Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Sbarro: A Traveler’s Staple at Risk
by Eva Holland | 06.15.09 | 2:58 PM ET
The Huffington Post reports that the omni-present Italian chain is on a shortlist of fast food outlets that could be edging towards bankruptcy. Commenters on the story have been quick to applaud the (possible) demise of a few godless corporations, but I’ll admit to a little pang of sadness: For me, Sbarro is inseparable from the experience of being in transit.
Whether on a layover at Philadelphia International or stumbling off an overnight bus on the New York State Thruway, I’ve made a comforting bowl of baked ziti a part of my travel routine. If it goes, what’s next? Panda Express? Say it ain’t so.
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Yahoo! BuzzShrinking Planet Headline of the Day: ‘Facebook Swahili Version Launched’
by Jim Benning | 06.15.09 | 2:15 PM ET
Facebook is now available in roughly 50 languages, and Swahili was the second African language to get its own version of the social networking site, the BBC reports.
Uighur Tourism in Bermuda?
by Eva Holland | 06.15.09 | 1:29 PM ET
Over at Jaunted, Victor Ozols “speculates recklessly” about whether the island’s acceptance of four Gitmo inmates could help its tourism profile. Hey, if ex-detainees keep on landing in island paradises, I’d happily plan a thematic world tour.
Six Flags Declares Bankruptcy
by Eva Holland | 06.15.09 | 11:42 AM ET
Cue the “end of the ride” references.
Hey, Where’d the Morning Links Go?
by Jim Benning | 06.15.09 | 10:18 AM ET
You’ll notice some changes to the World Hum blog in the coming weeks. For starters, beginning today, we won’t be publishing a daily morning links post. Instead, we’re going to publish more shorter posts throughout each day. All the news and stories you’ve been getting in the morning links won’t disappear from the site—they’ll just be presented a little differently. You’ll also see more of me and Michael in the blog—for better or worse.
As always, we welcome your news tips and suggestions, so don’t hesitate to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
What We Loved This Week: Airworld, ‘Planet China’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’
by World Hum | 06.12.09 | 4:54 PM ET
Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Pam Mandel
I could not put down J. Maarten Troost’s Lost on Planet China. I’ve never been talked out of wanting to go somewhere quite like this. Troost’s book is funny, disarming, candid, and totally unromantic. While Troost is pretty much game for anything, including live squid for dinner, he never once pretends to understand the sprawling, inscrutable mess that is modern China. The book would make a terrific airplane read, but not on that flight to Shanghai—you might never leave the airport.
Tom Swick
I loved that this week saw Roger Federer move effortlessly from colloquial French to fluent English and back again—neither one his native language—while accepting his first French Open trophy. Tennis players tend to be good linguists (with the exception of the Americans), or at least good at learning English (with the exception of Nadal) but in speaking as in playing, Federer excels.
For Sale: Fabulous Hotel, Needs Work
by Sophia Dembling | 06.12.09 | 11:26 AM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling While we’re on the subject of kitsch, here’s a story about lottery winnings well-spent: After winning $49 million in the Texas state lottery, Byron and Barbara Woods bought the decrepit Tee Pee Motel in Wharton, Texas, about 50 miles from Houston, and made it crepit with a $1.6 million buff-‘n’-puff.
Morning Links: ‘Authentic’ Sushi, Saying Goodbye to GM and More
by Eva Holland | 06.12.09 | 9:17 AM ET
The Morning Links for June 12, 2009:
- Today would have been Anne Frank’s 80th birthday. Her original diaries and other papers are going on display at the Anne Frank Museum for the occasion.
- Outposts blogger Timothy Egan offers his take on the strange case of an American exchange student on trial in Italy for the murder of her roommate.
- So long, California roll? The Atlantic takes a look at a fresh crop of American sushi chefs that are returning to tradition.
- For anyone keeping tabs on the new Gulliver’s Travels flick, Chris O’Dowd has signed on as arch-nemesis Edward. He joins Jack Black (as Gulliver), Emily Blunt and Jason Segel.
- In USA Today, World Hum contributor Julia Ross looks back on three generations of family loyalty to GM, and thanks the newly-bankrupt company for “a great ride.”
- Two animal rights groups have filed complaints to prevent the Mirage from importing more dolphins for Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. A Mirage dolphin named Sgt. Pepper died last week.
