Travel Blog: News and Briefs
24 Hours in Airworld: So Long, T5
by Rob Verger | 06.10.09 | 10:59 AM ET
Photo by Rob Verger I’ve seen the terminal go through nearly a 24-hour cycle now—from busy in the morning, afternoon, and evening, to the quiet of late night when the last flights are shipping out, back to the busy hum of the morning again.
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Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: Stolen Picassos, Travel Games and Gadgets and More
by Eva Holland | 06.10.09 | 8:50 AM ET
- A sketchbook containing 33 drawings has been stolen from the Picasso Museum in Paris. The book is apparently worth millions.
- A car bombing at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan, has killed 15 people and injured dozens more.
- World Hum contributor Pam Mandel looks back on the “continually confusing exercise” that was her trip to Leningrad in 1990.
- Over at Double X, author Rachel Cusk talks about her latest memoir, “The Last Supper,” which tells the story of a summer spent in Italy with her young family.
- An electrical fire in the bathroom forced an American Airlines flight to make an emergency landing in Halifax, Nova Scotia yesterday. Nobody was injured.
- Doesn’t anyone just play “I Spy” anymore? The Telegraph has a tech- and gadget-heavy list of the 10 best travel games.
- The New York Times takes an evocative look at a South Carolina BBQ joint that still smokes its hogs the old-fashioned way.
- An Arkansas Holiday Inn got seriously pranked this weekend, as a caller claiming to be a sprinkler company worker convinced guests and employees to smash windows, set off fire alarms and more. (Via Fark)
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24 Hours in Airworld: Morning in the Terminal
by Rob Verger | 06.10.09 | 8:14 AM ET
I slept, kind of, for a couple hours, my blue rain jacket pulled over my head. I had managed to get a good spot on one of the leather couches by Gate 14, and awoke early this morning as Flight 819 boarded for Santo Domingo in a loud rush of Spanish. (Did you know that, in keeping with airport superstition, there’s no Gate 13 here?)
Outside, the expanses of the Kennedy airfield I can see now are gray with fog. A tall cup of coffee (the Illy place has been open since 4:30 a.m.) is making this morning feel a little more manageable. But now I’ve been hanging out here for about 20 hours, and a lot of that time has been somewhat less-than-fun.
24 Hours in Airworld: An Empty Terminal
by Rob Verger | 06.10.09 | 2:21 AM ET
Photo by Rob Verger The terminal empties out for the night.
24 Hours in Airworld: Late Night Sports Fans
by Rob Verger | 06.10.09 | 12:12 AM ET
Photo by Rob Verger A few basketball fans linger as the terminal gets quieter.
24 Hours in Airworld: Mall or Airport?
by Rob Verger | 06.09.09 | 11:21 PM ET
Photo by Rob Verger The beat goes on here at T5. Last I checked—at around 10:20 pm—JetBlue still had about 15 more flights to get out tonight (delays were frequent today with the bad weather), and then the first flight out tomorrow morning is the 5:45 to Puerto Rico.
While delays may be bad for the traveler, they’re good for the restaurants in the terminal, including Deep Blue, where I ate a quick dinner of tasty but too-spicy Pad Thai followed by a big cup of green tea. (Anything to warm me up in this hostile, freezing environment.) I enjoyed sitting in the white and blue bar space there, looking out at the rest of the terminal as things began to wind down. From the shopping area here, as I mentioned before, it’s hard to tell you’re in an airport. (Although the people walking by pulling suitcases are something of a giveaway.)
24 Hours in Airworld: The Airport Bar
by Rob Verger | 06.09.09 | 8:20 PM ET
Photo by Rob Verger Airport terminals are, by their nature, transitory places. Nearly 12 million people flew through Kennedy airport on JetBlue (the largest carrier here, measured by passenger volume) between March 2008 and March 2009, according to numbers from the Port Authority. And so I’ve often wondered: Do airport restaurants and bars have regular customers? Do they have a rhythm to them, the way other places might?
I ate lunch today at a tapas place called Pequillo here in T5, and afterwards, went and sat at the place’s bar, which is set in a cave-like space where it’s easy to forget you’re in an airport. (It advertises itself as the first tapas restaurant in an American airport.) I talked to the gracious bartender there, Kenia, regarding my question about airport bars and regulars. She was born in Honduras, and now lives in Brooklyn, and says that regulars—maybe 20 or 30 different people—come in about twice a week. “If you remember their name, and whatever they drink, it makes them feel good, I guess,” she said.
24 Hours in Airworld: Terminal 5, Old and New
by Rob Verger | 06.09.09 | 3:11 PM ET
It was raining this morning in New York City as I made my way to J.F.K. to spend 24 hours hanging out in JetBlue’s Terminal 5. Every time I come to this airport, I’m reminded how far away it is from Manhattan. I took the 1 Train to the 2 Train to the E Train to the AirTrain to get here—a trip longer than some short flights.
On the elevated walkway from the AirTrain to T5, I was able to look out on the old Eero Saarinen TWA terminal—JetBlue’s new terminal sits in front of the beautiful, soaring old building, which is currently closed for renovations and is under the management of the Port Authority. Once it opens, JetBlue will have two self-service kiosks in there, and there’s a rumor that the building could one day become a museum—or a pod hotel. Today the building sat there closed, under gray skies, a landmark from another era, connected to the new building through the old tubes.
