Destination: United States
Oscars Tourism Tips, or How to Stalk Celebrities Like the Paparazzi
by Jim Benning | 02.07.07 | 1:40 PM ET
Yes, apparently there is such a thing as “Oscars tourism.” Here’s but one bit of creepy advice—um, I mean a savvy insider tip—from an Associated Press story about how to plan a trip to Hollywood for the Academy Awards and spot celebrities: “Wander around. Don’t look like a tourist, but bring a camera. Stars could be lurking around any corner. Even hanging out in the valet line has its perks. Waiting for my sister-in-law and her husband to join us for drinks, we saw rapper Tyrese stroll by and actress Finola Hughes gave us a wave and a smile. Hardly an A-list spotting, but it was a start.”
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Yahoo! BuzzAs President George W. Bush’s Popularity Sinks, Tourism Takes a Hit in Crawford, Texas
by Michael Yessis | 02.07.07 | 11:55 AM ET
Two summers ago, during the height of Cindy Sheehan’s anti-war protests near President George W. Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch, I took an impromptu detour off I-35 on the way to Dallas and drove into town. Only 700 or so people live in Crawford, and there’s not much to it beyond a few dusty buildings, but with all the protesters (including protesters protesting the protesters), TV news crews, souvenir shoppers and curiosity seekers like me, it took some time to pass through. Crawford was buzzing unlike any small town I’ve ever seen. It turns out that the town once had a thriving little tourism business built around its connection to the president. But now, according to an AP story by Angela K. Brown, Crawford is struggling.
Mexican Migrant Theme Park: Homage or Crass Attraction?
by Jim Benning | 02.05.07 | 9:07 AM ET
Last September, we noted the bizarre theme park of sorts outside Mexico City that aims to recreate the experience of crossing the border illegally, complete with a long hike, fake migra and sirens. The New York Times took a crack at the story Sunday, sending a writer along for the experience. Since operators began offering the four-hour nighttime hikes (or caminatas) a few years ago, about 3,000 tourists, mostly Mexican, have paid about $18 a pop for the experience, writes Patrick O’Gilfoil Healy. “The idea of tourists’ aping illegal immigrants can seem crass, like Marie Antoinette playing peasant on the grounds of Versailles,” he writes. “But the guides describe the caminata as an homage to the path immigrants have beaten across the border.”
Dave Barry’s Miami: ‘¿Usted Piensa Que Conseguiré Mi Equipaje a Tiempo Para el Tazón Estupendo?’
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.07 | 1:30 PM ET
Super-hyped Super Bowl XLI takes place this Sunday in Miami, as you probably know. Pulizer Prize-winner and sometime travel writer Dave Barry lives in the city, and this week he’s written a guide for all those traveling to South Florida. “Welcome to Miami, Super Bowl visitors!” Barry writes in the Miami Herald. “You are going to have a wonderful time, from the moment you arrive in our magical city, until the moment you discover that your wallet is missing.” Barry’s advice ranges from learning some phrases to communicate with the Spanish-speaking locals to navigating South Beach.
‘On the Road in America’: Can a Reality Travel Show Improve the Image of the U.S.?
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.07 | 1:16 PM ET
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: The Explorers
by Michael Yessis | 02.02.07 | 9:38 AM ET
Travelers appear top of mind this week, not destinations. The journeys of Daisann McLane, Bill Bryson, Paulina Porizkova, Martin Sargent, celebrity watchers and Dora the Explorer lead off the Zeitgeist.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Daisann McLane: ‘Learning Cantonese’ in Hong Kong
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel Song Medley by Dora the Explorer
Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Paulina Porizkova: A Model Traveler
Most Read Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Oscars Tourism: Celebrity Sightings and a Hotel Within Gawking Distance of the Red Carpet
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* We like this book.
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Area-Daily.com Launches
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Farecast
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods
Most Dugg Travel Podcast
Digg (current)
Martin Sargent: Web Drifter
Is the U.S. Treating Tourists Like Terrorists?
by Jim Benning | 02.01.07 | 10:54 AM ET
Whenever I fly home from a trip overseas and am herded into immigration and customs lines at the airport, usually by stone-faced officers hollering instructions at the top of their lungs, I’m always struck by just how cold and unwelcoming the feds make the arrival process. I don’t expect to be greeted with chocolates by security officials, but I just don’t encounter the same level of hostility when I arrive in other countries. I always wonder what’s going through the minds of travelers coming to the U.S. for the first time. According to a CNN report, it turns out that many potential visitors may not be coming to the U.S. at all because of just such issues here and at U.S. offices abroad. Overseas travel to the U.S. has dropped 17 percent since 9/11. Travel industry leaders blame the government and are calling for changes. “International travelers will tell you that they find that they are treated like criminals, that they are barked at by U.S. officials,” said Geoffrey Freeman of the Discover America Partnership. “They simply feel unwelcome and that is leading them to choose other countries.”
