Destination: United States
The Rise of Cancel-For-Work Travel Insurance: ‘Nothing is Sacred’
by Julia Ross | 11.20.07 | 10:12 AM ET
When Lisa Belkin booked a winter vacation online, she was surprised to see a new option pop up on her laptop screen: Would she be interested in extra travel insurance that covers trip cancellation for “work reasons”? Belkin’s reaction to the proposed upgrade, summed up in a recent New York Times column, resonates with the Blackberry-challenged among us: “My first thought—now that’s a policy I can use—was followed quickly by my second—it’s official: nothing is sacred.”
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Yahoo! BuzzReflections of Home
by World Hum | 11.18.07 | 12:12 PM ET
Photo by Rolf Potts. Rolf Potts returned to the Kansas prairie. Matt Gross landed in Brooklyn -- for now. The two travel writers reveal where they live, and how travel has influenced how they look at home.
See the full audio slideshow: »
A Vagabond Finds a Home
by Rolf Potts | 11.18.07 | 11:41 AM ET
Photo by Rolf Potts Rolf Potts finally has a place to call his own -- a double-wide overlooking the Kansas prairie. It's infused with the lessons he learned from 13 years living out of a backpack.
No Direction Home
by Matt Gross | 11.18.07 | 11:39 AM ET
Photo by Matt Gross. During the past three years, Matt Gross hasn't spent more than six weeks in one place. This Thanksgiving, he'll be on the road again. Recently, he asked himself: What does home mean when he feels perfectly at home in a distant land?
Hostelling Seeks to Honor 100th Anniversary With U.S. Postage Stamp
by Michael Yessis | 11.16.07 | 10:39 AM ET
German schoolteacher Richard Schirrmann started the hostelling movement in 1909, and throughout its history Australia, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan and Sweden have all honored it with commemorative postage stamps. Hostelling International USA wants the United States to join those countries for the 100th anniversary of hostelling, and it’s asking travelers to help by signing an online petition.
Record Setting Cross-Country Drive Enthralls, Scares Nation
by Michael Yessis | 11.16.07 | 9:27 AM ET
Alexander Roy seems like an idiot. But a media-savvy idiot. A month after first revealing to the world that he and his co-driver David Maher teamed to drive from New York City to Los Angeles in 31 hours and 4 minutes in 2006, the media have kept him and his reckless achievement in the spotlight. Wired devoted a big magazine spread and an online package to the road trip this month, and earlier this week National Public Radio weighed in with an 8 minute and 18 second piece on Roy and his epic ride.
Controversial Hawaii Superferry to Resume Operations
by Jim Benning | 11.15.07 | 12:50 PM ET
The saga of the Hawaii Superferry continues. The controversial 350-foot catamaran will resume operating in about two weeks, its CEO has announced. The ferry began carrying passengers and cars between a few Hawaiian islands last summer, offering an alternative to jet travel between islands, but it hasn’t operated for weeks as attorneys and officials debated its future. Environmentalists believe the ferry will harm whales, among other things.
Writer on Las Vegas Coverage: Enough With the Sin City Clichés!
by Jim Benning | 11.15.07 | 10:54 AM ET
From Tonga to Texas, Doing the Haka
by Jim Benning | 11.14.07 | 11:31 AM ET
Photo of Maori dance by Gaetan Lee via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Texas is not a place where you’d expect to see the haka—the war dance that originated with New Zealand’s Maori and is performed on a number of Polynesian islands. But that’s changing. The CBS Evening News aired a terrific segment last night on how the migration of Tongans to Dallas Fort-Worth, largely to work in the airline industry, has led one high school football team in the nearby city of Euless to take up the dance as a pre-game ritual.
R.I.P. New Frontier, Las Vegas Strip’s Second Hotel
by Jim Benning | 11.13.07 | 12:01 PM ET
Photo: AP
Las Vegas lost a piece of history early this morning. The New Frontier hotel-casino, which opened in 1942 and hosted Elvis Presley’s first performance in the city, was imploded to make way for a new megaresort scheduled to debut in 2011. The hotel’s destruction, along with that of the Stardust earlier this year, is part of a “dramatic, and expensive, facelift for the northern Strip,” writes the AP’s Ryan Nakashima. Real estate prices nearby have skyrocketed and several billion-dollar condo and resort developments—including one backed by Dubai World—are scheduled to open in the next several years.
Can’t Afford Europe? Take the A Train Instead.
by Julia Ross | 11.12.07 | 4:42 PM ET
If you’re a New Yorker pining for a week in Tuscany or Paris—but can’t face the prospect of an $8 soda—don’t despair: Cara O’Flynn has some tips for getting your Euro fix at home, all within steps of your nearest subway stop. While waiting for the dollar to rebound against the Euro, O’Flynn, a World Hum contributor writing in the New York Post, advises checking out the Alliance Francaise’s Cinema Tuesday series or the weekly flamenco theater Alegrias en la Nacional.
Top 10 Foreign Cities for Americans to Get Arrested
by Jim Benning | 11.12.07 | 12:07 PM ET
Photo by DavidDennis via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Where do Americans go to cut loose, have a good time and, oh, break a few foreign laws? Or, put another way, what foreign cities boast the most number of Americans taken into custody in 2006? Tijuana tops the list, with a whopping 520 Americans detained last year. Not surprisingly, many of them were young and drunk, according to Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, which published the list. Guadalajara ranked second with 416 arrests, and Nuevo Laredo ranked third, with 359. London and Mexico City followed, ranking fourth and fifth respectively. Only one Asian city made the list: Hong Kong ranked 10th, with 90 arrests.
The World’s Most Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotels: From the Amsterdam Hilton to the Chateau Marmont
by Michael Yessis | 11.09.07 | 11:23 AM ET
The Guardian’s Sean Dodson picks 10 sleeping giants of rock, including the spot where John Lennon and Yoko One had their “Bed-in for Peace” (Amsterdam Hilton), the hotel where Led Zeppelin chucked TVs out windows (the now de-balconied Hyatt Riot House, pictured, on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip) and the place where David Bowie lived in Berlin while recording “Low” and “Heroes” (Hotel Ellington). One obvious clunker: The Hotel Rival in Sweden, which is owned by Benny Anderson of ABBA fame. I’ve heard “Dancing Queen.” I’ve seen “Mamma Mia.” ABBA ain’t rock.
Have U.S. Travelers Been Price Gouged on Their Passports?
by Michael Yessis | 11.06.07 | 4:19 PM ET
Big time, according to U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Shumer (D-NY). They have released the results of a study by the Government Accountability Office that reveals travelers have been charged double on certain fees involved in the handling of passport applications by the State Department and the Postal Service. From the AP:
From New York City to Los Angeles, Michelin Aims to Crack Zagat’s Hold on U.S. Restaurant Guides
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.06.07 | 8:07 AM ET
For decades, travelers in the United States have favored the Zagat Survey to find restaurants. Like the popular hotel guide TripAdvisor, Zagat rates restaurants based on reviews from frequent diners. But now France’s storied Michelin guides are challenging Zagat in hotel and restaurant recommendations in the U.S., writes Adam Goldman of the AP. “Our star system is the measure against the world,” Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guides, told Goldman. “The chefs see us as the only independent benchmark.”