Destination: United States
Chris Doyle: The Art of Jumping on Beds and the ‘50,000 Beds’ Project
by Michael Yessis | 07.20.07 | 9:48 AM ET
Photo of Chris Doyle, courtesy of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Forty-five artists shot videos and films in hotel rooms. Michael Yessis asks the man behind the effort what intrigues him about hotel rooms, as well as the seductiveness of jumping on hotel room beds.
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Yahoo! BuzzVirgin America Offers First U.S. Bookings
by Terry Ward | 07.19.07 | 3:21 PM ET
My phone is Virgin Mobile. I still have the slippers I got flying to London from Orlando on Virgin Atlantic. And as of today, I can start booking domestic flights on Virgin America. All of us can. Forget Posh and Becks—Richard Branson has just arrived, America. Tickets went on sale at 6 a.m. this morning for the first flights next month on the British billionaire’s start-up airline venture.
Makeover Planned for Honolulu’s Diamond Head
by Michael Yessis | 07.19.07 | 12:03 PM ET
The Hawaiian icon—you may have seen it on a T-shirt or a bottle of wine or, perhaps, in your own photo just like the one above—will undergo a multi-million dollar makeover to, among other things, improve safety around the volcanic crater. Diamond Head has apparently been doing what geological formations are known to do: shed rocks. In May, according to the Honolulu Advertiser, a rockfall injured a woman who was picnicking at the base of Diamond Head.
Tons of Goods Confiscated by TSA Equal Thousands for State Coffers
by Michael Yessis | 07.18.07 | 12:32 PM ET
We touched on this early last year, but who knew it would become a big bucks business? Turns out all those outlawed items TSA agents take from air passengers at security checkpoints have become a solid source of revenue for states. From a story by Paulo Prada in the Wall Street Journal: “Pennsylvania, which collects goods at 13 airports including New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, says it collects a total of 2.5 tons of TSA goods a month and that the items, sold on eBay, since 2004 have raised $360,000 for state coffers, as of June.”
Frommer: America’s ‘War on Tourists’ Waged with Red Tape
by Jim Benning | 07.16.07 | 7:56 AM ET
Foreign tourism to the U.S. is down 10 percent since 2000, costing the U.S. billions of dollars in revenue. Why? “The overwhelming consensus of the WTTC [World Travel & Tourism Conference in Lisbon] was that we have made it extraordinarily difficult for most foreign tourists to obtain visas for travel into the United States,” writes Arthur Frommer in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune. “In some countries, it requires several weeks simply to make an appointment to apply for such a visa at a U.S. consulate. Let me repeat that: Not only is the application process a time-consuming procedure, but it requires a several-week wait for an appointment to apply for the visa!” Now, he adds, further delays are being proposed. The nation’s inability to improve the system, he concludes, is a “catastrophic oversight.”
How Do Americans Struggle With Vacations? Let Us Count the Ways.
by Jim Benning | 07.13.07 | 12:25 PM ET
This week’s Onion chronicles a few ways, with stories such as Longtime Married Couple Subjected to Excruciating ‘Romantic Weekend Getaway’ and Acid Trip Better Planned Than Vacation. While the latter headline seems just a tad ridiculous, a recent AP story suggests that many Americans just aren’t planning long vacations at all these days. (Not surprisingly, the AP neglected to cover acid trip preparation habits.) “A recent study by Orbitz, the online travel company, found a drop in the number of people taking three-week or two-week vacations and an increase in those taking a week or less,” the AP reports. “One-third of respondents said they took five or fewer days of vacation in the past year. One in four of those surveyed said they felt their bosses did not encourage them to take vacations, and one in three said they stayed connected with their office via phone or computer while on holiday.” Further evidence, sadly, that for too many Americans, summer has become the “vacation deprivation” season.
Photo by Whining Pom via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
U.S. Embassy in Italy: Naples Stinks!
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.07 | 7:17 AM ET
There’s some serious trash talk going on in Italy. The U.S. Embassy issued a warning earlier this week urging Americans to avoid Naples and its suburbs because they “may encounter mounds of garbage, open fires with potentially toxic fumes, and/or sporadic public demonstrations by local residents attempting to block access to dumps.” Naples, it turns out, is in the midst of a garbage crisis. Trash service has been disrupted since May, according to reports. Dumpsters are overflowing, and those that aren’t are allegedly controlled by the camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. And doing business with the camorra will cost you some euros.
‘Hey America, Make With the !@~$ High-Speed Rail Already’
by Michael Yessis | 07.12.07 | 11:24 AM ET
I want my country to develop a high-speed rail system. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives transportation committee want it. According to the AP, Amtrak president Alex Kummant testified to the rail subcommittee yesterday that he’s “enthusiastic about a major high-speed corridor.” Chances are you want high-speed rail, too, whether you’re a resident of the U.S. or a traveler who visits the country and ends up spending 12 hours on a train from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Yet, nothing happens. Actually, there’s something happening. In China.
R.I.P. Lady Bird Johnson
by Jim Benning | 07.11.07 | 10:08 PM ET
Among the many accomplishments of Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady of the United States who died this afternoon at the age of 94: helping to beautify the American landscape, including highways.
