Destination: Florida
Morning Links: A Wordy Map of St. Petersburg, the Joy of L.A. Traffic and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.26.09 | 9:38 AM ET
- New Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says yes to body scanners.
- World Hum contributor Tim Patterson chronicles the struggle of the Kachin people of Myanmar.
- USA Today looks at “what might be the most endangered airline in the USA.”
- NPR has an interview with the world-traveling ethnographers from The Linguists.
- Happy 450th birthday Pensacola, Florida.
- Matthew Polly goes to St. Petersburg, Russia, in Slate’s latest Well-Traveled.
- This map of literary St. Petersburg was created using lines from Russian writers about St. Petersburg. (Via The Book Bench)
- Daniel Fox aims to shoot more than 100,000 digital images from around the world for the Wild Image Project.
- The Freakonomics blog is in the midst of a six-part series about the facts and fiction of Los Angeles Transportation. I find it compelling, though maybe I’m just looking at the gray skies here in D.C., waiting for winter to end, daydreaming about my upcoming trip back home.
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Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: A Hard-to-Find French Town, Photos of Carnival and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.24.09 | 8:55 AM ET
- Video: The Battle of the Oranges.
- A French town wants a new name that’s easier to find via search. It’s current name? Eu.
- Blog to watch: World Hum contributor Daisann McLane has launched a companion blog to her National Geographic Traveler column.
- Florida bans fish pedicures. What’s a fish pedicure? Here’s some video of McLane getting one in Malaysia.
- Photos: The Big Picture goes to Carnival.
- $28,067.31 for a “wireless session” on a cruise ship? Here’s the tale. (via Cruise Log)
- Some compelling photos of 19th- and 20th-century railway lines by Mark Ruwedel.
- Love this graphic: The most-used subway systems in the U.S and around the world.
- My obsession with travel typos continues: Here’s a look at NYC Transit’s Top Typos!
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‘American Idol’ and Disney World, Together at Last
by Eva Holland | 02.16.09 | 12:29 PM ET
We’ve had movies inspired by theme park rides, and roller coasters inspired by rock anthems, so isn’t it about time we had a theme park attraction inspired by the “reality” television craze? (I’m a little far removed from my college philosophy classes to say for sure, but I suspect there’s a meta-something at work here.) Yes, the American Idol Experience opened at DisneyWorld this weekend. Here’s how it works: visitors can choose to perform on a re-created “Idol” stage, or to sit in the audience and vote. At the end of each day, the lucky hopeful who receives the most audience votes lands a Dream Ticket to an actual “American Idol” audition.
There is no option for visitors to sit at the judging table and hurl abuse at the contestants; still, I suspect the new attraction will be a hit. The Traveling Mamas have posted a (snark-free) review, and there’s a clip previewing the American Idol Experience after the jump:
Flying Coach as ‘Punishment’?
by Rob Verger | 01.29.09 | 10:31 AM ET
Tennis phenomenon Serena Williams has promised she’ll fly back from Australia to Florida in economy class if she loses the Australian Open, the AFP reports. It’s a punishment to herself, she says, and a way to conserve money. The article quotes her as saying, “I wouldn’t allow myself to have the emergency row either. I would be so mad, I would have to sit like the last row, the tightest row. That way I wouldn’t do it again.”
Do you think she could also arrange to be put next to a crying baby?
Remembering John Updike and His Sense of Place
by Tom Swick | 01.27.09 | 4:57 PM ET
Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel
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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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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The Songlines of Key West: The Conch Republic, Unscripted
by Bill Belleville | 01.09.09 | 9:35 AM ET
Photo by Michelle Thatcher. In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island. Part three: Into the mystery of the twilight.
The Songlines of Key West: The Other World
by Bill Belleville | 01.08.09 | 9:40 AM ET
Photo by Michelle Thatcher. In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island. Part two: Into ancient reefs and mangrove islands.
Dinner With Tibor
by Tom Swick | 01.07.09 | 1:37 PM ET
Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel
The Songlines of Key West: Doing the Duval Crawl
by Bill Belleville | 01.07.09 | 10:28 AM ET
Photo by Michelle Thatcher. In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island.
The Songlines of Key West
by World Hum | 01.07.09 | 10:09 AM ET
Photo by Michelle Thatcher. Michelle Thatcher burrows into the spirit of the mythic island. Images from a three-part story series by Bill Belleville.
See the full photo slideshow »
Morning Links: Warrior Monks, Sustainable Fuel, ‘The Big Belch’ and More
by Valerie Conners | 01.02.09 | 10:02 AM ET
Cuban Exiles Recall Flights to U.S.
by Julia Ross | 12.29.08 | 3:32 PM ET
For the 265,000 Cubans who fled their homeland on U.S.-sponsored “Freedom Flights” from 1965 to 1973, the emotional 45-minute flight to a new life remains etched in memory. Now, a Miami Herald series on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution has given Cuban-Americans a chance to share photos and memories of their “Freedom Flight” experience, in conjunction with a database that makes names and arrival dates of refugees available to the public for the first time.
In reading through the online recollections submitted by exiles who were children at the time, I was struck by how many remember their first taste of the U.S.—a coke, a ham sandwich, a pack of Wrigley’s gum, many handed out in box lunches at Miami’s airport. Others recall the tense days leading up to their departure, and the clothes, jewelry, and dolls left behind.
With the recent publication of Rachel Kushner’s novel, Telex from Cuba, and Tom Gjelten’s Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba: The Biography of a Cause, along with the much-anticipated release of Steven Soderbergh’s Che next month, it seems Cuban history remains a hot topic in the U.S. Kudos to the Herald for rounding out that history with an important public record.
Smuggling Cinnamon Rolls
by Terry Ward | 12.29.08 | 12:09 PM ET
Photo by Frank Murray Terry Ward packed a couple of tubes for a trans-Atlantic flight. Then she encountered airport security.