Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Airline Karma: Low-Fee Carriers Make More Money
by Eva Holland | 10.14.09 | 10:43 AM ET
Here’s a feel-good statistic from Boing Boing: “The US airlines that created the largest, most redonkulous and abusive fees this year lost the most money last quarter. Airlines with low or no fees lost the least.” It’s enough to make you raise a complimentary soft drink in celebration, isn’t it?
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Yahoo! BuzzSully Book Watch: ‘Highest Duty’ has Arrived
by Eva Holland | 10.13.09 | 5:07 PM ET
Highest Duty, the memoir from celebrity pilot hero and mustached American Chesley Sullenberger, hit bookstores across the nation today. Over at Gawker, Hamilton Nolan offers his preferred title, which we present in a slightly sanitized form: “How to Crash Land a Plane in a Mother*&$#ing River and 99 Other Life Skills Every Badass Should Know.”
Another new book—Miracle on the Hudson, also released today—tells the story of Flight 1549’s crash into the Hudson River from the passengers’ perspective. USA Today has an excerpt.
Looking for the USSR in Moscow
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.09 | 3:02 PM ET
World Hum contributor Jim Heintz says that one of the hardest things to find when visiting the Russian capital “is a sense of how bleak life was under the hammer and sickle.” He writes:
Unlike Rome or Athens, where the tourist is called upon to imagine the glory that once was, in Moscow you have to visualize what wasn’t there. Walk into a food store and imagine the shelves empty; picture the store without a clever name or attractive logo—its sign would have read only “meat” or “milk” or “products.”
These days it’s unlikely that one’s tour guide briefs the secret police at the end of the day. Your hotel may not be cute or comfy, but it’s probably not overtly scary like the Rossiya, a signature Soviet monstrosity that’s now a vacant lot. In a way, this may be kind of a disappointment: Going to the Evil Empire had more cachet than a trip to the Overpriced Capital.
Ken Burns: ‘An Unauthorized Green Room Documentary’
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.09 | 1:56 PM ET
The Colbert Report had a little fun with Ken Burns when he appeared on the show to promote his PBS series The National Parks. The swelling music. The sepia tones. The slow pans. It’s all there. Oh, and there’s potty humor.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |
| Exclusive - Backstage with Ken Burns | ||
Afghanistan: The View From 30,000 Feet
by Eva Holland | 10.13.09 | 12:37 PM ET
The New York Times’ At War blog has a compelling slideshow of black-and-white shots from the window seat of a flight to Kabul. Photographer Moises Saman writes in the accompanying post: “From the air, the impenetrability of this region becomes evident.” (Via @elihansen)
A Beach Holiday in The Gambia?
by Eva Holland | 10.13.09 | 10:49 AM ET
I’ve always admired the Brits for their more adventurous winter sun-seeking. Every winter, it seems they’re as likely to be found lounging in Kenya or the Seychelles as in the usual Caribbean hot spots—and, once again, the U.K. travel media is going way beyond Cancun with this Times Online profile of a little-known (to North Americans, anyway) West African beach destination. Writer Alex Spence notes: “There are only six sets of traffic lights and a couple of ATMs in the entire country.” Take that, Puerto Plata.
Behind the Eiffel Tower’s Beauty Regimen
by Eva Holland | 10.13.09 | 10:15 AM ET
As the120th birthday celebrations for the Paris landmark continue, EuroCheapo’s Theadora Brack shares “some riveting facts” (har) about the tower’s maintenance regimen.
The Economist: Americanisms to Avoid
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 4:29 PM ET
Here’s an entertaining tidbit from The Economist’s style guide, advising writers for the venerable British weekly on a few American-style variations of the English language that are best left unused. A sample:
Make a deep study or even a study in depth, but not an in-depth study. On-site inspections are allowed, but not in-flight entertainment. Throw stones, not rocks, unless they are of slate, which can also mean abuse (as a verb) but does not, in Britain, mean predict, schedule or nominate. Regular is not a synonym for ordinary or normal: Mussolini brought in the regular train, All-Bran the regular man; it is quite normal to be without either. Hikes are walks, not increases. Vegetables, not teenagers, should be fresh. Only the speechless are dumb, the well-dressed smart and the insane mad. Scenarios are best kept for the theatre, postures for the gym, parameters for the parabola.
