Travel Blog
Peggy Noonan: ‘America is in Line at the Airport’
by Michael Yessis | 04.25.08 | 11:51 AM ET
The Wall Street Journal columnist writes: “America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask.” Funny beginning to an intriguing piece about the state of U.S. presidential politics as seen through the eyes of passengers at Gate 14, “small-town America, a mix, a group of people of all classes and races brought together and living in close proximity until the plane is called.”
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Yahoo! BuzzRunway Dangers, FAA Cover-Up Make Front-Page News
by Michael Yessis | 04.25.08 | 10:47 AM ET
The New York Times fronts a story reporting, “Groundings have raised flags about skipped inspections, but what really worries specialists is runway collisions,” while the Washington Post leads its print edition with a piece revealing “Federal Aviation Administration managers covered up mistakes by air traffic controllers.” Scary reading for a Friday morning, but not entirely shocking.
American Teacher in China Dials Back Mob Attack Story
by Jim Benning | 04.25.08 | 10:41 AM ET
The Shanghaiist report of an American volunteer teacher attacked by a mob outside a French grocery store in China’s Hunan Province was “sensationalist,” the teacher says. Shanghaiist reports that it posted the account April 22 after reviewing emails from two additional sources, including one from the volunteer organization’s field director that “appeared to corroborate the initial version of events.” Nevertheless, the teacher writes: “The crowd ... was ... following and chanting, but not attacking me in spite of ample opportunities to do so thoroughly. I eventually got into a taxi and the crowd surrounded it, content to have a foreign audience for their message. ... In spite of plentiful false reports in the Western media, I was not harmed during the course of this protest.” We posted a short item on the story Wednesday.
World Hum Travel Movie Club: ‘Y Tu Mamá También,’ Part Two
by Eli Ellison, Eva Holland | 04.25.08 | 10:09 AM ET
World Hum Travel Movie Club: ‘Y Tu Mamá También,’ Part One
by Eli Ellison, Eva Holland | 04.24.08 | 5:27 PM ET
Politico: ‘Why Congress Can’t Fix Air Travel’
by Michael Yessis | 04.24.08 | 3:33 PM ET
Interesting examination of why air travel stinks these days and what government’s role should be in fixing it. David Rogers writes in Politico: “[F]rustration levels are such that even libertarian think tanks endorse a greater government role in easing traffic congestion. And air travel taps into a larger political theme in this election, as more Americans feel pushed around by often technical forces out of their control.”
Related on World Hum:
* Average Domestic U.S. Airfares Near Record Highs
Talking Surf Writing in Los Angeles
by Jim Benning | 04.24.08 | 12:42 PM ET
Nice to see surf writing getting some well-deserved attention. The annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books takes place this weekend on the campus of UCLA, and among the many scheduled panels is one entitled “Surf Culture: Shooting the Tube.” Panelists include author and former Surfer magazine editor Steve Hawk and novelist Kem Nunn. Today’s Los Angeles Times has a story that (oddly) speculates on what they might discuss. Also of interest at the festival: “Nonfiction: Blurring Boundaries,” a panel featuring, among others, travel writers and festival regulars Pico Iyer and Tony Cohan. A complete schedule can be found here.
Related on World Hum:
* The Enduring Appeal of ‘The Endless Summer’
Photo by colmsurf via Flickr, (Creative Commons)
Anne Frank Postcard Discovered
by Jim Benning | 04.24.08 | 11:32 AM ET
Remarkable: A teacher poking around his father’s antique shop in Holland discovered a postcard mailed by Anne Frank to a friend in 1937, seven years before her death. She’d written, “Good luck for the new year.”
Related on World Hum:
* Anne Frank’s Beloved Chestnut Tree to Fall
Will Mr. Newsham Go to Washington?
by Jim Benning | 04.24.08 | 10:49 AM ET
Perhaps. Brad Newsham, author of the travel memoir Take Me With You, announced via email that he’s collecting signatures to become a write-in candidate to represent California’s 9th District, now represented by Democrat (and National Passport Month supporter) Barbara Lee. Newsham explained that he disagrees with her on only one issue, “but it’s a fundamental issue for me, and perhaps for you: the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. For me, this issue is so important that it eclipses all others.” Newsham, pictured here running naked on a Hawaiian beach, has been rallying for the pair’s impeachment.
The Onion, Vonnegut, God and Travel
by Michael Yessis | 04.24.08 | 10:47 AM ET
The Onion’s A.V. Club picked this quote from “Cat’s Cradle”—“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God”—as one of 15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will.
Average Domestic U.S. Airfares Near Record Highs
by Michael Yessis | 04.23.08 | 4:39 PM ET
The Department of Transportation revealed today that the average domestic ticket in the U.S. cost $331 in the final quarter of 2007, the highest average for that time period since 2000. Back then, tickets averaged $340. The DOT report also identified the most expensive U.S. airport to fly from: Anchorage, at an average of $539 per flight. USA Today has an overview of the DOT data.
Photo by veganstraightedge, via Flickr (Creative Commons)
American Teacher Attacked by Chinese Mob
by Jim Benning | 04.23.08 | 2:49 PM ET
Very scary story out of China: A 22-year-old American volunteer teacher in the Hunan Province city of Zhuzhou was reportedly attacked by a mob outside the French grocery store chain Carrefour on Sunday. According to one account, attackers chanted “Kill him! Kill the Frenchman.” The AP reports that the man was “quickly whisked away by police and was not hurt.”
The Trouble With the Peace Corps
by Jim Benning | 04.23.08 | 1:54 PM ET
“Today, the Peace Corps remains a Peter Pan organization, afraid to grow up, yet also afraid to question the thinking of its founding fathers,” writes former Peace Corps country director Robert L. Strauss in Foreign Policy.
The World Might be Flat But the Pie is Round
by Jim Benning | 04.23.08 | 12:04 PM ET
New York Times columnist and “The World Is Flat” author Thomas Friedman got a pie in the face as he began delivering a lecture at Brown University, apparently hurled at him by a student protesting, among other things, “his sickeningly cheery applaud (sic) for free market capitalism’s conquest of the planet.” (Via Romensko)
‘Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?’ Debuts, Second Wave of Reaction Ensues
by Michael Yessis | 04.23.08 | 11:33 AM ET
Thomas Kohnstamm’s now infamous book hit booksellers this week, spurring another batch of reviews, considerations and rants around the web. Among them:
