Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Tom Cruise at 42,000 Feet: On the Bliss of Watching ‘Mission: Impossible III’ on a Long-Haul Flight
by Michael Yessis | 08.28.06 | 6:36 AM ET
Not just once. Not twice. Not three times. But five times. “In a row,” writes Washington Post film critic Stephen Holden. “In a stinkin’ row!” And the experience has caused him to declare “Mission: Impossible III” his new favorite movie. Why? Holden writes: “I was in that zone of sleep-deprived agony that usually involves crossing international datelines and messing up the internal gyroscope for weeks at a time. I was in a cocoon of misery; I needed assistance, relief, deliverance. To the rescue: movies!”
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Yahoo! BuzzNational Geographic Debuts World Music Site
by Frank Bures | 08.24.06 | 6:10 AM ET
With apologies to Rob Fleming from “High Fidelity,” I admit a shameless love for world music—not just soukous, and not just whatever world music trend is trendy this week. I like it all, or at least I’m willing to give it all a try. That’s why I love perusing magazines like Global Rhythm and Songlines, and why I’m glad to see National Geographic has launched a world music Web site, complete with downloads, podcasts and good overviews of genres from around the world, from Rai to Reggae to Roma to Rumba. The site will be a fine addition to the Charlie Gillett show, which plays great stuff every week and which you can listen to online, and Afropop Worldwide, which you can only hear if you’re lucky enough to have a local station that carries it.
One Day, Two Men and 468 New York City Subway Stations
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.06 | 8:11 PM ET
Matt Green and Donald Badaczewski are currently in the middle of an attempt to ride the New York City subway system through all of its 468 stations as fast as possible. Fark.com classifies the endeavor as stupid; the New York Times finds it worth 743 words. Green and Badaczewski began at 6 a.m. this morning and have a MySpace page about their journey, which includes a brief history of endurance subway riding. “There is actually a Guinness record for subway riding, but it allows the rider to exit the system, using a bus or other means of transport to go from the end of one spur line to another, before re-entering the subway,” they write. “We have a strong philosophical opposition to this set of rules. If you’re going to spend that much time in pursuit of such a ridiculous and pointless goal, why cut corners? Plus, what kind of babes are going to dig guys who take the easy way out of such a manly challenge?”
More on “Shrinking-Vacation Syndrome”
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.06 | 1:05 PM ET
Work-life balance and vacation advocate Joe Robinson has hit the airwaves in the last couple of days, talking about Americans and their shrinking vacations. National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation and KPCC’s AirTalk both featured Robinson, who discussed, among other things, “obsessive-compulsive productivity” and what it means for our country when workers’ vacation time is vanishing.
World Hum Wants to Post Your Travel Photos
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.06 | 12:44 PM ET
Help World Hum become less visually challenged by submitting your travel photos to our new Flickr photo pool. We’re looking for striking images from travelers around the world to illustrate our dispatches, weblog posts and photo galleries. If you want to become a fully credited photo contributor to World Hum, please add your images to the pool.
The Shameful Rise of “Shrinking-Vacation Syndrome”
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.06 | 7:58 AM ET
John Burdett on Thailand, Sex and ‘The Quiet Farang’
by Michael Yessis | 08.19.06 | 2:00 PM ET
The arrest of John Mark Karr in Bangkok for allegedly murdering JonBenet Ramsey almost 10 years ago has put Thailand’s reputation for sex tourism and as a haven for western drifters, or farang kee-nok, in the spotlight of American media. In an opinion piece in today’s New York Times, John Burdett, author of the crime novel Bangkok Tattoo, weighs in on why Thailand has, in the words of one Bangkok teacher he spoke to, become the place where farang go after they kill or rape somebody in their own country.
‘Snakes on a Plane’ = Movie. Bees on Planes = Serious, Real-Life Problem.
by Michael Yessis | 08.18.06 | 7:07 AM ET
Okay, snakes have been found on planes not carrying Samuel L. Jackson. But bees are becoming a major problem at airports across the United States. “Africanized honey bees—the infamous ‘killer bees’—are increasingly making unscheduled layovers at airports across the Southwest,” writes the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos. “The aggressive bees, which entered the U.S. from Mexico in the early 1990s, like to travel across open spaces and stop to rest whenever the queen gets tired. Airports have few trees or other natural rest stops. That makes planes, jetways, baggage-loading equipment, terminals and parking garages popular for stopovers.”
