Travel Blog
What We Loved This Week: ‘One Day in Africa,’ ‘Juanes: A Musical Journey,’ and More
by World Hum | 04.24.09 | 7:00 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days:
Eva Holland
The Longest Way, a short video that’s been picking up viral steam in the past couple of weeks. It documents one traveler’s year-long walk across China, through the growth of his beard:
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Yahoo! BuzzHotel on the Hudson: Interview With Eva Ziegler
by Alexander Basek | 04.24.09 | 1:10 PM ET
W Hoboken’s opening party was last night, complete with ladies in giant martini glasses, a Jamie Foxx musical performance and W-shaped fireworks over the Hudson. (With some M’s and E’s mixed in, depending where you stood.)
Before the festivities began, I sat down with Eva Ziegler, W’s Global Brand Leader, in the W Hoboken’s “Chandelier Room,” the bar and club space with wall-length picture windows overlooking the New York City skyline.
Low-Cost Carriers: Not Always a Bargain
by Eva Holland | 04.24.09 | 11:52 AM ET
Photo by irishflyguy via Flickr (Creative Commons) Fodor’s posted a helpful reminder for thrifty travelers this week: Be wary of European budget airlines. Of course, those low-cost carriers have generally been a huge help in reducing the expense of European travel, but, as writer Doug Stallings points out, they aren’t always as cheap as they seem.
His first two points are, for me, the most important: low-cost flights tend to leave from secondary airports, and at odd times of day.
NPR Broadcasts From ‘The Troubled Skies’
by Rob Verger | 04.24.09 | 10:18 AM ET
There are a few truisms about the airline industry today.
First: It’s no fun to be in the airline business at the moment.
Second: It’s more fun if you’re a passenger, because fares are cheap—although no one is sure how long they’ll stay that way.
For example, JetBlue advertised (via @JetBlue) some $29 one-way fares yesterday, although restrictions included the fact that the low fares were only good for travel on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. (As for the latest development in a la carte fees: Delta just announced it will start charging $50 for a second checked bag on international flights.)
Third: as demand slows and the national system becomes less stressed, things seem to be operating more smoothly.
Morning Links: The Middle East Rail Boom, Detroit’s Music Bust and More
by Michael Yessis | 04.24.09 | 8:11 AM ET
- “Railway mania” hits the Middle East.
- Andorrans sure do live a long time.
- Laura M. Holson explores Walker Evans’ Alabama.
- The Big Picture puts its spotlight on Earth Day.
- A Canadian tourist has stirred up controversy in New Zealand over a candy called Eskimos.
- The FAA will release data on bird strikes.
- Non Sequitur weighs in on an idea for a new bird avoidance system.
- Bungled ad alert: That’s a beach in England standing in for the Canadian province of Alberta.
- NPR asks, “Why can’t Detroit cash in on its music scene?”
- Finally, Pakistan who? Robert Reid shares his top 10 travel knock-knock jokes.
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America the Accessible
by Jenna Schnuer | 04.23.09 | 3:48 PM ET
Fifteen years ago, when nobody else was really servicing the community, writer Candy Harrington ditched traditional travel writing and launched Emerging Horizons, a travel magazine for people with disabilities.
“Back then most of my friends and colleagues thought I was a few fries short of a happy meal for making such a drastic change,” says Harrington. Silly colleagues. Other travel magazines come and go but Emerging Horizons is still running strong, and Harrington also writes books, articles for magazines and websites, and a blog on the subject.
We checked in with her to find out about the state of accessible travel in America—and some of her favorite accessible travel adventures around the 50.
Hotel Intrigue and a Banished Denizen
by Alexander Basek | 04.23.09 | 1:47 PM ET
Word came down recently that plans for Denizen Hotels, a Hilton-owned and operated chain dreamt up by two former Starwood execs, would be suspended after Starwood filed a lawsuit alleging that the two execs took trade secrets with them when they left the company. In this case, they allegedly nabbed development plans and encouraged employees to jump ship.
Denizen was slated to be a W-level competitor from Hilton, hence the temptation to nab the info. Corporate intrigue! Skullduggery! Tiny soaps!
Brazilian Favelas, ‘Top Model’ Style
by Eva Holland | 04.23.09 | 12:04 PM ET
It’s not often that my life as a travel media watcher and my life as an occasional (OK, OK—regular) viewer of “America’s Next Top Model” overlap. So imagine my surprise last night when this season’s crop of would-be models landed in a Sao Paulo favela for an “edgy” Carmen Miranda-inspired photo shoot. Needless to say, the segment didn’t have much in common with the tales of favela-based slum tourism that I’ve read in the past.
Morning Links: Milan’s Gelato Ban, a Youth Conservation Corps and More
by Eva Holland | 04.23.09 | 7:34 AM ET
- Move over, Sully: the Canadian pilot who helped commandos re-take his plane from a hijacker in Jamaica says he doesn’t feel like a hero.
- Matador Trips offers up an evocative photo essay from Burma.
- World Hum contributor David Farley has the details on cycling in Central Europe.