And some people think there are no cultural differences to speak of between Americans and their trans-Atlantic neighbors—or should I say neighbours? (Via Gadling)
Lowell Thomas Award Winners Announced
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 3:18 PM ET
The winners of this year’s Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards were announced over the weekend. Freelancer Joe Ray was named Travel Journalist of the Year and National Geographic Traveler took the gold in both the Magazine and Online Travel Journalism Site categories, while World Hum columnist Rolf Potts received a bronze award for his latest book, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There. Congratulations to all the winners!
The Critics: ‘Couples Retreat’
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 12:24 PM ET
A few months back I said that “Couples Retreat”—you know, the one where four couples unwittingly book into an all-inclusive marriage counseling resort?—had “some comic potential.” Well, the flick opened this weekend, and I have to report that while said potential was there, it never blossoms into vacation comedy gold. There are a few decent jokes scattered throughout—everyone likes a good jab at Sandals, right?—and the scenery is lovely (the movie was shot in Bora Bora) but the story drags aimlessly between the occasional laughs.
Alain de Botton: In Praise of Airline Food
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 11:21 AM ET
In one of the dispatches resulting from his stint as Heathrow’s writer in residence, de Botton visits an airline food factory—and explains why he loves the much-maligned meals.
Naturally airline food is dismal when we compare it to what we’d get on the ground but this is to miss the point. The thrill of airline food lies in the interaction between the meal and the odd place in which one is eating it. Food that, if eaten in a kitchen, would have been banal or offensive, acquires a new taste in the presence of the clouds. With the in-flight tray, we make ourselves at home in an unhomely place: we appropriate the extraterrestrial skyscape with the help of a chilled bread roll and a plastic tray of potato salad.
U.S. Ambassador Turns Travel Blogger
by Eva Holland | 10.12.09 | 10:39 AM ET
The new U.S. ambassador to Canada has been blogging his life up north, reflecting on everything from his first taste of poutine to a childhood road trip to Niagara Falls. Look out, blogosphere—that’s some well-connected competition. (Via The Globe and Mail)
What We Loved This Week: Porter Airlines, Dave Eggers and More
by World Hum | 10.09.09 | 4:22 PM ET
Photo by Jenna Schnuer Eva Holland
I loved flying Porter Airlines and, before take-off, relaxing in Porter’s free passenger lounge at Toronto City Centre Airport. A smooth operation, friendly staff, and free snacks—it was a pleasant reminder that air travel doesn’t have to be a succession of minor inconveniences and discomforts.
Does Chicago Lack a ‘Recognizable Narrative’?
by Eva Holland | 10.09.09 | 3:26 PM ET
Over at The Smart Set, Jessa Crispin speculates about what her one-time hometown means to the outside world. She writes:
Because Chicago has no new compelling storyline, the old ones will have to do for the rest of the world. Even the renowned literary magazine Granta—after spending who knows how long creating its recent issue devoted entirely to Chicago—used Al Capone as its first example of what defines Chicago in the issue’s introduction.
Celebrating ‘The Best American Travel Writing’ in NYC
by Eva Holland | 10.09.09 | 2:49 PM ET
I made it to the launch party for The Best American Travel Writing 2009 last night at Manhattan’s Idlewild Books. Series editor Jason Wilson was there, along with this year’s guest editor, Simon Winchester—who read from what he described as his “preachy” introduction on the importance of teaching geography. (Preachy or not, I think it’s a point worth making.) Contributors Elisabeth Eaves, Matthew Power and Andre Aciman also read from their essays in the anthology, a few bottles of wine were emptied, and—if I can have a preachy moment of my own—it was nice to see, despite the ongoing litany of bad news, that a book of literary travel essays can still draw a crowd.
As for the anthology itself? I haven’t gotten deeply into it yet, but it looks like another good one. Regular World Hum contributors Frank Bures and Eric Weiner both have stories included, while four World Hum stories—from Katie Krueger, Julia Ross, Emily Stone and Jeffrey Tayler—are among this year’s additional notable selections.
