Travel Blog
What We Loved This Week: Frontenac Provincial Park, ‘Roughing It’ and Doctor Shakshuka
by World Hum | 09.26.08 | 3:43 PM ET
World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Eva Holland
Hiking in Frontenac Provincial Park. I’ve been staying in a village just outside Kingston, Ontario, and the park entrance is only a few minutes away. Being a pure-bred city kid, I’m not used to having such ready access to car-free, quiet walking trails. It was great to take a couple of afternoons off this week and get outdoors.
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Yahoo! BuzzHard Rock Park Files For Bankruptcy
by Michael Yessis | 09.26.08 | 3:17 PM ET
The Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, theme park was “losing a whole lotta money,” according to the AP. A whole lotta World Hum commenters saw it coming.
Related on World Hum:
* Hard Rock Park Opens to ‘Awesome’ Reviews
Videos: Venice Gondoliers, Mariachis and Bollywood for Barack Obama
by World Hum | 09.26.08 | 2:03 PM ET
In that order. We looked for similar videos supporting John McCain and couldn’t find any; if you have any, we invite you to post links in the comments section. We’d love to see them.
The Long Descent: Airline Fees Cross The Pond
by Eva Holland | 09.26.08 | 12:50 PM ET
It had to happen eventually. Taking a page out of the major North American airlines’ playbook, British Airways has announced that the airline is considering additional fees for “ancillary services.” According to the Telegraph, those fees could include “extra leg room, priority boarding, a glass of water, alcoholic drinks, use of lounges, luggage, and snacks and meals.” Hang in there, Britain. It could always be worse.
Photo by bribriTO via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Hemingway House: Snowball’s Six-Toed Descendants Can Stay
by Jim Benning | 09.26.08 | 12:45 PM ET
The U.S. Department of Agriculture had talked of fining the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West thousands of dollars a day, claiming the museum couldn’t qualify for a license for the 50 or so cats residing there—descendants of Hemingway’s cat, “Snowball.”
Airport Signs From Around the World
by Michael Yessis | 09.26.08 | 11:23 AM ET
The design blog designworkplan has an intriguing photo collection of “wayfinding systems” at airports worldwide. Interesting discussion, too, of what makes for good airport sign design.
The Spanakopita’s Last Stand?
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.26.08 | 10:14 AM ET
Three-quarters of Greek adults and two-thirds of Greek children are overweight because of the decline of the famously healthy Mediterranean diet, writes Elisabeth Rosenthal in The New York Times. Just 20 years ago, Greeks were still regularly eating famously healthful staples like whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and goat milk. But as Greek lifestyles grow more hectic and convenience trumps wholesomeness, fast food and high-fat, high-sugar processed snacks have invaded Greek cuisine.
Theroux, Horwitz and the Frommers Featured at National Book Festival
by Michael Yessis | 09.26.08 | 10:03 AM ET
They’ll be on the Mall in Washington, D.C., tomorrow, talking travel and signing books. So will U.S. poet laureate Kay Ryan. I wonder if the organizers flew her out from California, or if this is how she decided to spend part of her $5,000 travel allowance?
Shrinking Planet Statistic of the Day: IP Addresses
by Eva Holland | 09.25.08 | 4:09 PM ET
According to Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet, so many people are now online worldwide that the supply of IP addresses—those 32-digit numbers that let our computers identify and connect with each other—are nearly used up.
You Mean I’m in Sydney, Canada—not Sydney, Australia?
by Jim Benning | 09.25.08 | 1:18 PM ET
Due to “inattention while booking flights online,” an Argentine tourist this week found herself on vacation in Sydney, Nova Scotia, not her intended destination, Sydney, Australia. She realized the mistake in Halifax, on the final leg of her trip to, uh, Sydney. Here’s the best part: According to the Sydney Morning Herald, “rather than make a fuss, Ms Torres decided to stay and make the best of her trip.”
Exploring the Library at Amsterdam’s Ambassade Hotel
by Jim Benning | 09.25.08 | 12:51 PM ET
Novelist and blogger Mark Sarvas offers an “achingly amateur” video tour of the historic library at the Ambassade Hotel, which he calls “the literary hotel of Amsterdam.” The library is packed with thousands of books written by authors who’ve stayed there over the years.
Pakistan Grounds All Flights
by Eva Holland | 09.25.08 | 12:10 PM ET
The order comes in response to multiple bomb threats aimed at airports across the troubled country, the Telegraph reports. Benazir Bhutto International Airport has been evacuated, and the national civil aviation authority has declared a state of emergency.
In Mongolia, My Yurt is Your Yurt
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.25.08 | 11:50 AM ET
As a traveler, Tim Wu never liked communing with the locals—or, rather, the contrived experience of tourists “living” local culture. “The problem is that most events billed as a chance to ‘experience indigenous culture’ tend to range from the merely uncomfortable to the downright nauseating,” he writes in the latest installment of Slate’s Well-Traveled series.
Portland: America’s Greenest City?
by Joanna Kakissis | 09.25.08 | 11:38 AM ET
Oregon’s moody, wet and funky riverfront city started planning its growth more than three decades ago, creating strict land-use policies and taking other tough measures to preserve the city’s natural beauty. So it’s no surprise that it’s now considered the most sustainable city in the United States, according to a study by the grassroots organization SustainLane. It seems the American West has got the green sheen: San Francisco ranked second, while Seattle was third.
Photo by stuseeger via Flickr (Creative Commons).
The Dangers of Cave Tubing in Belize
by Jim Benning | 09.25.08 | 10:31 AM ET
A 52-year-old woman on a Carnival cruise drowned yesterday while on a shore excursion in Belize. She was tubing on the Caves Branch River—in what some say were questionable conditions—when, according to one account, she was swept under a rock. Reports USA Today: “A local news station in Belize, Channel 7 News, reports that most local tour companies that operate on the Caves Branch River had canceled their trips Wednesday due to poor conditions.” Obviously, her trip wasn’t canceled.