Hemingway Cats Have ‘Historic, Social and Tourism Significance’
by Jim Benning | 07.10.07 | 1:36 PM ET
In a World Hum story about visiting Ernest Hemingway’s old Key West house, Doug Mack noted that each one of the dozens of cats residing there has “a calm but vaguely sinister look on its face, creating a mildly Hitchcockian scene.” That scene—made all the more Hitchcockian because some of the cats famously have six toes—has been at the center of a controversy ever since the USDA claimed the historic site is an “exhibitor” of cats and requires a special license. But now, the house has won some support from the Key West City Commission.
What Happens at JFK Doesn’t Stay at JFK
by Michael Yessis | 07.10.07 | 12:10 PM ET
Delayed in London? Blame JFK. Stuck on the tarmac in Dallas? Blame JFK. Eat a tasteless, overpriced sandwich in Orlando? Blame JFK. Maybe not everything miserable about air travel is JFK’s fault, but a lot of it seems to be. “JFK, one of the nation’s most storied airports—and the most popular for flights into and out of this country—is choking on delays, creating a ripple effect throughout the U.S. aviation system,” writes USA Today’s Alan Levin, who takes a long look at the “vexing problems” surrounding New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Pleasure of an All-American Hamburger—In Egypt
by Julia Ross | 07.09.07 | 8:55 AM ET
I just spent my first Fourth of July outside the U.S., and I found myself craving something hot off the backyard grill, slathered with all the fixins. Oh, to have access to a place like Lucille’s, which, according to Time’s Cairo Bureau Chief, serves the best all-American burger this side of, well, anywhere. In a Postcard from Cairo, Scott MacLeod pays homage to his favorite greasy spoon, located in the city’s Maadi district and run by an up-by-her-bootstraps American woman—Lucille—who he likens to Erin Brockovich. Lucille’s draws its share of U.S. expats hungry for a taste of home (she even serves a little Tex-Mex), but its no-alcohol and halal meat-only policies have been a big hit with locals; 70 percent of the diner’s customers are Egyptian.
China to Become World’s Top Tourism Destination by 2014
by Michael Yessis | 07.06.07 | 9:15 AM ET
So says the World Tourism Organization, according to an Agence France-Presse story. That’s six years earlier than the organization predicted earlier this year. At this point, I’m not most interested in when China will gain the top spot. I’m intrigued by the country’s amazing growth.
Travel and the Spirit of Independence
by Jim Benning | 07.03.07 | 5:55 PM ET
We’re taking the Fourth of July off, but we can’t help but reflect on some of our favorite Americana coverage over the last year or so, from the meaning of the term “Ugly American” and the new U.S. passport design to the revival of the great American cross-country road trip, the Grand Canyon Skywalk, the sounds of Jimmy Buffett and, naturally, the freedom to sink your teeth into some seriously good barbecue. (We’ll have to cover the pleasure of a good all-American breakfast burrito, such as the one pictured, for next year.) Herewith, some favorite World Hum links:
Is Getting a Passport Patriotic?
* We think so. Sure, the new design is a bit much and there’s a bit of a wait for new ones right now, but those are minor complaints in the big shrinking-planet scheme of things.
Is It Time to Retire ‘Ugly American’ From the Travel Lexicon?
* It’s worth considering. As a New York Times writer put it: “Let it be said that no group holds a monopoly on the title of ‘ugly.’”
The Roadside Motel: ‘Reinventing an American Icon’
* Classic old motels aren’t all disappearing. In fact, some are being bought up, restored and transformed into, yes, “boutique motels.”
Notes From the Barbecue Trail: From Lockhart, Texas to Lexington, North Carolina
* A celebration of brisket, sausage, ribs and even plastic knives.
Route 66 Hotels Face ‘Four-Lane, Divided Highway Called Progress’
* They desperately need some of that “boutique motel” love.
R.I.P. James Brown and R.I.P. (and Aloha) Don Ho
* Two great Americans who won’t soon be forgotten—the world over.
Jimmy Buffett at 60: Still Selling ‘Unsentimental’ Tropical Fantasies
* A sandal-shod American institution. How can you not love a guy who names an album “Banana Wind”?
A Former Peace Corps Volunteer as President?
* We don’t really believe Chris Dodd will be elected, but his campaign raises interesting questions about the value of experience abroad.
JetBlue’s New Blogger: C. Montgomery Burns
by Michael Yessis | 07.02.07 | 12:30 PM ET
It’s a publicity stunt, sure, but one that might help JetBlue get back some of its mojo after its February meltdown. As part of the massive hype for the upcoming The Simpsons Movie, C. Montgomery Burns—known best as Homer Simpson’s boss at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant—has taken over the blog of former JetBlue CEO David Neeleman. From his first entry: “Smithers entered my chambers this morning, toting wretched tales of congenial customer service and overly indulgent amenities on your JetBlue Airways. And for what… your precious passengers? Soon, the riff raff will demand ‘fair treatment’ from all corporate overlords, like myself. Well, not in my chemically prolonged life-time.”