Destination: United States
Travel Song of the Day: ‘Lights’ by Journey
by Alicia Imbody | 08.04.09 | 2:17 PM ET
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Yahoo! BuzzHas the ‘Obama Effect’ hit Hawaii?
by Eva Holland | 08.03.09 | 3:41 PM ET
Slate’s Moneybox columnist, Daniel Gross, recently headed to Hawaii to see if the islands’ tourism industry was seeing an Obama bump. The verdict: “This unreimbursed, hazard-filled assignment—sunburn, expensive macadamia nuts—yielded some surprising findings. Like the stimulus package, the Obama Effect, while holding the promise of gains down the road, hasn’t been able to overcome a sour economic climate.”
Travel Song of the Day: ‘Chelsea’ by Counting Crows
by Eva Holland | 08.03.09 | 2:32 PM ET
In Defense of Martha’s Vineyard
by Eva Holland | 08.03.09 | 12:08 PM ET
Tom Swick may think President Obama could have done better for a vacation spot, but Lonely Planet’s Robert Reid begs to differ. Here’s his compelling list of 22 reasons why Obama was right to pick Martha.
Incidentally, Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. would probably agree. Gates told Travel + Leisure in 2007 that the Vineyard was his favorite place.
Moon-Gazing Around the Globe
by Alicia Imbody | 08.03.09 | 10:32 AM ET
From Puebla to Paris, 12 photos by moonstruck world travelers
See the full photo slideshow »
Jackson Mourners Still Heading to Neverland
by Eva Holland | 07.31.09 | 1:26 PM ET
Consider my earlier question answered. USA Today reports that “hundreds of fans” are showing up daily at the gates of the secluded ranch. Unsurprisingly, local opinion is split on whether the pilgrimage spot should become an official Graceland-esque attraction. (Via @amybp)
‘Eat, Pray, Love in the USA’
by Eva Holland | 07.31.09 | 11:14 AM ET
Over at Matador Trips, Beebe Bahrami offers her top picks for culinary, spiritual and romantic America, with everywhere from the French Quarter to the Black Hills represented. It’s the latest in an “Eat, Pray, Love” themed series.
Esquire Improves Your Tourist Trap Experience
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 4:15 PM ET
The men’s mag has a tersely written guide to some of America’s most popular tourist spots, and how to improve the time that you’ll inevitably spend visiting them—shoulder-to-shoulder with everybody else. Here’s a sample for Manhattan: “Joe’s Pizza on Carmine, not Ben’s on Spring. // House-tun, not Hyoo-stun. // Not SoHo. Period.”
Thanks for the tip, Eli.
Continental Adds DirecTV on Domestic Flights
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 3:14 PM ET
The system, which broadcasts live from satellite rather than airing pre-recorded programming, will be widely installed by 2011, and USA Today predicts that other legacy carriers will follow suit. The outcome for travelers: We may not be able to check a bag or drink a Diet Coke without paying an extra fee anymore, but soon we’ll be able to watch the latest episode of “Ice Road Truckers” at 37,000 feet. That makes up for everything else, right?
Slate Explains Why Congress Gets so Much Vacation
by Michael Yessis | 07.30.09 | 11:35 AM ET
Members of congress get a lot of time off each year, and it’s not entirely unjustified. I live in the D.C. area, and I applaud anyone who can manage to escape the oppressive weather by disappearing for August.
Finding Leonard Cohen in Montreal and California
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 10:03 AM ET
In the latest issue of Geist, Ann Diamond tells the story of her series of near-encounters with Leonard Cohen—with 1970 Montreal, in the midst of the October Crisis, as the grimly compelling backdrop. And if that’s not enough Cohen-related, travel-esque writing for you, check out Pico Iyer’s 1998 essay about visiting the poet/rocker at a Zen Center in the San Gabriel Mountains, outside L.A.
‘The Hangover’ Gets Bollywoodized
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 4:18 PM ET
Publicity still via IGN Here’s an unexpected bit of cross-cultural synergy. This summer’s funniest travel movie involving a Vegas bachelor party, Mike Tyson, and a tiger—OK, OK, this summer’s only travel movie involving all of the above—is getting its very own Bollywood remake.
After he had time to think it over, Get the Big Picture’s Colin Boyd decided he approves. “You’ve seen ‘The Hangover,’ right? It’s full of non sequiturs from Mike Tyson to the chicken to the tiger in the bathroom to the baby to the missing tooth,” he writes. “And where better to find humorous non sequiturs than Bollywood?”
A Trip to Comic-Con in Celebrity Tweets
by Eva Holland | 07.27.09 | 4:06 PM ET
I’ll admit, I’ve never paid much attention to Comic-Con, San Diego’s annual geekfest spectacular. In fact, I’d never even heard of it until the teenage characters on “The O.C.” used it as a pretext for an illicit Tijuana road trip. But for thousands of people from across the U.S., and even around the world, it’s the travel event of the year—and this time around I too found myself following along, through the tweets of my favorite Hollywood celebrities.
Herewith, a brief, vicarious trip through the wacky world of the Con, from departure to exhausted arrival home:
Dead American Poets: The Grand Tour
by Eva Holland | 07.27.09 | 2:04 PM ET
Walter Skold has found a novel use for his summer vacation: traveling around the U.S. in search of the graves of poets, and tracking his efforts in a photo blog. The Book Bench offers a quick review: “There’s little in the way of written musings, but the photos do a lot of talking. Dorothy Parker’s gravestone, reflecting the glare of a harsh flash, reads: ‘For her epitaph, she suggested: ‘Excuse my Dust.’’”
Google Mapping the Alphabet
by Eva Holland | 07.27.09 | 12:41 PM ET
Over at the Daily Dish, Chris Bodenner has come across a collection of Google map terrain views—all from New York state—that appear to spell out the alphabet. Just one more way that Google is helping to shrink the planet?