Travel Blog
New Travel Book: ‘To Hellholes and Back’
by Eva Holland | 12.14.09 | 3:10 PM ET
Chuck Thompson’s follow-up to his travel writing tell-all, Smile When You’re Lying, landed in bookstores last week. To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies and the Art of Extreme Tourism sees Thompson journeying to “the world’s most ill-reputed destinations” to see if they live up to the hype. Intelligent Travel’s Christopher Elliott interviewed Thompson about the new book.
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Yahoo! Buzz‘Unfordable River Town’ and Other True Place Names
by Eva Holland | 12.14.09 | 12:09 PM ET
The Telegraph has a fantastic slideshow from the Atlas of True Names, a collection of maps that displays alternate place names taken from the literal meanings and early origins of the official nomenclature. The result? Familiar places become “Ferry on the Bank of the Mighty River,” “Market by the Yawning Estuary,” and “Unfordable River Town”—otherwise known as London.
What We Loved This Week: Paprika, San Telmo and Jason Reitman’s Pie Chart
by World Hum | 12.11.09 | 5:33 PM ET
Photo by Eva Holland Cory Eldridge
I loved the smell of paprika my sister sent from Gyula, Hungary, cooked with olive oil and onions, filling my apartment. Sweet, spicy, smoky, sublime. Make shashuka, an easy tomato and egg dish, and experience the glory.
Photo You Must See: The World in Copenhagen
by World Hum | 12.11.09 | 3:06 PM ET
REUTERS/Christian Charisius A large globe sits in Copenhagen’s lit-up central square. The United Nations Climate Change Conference is ongoing in the Danish capital.
Video You Must See: Iceberg Collapse in Newfoundland
by Eva Holland | 12.11.09 | 1:40 PM ET
Great Global Thinkers and Top Travel Books
by Eva Holland | 12.11.09 | 11:07 AM ET
Foreign Policy recently named its top 100 global thinkers of 2009—and then followed up by asking those thinkers to name their favorite books. The number one pick on our list of the top 30 travel books—Wilfred Thesiger’s “Arabian Sands”—made the FP list, as did books by travel writers Ryszard Kapuściński and William Dalrymple. Great minds, huh? (Via The Book Bench)
The Olympic Torch Relay, in Pictures
by Eva Holland | 12.10.09 | 2:21 PM ET
The Big Picture follows the flame’s progress from Olympia and Athens across Canada en route to Vancouver—with stops in Tofino, Old Crow, Kugluktuk and beyond.
Video You Must See: The Bending of the Manhattan Bridge
by Michael Yessis | 12.10.09 | 12:17 PM ET
(Via Kottke)
Canada Makes the Next Move in Northwest Passage Dispute
by Eva Holland | 12.09.09 | 2:13 PM ET
Time for another round of diplomatic maneuvering as the ice recedes around the long-sought northern shipping route. The latest move? Canada has announced plans to create a formal marine conservation area in Lancaster Sound, in waters which the American and Russian governments claim are international. The change would allow shipping but make waste dumping, mining and oil and gas development in the area illegal under Canadian law.
Photos: The World’s Most Architecturally Interesting Subway Stations
by Michael Yessis | 12.09.09 | 11:02 AM ET
As compiled by designboom. The gallery includes shots from Stockholm, Bilbao, Shanghai and Munich (pictured), among others. (Via Coudal)
McSweeney’s: Dispatches From an Indian Casino
by Eva Holland | 12.08.09 | 3:34 PM ET
The ongoing series looks at the Indian casino from an employee’s perspective. Slate also explored the visitor’s casino experience in a five-day series earlier this year.
Malaria in post-Civil War America, Mapped
by Eva Holland | 12.08.09 | 1:08 PM ET
We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?
‘Flying Machines are Impossible’ and Other Failed Predictions
by Eva Holland | 12.08.09 | 11:35 AM ET
Oddee has a round-up of 15 failed predictions about the future, and nearly half of them are travel-related. My favorite comes from a 19th century doctor: “Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.” (Via Kottke)
NPR Delves Into the World of Marmite
by Eva Holland | 12.07.09 | 5:33 PM ET
And uses the word “sludge” twice in the first two minutes. I may be a defender of British food, but I have to confess I could never get into the dark yeasty stuff. (Via The Book Bench)
Milking the Mint for Frequent Flier Miles
by Eva Holland | 12.07.09 | 2:33 PM ET
The things some people will do for miles. The Wall Street Journal has the convoluted story of how some die-hard points collectors bought up more than $1 million in dollar coins from the U.S. Mint, taking advantage of a free shipping program in order to rack up miles on their credit cards. Said a government spokesman: “Is this illegal? No. Is it the right thing to do? No, it’s not what the program is intended to do.”
