Destination: United States
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! BuzzThe Man Behind the ‘Greenest Luxury Hotel’ in the United States
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.05.09 | 3:27 PM ET
Chris Colin has a glowing profile in SFGate about Phil Sherburne, the developer of the newly-opened Bardessono Inn and Spa in Yountville, California. Though Sherburne has opened his multimillion-dollar luxury resort in the Napa Valley during the worst economic stretch since the Great Depression, “Bardessono has emerged a working laboratory where best practices are developed for sustainable building,” Colin writes.
Waikiki Beach Boys
by Pam Mandel | 03.05.09 | 1:49 PM ET
If you want to hear about the golden days of Waikiki, your best bet is probably to head up to the Haleiwa to the Surf Museum. Since I’m no surfing aficionado, I wasn’t exactly roped in by the displays, but I sure enjoyed the time I spent talking with the museum’s proprietor, Hurricane Bob. Ask Hurricane Bob about what Waikiki used to be like, and he’s full of stories.
I couldn’t help but think of Hurricane Bob, the North Shore and Waikiki when I stumbled over this short documentary about the Waikiki Beach Boys. It crams a whole sensibility about Hawaii, surfing, Waikiki, and beach culture into just over six minutes. Six minutes well spent, I’d say.
Morning Links: Michael Lewis Asks About Bjork in Reykjavík, Yoko Ono’s Travel Daydreams and More
by Michael Yessis | 03.05.09 | 8:06 AM ET
Where are the Elegies to the World’s Troubled Landscapes?
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.04.09 | 4:02 PM ET
The Eagles were on to something in 1976, when they lamented the pillaging of the western American landscape in “The Last Resort.” As eco-awareness of global warming makes major headlines, and movie stars and scientists link hands to march against coal-fired power plants, I wonder: Where are the music videos? The equivalent of “We Are The World,” climate-change edition? Or at least a few elegies to the troubled landscapes of our world?
Then I came across “Uyan (Wake Up),” a song about the ravages of environmental irresponsibility released late last year by hunky Turkish pop star Tarkan and baglama viruoso Orhan Gencebay. It’s a fabulous tune, brimming with eastern Mediterranean soul and accompanied by a video (see below) featuring the sexier-than-thou Tarkan and the comfortably weathered Gencebay jamming in a cracked and desiccated land—likely a reference to the fact that great swathes of Turkey are in danger of desertification.
So, inspired by Tarkan and Orhan Gencebay, I compiled a short list of place-evoking environmental songs. I’d love to hear your picks—and if you think eco-songs can save fragile lands, or at least get people thinking that they should stop abusing them.
Feeling Seasonable?
by Alexander Basek | 03.04.09 | 11:17 AM ET
So, let’s talk Four Seasons. Not the actual seasons—we’re getting plenty of winter fun here in New York—but the hotel chain. Worldwide, the Four Seasons is luring guests with third-night-free packages at about 40 properties. The offer’s ubiquity is what makes it such a value, though you should hurry as it expires come the end of March.
Down in Texas, you needn’t even spend the night to get a taste of Four Season goodness. The Houston and Austin properties have special offers for visitors who want to check out the facilities. Austin’s package features a massage, lunch and day-long use of the steam room for about $160 bucks; in Houston, you can drop $20 for access to the pool on weekends. Depends on how much you’re spending on a day at the spa in the first place, but should your plan to survive the economic downturn involve finding a sugar mommy or daddy, the outlay may prove worth your while.
New 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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Is ‘One Week’ Canada’s ‘Into the Wild’?
by Eva Holland | 03.03.09 | 3:41 PM ET
For such a vast (and, like its neighbor, public-transportation-challenged) country, Canada hasn’t produced as many great road trip movies as you might expect. Sure, there’s the quirky Thunder Bay-to-New Orleans indie, Highway 61, but most of the action takes place south of the border. And Dan Aykroyd’s brief cameo in “Canadian Bacon” never gets old, but if you want to be a purist about it, that’s an American-made movie. So there’s a void waiting to be filled here—and this week, we may finally have a candidate to fill it.
