Destination: New York
‘Paris Syndrome’: The New York City Strain?
by Michael Yessis | 01.23.07 | 1:00 PM ET
The New York Post had some fun with a recent story about Japanese tourists in France who succumb to Paris Syndrome. The paper titled its piece Paris Leaves Japanese French Fried. Now the New Yorker’s Lauren Collins is on the case, wondering if there’s a New York City version of the syndrome that leaves travelers to the City of Light overwhelmed and in need of psychological treatment. An officer at the Japanese Consulate “does not believe in the existence of Paris syndrome, or, for that matter, a New York strain,” Collins writes, but she does report that Japanese visitors to the Big Apple do have certain traits.
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Yahoo! BuzzKerouac’s Northport Years: ‘Hey Jack, Does This Mean You’re Back On the Road?’
by Michael Yessis | 01.02.07 | 7:54 AM ET
Is Times Square Turning Tourists’ Photos into Viral Ads?
by Michael Yessis | 12.13.06 | 7:48 AM ET
Most of us shoot snapshots or videos when we travel, particularly when we visit a photogenic place like New York City’s Times Square. Many of us even like to share them with our friends or on YouTube or Flickr—some of them, like the one above from ellievanhoutte’s Flickr stream, even make it onto travel Web sites. And when we do this with our Times Square images, we are becoming something we may not have envisioned: spreaders of advertising messages. That’s right. More and more, New York City tourists are being counted on by advertisers to be their viral messengers.
Chandler Burr on the ‘Scents of Place’
by Michael Yessis | 12.12.06 | 8:57 AM ET
We’re believers in the power of the smell to color a journey, whether it comes from a whiff of full-bodied, slightly sweet jet fuel; the legendary stench of durian; or sample-size lotions from some far-off hotel. The Emperor of Scent author Chandler Burr believes, too, and he’s written a fine essay about it in the December issue of Conde Nast Traveler. “The process of travel is imbued with, drowned in, smell,” he writes. “The smell of my first passport, which was that of book (new paper, binding glue) and fresh plastic (the thick photo lamination). The smell of jet fuel and the synthetic carpet of the airport, the lonely nose of concrete-and-Formica of the train station, the scent of seawater and engine oil and metal of the ship. In between check-in and jet lag, there is smell. It tells us where we are. We may shuttle from airport to airport and stay in luxury hotels from Shanghai to Seattle, but local smells still reach us, marking these places as indelibly as light.”
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Beer, Bryson and the City of Brotherly Love
by Michael Yessis | 11.24.06 | 10:02 AM ET
The Zeitgeist has returned from a two-week hiatus spent mostly in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, and it finds travelers still loving Bill Bryson, still concerned about their airfare prices and wondering whether to order a Heineken, Grolsch or Amstel in Amsterdam. Let’s go.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours: Philadelphia
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
How do airlines set their ticket prices?
* This Slate “explainer” unravels the mystery.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
U.S. to Require Passports for Nearly All Air Travelers
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson
* Two Three Six weeks in a row at the top for Bryson’s memoir of growing up in 1950s Iowa.
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
* Bryson hits the daily double with his classic about hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
SideStep
Most Popular Travel Podcast
PodcastAlley (November)
808Talk: Hawaii’s Premier Podcast
Help for the Wayward Underground Rider
by Ben Keene | 11.01.06 | 3:07 PM ET
As an atlas editor, I have a questionably healthy obsession with maps. As a traveler, I never go anywhere without one (and preferably two or three). Which is why I was particularly excited to learn that a British design company is now selling credit card-sized, stainless steel maps of the London Underground and the New York Subway. They strike me as the perfect accessory for a hip cartographer or really anyone wishing to be a less conspicuous tourist. Hopefully they’ll pave the way for similar maps for other cities with subterranean mass transit systems. Tokyo would be an excellent candidate—that is if it’s even possible to fit all of the subway lines and stops on a piece of metal measuring 85 millimeters across.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
Japan’s “Freeters” Take Manhattan
by Michael Yessis | 10.16.06 | 6:40 AM ET
Freeters are “a Japanese version of slackers,” and according to a great story in Sunday’s New York Times, they’re escaping their home country’s societal pressures by running off to New York City to explore the arts. “In Tokyo bookstores, guides like ‘Finding Yourself in New York,’ and ‘The ‘I Love New York’ Book of Dreams’ fuel the fantasies of those [who] follow in [D.J.] Kaori’s footsteps,” writes Sheridan Prasso. “In an indication that a phenomenon has truly taken off, there’s a contrarian title, ‘Even If You Live in New York, You Won’t Be Happy.’” According to the story, more Japanese live in New York than any city outside Japan.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Triumph and Tragedy
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.06 | 8:02 AM ET
This week we’re paying tribute to literary feats, vintage air travel and the victims of tragedies in Moscow and New York. Here’s the Zeitgeist:
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk
* Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature Thursday, and it sent his travel book to the top. No similar bump for Peter Hessler’s Oracle Bones. After its nomination for a National Book Award, its Amazon ranking among travel books stands at No. 26.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Rick Steves’ Europe: Packing for Women
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Fueling Desire
* The best story ever about jet fuel as travel aphrodisiac.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum
R.I.P. Anna Politkovskaya
Most Dugg World News Story
Digg (this week)
Aircraft Crashes into NYC Building
