Travel Blog
Love Letter to the Interstate System
by Sophia Dembling | 05.20.09 | 3:25 PM ET
A certain type of traveler, the “I-only-watch-PBS” type of traveler, scorns the Interstate. These travelers are all about the blue highways, those small rural roads that require time and patience and don’t send you hurtling through America’s heartland. (Today’s rumination is brought to you courtesy of this New Yorker cartoon, which got me thinking when it turned up in my email inbox.)
But I love America’s great Interstate system, officially (and a little frighteningly) called The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways.
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Yahoo! BuzzFrom Scenic River to a Stream of ‘Black Gel’
by Joanna Kakissis | 05.20.09 | 1:31 PM ET
The great master of riverine prose, Norman Maclean, was haunted by the crystalline waters of Montana’s Blackfoot River. But the residents of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, are haunted by the stench of the Buriganga, a river so polluted by human and industrial waste that it’s turned into a dead stream of “black gel,” Reuters reports.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Homage to Catalonia’
by Eva Holland | 05.20.09 | 10:53 AM ET
More than 70 years after its initial publication, George Orwell’s Spanish Civil War memoir is hitting the big screen.
Hugh Hudson, best known for “Chariots of Fire” and “I Dreamed of Africa,” will direct, while Colin Firth and Kevin Spacey have already signed on to star—the media coverage of the news doesn’t offer anything definite, but it looks as though Firth will play Orwell, and Spacey will take on the role of Georges Kopp, Orwell’s POUM commander.
Morning Links: Watering Old Faithful, the Salish Sea and More
by Eva Holland | 05.20.09 | 7:35 AM ET
- Two employees at Yellowstone National Park have been fired after being caught urinating into Old Faithful—the story notes that the geyser “was not erupting at the time.”
- Nobel Prize winner (and occasional travel writer) Orhan Pamuk is headed back to court over complaints that he insulted Turkishness. (Via the Book Bench)
- For the second year in a row, New York City has free bike rentals available through the summer.
- Strait of Georgia? Puget Sound? Juan de Fuca? A retired professor has a proposal to give those confusing bodies of water around southern British Columbia and Washington a single name: the Salish Sea.
- In the wake of February’s Buffalo plane crash, several senators are calling for an investigation of the safety standards being enforced for regional airlines.
- London’s rail commuters are Twittering haikus about “the great British summer,” in “the world’s first interactive Twitter poetry competition.” Yoko Ono will select the winners.
- Breaking news: Airport currency exchanges offer the worst rates going. I know. I was shocked, too.
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Hawaii Passes Islam Day Resolution, Haters Call for Boycott
by Pam Mandel | 05.19.09 | 3:44 PM ET
High on the list of reasons I lost my heart so completely to Hawaii?
The diversity. You’ve got your Pinoys, your Japanese, your mainland surfers, your Native Hawaiians, your Portuguese and Spaniards, the descendants of European shippers and missionaries, a whole mess of “hapa” types who are half one thing, half something else, be it Scottish, Korean, Hawaiian, Jewish ... If you’re looking for a slice of world culture, you’re as likely to find it in Hawaii as anywhere. All those cultures make for a lively and appealing place.
But a few spoilsports are calling for a boycott of travel to the islands because the Hawaii state Legislature recently passed a resolution recognizing “Islam Day.”
Drink a Microbrew, Save the Planet, Taste the Culture
by Joanna Kakissis | 05.19.09 | 1:29 PM ET
I’ve said before that travelers who want to walk the talk of environmentally responsible living must also seek out sustainable food (i.e. no Chilean sea bass!) when on the road. I’m adding locally brewed beer to my list.
Making and transporting beer doesn’t produce nearly as many carbon emissions as boutique wines, which are often flown by overnight air, says Pablo Paster in his column for Treehugger. Still, Paster advises eco-imbibers to drink a local brew over that beloved German beer.
The New Sand: May Contain Plastic
by Pam Mandel | 05.19.09 | 10:29 AM ET
The May 2009 issue of Hana Hou!—Hawaiian Airlines’ in-flight mag—includes an article called The Voyage of the Junk. The story is about a journey from California to Honolulu via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The ship itself was a trash heap, made out of plastic garbage and leftover bits of a Cessna. The goal of the journey was to raise awareness of the impact that all the plastic crap we create, buy and use is having on the oceans.
There’s a particularly sad and telling passage in the story. Upon arrival in Honolulu, one of the sailors decided to find out how long it would take to pull a piece of plastic out of the water. He hopped overboard, and: “Less than a minute later he was out, holding up an ‘ABC Stores’ bag. ‘Thirty seconds,’ he said, with both triumph and distaste.”
Morning Links: Whole-Body Imaging, Advice from an RVer and More
by Eva Holland | 05.19.09 | 9:11 AM ET
- A woman was asked to leave Toronto’s Pearson International last week after staff realized she’d been sleeping in Terminal One since Easter. Police believe that when she left, she had “somewhere to go.”
- David Grann’s “The Lost City of Z” has been longlisted for this year’s Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. We interviewed Grann awhile back about the book. (Via the Book Bench)
- Privacy groups are girding for a fight against the TSA’s new “whole-body” airport scanners, with a national campaign against the “virtual strip search” launching this week.