- In the Daily Beast, a photographer looks back on the bad old days (that is, the 1980s) of the New York subway. Don’t miss the accompanying slideshow.
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When (So-Called) Eco-Travelers Sin
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.11.09 | 4:24 PM ET
Photo by stevendepolo via Flickr (Creative Commons)
When I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Last American Man a few years ago, I was struck by an exchange between the nature-embracing mountain man Eustace Conway and an acolyte whose idea of life-changing sustainability was to turn off the water when she was brushing her teeth.
I wonder if some so-called “eco-travelers” operate the same way. Maybe they book a “life-changing” holiday at an eco-resort in Costa Rica and declare themselves sustainable travelers. But what if they take their unsustainable bad habits with them?
‘Social Spaces’: The Budget Traveler’s Happy Place
by Eva Holland | 06.11.09 | 1:31 PM ET
Over at Travel Generation, Bruce Thurlow has put together a list of nine “social spaces”—parks, markets and so on—that he argues are the key to truly appreciating the life of a new city.
I agree: I think I’ve done some of my best people-watching and observation on subway trains, on playing fields or in public squares. And the best part? These spaces are almost always free, or pretty close to it.
Here are a few spots to add to Thurlow’s list:
Seaweed, Hotels and the Vancouver Olympics
by Alexander Basek | 06.11.09 | 11:03 AM ET
Today I’m on the west coast of Vancouver Island breaking open the pod from some seaweed and squeezing the gel inside of it over my hands. Ew. Wait. I mean: so natural and healing! Diane Bernard, the self-styled “seaweed lady,” harvests the stuff here, advising spa directors and chefs what might work in their treatments or food, respectively. (We already sampled some seaweed that was begging to be stuffed with blue cheese and plopped into a martini). The gel from this particular strain of seaweed works like aloe, soothing the skin.
Morning Links: P.J. O’Rourke, In-Flight Weddings Get Nixed and More
by Eva Holland | 06.11.09 | 8:36 AM ET
- In the wake of last week’s “Where’s Waldo?” movie news, Popwrap’s Jarett Wieselman thinks it’s about time for a “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” flick.
- The Daily Beast’s Marty Beckerman interviews P.J. O’Rourke about his new book, “Driving Like Crazy,” and why he’s “given up traveling to shitholes.”
- A security guard was shot and killed yesterday after a gunman burst into the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and opened fire.
- In the Globe and Mail, Stephanie Nolen meets the families who have made their homes in some of India’s thousands of protected monuments.
- Matador Abroad offers a list of 20 interesting expats to follow on Twitter.
- The AP reports that inspection processes at pilot training programs will be ramped up in response to findings of pilot error in the Continental Connect plane crash last February.
- So long, mile-high marriages. EasyJet has dropped its plans to introduce in-flight weddings due to legal complications.
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‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Movie Update: Bardem Signs On
by Eva Holland | 06.10.09 | 4:38 PM ET
It’s been a couple of years since word came down that Julia Roberts would play the lead in the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s juggernaut of a travel memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love.” Now, Variety reports that Javier Bardem will join the project as Felipe, the Brazilian suitor who pops up in Bali. Richard Jenkins has also signed on to play Richard, the ashram Texan.
Should Air Travelers Help Pay for the Poor’s Climate Change Woes?
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.10.09 | 3:16 PM ET
It’s been a vexing question since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed that air travel is the world’s fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Some 16,000 commercial jet aircraft produce more than 700 million tons of CO2 every year, the IPCC says. Though air travel accounts for between two and four percent of global warming attributed to human activities, that amount is expected to grow to 15 percent in 50 years.
Meanwhile, 45 million people are starving or malnourished because of climate change-spurred droughts, floods and other natural disasters. The Global Humanitarian Forum, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says 300,000 people a year die because of climate change and that number will reach 500,000 annually by 2030. As negotiators prepare for a major climate summit in Copenhagen this December, they are also trying to figure out how developed countries (who produce the bulk of carbon emissions) can help save developing countries (who are suffering the most because of global warming). Taxing air travel is a favorite idea.
Signs of Shrinking Vacation Syndrome on Capitol Hill
by Eva Holland | 06.10.09 | 12:45 PM ET
Even our elected representatives aren’t immune—and at least one of them isn’t happy about it. Senator Chuck Grassley told President Obama how he feels in a colorful tweet on Sunday:
