Travel Blog
National Geographic’s China Issue: ‘Inside the Dragon’
by Michael Yessis | 04.29.08 | 3:39 PM ET
Stories by Peter Hessler and Amy Tan anchor what looks to be a terrific May issue of National Geographic. Hessler has the cover story, and Tan writes about the Dong people, who have no written language. Also of note: a reprint of a 1955 story by Heinrich Harrer, My Life in Forbidden Lhasa.
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Yahoo! BuzzGranta Unveils New Website
by Jim Benning | 04.29.08 | 12:13 PM ET
It looks sharp. In an online video, editor Jason Crowley vows to bring the literary journal “into the 21st century” and to reinvest in “more long-form narrative reportage.” Given that Granta has published some of the world’s best travel writers over the years—most notably under Bill Buford’s editorship—that’s great news.
Related on World Hum:
* Travel Writing, Heartbreak and Granta’s 100th Issue
‘Grand Theft Travel Writer’?
by Jim Benning | 04.29.08 | 11:06 AM ET
Forget “Grand Theft Auto IV.” Tom Swick imagines a different kind of game starring Swicko Peregrino.
Crowdsourcing and GPS in Remote Namibia
by Jim Benning | 04.29.08 | 10:30 AM ET
Interesting example of how user-generated info and hand-held GPS devices are changing travel.
The $4 Gallon Survival Guide
by Eva Holland | 04.29.08 | 10:17 AM ET
Up until recently, we figured one of the most serious threats facing the American road trip was the demise of the indie motels and family-run diners lining the likes of Route 66. But now that we’re entering the age of the $4 gallon, will even more people bypass the classic routes in favor of the interstate? Or will road-trippers just stay home entirely?
‘At Least’ 70 Killed in China Train Accident
by Jim Benning | 04.28.08 | 7:22 PM ET
Monday’s Shandong province crash was the worst rail accident in China in a decade, the BBC reports. Authorities blame human error.
Shrinking Planet Headline of the Day: ‘Free Tibet’ Flags Made in China
by Jim Benning | 04.28.08 | 1:33 PM ET
Police in Guangdong are on the case, the BBC reports. Here’s the kicker: “Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning.”
Photo by -Marlith- via Flickr, (Creative Commons)
‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’ is ‘Selling Well’
by Michael Yessis | 04.28.08 | 12:11 PM ET
That little nugget is buried near the end of yet another story—this one by Michael Shapiro in the Washington Post—about Thomas Kohnstamm and the controversy surrounding his book “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” What “selling well” means in concrete terms, though, isn’t clear. Shapiro writes, “Kohnstamm’s publicist wouldn’t disclose sales figures but says the book has already been reprinted.” Whether the controversy stimulated or possibly depressed sales, then, remains an open question.
Go! Airlines Fires ‘Sleeping Pilots’
by Michael Yessis | 04.28.08 | 11:01 AM ET
The two go! airlines pilots suspected of sleeping on the job have been fired. According to the Honolulu Advertiser, the Federal Aviation Administration may also sanction the pilots.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Sleeping Pilots’ Air Traffic Control Tapes Aired
Bid to Save Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport Fails
by Michael Yessis | 04.28.08 | 10:57 AM ET
Not enough people voted in a referendum to save Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport yesterday, dooming the iconic airfield to closure come October. Among Tempelhof’s claims to fame: The terminal, once the biggest building in Europe, was intended to be an awesome symbol of Nazi Germany. The airport also served as the hub of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49.
Related on World Hum:
* Jan Morris in Berlin: ‘Ooh, That’s Nice!’
* Extreme Eating in East Berlin With the Stasi
Photo by martinroell, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Winters and Summers in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Royal
by Eva Holland | 04.28.08 | 10:53 AM ET
In anyone else’s hands, Annapolis Royal: Enchanted Valley would likely be just another roundup of “cute” shops in a “quaint” historic town. But when Noah Richler (son of Mordecai, and with at least some of his father’s enormous talent) is the writer, it becomes a meditation on the turning of the seasons. “Summer plays tricks on Canadian visitors,” he writes, and it has “done so since the nation’s very start. ... How cruel it must have seemed to the Frenchmen in the New World that a place so utterly idyllic in summer would prove so difficult to endure come winter.”
World Hum’s Most Read: April 19-25
by World Hum | 04.25.08 | 4:33 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) Thomas Kohnstamm’s Lonely Planet: The Firestorm Around ‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’
2) ‘The Worst Guidebook Writer Ever’?
3) How to: Wear a Sari in India (pictured)
4) How to: Use a Squat Toilet
5) Out of the Wild? Alaskan Town Considers Removing McCandless Bus
What We Loved This Week: Somali Food, David Foster Wallace and Joe Jackson in Berlin
by World Hum | 04.25.08 | 4:03 PM ET
Jim Benning
I’ve loved many of the albums that post-punk ‘80s icon Joe Jackson has put out over the years, from the travel-themed Big World to his new one, “Rain,” which he recorded in Berlin. I just discovered that YouTube has a four-minute video, posted four months ago, of him exploring Berlin and playing tour guide. It won’t allow for embedding, but you can see it here. He’s not half bad. Any other pop-star tour guides I’ve missed doing their own version of Rick Steves or Anthony Bourdain?
‘Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay’ Not Rushdie-esque?
by Jim Benning | 04.25.08 | 2:17 PM ET
What could be a better setting for a travel-related screwball comedy than an offshore military prison many argue violates the Geneva Conventions? Sounds like the makings of a major yuck-fest, right? Actually, the premise for the new Harold and Kumar film, which opens today, sounds vaguely amusing as summarized by the New York Daily News’ Joe Neumaier: “Following their munchies-fueled mishaps in the first film, the Jersey college guys head to Amsterdam, but thanks to paranoid airline passengers and Kumar’s bomb-like bong, they’re mistaken for terrorists and shipped to Gitmo.”
Rural Pubs in Ireland Becoming ‘So Yesterday’
by Michael Yessis | 04.25.08 | 1:43 PM ET
The Irish pub may be ubiquitous around the world, but it’s struggling in parts of its homeland. Mary Jordan writes in the Washington Post, “Wealth has given the Irish more options and less time—a bad combination for the local pub. More people are spending sunny weekends in Spain rather than evenings of ‘craic,’ as good times and conversation are known, down at the pub.” The video that accompanies Jordan’s story is below.
