Travel Blog
Heathrow Gets its First Writer in Residence
by Eva Holland | 08.19.09 | 1:12 PM ET
Literally. All this week, Alain de Botton—the author of “The Art of Travel”—will be sitting at a desk in the middle of Heathrow’s new Terminal Five, typing away. The end result of the stint? “A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary,” a short book that will hit shelves in September.
The project has taken some heat because de Botton is being sponsored by the airport authority, but he maintains he’s been given complete editorial freedom to explore the airport in its best and worst moments. “There are not many industries where you find 20 people camped on your doorstep, like plane and trainspotters, to find out how it works,” he told the Guardian. “You will not find people doing that outside Tesco, saying ‘look at that chicken tikka arriving.’ People are fascinated by this and I share that fascination.”
As do we. Rob Verger recently spent 24 hours at JFK and blogged about the experience for World Hum.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzCould Literature Cure the Fear of Flying?
by Eva Holland | 08.19.09 | 12:08 PM ET
In the latest issue of Granta, Javier Marias has a fun and thoughtful essay about his fear of flying and how it has started to abate in recent years. And, he believes, “a little more literature” would help him, and other nervous fliers, feel even more confident:
I would like to ask Iberia, in this the twenty-first century, to abandon their anodyne patriotic gestures and adulatory nods to the Catholic Church—all those planes called Our Lady of the Pillar and Our Lady of Good Remedy, The City of Burgos and The City of Tarragona—and instead choose names that are more cheerful and more literary. I, for one, would feel safer and more reassured, more protected, if I knew I was flying in the The Red Eagle or The Fire Arrow or even Achilles or Emma Bovary or Falstaff or Liberty Valance or Nostromo.
(Via The Morning News)
A Night at El Bulli, Frame by Frame
by Eva Holland | 08.19.09 | 10:34 AM ET
After a five-year effort, Amateur Gourmet blogger Adam Roberts finally landed a reservation at El Bulli, the Barcelona restaurant regularly dubbed the best in the world. He’s documented his 30-course evening in an entertaining comic strip/photo essay. David Farley interviewed El Bulli’s chef, Ferran Adria, for World Hum back in March. (Via The Morning News)
Why Japan Hearts the Amish
by Michael Yessis | 08.19.09 | 9:26 AM ET
Blame Harrison Ford. At least a bit. The movie Witness “stoked the trend” of Japanese fascination with the Amish, according to an intriguing story Jon Rutter.
Beyond that, he writes, the societies have “deep parallel currents.” Among them: “Both espouse collectivism, religious faith, hard work and frugality.” He adds: “Both exhibit marked deference to elders and have deliberately distanced themselves from the outside world.” (Via The Morning News)
Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Don’t Let the Goose Poop Fool You: Toronto’s Beaches are Squeaky Clean’
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 5:04 PM ET
Forget Hawaii or Florida—after that ringing endorsement, I’m ready for a Toronto beach vacation. Who’s with me?
Welcome to Seoul’s ‘Air City’
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 4:14 PM ET
Plans are in the works to build an “air city” on the grounds at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, USA Today reports. The complex, aimed at grabbing a bigger share of in-transit passengers in the region, could apparently include apartments, studios and runways for in-house fashion designers, a theme park, a marina and a clinic designed for medical tourists. Anyone else smell a sequel to The Terminal?
Jeffrey Goldberg Goes Whale Watching
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 3:31 PM ET
And if he had to summarize the Cape Cod excursion in one word? Awesome. From his blog over at The Atlantic: “I don’t mean ‘awesome’ in a juvenile way, I mean ‘awesome’ as in, ‘if God did indeed create the earth, he did a bang-up job in the large mammal department…’ It’s impossible to describe the sight of a finback whale forty feet from where you stand. I’ll say this—you and your problems shrink in significance.”
