Travel Blog: News and Briefs
‘Flying Thief’ Flies No More
by Rob Verger | 02.18.09 | 10:17 AM ET
Reuters reports that Kosztor Sandorne, a Hungarian thief also called “Flying Gizi,” was arrested while in the process of breaking into a house in Hungary. Sandorne “earned her nickname because she liked to flee her crime scenes by taking commercial flights” the article reports.
But here’s the thing. She’s 83 years old. She’s been on the police’s radar since the 1950s. These days, she takes the train instead of flying, “since train travel is free for pensioners in Hungary.”
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzR.I.P. Leila Hadley
by Michael Yessis | 02.18.09 | 9:42 AM ET
The author of Give Me the World and other travel books passed away last week. She also wrote a series of guidebooks about traveling with children.
In the New York Times obit, William Grimes writes that she earned praise for her “sharp-eyed, vivid descriptions and for the author’s enthusiasm for leaving the beaten path, wherever she was.”
In the New York Post, Liz Smith said farewell with the words: “Do not rest in peace, dear Leila, just tear things up wherever you are!”
Hadley was 83.
Morning Links: JetBlue Fare Refunds, America’s Emptiest Cities and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.18.09 | 8:31 AM ET
- It happened again: Another cruise ship ran aground in Antarctica.
- Las Vegas and Detroit finished 1-2 in a Forbes list of America’s emptiest cities.
- Inside the hardened, restless lives of business-travel nomads.
- Here’s a scathing takedown of the idea of Dubai. (via Kottke)
- Here’s another dancing guy. He doesn’t go around the world, though. Just to hallways and stairwells and such.
- Teresa Watanabe looks at African Americans who are being “called back to Africa by DNA.”
- JetBlue promises fare refunds if you lose your job—with some fine print.
- “Afghan Model” is coming to Emrooz TV.
- The Yankees are building a new vacation stadium in the Hamptons, complete with on-deck gazebos and yacht parking for the players. The Onion has exclusive video.
Got a suggestion? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) your link.
Going to SXSW? Put the Harry Ransom Center On Your Schedule.
by Sophia Dembling | 02.17.09 | 6:00 PM ET
Photo by Eric Beggs The South by Southwest (or SXSW) film, music and interactive festival is less than a month away. Got your plans and reservations yet? (And did you know that many Austinites flee the city as you arrive? Too much traffic and other mishigos.)
I realize that SXSW is all about the future of this, that and the other, but while you’re in town, I urge you to carve out some time to pay your respects to what many consider a dying art form, the written word, with a stop at the free galleries at the Harry Ransom Center.
Robert Plant: From Wales to Timbuktu
by Eva Holland | 02.17.09 | 2:39 PM ET
In the wake of Plant’s five Grammy wins last week, the bloggers at Rock’s Backpages have dug up this 2003 story about a one-day tour of Snowdonia, in Wales—with the former Led Zeppelin frontman playing tour guide. In it, Plant reminisces about the ways a visit to Timbuktu influenced his subsequent solo efforts, and takes the writer to Bron-Yr-Aur, the rural Welsh cottage where he and Jimmy Page wrote much of “Led Zeppelin III.” “Bron-Yr-Aur gave Jimmy and me so much energy,” Plant says. “Because we were really close to something. We believed. It was absolutely wonderful, and my heart was so light and happy.”
Britney Spears: Back in Wax
by Eva Holland | 02.17.09 | 1:35 PM ET
Well, now the troubled pop star’s well-publicized comeback is truly complete. The London outpost of Madame Tussaud’s has unveiled a new statue that shows Spears clutching one of the MTV awards she grabbed (along with some restored dignity) last fall. “We are delighted to be featuring Britney at Madame Tussauds London for the second time,” a spokeswoman told the Telegraph. “Her original figure ... was extremely popular. However, she’s undergone a huge transformation since then and we wanted to reflect her as she is now.”
Ticketmaster and Live Nation: In Cahoots?
by Eva Holland | 02.17.09 | 12:26 PM ET
If you were planning to add a major concert to your next trip itinerary, you may want to think again. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating after word of a possible merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation—the world’s largest ticket seller and the world’s largest concert promoter, respectively—raised fears of a monopoly on concert tickets. The department is “committed to vigorous enforcement of the merger antitrust laws and will conduct a thorough investigation of the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation transaction,” a spokeswoman told the AP.
Several politicians have already spoken out against the potential deal—and now even Bruce Springsteen (who’s already had one dust-up with the ticket giant this month) has joined in, too. Wrote the Boss on his website: “The one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near-monopoly situation in music ticketing.”
Some Travel Writers Will Do Anything for a Buck
by Sophia Dembling | 02.17.09 | 11:35 AM ET
Every time I watch it on the Winter Olympics, I decide that luge is an utterly insane sport that you could not pay me enough to try.
“Chicago Tribune” reporter Christoper Borrelli evidently does not feel the same way. They paid, he tried (in Muskegon, Michigan). Here’s the story.
A sample: “Sue Halter, my instructor, told me that in 15 years here she had seen only one person lose teeth while luging.”
Some people will do anything for a buck.
Thoughts on Continental Connect Flight 3407
by Rob Verger | 02.17.09 | 10:49 AM ET
The tragic crash Thursday night of the regional commuter plane—a Bombardier turboprop—is shocking and sad, and many are speculating that icing played a role. (Although The New York Times reports that “a member of the National Transportation Safety Board urged ‘caution about jumping to conclusions that it might be an icing incident.’”) We won’t know the entire story until the N.T.S.B. issues its report, but here’s what some are thinking now.
