Travel Blog: News and Briefs
The Joy of Doing Laundry on the Road
by Jim Benning | 06.18.09 | 2:52 PM ET
As any traveler knows, sometimes the most mundane chores and tasks become the stuff of great memories when you do them in a new place: Grocery shopping, getting a haircut and, yes, even doing laundry can suddenly become an adventure.
I’ve had some great travel experiences while doing laundry overseas—a particular encounter in a Chamonix Laundromat comes to mind.
So I was happy to read Daisann McLane’s piece on this very topic in National Geographic Traveler:
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Yahoo! Buzz‘Away We Go’ in Search of Literary Street Cred?
by Eva Holland | 06.18.09 | 1:23 PM ET
Publicity still via IGN The Book Bench takes a saucy look at “Away We Go,” the Sam Mendes-directed, Eggers/Vida-penned flick that recently got the World Hum Travel Movie Club treatment.
Writes blogger Jenna Krajeski: “Mendes ruined his reputation around the library when he suffocated Richard Yates’s masterpiece [“Revolutionary Road”] on the silver screen. Is he trying to win back his literary cred?” Or, she wonders, did the two novelists throw the game deliberately in the name of the printed page? “Perhaps there’s no better way to prove that novelists should stick to writing novels than to have two skilled fiction writers fail at writing for the movies.” Ouch.
R.I.P. Edith ‘Jackie’ Ronne: ‘First U.S. Woman on Antarctica’
by Michael Yessis | 06.18.09 | 10:48 AM ET
Edith “Jackie” Ronne was 28 years old when she set foot on Antarctica in 1947. It was a journey she never intended to take.
She was, according to the Washington Post, talked into joining the expedition by her explorer husband so she could, among other things, write stories about the expedition for the North American Newspaper Alliance and the New York Times. As part of the expedition team, she became the first U.S. women on Antarctica and, along with Canadian Jennie Darlington, the first woman to spend a winter on the continent. (The first woman on Antarctica: Norwegian Caroline Mikkelsen, in 1935.)
Ronne was 89.
Here’s the trailer for the documentary about the expedition she joined:
America: One Quote, One Photo
by Sophia Dembling | 06.18.09 | 9:54 AM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling “Truly the American countryside is the most beautiful I have ever seen, the only one in which one forgets the existence of man.” -Luigi Barzini, 1953
I was going through my bookshelves, trying to thin the herd, and came across a book I didn’t remember owning but that stopped all work for a while. It’s called “America the Quotable” and it’s a collection of quotes about our beloved 50, individually and collectively.
I came across the above Barzini quote—which brought to mind this photo—and thought I’d share. I’m sure many of you also have images that come to mind. Put ‘em on Flickr, post a link in the comments, let’s have a look!
Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel: Brandon Jennings
by Michael Yessis | 06.17.09 | 3:00 PM ET
The quote for this inaugural Athletes Who Say Idiotic Things About Travel post comes from Brandon Jennings, who played basketball in Italy last year and hopes to play in the NBA in the upcoming season. The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg asked him what he learned during his season in Italy.
Another Morning After: ‘Hangover’ Sequel en Route
by Eva Holland | 06.17.09 | 12:49 PM ET
Lovers of film and travel, fear not: If “The Hangover”—you know, the one about the messy/hilarious aftermath of a Vegas boys’ getaway?—left you wanting more, you don’t have long to wait. A sequel, with star Bradley Cooper signed on, is already in the works. It’s a likely bet for box office success—Cooper’s only concern, apparently, is how they’ll top the first installment. “We’ve gotta go to space or something,” a skeptical Popwrap blogger quotes him as saying.
Sure, Bradley. Logistical issues aside, space certainly tops Vegas. Or you could just go to Macau.
Vive Mexico!
by Alicia Imbody | 06.17.09 | 12:48 PM ET
Photo by Alicia Imbody Garrison Keillor on the Joys of the State Fair
by Michael Yessis | 06.17.09 | 11:49 AM ET
Just in time for summer, Mr. Lake Woebegon—have you seen all the words he’s trademarked?—writes about the ten chief joys of the state fair in National Geographic. I like No. 3:
To mingle, merge, mill, jostle gently, and flock together with throngs, swarms, mobs, and multitudes of persons slight or hefty, punky or preppy, young or ancient, wandering through the hubbub and amplified razzmatazz and raw neon and clouds of wiener steam in search of some elusive thing, nobody is sure exactly what.
If you’re a Harper’s subscriber and you haven’t already read it, the archive has more great state fair writing from David Foster Wallace. (via @Marilyn_Res)
Can a Taxi Man Make a Subway Movie?
by Eva Holland | 06.17.09 | 11:04 AM ET
There’s a surprising tidbit in the Slate review of “The Taking of Pelham 123,” the Denzel/Travolta-starring remake of a ’70s subway-thriller classic. Turns out, director Tony Scott never actually rides the New York subway. Or, almost never: “Well, when I say never, I mean maybe once or twice quite drunk at night, when I couldn’t find a taxi.” Right.
Rising Fuel Prices, the Paris Air Show and More
by Rob Verger | 06.16.09 | 3:12 PM ET
What’s the fuel bill to fly a 757-200 across the country, from New York to Los Angeles?
About $21,600.
That, at least, was the cost of the fuel burned on a recent transcontinental Delta flight I was on, according to the flight’s captain. Out of 7,500 gallons of fuel on board, we burned about 6,760 gallons.
Clearly, the price of fuel is hugely important for airlines. And rising prices aren’t helping.
The Strange Travels of the Stanley Cup
by Eva Holland | 06.16.09 | 1:53 PM ET
As the Minneapolis Star-Tribune points out, hockey’s most coveted trophy “has done a lot of traveling over the years.”
Some highlights? A helicopter ride to a B.C. mountain summit, a visit to a Finnish sauna and an aborted drop-in at Lenin’s Tomb—the guards wouldn’t let several Detroit Red Wings stars bring it in. Now that the Pittsburgh Penguins have claimed the Cup, there’s no telling where it might wind up this summer. (Via @douglasmack)
Battle Over the Elgin Marbles Rages On
by Eva Holland | 06.16.09 | 1:08 PM ET
We blogged about one writer’s sneak peek at the New Acropolis Museum last summer, and now opening day has finally arrived—predictably, not without controversy.
The museum was designed both to pressure Britain for the return of the Elgin Marbles, and to provide a worthy home for them after their (eventual, theoretical) return. With that context in mind, it’s no surprise that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the director of the British Museum—where the marbles are currently held—have all declined invitations to the grand opening on Saturday.
Political Iran on Film
by Eva Holland | 06.16.09 | 10:32 AM ET
Foreign Policy has a timely list of movies “that have stirred the country’s politics over the years.” The selections span four decades, from the Shah’s day to the present, and could be great fodder for some armchair traveling—for this week, probably the only sort of travel that’s advisable to Iran.
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Creation’
by Eva Holland | 06.16.09 | 9:24 AM ET
From "HMS Beagle at Tierra del Fuego" by Conrad Martens (via Wikipedia) Details are still a little scarce, but I’d be very surprised if the Charles Darwin biopic didn’t include some serious travel sequences. Paul Bettany plays the lead, and the movie is due out in September.
Iran: Through the Eyes of Travelers
by Eva Holland | 06.15.09 | 6:07 PM ET
I’ve spent the last couple days transfixed by events in Iran, where widespread protests and bursts of violence have followed a contested election result. The country’s hardly an American tourism hot spot (and this latest unrest won’t help on that front) but over the years, we’ve covered some travel-related Iranian ground. Here’s a look back:
