Destination: New York
Nothing Breaks the Ice Like a Travel Trivia Game?
by Eva Holland | 03.05.09 | 4:31 PM ET
When I first heard about Wanderlust, the new series of singles events from New York’s travel-focused indie bookstore, Idlewild Books, I was intrigued. After all, frequent travelers might well have a different set of expectations, relationship-wise, than the stay-at-home crowd; isn’t it logical, then, that New York’s most eligible travelers would want to meet other like-minded passport holders? Well, sure. It’s a grand idea in theory. The reality, though, when I arrived at Idlewild last night to check things out, was not so glamorous.
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Yahoo! BuzzNew York Dubs West 53rd St. ‘U2 Way’
by Eva Holland | 03.04.09 | 9:27 AM ET
In honor of the Irish band’s unprecedented five-night appearance on Letterman this week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has temporarily renamed a section of West 53rd Street “U2 Way,” the AP reports. The section being renamed is close to the intersection of 53rd and Broadway, where the Late Show is taped. It’s a fine idea, I suppose (and a nice bonus promotion for the brand-new album, too), but if any street in North America is going to be named after U2, shouldn’t it be the one where this video was filmed? (Via NewYorkology)
Morning Links: Best Job in the World Finalists, ‘Narco-Tours’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 03.04.09 | 8:18 AM ET
- The 50-person short list for Tourism Queensland’s “best job in the world” includes a man who staged a musical on an Ontario street and Geek Brief’s Cali Lewis.
- The Tsunami Museum commemorating the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami is open in Indonesia.
- China plans to open its earthquake ruins to tourists.
- Interesting essay by Alexei Tsvetkov on leaving Prague: “In the end some people here will probably miss me, but not many, not too much, and not for long.” (via The Rumpus)
- Ryan Adams: Travel writer? BlackBook has his take on Hollywood. Here are his musical takes on New York and Jacksonville.
- “Narco-tours” are on the rise in Mexico.
- Independent Traveler lists 10 reasons you should travel now.
- Esquire lists the 59 best breakfast places in America.
- Are you an, uh, anal traveler? (via BootsnAll Today)
- How great is this: John Wray will be giving a reading from his new book Lowboy while traveling on a Brooklyn-bound L train next week. Details in this video.
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Travel Nostalgia: The World in Vintage Posters
by Eva Holland | 03.02.09 | 5:23 PM ET
I’ve confessed to my abiding love of postcards before, and now I have another confession: I am a total sucker for the vintage travel poster and all its varied (fridge magnet, notebook, calendar, tote bag) incarnations. There’s something so refreshing about those old Cunard posters, or the early advertisements for transcontinental passenger rail. They have a guileless wonder to them, and a total lack of cynicism or irony—because they come from an era when nobody thought they had already seen it all. So I was thrilled to read on the Shoretrips blog about a major vintage poster auction being held in New York.
The auction’s already come and gone, but the entire collection is still viewable online. There are more than 400 posters in the sale, though, and only some of them are travel-related—so for all my fellow vintage-travel-poster-lovers (and I know you’re out there) I’ve put together a list of my favorites, and a cheat sheet for the rest.
Budget Tips from the Twitterverse
by Eva Holland | 03.02.09 | 12:13 PM ET
Well, the Daily Beast may have declared that Twitter jumped the shark this week, but that didn’t stop me from collecting a few good travel tips and deals from the micro-blogging site—all in 140 characters or less, of course. NewYorkology notes that the Restaurant Week that won’t die has been extended yet again. The Snow Junkies offer up 54 ways to get discounted lift tickets in March. Jaunted points out that a round-the-world ticket from Virgin Atlantic can now be had for less than $3,000 (and asks: “Who’s in?”), and finally, in more good flight news, Conde Nast Traveler’s Wendy Perrin writes: “Experts I’ve been interviewing for my May column for @CNTraveler say airfares to Europe will remain supercheap throughout the summer.”
What We Loved This Week: Food Tours, Traveling Through the Harper’s Index and More
by World Hum | 02.27.09 | 5:03 PM ET
Bakhat Singh in the Moonlight Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Michael Yessis
The searchable Harper’s Index. The magazine has been delivering pithy factual tidbits since 1984, and now you can search through all of them online by topic. Here are the 90 matches in my search for items about travel. One of my favorites comes from 1990: “Amount the U.S. Air Force spent this year to study the effects of jet noise on pregnant horses: $100,000.”
Joanna Kakissis
I’ve always wanted to host my own YouTube cooking show, because doesn’t the whole world really want to see me make my secret baklava recipe to the beat of “Chains of Love” by Erasure? But I doubt my show would ever be as awesome as the sensational “Cooking With Clara,” which features Great Depression-era recipes by 93-year-old Sicilian-American Clara Cannucciari.
Morning Links: Walking on Broadway, Fees for Airline Toilets and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.27.09 | 9:43 AM ET
- New York City plans to turn parts of Broadway into pedestrian malls.
- The inevitable Coldplay reference comes only four seconds into this video about that ice music festival in northern Italy.
- Are the “taste police” out to get German bakers?
- The literature of men in boats vs. women in houses. (via Arts & Letters Daily)
- Here’s the latest Carnival of Cities.
- Happy belated 90th birthday, Grand Canyon National Park. (thanks for the reminder @evaholland and @AlisonSWellner)
- The economic downturn has boosted Peace Corps applications and the number of financial types snowboarding the Alps.
- Mule drivers in period costumes need TSA security clearance, too! So Boing Boing started a contest to create mule-driver TSA IDs.
