Travel Blog
Why Should You Follow Airlines on Twitter?
by Rob Verger | 06.01.09 | 1:54 PM ET
Lately, I’ve been enjoying receiving tweets from airlines, and there are a few reasons why.
First up, airlines frequently announce fare sales and other news on Twitter. United has been offering what they call “twares,” which are very brief sales broadcast on Twitter, and Southwest recently tweeted about their new pets policy—you can bring dogs and cats on board now—while Virgin America tweeted to announce that their entire fleet had Wi-Fi.
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Yahoo! BuzzR.I.P. Millvina Dean, Titanic Survivor
by Eva Holland | 06.01.09 | 12:22 PM ET
REUTERS/Simon Kreitem The last survivor of the Titanic’s sinking has died at 97. Dean was just two months old when she was placed in one of the ship’s lifeboats with her mother and brother; she once said of her celebrity status: “Until the wreckage of the Titanic was found in 1985, nobody was interested in me. Who expects to become famous at that age?”
Dragon Boats Go Global
by Julia Ross | 06.01.09 | 10:31 AM ET
Though the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival has long enjoyed popularity in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, mainland China only made it a public holiday last year—one of many signs that traditions abandoned during the country’s Cultural Revolution are finally being restored.
The funny thing is, the festival—which commemorates the death of a famous poet who drowned himself in a river—has become so globalized that China itself looks like it’s late to the party.
Morning Links: The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, Nicholas Kristof’s Travel Tips and More
by Michael Yessis | 06.01.09 | 9:29 AM ET
- An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris has “dropped off radar” and may have crashed in the Atlantic. Today in the Sky, among others, is following the story closely.
- Nicholas Kristof offers 15 travel tips. No. 14: If terrorists finger you, break out singing “O Canada”!
- Joshua Hammer put together this year’s New York Times summer travel book reading list. His angle: “This summer, travel for the sake of pure travel is out.”
- Also reviewed in the New York Times Book Review: P.J. O’Rourke’s awesomely named “Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-Bending, Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed to Be—With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Mowing Our Lawn.”
- In the Wall Street Journal, O’Rourke addresses what doomed the American automobile.
- “One-in-five Britons admits that they happily jet overseas to holiday destinations they cannot pinpoint on a map,” reports the Daily Express.
- Wanderlust magazine wants people “to pay more attention to local dress and to cover up where appropriate on their travels.” Its campaign is called Put Your Brits Away!
- C’mon, fellow travelers. The Russian nesting doll industry needs our help.
- Finally, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative goes into full effect today. For many Americans, that means you’ll need a passport when re-entering the U.S. from Canada or Mexico. The Buffalo News says that means it’s time for U.S. citizens to “think of Canada as a foreign country.”
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What We Loved This Week: Ellis Island, Dining in Bogota and More
by World Hum | 05.29.09 | 4:13 PM ET
Photo by Joanna Kakissis Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Sophia Dembling
My husband and I, feeling like huddled masses yearning to breathe free, waited for 90 minutes to board the ferry to Ellis Island. I worried that the museum wouldn’t be as spectacular as I remembered since visiting it in the early 1990s. Whew—it was indeed worth the tedious wait, even worth suffering through the piercing tones of competing steel drums played by overenthusiastic buskers. Ellis Island remains among my required sights for Americans. Next time, I’ll buy a ticket in advance, though.
Eco-Travelers and ‘Seafood for Thought’: An Interview with Lindblad Expeditions
by Joanna Kakissis | 05.29.09 | 12:10 PM ET
Photo courtesy of Mathew Lachesnez-Heude The image of sun-kissed travelers eating fresh fish at a seaside tavern has probably graced scores of brochures, postcards and promotional films. But is a craving for this iconic fish dinner contributing to the collapse of 75 percent of the world’s fisheries?
The business of seafood is big: The international trade in fish and fish products rakes in some $50 billion annually. But trawlers are fishing sea life faster than it can replenish itself. As a result, once-bountiful fish such as the Mediterranean bluefin tuna—the so-called king fish of the global sushi industry—will collapse by 2012, according to the World Wildlife Federation.
I spoke with Mathew Lachesnez-Heude, the environmental manager for eco-progressive small-ship tour operator Lindblad Expeditions, about sustainable seafood and the choices travelers can make to help restore the world’s sea life.
In Praise of the Book Exchange
by Eva Holland | 05.29.09 | 10:36 AM ET
As I’ve mentioned, I loved nearly everything about my visit to Bequia, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, last week—but today, finding myself craving a nice, lightweight paperback novel, one particular memory from the island stands out.
The book exchange was ubiquitous there. I’m used to seeing them around hostels and budget guesthouses, but in Bequia, they were everywhere—from my hotel lobby to the restaurant where I ate lunch one day, it seemed there was a shelf full of paperbacks waiting for a trade in every corner.