An End to the Hostile Hostel?
by Sarah Schmelling | 08.17.06 | 11:57 AM ET
The cramped, shared spaces. The mysterious substances you step in as you traverse the maze of hallways to the tiny bathroom. The odd odors coming from the snoring stranger in the bunk below. Could all this fun at hostels become a thing of the past? According to an article in Sunday’s San Diego Union-Tribune by Bob Tedeschi, longtime backpacker haunts have greatly improved during the past few years, thanks to a push from hostelling organizations around the world. New amenities include Wi-Fi access, smaller and sometimes private suites, Jacuzzis and garden views—not to mention higher standards in cleanliness, safety, and even property-manager helpfulness. Proponents of the push, like Hostelling International, which represents 4,000 hostels in 60 countries, now send inspectors regularly to member affiliates to ensure they conform with high-level requirements. “They’re absolutely getting better,” Mark Vidalin, marketing director for Hostelling International USA, told Tedschi. “There’s been a recognition that hostelling has reached critical mass and gone beyond just cheap places to stay.”
British Tabloid Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Boy, 12, Makes a Mockery of Air Security’
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 10:37 PM ET
The story from the Daily Mail: “A top level security probe is under way after a 12-year-old boy walked on to a plane unchecked with no documents at the height of the terror scare. The boy boarded a plane at Gatwick on Monday despite airport security being on red-alert.”
Metros of the World: How Many Have You Traveled?
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 2:17 PM ET
Some travelers like to brag about their country count. We’ve never heard anyone brag about their “metro count,” but this simple site lets you easily figure out how many of the world’s metro systems you’ve ridden. Just type in cities where you’ve taken the metro and it pulls up the corresponding logos. For the record, I’m at 33. You? Via Jaunted.
Video: Travels with “Laguna Beach” Star Jessica Smith
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 1:17 PM ET
Last year we noted that guidebook publisher Let’s Go named Jessica Smith of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” as a spokesperson. Part of the gig apparently included shooting video during a spring-break trip to Europe, which recently debuted on uthtv.com. In the first episode, the cameras follow Smith through London. The result: one not-so-discreet plug for Let’s Go, and lots of yawn-inducing mingling with people who recognize her from the TV show. Still, parts of the video offer an interesting look at someone embarking on a trip to Europe for the first time, dealing with what to pack, navigating new cities and what it feels like to stand out in a foreign place. More of her travel videos are on the way.
Starwood to Debut its New Aloft Hotels with a Virtual Aloft Property in ‘Second Life’ Virtual World
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 6:01 AM ET
This is fascinating: Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the corporation behind Sheraton, W Hotels and other properties, will open its first Aloft hotel next month within the Second Life virtual world. The virtual Aloft will be patterned after the real-world Aloft hotels, a new brand of properties that emphasizes social interaction and is scheduled to debut sometime in 2008. According to a News.com story by Nicole Girard, Starwood plans to make the virtual Aloft profitable on its own within Second Life and also to use it to gain feedback for the development of the real-world Aloft.
The Future of Travel: ‘Will August 2006 be Remembered as the Point of No Return?’
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.06 | 8:31 AM ET
In the wake of last week’s foiled plot to blow up airplanes traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States, Simon Calder steps back in today’s Belfast Telegraph and examines what the future of travel might look like. Some conclusions: Environmentally-responsible travel will gain popularity, guidebook sales will fall as electronic distribution of information rises and people will consider themselves permanent travelers. “The very concept of a vacation is beginning to disappear for some people, who have latched on to low-cost flying as a way to live double lives and can be considered to be on a permanent holiday,” he writes.
Is Travel Worth the Stress, the Fear and the Disappearance of Carry-On Bags of Duty-Free Vodka?
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.06 | 7:30 AM ET
The answer to the question is yes, says the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Thomas Swick. His latest column is a typically insightful piece about flying in a world where large quantities of liquids are now banned on planes and security lines grow forever longer. “Flying has been the least enjoyable aspect of travel for quite some time,” he writes. “No one arriving at an airport these days quotes Robert Louis Stevenson: ‘For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.’ Not just because we don’t read Stevenson anymore, but because, very often, we’re not moving. We’re standing in line, trying to untie our shoes.”
