Destination: United States
Oprah Winfrey, Amanda Congdon and the New Golden Age of the Cross-Country Road Trip
by Michael Yessis | 10.17.06 | 7:01 AM ET
The coast-to-coast drive hasn't been this hot in 50 years. Michael Yessis explores why it's back -- and how travelers just might produce the next "On the Road" on the Internet.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzJapan’s “Freeters” Take Manhattan
by Michael Yessis | 10.16.06 | 6:40 AM ET
Freeters are “a Japanese version of slackers,” and according to a great story in Sunday’s New York Times, they’re escaping their home country’s societal pressures by running off to New York City to explore the arts. “In Tokyo bookstores, guides like ‘Finding Yourself in New York,’ and ‘The ‘I Love New York’ Book of Dreams’ fuel the fantasies of those [who] follow in [D.J.] Kaori’s footsteps,” writes Sheridan Prasso. “In an indication that a phenomenon has truly taken off, there’s a contrarian title, ‘Even If You Live in New York, You Won’t Be Happy.’” According to the story, more Japanese live in New York than any city outside Japan.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Triumph and Tragedy
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.06 | 8:02 AM ET
This week we’re paying tribute to literary feats, vintage air travel and the victims of tragedies in Moscow and New York. Here’s the Zeitgeist:
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk
* Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature Thursday, and it sent his travel book to the top. No similar bump for Peter Hessler’s Oracle Bones. After its nomination for a National Book Award, its Amazon ranking among travel books stands at No. 26.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Rick Steves’ Europe: Packing for Women
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
Fueling Desire
* The best story ever about jet fuel as travel aphrodisiac.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum
R.I.P. Anna Politkovskaya
Most Dugg World News Story
Digg (this week)
Aircraft Crashes into NYC Building
Most E-mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Cabbies, culture clash at Minn. airport
Traveler Buzz Video
Yahoo! Current Traveler (today)
Vintage Airline Commercials
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Pulled Pork, Pulled Corks in North Carolina
World’s Most Expensive Restaurant
Forbes (2006)
Aragawa, a steak house in Tokyo’s Shinbashi district
* The cost for one person to dine? $368. Yikes. Now, for the not-so-rich among us…
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
Best budget restaurant in Tokyo
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Kelefa Sanneh on “The Hold Steady States of America”
by Michael Yessis | 10.02.06 | 3:02 AM ET
We mentioned last month that the title of The Hold Steady’s new album—“Boys and Girls in America”—comes from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The album comes out this week, and today New York Times music writer Kelefa Sanneh profiled the gruff, beery band from a great angle: He looked at the band as travelers and prowlers of America’s “shady neighborhoods.” Online, an interactive map of The Hold Steady’s America features clips from songs about cities across the country, including Chicago, Minneapolis and Ybor City in Tampa, Florida.
Staten Island, Argentina
by Jim Benning | 09.29.06 | 2:03 PM ET
Coordinates: 54 40 S 64 30 W
Area: 209 sq. mi. (541 sq. km)
Mention Staten Island and most people will conjure images of the lower Manhattan skyline, or maybe the long, graceful curve of the massive suspension bridge linking it to Brooklyn. Fewer think of goat herders, seal hunters, and the cold, humid climate at the opposite end of the Atlantic. And yet in name, the more famous Staten of New York has a twin, larger in size but much smaller in population, just to the east of South America’s southernmost tip. Part of the sprawling Tierra del Fuego archipelago, Isla de los Estados, as the island is known in Argentina, lies less than 100 miles from the entrance to the Beagle Channel, a waterway that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and serves as an alternate route for sailors wishing to avoid Cape Horn’s rougher seas.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Beppe, Borat, Bungees and Bunnies
by Michael Yessis | 09.29.06 | 8:03 AM ET
Beppe Severgnini returns to the top, and so does the Playboy Club. Travelers and armchair travelers have an eye on both this week as the Zeitgeist ventures to Oaxaca, New Zealand, Italy, Colorado and the 52nd floor of the Palms in Las Vegas.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind by Beppe Severgnini
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (current)
Farecast
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Where the Moon Stood Still, and the Ancients Watched (Chimney Rock, Colorado)
* The current most e-mailed story overall at the New York Times, however, is our kind of travel story: Kazakhs Shrug at ‘Borat’ While the State Fumes
Michael Hess: The ‘On the Road’ Google Maps Mashup
by Michael Yessis | 09.27.06 | 7:18 AM ET
Almost fifty years after the publication of Jack Kerouac's definitive road novel, Michael Yessis talks to the man bringing Sal Paradise into the Internet age
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: This One Goes to Eleven
by Michael Yessis | 09.22.06 | 7:34 AM ET
You, Bono, The Edge and Neil Peart really brought the rock this week. Where did you bring it? Miami, Barcelona, Madrid, New York, Las Vegas and China. Time to crank up the Zeitgiest and find out what’s been intriguing travelers and armchair travelers.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Neil Peart
* Yes, that’s the drummer and lyricist from Rush. Here are some excerpts from “Roadshow.”
