Travel Blog: News and Briefs
British Food in India: Fish and Chips With Turmeric and Chili Powder, Anyone?
by Terry Ward | 06.15.07 | 11:48 AM ET
When I visited London for the first time earlier this year, I was torn. For my first UK meal, would it be fish and chips in a pub or a bowl of curry on Brick Lane? Both meals are about as typically British as you can get. In fact, according to the”‘Curry factfile” on a UK Food Standards Agency Web site , there are more Indian restaurants in London than in Bombay and Delhi. Britain’s first curry house opened in 1809, and Indian food has since become a UK favorite, accounting for more than 40 percent of all ethnic food sales. The love affair, however, is decidedly one-sided. British cuisine—the term alone elicits snickers from food snobs worldwide—hasn’t exactly taken the Subcontinent by storm. But that’s a fact that one British celebrity chef is out to change.
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Yahoo! BuzzTravels With Nicholas Kristof: ‘There is no High-Five in Rwanda’
by Michael Yessis | 06.15.07 | 8:35 AM ET
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof reprised his Win a Trip With Nick contest this year, and he and the two winners—a teacher from Chicago, Will Okun, and a a Rhodes Scholar-elect, Leana S. Wen—have landed in Rwanda.
Rocking Diplomacy: Fulbright-mtvU Fellowships
by Julia Ross | 06.14.07 | 3:01 PM ET
As someone just finishing up a Fulbright grant in Taiwan, I’m convinced one-to-one international exchange will do a lot more for the United States’ image abroad than some of the highly-spun messaging we’ve heard out of Washington. So I was pleased to see the U.S. State Department push the Fulbright program into the 21st century with four new grants to study global music culture, awarded in collaboration with mtvU, MTV’s 24-7 campus network. It’s a partnership about as unlikely as, say, Condi Rice joining the cast of “The Real World,” but it just might help give sagging U.S. public diplomacy efforts a shot in the arm.
Rome’s Trevi Fountain Flows Despite Aqua Virgo Damage
by Michael Yessis | 06.14.07 | 10:44 AM ET
Aqua Virgo, a more than 2,000-year-old underground Roman aqueduct responsible for feeding the globally-famous, coin-filled Trevi Fountain (pictured), has been damaged during the construction of an underground garage. The accident caused the water to stop flowing to the fountain, but, according to the BBC, water from another aquduct has been “redirected to the Trevi to avoid the spectacle of it running dry.” Travelers to Rome, then, will be able to continue to throw their coins in the fountain to ensure a return trip to the Eternal City.
Who’s Slowing Down a High-Speed Train in California?
by Jim Benning | 06.13.07 | 4:20 PM ET
Oh, to be able to hop on a high-speed train like this French TGV to breeze through California. High-speed rail has serious support among the public and in the state legislature, according to a recent story in San Diego CityBeat. So who’s standing in the way? According to Steven T. Jones’s report, it’s none other than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in the case of high-speed rail really does seem to be The Terminator. Writes Jones: “While posing for the April 16 cover of Newsweek with the headline ‘Save the Planet—or Else’ and touting himself around the world as an environmental leader, Schwarzenegger has quietly sought to kill—or at least delay beyond his term—high-speed rail.”
Japan’s Mount Fuji: Icon, Garbage Dump
by Jim Benning | 06.13.07 | 2:07 PM ET
At least we have Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji, including the one pictured here, to remember what the iconic Japanese mountain used to look like. According to an AP report, the forests at the base of Mount Fuji are strewn with rubbish these days. “We’ve found everything from household trash to broken TV sets and other appliances,” observed one environmentalist. “Sometimes we find hazardous materials like leaky old car batteries.”
‘Rome Reborn’: Journey to the Eternal City, Circa 320 AD
by Michael Yessis | 06.13.07 | 11:15 AM ET
To June 21 of that year, to be exact. Earlier this week, the University of Virginia and its partner institutions unveiled Rome Reborn 1.0, a digital model of ancient Rome as it appeared during the time of emperor Constantine. It’s designed for scholars and virtual tourists, and early reports about the project sound impressive. The AP’s Ariel David writes: “When in virtual Rome, visitors will be able do to even more than ancient Romans did: They can crawl through the bowels of the Colosseum, filled with lion cages and primitive elevators, and fly up for a detailed look at bas-reliefs and inscriptions placed atop triumphal arches.”
How Not to Panic When Your Circling Plane Runs Low on Fuel
by Jim Benning | 06.11.07 | 6:10 PM ET
The air traffic control system computer glitch that caused thousands of airline delays on the East Coast Friday also slowed down World Hum columnist Rolf Potts. He was aboard an AirTran flight from Atlanta to New York City’s LaGuardia Airport when the pilot announced a 20-minute delay. It would be the first of many announcements that day, and nearly eight hours would pass before Potts arrived in New York. I dialed him up today and asked him for a few gory details.