At Ask the Pilot, Patrick Smith explains what could have happened: “The hunch among pilots right now is that the plane may have suffered a tailplane stall due to ice buildup on the horizontal stabilizers,” he writes. “Horizontal stabilizers are the smaller, tail-mounted wings that help control a plane’s nose-up/nose-down motion, known as ‘pitch.’ Normally, stabilizers are considerably less sensitive to icing than the main wings, but a prolonged and severe encounter could have, in theory, overwhelmed the aft de-icing boots.”
The boots that he is referring to are the de-icing system on this aircraft; they are, as The New York Times explains, “a bit like tires, on the front edges of the wings, the tail and the vertical stabilizer, that inflate and contract twice a minute to break ice accumulations.”
Christopher Lee: ‘I Can’t Recall Visiting any Countries I Hated’
by Eva Holland | 02.17.09 | 9:49 AM ET
So where does one of the most omnipresent movie villains of the past half-century (who also popped up in our list of the best travel horror movies) like to go on vacation? The veteran actor recently dished to the Independent about his ideal travel experiences—and it turns out, solitude is high on his priority list.
Lee’s favorite country is Finland, “because once you get to a certain point, you can drive for hours without seeing a single person.” His worst-ever journey was a rough ride from Washington, D.C., to Charlotte, N.C.: “It was only a 45-minute flight,” he told Sophie Lam, “but I have never known anything like it—including during the war when I was shot at in planes.” And as for New Zealand, where he spent a few months during the filming of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy? It’s “the most beautiful country I have ever been to in my life.”
Morning Links: Holidays in Banda Aceh, ‘Slavery Theme Park’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.17.09 | 9:15 AM ET
- Passengers can no longer kiss at England’s Warrington Bank Quay Station.
- Is Marlon Jackson supporting a “slavery theme park” in Nigeria?
- The Mumbai attacks have apparently “put the brakes” on tourism in India.
- State and local governments to travel booking sites: Pay up!
- Daisann McLane: “Until I learn a place with my feet, I never really feel like I know it.”
- John Aglionby says Banda Aceh “has arguably become one of south-east Asia’s hidden holiday destinations.”
- Spud Hilton sifts through language-study options for travelers.
- In typo news: There’s one on the Manhattan Supreme Courthouse. It only took 82 years to discover it. Hooray!
Got a suggestion? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) your link.
Regional American Words: Is That a Pork Steak in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
by Jenna Schnuer | 02.16.09 | 7:24 PM ET
Pop? Soda? Coke?
Hoagie? Grinder? Sub?
These questions are about as basic as it gets when it comes to American regionalisms—yet who doesn’t want to duke it out in defense of their hometown heroes (or grinders)? Just watch what happens in the comments sections (hopefully it happens) when I declare the answers to be soda and sub. (Please, if you disagree, just don’t hurl your hoagie at me.) If you’ve ever discussed either one of those, then you’re going to want to meet Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, hosts of A Way With Words. The public radio show is “Car Talk for language,” says Barrett. “People call us about their questions and peeves and just observations about language, things they’ve always wanted to know or things they heard on television last night, and we help them get to the bottom of it.” Adds Barnette: “We talk just about everything having to do with language. That means grammar, punctuation, slang, regionalisms, word origins and usage. A lot of times we’ll get couples who have had an ongoing [word] fight for years ... or there’s a dispute in somebody’s office. They call us and we make our pronouncements.”
‘American Idol’ and Disney World, Together at Last
by Eva Holland | 02.16.09 | 12:29 PM ET
We’ve had movies inspired by theme park rides, and roller coasters inspired by rock anthems, so isn’t it about time we had a theme park attraction inspired by the “reality” television craze? (I’m a little far removed from my college philosophy classes to say for sure, but I suspect there’s a meta-something at work here.) Yes, the American Idol Experience opened at DisneyWorld this weekend. Here’s how it works: visitors can choose to perform on a re-created “Idol” stage, or to sit in the audience and vote. At the end of each day, the lucky hopeful who receives the most audience votes lands a Dream Ticket to an actual “American Idol” audition.
There is no option for visitors to sit at the judging table and hurl abuse at the contestants; still, I suspect the new attraction will be a hit. The Traveling Mamas have posted a (snark-free) review, and there’s a clip previewing the American Idol Experience after the jump:
Morning Links: The Belgian Flair for Comics, New Orleans Street Theater and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.16.09 | 8:46 AM ET
- The investigation of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 reveals sudden erratic movements 26 seconds before impact.
- The state of the Velib bike program in Paris isn’t good.
- The New Yorker’s Katherine Boo investigates a Mumbai slum located on land owned by the Airports Authority of India. (subscribers only)
- David Lyon looks at the comics-character murals of Brussels. He writes: “The Belgian flair for comics is as inescapable as Manneken Pis.”
- Nora Roberts’ Inn BoonsBoro—an inn in Boonsboro, Maryland, that features rooms named after literary couples—opens tomorrow.
- Wayne Curtis says “New Orleans knows how to do street theater like no other American city.”
- Benji Lanyado visits a pay-what-you-want bar in Berlin.
- Video: A woman goes wild after missing her plane in Hong Kong and becomes a YouTube hit.
- The Costa Brava is not the Bahamas—except in an ad for the Costa Brava. I’d say, “oops,” but it looks like the people behind the ad planned using the image of the Bahamas as a stand in for the Spanish coast. (via Shore Trips)
Got a suggestion? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) your link.
World Hum’s Most Read: Feb. 7-13
by World Hum | 02.13.09 | 5:25 PM ET
Our five most popular features from the past week:
1) A Winter’s Tale (pictured)
2) ‘EIMI: A Journey Through Soviet Russia’
3) Subcontinental Homesick Blues
4) Che: The Ronald McDonald of Revolution
5) Eight Reasons Why Canada Isn’t Boring
