Destination: United States
Flyover America: 10 (More) Songs for an American Road Trip
by Jenna Schnuer | 04.29.09 | 4:32 PM ET
While the invention of iTunes has made things far easier than the days when we had to go through stack and stacks of cassettes to create the perfect on-the-road mix tapes, there’s still an art to creating the perfect road-trip playlist.
It takes time, thought, a sense of humor, and a wide-ranging music collection in whatever digital format you prefer. It also needs a theme. It can be about a mood, a time of day, your love for hot dogs, or whatever. You don’t even have to announce the theme. You don’t have to name the playlist “hot dog music” but, to make it all hang together, the theme must at least be in your mind during the song selection process.
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Yahoo! BuzzWanted: Books From North of the 60th Parallel
by Eva Holland | 04.29.09 | 3:07 PM ET
Growing up, I was fascinated by the idea of the Arctic. I can remember trying out some of the strange place names of the North—Whitehorse and Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake, Tuktoyaktuk—and reading Jack London or reciting The Cremation of Sam McGee in school.
Now, finally, I’m headed “north of 60” (that is, beyond the 60th parallel that divides Canada’s provinces from our northern territories) to spend part of the summer in the Yukon, and it occurs to me: I know almost nothing about the North in the present day.
Eight Great Road Trip Stories
by World Hum | 04.29.09 | 10:21 AM ET
To mark World Hum's eighth anniversary, we've collected from our archives eight favorite travel stories that heed the call of the open road
Southwest and JetBlue to Face Off in Guitar Hero Challenge
by Rob Verger | 04.29.09 | 10:20 AM ET
There’s plenty of bad news out there about the airline industry these days, and things like swine flu, or the very dumb decision to buzz Lower Manhattan in a presidential 747 aren’t making people any happier.
So, I decided to focus on something a little more lighthearted here: an airline Guitar Hero showdown.
Eight Great Travel Stories About Food
by World Hum | 04.28.09 | 4:06 PM ET
iStockphoto To mark World Hum's eighth anniversary, we've collected eight favorite stories from our archives that explore the sweet spot where taste meets travel
Travel Movie Watch: ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’
by Eva Holland | 04.28.09 | 12:08 PM ET
Move over, Fear and Loathing. There’s a new drug-addled, road tripping book-turned-movie in town. A film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test—which follows Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters cross-country in a school bus named “Further”—is due out in 2010. Production details are still thin on the ground, but the New York Times notes that Gus van Sant will direct, while Dustin Lance Black, who recently won an Oscar for writing van Sant’s “Milk,” will provide the screenplay.
Flyover America: 10 Songs for an American Road Trip
by Sophia Dembling | 04.27.09 | 4:09 PM ET
Forty-seven percent of road trip success is having the right soundtrack. (The rest is route, scenery, and snacks.)
This week Jenna and I offer you our Flyover America Mix—10 songs each (though we could think of many more) about flyover states. Of course, road songs needn’t have places in them, but that’s just a little extra fun.
May Day Is Lei Day in Hawaii
by Pam Mandel | 04.27.09 | 2:39 PM ET
May 1, 1928, was the first Lei Day, the holiday that celebrates the Hawaiian tradition of making and wearing leis. Island festivities include lei-making contests and Prom King and Queen-like coronations. After the contests are over, the leis are taken to the tombs of the ali’i—the Hawaiian royalty—and left there as offerings. I’m more than a little delighted to be arriving in Kaua’i just in time for the island’s Lei Day festivities. There’s a rather nice video montage of some older and new Lei Day photos here:
The Carter Family Fold: The Most Joyous Place in the World
by Jenna Schnuer | 04.27.09 | 12:59 PM ET
Photo by Jenna Schnuer. Try as I might, I’ve been having trouble pushing off the gray cast that seems to have settled over my brain. Damned economy. But, over the last few days, thanks to trips of days past, there’s been some relief. I’ve been clicking through my mental View-Master® (and my photos) to temporarily step back into some truly happy moments.
