Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Air France Strands Passengers Nearly 10 Hours
by Jim Benning | 03.18.08 | 2:39 PM ET
The roughly 400 passengers were stuck on a plane at Charles de Gaulle Airport due to a fuel leak and engine problem. The Miami-bound plane finally departed—a few minutes prior to its original Miami arrival time. I hope they all had a good book to pass the time.
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Yahoo! Buzz‘Do Right Woman’: ‘Worth the 160-Mile Detour From Nashville’
by Eva Holland | 03.18.08 | 2:03 PM ET
Photo by micampe via Flickr (Creative Commons)
I’ve often felt frustrated that most of my favorite music was recorded years before I was born, and that instead of going to live shows, I have to visit museums. Not much of a substitute, right? But this week, one music history museum came close to filling that void.
‘Sleeping Pilots’ Air Traffic Control Tapes Aired
by Michael Yessis | 03.17.08 | 11:58 AM ET
Hawaiian television station KGMP obtained the air traffic control tapes from the Feb. 13 flight where two go! airlines pilots allegedly fell asleep on the job, overshooting Hilo by 15 miles before backtracking and landing safely. On the tapes, neither pilot responds for 32 minutes.
Woman Sues American Airlines For Not Protecting Her From Masturbating Man
by Michael Yessis | 03.17.08 | 11:31 AM ET
While she was sleeping on a flight from Dallas to Los Angeles, a man allegedly moved into the empty seat next to the 21-year-old woman and began masturbating. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, she is suing for $200,000 because the airline allegedly didn’t “police the passengers to ensure that passengers do not hurt one another.” (via The Consumerist)
World Hum’s Most Read: March 8-14
by World Hum | 03.14.08 | 5:17 PM ET
Our five most popular features and blog posts this week:
1) How to: Cross the Street in Rome
2) My ‘Unsung’ British Attractions
3) Astrophysicist: I’ve Found the Optimal Way to Board a Plane
4) One Man’s Odyssey into ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
5) William Langewiesche in China: ‘No Pushing! No Swearing! No Irony!’ (pictured)
Photo by yienshawn92 via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Violent Protests Prompt Travel Warnings for Tibet*
by Jim Benning | 03.14.08 | 11:40 AM ET
Ethnic Tibetans burned cars and shops in Lhasa, Tibet today, capping a week of demonstrations marking the anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. (Unless, of course, you’re domestic Chinese media, in which case nothing is happening.) The U.S. Embassy in Beijing advises Americans to defer trips to Tibet.
* Update, 12 p.m. ET: Chinese police have reportedly fired on protesters, killing at least two people. Said one witness: “As I approached Potala Square, I heard cannon fire, louder than rifles. Others told me police were firing tear gas along Beijing Zhonglu, west of the Potala.”
Astrophysicist: I’ve Found the Optimal Way to Board a Plane
by Michael Yessis | 03.14.08 | 9:37 AM ET
Jason Steffen, a postdoctoral fellow at Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, says his method is four-times faster than the typical loading time for most airlines. Here’s what Steffen proposes in a paper for the Journal of Air Transport Management, as synthesized by NPR:
Dollar Hits 12-Year Low Against Yen
by Jim Benning | 03.13.08 | 4:13 PM ET
You want bad travel news? We got your bad travel news. The dollar’s tumbling value in Japan is today’s big headline. (Japan-bound budget travelers might want to cancel that hostel reservation and book a night here.) But the dollar has been sinking around the globe, from euro-land to India, for some time now. Get this, from the AP: “At the Taj Mahal, dollars were always legal tender, alongside rupees, for entry into the palace. But because of the falling value of the dollar, the government implemented a rupees-only policy a month ago.”
Mashing Up Washington D.C.‘s Sex Scandals
by Julia Ross | 03.13.08 | 12:03 PM ET
It didn’t take long for camera-toting tourists to ferret out Room 871 at Washington D.C.‘s Mayflower Hotel. The site of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s call girl tryst is the latest in a long list of sex scandal locales dotting the capital. For those interested in mapping out their own tour, Slate helpfully provides an annotated Google mash-up.
Southwest Grounds 44 Planes in Wake of Safety Probe
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.08 | 4:20 PM ET
The move comes after last week’s news that Southwest flew more than 100 “unsafe” planes and was fined $10.2 million. The 44 grounded planes will be inspected for possible structural damage. So far, Southwest says it has had to cancel 4 percent of its flights today.
The Saints of Los Angeles
by Michael Yessis | 03.12.08 | 9:59 AM ET
There are 103 streets in Los Angeles named after saints, and artist J. Michael Walker has completed “an obsessive quest to locate, research and artistically interpret” all of them, from the iconic (Santa Monica Boulevard) to the private (St. Moritz Drive) to the immortalized in rock music (St. Andrews). It took Walker seven years to complete the project, which is currently on display at the Autry National Center.
An Expat in Athens: Carnival’s Kites and Calamari
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.11.08 | 4:31 PM ET
Yesterday was Clean Monday for Eastern Orthodox Christians, which means that Apokries (or Carnival celebrations) are winding down and Lent has officially begun. In Athens, where I shot this photo, Greeks spent the day eating fish—fried calamari and taramosalata, or fish roe dip, are special favorites—and flying kites on Philopappus Hill near the Acropolis. This year, Athens was far emptier than usual, since many Athenians had gone out to the provinces for the festivities.
Renzo Piano, Museum Maker Extraordinaire
by Jim Benning | 03.11.08 | 3:52 PM ET
Travelers who love architecture and museums are well aware of Renzo Piano’s work. He has 12 museums or additions under his architectural belt—including Paris’ must-see Pompidou Centre, pictured—and several more in the works.
Scrolling Through Austin
by Michael Yessis | 03.11.08 | 1:25 PM ET
During my four days in Austin for the South by Southwest Interactive Conference, I’ve seen a lot of this:
China to Bjork: You Hurt Our Feelings
by Jim Benning | 03.10.08 | 4:00 PM ET
It’s official: Bjork “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” when she shouted “Tibet! Tibet!” at the end of a recent concert in Shanghai. That’s the word from the Ministry of Culture. The outburst came following the Icelandic singer’s performance of her song “Declare Independence.” Reports Reuters: “The performance ‘not only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist,’ the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.”