- The country’s national parks got a $750 million boost yesterday, including funding for a 15,000-strong Youth Conservation Corps.
- A Papua New Guinea tribe is suing the New Yorker after a Jared Diamond story portrayed them as “rapists, murderers and pig thieves.”
- Ryanair contemplates levying a (not-so-diplomatically-worded) “fat tax” on its most obese passengers; the decision was prompted by a passenger survey.
- Tourists are trickling in to the Washington high school where the teen vampire romance “Twilight” was filmed.
- Say it ain’t so! The public consumption of gelato and other street eats has been banned in Milan and the surrounding region. (Via @benjilanyado)
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Where Will Dan Brown Go Next?
by Eva Holland | 04.22.09 | 12:11 PM ET
Publicity still from "Angels and Demons" (via IGN) Looks like the bestselling author has been keeping busy. While we’ve been pondering the “Angels and Demons” boycotts and bus tours, Brown has been hard at work on his next novel—and now, his publisher has finally announced its impending release.
“The Lost Symbol” will hit stores in September with a staggering first print run of 5 million copies, the largest in Random House history. Naturally, Columbia Pictures—the studio behind the first two Brown adaptations—wasted no time snapping up the film rights.
But with all the excitement, I’m left wondering: what, exactly, are we waiting for? Where will Robert Langdon (and the resulting hordes of movie tourists) go next?
Morning Links: Geek Getaways, the ‘Roads Scholarship’ and More
by Eva Holland | 04.22.09 | 8:26 AM ET
- A real life Basil Fawlty? An Aussie expat has banned an entire town from his New Zealand motel.
- British consumers are lapping up a new generation of Japanese single malts.
- Calling all road trippers: the first-ever Roads Scholarship offers a summer travel stipend and a ticket to Burning Man.
- Popular Science rounds up some family-friendly geek getaways.
- Boeing launches the latest in airplane safety: the 40,000 foot emergency slide. The Onion has a sneak peek.
- In Glasgow, Polish bus drivers are studying up on the local Glaswegian “patter.”
- World Hum contributor David Farley spills on life in an Italian hippie hill town.
- Jaunted has some fun at the expense of the Blackberry Storm, the self-appointed “ideal travel gadget.”
- Virginia’s state theme parks think they’re better equipped than Disney to ride out the recession. (Via @vatourismpr)
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Travel Movie Watch: ‘Away We Go’
by Eva Holland | 04.21.09 | 3:34 PM ET
Promotional still via John Krasinski Web Oh, boy, am I excited about this one! Dave Eggers is at it again—after providing the screenplay for one highly anticipated travel movie, he offers up a second flick: Away We Go.
The story follows a young couple, expecting their first child, as they travel America in search of the perfect home for their new family. John Krasinski (aka Jim from “The Office”) and Maya Rudolph play the leads, while the likes of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Allison Janney fill out the inevitable cast of quirky characters encountered en route.
Go ahead, watch the trailer, and tell me this doesn’t look like a smartly-made mix of sentimentality, humor and road-tripping goodness:
Name That Cactus!
by Sophia Dembling | 04.21.09 | 1:37 PM ET
Scottsdale is all very hip and happening, with fancy hotels, great golf courses (allegedly—I’m no golfer) and highly rated restaurants. But during my visit last year, I was mesmerized by the cacti. So many varieties, so many personalities. I snapped umpteen photos—see my brief slideshow after the jump and read about a contest that could win you a trip to the booming desert city.
The Things They Carried—On Planes
by Rob Verger | 04.21.09 | 10:22 AM ET
We carry our things with us when we fly, and sometimes those things are weird. And even if they’re not weird, they might seem strange when juxtaposed with the airplane setting, an incongruity in such a modern environment.
Last week, four baby pythons evidently escaped their container in the cargo hold of a Qantas 737, slithered somewhere in the plane—and disappeared. The plane was later fumigated. I don’t know if the snakes belonged to a passenger or were just being shipped, but it does make me wonder: What weird things do people carry with them aboard?
Morning Links: The Most Gastronomic Street in Paris, the Best Places to See Soccer and More
by Michael Yessis | 04.21.09 | 8:25 AM ET
- The current editors’ choice story at Travelers’ Tales: World Hum contributor Peter Delevett’s Freedom of Religion in Cuba.
- McSweeney’s highlights some notes from a Dark-Age tourist.
- Ethical Traveler’s first-ever charity auction features tickets to the “Songs of Survival: Voices from Burma” event in San Francisco.
- Japan is offering immigrants one-way tickets home.
- Jessica Spiegel lists the best places in the world to see soccer games.
- Sloshspot lists the best, the worst and the dirtiest dive bars In the U.S. (via @benjilanyado)
- Here’s a provocative comparison: Air travel is as bad as knifing someone on the street.
- Has Simon Kuper found the most gastronomic street in Paris?
- Will bus travel soon be more safe? The Washington Post gives good play to its story about the push for new rules.
- The story of D.B. Cooper still enthralls and confounds.
- Oops. The Four Corners marker isn’t really where the four corners of Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico meet.
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