Destination: Europe
British Cyclist Completes Four-Year, ‘Round-the-World Trip
by Jim Benning | 11.30.05 | 12:35 PM ET
You have to admire Alastair Humphreys’ determination. He left England in 2001, explaining that he was “trundling along towards getting a job” and “just wanted to do something a bit more difficult and challenging.” So off he went on a ‘round-the-world trip by bicycle. He wanted to quit many times as he struggled with loneliness. But the 28-year-old endured, and earlier this month, having passed through Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa, he was in Paris and finally pedaling toward home, where he planned to write a book about the journey.
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Yahoo! BuzzParis Hotels Fined for Price Fixing
by Michael Yessis | 11.30.05 | 1:14 AM ET
Travel-Themed Theater: It’s a Trend
by Michael Yessis | 11.28.05 | 5:29 AM ET
Earlier this year we wrote about Plane Crazy and Baby Taj, and now a third travel-themed play has come to our attention: The Light in the Piazza. According to that flimsy journalism maxim that two examples is a coincidence but three makes a trend, we’ve got ourselves a winner.
Have You Taken the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Beijing? If So, Any Advice?
by Rolf Potts | 11.27.05 | 9:15 PM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel
Bill Bryson Runs Out of Reading Material
by Michael Yessis | 11.20.05 | 10:27 PM ET
Like Bill Bryson, I’m someone who never goes anywhere without taking along something to read, so the predicament he writes about in the T Style Magazine in Sunday’s New York Times struck a particularly nightmarish chord with me: He ran out of reading material while stuck above the Arctic Circle in Norway, waiting 16 days for the aurora borealis to reveal itself.
On the Jane Austen Trail
by Jim Benning | 11.18.05 | 1:14 PM ET
With a movie version of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” now in theaters, USA Today explores the travel possibilities for fans. UK tourism promoters, not surprisingly, are more than happy to help. Reports the paper: “Tourism folk in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and the hilly Peak District have come up with a ‘Visit Pride & Prejudice Country’ promotion that features packages including tours of sites from the film and a free map of locations used in the movie and in the critically acclaimed 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries.”
The History of Guidebooks
by Jim Benning | 11.16.05 | 11:24 PM ET
Written Road today pointed to good read in the Sydney Morning Herald about the history of guidebooks. Written by Andrew Bain, a former Lonely Planet editor, the story traces their history back to “Descriptions of Greece,” the oldest surviving guidebook, written in about 160 A.D. for wealthy Romans.
New York Times Kills JT LeRoy Travel Story Because JT LeRoy May Not Exist
by Michael Yessis | 11.15.05 | 5:02 AM ET
19-Year-Old Martin Halstead Starts His Own Airline
by Michael Yessis | 11.15.05 | 4:55 AM ET
“Baby Branson,” as the British press has dubbed him, sees himself as a James Bond type. Translation: the flight attendants on Alpha One Airlines are hot.
Adam Gopnik Profiled
by Jim Benning | 11.10.05 | 1:33 PM ET
The Paris to the Moon author has just published a children’s book, “The King in the Window,” and is profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle. “For 10 years, Gopnik has been in the unusual position of explaining the French and French culture to Americans, in his New Yorker dispatches and ‘Paris to the Moon,’ then in the stellar anthology he edited, ‘Americans in Paris,’” the paper reports. “‘The King in the Window’” may be his last book on the City of Light.”
Boeing 777-200LR Lands in London, Sets Nonstop Flight Record
by Michael Yessis | 11.10.05 | 10:56 AM ET
The plane, which departed from Hong Kong yesterday with four pilots aboard, landed at Heathrow airport in London today after 22 hours and 43 minutes in the air—and two sunrises. MSNBC, the Telegraph and many others have details.
Record-Breaking 23-Hour Nonstop Flight Takes Off
by Michael Yessis | 11.10.05 | 4:35 AM ET
Captain Suzanna Darcy-Hennemann took off from Hong Kong Wednesday morning in a Boeing 777-200LR and set out for London—heading eastbound, the long way around. Four Boeing test pilots are scheduled to share flying duties during the 12,500-nautical-mile flight, which Seattle Times reporter Dominic Gates writes will be a distance record for a commercial jet.
Learning About the World, One Disaster and Riot at a Time
by Jim Benning | 11.09.05 | 7:27 PM ET
Some critics maintain that the only time Americans learn about another country is when America attacks it. That’s not fair, though. Americans also learn about other countries when those nations are struck by horrific natural disasters, and when widespread rioting breaks out. Take the case of France. Suddenly, we’re learning all about the African immigrant underclass there. The public radio show The World even saw fit today to interview New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, author of the memoir Paris to the Moon, about North African cultural life in France.
The Joy of Steam
by Tony Perrottet | 11.03.05 | 10:29 PM ET
Photo by Kate Milford. Tony Perrottet went for a simple scrub down at the oldest bath house in Istanbul and discovered a link to the ancient Roman Empire
British Tabloid Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Fatties to the Front, Says Airline’
by Michael Yessis | 10.20.05 | 4:31 AM ET
From the Daily Mail: “A holiday airline is investigating an incident in which passengers reported how cabin staff asked ‘fat people’ to move to the front of the aircraft to help with weight distribution. A stewardess said she needed ‘eight fat people’ to sit nearer the front because the captain of a half-full London-bound Thomsonfly flight was unhappy about the weight distribution, according to reports.”