Travel Blog
Passenger: TSA Forced me to Remove my Nipple Ring With Pliers
by Michael Yessis | 03.28.08 | 10:19 AM ET
Mandi Hamlin says Transportation Security Administration agents in Lubbock, Texas, would not let her fly with her nipple piercings in place. According to the AP, TSA agents declined Hamlin’s request for a female agent to look at her piercings and confirm they were benign. They instead asked her to remove the piercings if she wanted to fly.
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Yahoo! BuzzJapan’s Yoshoku Menu: Hambagoo, Ketchup-Flavored Rice and Stir-Fried ‘Napolitan’ Spaghetti
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.27.08 | 4:01 PM ET
Yoshoku means “Western food” in Japanese, and it’s been a staple of the country’s cuisine for decades. Chefs have taken hamburgers, spaghetti and other dishes, and “reshaped” them for Japanese palates. Most foreigners, though, have never heard of yoshoku, writes Norimitsu Onishi in The International Herald Tribune.
Pondering ‘Tourism’s Withering Impact’ in Asia
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.08 | 3:39 PM ET
Denis D. Gray looks at the rise of travel to “places once isolated by conflicts, hostile regimes and ‘off-road’ geography to which only the more intrepid travelers had earlier ventured.”
‘Why on Earth Would I, a Childless Adult, Visit Disney World by Myself?’
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.08 | 11:07 AM ET
The “I’ in question here is Seth Stevenson, so I’m pretty sure it’s so he could mine the Mouse for laughs and cultural insight. And, typically, he does so in an entertaining Well-Traveled series this week at Slate. In his own words, though, he says he decided to spend five days entirely within the Disney universe basically “to figure out what the hell’s going on in this place. Because America has clearly decided it’s hallowed ground.”
‘Older Brits’ Are Going Wild, Too
by Michael Yessis | 03.27.08 | 10:53 AM ET
It’s not just the study-abroad crowd. From an AFP story: “The drink-fuelled antics of young Britons causing havoc on holiday are well-known—but Britain’s over-55s are now joining them in getting into trouble while abroad.”
Americans Gone Wild in Italy—Again
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.27.08 | 10:43 AM ET
Didn’t we hear this story last year? Does it get juicier if the drunks involved are well-heeled American women spending their college study abroad programs “vomiting off the sides of the cobblestone streets,” as a city councilman in Florence told National Public Radio? About 80 percent of the 7,000 American study-abroad students are women, and hundreds of them are partying like they’re on a long, wild spring break.
Mongolian Hot Pot: ‘The Next Sushi’?
by Eva Holland | 03.26.08 | 11:49 AM ET
In the summer of 2007, when the New Seven Wonders of the World were announced, World Hum rolled out its own list of wonders: the Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet. My favorite pick was the California roll, which represented not only the rise of sushi from obscure “ethnic” cuisine to corner store standard but also, as Jim and Michael wrote, “the many ways that cuisines from every corner of the planet are mixing in new, inventive and surprisingly tasty ways.”
Court Rejects New York’s Airline Passenger Bill of Rights
by Michael Yessis | 03.26.08 | 11:09 AM ET
Sponsors of the bill say they’ll “consider crafting new legislation in Albany and pushing for a federal law protecting passengers,” according to the New York Times. Federal legislators have already advanced pieces of a national passenger bill of rights through the House of Representatives.
Report: Pilot’s Shot Pierced Plane’s Fuselage
by Michael Yessis | 03.26.08 | 10:03 AM ET
Authorities still aren’t releasing the name of the pilot whose Heckler & Koch USP .40-caliber pistol accidentally fired on a US Airways flight last weekend from Denver to Charlotte, but a report by Charlotte airport police and photos of the bullet hole are now available.
Pico Iyer to Appear on ‘Fresh Air’
by Michael Yessis | 03.26.08 | 9:37 AM ET
If our interview with him only whetted your appetite for Pico, listen to him speak with Terry Gross today on “Fresh Air.” They’ll be talking about his new book, “The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama,” and “how the Dalai Lama is responding to the current uprising against Chinese rule.”
Related on World Hum:
* Pico Iyer: On ‘The Open Road’ and 30 Years With the Dalai Lama
Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Koala Biscuits to Lure German Tourists’
by Michael Yessis | 03.25.08 | 3:37 PM ET
It tops a story in the Sydney Morning Herald, which begins: “German supermarket shelves have been stocked with koala-shaped biscuits in a bid to lure more big-spending German tourists to Queensland.” Guess this campaign didn’t grab enough big-spending German koala lovers.
Out Today: Pico Iyer’s ‘The Open Road’
by Jim Benning | 03.25.08 | 1:58 PM ET
The timing is remarkable. After Pico Iyer spent five years working on his new book about Tibet’s spiritual leader, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama hits bookstores today—at a moment when Tibet is making headlines around the world. If nothing else, it assures Iyer’s work will find an audience beyond armchair travelers and Tibet admirers. We’ve just posted an interview with Iyer in which he explains why travel is at the heart of the book. Elsewhere on the Web, reviews and related Dalai Lama profiles are beginning to trickle in.
Tourists Should be ‘Beat Up,’ Says Bali Bombing Conspirator
by Michael Yessis | 03.25.08 | 12:27 PM ET
Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir called Western tourists in Indonesia “maggots, snakes and worms,” and he urged his followers not to tolerate them in a sermon captured on video by Australian university student Nathan Franklin.
How To Dine Solo in Paris
by Eva Holland | 03.25.08 | 10:37 AM ET
Want to Travel With Your Favorite Stars?
by Jim Benning | 03.24.08 | 1:42 PM ET
Tom Swick has some, uh, fine suggestions.
