Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Tango Gets the UNESCO Treatment
by Eva Holland | 10.06.09 | 1:46 PM ET
And the Big Picture treatment. After tango was added to UNESCO’s “List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” last week, the photo blog followed up with a predictably fabulous photo essay honoring the dance style.
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Yahoo! BuzzNew Travel Book: ‘Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities’
by Eva Holland | 10.06.09 | 11:33 AM ET
We know there’s no shortage of odd and innovative maps out there these days—and now, a new book aims to collect some of the best. This “atlas of cartographic curiosities” comes from Frank Jacobs, the author of the Strange Maps blog, and it mixes everything from inaccurate historical maps to satirical cartoon maps, map mash-ups, maps of fictional literary settings and more. Book Bencher Jenna Krajeski calls the book “a peculiar and delightful compiling of disparately obsessive imaginations, selected on the criteria of strangeness, rarity, and originality.”
“Strange Maps” hits bookstores on October 29.
TripAdvisor Goes to the Movies
by Eva Holland | 10.06.09 | 10:41 AM ET
Over at College Humor, some classic traveling movie characters review their destinations, TripAdvisor-style. My favorite comes from a member calling himself “Fr0d0”—here’s a sample: “Took a trip up to Mordor on official business, DO NOT GO THERE!!! The journey was absolute mordor! (lol)”
‘The Best American Travel Writing’ in New York City
by Eva Holland | 10.06.09 | 9:49 AM ET
The Best American Travel Writing 2009 has landed in stores, and, for anyone in the New York area, there are a couple of upcoming events celebrating the release.
First up, Idlewild Books is hosting a launch party this Thursday, October 8, at 7 p.m. Several contributors to the 2009 edition will be reading, including guest editor Simon Winchester and World Hum contributor Elisabeth Eaves. You can RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Later this month, there will be an installment of the Restless Legs Reading Series devoted to the anthology. It’ll take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, at Lolita Bar—series editor Jason Wilson will host, and World Hum contributors Elisabeth Eaves, Tony Perrottet and Frank Bures will be reading.
I’ll be attending both and hope to see you there.
A Poetry Traveling Scholar Busts Out the Maps
by Michael Yessis | 10.05.09 | 5:11 PM ET
Where would you go if you won a scholarship to travel for one year outside of North America? That’s the question facing former Army infantry team leader and 2010 Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholar Brian Turner. He writes about his deliberations—and the gift of travel—at the New York Times Home Fires blog.
R.I.P. Gourmet
by Eva Holland | 10.05.09 | 4:02 PM ET
The 69-year-old magazine, which has published many fine foodie travel stories over the years, will be ceasing publication along with several other magazines cut this week at Conde Nast. Here’s just one travel classic from the Gourmet archives, David Foster Wallace’s Consider the Lobster.
Slideshow: Classic Hotel Door Hangers
by Michael Yessis | 10.05.09 | 3:17 PM ET
Michael Lebowitz found 55 classic door hangers from hotels around the world among the belongings of his late grandfather. They’re beautiful. (Via Coudal)
Did Airport Security Ruin Chicago’s Olympic Bid?
by Eva Holland | 10.05.09 | 11:32 AM ET
Michelle Higgins ponders the impact of U.S. border control policies on Chicago’s failed bid for the 2016 Summer Games. For my part, I suppose that could have been a factor—remember the visitor shortfall in Beijing after China tightened its visa restrictions—but beyond any specific considerations, I’m just not sure about the assumption that 2016 was Chicago’s to lose. After all, the United States has already hosted the Olympics eight times, while Rio’s winning bid will mean the first Games ever on South American soil. It’s about time, isn’t it?
‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Travelers’
by Eva Holland | 10.05.09 | 10:24 AM ET
Over at Uncornered Market, Audrey and Daniel offer a thoughtful post on the life skills required for (and developed by) independent travel.
What We Loved This Week: Chicago, Ken Burns and Sundarbans National Park
by World Hum | 10.02.09 | 5:57 PM ET
Photo by Joanna Kakissis Michael Yessis
Chicago. I’m here through the weekend, and I can feel the sadness in the air about the city losing its bid for the 2016 Olympics. But just remember, Chicagoans, you’ve got plenty to get you through the disappointment. Just one reminder: a classic video I loved this week.
Jan Wong: Looking Back at China’s Darker Days
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 5:26 PM ET
In a powerful column, Jan Wong, the author of Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now looks back on her complicated love affair with China—from studying abroad in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution to covering the Tiananmen Square massacre from a hotel room uncomfortably nearby. As the country celebrates its 60th anniversary this week, it’s good to see some thoughtful reflection on the dark times in China’s past, too. (Via @DougSaunders)
Introducing the ‘Walkway Over the Hudson’
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 2:28 PM ET
It seems pedestrian park-bridge hybrids are really catching on. After Manhattan’s High Line opened to rave reviews this summer, Poughkeepsie, NY, has followed up with its own offering, transforming a 1.25-mile railway bridge into a state park/walkway running more than 200 feet above the Hudson River. This Just In has the details on the grand opening.
Photo You Must See: Five Little Gandhis
by World Hum | 10.02.09 | 1:56 PM ET
REUTERS/Raj Patidar School children in Bhopal dress as Mahatma Gandhi for a celebration marking the 140th anniversary of his birth.
This Week in Tourism Slogan Mishaps
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 12:45 PM ET
It’s been a rough week for a couple of local U.S. tourism boards. First up, the Wisconsin Tourism Federation changed its name—to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin—after catching on that the federation’s acronym, WTF, means something different when the kids say it. And then Reno’s mayor vetoed a proposed slogan that, as far as I can tell, doesn’t mean anything at all. The short-lived idea? “A Little West of Center”—which, said Mayor Bob Cashell, “doesn’t do a thing for me.”
Indeed. As the kids might say: WTF?
Lose Your Prosthetic Leg at Oktoberfest? Check With the Fundbüro.
by Michael Yessis | 10.02.09 | 11:34 AM ET
That’s the central lost and found for Munich’s Oktoberfest, and, as you might imagine, the drunken masses lose some interesting possessions. Over the years, the Fundbüro has taken temporary custody of, among other things, “a prosthetic leg, a wheelchair, a Superman costume, handwritten notes by the composer Johann Sebastian Bach and 15,000 marks in a soiled pair of lederhosen,” writes Nicholas Kulish in the New York Times.
For more Oktoberfest craziness, check out Life’s then and now slideshow.
