Travel Blog: News and Briefs
What We Loved This Week: Barack Obama, George W. Bush and More
by World Hum | 01.09.09 | 5:16 PM ET
Photo by Micah Clark 
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Yahoo! BuzzThe Remedy for America’s Woes: Eat More Hamburgers!
by David Farley | 01.09.09 | 2:20 PM ET
“Nightline” recently took a break from covering important stories like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Barack Obama’s cabinet appointees and the Bush Administration’s quiet attempt to roll back a legion of environmental laws. Instead, they gave some quality airtime to the hamburger. Yes, the hamburger. More specifically, “Nightline”—one of America’s most august news shows—did a “news” segment based on this hypothesis: in correspondent John Berman’s words, “everything seems to be failing in America right now ... except for the burger.” The hamburger, apparently, is the recession’s filet mignon. Everyone’s eating hamburgers now. And to get to the bottom of this mystery, they turned to Josh “the feedbag” Ozersky, citysearch.com restaurant editor, professional hamburger eater and future candidate for coronary bypass surgery.
Environmental Responsibility Should Be ‘Part of Every Travel Company’s DNA’
by Joanna Kakissis | 01.09.09 | 11:17 AM ET
So says Christopher Elliot in a great MSNBC column on the end of green travel (at least in its current, rather poseurish form). For instance a hotel chain can tout itself as green simply by using energy-efficient fluorescent lightbulbs in their rooms. But one small agreeable change does not absolve an industry known for profligate use (and abuse) of natural resources. Elliot’s calling for a paradigm shift that would make travel operators—airlines, hotels, tour companies, and others—quiet but durable environmentalists, and compel travelers to give them (not the polluters) their business.
Headline of the Day: ‘GuGu the Panda Strikes Again’
by Michael Yessis | 01.09.09 | 10:34 AM ET
The New York Daily News is one of many writing about the latest attack on a tourist by GuGu, a panda at Beijing Zoo. Can’t really blame GuGu, though. The victim climbed into the panda’s lair. The man was apparently trying to rescue his kid’s toy, but, really, what did he expect from GuGu?
Morning Links: Mexico City’s War on Gum, South Pole Trek and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.09.09 | 9:15 AM ET
- Deep-fried bacon and butter powered three Canadians in the fastest-ever trek to the South Pole.
- Mexico City has had it with all the gum.
- Another amusing story about how it is no longer 1967 in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury—except the parts of Haight-Ashbury that recall 1967.
- Interesting piece on 2008’s “cartography boom” and the way maps are changing the way we organize and look at the world.
- Can you get better travel deals by deleting your cookies? A case study.
- This Just In asks what the economic downturn means for coverage in high-end travel magazines.
- Travel book publishers are having problems in this financial climate, too. (Via Eoin Purcell)
- Fewer people live in Montpelier, Vermont (7,495) than any other U.S. capital, yet it supports four independent bookstores. Go Montpelier.
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Welcome to Flyover America
by Sophia Dembling, Jenna Schnuer | 01.08.09 | 4:41 PM ET
Hi. We are Sophia Dembling and Jenna Schnuer. Sophia lives in Dallas, Texas (but was Manhattan born and reared), and Jenna in Queens, NY (aka “not Manhattan”), and we are both writers who are in love with America. Every diner and prairie and highway of it. The places that many people consider flyover territory—Lincoln, Nebraska; Lubbock Texas; Bayonne, New Jersey, and the like—grab hold of us. Flyover America is as much a state of mind as a place. We like to think of it as anywhere in America that isn’t Manhattan or L.A. Flyover America is packed with stories, discoveries and soul. And it’s got some great malls, too.
For Inauguration Travelers, Saner Options
by Julia Ross | 01.08.09 | 4:22 PM ET
As a Washington, DC, native, I’ve attended my share of inauguration ceremonies, usually braving a bitter cold to catch a fleeting view of the proceedings. My earliest inaugural memory dates to Jimmy Carter’s swearing-in in 1977. Despite my parents’ determination that I witness history, all I remember are the reams of red-white-and-blue bunting draped across the Capitol and a very distant Rosalynn Carter standing next to her husband in a blue coat.
This time around, I’m opting out. Today’s Washington Post warns of up to 3 million visitors on January 20, and I’d prefer to avoid the chaos. For inauguration travelers who are of like mind, the Washington Post’s Inauguration Watch blog plans to post a listing of venues that will screen the event live. I’ve already stumbled across one that might tempt me off the couch: the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, will show a big-screen broadcast beginning at 10 a.m., free of charge. Access to popcorn and no metal detectors: hard to beat.
My Big Fat Greek Bus Tour
by Eva Holland | 01.08.09 | 1:39 PM ET
Here comes the latest Hollywood Euro-romance. Nia Vardalos, the writer/star of the surprise hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding, is returning to the big screen—and this time, instead of an awkward, unhappy Greek-American travel agent, she’s playing an awkward, unhappy Greek-American tour guide.
My Life in Ruins is set to hit theaters in early May, and stars Vardalos as Georgia, a dissatisfied tour guide who has to re-discover her mojo on the antiquities bus tour from hell. (Richard Dreyfuss co-stars as Irv, the wise and supportive tourist.) Sure, it looks to be a re-tread of the last flick—albeit with more Ugly American jokes this time around—but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was an unexpected bit of magic a few years back. If Vardalos can channel some of that wit, heart and self-deprecation again, she’ll already be two steps ahead of most romantic comedies.
