Destination: Middle East
“Walking the Bible” on PBS
by Jim Benning | 01.19.06 | 7:25 PM ET
Last night on PBS I caught the third and final installment of Walking the Bible, a new travelogue documentary that takes viewers into the land of the Old Testament. Journalist Bruce Feiler, who wrote the book of the same name, visits key sites, meditates on the power of the desert and marvels at the journey of the Israelites. (Among more humorous moments, he finds a fire extinguisher next to what some believe is the original burning bush.) The landscapes are stunning, and I found Feiler to be a wide-eyed yet thoughtful and likable guide. The series airs on PBS stations throughout the month.
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Yahoo! BuzzDear Farris Hassan…
by Jim Benning | 01.12.06 | 2:57 PM ET
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Ralph De La Cruz writes an open letter to the 16-year-old American journalism student who made headlines with his trip to Iraq last month. “I admire your spunk and can-do spirit,” De La Cruz writes. “Appreciate how eloquently you’ve spoken about the sacrifices the armed forces are making in Iraq, and about how guilty you feel diverting precious resources and putting people’s lives in danger on your lark. But I’m concerned you haven’t expressed the same respect for the profession that supposedly inspired you to take the trip.” (Via Romenesko.)
21 Attractions Short Listed for New Seven Wonders of the World*
by Michael Yessis | 01.11.06 | 6:19 AM ET
A panel led by Former Director-General of UNESCO Federico Mayor Zaragoza recently announced its nominees to be considered for the New 7 Wonders. Travelers around the world will have the opportunity to vote throughout 2006, and the winners will be announced on January 1, 2007.
We’re Back, and So is Farris Hassan
by Michael Yessis | 01.02.06 | 12:44 PM ET
Welcome back, Farris. The 16-year-old high school student, who had taken $1,800 his parents gave him to invest in the stock market and embarked on a solo trip to Iraq, returned home to Fort Lauderdale, Florida last night. It ended one of the most fascinating odysseys of 2005. Hassan took off for the Middle East on December 11, reportedly to research a school journalism project.
Listening to ‘Layla’ in Tehran? Not on Radio or TV.
by Jim Benning | 12.19.05 | 3:08 PM ET
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decreed that Western and indecent music cannot be played on the country’s radio and television stations. What artists will be affected? MSNBC.com reports: “Songs such as George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper,’ Eric Clapton’s ‘Rush’ and ‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles regularly accompany Iranian TV programs, as do tunes by saxophonist Kenny G.” Needless to say, I’m with Ahmadinejad on banning Kenny G. Indecent, indeed. But Eric Clapton did some nice stuff back in his Cream days, and I’m afraid that’s where the ultraconservative leader and I must part ways.
Attention Everyone in Groups A, B and C, and Rows 42 Through 1: Get on the Plane! Now!
by Michael Yessis | 12.14.05 | 12:38 PM ET
A mad boarding scramble by passengers may be a more efficient way to seat an airplane than having them load into the back rows first, according to a team of scientists and mathmeticians at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University. Eitan Bachmat and his colleagues arrived at their conclusion using concepts more commonly applied to the theory of relativity and prime number theory, writes Philip Ball in Nature.
Get Your End of the World T-Shirts!
by Frank Bures | 11.22.05 | 10:48 PM ET
We already knew about the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, a kind of Disneyland dedicated to providing a glimpse of what life was like during the time of Jesus Christ. And this month Esquire reports on the new Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky, where visitors can see dinosaurs like those Adam and Eve rode around on. Now, in December’s Vanity Fair (the story is unavailable online), Craig Unger reports on a huge trend in travel: Evangelical tourism.
Iraq: Danger Zone or Ideal Spot for a “Seven and a Half Star” Tourist Hotel?
by Michael Yessis | 11.08.05 | 4:29 AM ET
Should Robert Young Pelton revise his list of no-go travel zones? Central Iraq, which he recently cited as the top spot on the planet to avoid visiting, has actually seen a rise in travelers, according to Kim Sengupta’s story in The Independent.
