Destination: United States
Outside Magazine Returns ‘Into the Wild’
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.07 | 10:25 AM ET
Based on Outside’s coverage of Sean Penn’s upcoming film adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” I’m upgrading my hopes about its quality. Christopher Keyes visited the set and compiled an oral history of the making of the movie for the September issue. He reveals that Penn has the support of the family of the movie’s subject, Christopher McCandless, and was apparently meticulous with the details of the story.
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Yahoo! Buzz30 Years After Elvis’s Death, Graceland Set For $250 Million Makeover
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.07 | 11:26 AM ET
Or, as the groan-inducing headline in the Los Angeles Times reads, Graceland About to Get All Shook Up. According to the AP, CKX Inc., the company that controls Elvis Presley’s name and image as well as Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, plans a new visitors center, a convention hotel and a museum with high-tech displays. “As great as it is,” CKX Chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman said of Graceland, “it can be so much better.” The project will take approximately three years.
Highway Signs and the ‘Corporate Identity of a Country’
by Michael Yessis | 08.13.07 | 10:55 AM ET
Of course we all want highway signs to be easy to read, and thanks to the efforts of Don Meeker and James Montalbano, two designers profiled in a terrific New York Times Magazine story, that may soon be the case throughout the United States. The duo developed a font called Clearview, which, writes Joshua Yaffa, “is poised to replace Highway Gothic, the standard that has been used on signs across the country for more than a half-century.” Clearview will allow drivers to read signs a few seconds earlier, particularly at night, which can make all the difference safety-wise. At the same time, the change of font will have an enormous effect on the image of the United States.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Less Money, More Adventure
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.07 | 2:54 PM ET
Lisbon, Portugal (pictured) and the rest of Europe are top of mind this week—particularly Europe on the cheap. The Big Apple, the debut of Virgin America and the Island of Tiki round out the Zeitgiest. Have a look.
“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Lisbon, Portugal
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
10 Ways to Keep Europe Within Reach
* We’ve unearthed some fine tips, too.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
10 Ways to Keep Europe Within Reach
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Beautiful Places with Tony Farley
* This week: North Dome
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
James Teitelbaum: Escape to the Isle of Tiki
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
New York Shopping: The Best of the Big Apple
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
How I Scored a New U.S. Passport in One Day
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Virgin America Returns the Frills to Flying
‘Egypt Hearts Becks’: Notes from David Beckham’s MLS Debut
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.07 | 1:31 PM ET
Photos by Michael Yessis.
I’ve attended a German Bundesliga game in Hamburg, a Japanese J-League game in Osaka and a Mexico-Argentina friendly in Los Angeles, which, during 90 minutes of “Si se puede” chants, could have passed for Mexico. The atmosphere at last night’s D.C. United-Los Angeles Galaxy match in Washington D.C.—the Major League Soccer debut of David Beckham—was equal to any of those games in electricity, sometimes greater. The three Brits sitting in front of us said it exceeded the atmosphere at most Premiership matches in England, where Beckham first made his name and gave birth to his global cult.
Happy 100th Birthday, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
by Terry Ward | 08.09.07 | 9:31 AM ET
I could practically smell the funnel cake and picture the big wheel turning while reading this nostalgia-inducing AP piece about the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. When I visited the northern California beach town several years back, I recall being surprisingly moved by the sight of the old-school Ferris wheel, set just back from the sand. (You’d think a girl from Orlando would be harder to impress.) While other iconic seaside attractions in spots such as Coney Island and Atlantic City are shutting shop, according to the AP report, Santa Cruz’s good times gathering ground appears to be here to stay.
Tabloid Travel Headline of the Day: ‘A Flying Monkey: Simian Smuggled Aboard Plane’
by Michael Yessis | 08.08.07 | 10:31 AM ET
The headline comes from the New York Post. The monkey flew to the Big Apple from Lima, Peru via Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a passenger on Spirit Airlines. “Spirit,” as the airline opportunistically called the baby marmoset, was apparently the size of a person’s fist and hid under the man’s hat. “Other passengers asked the man if he knew he had a monkey on him,” said Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell. If the man didn’t know, then that’s a different story.
