Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Disruptive Plane Passenger is a “Homeless Lawyer”
by Michael Yessis | 11.29.05 | 11:47 PM ET
Mark McGovern, the man who urinated in the aisle of a United Airlines jet last week—we ranked it the second oddest travel story of the holiday weekend—was charged with creating a disturbance and interfering with a flight crew Monday in a Charlotte, North Carolina court.
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Yahoo! BuzzForget Taking a Seven-Day Cruise. How About a Luxury Cruise That Never Ends?
by Jim Benning | 11.29.05 | 1:32 PM ET
Say you like taking cruises. I mean, really like taking them. As in, afterward, you don’t want to go home. If you have boatloads of cash (at least a million bucks), you’ll soon be able to buy a condo aboard one of four luxury ships and cruise the world full-time. Seriously. Until now, according to a story in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, there was only one ship offering such a thing: the 644-foot World that circles the planet once every two years with extended stops in far-flung ports. But all that’s about to change.
Rio Takes Aim at Sexy Postcards
by Michael Yessis | 11.29.05 | 10:51 AM ET
The law that state Gov. Roshina Garotinho signed last week bans bikini-clad women in photo montages or outside of natural beach settings on postcards. The goal of the law is to reduce sex tourism and exploitation in Brazil’s tourist hot spot. Luiz Alberto, who runs a newsstand near Copacabana beach, told AP reporter Peter Muello that postcards of Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer are much bigger sellers. “These cards were mostly for gringos,” he said. “This ban is just silly.”
Attack of the Bedbugs!
by Jim Benning | 11.28.05 | 12:36 PM ET
Bedbugs are “spreading through New York like a swarm of locusts on a lush field of wheat,” according to Sunday’s New York Times, and one exterminator told the paper, “Some of the best hotels in New York have them.” The rise of affordable global travel, among other factors, is being blamed for the pests’ resurgence.
Graham Defends “Suicide Tourism”
by Michael Yessis | 11.28.05 | 8:33 AM ET
Earlier this month, Roger Graham shut down his Web site promoting Cambodia as a great place to commit suicide in an effort to avoid a confrontation with local authorities. That didn’t happen. According to a Reuters report, the provincial governor of Kampot has filed a lawsuit against Graham, accusing him of defaming the province.
Travel-Themed Theater: It’s a Trend
by Michael Yessis | 11.28.05 | 5:29 AM ET
Earlier this year we wrote about Plane Crazy and Baby Taj, and now a third travel-themed play has come to our attention: The Light in the Piazza. According to that flimsy journalism maxim that two examples is a coincidence but three makes a trend, we’ve got ourselves a winner.
We’re Back, and So is Tor Martin Johansen
by Michael Yessis | 11.27.05 | 9:43 PM ET
The 21-year-old Norwegian’s unlikely tale takes our prize for the oddest travel story to emerge during our brief Thanksgiving break. According to an Associated Press report, Johansen dozed off on a short flight from the central Norway city of Trondheim to his hometown of Namsos via Roervik. When he woke up, he was back in Trondheim.
Thanksgiving: When “Travel” Becomes a Bad Word
by Jim Benning | 11.23.05 | 12:52 PM ET
‘Tis the holiday here in the U.S. when the media regale us with travel horror stories as roughly 37 million Americans hit the road and nearly 22 million catch a flight. For its part, the Los Angeles Times published a column today in which the writer takes on the role of a creepy pilot. If you need a pick-me-up, USA Today columnist Joe Brancatelli shares a tale of one frustrated traveler who was bumped from a flight due to overbooking during the holidays—and then took the airline to court and won. We’ll be taking the next few days off. Back Monday.
Melbourne Man Jailed in Frequent Flyer Scam
by Michael Yessis | 11.23.05 | 10:15 AM ET
Austin Perrott took advantage of computer system irregularities to amass 17.6 million frequent flyer miles on nine different airlines. Today he was sentenced to six years in jail.
Get Your End of the World T-Shirts!
by Frank Bures | 11.22.05 | 10:48 PM ET
We already knew about the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, a kind of Disneyland dedicated to providing a glimpse of what life was like during the time of Jesus Christ. And this month Esquire reports on the new Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky, where visitors can see dinosaurs like those Adam and Eve rode around on. Now, in December’s Vanity Fair (the story is unavailable online), Craig Unger reports on a huge trend in travel: Evangelical tourism.
Global Exchange’s 2006 “Reality Tours”
by Jim Benning | 11.22.05 | 2:46 PM ET
Back in 2001, when World Hum wasn’t yet a year old, we published a story by Jeff Spurrier about the eye-opening “reality tour” he took of Tijuana, Mexico with a San Francisco non-profit called Global Exchange. It sounded like a great experience, and I’ve been following the travel offerings from the human rights organization ever since.
Smokers, How Far Will You Go to Smoke That Cigarette?
by Jim Benning | 11.22.05 | 12:57 PM ET
Hopefully not as far as a French woman did recently. The woman confessed in an Australian court that she “drunkenly tried to open an airplane door mid-flight to smoke a cigarette,” the AP reports. Yikes. Fortunately, a flight attendant stopped her before she was able to do any damage.
President Bush to Reporter: “Have You Ever Heard of Jet Lag?”
by Michael Yessis | 11.20.05 | 9:43 PM ET
U.S. President George W. Bush had an awkward moment this morning during a press session in Beijing, blaming a lackluster appearance with Chinese President Hu Jintao on jet lag.
On the Jane Austen Trail
by Jim Benning | 11.18.05 | 1:14 PM ET
With a movie version of Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” now in theaters, USA Today explores the travel possibilities for fans. UK tourism promoters, not surprisingly, are more than happy to help. Reports the paper: “Tourism folk in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and the hilly Peak District have come up with a ‘Visit Pride & Prejudice Country’ promotion that features packages including tours of sites from the film and a free map of locations used in the movie and in the critically acclaimed 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries.”
Brinco Shoes: Air Jordans for the Migrant Set
by Jim Benning | 11.17.05 | 8:58 PM ET
Shoemakers have created all kinds of models for travelers, from rugged hiking boots to waterproof loafers, but they’ve yet to design anything specifically for the undocumented migrant market—until now. Inspired by the thousands of Mexicans and other Latin Americans who hike through cacti-strewn Southwestern deserts to enter the U.S. illegally each year, Argentine-born artist Judi Werthein has created Brinco shoes. Named for the Spanish verb “brincar,” which means “to jump”—as in, across the border—the high-top shoes have some unique attributes.
