Travel Blog
An Anti-Travel Point of View: ‘It’s a Staple, Like Soymilk’
by Michael Yessis | 03.30.07 | 7:03 AM ET
We’re unabashed supporters of travel in its varied forms. Road trips. Heartbreaking trips. River trips. Surf trips. Naked trips. Virtual trips. Meta trips. We could go on. Even when a trip makes us sick. And we know why we travel. Now, some space for an opposing point of view: James Morris’s artful, funny take on why we shouldn’t travel in the Winter 2007 issue of the Wilson Quarterly.
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Yahoo! BuzzAirline ‘Geeks’ Drop Everything for Inaugural Flights
by Michael Yessis | 03.30.07 | 6:36 AM ET
Andrew Gibbons admits flying from Washington, D.C. to Beijing just to fly back “doesn’t make a lot of sense.” But he did it this week because he enjoys flying on inaugural flights—United debuted the D.C.-Beijing route Wednesday—and he’s not alone. The Washington Post profiled Gibbons and other airline ‘geeks’ yesterday.
Think Twice Before Flying An Indonesian Airline
by Jim Benning | 03.29.07 | 1:30 PM ET
Including Garuda. But don’t take our word for it. An audit by Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry has found that “none of 20 major Indonesian passenger and cargo airlines fully met national safety regulations,” the Los Angeles Times reports. The audit follows two fatal crashes this year alone. Australian officials have warned citizens to consider the findings when planning trips.
Why Did David Sedaris Just Spend Three Months in Tokyo?
by Jim Benning | 03.29.07 | 1:20 PM ET
Largely because the author and NPR contributor wanted to quit smoking. “You can’t walk on the street and smoke there,” he told Newsday. “You have to stand by a special ashtray.” Sedaris also responded to charges that he sometimes fabricates stories.
Sports Bars Go Airborne: ‘We Definitely Sell a Lot More Liquor When Games Are On’
by Michael Yessis | 03.29.07 | 8:34 AM ET
Those are the words of Frontier Airlines flight attendant Natalie Ordakowski, one of many sources to tell the New York Times what anyone who has flown a Frontier or JetBlue flight during a big game already knows: Satellite TV has turned some airplanes into sports bars, complete with cheering fans—or, depending on your perspective, drunken yahoos. ESPN, the Times reports, is Frontier’s most watched channel “by far” and it’s one of JetBlue’s three most watched channels. This week, Setanta Sports announced it will join its JetBlue’s satellite TV lineup, so fans will be able to fly, drink and watch international rugby and soccer matches.
Photo by Jsendoorn (via Flickr). Rights: Creative Commons.
Trouble in Cartagena
by Jim Benning | 03.28.07 | 3:36 PM ET
Thanks to reports of dropping crime under President Alvaro Uribe, Colombia just might be the hipster tropical destination du jour. International visits to the country have risen by two-thirds since 2002. But according to an Associated Press report, those flocking to the celebrated colonial port city of Cartagena expecting to find a similarly shrinking crime rate are in for a surprise.
A Shrinking Planet Moment in Kerala
by Jim Benning | 03.28.07 | 11:36 AM ET
The first time he heard it, San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn thought he recognized something distinct about Krishna Praveen’s voice. As he explains in a column Sunday, Flinn met Krishna and his new wife on a canal in Kerala, India. They just happened to be staying on houseboats tied up next to one another. Then, as the two men chatted, Flinn discovered why Krishna’s diction sounded so familiar. We won’t give it all away, but let’s just say Flinn vowed never to curse on the phone when he calls tech support with a problem.
Welcome to Naypyidaw: Burma Unveils New Capital City
by Michael Yessis | 03.28.07 | 7:49 AM ET
International media have been invited by Burma’s military rulers to visit Naypyidaw, the country’s new capital city. Like North Korea’s recent decision to allow U.S. citizens to visit, Burma’s move revolves around a huge, state-sanctioned event. In Burma’s case, it’s the country’s Armed Forces Day parade. According to the BBC’s Jonathan Head, it’s the first time outsiders have been allowed to see Naypyidaw since Burma made the confounding decision in 2005 to move the capital from Rangoon.