Family Friendly Las Vegas Swimming Pools
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 2:43 PM ET
The Los Angeles Times offers its take on Las Vegas’s top six pools for families. Among those making the list: Flamingo Las Vegas (“a 15-acre tropical oasis with four pools amid pounding waterfalls and mature foliage”); Golden Nugget (“teems with real sea life and a three-story water slide”); MGM Grand (“five pools in a 6.6-acre water complex”); and Mandalay Bay (“kudos for putting 6-foot-high swells in the middle of the desert”). For the true budget-minded Vegas pool connoisseur who delights in variety, of course, there’s always pool-crashing.
Joe Bravo’s Tortilla Art on a Roll
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 1:03 PM ET
Out: ‘Dr. 90210.’ In: Cirugía Plástica en Guadalajara.
by Ben Keene | 08.07.07 | 11:00 AM ET
Thailand and India have already staked their claim to the growing medical tourism market, and according to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, Mexico appears to be the next country cashing in. Sara Miller Llana reports that price, proximity and a large number of American retirees in the state of Jalisco have helped make it—and the capital city in particular—the destination of choice for those looking for a nip and a tuck.
R.I.P. Rock ‘n’ Roll Balconies at Hyatt ‘Riot House’
by Jim Benning | 08.06.07 | 2:46 PM ET
Reports ‘Laurel Canyon’ author Michael Walker: “The textured concrete balconies (above) from which Led Zeppelin and entourage hurled bottles of Dom Perignon, Zeppelin drummer John Bonham teetered and singer Robert Plant crowed ‘I’m a golden god!’ (immortalized in Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous’) are being ripped out like so many meth-rotted teeth as part of a $24 million renovation of the property.” The West Hollywood hotel on the Sunset Strip is replacing the balconies with glass that will enclose the rooms. That might be an improvement to the property, but writes Walker: “[I]t’s always mournful when another little piece of L.A.‘s anarchic rock and roll heart is taken away.” The changes are part of a larger trend, Walker e-mails:
Iowa Town Pins Hopes on ‘American Gothic’ Tourism
by Michael Yessis | 08.06.07 | 12:05 PM ET
Grant Wood’s American Gothic hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, but the house in the iconic 1930 painting still stands in Eldon, Iowa, a town of 975 people in the state’s southeast corner. To boost its struggling economy, Eldon used government grants, bake sales and raffles to fund a $1 million visitors center it hopes will help keep travelers in town for longer than it takes to pose in front of the house with a pitchfork.
Why Don’t Americans Take Vacations? This Land is Already ‘Leisure Land.’
by Michael Yessis | 08.06.07 | 10:57 AM ET
That’s the half-baked argument of
Up in the Air author and sometime travel commentator Walter Kirn. He writes in a part-serious, part-amusing, part-you’ll-yank-your-hair-out piece in Sunday’s New York Times magazine: “Grasping the truth about why more Americans are taking holidays from their vacations is as easy as stepping outside your workplace (the lushest of which tempt employees to stay inside by offering lap pools, massage rooms and the like) and seeing that the recuperative promises of the old-style extended getaway—the cleansing, amusing, soothing, stamina-raising therapeutic interludes that Eleanor Roosevelt once touted as a way for Americans ‘to build up health and resistance’—are redeemable everywhere, in every form and so close by that it’s a wonder thousand-mile drives in gear-packed station wagons still take place at all.”
How I Scored a New U.S. Passport in One Day
by Terry Ward | 08.06.07 | 10:40 AM ET
When my car was stolen in Miami a few weeks ago with everything I own inside (as usual, I was between homes), my passport was among the things I lost. With all the nightmare stories of passport backlogs and international dream vacations canceled, it seemed to be the worst moment to be applying for a new passport. But I needed that little blue book back in my command ASAP. What I found was surprising.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: From Cinque Terre to the Great Barrier Reef
by Michael Yessis | 08.03.07 | 2:05 PM ET
Iconic destinations in Italy, Australia, California and the Pacific Ocean are at the top of travelers’ minds this week, as well as a topic that’s more controversial than Hillary Clinton. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in the Cinque Terre, Italy
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
The Lost World of Nigeria
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Through the Roof: A Tour of the Country’s Priciest Hotel Suite
* The cost to stay in the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York? $30,000 a night.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Exploring the Great Barrier Reef
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
Voluntourism: ‘Overpriced Guilt Trips’ or a ‘Real Chance to Save the World’?
“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Hawaii
Most Viewed Travel Post
BlogHer (current)
The W Hotel: Form over Function?