Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Interview With James Wallace: Reflections From an Aerospace Reporter
by Rob Verger | 04.03.09 | 9:26 AM ET
Photo courtesy of James Wallace. Award-winning reporter James Wallace covered aerospace for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for more than 12 years. He worked for a total of 27 years at the paper, which recently stopped printing and transitioned to an online-only version with a comparatively tiny reporting staff. When that happened, Wallace’s job disappeared.
Wallace, who wrote a goodbye blog entry, is the author of two books, “Hard Drive” and “Overdrive,” both about Microsoft.
I caught up with him over the phone to hear about his years on the aviation beat.
World Hum: You covered aerospace for 12 years. How have you seen commercial air travel change during that time?
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Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: The ‘Paperclip Armrest Concept,’ Unsung Travel Heroes and More
by Michael Yessis | 04.03.09 | 8:13 AM ET
- Neil Young’s new album was inspired by his electric-car project. It’s streaming at MySpace.
- Will the “Paperclip Armrest Concept” end the battle for airplane armrests? Interesting idea, but it looks like this just makes the battle about the best real estate up top.
- Slate’s Explainer explains why the most totalitarian countries always have the most democratic-sounding names.
- Paris is feeling “clobbered” by the economic climate. (via Gridskipper)
- Jane Wooldridge looks back on traveling to (almost) 100 countries.
- The latest issue of Perceptive Travel is up.
- Love this opening image from Timothy Egan’s dispatch from Ireland: “Under a sky that looks like a late-winter coat of sheep fleece…”
- Here are some unsung heroes of travel, as selected by USA Today readers.
- Naturists rejoice! They’re banning clothes at a German hotel.
- Finally, Tim Patterson has a word for backpacker girl: Put some damn clothes on!
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Jamie Oliver to G20 World Leaders: You’ll Eat British and Like It!
by David Farley | 04.02.09 | 4:13 PM ET
In the 1970s and ’80s, Great Britain had a reputation for bad teeth and even worse food (I wonder if there’s a connection?). Dentists were finally imported from parts of the erstwhile empire while British chefs began looking outside Britain for influences. They found it in France, the Mediterranean and even Southeast Asia. The results, however, were anything but British. Nonetheless, it helped bring England out of its culinary cellar. Five years ago, Gourmet magazine proclaimed London to be the best food city on the planet. This wasn’t a surprise to those who had been paying attention to global dining trends, but most people were caught unaware of London’s “new” prowess in the dining sphere.
See This Now: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater House
by Jim Benning | 04.02.09 | 12:16 PM ET
Will T.C. Boyle’s new novel, The Women, and Nancy Horan’s novel, Loving Frank—both about Frank Lloyd Wright and the women in his life—boost interest in Wright’s architecture and visits to the houses he designed? Perhaps, but Wright’s buildings are hardly hurting for visitors.
Wright’s Fallingwater house, which Time magazine declared his “most beautiful job” shortly after it was completed in 1937, has seen millions of visitors over the years. Located 50 miles from Pittsburgh, it’s worthy of adoration, spanning a waterfall and still somehow blending nearly seamlessly into the landscape. By all accounts, it was the inspiration for Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The New Yorker once called it “Wright’s extraordinary essay in horizontal space.”
Filmed Here: ‘Men in Black’
by Eva Holland | 04.02.09 | 12:15 PM ET
Photo by Eva Holland I celebrated the spring weather this week by heading out to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, aka “the Central Park of Queens,” for a wander in the sun. I didn’t know much about the park, beyond the name of the nearest subway station—so imagine my surprise when I walked through the gates and saw ... an extra-terrestrial spacecraft?
More precisely: what I saw was the observation tower of the now-abandoned New York State Pavilion (a relic from the World’s Fair), which served as a murderous alien’s would-be get-away vehicle in the climactic scene of the 1997 Will Smith flick, Men in Black. I’d seen the movie before, of course, but had never known where that final battle was set. Coming across the “space ship,” and the nearby Unisphere (which also plays a role in the battle), got me thinking about action movies and the major landmarks they use as props.
Help for Hungry Travelers Who Can’t Handle Gluten
by Jenna Schnuer | 04.02.09 | 11:15 AM ET
Having grown up with a sibling who has a major food allergy, I give a huge thumbs-up to anybody who helps ease the way for food intolerant folks on the road. Fellow travel writer (and friend) Hilary Davidson does just that on her Gluten-Free Guidebook. Her latest piece discusses Philly tourism’s online guide to gluten-free restaurants.
Know of other online guides for allergic eaters around the U.S.? We’d love to hear about them.
Morning Links: For the Love of Fugu, Chocolate Sherpa and More
by Jim Benning | 04.02.09 | 9:26 AM ET
- Do you fugu? According to this Japanese chef, the potentially deadly blowfish is getting a bad rap.
- Chocolate Sherpa is making the Himalayan world a better place, one chocolate bar at a time.
- Concierge has the lowdown on getting high on kava in Fiji—and details on a few other mind-altering vacations.
- The Frugal Traveler loves him some Twitter travel help.
- What happened when Bangladeshi immigrants tried to carve a Little Bangladesh out of the middle of Los Angeles’ Koreatown?
- The Las Vegas Sun has a graphic map showing the evolution of the Las Vegas strip, decade by decade, since 1930.
- Here’s one writer’s take on how glossy travel magazines are—or are not—adjusting their coverage amid the economic troubles.
- The newly minted YouTube Symphony Orchestra is going to play Carnegie Hall. Rock on.