Joel Stein in Las Vegas: ‘I Have Come for Revenge’
by Michael Yessis | 08.18.09 | 2:19 PM ET
He went to Las Vegas to take advantage of the city when it’s down. “For the first time ever,” he writes in Time, “it is possible to complete a monetary exchange in Las Vegas and feel bad for the other person.” But you know what? He doesn’t feel bad about it. Good story, but, as someone who loves Vegas, I found it a bit painful to read.
Berlin’s Currywurst Gets the Museum Treatment
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 1:32 PM ET
The Berlin staple may not have set Alison Stein Wellner’s head on fire when she went looking for the world’s hottest foods, but it remains one of Germany’s favorite sausage variations. And now, currywurst—diced sausage doused in ketchup and curry powder—is getting a museum of its very own.
Some of the weirder details, from Reuters: “An array of interactive exhibits guide visitors along a ‘sauce trail’ through the history and variety of the beloved dish ... A spice chamber scents the air with curry powder as guests relax on the giant ‘sauce sofa’, shaped like a squirt of ketchup while an eco-alley assesses the environmental impact of fast food.”
‘While I Was Away’: Lessons in Travel and Romance
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 12:42 PM ET
One good reason to stay connected while traveling? Because if you don’t, your girlfriend might forget you’ve gone to Europe, wonder why you haven’t called her back, and start sending a sequence of regrettable emails. Here’s the hilarious and cringe-inducing video:
A Short History of Fast Food and Travel
by Eva Holland | 08.18.09 | 12:04 PM ET
In the Smart Set, Tony Perrottet looks back to the post-Civil War era for the origins of American roadside fast food. Here’s a sample:
The long-distance trains from Omaha to San Francisco had dining cars only for the first-class passengers. Everyone else had to wait until the trains stopped at specific stations for scheduled meal breaks, when hundreds of passengers would madly dash into cavernous dining halls on the platforms. Inside, cadres of white-aproned waiters were poised to splash meat and potatoes onto their plates and granular coffee into their cups. The whistle would blow and patrons would have to abandon their half-eaten meals and dash back to the moving train. The whole indigestion-inducing process, travelers complained, might last only ten minutes.
For anyone else who’s made the agonizing bathroom-or-Big Mac decision on a flying Greyhound stopover lately—sound familiar?
Here’s Why a Truffle-Slathered Bomb Will Never Make it Through Airport Security
by Michael Yessis | 08.18.09 | 10:27 AM ET
The Onion says we can count on Mr. Snout.
Dave Foley: The Sensible Traveler
by Eva Holland | 08.17.09 | 4:04 PM ET
The Canadian comedian, who you might remember from “Kids in the Hall” or “NewsRadio,” is the star of a new web series: The Sensible Guy’s Guide to Traveling. Each short segment shows Foley, as the ostensibly sensible traveler Bobby Fargo, offering a series of themed travel tips—and then finding himself in hot water despite his best efforts. I wasn’t busting a gut during the “unintended consequences” portions of each clip, but seasoned travelers will probably get a chuckle out of Foley’s straight-faced delivery of often-outrageous advice.
In Praise of American Gift Shops
by Eva Holland | 08.17.09 | 2:45 PM ET
Photo by Eva Holland In the latest post at Flyover America, Jenna Schnuer, Sophia Dembling and Matt Villano (World Hum contributors, all) pick their favorites. I’ll be bookmarking the post—I love a good museum gift shop, whether in America or beyond. One of the best I’ve encountered is at Britain’s National Portrait Gallery. Chocolates wrapped in portraits of Henry VIII and his assortment of wives? Yes, please.
Bollywood Mega-Star Questioned at Newark
by Eva Holland | 08.17.09 | 1:52 PM ET
"My Name is Khan" poster via Bollywood Hungama Shah Rukh Khan is one of Bollywood’s best-known stars, and his apparent detention for questioning at Newark Liberty International Airport this weekend has touched off a minor diplomatic incident between the U.S. and India. The silver lining for the actor? Plenty of free publicity for “My Name is Khan,” his upcoming movie about—wait for it—an Indian traveler’s struggles with racial profiling in America.
