Destination: Russia
Following Chekhov to ‘Hell’
by Robert Reid | 11.04.09 | 10:41 AM ET
Photo by Robert Reid On Sakhalin Island, Robert Reid communes with the world's first "Gulag tourist"
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Yahoo! BuzzLooking for the USSR in Moscow
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.09 | 3:02 PM ET
World Hum contributor Jim Heintz says that one of the hardest things to find when visiting the Russian capital “is a sense of how bleak life was under the hammer and sickle.” He writes:
Unlike Rome or Athens, where the tourist is called upon to imagine the glory that once was, in Moscow you have to visualize what wasn’t there. Walk into a food store and imagine the shelves empty; picture the store without a clever name or attractive logo—its sign would have read only “meat” or “milk” or “products.”
These days it’s unlikely that one’s tour guide briefs the secret police at the end of the day. Your hotel may not be cute or comfy, but it’s probably not overtly scary like the Rossiya, a signature Soviet monstrosity that’s now a vacant lot. In a way, this may be kind of a disappointment: Going to the Evil Empire had more cachet than a trip to the Overpriced Capital.
High-Speed Rail Watch: From Russia to America?
by Eva Holland | 09.28.09 | 2:43 PM ET
A new breed of locomotive-less high-speed train will launch in Russia in December, running between St. Petersburg and Moscow—and Siemens, the German company behind the new model, is hoping to bring it to America next. The New York Times has the details.
European Flesh and the American Prude
by Rick Steves | 09.08.09 | 12:54 PM ET
Alexandra Beier/Reuters Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act
Video: An Idiot’s Driving Tour of Moscow
by Michael Yessis | 09.01.09 | 2:38 PM ET
Here’s the idiot, who recklessly tried to re-create a car chase scene from The Bourne Supremacy:
If you want an accelerated travel experience, you’re better off doing this. (Via Gulliver)
Machine Guns in the Afternoon
by Stephanie Carrie | 08.17.09 | 11:37 AM ET
Photo by Stephanie Carrie Stephanie Carrie went to Russia to walk the streets that Gogol walked. She didn't plan on practicing her language skills at gunpoint.
Marcel Theroux Rides the Rails
by Eva Holland | 07.31.09 | 12:02 PM ET
Looks like a love of trains runs in the family? The Guardian has a fun video—part one in a series—from second-generation travel writer Marcel Theroux’s recent train ride into northern Russia. (Via @elihansen)
Détente at the Russian Baths
by Peter Wortsman | 07.15.09 | 10:34 AM ET
iStockPhoto Peter Wortsman didn't mind peeling off his clothes at the banya. But he feared the worst when he revealed that he was American.
Michael Jackson and Me: Strangers in Moscow
by Jeffrey Tayler | 06.26.09 | 2:35 PM ET
REUTERS 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"
In Thailand, Visit ‘Moscow in the Tropics’
by Michael Yessis | 06.23.09 | 11:22 AM ET
Here’s another intriguing story about the rise of the Russian traveler, this one about luxury travelers descending on the “neon beacon of sleaze” that is Pattaya, Thailand.
Writes Patrick Winn in GlobalPost:
Russians have helped revitalize Pattaya, first transformed into raunchy nightspot decades ago by Vietnam War-era U.S. troops. The city has since seen its ups and downs, but now it has a new look. Pattaya abounds with Cyrillic signs advertising scuba shops, restaurants and bars. There’s even an all-Russian local TV station.
Last June, the New York Times put a piece about newly prosperous Russian travelers hitting the road on its front page.
Moscow, Russia
by World Hum | 06.12.09 | 9:58 AM ET
Municipal workers carry a reproduction of the painting "Zaporozhtsi" by Ilya Repin under heavy rain.
St. Petersburg, Russia
by World Hum | 05.27.09 | 10:08 AM ET
REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk Visitors to the Hermitage Museum look at portraits of generals from Russia's 1812 campaign against Napoleon's army
Dhani Tackles Poetry: ‘Confused I Am’
by Dhani Jones | 05.18.09 | 2:12 PM ET
Photo by Red Line Films NFL linebacker and Renaissance man Dhani Jones hosts the Travel Channel show, Dhani Tackles the Globe.
Like any good Renaissance man, he’s writing poems inspired by the travel experiences featured on each show.
The topic of tonight’s journey: Sambo in Russia.
Interview with Rick Steves: ‘Travel as a Political Act’
by Jim Benning | 05.13.09 | 2:33 PM ET
Jim Benning asks the Europe travel guru about his new book -- and where Americans can go for a politically eye-opening experience
Novosyolovo, Russia
by World Hum | 03.16.09 | 12:11 PM ET
REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin A troika, a three-horse drawn sledge, competes on the frozen Yenisey river during an amateur horse race near the settlement of Novosyolovo.