Travel Blog
The JT LeRoy Saga: What’s He/She Doing Now?
by Michael Yessis | 02.22.08 | 2:36 PM ET
More than two years after Laura Albert was outed as the person behind novelist and sometime travel writer JT LeRoy, the Los Angeles Weekly’s Nancy Rommelmann caught up with her in San Francisco. It’s a fascinating story, though a long one—more than 7,400 words.
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Yahoo! BuzzState Department Issues Serbia Travel Alert
by Joanna Kakissis | 02.22.08 | 1:25 PM ET
The U.S. State Department has issued a travel alert for Serbia until March 6 following violent demonstrations in the country over Kosovo’s declaration of independence. In rioting in Belgrade Thursday, the U.S. and Croatian embassies were torched—that’s the U.S. embassy burning in the photo—as were many Western businesses. At least one person, a protester, has died. The U.S., UN and the European Union have decried what they view as the Serbian authorities’ weak response to the unrest.
Hey, Let’s Turn Gitmo Into a Cruise Ship Terminal!
by Jim Benning | 02.22.08 | 1:03 PM ET
Photo by lyng883 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
You have to love all the rampant speculation and wild ideas floating around about Cuba tourism following news of Fidel Castro’s resignation this week. Take this USA Today report that “Cruise lines are ready to pounce on Cuba.” Um, is there any sector of the U.S. travel industry that hasn’t been ready to “pounce on Cuba” for decades? It drew a number of comments, including one from someone claiming to be a former security officer at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2007 Travel Movie Awards: Entirely Arbitrary and Non-Comprehensive Picks
by Eva Holland | 02.22.08 | 12:00 PM ET
New Travel Book: ‘Trail of Crumbs’
by Joanna Kakissis | 02.22.08 | 11:09 AM ET
Did Pilots Fall Asleep? FAA Opens Investigation of go! Flight 1002.
by Michael Yessis | 02.21.08 | 12:24 PM ET
The go! flight from Honolulu to Hilo last week overshot the airport by 15 miles, then backtracked and landed safely. The Federal Aviation Administration—and presumably everyone else who flies—wants to know how it could have happened. Anderson Cooper has an interesting theory: It’s all about the exclamation mark in go! airlines.
AVE High-Speed Train Links Barcelona, Madrid
by Michael Yessis | 02.21.08 | 10:31 AM ET
Service between two of Spain’s biggest and most-traveled cities opened yesterday, with the first train completing the 342-mile journey to Madrid in 2 hours, 35 minutes. The BBC and others have the story, and the Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blog breaks the train down by the numbers.
Princeton Makes ‘Gap Year’ Official
by Julia Ross | 02.21.08 | 8:35 AM ET
I’ve always been a little jealous of the Brits on account of the gap year. To take an officially sanctioned pre-college year to travel, volunteer, or study language seems to me a wonderful start to adulthood. Administrators at Princeton University apparently think so, too: They’ve just announced they plan to launch a “gap year” program (they call it “bridge year”) for up to 10 percent of incoming freshman students, who will spend a year abroad performing social service work. The program is the first of its kind in the U.S., and Princeton says it will not charge tuition for the year.
A Bad Situation Gets Worse in Tijuana
by Jim Benning | 02.20.08 | 1:13 PM ET
Tijuana should be a safe and thriving border city packed with happy day-tripping tourists savoring a taste of Mexican culture. But a recent front page story in the Los Angeles Times paints a grim picture of violence and plunging tourism in the city: Murders and kidnappings are way up—more than 50 people have been killed this year alone—and according to a local merchants association, only 150 tourists trickle in daily now.
Proper Use of Semicolon in New York Subways Hailed by Riders, Writers
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.08 | 11:55 AM ET
One sentence on a public service ad in the New York Subway has turned Neil Neches, a writer in the New York City Transit agency’s marketing and service information department, into an unlikely hero. In an effort to get riders to not leave newspapers strewn about subway cars, Neches wrote: “Please put it in a trash can; that’s good news for everyone.” The tale of his properly-placed semicolon is currently the No. 1 most e-mailed story at the New York Times.
Memo to Travelers: Kosovo is Like a ‘Joyful Construction Site’
by Joanna Kakissis | 02.20.08 | 10:37 AM ET
This is a good thing, at least according to Balkan Travellers, an e-zine focused on travel in the volatile region. The world’s newest declared nation is tiny, landlocked, impoverished and a cauldron of tension, but it’s apparently also got lots of building projects (hence the “joyful noise”), good cafes and restaurants, a youthful population and even a tourism Web site.
Hotel Concierge: ‘There Are Definitely Days When I Want to Hide Behind the Desk’
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.08 | 10:17 AM ET
Photo by Elsie esq., via Flickr (Creative Commons)
I would, too, if I had to deal with the “shamelessness” of the guest requests chronicled in this W story. Among them: Tending to a guest’s elderly relative, shopping for a double-decker bus and, strangest of all, securing breast milk.
CAMRA Names Britain’s Best Pub
by Eva Holland | 02.19.08 | 4:24 PM ET
Britain’s Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced the results of its annual hunt for the best pub in Britain, and the winner, the Times of London notes dryly, came out on top “despite having no juke box, pool table, fruit machine or ‘theme.’”
Former Punk Paul Theroux in India
by Jim Benning | 02.19.08 | 2:40 PM ET
Perhaps the most anticipated travel book this year—or at least the one I’m most looking forward to—is Paul Theroux’s Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, due out in September. It’s an account of his journey through Europe and Asia, retracing the route he followed in the 1975 classic, The Great Railway Bazaar. He’s been talking it up recently in India, popping up in press accounts here (on “human architecture”), here (on beekeeping and whether he’s “a hack”) and here (on India’s soul).
Amtrak Boosts Security Measures
by Jim Benning | 02.19.08 | 12:16 PM ET
Among other steps, the rail service is adding random baggage screening and officers with automatic weapons to some stations and trains, rolling out changes first in the Northeast corridor. Reports the AP: “The initiative is a significant shift for Amtrak. Unlike the airlines, it has had relatively little visible increase in security since the 2001 terrorist attacks, a distinction that has enabled it to attract passengers eager to avoid airport hassles.” Now if Amtrak could just get its trains to run on time, particularly out west.