World’s Busiest Airline Route
OAG (September)
Barcelona-Madrid
World’s Sexiest City
Gridskipper (poll)
New York City
Most Viewed Video
Yahoo! | Current Traveler (this week)
“A Day in the life of The Edge: Part 1”
* Here are part two and part three.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Footloose and Boot Free: Barefoot Hiking
Top-Rated Travel Podcast
PodcastAlley (September)
The Strip
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Condo-hotels create risks, opportunities for buyers
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Oprah Takes a Road Trip, Pumps Gas For First Time Since 1983
* Oprah and Gayle? Not so rock ‘n’ roll. Their sing-along artist of choice on their road trip? Celine Dion.
Most Viewed Weblog Category
World Hum (this week)
China
No. 1 World Music Download
iTunes (current)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
“Best Song About Travel”
* Hint: It’s not by Celine Dion. Or Rush. Or U2. Though A Sort of Homecoming should at least be considered for any list of great travel-themed songs.
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
The Winding Road to Joshua Tree
by Deanne Stillman | 09.21.06 | 1:05 PM ET
Photo by Galen Hunt. She moved to Los Angeles, found herself in the midst of a personal monsoon and began skipping dinner parties. Then Deanne Stillman rearranged her life around trips to her new church: Joshua Tree National Park.
Yahoo!, Current Debut “Traveler” Video Channel
by Michael Yessis | 09.21.06 | 7:06 AM ET
Yahoo! Current Traveler, one of four channels launched this week by the partnership between the Internet giant and the Al Gore-backed upstart cable network, features amateur and professional travel videos—and, perhaps in a category all by himself, videos by U2’s Bono.
Stephen Colbert’s New York City Travel Tips for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
by Michael Yessis | 09.20.06 | 10:17 PM ET
The President of Iran was in New York City this week to address the United Nations. Ever the gracious host, Stephen Colbert had some recommendations on places to go. Among them: Scores and Katz’s Delicatessen. The video of the entire itinerary is at the Comedy Central Web site.
Passports and Privacy: Here Come the RFID Chips
by Michael Yessis | 09.18.06 | 3:15 PM ET
As if we needed more to worry about when we’re traveling. Soon the United States, like many other countries, will start embedding radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips into all of its citizens’ passports, where it will store electronic copies of your digital photo and other relevant information. “By itself, this is no problem,” Bruce Schneier writes in a scary op-ed piece in the Washington Post. “But RFID chips don’t have to be plugged in to a reader to operate. Like the chips used for automatic toll collection on roads or automatic fare collection on subways, these chips operate via proximity. The risk to you is the possibility of surreptitious access: Your passport information might be read without your knowledge or consent by a government trying to track your movements, a criminal trying to steal your identity or someone just curious about your citizenship.”
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Pool Crashing, Soda Pop and “Pizza Jason”
by Michael Yessis | 09.15.06 | 8:04 AM ET
After last week’s end-of-summer blues and 9/11 remembrances, seems like travelers and armchair travelers are in a happier mood, ready to eat and drink and crash some pools. Where? Looks like the world’s classic destinations are still in style. Here comes your zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Story
World Hum (this week)
* Jason Wilson: One Traveler, Three Dishes Named “Jason”
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
* Los Angeles: Galco’s Soda Pop Store
Destination of the Year
PlanetOut Travel Awards (2006)
* Spain
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
* Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
* The Art of Pool Crashing in Las Vegas
Cover Story From a Glossy Travel Magazine
Conde Nast Traveler (September issue)
* Insider’s Guide to New York City
Favorite Country for Holidays
Conde Nast Traveller UK Reader’s Poll
* Italy
Most Viewed “Travel & Places” Video
YouTube (this week)
* “Welcome to Aggieland”
Most Popular Site Tagged “Travel”
del.icio.us (current)
* TravelPost’s Airport Wireless Internet Access Guide
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
* A happier place than the happiest place on earth
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Let Us Now Praise the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act
by Ben Keene | 09.14.06 | 5:00 PM ET
“Most Americans probably think Denmark is the capital of Sweden.” Sure, the remark was made somewhat in jest, but Tobias, the Dane I had just met while sitting outside of a pub in Aarhus on a crisp evening last weekend, had a point. As 2006 enters the home stretch, most of us Americans still don’t have a passport. The encouraging news, however, is that a bill currently under consideration by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and sponsored by Roger Wicker of Mississippi could reduce the frequency of such geography-related jokes in the future. If passed, the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act would “improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 12 students in the United States” by establishing a geography education grant program. House bill 5519 still has a long way to go before it’s signed into law, but I’m cautiously hopeful. At the very least, we owe it to the Swedes—er, I mean the Danes.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
Out: Palm Trees. In: Oak Trees.
by Jim Benning | 09.14.06 | 1:36 PM ET
Few features define the Los Angeles landscape more than towering palms. They’re the stuff of postcard images. They earn appreciative nods in just about every L.A. travel story—a quick Google search turned up this gem: “From sun, sand and palm trees, to hiking and biking in the mountains, the Los Angeles area has something for everyone.” But according to city officials, they couldn’t be less environmentally correct or more expensive. As a result, few of the dying trees planted before the 1932 Olympics are being replaced by young palms. A USA Today story about this—and how oaks just might become L.A.‘s new palms—offers a fascinating glimpse into the way economics and changing environmental attitudes can re-shape a landscape.