Is Getting a Passport Patriotic?
by Jim Benning | 01.30.07 | 4:02 PM ET
John Flinn thinks so, and he’s baffled that only 20 to 25 percent of Americans have passports, especially given their illustrious history in the U.S. “After the revolution…citizens of the newly minted United States of America considered foreign travel to be one of their inalienable rights. Just about any public official—even mayors—could, and did, issue passports,” he writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. While a right to a passport is not covered in the Constitution, Flinn notes that courts have always upheld a citizen’s right to travel. “As an American in 2007,” he writes,” you have the freedom and ability to see more of the world than even the crowned heads of Europe could in the 19th century. Don’t blow this opportunity. Go get your passport. Now.” Hear, hear.
Related on World Hum:
* It’s Jan. 23. Do You Know Where Your Passport Is?
* Need a New Passport? Bill the Caribbean.
* National Passport Month: It’s About Time, No?
Photo by Michael Yessis.
Bryan Curtis: ‘My Dinner With Zagat’
by Michael Yessis | 01.30.07 | 8:48 AM ET
Slate’s ‘Middlebrow’ columnist Bryan Curtis spent an evening out in New York City with Tim and Nina Zagat, which he describes as “a bit like sailing the coast of South America with Ferdinand Magellan.” The Zagats are the publishers of some of the most influential dining guides in the United States, and Curtis’s excursion provides much insight into their powers. Their books are everywhere, and when you’re a Zagat, an open table in a crowded restaurant and fawning fellow diners seem the norm.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Celebrations and the ‘Soccer People’
by Michael Yessis | 01.26.07 | 9:14 AM ET
Happy Australia Day! This week online travelers are going Down Under, up Mount Everest and around the world via Clarkston, Georgia. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
‘The Soccer People’: Heartbreak and Triumph in Clarkston, Georgia
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (current)
Melburnians Celebrate Australia Day
* Among the highlights of the day for Australians: Whipping England at cricket.
Best Travel Magazine
North American Travel Journalism Association Awards (2006)
Budget Travel
* The list of winners includes National Geographic Traveler (best online travel magazine) and St. Louis Post-Dispatch (best newspaper travel section).
Most Blogged Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Site Calculates Risk Factors for Travelers
* It’s a joint project by “researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, with support from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.”
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Travel With Rick Steves
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Travel Like a Pro: 8 Tips To Make Your Journey Easier
Most Read Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Online Oracles Promise to Ease Your Airfare Angst
* An overview and comparison of Farecast, Farecompare, Kayak, Hotwire and Airfarewatchdog.
Macau Surpasses Las Vegas as Gambling Mecca
by Michael Yessis | 01.24.07 | 9:20 AM ET
The numbers are staggering: Macau’s gambling revenue rose from $2 billion in 2001 to $6.95 billion in 2006, and this year analysts predict a take of $8 billion. Las Vegas took in $6.5 billion in 2006. Why is Macau booming? According to a New York Times story, liberalized Chinese travel policies have helped spur growth.
Maui Locals to MTV: We’re Not All White Deviants Who Prey on Tourists
by Jim Benning | 01.23.07 | 2:48 PM ET
Overseas Travel to U.S. Down 17 Percent Since 9/11 Attacks
by Jim Benning | 01.23.07 | 1:48 PM ET
The cost to the U.S.? More than $15 billion in lost taxes and nearly 200,000 jobs, according to a study released today.
‘Paris Syndrome’: The New York City Strain?
by Michael Yessis | 01.23.07 | 1:00 PM ET
The New York Post had some fun with a recent story about Japanese tourists in France who succumb to Paris Syndrome. The paper titled its piece Paris Leaves Japanese French Fried. Now the New Yorker’s Lauren Collins is on the case, wondering if there’s a New York City version of the syndrome that leaves travelers to the City of Light overwhelmed and in need of psychological treatment. An officer at the Japanese Consulate “does not believe in the existence of Paris syndrome, or, for that matter, a New York strain,” Collins writes, but she does report that Japanese visitors to the Big Apple do have certain traits.
‘The Soccer People’: Heartbreak and Triumph in Clarkston, Georgia
by Michael Yessis | 01.22.07 | 8:47 AM ET
We write often about how soccer explains the world. Here’s another post, one that tells the story of an amazing soccer team based in a small town near Atlanta. Team name: The Fugees. “The Fugees are indeed all refugees, from the most troubled corners—Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burundi, Congo, Gambia, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan,” writes Warren St. John in a front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times. “Some have endured unimaginable hardship to get here: squalor in refugee camps, separation from siblings and parents. One saw his father killed in their home.”