Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Steve Fossett’s Bones Found
by Michael Yessis | 11.04.08 | 12:07 PM ET
Officials in California announced yesterday that the two bones found in the Sierra Nevada last week match the DNA of the missing adventurer, bringing the tragic story to a close.
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Yahoo! BuzzCan Mountain Bikers and Hikers Share Trails on Federal Lands?
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.04.08 | 12:01 PM ET
The National Park Service is considering a regulation change that will allow park managers to open some trails to mountain bikers, and it’s stirring up advocates on both sides of the issue. At least one environmental group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, says such a change will invite hiker-biker friction and disturb the land. The International Mountain Bicycling Association, on the other hand, supports the change.
What’s With All These Travel Horror Movies, Anyway?
by Eva Holland | 11.03.08 | 11:33 AM ET
When Eli Ellison and I first started working on our list of 13 Great Travel Horror Movies, I thought we’d stumbled onto a tiny film niche, a sub-sub-genre. Then we started brainstorming, Googling and asking friends and family for suggestions. To my surprise, our list of candidates—much like a B-movie monster—just kept getting bigger and scarier.
Seven More Things Airlines Could Cut to Save Fuel
by Eva Holland | 11.03.08 | 10:40 AM ET
Sure, some carriers have already cut in-flight movie systems, and even life vests, to save on fuel—but, as Christopher Elliott argues in this funny and provocative column, there’s plenty more fat to trim. In-flight magazines get the axe (“I know you’ll miss all those stories about Las Vegas”), along with federal air marshals, duty-free carts and even flight attendants. “Why not install a vending machine at the back of the plane [instead]?” Elliott asks. Ouch.
World Hum’s Most Read: Oct. 25-31
by World Hum | 10.31.08 | 4:27 PM ET
Our five most popular how to stories for the week:
1) How to Have a Hockey Night in Canada
2) How to Use a Squat Toilet
3) How to Wear a Sari in India (pictured)
4) How to Love Herring in Sweden
5) How to Eat Weisswurst in Munich
What We Loved This Week: Haruki Murakami, Tom Bissell and ‘Made From Ike’
by World Hum | 10.31.08 | 3:53 PM ET
World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Eva Holland
Kenyon Presbyterian Church. It’s a tiny stone building (pictured) in Glengarry, a county outside Ottawa that was settled in the early 1800s almost entirely by Scottish immigrants. Kenyon was built by a small community from the Isle of Skye that remained extremely close-knit even after they left. The church was still using Scots Gaelic in its services until 1972, and, when I visited this week, I saw that the gravestones in the cemetery continued to be filled with pure Highland surnames even to the present. The insularity and (for lack of a less loaded term) purity of the church community, in the midst of so much fusion and diversity, was fascinating.
Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport Closes
by Valerie Conners | 10.31.08 | 11:12 AM ET
Once a critical landing point during the Berlin Airlift, historic Tempelhof Airport officially closed its doors yesterday with a farewell event marked by speeches from local VIPs, and even some protests. Auf wiedersehen.
Steve Martin’s St. Barts Villa Open for Rent
by Michael Yessis | 10.31.08 | 10:58 AM ET
It’s only $28,000 a week. For that, he should really throw in some professional show business:
Seoul’s Fish Market: One of the ‘Greatest Food Spectacles on Earth’
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.31.08 | 10:32 AM ET
So says Pulitzer-Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold, who recently visited Noryangjin Marine Products Market and reveled in the roughly 700 stalls hawking fresh seafood. Think “croaker and corvina, bubbling clams and great octopus whose arms extend farther than Shaquille O’Neal’s,” Gold writes in Gourmet, or “bottom-of-the-sea stuff whose uses are difficult to contemplate.” Like the pink sea squirts who resemble “throbbing uncircumcised phalluses”? Hmmm. I wonder what kind of Korean breakfast you can make out of that.
The Return of Airport Glamour?
by Eva Holland | 10.31.08 | 10:29 AM ET
Amid all the bad news about air travel, it’s nice to hear someone striking a positive note. In this Globe and Mail story, Ivor Tossell argues that we just might be seeing a new golden age in airport design. The proof? Flashy new terminals in New York, Beijing, Dubai, London—and Winnipeg. (Maybe it’s not so Scranton-esque after all.)
Introducing the World’s Largest Airline
by Jim Benning | 10.30.08 | 11:33 AM ET
That would be Delta Air Lines, now that the Justice Department has approved its purchase of Northwest. For those keeping score, American Airlines was the largest before the Delta-Northwest deal was approved yesterday.
Is Winnipeg Canada’s Answer to Scranton?
by Eva Holland | 10.30.08 | 10:55 AM ET
That depends on who you ask. Michael Scott and Co. will be taking a business trip to the Manitoban capital in an upcoming episode of the hit TV show “The Office.” But why Winnipeg? Apparently, the show’s producers figured it was a good fit because it’s “similar to Scranton, but with a Canadian flair.” Destination Winnipeg begs to differ: “No offence to Scranton,” said a city tourism representative, “but we like to think of ourselves as a cosmopolitan centre.”
Google Earth Goes Mobile
by Eva Holland | 10.30.08 | 10:40 AM ET
We’ve already noted that the program is “positively pregnant with potential for travelers”—and now, it’s portable, too. The Wired blog has the lowdown on Google Earth’s new iPhone app: “The iPhone niceties you’d expect are here. Pinch to zoom, twist to, well, spin the map.”
Kenya to Obama Tourists: Bring it on!
by Rolf Potts | 10.29.08 | 4:17 PM ET
The Financial Times reports on plans in Nairobi and elsewhere in Kenya to welcome travelers interested in “the Obama experience.” My favorite part of the story: East African Breweries brews a beer called Senator. So, says one bartender, “People now say ‘I want an Obama’ when asking for Senator.”
Have $100K to Spend? Take a Ride on Space Tourism’s New Oddity
by Valerie Conners | 10.29.08 | 12:47 PM ET
A plan has been unveiled for a “fishbowl”-like suborbital space shuttle that will offer 360-degree views of space. The vehicle can carry two passengers, and may be flying as soon as 2010. Worth noting: the shuttles look like giant outer space moon bounces—completely awesome.
