Travel Blog
Travel Song of the Day: ‘Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim’ by Fountains of Wayne
by Michael Yessis | 07.15.09 | 2:42 PM ET
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Yahoo! BuzzPet Airways Begins Flights for Pampered Animals; Humans Still Out of Luck
by Alicia Imbody | 07.15.09 | 12:41 PM ET
Beginning today, Florida-based Pet Airways will fly your critters to and from New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles. The new airline promises that pets will be constantly attended to and treated as first-class “pawsengers,” with rates for one-way flights—for Fido only; you’ll have to book on a regular carrier—starting at $149. Representatives are confident that the high prices are well worth it, offering peace of mind against the “severe emotional and physical harm, even death” that can befall your pet traveling in the cargo hold on human-centric flights.
The airline has even started a blog featuring everything from the latest in-flight pet news to expert tips on keeping fit with your dog on the road.
How About a ‘Harry Potter’ Holiday?
by Eva Holland | 07.15.09 | 12:06 PM ET
Photo of Alnwick Castle by Eva Holland It’s that time of year again: The sixth installment in the world-dominating series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, hits theaters this week. The Telegraph has compiled a list of the best Harry Potter landmarks for fan pilgrimages, with mixed results. The specifics are fine—Alnwick Castle as Hogwarts, Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross and so on—but the list also includes whole countries merely mentioned, not visited, in the books. Are there really any Potter fans crazy enough to visit Norway just because it’s the natural habitat of the Norwegian Ridgeback dragon?
‘How Does Travel Inform Writing?’
by Michael Yessis | 07.15.09 | 10:37 AM ET
The Sicily Papers author Michelle Orange fields that question in a Q&A at The Virginia Quarterly Review. Here’s the last part of her answer:
Pedaling Through New York’s Neighborhoods
by Eva Holland | 07.15.09 | 9:47 AM ET
Good news for travelers on two wheels: New York City’s planning department has launched a series of cycling guides to lesser-visited areas of the five boroughs. The Times’ J. David Goodman took the first installment, “Queens Around the World,” for a test drive, and apart from a few logistical hitches he gives it a positive review. He wrote of his trip through Flushing, Corona and Jackson Heights: “Cruising this route by bike reveals how each community bleeds into the next, and does so at a speed that is quick enough to show the juxtapositions, but not so fast that each is lost in a blur.”
A guide to the Bronx is due out next.
AirTran Presents ‘Internetiquette’
by Eva Holland | 07.14.09 | 4:29 PM ET
As we’ve noted, AirTran has been leading the charge on in-flight Wi-Fi service—and now it’s pioneering in-flight internet protocol too. The airline’s new seat pocket guide, “Internetiquette: A Guide to Keeping Everyone in Line, While They’re Online,” is no dry list of rules, either. Take, for instance, Tip #10 on personal photo galleries:
SFF, or Suitable For Flights: family vacation photos, graduation photos, birthday party photos.
NSFF, or Not Suitable For Flights: the photos from Vegas. You know the ones.
Sometimes humor can be the best way to get a point across. Here’s hoping AirTran’s passengers take note, and that e-card jingles and musical MySpace pages are kept to a minimum on future wired flights.
Photo We Love: On the Rocks in Shanghai
by World Hum | 07.14.09 | 3:00 PM ET
REUTERS/Stringer A worker walks on the bank of Huangpu River. Shanghai is getting a citywide facelift in advance of the 2010 World Expo.
Travel Song of the Day: ‘Africa’ by Toto
by Alicia Imbody | 07.14.09 | 2:05 PM ET
London’s Trafalgar Square: ‘Completely Uncivilized’
by Eva Holland | 07.14.09 | 1:09 PM ET
Long live the stereotype of the stuffy British academic. The director of Britain’s National Gallery, Dr. Nicholas Penny, isn’t happy with the state of affairs in London’s venerable public square, which the gallery overlooks—and he isn’t afraid to drop some harsh words on the subject. “Levels of civil behaviour are incredibly low,” he told the Times Online. “As I speak, people are riding the lions and climbing up as far as they can on the reliefs of Nelson’s Column.” Penny did, however, acknowledge that the rollerbladers in the square are “incredibly skillful.”
UNESCO: World Heritage by the Numbers
by Eva Holland | 07.14.09 | 12:12 PM ET
In the wake of a recent announcement about 13 new World Heritage site designations, the Independent offers a by-the-numbers look at the updated UNESCO list. The collection of mostly fun factoids is marred by one number in particular: 31 sites that remain under threat from war, pollution and more.
Parisians Promise to be Nicer to Tourists ... Again
by Alicia Imbody | 07.14.09 | 10:43 AM ET
As Parisian tourism continues to decline, the city’s tourist board has been addressing its residents’ reputation for being, well, less than welcoming to outsiders—the so-called Paris Syndrome. The plan to encourage travelers to return has nothing to do with the recession, and everything to do with attitude: “There’s nothing as telling as a smile,” Paul Roll, head of the tourist board, told Reuters. Teams of “smile ambassadors” are being strategically positioned at popular destinations to welcome visitors, and locals are implored to be more hospitable, a la Mayor Delenoe’s urgings before the first Paris Tourist Day two years ago.
The Miami Herald and ‘Why Newspapers Are Going Down’
by Jim Benning | 07.14.09 | 9:34 AM ET
In the latest blog post in his ongoing series, “Why Newspapers Are Going Down,” Tom Swick notes that the Miami Herald has a new travel editor—who also happens to be the Home & Design editor.
Coney Island: ‘It’s Not Dead Yet’
by Eva Holland | 07.13.09 | 4:07 PM ET
The New York Times thinks it’s about time for City Council “to stop the long, slow, perpetual dying of Coney Island”—and, as noted in this editorial, there’s a proposal in the works that could do just that. Hear, hear.
Site to Watch: Open Sound New Orleans
by Michael Yessis | 07.13.09 | 3:31 PM ET
It’s a soundmap of New Orleans. The directors of the project, Heather Booth and Jacob Brancasi, aim “to make more accessible the authentic, unedited sounds and voices of New Orleans. Sharing the sounds of our city as we hear them, move through them, and create them, is an act of celebration.”
Booth and Brancasi spoke about their project and shared a few sounds yesterday on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
U.S. Senate Encourages Domestic Travel to Canada
by Alicia Imbody | 07.13.09 | 2:55 PM ET
Screenshot of the Environment Of Public Works website The Washington Post embarrassingly revealed how the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recently tried to promote domestic summer travel to the Rockies on its website, using a picture of Lake Louise—which happens to be located in Canada. When the Post questioned committee members about the contradictory image, both parties denied a deliberate attempt to promote foreign travel, pointing fingers and ultimately admitting to using a hasty “placeholder” photo, which has since been removed.
This is in no way related to past examples of the U.S. attempting to annex Canada for strictly promotional purposes.
