Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Is Kauai’s Aloha Spirit in Peril?
by Jim Benning | 02.01.08 | 11:42 AM ET
Tourist visits to Kauai reached record numbers last year: 1.27 million people made the trip to the Garden Island. A slew of construction projects—many around the resorts of Poipu—are in the works. Locals are worrying about the future. Writes Laura Bly in USA Today: “[O]ver the past few years, as tourism kicked into high gear and the island’s 63,000 residents wound down from rebuilding efforts following 1992’s devastating Category 4 Hurricane Iniki, frustration levels have swelled like north shore surf during a winter storm.”
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Yahoo! Buzz10 Super Bowl-Worthy Watering Holes
by Jim Benning | 02.01.08 | 10:07 AM ET
U.S. Issues New Kenya Travel Alert
by Jim Benning | 02.01.08 | 9:50 AM ET
As post-election violence increases and the World Bank threatens to suspend projects, the U.S. State Department urged citizens Thursday to “strongly consider the risks of travel to Kenya at this time,” adding, “U.S. citizens should avoid all travel to the cities of Kisumu, Nakuru and Naivasha, and defer all non-essential travel to the remaining portions of Nyanza, Western, and Rift Valley provinces.”
Historic Canadian Bookstore to Close
by Ben Keene | 01.31.08 | 11:37 AM ET
Independent bookstore closures are hardly a new phenomenon, but this one really stings. As Canada’s oldest bookstore, The Book Room has kept readers in Nova Scotia supplied with bound volumes for 169 years—since 1839. But as a result of declining sales, the Halifax store is selling down its inventory in preparation for a March closure. Said the store’s president Tuesday, “The staff and I are both really sad about having to do this.”
Iconic Hollywood Tower Records Building Faces Wrecking Ball
by Jim Benning | 01.30.08 | 11:40 AM ET
Photo by Alan Light via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
We recently noted the end of the rock ‘n’ roll balconies at Hollywood’s Hyatt “Riot House”—the very balconies where Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant once declared, “I’m a golden god!” Clearly, nothing is sacred in Hollywood.
Searching for the Perfect Cup of Chai
by Eva Holland | 01.30.08 | 10:43 AM ET
Last week’s post about eating patatas bravas in Washington D.C. made my mouth water—and it also got me thinking about those meals that I’ll always associate with a particular place and time. I inevitably come back from a trip with a new favorite food or drink, and just as inevitably my attempts to re-create it at home, whether in a local restaurant or my own kitchen, fail miserably. Case in point: my search for the perfect cup of chai.
Huntington Beach, Thy Name Should Not be ‘Surf City USA’
by Jim Benning | 01.30.08 | 7:41 AM ET
We’ve been writing about nation branding quite a bit, but here’s a ridiculous story involving tourism and city branding. Thanks to a settlement, the city of Huntington Beach can officially call itself “Surf City USA.”
Nation Branding for Laughs
by Michael Yessis | 01.29.08 | 11:11 AM ET
The winning entry in the Times of London’s contest to find a motto for Britain—“No motto please, we’re British”—is equally as funny as the winning slogan in the Washington Post’s Style Invitational competition to create mottoes for countries around the world—“England: Lie Back and Think of Us.” If you’re not an Englishwoman from the Victorian Era, you may be wondering why that’s funny. Try this.
Britain, Brand That Nation!
by Eva Holland | 01.28.08 | 3:17 PM ET
For the first time in the history of Brand That Nation! we focus on a country that is actively seeking to re-brand itself. Reuters has reported that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seeking a national motto, five or six words long, to appear on passports, public buildings, and birth certificates—and heck, why not tourism brochures, too? The New York Times chimed in this weekend, too. The venerable Times of London has been collecting suggestions, and as Kate Kelland writes, “cynicism and subversion are emerging as the most prominent national characteristics.”
Official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Population: 60,776,238
Capital: London
Motto: To be determined
The Critics: ‘Rambo’ and the Plight of the Burmese People
by Eva Holland | 01.28.08 | 10:30 AM ET
A few months back I wrote about Sylvester Stallone’s latest addition to the “Rambo” series. Sly had wrapped up filming on the Thai-Burmese border right around the time that the military junta began cracking down on protesting monks, and he told the media that he wanted his new flick to help expose the cruelty of the ruling generals. “It would be a whitewashing not to show what’s over there,” he said at the time. “I think there is a story that needs to be told.”
Milwaukee Bronzes the Fonz
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.28.08 | 9:37 AM ET
“Happy Days” locale Milwaukee will debut a life-sized, $85,000 statue of leather-clad Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli this fall, the AP reports. Thumbs up cookies for all! Some gallerists were down on the idea, saying the bronze Fonz would perpetuate “low-brow stereotypes about Wisconsin.” Lighten up, people! Tune in for potential eye-rolling, however, if Brooklyn goes for a monument to a pregnant Chachi.
Photo by swanksalot via Flickr (Creative Commons).
World Hum’s Most Read: Jan. 19-25
by Michael Yessis | 01.25.08 | 3:23 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) The (Full Moon) Party’s Over
2) Thai Airways Flight Attendants Cry, Stop ‘The Air Hostess War’!*
3) Italian Officials Consider Moving Michelangelo’s David (pictured)
4) The Trouble With ‘Smile When You’re Lying’
5) Engines at Fault in Heathrow Crash
Fire Breaks Out at Monte Carlo in Las Vegas*
by Michael Yessis | 01.25.08 | 1:46 PM ET
The three-alarm fire started on the roof of the hotel and casino around 11 a.m. Las Vegas time, according to an early report from the AP.
Julia Ross Talks up the Presidential Candidates’ Travel Bona Fides
by Jim Benning | 01.25.08 | 10:48 AM ET
If you missed the radio show, audio of Peter Greenberg’s interview with Julia Ross about World Hum’s 2008 U.S. Presidential Candidate Travel Scorecard is now up at PeterGreenberg.com.
Books for Fearful Flyers
by Eva Holland | 01.25.08 | 9:43 AM ET
Has the recent crash landing at Heathrow re-awakened your fear of flying? Or just made you curious about airplanes and the miracle of flight? Over at Slate, Inigo Thomas explains how reading everything he could get his hands on about commercial flight helped to (partially) cure his fear of flying. The list of must-reads is comforting and informative.
Related on World Hum:
* 2007: Safest Year for Air Travel Since 1963