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Air Travel Now, in Numbers
by Rob Verger | 04.01.09 | 1:51 PM ET
- Percentage of fewer passengers who will fly domestically on U.S. airlines in 2009, according to an FAA prediction: 8.8. (The Middle Seat Terminal reacts to the prediction.)
- Average recent cost of a domestic round-trip ticket over Memorial Day weekend, according to Travelocity and USA Today: $295.
- Percentage decrease of the cost of that Memorial Day weekend ticket from last year: About 10.
- Amount the International Air Transport Association predicted the world’s airlines could lose in 2009: $4.7 billion.
- Amount the world’s airlines lost after September 11, 2001: $23 billion.
- Number of planes American Airlines announced it would make Wi-Fi available on: more than 300.
- Number of miles a JetBlue employee traveled while in the cargo hold of an Embraer 190 after reportedly falling “asleep in a cargo bin” and accidentally traveling from New York to Boston: 200. (Reuters reports that he was “unharmed and not charged with any crime.”)
The ‘Golden Age’ of Green Travel
by Joanna Kakissis | 04.01.09 | 12:07 PM ET
That would be right now, despite the economic recession, says National Geographic Adventure’s eco tourism expert Costas Christ. Consider the evidence: Airlines are testing clean biofuels, top tourism organizations are battling climate change and defining sustainability standards and the Marriott Corporation is leading the charge to protect some 1.4 million acres of Amazon rain forest. Most notably for the humble traveler, the small outfitters and family-owned lodges of the early years of eco tourism are regaining their influence over the “$500-a-night jungle resorts” that have put eco travel out of financial reach for many, Christ says.
Hotel Tipping: A Change is Gonna Come
by Alexander Basek | 04.01.09 | 10:30 AM ET
I’m pretty good about tipping in hotels. I don’t mind dropping the bucks for bellmen—especially after I spent two days as one at the Hotel Giraffe for the New York Post—and I agree that some money for the maid in an envelope is usually the way to go. However, I had an interesting situation in Buenos Aires that made me wonder whether I made a cultural faux pas.
At the moment, BA is in the throes of a change shortage. There simply aren’t enough coins—you see signs everywhere that say “NO HAY MONEDAS” or demand exact change if you’re buying a pack of cigs. The buses in Buenos Aires only take coins, so the commute for a lot of working people in the city is rather difficult. I accumulated a fair amount of change over the course of my stay, and on the recommendation of a friend who lived in the city, I gave it to one of the front desk fellows at my hotel who had been helpful. He seemed a little ... surprised, though he said “Great! For the bus!” after an awkward pause. Still, I felt weird just giving someone a handful of change as a thank you.
Have you guys ever given unorthodox tips in hotels? Cookies? A hat? Tell me I’m not the only one.
Morning Links: The Serenity of Traveling Alone, Tombstone and More
by Michael Yessis | 04.01.09 | 9:55 AM ET
A Visit to the Alvear
by Alexander Basek | 03.31.09 | 2:51 PM ET
While in Buenos Aires last week, I got a chance to tour the Alvear Palace. As part of a test of social media web 2.0 blahbitty blah, I also tried to tweet about my tour, with marginal success. It’s really hard to type little messages on your phone during a meeting with someone and not seem like a total jerkwad in the process.
Maybe, though, I gave you guys an eye into what the travel-writing game is about—namely, nodding appreciatively at pools and gym machines. OK, I actually was impressed by the Alvear’s gym—the machines have flatscreens with videos explaining how to do all the exercises. That’s right in the wheelhouse of a doughy nerd such as myself.
Tangled Up In Blue
by Rob Verger | 03.31.09 | 12:19 PM ET
Two weekends ago, when I flew from New York City to Portland, Maine, on JetBlue, my plane, interestingly, had a name: “Blue Complete Me.” On the return trip, the plane, an Embraer E190, was named “Luiz F. Kahl.”
All JetBlue aircraft have names, and all but two of them have the word “blue” in it (although sometimes “blue” is written in another language). Some of them are pretty funny. The plane with tail number N599JB is called, “If The Blue Fits,” number N542JB is “Deja Blue” and N612JB is “Blue Look Maahvelous.” There’s even a humorous thread on FlyerTalk.com in which people play the JetBlue “name game,” listing the names of the JetBlue planes they have flown. Weird, right? (Among U.S. airlines, Virgin America also names its planes. One is called, “My Other Ride’s a Spaceship.”)
It’s definitely all part of JetBlue’s quirky branding strategy, but still, I find these names amusing. Names like “Hasta bluego” and “Parlez-blue?” make me smile and roll my eyes.
Hotel Hotsheet Halts
by Alexander Basek | 03.31.09 | 11:45 AM ET
After three years—or 21 “blogging” years—USA Today’s Hotel blogger, Kitty Bean Yancey, is hanging up her rolling suitcase today. She’s staying at the paper, just writing longer-form pieces about travel. Good luck, Kitty.
Civil War Parks Need You
by Sophia Dembling | 03.31.09 | 10:47 AM ET
Continuing on a theme, this Saturday, April 4, is the 13th annual Park Day, an event sponsored by the Civil War Preservation Trust and the History Channel that invites volunteers to help clean and tidy Civil War sites from Florida to Illinois and numerous points between.
Last year’s Park Day attracted a couple of thousand volunteers. Talk history with like-minded folks while you help preserve it. Check the CWPT website for locations, times, activities.