I’m convinced that if I keep building the stack, it’ll topple the gray. One surprise stop on my magical mood-bender tour came in Hiltons, Virginia, at the Carter Family Fold. Part of the Carter Family Memorial Music Center—owned by the first family of country music—the Fold hosts a weekly old time and bluegrass music show.
Hotel on the Hudson: Interview With Eva Ziegler
by Alexander Basek | 04.24.09 | 1:10 PM ET
W Hoboken’s opening party was last night, complete with ladies in giant martini glasses, a Jamie Foxx musical performance and W-shaped fireworks over the Hudson. (With some M’s and E’s mixed in, depending where you stood.)
Before the festivities began, I sat down with Eva Ziegler, W’s Global Brand Leader, in the W Hoboken’s “Chandelier Room,” the bar and club space with wall-length picture windows overlooking the New York City skyline.
NPR Broadcasts From ‘The Troubled Skies’
by Rob Verger | 04.24.09 | 10:18 AM ET
There are a few truisms about the airline industry today.
First: It’s no fun to be in the airline business at the moment.
Second: It’s more fun if you’re a passenger, because fares are cheap—although no one is sure how long they’ll stay that way.
For example, JetBlue advertised (via @JetBlue) some $29 one-way fares yesterday, although restrictions included the fact that the low fares were only good for travel on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. (As for the latest development in a la carte fees: Delta just announced it will start charging $50 for a second checked bag on international flights.)
Third: as demand slows and the national system becomes less stressed, things seem to be operating more smoothly.
America the Accessible
by Jenna Schnuer | 04.23.09 | 3:48 PM ET
Fifteen years ago, when nobody else was really servicing the community, writer Candy Harrington ditched traditional travel writing and launched Emerging Horizons, a travel magazine for people with disabilities.
“Back then most of my friends and colleagues thought I was a few fries short of a happy meal for making such a drastic change,” says Harrington. Silly colleagues. Other travel magazines come and go but Emerging Horizons is still running strong, and Harrington also writes books, articles for magazines and websites, and a blog on the subject.
We checked in with her to find out about the state of accessible travel in America—and some of her favorite accessible travel adventures around the 50.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Away We Go’
by Eva Holland | 04.21.09 | 3:34 PM ET
Promotional still via John Krasinski Web Oh, boy, am I excited about this one! Dave Eggers is at it again—after providing the screenplay for one highly anticipated travel movie, he offers up a second flick: Away We Go.
The story follows a young couple, expecting their first child, as they travel America in search of the perfect home for their new family. John Krasinski (aka Jim from “The Office”) and Maya Rudolph play the leads, while the likes of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Allison Janney fill out the inevitable cast of quirky characters encountered en route.
Go ahead, watch the trailer, and tell me this doesn’t look like a smartly-made mix of sentimentality, humor and road-tripping goodness:
Name That Cactus!
by Sophia Dembling | 04.21.09 | 1:37 PM ET
Scottsdale is all very hip and happening, with fancy hotels, great golf courses (allegedly—I’m no golfer) and highly rated restaurants. But during my visit last year, I was mesmerized by the cacti. So many varieties, so many personalities. I snapped umpteen photos—see my brief slideshow after the jump and read about a contest that could win you a trip to the booming desert city.
The Things They Carried—On Planes
by Rob Verger | 04.21.09 | 10:22 AM ET
We carry our things with us when we fly, and sometimes those things are weird. And even if they’re not weird, they might seem strange when juxtaposed with the airplane setting, an incongruity in such a modern environment.
Last week, four baby pythons evidently escaped their container in the cargo hold of a Qantas 737, slithered somewhere in the plane—and disappeared. The plane was later fumigated. I don’t know if the snakes belonged to a passenger or were just being shipped, but it does make me wonder: What weird things do people carry with them aboard?