What We Loved This Week: Airworld, ‘Planet China’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’

Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.

Pam Mandel
I could not put down J. Maarten Troost’s Lost on Planet China. I’ve never been talked out of wanting to go somewhere quite like this. Troost’s book is funny, disarming, candid, and totally unromantic. While Troost is pretty much game for anything, including live squid for dinner, he never once pretends to understand the sprawling, inscrutable mess that is modern China. The book would make a terrific airplane read, but not on that flight to Shanghai—you might never leave the airport.

Tom Swick
I loved that this week saw Roger Federer move effortlessly from colloquial French to fluent English and back again—neither one his native language—while accepting his first French Open trophy. Tennis players tend to be good linguists (with the exception of the Americans), or at least good at learning English (with the exception of Nadal) but in speaking as in playing, Federer excels.

Frank Bures
I loved this clip (via A.J. Jacobs on Facebook) where Louis CK skewers people who complain about this injustices of air travel. 100% right on.

Joanna Kakissis
There’s nothing like a brilliant food story to evoke the very soul of a place. My favorite food writer in the universe, John T. Edge, did just that in his latest New York Times “United Tastes” column on Scott’s Bar-B-Q in Hemingway, South Carolina. The Scott family smokes whole hogs on hardwood coals—a disappearing tradition, to the chagrin of barbecue pilgrims like me.

Rob Verger
I loved—loved, loved, loved—getting back to my own bed after my too-much-time in Airworld.

Michael Yessis
I loved one of Rob’s photo of Airworld, taken after the last flight departed for the night and before the early morning passengers started to arrive.

Terry Ward
Spargelzeit  in Germany. In the States, I’m used to green asparagus finding a spot on the grill during summertime. But in Germany at this time of year, it’s all about white spargel, with the thick stalks boiled till tender and served with potatoes, hollandaise and ham. I’ve mastered the cutting method, too—small, gentle knife strokes back and forth keep the stalks from mushing into a stringy mess. And the tips, per protocol, you save for last.

Jim Benning
I was fascinated by Charlie Rose’s interview with Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coca-Cola. Among the takeaways: to be a global company and compete internationally, Coke has to offer a wide variety of drinks to people around the world. For those who fear global homogeneity resulting from companies like Coca-Cola, that’s reassuring.

Eva Holland
I rediscovered a goofy childhood favorite: The Great Outdoors. You know, the one where Dan Aykroyd and John Candy spend a week at a lakeside cabin in the woods ... with hilarious consequences? I loved the flick as a kid and was thrilled to find that it can still provoke a few chuckles. Here’s the trailer:

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