JetBlue’s New T5: A Nice Place to Live?
by Rob Verger | 06.09.09 | 10:54 AM ET
JetBlue’s terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport sparkles. At a cost of $743 million, the 635,000-square-foot terminal known as T5 opened in October 2008. I’ve passed through it twice and was impressed with how bright and scrubbed clean it felt. And it offers what every terminal needs: free Wi-Fi.
This last detail makes it perfect to work from—perhaps even, for a very short period of time, to live in.
So starting today, with the permission of the good folks at JetBlue, I’ll be living in T5 for 24 hours and blogging about it as I go. I’m not flying anywhere. I’m headed to the airport just for fun and will spend a full day and night writing about the pulse of the place and anything else that comes up.
Morning Links: Machu Picchu on the Cheap, a Milestone Cross-Country Drive and More
by Eva Holland | 06.09.09 | 8:16 AM ET
- 100 years ago today, Alice Huyler Ramsey, the first woman to drive cross-country, left New York for San Francisco. The trip took 41 days and 11 spare tires.
- In the New York Times Happy Days blog, Pico Iyer reflects on life in New York and Kyoto, and on “the joy of less.”
- Cue up a YouTube clip of Blame Canada: Researchers from the Smithsonian have traced the geese that brought down US Airways Flight 1549 back to Labrador.
- World Hum contributor Kelsey Timmerman recently sat down for an interview with Budget Travel’s This Just In.
- Arthur Frommer isn’t impressed with that bill to restrict the use of full-body scanners at airports, currently making its way to the Senate. He calls opposition to the scanners “misguided.”
- Matador Trips has advice on how to see Machu Picchu for just $80 all-in.
- The Telegraph looks at some of the measures airlines are resorting to in an effort to cut down on weight and fuel consumption. Among them? Japan’s JAL has shaved down its cutlery.
- New York City’s High Line opens today. The High Line Blog has photos and a short dispatch from yesterday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
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‘The Bachelorette’ Meets the Rocky Mountaineer
by Eva Holland | 06.08.09 | 4:38 PM ET
British Columbia and reality TV: together at last.
For any BC-philes out there who want to catch an eyeful of Canada’s westernmost province (and don’t mind swallowing a televised dating show to do so), here’s a heads-up that “The Bachelorette” kicks off a three-episode tour tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.
Bachelorette Jillian will bring her remaining suitors north of the border to her hometown, Vancouver, for sea kayaking, curling and—I hope for their sake—a taste of the city’s abundant Asian food offerings. Next week brings adrenaline thrills in Whistler and, on June 22, the trip concludes with a ride on the Rocky Mountaineer—from everything I’ve heard, a trip that is jaw-hits-tray-table stunning.
Morning Links: Learning to Love France, Angkor Wat at Night and More
by Eva Holland | 06.08.09 | 8:26 AM ET
- In the Telegraph, Michael Simkins attempts to overcome his “good old Anglo-Saxon prejudices” and learn to love France.
- More bad news from Mexico: A group of tourists was evacuated in Acapulco over the weekend after a shoot-out broke out between soldiers and gunmen nearby.
- The Washington Post worries about the fate of Chesapeake Bay as human impact increases. There’s a lovely accompanying photo gallery.
- A bill placing restrictions on the use of full-body scanners at airport security has made its way through the House and on to the Senate.
- In the New York Times, World Hum contributor Evan Rail checks out Budapest’s growing design scene.
- Cambodia may open up Angkor Wat to night tourism to draw more visitor dollars: Good news for night owls, but bad news for the already under-pressure site?
- National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel has a preview of some of the post-renovation additions to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
- Scotland’s Scotch Whisky Association is taking its trademark battle against a Cape Breton single malt—Glen Breton—all the way to Canada’s Supreme Court.
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What We Loved This Week: La Vela Puerca in Hamburg, Tavern on the Green and More
by World Hum | 06.05.09 | 4:34 PM ET
Photo by Rob Verger Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Michael Yessis
I loved reading Gary Shteyngart’s views on travel and travel writing, courtesy of his interview with Rob Verger. Makes me want to go back and reread his excellent book, Absurdistan.
65 Years Later: Robert Capa and D-Day on Film
by Eva Holland | 06.05.09 | 11:44 AM ET
Tomorrow marks the 65th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, an assault that is widely viewed as one of the key turning points in the Second World War. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Canadian and British Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Gordon Brown will be converging on the area for an official ceremony this weekend, following in the footsteps of thousands of tourists who visit the beaches each year.
The event has me thinking about the enduring appeal of the D-Day beaches—after all, Europe has no shortage of battlefields and war monuments, but few are as well-known to Americans as Omaha Beach (or, for Canadians, Juno Beach). It seems to me that their historical significance alone doesn’t explain it. The beaches, I think, have such a powerful presence in the public consciousness thanks in part to a few iconic photographs by Robert Capa.
Kitsch City, U.S.A.
by Sophia Dembling | 06.05.09 | 10:32 AM ET
Photo by Tom Battles I certainly understand why some readers took exception to my assertion in a recent post that Las Vegas is among the must-see sights for Americans. Vegas is, indeed, a very silly place. But that silliness is what makes me love it—I have a very deep affection for all things kitschy, and Vegas is an entire kitsch city.