Check out the trailer after the jump.
Surgeon General’s Warning: Eating Animal Penis in China May Not Be For You
by David Farley | 01.08.09 | 11:35 AM ET
Yes, that’s potential future surgeon general Sanjay Gupta in this video eating, as he calls it, China’s “eclectic cuisine.” And by that he means: stud bull penis, deer penis, lamb testicles, and our personal favorite, Russian dog penis. Yes, Mr. Gupta visits China specifically in search of edible tiger parts, and even more specifically in search of edible tiger penis. But Dr. Gupta seems to get more than he bargained for when he sits down at the table in front of a platter of chopped up animal members.
Tiger penis, they say, helps give virility to a certain part of a man’s body. Not that we’d know—we only eat non-endangered animal penis here at World Hum.
Kraftwerk Cofounder: Auto-Gone
by Eva Holland | 01.08.09 | 10:34 AM ET
The Telegraph is reporting that band co-founder (and Krautrock pioneer) Florian Schneider has left Kraftwerk after four decades. It’s just the excuse we need to cue up the band’s 1974 hit song “Autobahn,” which is meant to re-create the experience of highway driving:
Morning Links: Walking Across the U.S., Rebranding France and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.08.09 | 9:29 AM ET
- Video: Slate interviews “an Algerian man who just walked alone across the United States with nothing but $217 and a backpack.”
- Some “serious soul-searching in French tourism circles” helped inspire the country’s new rebranding campaign.
- Mapped: 50 United States and their Mottos. Intelligent Travel talks to the map’s creator, Emily Wick.
- Rick Steves in Iran: The preview.
- Cheap flights abound for the New Year, but, by historical standards, they’re not as cheap as you might think.
- Peter Hessler takes a road trip to the Tibetan Plateau. (It’s only an abstract, unless you’re a New Yorker subscriber.)
- USA Today looks at Twitter and travel.
- Want more Twitter in your life? Maybe attend a Twestival.
- Cunard reveals its 2009 Queen Mary 2 voyages with “literary luminaries” on board. Among the writers on the transatlantic crossings: Kathryn Harrison and Oscar Hijuelos. It is my duty to tell you that if you’re interested in going, you should first read this (pdf).
Where We’re Eating: New York, Czech Republic
by David Farley | 01.07.09 | 4:46 PM ET
Nation Branding for your iPod? Canada Votes for a National Playlist.
by Eva Holland | 01.07.09 | 11:52 AM ET
Call it change you can listen to: CBC Radio is hoping to get some made-in-Canada music onto incoming President Obama’s iPod.
The Canadian broadcaster is accepting nominations for a “definitive Canadian playlist”—dubbed “49 Songs from North of the 49th Parallel”—to be unveiled on Obama’s inauguration day. “One of the best ways to know Canada is through the depth and breadth of our artistic expression,” said a CBC representative. “We’re excited about the new president, and we want him to be excited about us.”
So how do you go about compiling a definitive national playlist? CBC producers will whittle the suggestions from the public down to a manageable 100 most-nominated songs, and then online voting will cut the shortlist down to the final 49.
Sure, the project seems a tad goofy—realistically, Obama will have bigger things to worry about on Jan. 20 than whether he prefers Stompin’ Tom Connors or Gordon Lightfoot—but it got me thinking about music and national identity.
Morning Links: Robots Around the World, ‘Pizza Huh’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 01.07.09 | 9:34 AM ET
Design by Open. - ReadyMade asked artists to “reimagine” Depression Era WPA posters. Open created a great one (pictured).
- McDnoald’s. Bucksstar Coffee. Pizza Huh. Is someone in China building a shopping mall filled with fake brands, or is it all just fake?
- Barack Obama: Restaurant critic. He loves his peach cobbler at Dixie Kitchen in Chicago.
- World Hum contributor David Farley talked travel with Arthur and Pauline Frommer.
- Voting begins on the New 7 Wonders of Nature. There are 261 nominees.
- An American tourist was stabbed outside a bar in Rome.
- Happy 50th birthday, Alaska.
- Farewell to the SS Catalina.
- Another farewell to the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn.
- Jon Bowermaster started a two-month residency at Gadling, writing from Antarctica. He calls the continent “the beating heart of Planet Earth.”
- Why not measure the world’s countries by robot density? Here are the top 10. (Via Passport)
- This may be the least scenic hot tub in the world. I prefer this view.
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The Road Less Eaten
by David Farley | 01.06.09 | 2:52 PM ET
America’s relationship with food from around the world has traveled a long way in the last few decades. Case in point: Weight Watchers “Worldwide Favorites” recipe cards from 1974. Say what you will about globalization, at least we no longer have to endure these fish “tacos” (their quotes), an anything-goes orgy of tomatoes and cheese, or ashen-gray Fish Balls or Fluffy Mackerel Pudding.
I’ve never been to Polynesia, but something tells me the combination of ingredients in the Polynesian Snack—fruit, buttermilk and sprouts—would make an islander eat sand before laying hands on anything from this recipe book. We’ve come along way, baby.
