Travel Blog
Checkpoint Travel 101 in Israel
by Julia Ross | 05.20.08 | 2:33 PM ET
I’ve had an eye-opening tutorial in travel through military checkpoints in the West Bank this month, getting turned away at one for not having the proper documentation, then getting barked at by Israeli soldiers at various others. I came across this surreal sign posted by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism at the checkpoint near Bethlehem. The checkpoint is covered with barbed wire and feels like an armed camp.
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Yahoo! BuzzThe Most Clever Music Video of the Year (So Far)
by Michael Yessis | 05.20.08 | 10:51 AM ET
The Get Out Clause, an unsigned band from Manchester, England, didn’t have much money to spend on a music video. To get around the problem, the band performed in front of 80 closed-circuit television security cameras throughout its hometown—in a stairwell, on a bus, on a tram, in the middle of a street, and so on. The band secured some of the video through the Freedom of Information Act, then edited it into a music video for its song “Paper.”
How Unhappy Are American Travelers With the Airlines?
by Jim Benning | 05.20.08 | 10:44 AM ET
Quite. Customer satisfaction dipped in the University of Michigan’s latest survey to its lowest point since 2001. Southwest Airlines received the highest customer satisfaction score. US Airways received the lowest.
Pico Iyer in Ladakh: ‘The World’s Last Shangri-La’
by Michael Yessis | 05.19.08 | 3:43 PM ET
The New York Times’ T Magazine features Pico Iyer’s latest story, a chronicle of a trip to the northern Indian region of Ladakh. He writes: “[W]ord has got out that here is a remote, unusually undeveloped ‘paradise,’ to which, of course, we bring our own, very different images of paradise.” Sometimes, as we know, paradise even involves shopping centers.
Inside Nicosia, ‘the Last Divided Capital in Europe’
by Michael Yessis | 05.19.08 | 2:03 PM ET
World Hum contributor Joanna Kakissis went to the capital of Cyprus and visited with a few ethnic Greeks and Turks who live in the divided city. One needs “a little magic” to see Nicosia as one city, she writes in a story for the New York Times. “We’re not the Israelis and Palestinians,” one Greek Cypriot tells Kakissis. “We don’t have to love the Turks, and they don’t have to love us. We just have to tolerate each other.”
Photo: The Cuba T-Shirt Nearly 50 Years in the Making
by Jim Benning | 05.19.08 | 12:44 PM ET
I spotted this black number for sale next to the usual guayaberas and baseball T’s at the Cuban Music Festival in Los Angeles’ Echo Park over the weekend. It was, not surprisingly, a particularly festive affair.
Related on World Hum:
* Adios Fidel, Hola Cuba*
* Hey, Let’s Turn Gitmo Into a Cruise Ship Terminal!
* R.I.P. Cachao
Photo by Jim Benning.
One Grim Travel Prediction
by Jim Benning | 05.19.08 | 12:23 PM ET
“I expect to see more travelers slain, blown up and eaten by undersea predators in the near future,” writes Christopher Elliott. Greaaat.
First Women-Only Hotel Opens in Saudi Arabia
by Eva Holland | 05.19.08 | 12:07 PM ET
In January, we wrote that Saudi Arabia had lifted restrictions on women staying alone in hotels; previously, women had been required to stay with, or to carry a letter of permission from, a male “guardian.” So what’s come of it? The change has opened the way for a new niche hotel: the Luthan Hotel & Spa, which the executive director boasts is “women-owned, women-managed, and women-run.” But as the Christian Science Monitor’s Caryle Murphy asks, is this a sign of progress or of deepening gender segregation?
We Just Can’t Quit You, Quito
by Jim Benning | 05.19.08 | 11:08 AM ET
Last May, we noted that a $200 million renovation project in Ecuador’s capital was bearing fruit: crime was down, beauty was up and, according to some, old colonial Quito was worth more than a stopover en route to the Galapagos or Amazon. Today, the Los Angeles Times also reports on the city’s revitalization-in-progress. “Helped by foreign donors, the city now spends nearly $70 million a year restoring downtown landmarks,” Chris Kraul writes. “Recent projects include the centuries-old Jesuit La Compania, La Merced and San Francisco churches.”
Related on World Hum:
* In Cuenca, Ecuador, a ‘Spare, Unhurried, Bohemian Life’
Photo by L.Marcio_Ramalho via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
American Beer: Beyond Bud Light
by Eva Holland | 05.19.08 | 10:45 AM ET
I’m not sure I agree with the Toronto Star’s theory that the rise of quality craft beer in the United States is a new trend. It seems to me that anyone who’s been paying attention has known there’s more to the American brewing scene than the Silver Bullet and the King of Beers for quite some time. Still, I enjoyed Josh Rubin’s take on the state of the beer nation and, among things, its “hop-heads.” Whlle we’re on the subject, if you’re headed to Denver, Portland or San Francisco this summer, Fodor’s suggests beer-related tours, festivals, brewpubs and day trips in those “hoppy cities.”
Related on World Hum:
* Rural Pubs in Ireland Becoming ‘So Yesterday’
Photo by spcummings via Flickr (Creative Commons)
World Hum’s Most Read: May 10-16
by World Hum | 05.16.08 | 6:57 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) In Patagonia, In Patagonia (pictured)
2) Promised Land Closed: Audio Slide Show
3) Should I Quit Law School so I Can Travel the World?
4) On the Occasional Importance of a Ceiling Fan
5) ‘7 Tourist Traps You Love’? Um, Not so Much.
What We Loved This Week: ‘The Zen of Bobby V,’ ‘When the Levees Broke’ and Arriving With Our Baggage
by World Hum | 05.16.08 | 6:53 PM ET
World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Eva Holland
I’m headed to New Orleans for the summer, so I set aside several hours this week to watch When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee’s fantastic HBO documentary about Hurricane Katrina and its tragic aftermath. It was pretty tough to watch at points, but one uplifting theme that came through strongly—even more strongly than all the anger and frustration, the grief and feelings of betrayal—was the love that New Orleans residents have for their city, their sense of connection to the place and their pride in its unique cultural traditions. Here’s Lee setting the scene at the film’s premiere:
How Bad is the Violence in Mexico?
by Jim Benning | 05.16.08 | 5:41 AM ET
“Three Mexican police chiefs have requested political asylum in the U.S.,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Total locura—and another reminder to be particularly cautious when traveling in the country’s danger zones.
Tony Horwitz Blogs From the Road
by Jim Benning | 05.16.08 | 5:26 AM ET
The author of “A Voyage Long and Strange,” just interviewed on World Hum, is blogging while on his U.S. book tour.
The International Banana Club: One Appealing Museum
by Joanna Kakissis | 05.16.08 | 3:40 AM ET
James Frey may have redeemed his fake-memoir self with his latest book, at least according to a rave review by Janet Maslin of The New York Times. But I’m more interested in Frey’s (random?) nod to an L.A.-area museum devoted entirely to bananas.