Morning Links: ‘Starbucking,’ Aviation Biofuel and More
by Eva Holland | 05.29.09 | 8:28 AM ET
- Bill Clinton owns up to the New York Times about his love (and extensive knowledge) of local craft shops from Hong Kong to Arusha. Who knew?
- The Onion reports on Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz’s soul-searching, Slim Jims-fueled cross-country road trip.
- A British tourist had his passport stolen in New Zealand’s Milford Sound area this week. The culprit? A wild parrot.
- In a fun and thoughtful dispatch from Mumbai, Jil Wheeler looks back on her gradual acceptance, and eventual love of, the city’s distinctive brand of English.
- Smithsonian looks at the dueling mythologies of American movement—the Frontier and Ellis Island—and asks, “Is it time for them to be reconciled?”
- Forget about that Queensland gig: Orlando has launched its search for a blogger who’s ready to spend 67 days in the city’s theme parks and other tourist attractions.
- A California man has spent 12 years—and counting—trying to visit every Starbucks on the planet. He has 9,100 down, and roughly 3,000 to go. A Starbucks spokesman called the quest “flattering.”
- McClatchy checks in on the state of aviation biofuel research and finds that tests, so far, are promising, but supply could be an issue.
- Matador Trips takes a look at some of the world’s wackiest museums. I don’t know about you, but I plan on staying far, far away from the Cockroach Hall of Fame.
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Aspen to America: We’re a Major Literary Destination!
by Eva Holland | 05.28.09 | 4:59 PM ET
When most people think of Aspen, Colorado, I doubt if the words “literary pilgrimage” pop all that promptly into their heads. But that’s going to change—at least if Aspen.com’s Brandon Wenerd has anything to say about it.
Asia’s Food Vendors: A Plus for Work-Family Balance
by Julia Ross | 05.28.09 | 1:38 PM ET
Hanalei Is America’s Best Beach: Really?
by Pam Mandel | 05.28.09 | 11:02 AM ET
OK, it’s a beautiful crescent of golden sand. It’s wide and clean and almost aggressively picturesque. There’s no denying that it’s an archetype of what a perfect beach should be. And it was recently selected as the “Number One Beach in the US” by Dr. Beach, a self-declared beach expert. He seems to have gained quite the cred; my Google alerts are crowded with mentions of Hanalei Beach’s new “honor.”
Morning Links: Cheese-Rolling, Township Tours, Obama in Vegas and More
by Eva Holland | 05.28.09 | 8:57 AM ET
- A new, restored edition of Hemingway’s Paris memoir, “A Moveable Feast,” has been released. Christopher Hitchens dissects the fresh material in the Atlantic.
- In the Guardian, David Smith test-drives a Soweto township tour, and finds the experience awkward but enlightening.
- According to the AFP, some restaurants in Berlin have begun printing special bills for foreign tourists, with the phrase “Service not included” added in English. The catch? German law stipulates that service charges be included in the listed price.
- The Guardian’s Benji Lanyado navigates “the most futuristic hotel in the world” in this fun video.
- With Times Square gone car-free this week, Gadling’s Sean McLachlan looks back at the days when the area was “full of seedy bars, seedier adult shops, and crumbling movie houses where you could watch a double feature of martial arts films for two bucks.”
- Amid fears of earthquakes, the Chinese government plans to demolish the ancient city center of Kashgar. Critics say it’s an attack on minority Uighur culture.
- For anyone keeping up their own Barack Obama travel map (and I know you’re out there)—the President spent the night at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas this week.
- Gloucester’s annual cheese-rolling competition took place on Monday. The Big Picture has it covered.
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Budget Barbados: Five Free Island Activities
by Eva Holland | 05.27.09 | 3:48 PM ET
Photo by Eva Holland I’ll admit, Barbados is hardly known as a shoestringer’s paradise—this isn’t $5, $25 or even $100 per day territory.
But still, after a couple of extended visits here, I’ve learned that it’s not all pricey cocktails, rooms with a view and chartered yachts, either. There are affordable accommodation options and wallet-friendly meals to be found—and, best of all, some of the island’s most memorable spots are free, or close to it.
See America, Too!
by Sophia Dembling | 05.27.09 | 12:08 PM ET
More Ahi, Please*
by Pam Mandel | 05.27.09 | 10:25 AM ET
You can not pile too much ahi—the Hawaiian name for tuna—on my plate. I love the stuff: raw, grilled, wrapped in rice and nori and served as sushi, marinated in soy and spice and served as poke, crusted with macadamia nuts and coconut and topped with a little mango sauce ... I swear I am turning into a big drooling mess just thinking about it.
But overfishing is depleting tuna stocks, just like it’s depleting so many of our dinner-bound, ocean-dwelling populations, driving up the price and making for scarce supply.