- Need life advice? The Onion’s latest column, Ask A Wife Helping Her Husband Back A Camper Into A Park Site, is here to help.
- World Hum contributor Karl Taro Greenfeld talks to NPR about his new book, a memoir of growing up with an autistic brother. There’s an excerpt to go with the thoughtful interview.
- Ever wondered which North American cities have the winningest sports teams? You’re in luck: here’s a map of the rankings.
- Four months later, passengers from the flight that crash-landed in the Hudson River are slowly being reunited with their belongings.
- Warnings against travel to Mexico are being rescinded, and cruise lines are making plans to return; meanwhile, an AP writer looks back at a week spent quarantined during China’s swine flu crackdown.
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For the Love of Minor League Baseball
by Jenna Schnuer | 05.18.09 | 3:15 PM ET
The Albuquerque Isotopes. The Clearwater Threshers. The Dayton Dragons.
Ah, minor league baseball. The team names alone are joy. The experience? That much better. While I’ve always found it a bit ho-hum to attend a major league game for a team that wasn’t my hometown favorite, minor league games feel more neutral.
They’re about hanging out eating stuff you shouldn’t eat on a (hopefully) beautiful spring or summer night and (hopefully) getting to see a little magic when some not-so-known player smacks one out or looks like he has the potential to pitch a perfect game. They’re about relaxing. And just kind of being in a place with, mostly, the people who live there.
Minor league games feel out of time. They feel hopeful.
Dhani Tackles Poetry: ‘Confused I Am’
by Dhani Jones | 05.18.09 | 2:12 PM ET
Photo by Red Line Films NFL linebacker and Renaissance man Dhani Jones hosts the Travel Channel show, Dhani Tackles the Globe.
Like any good Renaissance man, he’s writing poems inspired by the travel experiences featured on each show.
The topic of tonight’s journey: Sambo in Russia.
China’s Sex Theme Park That Wasn’t
by Julia Ross | 05.18.09 | 12:50 PM ET
Maybe it was the red thong. Officials in Chongqing, China, ordered the country’s first-ever sex theme park—set to open this fall—demolished over the weekend after news of its opening drew global media coverage and embarrassment among locals.
The park—dubbed “Love Land”—promised the chance to see giant replicas of genitals and exhibits on sexual history, with the goal of improving sex education in a country where open discussion of the topic has traditionally been taboo.
Can Korean Food Break the ‘Top Five’?
by Julia Ross | 05.18.09 | 10:51 AM ET
When it comes to kimchi, the government of South Korea means business. The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recently announced a $40 million fund to enact its “Global Hansik” campaign to make Korean food one of the five most popular ethnic cuisines in the world.
The Ministry’s rather methodical strategy includes introducing Korean cooking classes at Cordon Bleu-affiliated culinary schools worldwide; promoting celebrity Korean chefs; and increasing the number of Korean restaurants overseas to 40,000 by 2017.
Morning Links: John Lennon’s New York City, Kansas City Barbecue and More
by Michael Yessis | 05.18.09 | 9:11 AM ET
- They wanted a story “about a time you double-booked in a particularly awkward way.” This guy’s trip to Bally’s Las Vegas sure fits the bill.
- The lives of regional airline pilots aren’t so glamorous. Unless you think traveling with sandwiches in a cooler is glamorous.
- Anthony DeCurtis remembers John Lennon’s New York City of the ’70s.
- James Wolcott remembers New York City in the ’70s, too. He writes: “One key difference between the ’70s and today is that in the ’70s the tourists looked scared.”
- Are travelers more unsafe at hotels now due to the economic climate?
- The crappy economy is hitting Kansas City where it hurts—in its barbecue joints.
- Greece has asked visitors to its archaeological sites to refrain from wearing stiletto heels.
- Vanity Fair says the movie version of “On the Road” is languishing in circle two of development hell.
- Tanya Gold field-tests a corporate training exercise that involves a plane-crash simulation.
- On “60 Minutes,” Andy Rooney continued his ridiculous campaign to encourage people not to go anywhere.
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What We Loved This Week: Eldorado Canyon, Kerouac the Fantasy Baseball Player and More
by World Hum | 05.15.09 | 5:45 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Joanna Kakissis
A friend and I hiked through Eldorado Canyon State Park, passing golden cliffs, the rapids of South Boulder Creek and the ruins of the once-grand Crags Hotel. But my favorite moment was sitting on the rocks and taking in this view of the Continental Divide from a rocky perch on the Rattlesnake Gulch trail (where, thankfully, we saw no actual rattlesnakes.)
‘Angels & Demons’ has Arrived—and so Have the Travel Writers
by Eva Holland | 05.15.09 | 12:43 PM ET
Publicity still from "Angels & Demons" (via IGN) If you’re not interested in Dan Brown or the film adaptation of his hit novel, “Angels & Demons,” you may want to avoid the travel pages for the next few days—I haven’t seen travel-movie-mania on this scale since last year’s Sex and the City movie transfixed shoe-loving travel writers everywhere.
If, however, you’re keen to explore “Dan Brown’s Rome,” read on for the best of the near-ubiquitous coverage.
