Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Study Abroad Trickles Down to Teens
by Julia Ross | 01.25.08 | 9:39 AM ET
We posted earlier this week on rising interest in studying abroad among college freshmen. Well, high school students are close on their heels. In a sign that the teen market is also ripe for cross-cultural exchange, National Geographic has launched a new student travel program combining community service with lesson-oriented “assignments.”
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Yahoo! BuzzTraveler Clears Airport Security With Loaded Gun
by Jim Benning | 01.24.08 | 3:30 PM ET
It happened at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Sunday, and the man returned to the security checkpoint to report the incident when he remembered that his gun was loaded. Terrific.
Photo: Preparing for the Year of the Rat
by Jim Benning | 01.24.08 | 1:35 PM ET
A photographer caught children in Hong Kong making radish dim sum—well, at least one of them was working on it—in preparation for Chinese New Year celebrations. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Disneyland officials are boldly re-branding the year of the rat, which begins next month. In an effort to appeal to local traditions, the Wall Street Journal reports, “Disney is suiting up Mickey and Minnie in special red Chinese New Year outfits, and declaring 2008 the Year of the Mouse.” The Main Street parade features a dragon dance and an appearance by none other than the god of wealth. (No, not Robert Iger.)
How Barack Obama Just Might Improve Your Vacation
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.24.08 | 12:39 PM ET
I’ve lived in Greece since 2004 and have watched foreign contempt for George W. Bush reach epic proportions. As an American (albeit one of Greek descent), I’ve repeatedly faced angry cross-examinations about Bush’s foreign policy and the war in Iraq. But since the 2008 presidential race started making international headlines a couple of months ago, including here in Greece, I’ve noticed those angry interrogations are increasingly being replaced with enthusiastic pronouncements about how much the Greeks I encounter love Barack Obama. It’s a startling shift. Could it be a sign that more American travelers will be greeted with warmer welcomes around the globe in 2008? I sure hope so.
SpaceShipTwo: New Tourist Spacecraft Unveiled
by Michael Yessis | 01.23.08 | 3:39 PM ET
Designs for SpaceShipTwo (pictured), the craft Virgin Galactic plans to use to take travelers into space as early as 2009, were shown publicly for the first time at a press conference today in New York. Virgin Galactic’s Web site has many other images of the beautiful ship and its carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo—if you’re patient enough to give the page time to load. It seems to be overwhelmed with traffic this afternoon.
My Patatas Bravas Are Better Than Yours
by Julia Ross | 01.23.08 | 10:37 AM ET
Last Saturday, my sister and I dug into a plate of our favorite tapas dish—patatas bravas—at Washington, D.C.‘s popular Jaleo restaurant. It’s always the first dish I order—hearty chunks of potato doused in a spicy tomato sauce and finished with a garlicky white sauce, best devoured with the aid of toothpicks. While the patatas are a best seller in Washington, they’re an obsession in Spain.
Freshman Year Abroad: It’s the New Junior Year Abroad
by Michael Yessis | 01.22.08 | 4:41 PM ET
More and more U.S. universities are offering programs to allow first-year students to study abroad. “[S]chools say these programs provide a more globally focused education,” the Wall Street Journal’s Anjali Athavaley writes.
Want a Stress-Free Vacation? ‘Don’t go to the USA.’
by Eva Holland | 01.22.08 | 11:55 AM ET
Matt Rudd has a blunt message for potential U.S.-bound readers in the Times of London: Take your travel dollars elsewhere. There are plenty of places in the world that are just as interesting, he argues, and they come without a “preflight e-interrogation, epic queues at immigration, thin-lipped questioning from aggressive border guards, and an outside chance of a rubber-gloved rectal rummage.”
Thai Airways Flight Attendants Cry, Stop ‘The Air Hostess War’!*
by Michael Yessis | 01.22.08 | 9:21 AM ET
Viewers of “The Air Hostess War,” a sexy new soap opera that debuted on Thailand’s Channel 5 last week, have a different refrain: We like it!
Remembering MLK
by Jim Benning | 01.21.08 | 9:58 AM ET
As we’ve noted, sites honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement abound, including his childhood home in Atlanta and the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was assassinated. We’re taking the day off to mark the holiday. We’ll be back tomorrow.
World Hum’s Most Read: Jan. 12-18
by World Hum | 01.18.08 | 4:27 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) The Dogs of Pohnpei
2) The Trouble With ‘Smile When You’re Lying’
3) Sex, Drugs and Changing Times in Amsterdam
4) Will Self: On ‘Psychogeography’ and the Places That Choose You (pictured)
5) How To: Use a Squat Toilet
Photo of man walking in Melbourne, Australia by Mugley, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Engines at Fault in Heathrow Crash
by Michael Yessis | 01.18.08 | 1:37 PM ET
A preliminary report about the British Airways flight that crashed at London’s Heathrow Airport this week said the craft’s engines “failed to respond to demands for thrust,” according to BBC news. All 136 passengers and 16 crew members survived the landing, putting a spotlight back on how passengers can enhance their chances of living through a crash. Tonight on 20/20, John Stossel will take a look at whether it’s safer to sit in the front or back of the plane. ABC News also has a Web report.
Related on World Hum:
2007: Safest Year for Air Travel Since 1963
Talking Presidential Candidates as Global Travelers With Peter Greenberg
by Michael Yessis | 01.18.08 | 12:57 PM ET
The World Hum 2008 U.S. Presidential Candidate Travel Scorecard hits syndicated and XM satellite radio airwaves this Saturday when writer Julia Ross talks about it with Peter Greenberg. The show runs live from 10 a.m. to noon, and will be archived afterwards at his Web site.
Italian Officials Consider Moving Michelangelo’s David
by Michael Yessis | 01.18.08 | 9:09 AM ET
It’s because of the tourists. The gobs and gobs of tourists. Tuscany’s cultural official Paolo Cocchi says Florence’s city center, particularly the Galleria dell’Accademia where David has resided for the past 135 years, has become overwhelmed by travelers wishing to see Michelangelo’s masterpiece. He has proposed moving what the Independent calls the “world’s most famous image of manhood” to a not-yet-built cultural center at the edge of Florence. That may relieve some congestion in the city center, but it’s not sitting well with Florence’s “art elite,” according to the Independent.
From Igloolik to Timbuktu
by Eva Holland | 01.17.08 | 1:20 PM ET
Photo by Jean and Nathalie via Flickr (Creative Commons)
I always look forward to Stephanie Nolen‘s latest dispatch from Africa in The Globe and Mail—and not just because she’s probably the biggest name ever to come out of the journalism school at my alma mater. She is a master at finding unexpected stories that go well beyond the usual “Troubled Africa” fare, and this week, a story from Mali is no exception.
