Travel Blog
Where in the World Are You, Valerie Conners?
by World Hum | 07.22.08 | 5:17 PM ET
The subject of our latest up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: a new addition to the World Hum editorial team, Valerie Conners.
Where in the World Are You?
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Yahoo! BuzzIs Commentary in Lonely Planet Guidebooks ‘Slanted’?
by Jim Benning | 07.22.08 | 3:13 PM ET
Australia’s The Age explores the issue, which, it’s worth noting, has been debated for years. Among the new questions here: What impact, if any, is new owner the BBC having on the guidebooks’ voice and perspective?
Related on World Hum:
* Lonely Planet at 30
A Night in the Young-at-Heart Hostel
by Eva Holland | 07.22.08 | 12:15 PM ET
Forget about the “youth” in youth hostel. Last weekend I spent a night in an HI hostel in the 1000 Islands region of upstate New York, and to my surprise, all my dorm-mates were septuagenarians, in town for a local festival. The next 24 hours were an exercise in expectation reassessment. For example, instead of going to bed at 9 p.m., my roomies sat up until all hours in the kitchen, swapping tales about their hosteling adventures from the past several decades.
Beijing: ‘The Sanitized City’?
by Eva Holland | 07.22.08 | 11:35 AM ET
As we’ve noted, China has been tidying up its restaurant menus—both in terms of ingredients and language—in the lead-up to the Olympics next month. But, says the Globe and Mail’s Geoffrey York, the clean-up is about more than food, and it’s going too far. “China’s capital city is being sanitized and sterilized to within an inch of its life,” he writes in a recent blog post. “It’s being cleaned and tidied and swept up to the point where it feels like an artificial replica of itself.”
TIme for ‘Reading Tehran With Lolita’
by Jim Benning | 07.22.08 | 11:10 AM ET
Or something like that. World Hum contributor Jeff Biggers argues in The Huffington Post that “now is the time for universities, schools and literary organizations—and publishers—across the country to begin the process of breaking the ice in people-to-people diplomacy and cultural exchange” with Iran. American readers, he writes, should pick up some good Iranian literature this summer, starting with Strange Times, My Dear: The PEN Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature.
Related on World Hum:
* Rick Steves on his Iran Trip
In Kabul, Watching ‘the Drama of Ordinary Lives’
by Michael Yessis | 07.22.08 | 10:31 AM ET
Don’t let all the buzz about David Carr’s heartbreaking book excerpt in the latest New York Times Magazine distract you from another terrific story in the same issue, Kristin Ohlson’s Lives piece Watching TV in Kabul. Ohlson, co-author of “Kabul Beauty School,” reveals a slice of life in a Kabul kebab shop, a scene that reveals “the drama of ordinary lives that rocks households but doesn’t blow buildings or buses apart.”
Hay Hotels: Count Your Sheep—and Sleep Like Them, Too
by Elyse Franko | 07.22.08 | 9:03 AM ET
Eco-conscious travelers might be pleased by the new accommodation trend that’s spreading through Europe: the hay hotel, which, as far as I can tell, is just an old barn that’s been freshened up a bit and (hopefully) doesn’t smell strongly of manure. Travelers sleep in a dormitory setting atop piles of hay. No pillows. No blankets. Just hay.
History Buff Aims to Bring Chariot Racing Back to Rome
by Elyse Franko | 07.21.08 | 5:41 PM ET
Chariot races can be seen in Germany, France and Bulgaria—but not in Rome. Isn’t that where the whole tradition started? Italian film industry worker and history enthusiast Franco Calo is hoping to bring the races back to the Italian capital. As Der Spiegel reports, Calo says the attempts of non-Italians to stage chariot races are “horrifying,” featuring “chariots being pulled by ponies and fake Roman soldiers, all blond and wearing disordered plumes.” What a travesty.
Video: How To Speak American
by Michael Yessis | 07.21.08 | 5:37 PM ET
BBC correspondent Stephen Robb gives it a noble effort, which leaves him looking “something like Jack Nicholson’s The Joker with a lobotomised, vacant look in the eyes.”
Pulling the Plug: PDA-Free Holidays
by Eva Holland | 07.21.08 | 2:43 PM ET
No, I’m not talking about the “get a room” variety of PDA. According to the Globe and Mail’s Marsha Lederman, an increasing number of hotels and resorts are offering BlackBerry-free zones, and even packages where hotel staff will ensure that guests don’t make or take any calls and emails—for their own good, of course.
Philadelphia: It’s Not Just America’s Fattest, Ugliest, Most Miserable City
by Valerie Conners | 07.21.08 | 2:31 PM ET
It’s with apparent pride that Philadelphia shakes off its regular litany of national ranking dishonors—it’s already been named among the fattest, ugliest and most miserable cities in America—to accept a ranking it can finally be proud of: fifth most walkable U.S. city.
Cuba Flights Coming to Airport ‘Within Minutes of Downtown Detroit’
by Jim Benning | 07.21.08 | 11:18 AM ET
How you Canadians tempt us poor Americans. Canada’s Sunwing Airlines has announced plans to offer flights to Cuba from Windsor, just across the border from Detroit. Company officials predict that half the passengers will be American, even though the embargo all but forbids U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba. A State Department spokesman tells The Detroit News that the trip is “risky.”
Lack of Tourists Hurting China’s Panda Center
by Joanna Kakissis | 07.21.08 | 11:17 AM ET
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding didn’t suffer physical damage from the deadly earthquake that left 90,000 people dead or missing earlier this year. But spooked tourists cancelled trips to the region, leaving only about 300 people visiting daily—about one-tenth of the normal volume, NPR reports.
A Cross-Country Tour of a Fast Food Nation
by Joanna Kakissis | 07.21.08 | 11:13 AM ET
Krispy Kreme was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Pizza Hut and White Castle both began in Wichita, Kansas. Subway kicked off in Bridgeport, Connecticut; Kentucky Fried Chicken in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Hooters in Clearwater, Florida. If you string together all of Walletpop’s 39 listings of fast-food chain birthplaces, you could road trip through the hardened arteries of (mostly) small-town America. You might want to crank up Tom Waits’ Eggs and Sausage for some ambience. (Via Slashfood)
Photo by chleong via Flickr (Creative Commons).
World Hum’s Most Read: July 12-18
by World Hum | 07.18.08 | 5:11 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts for the week:
1) Bored on Zakynthos? You Might Skip the Sex Competition.
2) Q&A With Tony Perrottet: Exposing Napoleon’s Penis
3) British Couple Arrested for Having Sex on Beach in Dubai
4) How to Break Bread and Brie in France (pictured)
5) As a Woman, Can I Really Travel Without Much Fear for my Safety?
Photo by cwbuecheler via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
