Travel Blog
The LAX Theme Building, Then and Now
by Jim Benning | 07.03.08 | 12:05 PM ET
Among the travel-related art hanging on my walls is a poster of this shot taken by Garry Winogrand in 1964. The subject, of course, is LAX’s Theme Building, which opened in 1961 and is among Los Angeles’ most intriguing landmarks. To me, few buildings say more about Los Angeles, a city ever focused on the future, often at the expense of the past, than this Tomorrowland-esque structure. The two women in the photo, I like to imagine, have donned their finest dresses and highest heels for a transatlantic flight, perhaps to Paris or London. The L.A. sun is beaming down on them. The future couldn’t be brighter.
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Yahoo! BuzzManslaughter Charges Filed in 2000 Concorde Crash
by Jim Benning | 07.03.08 | 11:01 AM ET
Five people and Continental Airlines face involuntary manslaughter charges in France stemming from the 2000 Air France Concorde crash in Paris that killed 113 people. According to Reuters, investigators believe a “narrow strip of metal had fallen onto the runway from a previous Continental flight,” which led to a ruptured tire on the Concorde and the ensuing crash. Not surprisingly, Continental denies responsibility for the accident.
Photo by alex-s via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Taiwan Braces for Cross-Strait Tourists
by Julia Ross | 07.03.08 | 11:01 AM ET
Oh, to be on the streets of Taipei this weekend. The first planeloads of Chinese tourists allowed under a new cross-strait travel agreement are set to arrive in Taiwan tomorrow, and the Taiwanese are bracing for culture shock. Reports Reuters: “Taiwan citizens, who are influenced heavily by hyper-polite Japan, fear Chinese will yell, spit or cut in on queues, all of which are an anathema to many Taiwanese.”
When it Comes to Air Travel, the Early Bird Gets ... Shafted?
by Elyse Franko | 07.03.08 | 11:00 AM ET
If you’ve already purchased tickets for flights after Labor Day, you might want to call up your airline and make sure your plane will still be taking off. In their mad rush to cut back on flights, some airlines have already put some customers’ long-term travel plans in jeopardy.
Happy 400th Birthday, Quebec City
by Eva Holland | 07.03.08 | 10:53 AM ET
Today the capital city of Canada’s Quebec province turns 400 years old. This weekend will see the peak of a months-long celebration that began in January and will continue into October. It’s funny, you’ll rarely read a travel article about Quebec City that doesn’t describe it as “the most European city in North America” (or, at least, of having a European sensibility, or being European-flavored), thanks to its heritage buildings, cobblestoned streets and devotion to fine food and wine. But to me, as a Canadian, it’s always been the most Canadian of cities.
R.I.P. Florent
by Eva Holland | 07.03.08 | 10:41 AM ET
The longstanding New York City diner shut its doors last weekend. Its owner, Florent Morellet, watched the Meatpacking District undergo an extreme gentrification makeover during his 23 years in business, before finally closing due to rent increases. The Times has a good story about what Florent meant to its patrons. Elsewhere, New York Magazine has the details on the restaurant’s final night of service, and on its private friends-and-family farewell.
Photo by Jeff Tidwell via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Is Travel Literature In Crisis (Again)?
by Eva Holland | 07.02.08 | 2:08 PM ET
Marian Botsford Fraser certainly isn’t the first to say so in recent months, but in an essay in The Walrus, she offers a more colorful, thoughtful argument than most. “What we carelessly refer to as ‘travel literature,’” she writes, “is, at this moment, a pirogue trapped in a cul-de-sac of a mangrove swamp on an African river—waterways the Victorian writer Mary Kingsley described in her ‘Travels in West Africa’ as ‘utter frauds which will ground you within half an hour of your entering them.’”
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport Still ‘Gun-Free Zone.’ For Now.
by Michael Yessis | 07.02.08 | 12:37 PM ET
Georgia House Bill 89 went into effect yesterday, allowing licensed state residents to carry concealed firearms in more places, including on public transportation. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, advocates of the new law said those new places include parts of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport not behind the security gates. Atlanta city officials, who run the airport, said no way.
U.S. Ambassador is a Pop Star in Paraguay
by Jim Benning | 07.02.08 | 12:07 PM ET
If we could just replicate James Cason a thousand times over. The U.S. ambassador to Paraguay not only learned to speak Guaraní, the indigenous language spoken by most Paraguayans, but he has recorded a hit album (pictured) of Paraguayan folk songs in the language. Now, just a month before his posting ends and he leaves the country, he finds himself a pop star in Paraguay, featured on TV and in newspapers.
Where in the World Are You, Rob Verger?
by World Hum | 07.02.08 | 11:08 AM ET
The subject of our latest up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: Rob Verger, who wrote Slumming in Rio and narrated a slideshow on favela tourism for World Hum. His email landed in our inbox just hours ago.
Where in the world are you?
At ‘My Airline,’ Everything Extra Costs $50
by Michael Yessis | 07.02.08 | 10:55 AM ET
The New Yorker gets in the make-fun-of-airline-surcharges game. Among the things David Owen would charge $50 for on his airline: laughing out loud at the movie, doing Sudoku without understanding the game to his level of satisfaction and tipping back your seat. For the last infraction, the fee would be “payable to the person behind you.” Not a bad idea, really.
Related on World Hum:
* Oprah’s Ethicists Debate How Far You Should Recline in an Airline Seat
* Armrest Seating, Anyone?
* Chart: U.S. Airline Fees
McCain, Obama to Take Campaigns Abroad
by Julia Ross | 07.02.08 | 9:03 AM ET
ABC News’ The Note reports that both John McCain and Barack Obama plan to travel abroad this month, ostensibly to highlight their foreign policy credentials. McCain is off to Mexico and Colombia; Obama will hit seven countries in the Middle East and Europe. Our U.S. Presidential Candidate Travel Scorecard had the two running neck and neck back in January, but it looks like Obama’s surging in the home stretch.
Colin Firth on the Rewards of International Travel
by Eva Holland | 07.02.08 | 9:01 AM ET
Look out, Ewan McGregor. There could be a new travel-writing British actor on the scene. In this item for the Times Online, Colin Firth reflects eloquently on his past travels—from Ethiopia and Italy to a childhood road trip in the Southern U.S.—and notes that while he’s concerned about the environmental impact of flying, he can’t see giving up plane travel entirely: “It’s all too richly rewarding, isn’t it?”
‘Into the Wild’ McCandless Pilgrims Descending on Remote Bus
by Jim Benning | 07.01.08 | 5:13 PM ET
Last October we noted that locals in Healy, Alaska, were considering removing the old bus where Christopher McCandless died. They feared that people moved by John Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild” and Sean Penn’s movie adaptation would tramp 22 miles into the wilderness to see the bus, only to wind up in the same kind of trouble McCandless did. Well, the bus is still there—it has long served as a refuge for hunters—and the AP reports that, with temperatures rising, plenty of people are indeed making the trek or inquiring about it.
Beer Vendor, International Microphilanthropist
by Jim Benning | 07.01.08 | 12:50 PM ET
Interesting story of one traveler’s approach to international aid.
