Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Jackson Mourners Still Heading to Neverland
by Eva Holland | 07.31.09 | 1:26 PM ET
Consider my earlier question answered. USA Today reports that “hundreds of fans” are showing up daily at the gates of the secluded ranch. Unsurprisingly, local opinion is split on whether the pilgrimage spot should become an official Graceland-esque attraction. (Via @amybp)
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Yahoo! BuzzMarcel Theroux Rides the Rails
by Eva Holland | 07.31.09 | 12:02 PM ET
Looks like a love of trains runs in the family? The Guardian has a fun video—part one in a series—from second-generation travel writer Marcel Theroux’s recent train ride into northern Russia. (Via @elihansen)
‘Eat, Pray, Love in the USA’
by Eva Holland | 07.31.09 | 11:14 AM ET
Over at Matador Trips, Beebe Bahrami offers her top picks for culinary, spiritual and romantic America, with everywhere from the French Quarter to the Black Hills represented. It’s the latest in an “Eat, Pray, Love” themed series.
Schott’s Vocab on ‘Grief Tourism’
by Michael Yessis | 07.31.09 | 9:36 AM ET
The New York Times blog of modern words and phrases picks up on grief tourism. It defines it as: “Traveling to the memorial services or home towns of those who have died, in order to pay one’s respects—despite having no personal connection with the deceased.” It’s an offshoot of dark tourism, which Frank Bures examined for World Hum a couple years ago.
Esquire Improves Your Tourist Trap Experience
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 4:15 PM ET
The men’s mag has a tersely written guide to some of America’s most popular tourist spots, and how to improve the time that you’ll inevitably spend visiting them—shoulder-to-shoulder with everybody else. Here’s a sample for Manhattan: “Joe’s Pizza on Carmine, not Ben’s on Spring. // House-tun, not Hyoo-stun. // Not SoHo. Period.”
Thanks for the tip, Eli.
Continental Adds DirecTV on Domestic Flights
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 3:14 PM ET
The system, which broadcasts live from satellite rather than airing pre-recorded programming, will be widely installed by 2011, and USA Today predicts that other legacy carriers will follow suit. The outcome for travelers: We may not be able to check a bag or drink a Diet Coke without paying an extra fee anymore, but soon we’ll be able to watch the latest episode of “Ice Road Truckers” at 37,000 feet. That makes up for everything else, right?
Brunel-Spotting in Southern England
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 12:16 PM ET
If you’ve taken a train in London or southwestern England, chances are you’ve passed through or across one of Isembard Kingdom Brunel’s bridges, tunnels or railway stations. The Victorian engineer arguably did more than anyone to shape public transit in Britain, and his creations are hard to avoid.
I’ve been a Brunel fan ever since I accidentally wound up at his 200th birthday party at the foot of Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge in 2006, so I was pleased to come across this excellent slideshow from the Telegraph, mixing paintings and photographs to depict Brunel’s greatest surviving structures. I’ve made it to four of them—how about you?
Slate Explains Why Congress Gets so Much Vacation
by Michael Yessis | 07.30.09 | 11:35 AM ET
Members of congress get a lot of time off each year, and it’s not entirely unjustified. I live in the D.C. area, and I applaud anyone who can manage to escape the oppressive weather by disappearing for August.
Finding Leonard Cohen in Montreal and California
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 10:03 AM ET
In the latest issue of Geist, Ann Diamond tells the story of her series of near-encounters with Leonard Cohen—with 1970 Montreal, in the midst of the October Crisis, as the grimly compelling backdrop. And if that’s not enough Cohen-related, travel-esque writing for you, check out Pico Iyer’s 1998 essay about visiting the poet/rocker at a Zen Center in the San Gabriel Mountains, outside L.A.
U.S. Airports Antsy for Cuba Access
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 3:19 PM ET
Several U.S. airports—Tampa’s, Key West’s and Houston’s among them—are angling to be added to the list of locations from which flights to Cuba are permitted. Currently, only L.A., New York and Miami are allowed to handle the charter flights that carry Americans with the appropriate permits to and from the island, but with an easing of travel restrictions seemingly on the horizon, nobody wants to be left out. Said Key West International’s airport director, Peter Horton: “[T]he last thing that we want is to get lost in the shuffle as people scramble to try to fly there.”
Tipping Around the World
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 1:15 PM ET
Sure, we can all agree that tipping is not a city in China—but beyond that the practice does vary considerably from place to place, so what’s a well-meaning but confused traveler to do? Luckily, Conde Nast Traveler has just come out with a remarkably detailed guide to tipping practices in more than 35 countries, broken down by hotel, restaurant, or driver/guide. There’s even a handy PDF version. (Via Jaunted)
National Geographic on ‘Vanishing Venice’
by Eva Holland | 07.29.09 | 12:22 PM ET
The latest issue of the magazine includes a lovely story on the city, and the rising flood of tourists that threatens to destroy it. (Via @italylogue)
Photo We Love: Unruly Umbrella in Mumbai
by World Hum | 07.29.09 | 11:25 AM ET
REUTERS/Arko Datta
A woman tries to control her umbrella along a stormy seafront in Mumbai, India.
30 Great Vacation Songs (Not Including the Go-Gos’ ‘Vacation’)
by Eva Holland | 07.28.09 | 3:24 PM ET
That’s the fun premise for this list of travel songs from Rock’s Backpages. I was surprised to find almost no overlap with our own top 40 travel songs of all time—and the takeaway from that? There’s certainly no shortage of great road tunes in the world.
Simon Calder: Travel Industry Needs an ‘Outbreak of Common Sense’
by Eva Holland | 07.28.09 | 1:30 PM ET
In the wake of last week’s news about British airlines requiring doctor’s notes from passengers with potential swine flu symptoms, the Independent’s Simon Calder calls for some common sense. “A decade ago the tourism industry worked itself into a frenzy predicting the likely effects of the “Millennium Bug”, when the clocks driving primitive computers ticked over from year 99 to 00,” he writes. Of course, we made it through that scare. But then, he goes on: “[J]ust when you thought it was safe to go on holiday, the front-page headlines this week threaten the plans of anyone with a sniffle.”
Calder finds the common sense he’s seeking from, of all people, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary, who offered reassurances that his airline wouldn’t be hunting down every passenger who sneezes in the security line: “Our staff are not medical experts,” he said.
