Destination: United States
Brother Bertram, Photojournalist
by Pam Mandel | 06.02.09 | 1:08 PM ET
Image courtesy of Lyman Museum. I’m a sucker for Hawaii’s unreachable past, a somewhat imaginary time when there really was a little grass shack in Kaleakakua to go back to. So I’m pretty excited about the photography show that’s running at the Lyman Museum in Hilo.
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Yahoo! BuzzWhen the President Goes to Vegas: Hail Obama?
by Alexander Basek | 06.02.09 | 10:20 AM ET
Photo by Alexander Basek It’s easy to ignore the language surrounding hotel stays. Spas have therapists and there’s a concierge or a butler for your pillow and your bath. In fact, it gets to be difficult when you need something but don’t know whom you’re supposed to talk to about it. Does an order for ice fall under the purview of the cooling concierge or the cocktail consultant? We may never know the answer.
Why Should You Follow Airlines on Twitter?
by Rob Verger | 06.01.09 | 1:54 PM ET
Lately, I’ve been enjoying receiving tweets from airlines, and there are a few reasons why.
First up, airlines frequently announce fare sales and other news on Twitter. United has been offering what they call “twares,” which are very brief sales broadcast on Twitter, and Southwest recently tweeted about their new pets policy—you can bring dogs and cats on board now—while Virgin America tweeted to announce that their entire fleet had Wi-Fi.
Dragon Boats Go Global
by Julia Ross | 06.01.09 | 10:31 AM ET
Though the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival has long enjoyed popularity in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, mainland China only made it a public holiday last year—one of many signs that traditions abandoned during the country’s Cultural Revolution are finally being restored.
The funny thing is, the festival—which commemorates the death of a famous poet who drowned himself in a river—has become so globalized that China itself looks like it’s late to the party.
Aspen to America: We’re a Major Literary Destination!
by Eva Holland | 05.28.09 | 4:59 PM ET
When most people think of Aspen, Colorado, I doubt if the words “literary pilgrimage” pop all that promptly into their heads. But that’s going to change—at least if Aspen.com’s Brandon Wenerd has anything to say about it.
Visit America Pageant
by Tom Swick | 05.28.09 | 11:30 AM ET
Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel
Hanalei Is America’s Best Beach: Really?
by Pam Mandel | 05.28.09 | 11:02 AM ET
OK, it’s a beautiful crescent of golden sand. It’s wide and clean and almost aggressively picturesque. There’s no denying that it’s an archetype of what a perfect beach should be. And it was recently selected as the “Number One Beach in the US” by Dr. Beach, a self-declared beach expert. He seems to have gained quite the cred; my Google alerts are crowded with mentions of Hanalei Beach’s new “honor.”
See America, Too!
by Sophia Dembling | 05.27.09 | 12:08 PM ET
More Ahi, Please*
by Pam Mandel | 05.27.09 | 10:25 AM ET
You can not pile too much ahi—the Hawaiian name for tuna—on my plate. I love the stuff: raw, grilled, wrapped in rice and nori and served as sushi, marinated in soy and spice and served as poke, crusted with macadamia nuts and coconut and topped with a little mango sauce ... I swear I am turning into a big drooling mess just thinking about it.
But overfishing is depleting tuna stocks, just like it’s depleting so many of our dinner-bound, ocean-dwelling populations, driving up the price and making for scarce supply.
Cheap Tickets to Hawaii, Costa Rica and More
by Rob Verger | 05.26.09 | 4:27 PM ET
Every few weeks here, I round up some of the best air travel deals I can find.
Want to visit the Pacific? Alaska Airlines has an insanely good deal to Hawaii. They are advertising $169 one-way fares from Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon. You need to buy your tickets before June 3, and you must travel between July 3 and September 30. If you play your cards right, you can fly to Hawaii and back for a total of about $360 after taxes and fees, round trip.
Also, Air Tahiti Nui is advertising round-trip fares, after taxes and fees, of about $731 between Los Angeles and Tahiti, but it’s for a maximum stay of four days only.
Lantern Floating for Memorial Day
by Pam Mandel | 05.26.09 | 10:30 AM ET
If the pictures are anything to go by, the Memorial Day Lantern Floating ceremony at Ala Moana Beach Park in Honolulu was the kind of visual feast that makes you think you’re in a dream.
2,000 candlelit lanterns are sent off into the ocean at sunset, each bearing “healing prayers for victims of conflict, famine, disaster and disease as well as our hopes for the happiness of all past and present.”
Yosemite National Park, California
by World Hum | 05.22.09 | 12:18 PM ET
REUTERS/Robert Galbraith A youngster walks along the banks of the Merced River in Yosemite National Park
Goodbye to my Mickey Mouse, Wayne Allwine
by Jenna Schnuer | 05.22.09 | 11:31 AM ET
For so many, the first true travel excitement comes compliments of Mickey Mouse and co.
A few years ago, I talked to my nieces on the phone just before their first trip to Disney World. The little one, just shy of four, didn’t usually have much patience for phone conversations. That day, she just kept talking and talking, offering excited (and rather detailed) explanations of all the things she wanted to see. Both girls were delighted when I told them about my own visits to Disney World as a kid. We all got kind of giddy thinking that, just maybe, there was some slight chance they would end up riding in the same It’s a Small World boat I sat in 30+ years ago.
New Travel Book: ‘The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel’
by Rob Verger | 05.22.09 | 10:09 AM ET
Most of us who fly are curious: we want to know how the system that is transporting us from our homes to a new destination works, and there may be no system more opaque than air travel. For those of us who want to not only understand the system, but also figure out how to get the best deals, I highly recommend Scott McCartney’s latest book, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel. (You can read my interview with McCartney, the Journal’s Middle Seat columnist, here.)
At first glance, a book advertising “power travel” may seem not to appeal to someone who, in the spirit of World Hum, is probably less interested in “powering” through a travel experience than trying to enjoy every moment of the journey. But we all have a desire to get through the air travel segment as efficiently and cheaply as possible, and I love the way this book explains the complicated world of air travel.
Checking in at the Boone Tavern
by Alexander Basek | 05.21.09 | 3:33 PM ET
Photo by Alexander Basek Swinging through the positively quaint town of Berea, Kentucky, last week, I had the chance to stay at the refurbished Boone Tavern. The hotel, which is owned by Berea College, just across the street, celebrated its 100th anniversary this year with some renovations that are now more or less complete; they were laying a snazzy brick design in the parking lot turnaround when I was there.