Travel Blog: News and Briefs
R.I.P. Neda Agha-Soltan
by Eva Holland | 06.23.09 | 1:04 PM ET
The woman who has become a symbol of Iran’s ongoing protests after her death was caught on video has been identified as Neda Agha-Soltan, 26, a student in Tehran. A tidbit from the compelling Los Angeles Times profile:
She took private classes to become a tour guide, including Turkish-language courses, friends said, hoping to someday lead groups of Iranians on trips abroad. Travel was her passion, and with her friends she saved up enough money for package tours to Dubai, Turkey and Thailand.
(Via Andrew Sullivan)
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzRemembering America’s Lost Train Stations
by Michael Yessis | 06.23.09 | 12:12 PM ET
The Infrastructurist has a terrific then-and-now photo essay on beautiful American train stations that fell to the wrecking ball. Write Yonah Freemark and Jebediah Reed: “One lesson of this legacy is that what replaces a well designed and centrally located rail depot can is rarely of equal worth to the city.” (via @frugaltraveler)
See This Now: ‘Give Peace a Chance’
by Eva Holland | 06.23.09 | 10:14 AM ET
Photo by Eva Holland As we’ve noted, this spring marked the 40th anniversary of John and Yoko’s iconic “bed-ins” for peace, first at the Amsterdam Hilton and later (and more famously) at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. The commemorations in those two cities have passed, but a powerful exhibit about the Montreal bed-in has just opened at the Museum at Bethel Woods (aka the Woodstock museum), and it will remain open through the summer.
Dancing Around the World
by Eva Holland | 06.22.09 | 3:02 PM ET
Nope, nothing to do with Matt Harding this time. The Big Picture’s latest photo essay showcases an eclectic collection of dancers worldwide. I can’t even pick a favorite.
Traveling the World in Search of ‘Supersleep’
by Eva Holland | 06.22.09 | 10:39 AM ET
Slate’s Tim Wu reflects on travel as a medium for some great sleeps, and looks back on his best. The winner? A night in a snow shelter: “After snowshoeing to our snow homes and burrowing in, I remember falling into what must be the deepest state of dreamless sleep humans are capable of. It was the mythical supersleep, deeper than any other, the Atlantis of the unconscious. It was a heavy dose of what scientists call slow-wave sleep. I’ve been trying to find it again ever since—but the question is, where?”
R.I.P. John Joseph Houghtaling: ‘Magic Fingers Vibrating Bed’ Inventor
by Michael Yessis | 06.22.09 | 9:46 AM ET
Houghtaling invented the coin-operated vibrating bed, which delivered 15 minutes of “tingling relaxation and ease” and, according to the New York Times obit, “shook postwar America, or at least those Americans who stayed overnight in midprice motels.” He was 92.
What We Loved This Week: Ja Rule, Baltic Sunsets and a Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video
by World Hum | 06.19.09 | 3:29 PM ET
Photo by Terry Ward Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Eva Holland
I loved touching down in Whitehorse, the capital of Canada’s Yukon territory, and being surprised by some of its more “worldly” touches—pho, sushi, Starbucks—and the way they sit comfortably alongside a definite frontier vibe in this onetime Gold Rush boomtown.
Paying for Passport Stamps
by Eva Holland | 06.19.09 | 1:50 PM ET
Over at Jaunted, blogger JetSetCD has opened up a conversation on those oh-so-tempting, oh-so-corny souvenir passport stamps.
You know, the ones from places like Checkpoint Charlie, Machu Picchu and so on. And then, beyond the stamps from major tourist sites, there are the just-so-I-can-say-I-was-here countries—Liechtenstein, San Marino and the like—that charge for their entry stamps, too. So, Jaunted asks, are novelty passport stamps worth their price? Or are they just as bad as “buying those horrific gift spoons”?
I have to admit, I’ve never actually been faced with the question before. But I love my passport stamps, and I can’t see putting a set of fake East/West Berlin markers into the mix. On the other hand, though it would irk me to pay, I’d probably want proof that I crossed Liechtenstein’s borders. What about you?
From Los Angeles to San Francisco for $33 Billion
by Michael Yessis | 06.19.09 | 12:49 PM ET
That’s how much California officials estimate a high-speed rail system linking the two cities will cost. Jon Gertner’s excellent story in the New York Times Magazine gets at why it’ll cost that much and how plans are developing.
We’ve been tracking the high-speed rail dreams in the U.S. for years, and this is one of the stronger pieces on the subject.
Travel Movie Endings, Good and Bad
by Eva Holland | 06.19.09 | 11:46 AM ET
What do you do, as a pack of popular movie bloggers, when your popular movie blog gets the axe? If you’re Nerve.com’s Screengrab team you go out in style, with a list of the best and worst movie endings of all time.
A couple of beloved travel movies made the list—Screengrabber Andrew Osborne takes aim at the “slap-dash” conclusion to “Easy Rider,” while he praises one of my all-time favorites, “Before Sunset,” for its sublime final moments: “Delpy does a shuffling little dance. Hawke sinks into the couch with a silly grin on his face. And we all learn that the most romantic words of all are not ‘I love you’—they’re ‘Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.’” Amen. And so long, Screengrab.
The Secret is Out on Secret Dining
by David Farley | 06.19.09 | 10:38 AM ET
I met a woman at a party a few months ago who, when she witnessed my eyebrow-raising eating prowess, revealed she knows of a few secret dining spots: places only known by the covert band of dining cognoscenti, a cabal of eaters who fetishize the idea of eating in places that no one else knows of. I know, it’s exciting. I tried to extract the information from her that night with the grace of a tooth-pulling dentist, but she wouldn’t budge.
Where to Find Free Food in New York City
by Eva Holland | 06.19.09 | 9:45 AM ET
For those budget travelers who sometimes prefer to spend money on our drinks than on our meals (who, me?), Matt Gross has a helpful run-down of New York City’s free bar snacks. I can vouch for the tasty popcorn at Temple Bar.
Airlines Channel La-Z-Boy to Cut Costs
by Alicia Imbody | 06.19.09 | 9:01 AM ET
As more and more premium passengers move to coach, airlines are desperately trying to find ways to reduce costs and update their fleets. The latest experiment: reducing seat pitch (the distance between a point in your seat and the same point in the one behind you) to make room for a dozen or so extra passengers.
American Airlines assured Travel Weekly that the seats should seem roomier in spite of adjustments to cram in even more. A spokesman described the new sliding feature to preserve legroom “like a La-Z-Boy recliner.” Just, you know, wedged in between 159 other recliners.
Canadian Road Trip Candy: ‘One Week’ on DVD
by Eva Holland | 06.18.09 | 4:53 PM ET
Remember One Week, aka Canada’s “Into the Wild”? Well, the movie may never have made it to U.S. theaters, but it landed on DVD this week—and while I wouldn’t count on it being stocked at your local Blockbuster, I can confirm that Netflix is on the ball.
But is it worth a rental? I caught it on an Air Canada flight a few weeks back and had mixed feelings.
Is This What the Next Generation Airport Will Look Like?
by Michael Yessis | 06.18.09 | 3:24 PM ET
This blurb from the New York Times Infrastructure! issue suggests it’ll be “a superhub constructed offshore on a man-made island,” with undersea high-speed train access and gardens on top of the buildings.
It’ll allegedly be efficient and green. Here’s a graphic.