Motel Nostalgia: In Florida, Searching For a ‘Glimpse of Paradise’
by Michael Yessis | 06.11.07 | 1:23 PM ET
Photo by cdale via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
The average cost of a hotel room in the United States has risen to more than $100 a night, but places around the country remain where you can find a room with a little character and prime location for less than that. Among them: Treasure Island, Florida. At least for a little while. Wayne Curtis ventured to the small town near St. Petersburg—and elsewhere in Florida—to search for and chronicle the endangered “towering landmarks” of the ‘40s and ‘50s. His story appears behind a subscription wall on The Atlantic’s Web site, but a terrific audio slideshow is available to all.
Flight Attendants’ Rep: ‘We’re Back to Pre-9/11 Passenger Attitudes’
by Michael Yessis | 06.11.07 | 12:35 PM ET
Translation: “[T]ension between airline employees and passengers is rising, and passengers are ruder and more volatile than in the past,” according to a USA Today story by Gary Stoller. Some statistics support the assertion. The Federal Aviation Administration “cited 1,738 ‘unruly’ passengers for illegally interfering with the duties of a flight crew during the seven years ended in 2006, or an average of 248 a year. From 1995 to 1999, there were an average of 198 per year,” Stoller writes. Reports of passenger misconduct from flight attendants and other airline workers to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System are also high, according to the story, and could be higher because many employees are not aware of the system.
New Addition to the Travel Lexicon: ‘Toeing the Line’
by Michael Yessis | 06.11.07 | 11:40 AM ET
In our ongoing quest to chronicle the comings and goings in the travel lexicon we bring you “toeing the line,” which The Atlantic’s Word Fugitive columnist Barbara Wallraff has declared the winner in a contest to determine “a word to describe the moment of undignified vulnerability that people in airport security lines experience when they have to take off their shoes.” Dick Engel of Bark River, Michigan submitted the winning entry, though I liked many other suggestions better. Among them: Shoemiliation, unshoddenfreude, pedrified, JimmyChoogrined, steparation anxiety and pedanoia.
Related on World Hum:
* New Travel Word of the Day: ‘Glamping’
* Don’t be a Touron!: New Additions to the Travel Lexicon
* Is It Time To Retire ‘Ugly American’ From the Travel Lexicon?
Think ______ is Great Now? Oh Please, You Shoulda Seen it in the ‘70s.
by Jim Benning | 06.11.07 | 8:53 AM ET
There’s at least one person in nearly every great place you travel to who will look you in your dazzled eyes and tell you in no uncertain terms that you really missed it, that you should have been there 5, 10, 20 years ago, when the place was truly magical and not overrun with people just like you. John Flinn calls it the Kathmandu Syndrome. As he defines it: “Every place used to be better, at least in the eyes of those who were there then. Now all these places are blighted, charmless, overcrowded and hopelessly touristy.” In a fine column in the San Francisco Chronicle, he explores this all-too-common expression of the hyper-competitive streak in some travelers.
Globespotters: IHT’s Correspondents Blog Paris, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Beyond
by Julia Ross | 06.11.07 | 8:20 AM ET
When foreign correspondents aren’t chasing down insurgents or dissidents, they’re wandering the back streets of their adopted cities, ferreting out the best croissant in Paris or bike path in Rome. A new travel blog from the International Herald Tribune—dubbed Globespotters—taps into this collective wisdom via posts from reporters in six world cities. In IHT’s words, it’s “an online resource where IHT reporters and editors (and readers too) share up-to-the-minute tips and recommendations about the cities where we live and visit.” So far, it’s a lively mix of local color and tips on things to do. My favorite: Joyce Lau’s take on the expat bacchanal that passes as Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong.
Photo by Harris Graber via Flickr, (Creative Commons).The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: From the Great White North to the Land Down Under
by Michael Yessis | 06.08.07 | 12:49 PM ET
This week travelers trek the length of the globe, from Canada to California to Mexico to Costa Rica to Australia. There’s also the inevitable Paris Hilton vs. Hilton Paris match up. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
In Napa, Wilderness Above the Wineries
* That’s Napa, pictured above.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Paris Hilton accommodations vs. Hilton Paris
* Christopher Reynolds pits the two head-to-head.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Mexico to (Miss) U.S.A.: Boooooo
* Readers have mixed feelings about the now-infamous boos.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
JetBlue Tries to Bounce Back From Storm of Trouble
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Air Traffic Control System Command Center
Most Read Feature
World Hum (this week)
An Island in Costa Rica
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
National Geographic’s Atmosphere
* Current podcast: Mount Everest Expedition
Average U.S. Hotel Room Price Tops $100
by Terry Ward | 06.08.07 | 11:01 AM ET
I’m toying with the idea of heading west on an American road trip this summer, but a short piece in today’s USA Today gives me pause. Gene Sloan writes that a milestone has been reached: According to Smith Travel Research, the average U.S. hotel room price now tops $100 per night. To be exact, it’s $102.79. Granted, that figure can vary drastically, depending on the market—from an average of $84 in Detroit to, gulp, $254 in New York City, Sloan writes.