- Will passengers soon need to pay to use the toilet on Ryanair? Just how ridiculous can the carrier get?
- Finally, this is fun to say: Sassy the Sustainable Sasquatch.
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Morning Links: Venice Cokes Up, an Epic (Paper) Plane Video and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.25.09 | 9:44 AM ET
Richard Gere: World-Changing Innkeeper
by Eva Holland | 02.24.09 | 11:05 AM ET
The Hollywood superstar recently bought and restored a derelict 18th-century Westchester inn, and—as he and his wife recently told New York magazine—they’re hoping to make it into much more than a spot for a good meal or a night’s rest. “I want this to be a place where the minds of people who could change the world would meet,” said Gere. (Via NewYorkology)
Morning 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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Morning Links: Mexico Travel Alert, Mardi Gras Tips and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.23.09 | 9:46 AM ET
- A bomb exploded in Cairo’s Hussein Square, killing at least one tourist.
- China has closed Tibet to international travelers in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s exile.
- The Washington Post says the latest State Department travel alert for Mexico “reads like the plot of a crime thriller.”
- USA Today/Gallup poll: 58 percent of Americans “will shrink their vacation spending this year—or just not go.”
- Here’s what not to do at Mardi Gras.
- Tom Haines follows the wind in North Dakota.
- World Hum contributor David Farley will be speaking tonight at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.
- The Christian Science Monitor has more on Lucca’s ban of ethnic restaurants.
- Is a lost empire concealed in the Amazon?
- Has Atlantis been found by Google Ocean? Google says no.
- Two travel books made the pages of The New York Times Sunday Book Review: Magic Bus and The Way of Herodotus.
- Another day, another mix-up: A pass for Philly Beer Week features the skyline of New York City. Really, how could you mix ‘em up?
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What We Loved This Week: Walker Evans, Obama Fever and Blame Ringo
by World Hum | 02.20.09 | 5:16 PM ET
Pam Mandel
This is a super short radio documentary, but wow, I could almost smell the smoke. Rabbit Hunters—an audio snapshot in blazing sugar cane fields—is by Michael Ozug and it’s on Sound Portraits.
Sophia Dembling
I just knew Walker Evans and I had something in common. Postcards! I can’t wait to get back to New York to see Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—especially the “bank of postcards that offer plunging views down the middle of scores of American Main Streets, an almost scary tribute to the country’s can-do spirit, can-doing again and again.” For now, I’ll make do with the slideshow.
2008 Travel Movie Awards
by Eva Holland | 02.20.09 | 4:27 PM ET
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist The Oscars are looming, and in keeping with the season I’m thrilled to announce my second annual Travel Movie Awards. As I noted last year, these picks rate high on the arbitrary scale and are not intended to be comprehensive: this is just a collection of movies (and movie moments) from the past year that got me thinking about travel, and about places new and familiar.
Most Adorable/Unusual Tale of Indie Love in New York
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
There is never any shortage of romantic comedies set in the Big Apple, but most directors opt to focus on the entanglements of young professionals (bewildered new-to-the-city female journalists, more often than not), and to set the action in or near Central Park. “Nick and Norah,” in contrast, follows a pair of suburban, straight-edge teenagers through the live music venues of lower Manhattan—and captures my heart in the process.
Slate’s Dana Stevens said it better than I can: “Some people really were made for each other ... and New York does look beautiful by night. You got a problem with that?”
Morning Links: 50 Great Travel Tweeters, Shark Attacks and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.09 | 8:33 AM ET
- Seaside vacations are down, and, therefore, so are shark attacks.
- Transitions Abroad reveals how to, well, transition abroad after getting laid off or fired from a job.
- Ryanair plans to allow mobile phone use on all its flights.
- Much of John Wray’s latest novel Lowboy takes place in the New York Subway system. In fact, Wray wrote the novel on the subway.
- Here are 71 photos of “interesting and bizarre peoples” on subways. (via Coudal)
- TSA tests full-body scanners in Tulsa.
- Among the 16 things Esquire says Canada is good at: Music that always stops just short of making you want to kill yourself.
- Larry Portzline lists 10 ways to tap into Bookstore Tourism.
- The Telegraph lists 50 great travel tweeters, including one “from the editors of the best global travel blog.” Thanks, Telegraph! Thanks and congrats, too, to World Hum’s lead tweeter, Valerie Conners!
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Your Friendly Neighborhood Airport Bookstore?
by Eva Holland | 02.18.09 | 2:41 PM ET
I spent a good portion of my Friday night at Newark International this weekend, waiting on a friend’s delayed flight from Canada. As a result, I had plenty of time to conduct an in-depth study of the titles on offer at the airport’s Relay store.
The project started out innocently enough. I’ve never paid much attention to airport bookstores—long layovers generally find me sound asleep on the floor at a quiet gate, or roaming the halls in search of an unsecured wireless signal. But this time I decided to browse the magazine selection, and then (while I struggled to reconcile my love for both “Cosmopolitan” and “The Atlantic”) a section heading in the books section caught my eye: Travel and Pictorial. The heading seemed odd, because—I could see from 10 feet away—half the books in the section had been written by Candace Bushnell. Had I somehow missed Bushnell’s transition to narrative travelogue author? Curious, I moved closer. And found that the Travel and Pictorial section was filled top to bottom with Manhattan-based chick lit. Multiple copies of “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Shopaholic Takes Manhattan,” and no less than four Bushnell titles (“Sex and the City” chief among them, of course) covered the shelves in a blur of chirpy, bright, pink-heavy covers.