One Week stars Joshua Jackson as the terminally ill Ben, who decides to give up the daily grind and ride a vintage motorcycle from Toronto to Tofino, British Columbia, visiting corny landmarks and touching random strangers’ lives in unexpected ways as he goes. (Sound familiar?) Throw in a few cameos from Canadian rockers, an inevitable hockey reference or two, and some stunning wide-angle shots of mountains and prairie, and you get—as the Globe and Mail’s Liam Lacey puts it—an “alarmingly life-affirming road movie.” The film opens across Canada this Friday. There’s no word yet on a U.S. release, but we’ll keep you posted; I’m betting the scenery alone will make this one worth seeking out. Check out the trailer and see for yourself:
The Saint From Moloka’i
by Pam Mandel | 03.03.09 | 2:07 PM ET
He wasn’t named Father Damien at birth. He was Joseph De Veuster, a Belgian, a son of wealthy farmers. He became Father Damien at his ordination, and in 1873, after a few years on the Big Island and Maui, he went to work on Moloka’i, caring for the forgotten people of Kalaupapa, victims of Hansen’s disease—then called leprosy—abandoned to their fate on a remote peninsula.
Father Damien built churches and taught his religion, of course, but he was also instrumental in ensuring that the community had a working water supply. There’s a bronze statue of Father Damien, always covered in flower leis, “up top”—it stands outside a church he built in spite of the fact that the Board of Health expressly forbid him to visit with those “outside.” Father Damien contracted Hansen’s disease and died at age 49. Because of miracles attributed to the Moloka’i priest, Father Damien will officially become a saint on October 11.
Oklahoma Officially Rocks
by Sophia Dembling | 03.03.09 | 10:55 AM ET
Like I’ve been telling you, Oklahoma rocks. “Do You Realize??” by the Flaming Lips has been voted the state’s official rock song, beating out other Oklahoman-written rockers “Heartbreak Hotel,” “After Midnight,” “Never Been to Spain” (but, if you will recall, “I’ve been to Oklahoma”) and others. Read about the finalists, then listen to the winner on the Flaming Lips’ website or in concert video after the jump.
Morning Links: A ‘Tropical Havisham Enigma,’ iPhone Travel Apps and More
by Michael Yessis | 03.03.09 | 9:54 AM ET
- Pico Iyer investigates a “tropical Havisham enigma” in southern Sri Lanka.
- There’s a good reason why airline passengers lost fewer bags in 2008.
- Roger Yu evaluates some iPhone travel applications.
- Gulliver asks: “How will the recession affect green business travel?”
- Forbes lists America’s worst intersections.
- The fine Southwest has to pay for flying those planes that had missed safety checks: $7.5 million.
- The “very unconventional” lodging at Pixel Hotel Linz is spread all over the Austrian city. (via This Just In)
- Finally, here’s a look at the art of yarn bombing—“improving the urban landscape one stitch at a time”—in Vancouver B.C.
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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.
What Not to do When Late for a Flight
by Rob Verger | 03.02.09 | 3:27 PM ET
The best thing not to do, when it’s clear you’ve missed your flight, is to pretend to be an air marshal.
A Good Time for a Flyover Vacation
by Sophia Dembling | 03.02.09 | 2:57 PM ET
Now is a great time to plan a vacation in a flyover state. Southwest Airlines and AirTran have kicked off what’s likely to be a spate of domestic fare sales and USA Today reports that convention hotels are hungry for business. This adds up to bargains on domestic vacations.
And here’s a story to clip and carry on your trip: The Chicago Tribune polled baristas at a coffee competition for the best places to get a fine cuppa Joe in several flyover cities. Very useful. (By the way, they agreed that there is no good coffee in New Orleans. Really?)