Most E-mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Cabbies, culture clash at Minn. airport
Traveler Buzz Video
Yahoo! Current Traveler (today)
Vintage Airline Commercials
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Pulled Pork, Pulled Corks in North Carolina
World’s Most Expensive Restaurant
Forbes (2006)
Aragawa, a steak house in Tokyo’s Shinbashi district
* The cost for one person to dine? $368. Yikes. Now, for the not-so-rich among us…
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
Best budget restaurant in Tokyo
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Staten Island, Argentina
by Jim Benning | 09.29.06 | 2:03 PM ET
Coordinates: 54 40 S 64 30 W
Area: 209 sq. mi. (541 sq. km)
Mention Staten Island and most people will conjure images of the lower Manhattan skyline, or maybe the long, graceful curve of the massive suspension bridge linking it to Brooklyn. Fewer think of goat herders, seal hunters, and the cold, humid climate at the opposite end of the Atlantic. And yet in name, the more famous Staten of New York has a twin, larger in size but much smaller in population, just to the east of South America’s southernmost tip. Part of the sprawling Tierra del Fuego archipelago, Isla de los Estados, as the island is known in Argentina, lies less than 100 miles from the entrance to the Beagle Channel, a waterway that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and serves as an alternate route for sailors wishing to avoid Cape Horn’s rougher seas.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: This One Goes to Eleven
by Michael Yessis | 09.22.06 | 7:34 AM ET
You, Bono, The Edge and Neil Peart really brought the rock this week. Where did you bring it? Miami, Barcelona, Madrid, New York, Las Vegas and China. Time to crank up the Zeitgiest and find out what’s been intriguing travelers and armchair travelers.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Neil Peart
* Yes, that’s the drummer and lyricist from Rush. Here are some excerpts from “Roadshow.”
World’s Busiest Airline Route
OAG (September)
Barcelona-Madrid
World’s Sexiest City
Gridskipper (poll)
New York City
Most Viewed Video
Yahoo! | Current Traveler (this week)
“A Day in the life of The Edge: Part 1”
* Here are part two and part three.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Footloose and Boot Free: Barefoot Hiking
Top-Rated Travel Podcast
PodcastAlley (September)
The Strip
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Condo-hotels create risks, opportunities for buyers
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Oprah Takes a Road Trip, Pumps Gas For First Time Since 1983
* Oprah and Gayle? Not so rock ‘n’ roll. Their sing-along artist of choice on their road trip? Celine Dion.
Most Viewed Weblog Category
World Hum (this week)
China
No. 1 World Music Download
iTunes (current)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
“Best Song About Travel”
* Hint: It’s not by Celine Dion. Or Rush. Or U2. Though A Sort of Homecoming should at least be considered for any list of great travel-themed songs.
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Stephen Colbert’s New York City Travel Tips for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
by Michael Yessis | 09.20.06 | 10:17 PM ET
The President of Iran was in New York City this week to address the United Nations. Ever the gracious host, Stephen Colbert had some recommendations on places to go. Among them: Scores and Katz’s Delicatessen. The video of the entire itinerary is at the Comedy Central Web site.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Pool Crashing, Soda Pop and “Pizza Jason”
by Michael Yessis | 09.15.06 | 8:04 AM ET
After last week’s end-of-summer blues and 9/11 remembrances, seems like travelers and armchair travelers are in a happier mood, ready to eat and drink and crash some pools. Where? Looks like the world’s classic destinations are still in style. Here comes your zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
* Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named “Jason”
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
* Los Angeles: Galco’s Soda Pop Store
Destination of the Year
PlanetOut Travel Awards (2006)
* Spain
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
* Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
* The Art of Pool Crashing in Las Vegas
Cover Story From a Glossy Travel Magazine
Conde Nast Traveler (September issue)
* Insider’s Guide to New York City
Favorite Country for Holidays
Conde Nast Traveller UK Reader’s Poll
* Italy
Most Viewed “Travel & Places” Video
YouTube (this week)
* “Welcome to Aggieland”
Most Popular Site Tagged “Travel”
del.icio.us (current)
* TravelPost’s Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
* A happier place than the happiest place on earth
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
One Day, Two Men and 468 New York City Subway Stations
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.06 | 8:11 PM ET
Matt Green and Donald Badaczewski are currently in the middle of an attempt to ride the New York City subway system through all of its 468 stations as fast as possible. Fark.com classifies the endeavor as stupid; the New York Times finds it worth 743 words. Green and Badaczewski began at 6 a.m. this morning and have a MySpace page about their journey, which includes a brief history of endurance subway riding. “There is actually a Guinness record for subway riding, but it allows the rider to exit the system, using a bus or other means of transport to go from the end of one spur line to another, before re-entering the subway,” they write. “We have a strong philosophical opposition to this set of rules. If you’re going to spend that much time in pursuit of such a ridiculous and pointless goal, why cut corners? Plus, what kind of babes are going to dig guys who take the easy way out of such a manly challenge?”
The New Che Play: “School of the Americas”
by Jim Benning | 07.10.06 | 2:12 PM ET
The Most Polite Cities in the World
by Michael Yessis | 06.28.06 | 6:30 AM ET
They’re New York, Zurich and Toronto, according to a survey in the July issue of Readers Digest. The least polite? Mumbai, Bucharest and Kuala Lumpur. The magazine arrived at its conclusions after a semi-scientific survey: It asked its reporters in major cities in the 35 different countries where it publishes to perform a series of tests.