Travel Blog
Dollar Hits 12-Year Low Against Yen
by Jim Benning | 03.13.08 | 4:13 PM ET
You want bad travel news? We got your bad travel news. The dollar’s tumbling value in Japan is today’s big headline. (Japan-bound budget travelers might want to cancel that hostel reservation and book a night here.) But the dollar has been sinking around the globe, from euro-land to India, for some time now. Get this, from the AP: “At the Taj Mahal, dollars were always legal tender, alongside rupees, for entry into the palace. But because of the falling value of the dollar, the government implemented a rupees-only policy a month ago.”
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Yahoo! BuzzWilliam Langewiesche in China: ‘No Pushing! No Swearing! No Irony!’
by Michael Yessis | 03.13.08 | 3:14 PM ET
Yet another high-profile U.S. writer has journeyed to China to take the country’s pulse in advance of the Beijing Olympics, this time in a 2,900-word piece in Vanity Fair. Langewiesche’s take:
Joseph Conrad: Adventurer, Writer, Post-Colonial Lightning Rod
by Jim Benning | 03.13.08 | 12:10 PM ET
Like Hemingway and Melville, Joseph Conrad transformed a life of adventure into gripping novels. As Adam Kirsch notes, he was “a ship’s captain, visiting ports from Malaysia to Venezuela. He attempted suicide in Marseilles, had a ship blown up under him in Sumatra, almost died of dysentery in the Belgian Congo, and fell in love with a mademoiselle in Mauritius.” A biography, The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad, by John Stape, explores the many facets of Conrad’s character. In recent weeks, it’s been receiving mixed reviews.
Mashing Up Washington D.C.‘s Sex Scandals
by Julia Ross | 03.13.08 | 12:03 PM ET
It didn’t take long for camera-toting tourists to ferret out Room 871 at Washington D.C.‘s Mayflower Hotel. The site of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s call girl tryst is the latest in a long list of sex scandal locales dotting the capital. For those interested in mapping out their own tour, Slate helpfully provides an annotated Google mash-up.
China Bans Mount Everest Climbers on Tibet Side
by Michael Yessis | 03.13.08 | 9:57 AM ET
The Tibet side of the mountain will be shut to down until May 10, effectively stopping climbers from making any serious tries at the summit this season. Why?
Southwest Grounds 44 Planes in Wake of Safety Probe
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.08 | 4:20 PM ET
The move comes after last week’s news that Southwest flew more than 100 “unsafe” planes and was fined $10.2 million. The 44 grounded planes will be inspected for possible structural damage. So far, Southwest says it has had to cancel 4 percent of its flights today.
New Palermo Shop Goes Mafia Free
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.08 | 3:49 PM ET
Punto Pizzofree, which opened last weekend, promises that “all products and staff are 100 per cent guaranteed Mafia-free, supplied only by shops and producers which have stood up to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and refused to pay protection money,” according to the Guardian.
My ‘Unsung’ British Attractions
by Eva Holland | 03.12.08 | 10:15 AM ET
Last year, the British Museum received almost 5.5 million visitors. The Tower of London saw 2 million “punters” pass through, while Westminster Abbey logged just over 1 million. In all, according to the newest statistics from Britain’s Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), 20 major sites received at least 1 million visitors in 2007. That adds up to some serious queues for tickets. Near the end of the ALVA’s table, though, are the sites whose annual visitors number in the tens of thousands, and The Guardian’s Dixie Wills has picked her 10 favorite unsung attractions from the list.
The Saints of Los Angeles
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.08 | 9:59 AM ET
There are 103 streets in Los Angeles named after saints, and artist J. Michael Walker has completed “an obsessive quest to locate, research and artistically interpret” all of them, from the iconic (Santa Monica Boulevard) to the private (St. Moritz Drive) to the immortalized in rock music (St. Andrews). It took Walker seven years to complete the project, which is currently on display at the Autry National Center.
An Expat in Athens: Carnival’s Kites and Calamari
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.11.08 | 4:31 PM ET
Yesterday was Clean Monday for Eastern Orthodox Christians, which means that Apokries (or Carnival celebrations) are winding down and Lent has officially begun. In Athens, where I shot this photo, Greeks spent the day eating fish—fried calamari and taramosalata, or fish roe dip, are special favorites—and flying kites on Philopappus Hill near the Acropolis. This year, Athens was far emptier than usual, since many Athenians had gone out to the provinces for the festivities.
Renzo Piano, Museum Maker Extraordinaire
by Jim Benning | 03.11.08 | 3:52 PM ET
Travelers who love architecture and museums are well aware of Renzo Piano’s work. He has 12 museums or additions under his architectural belt—including Paris’ must-see Pompidou Centre, pictured—and several more in the works.
Exploring Slum Tourism
by Jim Benning | 03.11.08 | 1:33 PM ET
The New York Times is the latest publication to contemplate the phenomenon.
Related on World Hum:
* Illuminating ‘Dark Travel’
* Welcome to Khmer Rouge Land!
* In Brazil, Favela Tourism Rising
* Poverty Tourism: Exploration or Exploitation?
Scrolling Through Austin
by Michael Yessis | 03.11.08 | 1:25 PM ET
During my four days in Austin for the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, I’ve seen a lot of this:
Photo: The Worst—and Best—Vending Machine in the World
by Michael Yessis | 03.11.08 | 1:10 PM ET
I came across this vending machine on Red River Street in Austin, Texas:
‘Lighting Out’ and the 100 Best Last Lines from Novels
by Jim Benning | 03.11.08 | 12:00 PM ET
The American Book Review has made its list of the 100 best final lines from novels. Coming in at No. 5, from a book featuring a couple of our favorite fictional travelers, the last lines from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”: “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” The American Book Review site doesn’t have a Web page with the complete list, but you can download a pdf of it here.
Related on World Hum:
* 10 Greatest Fictional Travelers
* Disney’s Tom Sawyer Island: Too Old Media for 2007
Photo of the Mississippi River by bluepoint951 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
