Destination: Europe
Hybrid Double-Decker Buses Debut in London
by Michael Yessis | 07.09.09 | 2:30 PM ET
Six of them are now in use on Route 141. The city will assess just how much fuel and money it can save with the buses before expanding the fleet. (Via @joannakakissis, @ecogeek)
Interview with David Farley: ‘An Irreverent Curiosity’
by Jim Benning | 07.09.09 | 10:30 AM ET
The World Hum contributor's new book illuminates a bizarre mystery in an Italian village. Jim Benning learns more.
San Fermin Festival: Flickr Meets Hemingway
by Alicia Imbody | 07.07.09 | 11:29 AM ET
Hemingway chose Pamplona as the backdrop for his first great novel, "The Sun Also Rises." In honor of the fiesta, we've put together 12 photos that capture the spirit of San Fermin, accompanied by some classic lines from the novel it inspired.
See the full photo slideshow »
Photo We Love: Black and Blue in Istanbul
by World Hum | 07.06.09 | 5:26 PM ET
Muslim women look out on the Golden Horn in Istanbul.
Welcome to Naples. Meet Your Ex-Con Tour Guide.
by Michael Yessis | 07.06.09 | 12:27 PM ET
As Elisabetta Provoledo writes, “It seemed like a great idea at the time: hire ex-convicts to escort tourists through seedy Neapolitan streets. Who better to explain to the uninitiated the potential dangers lying in wait?” Alas, as she reports in the New York Times, the “Escodentro Project” has hit a rough patch.
On the Perils of Travel Writing
by David Farley | 07.06.09 | 11:47 AM ET
David Farley broke into the New York Times with a story about an eccentric Italian village. When he returned, he feared being chased out by torch-bearing villagers.
AIDS Levy for Air Travelers?
by Eva Holland | 07.06.09 | 11:07 AM ET
There’s a proposal in the works to add a special tax, marked for efforts to fight AIDS in developing countries, to all flight purchases in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. A similar tax has been in place in France for three years and has raised nearly $1 billion. The Financial Times has the details on what the plan might look like.
‘How Much are Venice, the Everglades, and New Orleans Worth?’
by Eva Holland | 07.02.09 | 9:31 AM ET
Andrew Sullivan points the way to a Matt Steinglass post about the limits of measuring climate change damage in economic terms:
There will be no Everglades in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is marginal. There will be no Venice in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is tiny. There will be no New Orleans in 100 years. The economic cost of that change to US GDP is extremely small. ... But the worth of many precious things cannot be measured in money.
Indeed.
Javelin High-Speed Train Makes its Debut in London
by Alicia Imbody | 07.01.09 | 3:09 PM ET
Commuters and Olympics fans all over London are enjoying the U.K.s first high-speed train, the Javelin, which began service Monday morning. It got off to an early start, arriving one minute early on its first run.
The train provides service between London and Kent, stopping at, among other places, the site of new Olympic stadium (still under construction for the 2012 Olympic Games) in Stratford.
My Deep-Sea Orbit Into a Love of Place
by Joanna Kakissis | 07.01.09 | 1:41 PM ET
The deep, clean dive into the sea off Southwestern Greece probably sealed my lifelong attachment to the pristine in places. I was 9 years old and, until then, had only swam in chlorinated swimming pools and muddy river water in landlocked North Dakota. My father had grown up swimming in a secluded beach near the village of Kyparissia as a young orphan and had associated its salty breath and blue-green water with a wanderlust that would turn him dreamy-eyed even as a middle-aged man. To him, travel at its most elemental was about the unadorned land, enlivened by tides and breeze and hulking mountains. He described his childhood beach so lovingly that it almost sounded human.
Land’s End: Biking the Cornish Way
by Ben Keene | 06.30.09 | 9:50 AM ET
Eight interlinked routes span the Cornwall, England countryside. Ben Keene documents the classic biking journey.
See the full photo slideshow »
The Last Bite and the Other Part of the Fish
by David Farley | 06.29.09 | 4:25 PM ET
Few people are lured to the Czech Republic for its cuisine, but I’m one of them. Actually, hearty Czech food is a taste acquired over time (accompanied by lots of pints of hoppy pilsner). Until recently the pub grub—rich goulash and pork made just about every way you can imagine—functioned more as stomach filler than actual taste bud pleasers. But things are slowly changing.
Michael Jackson and Me: Strangers in Moscow
by Jeffrey Tayler | 06.26.09 | 2:35 PM ET
Jeffrey Tayler recalls a cold night in 1993 when he took a break from writing his first book to see a performance by the "King of Pop"
Michael Jackson: A Global Force in Life and Death
by World Hum | 06.26.09 | 11:07 AM ET
See the full photo slideshow »
Cheap European Travel Deals Paying Off
by Alicia Imbody | 06.25.09 | 9:28 AM ET