Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Venezuelans Show Some Love For Love Hotels
by Michael Yessis | 08.17.10 | 11:25 AM ET
Japan’s love hotels get a lot of media love. Now it’s Venezuela’s turn in the spotlight. Rachel Jones writes:
University students such as Daniel Ramirez, 24, often turn to mid-range hotels in central Caracas to be with their significant others. On his first visit to Hotel Roda, Ramirez had the opportunity to be intimate with a month-long girlfriend for the first time.
“There was no place I could go to see her,” said Ramirez, who lives with his family because he can’t afford an apartment. He was reasonably satisfied with his experience—including clean rooms, wall and ceiling mirrors, and a television with pornography—and later returned with another girlfriend. The awkward part, he said, was a lack of privacy in the hallways.
“Couples pass each other like this,” Ramirez said, ducking his head and cupping one hand over his eyes.
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Yahoo! BuzzThe ‘On the Road’ Movie: It’s Really Happening, and Soon
by Eva Holland | 08.17.10 | 9:56 AM ET
When a couple of major casting decisions for the long-awaited flick were announced this spring, I remained skeptical about the project hitting theaters anytime soon. Turns out I should have been more optimistic: “On the Road” is filming now, in locations as far-flung as Montreal, New Orleans, San Francisco and New Mexico. Get the Big Picture’s Colin Boyd thinks it could be ready for Sundance 2011.
A number of heavyweights have joined the cast in supporting roles: Amy Adams, Viggo Mortenson, Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Steve Buscemi and Terrence Howard will all make appearances. I’ll admit, I’m getting excited for this one.
Anxious About Full-Body Scanners? xkcd has a Solution
by Eva Holland | 08.16.10 | 4:59 PM ET
Here’s the web comic’s, er, modest proposal. (Via James Fallows)
‘Eat, Pray, Love’: Eight Great Links
by Eva Holland | 08.16.10 | 1:10 PM ET
The long-awaited adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love” is in theaters at last, and it’s receiving no shortage of media attention. Here are a few worthy entry points.
Start with Jezebel’s brilliant “Eat, Pray, Love” bingo scorecard. If you decide to go see the flick—despite the advice of the underwhelmed World Hum Travel Movie Club—then be sure to bring one along. And if you’re still on the fence about the movie, this helpful “Should You See Eat, Pray, Love?” graphic may help.
The Daily Beast offers Eat, Pray, Love: A Man’s Guide—it’s a good read that focuses on the book rather than the movie—and the New York Post has a story on EPL-inspired guru devotees who’ve lost their shirts rather than finding enlightenment.
Our own Liz Sinclair wrote about her time as an extra on the “Eat, Pray, Love” set in Ubud earlier this year, while over at Jezebel again, Jessica Olien declares that Elizabeth Gilbert has ruined Bali. Finally, Pico Iyer compares the Bali that appears in the book with its big-screen cousin, and notes that “in the 26 years that I’ve been regularly returning to the island, rumors of its imminent demise have been as regular—and as long-lasting—as the full moon.” Indeed.
New York Times Debuts ‘Imprint’: Writers on Places that Inspired a Book
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.10 | 11:30 AM ET
Hooray! Vendela Vida kicks things off with a piece on two towns in Turkey that inspired her latest book, “The Lovers.”
Still, I was slightly disappointed to find it not exactly as I remembered. It seemed louder, and more popular, but its blemishes less romantic and more ragged. I suppose this is what happens in travel, and why we enjoy it. We know when we are traveling that we’re experiencing a particular moment in time. We know that every vacation is ephemeral and can’t be relived.
I began to think about what kind of character would return to a town and be disappointed to find it was not as it once was. And that gave rise to Yvonne, the protagonist in “The Lovers,” my most recent novel. Yvonne is a 53-year-old widow who returns, 28 years later, to the place where she and her husband had honeymooned. Because of the twin towns, I made her the mother of grown twins—one the golden child, the other troubled. The story grew from there.
This promising new feature wins back some of the love I lost after the New York Times killed its regular travel essay.
What We Loved This Week: Book Passage, Seatmate Chitchat, and David Sedaris’ ‘Standing By’
by World Hum | 08.13.10 | 6:05 PM ET
Eva Holland
I’m in the Bay Area for a few days, visiting with friends and colleagues at the Book Passage Travel, Food and Photography Conference, and it’s been a treat so far—the in-person writing community is one of the few things I’ve missed since moving to the Yukon nine months ago, and it feels good to reconnect.
More Thoughts About the Future of Guidebooks
by Michael Yessis | 08.13.10 | 11:54 AM ET
The latest analysis comes from Financial Times travel editor Tom Robbins. A positive note:
Sales figures may be dire, the challenges mounting, but this summer there’s a buzz in the world of travel publishing, a sense of being on the verge of a totally new era. The internet allowed people to research their trips themselves before setting out, but smartphone apps and iPads travel with them. Suddenly the guidebook publishers, who for years seemed to be looking on from the sidelines, unsure of how to make websites work for them, have found themselves with a medium that makes sense.
Studying Abroad in the Arabic-Speaking World on the Rise
by Michael Yessis | 08.12.10 | 1:56 PM ET
The numbers are still small-ish, but they’re growing fast. From the New York Times:
Between 2006 and 2007 the number of American students studying in Arab countries rose nearly 60 percent while China had only a 19 percent increase and England, 1.9 percent.