Steven Vincent RIP
by Jim Benning | 08.03.05 | 8:22 PM ET
It’s hard to imagine just how many writers—journalists, travel writers, poets—have been inspired by Jack Kerouac. It turns out that Steven Vincent, the 49-year-old American freelance journalist shot to death in Iraq on Tuesday, was one of them. The Boston Globe has published a touching AP story about the writer, who was apparently at work on a book about the port city of Basra when he was kidnapped and killed. According to the Globe, Vincent graduated from Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in English. Afterward, in 1980, he hitchhiked to New York, “heeding the siren call of the big city—and my dream to become the next Jack Kerouac,” he once wrote in a bio.
Chasing the Book
by Jim Benning | 08.02.05 | 11:08 AM ET
Derelicts in the Sinai
by Porter Shreve | 07.25.05 | 1:14 PM ET
Photo courtesy freestockphotos Israeli fighter planes flew over his kibbutz and suicide bombers blew up buses on the lines he traveled, but Porter Shreve still felt untouchable. Then he found himself aboard an ill-fated tour bus rolling through the Egyptian desert.
Fear and Lodging in Iraq
by Jim Benning | 04.08.05 | 4:08 PM ET
William Langewiesche writes about the Baghdad hotel where he is staying in the May issue of the Atlantic Monthly. The Ritz-Carlton it’s not. “The [neighborhood] guards come under fire from traffic on the boulevard, but this is considered to be minor stuff, which they answer by enthusiastically firing back,” he writes. “I can mention such details without concern for the consequences, because nearly everyone in Baghdad knows about this place already. Mortar rounds fly overhead destined for the fortified Green Zone, about a half mile away across the Tigris River, and several car bombs have exploded nearby (one recently with the force to blow out windows here), but so far no building in the compound has suffered a direct rocket attack.” A portion of the article is available online.
“Even Flirting is Political in Beirut”
by Michael Yessis | 03.10.05 | 8:55 PM ET
Slate is running another “Well-Traveled” series this week, and it’s a good one. Lee Smith journeyed to Beirut, Lebanon, for a month beginning in late December. He was searching for “the talk.” He writes: “This last year or so, New York has reminded me of a Cairo shopping mall I used to frequent where the soundtrack was always playing a recitation of the Quran. It was disturbing not because I think there should be separation between the sacred and consumer items, but because a society that keeps re-circulating the same sound to confirm and consolidate what it already believes about itself is a troubled one. By convincing themselves that the rest of their country was tragically, dangerously stupid, my New York neighbors effectively isolated themselves from the rest of the country. At any rate, I wanted to be somewhere where you can hear the talk over the soundtrack, and Lebanon seems right.” Smith weaves his experience with a look at the complex political landscape, which, considering the headlines coming out of the region this week, makes for an excellent read. The five-part series began Monday and continues all week.
Cat Stevens, Madonna
by Jim Benning | 09.24.04 | 11:13 PM ET
Celebrities continue to make big travel news. Fortunately, our favorite fake news program, The Daily Show, has been covering the issue, helping us put this very important travel information into context and perspective. When the folk singer formerly known as Cat Stevens was sent back to Britain for ridiculous security concerns, Daily Show host Jon Stewart noted that Stevens’ commercial airliner was not only tailed by U.S. fighter planes for security, but also was being followed by a moonshadow, a fact overlooked by most news organizations. Stewart also reported on singer Madonna’s recent visit to Israel, home to three religions and ongoing conflict. “The good news,” Stewart reported, “came this week in the form of the world’s fourth major religion, celebrity, as pop star Madonna stopped by to speak at a conference on Jewish mysticism, and maybe while she’s there, work in a light desecration of holy sites.” Video of the fake news report is available at DailyShow.com.
Saddam Hussein: Armchair Traveler?
by Jim Benning | 07.27.04 | 10:52 PM ET
Actually, his 10-foot-by-13-foot cell may not be furnished with an armchair, but deposed Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein does have access to a number of travel books, according to an Associated Press report published today. Saddam apparently spends much of his time in solitary confinement writing poetry and reading the Quran, but he has 145 books available to him—“mostly travel and novels—donated by the Red Cross,” according to the report. There’s no word on whether he is reading the travel books. But in case he is wondering which titles to crack, I thought I would offer some suggestions.