Tag: Travel Addiction

Eight Great Travel Stories of Serendipity and Kindness

Eight Great Travel Stories of Serendipity and Kindness Photo illustration by Jim Benning

To mark our eighth anniversary, we've collected eight favorite stories from our archives that show how one person, or one small act of kindness, can alter our sense of the world

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Risky Business: Playing the Numbers Game

Risky Business: Playing the Numbers Game REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

On the intersection of place, politics and culture

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Morning Links: Bible Park, Pizza Vending Machines and More

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Travel Nostalgia: The World in Vintage Posters

I’ve confessed to my abiding love of postcards before, and now I have another confession: I am a total sucker for the vintage travel poster and all its varied (fridge magnet, notebook, calendar, tote bag) incarnations. There’s something so refreshing about those old Cunard posters, or the early advertisements for transcontinental passenger rail. They have a guileless wonder to them, and a total lack of cynicism or irony—because they come from an era when nobody thought they had already seen it all. So I was thrilled to read on the Shoretrips blog about a major vintage poster auction being held in New York.

The auction’s already come and gone, but the entire collection is still viewable online. There are more than 400 posters in the sale, though, and only some of them are travel-related—so for all my fellow vintage-travel-poster-lovers (and I know you’re out there) I’ve put together a list of my favorites, and a cheat sheet for the rest.

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Morning Links: JetBlue Fare Refunds, America’s Emptiest Cities and More

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Morning Links: Vegas to L.A. High-Speed Rail, ‘the Gifts of Travel’ and More

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Exiled to America

Exiled to America Photo illustration by Adam Karlin

Adam Karlin tries to reconcile his love for the road and his love for home

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Morning Links: God and Jerry Springer in Italy, a Tourist in Falluja and More

Morning Links: God and Jerry Springer in Italy, a Tourist in Falluja and More Photo of U.S.-Mexico border by Allen Ormond, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo of U.S.-Mexico border by Allen Ormond, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

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Morning Links: Flushing the French Quarter, Car-Rental Madness and More

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How to Ring In an Ox Year

chinese new year of the ox Photo by bfishadow via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Photo by bfishadow via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Today, millions of Chinese usher in the Year of the Ox by lighting firecrackers, handing out cash-filled red envelopes, feasting on whole fish and texting friends, “Happy Niu Year,” a play on the Mandarin word for “ox,” pronounced “niu.” Me? I’m feeling nostalgic for my old flat in Taipei’s Muzha district, the sound of motor scooters buzzing until midnight, and the raucous atmosphere of Taiwan’s temples, where thousands will pray this week for an auspicious year ahead.

In mainland China, it’s a different story. The holiday period sees the world’s largest annual human migration, making travel a nightmare for those trying to negotiate packed trains and sold-out flights (in fact, most China-based expats leave the country this week). But there are plenty of parties to be had elsewhere, in Chinatowns across the world. So if you’re jonesing for a Chinese culture fix, check out CNN’s round-up of celebrations here.

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Wandering Through ‘Hawaii: Holoholo Wale’

Hawaii, surfboards Photo by Pam Mandel.
Photo by Pam Mandel

Confession. I was not all that interested in Hawaii at first. Too touristy, a cliche, whatever. Maybe it was the Elvis movies or the Brady Bunch in Hawaii episodes or the glitzy ad campaigns that showed swimming pools that looked like mini-golf courses. A significant birthday brought me there, my mom’s dash-zero year meant a family gathering, a holiday home, a minivan.

At the time, I was living a divided life between two places, a small town in Austria and Seattle, Washington. In order to get to Hawaii for this January birthday, my mate and I boarded a flight in wintery Vienna. Two days later—after a one-night stop in my Seattle apartment to repack—we stepped out of the plane on to the tarmac at the Kona airport and I fell in love.

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Racking Up the (Frequent-Flier) Miles

Call it carbon-neutral mileage running. Over at The Art of Nonconformity, blogger Chris Guillebeau reveals how he collected more than 300,000 frequent-flier miles in just five weeks—without stepping on a plane. The secret? Some savvy manipulation of those ubiquitous “Sign up NOW and get 30,000 miles FREE!” airport credit card offers.

Guillebeau estimates that he spent roughly $500 on the experiment, and gained $12,000 worth of miles in exchange. His post includes detailed instructions for any readers hoping to join in the fun.


Watching for the City Limits

New York City from above REUTERS/Jason Reed

The sight of the New York City skyline used to transfix Emma Jacobs -- until routine dulled her senses.

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Morning Links: A New Way to See the Prado, Cuban Tourism and More

El Tres De Mayo by Goya El Tres De Mayo by Goya (via Wikipedia)
The Prado’s El Tres De Mayo by Goya (via Wikipedia)

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Falling in Love with America


Growing up in New York City, I was deeply indoctrinated with the view of the world that Saul Steinberg summed up in his famous 1976 New Yorker magazine cover. As far as I was concerned, if you headed west, there was 10th Ave. and there was New Jersey (which you avoided as much as possible) and then there was a whole bunch of nothing worth mentioning until you hit the Pacific Ocean.

When I was 19 years old, I tagged along with a friend on a cross-country drive to deliver a baby-blue Plymouth Duster to her brother in Los Angeles. On that trip, I saw my first cornfields. My first hay rolls. I saw Chicago. The Great Salt Lake. (Yuck.) Cows. The Rockies. For real? I thought this stuff was just rumor and legend. We drove from New York to San Francisco and then down the jagged coastline to Los Angeles, where I dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean and fell madly in love with America.

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Vagrant Ruminations of a Compulsive Traveler

Ferris Wheel Photo by Peter Wortsman

Peter Wortsman recalls a life of travel inspiration.

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Latest Weapon in the War on Jet Lag: Viagra?

Pico Iyer has described jet lag as a “place that no human had ever been until 40 or so years ago and yet, now, a place where more and more of us spend more and more of our lives. It’s not quite a dream state, but it’s certainly not wakefulness, and though it seems as if we’re visiting another continent, there are no maps or guidebooks to this other world. There are not even any clocks.” Yet some are intent on eliminating this place from our collective experience.

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