Many of the students are looking to gain a better understanding of the Arab world, and they’re also finding their experiences and Arabic-language skills are making them hot prospects for jobs.
Students in these programs are also writing some great travel stories.
In Alaska, ‘There Are No Easy Flights’
by Eva Holland | 08.12.10 | 12:01 PM ET
In the wake of the plane crash that killed former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens and four others this week, James Fallows digs into “the unique world of Alaskan aviation,” noting that it’s “more dangerous than elsewhere in the country, but also more necessary.”
VisitBritain Preps Londoners for Olympics Tourism: ‘Don’t Mention the War’
by Eva Holland | 08.12.10 | 9:53 AM ET
The country’s tourism agency has issued some, er, helpful guidelines for locals in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games, which will be held in London. Among the tips? Don’t serve prepackaged jam to Germans, don’t mention the Falkland Islands to Argentinians and don’t bring up the Mexican-American War with Mexicans. In the accompanying video, a Guardian reporter takes the tips for a test drive.
Your Flight Attendant Jokes Do Not Amuse JetBlue
by Eva Holland | 08.11.10 | 1:06 PM ET
The airline’s been objecting to cracks about Steven Slater’s infamous emergency chute escapade via its official Twitter account. Of course, this only inspires the tweeting jokers to new heights; here’s comedian Andy Borowitz’s response: “At @JetBlue you have to pay $5 extra for a sense of humor. Exact change, please.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times has unearthed the 1947 story of a Bronx bus driver who got fed up with his job—and took his rig on a 1,300-mile joy ride. That sounds even better than a trip down the inflatable slide, no?
Chinese Developers to Recreate Salvador Dalí‘s Hometown
by Michael Yessis | 08.11.10 | 12:06 PM ET
Xiamen Bay is the new Costa Brava! From the Guardian:
Sources at the company said they had found a spot that was geographically similar to Cadaqués, with its gently sloping hills and protected bay. “Building work will start in September or October,” a spokesman said.
More than 100 acres of land will be used to build a near replica with a capacity to house some 15,000 Chinese holidaymakers who want to enjoy the Costa Brava experience without having to travel 6,500 miles.
The Chinese version will not have the sparkling Mediterranean, the madness-inducing Tramontana wind or as many jellyfish as Cadaqués, but the promoters say they will try to get as close to possible to the real thing.
The developers are following in the footsteps of Lyon in the desert and Thames Town outside of Shanghai, among other places.
Dali would surely approve. As the Guardian notes, “One of his favourite money-making habits was to sign, and sell-off, blank sheets of paper for prints and lithographs. As a result, he is one of the most frequently copied and forged artists in the world.”
‘Crime and Punishment’ on the Moscow Subway
by Eva Holland | 08.10.10 | 3:17 PM ET
NPR explores the controversy surrounding one of Moscow’s famously decorated subway stations—Dostoevskaya, the station that honors Fyodor Dostoevsky. Apparently, some Russian psychologists are concerned that the darkness of the station’s artwork may inspire violence or suicide. David Greene sets the scene:
The walls are gray and bare, except for murals capturing scenes from Dostoevsky’s famous novels: Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, and of course, Crime and Punishment, the book where Dostoevsky digs into the mind of his lead character, Raskolnikov, exploring a young man’s path to murder…
The fictional character—poor, desperate for money to help his family and mentally tortured—ends up killing two women. And it’s all depicted in a mural right on the subway platform in which Raskolnikov holds an ax over a woman’s head, while a corpse lies on the ground.
The tale itself is stirring, and the underground tunnel and echo of subway trains make it even creepier.
Slum Tourism: ‘It’s Not Worth It’
by Eva Holland | 08.10.10 | 2:19 PM ET
The New York Times has an op-ed from a former resident of Kibera, an area of Nairobi that’s become a popular destination for slum tourists. Here’s writer Kennedy Odede:
I was 16 when I first saw a slum tour. I was outside my 100-square-foot house washing dishes, looking at the utensils with longing because I hadn’t eaten in two days. Suddenly a white woman was taking my picture. I felt like a tiger in a cage. Before I could say anything, she had moved on.
We’ve talked slum tourism on World Hum before: Columnist Eric Weiner asked whether it can ever be done right while Rob Verger reported from a favela tour in Rio de Janeiro. (Via @nobauerm and @robverger)
Roger Ebert on ‘Lost in Translation’
by Jim Benning | 08.10.10 | 12:28 PM ET
I’ve never read a more insightful piece about the beauty and nuance in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation”—a masterpiece of a film—than this one. Coppola has one objective, Ebert writes:
She wants to show two people lonely in vast foreign Tokyo and coming to the mutual realization that their lives are stuck. Perhaps what they’re looking for is the same thing I’ve heard we seek in marriage: A witness. Coppola wants to get that note right. There isn’t a viewer who doesn’t expect Bob Harris and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) to end up in love, or having sex, or whatever. We’ve met Charlotte’s husband John (Giovanni Ribisi). We expect him to return unexpectedly from his photo shoot and surprise them together. These expectations have been sculpted, one chip of Hollywood’s chisel after another, in tens of thousands of films. The last thing we expect is… what would probably actually happen. They share loneliness.
Among other highlights, Ebert explains why he can’t take his eyes off of Bob Harris (Bill Murray) in the film, and why whatever Johansson’s character whispers into Bob’s ear at the end simply doesn’t matter. (Via LAObserved)