Thomas Swick’s ‘Letter to a Young Travel Writer’
by Jim Benning | 03.27.07 | 4:41 PM ET
Specifically, to Drew Barrymore, who was once quoted as saying, “Screw Hollywood, I’m going to be a travel writer.” Travel writing would be perfect for the actress, Swick believes. Among other benefits, she’d escape the harsh glare of the media spotlight —travel writers, he notes, “are the writing world’s witness protection program”—and she wouldn’t have to memorize more scripts. “Though there’s one thing that’s not gonna be ANY different: people are still gonna think that what you’re doing isn’t really work,” Swick writes. “I know, it’s crazy, but that’s how people are.”
Related on World Hum:
* Thomas Swick on Travel Writing
Should Cruise Ships Be Required to Report Crimes Committed at Sea?
by Jim Benning | 03.27.07 | 3:53 PM ET
Why not? But amazingly, they’re not required to report crimes now, in part because so many ships sail under foreign flags outside U.S. waters. At a House subcommittee hearing on the issue today, cruise ship operators announced a voluntary plan to improve reporting. According to an Associated Press report, “Several lawmakers suggested the crime-data reporting needs to be mandatory, not voluntary.”
Nuclear Tourism: It’s Hot!
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.07 | 6:41 AM ET
It can also be hilarious, as this story demonstrates, but mostly it’s hot. Or, at least, strangely appealing to a certain type of traveler. David Wolman confirms this in the latest issue of Wired, where he writes about the popular Plutonium Tour at the Hanford nuclear-production site in Washington. “There’s pent-up demand for public tours of Hanford, which were suspended after 9/11,” Wolman writes. “Three years later, the tours quietly resumed with beefed-up security. Last fall, when the Web site for tour registration went live, all available spaces filled in just two minutes.”
Does Netflix Have the Cure for ‘Shrinking Vacation Syndrome’?
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.07 | 6:37 AM ET
Netflix’s salaried workers can take as much vacation time as they’d like, as long as they get their work done. Vacation limits and face-time requirements, Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings tells the San Jose Mercury News, are “a relic of the industrial age.” How progressive. Sounds like a great antidote to shrinking vacation syndrome, doesn’t it?
U.S. Sees Drop in Travelers from Germany, Japan, France and United Kingdom
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.07 | 6:30 AM ET
Commerce Department figures reveal a five-percent drop from those four countries in 2006, which has alarmed an already concerned U.S. tourism industry. Germany, Japan, France and the United Kingdom “typically supply almost half of all the foreign tourists visiting the USA,” writes USA Today’s Barbara De Lollis, and it’s the first decline in any of those core countries since 2003. Some say it’s because the U.S. has become one of the least friendly countries for travelers.
Attention Potential Space Travelers: Would You Pay a Tax to Fund a Spaceport?
by Michael Yessis | 03.26.07 | 8:07 AM ET
A High-Definition Journey Around ‘Planet Earth’
by Jim Benning | 03.23.07 | 3:08 PM ET
The Discovery Channel debuts an 11-part television series Sunday that, if you believe breathless critics, will give travelers, and particularly wildlife lovers, a serious vicarious travel thrill. It was produced by the BBC’s Naturally History Unit, which, in Newsday’s words, “is pretty much like the Court of Medici when it comes to nature photojournalism.” “Planet Earth” takes viewers on a pole-to-pole tour of the globe, with footage of camels in the Gobi desert, a snow leopard hunting in the Himalayas and whale sharks off Venezuela, just to name a few featured creatures and places. Raves USA Today’s Robert Blanco: “Swooping over mountains, plunging into seas, following every known movable-feast-beast being chased by every known predator, Planet Earth beautifully fulfills its promise: to show you the world in a way you’ve never seen it before.” It airs at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.
