:24 AM ET
- Marketplace looks at U.S. efforts to lure Chinese travelers.
- More than one million people have already played Flight 1549: The online game.
- Flight 1549 pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III won’t have to pay fees on the library book that’s still in the plane’s cargo hold.
- At the Window Seat, World Hum contributor Rolf Potts recommends five travel experiences in his home state, Kansas.
- AP Travel Editor Beth Harpaz has a new book out about parenting teenagers, 13 Is the New 18.
- Now we know what the penalty is for smoking on a no smoking flight in Saudi Arabia: 30 lashes.
- Rome’s traditional delis are facing extinction.
- More and more, Mexican singers of narco corridos are becoming victims of the drug-related violence that’s the subject of their songs.
- The Telegraph’s slideshow of the world’s weirdest hotels includes Idaho’s Dog Bark Park Inn.
- It’s the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, and fans are paying tribute in Holly’s hometown of Lubbock, Texas and elsewhere. Eva
will havehas more in her blog. - Video: Overzealous Amtrak police arrested a man for taking pictures of trains for an Amtrak photography contest. Stephen Colbert has the hilarious story.
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Promo Videos Gone Wrong: ‘Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen’
by Eva Holland | 02.02.09 | 4:47 PM ET
There’s something inherently funny about most promotional tourism videos. Maybe it’s the inevitable score swelling dramatically, or the cheesy tag lines, but it’s rare to find one that doesn’t make me giggle and roll my eyes. Still, there are some that are more memorable—and more eye-roll-worthy—than others. I’d like to honor those extra-special specimens here, in an occasional series.
First up, “Telly Savalas Looks at Aberdeen”: A quota quickie, narrated by the “Kojak” star, that aired ahead of the main feature in movie theaters in the 1980s. Between the reference to “black gold” (the first time I’ve heard the term since the Beverly Hillbillies remake) and Telly’s declaration that he was “captivated by everything” he saw—while the camera panned across a parking lot—I was sold. Take a “look-see” (to use Telly’s word) after the jump.
Are the Obamas Headed to Hogwarts?
by Eva Holland | 02.02.09 | 12:47 PM ET
In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Beast, “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe had this to say to the new First Family: “I’d like to take this opportunity to issue a public invitation to the Obamas that if their daughters would like a private tour of the Harry Potter set, I would be honored to be their personal tour guide.” Over at MuggleNet, the debate over whether the Obama girls are worthy of such a magnanimous gesture is already getting heated. (Via The Book Bench)
London, England
by World Hum | 02.02.09 | 11:31 AM ET
REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh Pedestrians walk across Westminster Bridge as snow falls, in central London.
Morning Links: Flushing the French Quarter, Car-Rental Madness and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.09 | 8:30 AM ET
- Kurt Andersen talked to Pico Iyer about his life as an “outside man” in Japan. There’s also video.
- Spud Hilton calls place-dropping a “a subtle and often unnoticed art form.”
- Goodbye, street-flushing in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Hello, toxic stench?
- Travel with Spirit, a new magazine for “focusing exclusively on Christian travel,” debuted last week.
- Arthur Frommer has an idea to stimulate the U.S. economy: Induce more foreign tourists to visit.
- Dan Bilefsky investigates the battle for the Czech Republic’s Kingdom of Wallachia.
- The outlook for mobile-ticketing—using your cell phone as a boarding pass—is strong. (via Tripso)
- One upside of the down economy for travelers: Unexpected hotel room upgrades.
- Video: This guy was pushed a little too far at the car-rental counter.
- This is kind of creepy: Plane-crash simulation as team-building exercise.
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What We Loved This Week: Flip Video, Language Lessons, Pandora and More
by World Hum | 01.30.09 | 4:18 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Michael Yessis
I love this response to the news that Birmingham will do away with apostrophes on street signs: “If you don’t have apostrophes, is there any point in full stops, or semi-colons, or question marks? Is there any point in punctuation at all?” Indeed.
Sophia Dembling
I already love my Flip Video camera, a gift from Santahubby. And I love the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. Now I learn that the Hocking Hills Tourism Association is lending Flip Ultra cameras to visitors staying at an association member property, no cost. Double shot of love! (Triple, if you count Santahubby.)
Eva Holland
This might sound crazy considering the array of not-available-elsewhere experiences that New York City offers, but what I loved most about my first full week here was having access to Pandora again. The site, which helps listeners discover more music similar to their old favorites, cut off all non-U.S. users awhile back. Yesterday, I plugged in “Etta James,” and have been enjoying Candi Staton ever since: