Travel Blog: News and Briefs
by Michael Yessis | 06.08.07 | 8:42 AM ET
Travelers frustrated with the United States government’s glacial pace in processing passport applications may be getting a reprieve. Various reports this morning say the policy requiring all U.S. citizens to show passports when flying to Canada and Mexico will be suspended through September 30 while the government tries to catch up on paperwork. Travelers without passports will instead need to show another form of government-issued identification, and perhaps be subject to more scrutiny by border-security agents.
Update, 1:56 p.m. ET, June 11 : It’s official. The government made the announcement Friday.
by Jim Benning | 06.07.07 | 6:00 PM ET
And no, it’s not a one-third scale replica of his Bilbao museum for a new Spanish-themed casino and hotel. It’s not even on the Strip. But the 67,000-square-foot Lou Rivo Brain Institute—Gehry’s first in the city—is sure to become a tourist attraction. Construction began in February and it’s scheduled to open in late 2008.
by Jim Benning | 06.07.07 | 10:43 AM ET
<Photo of Damascus by zmyal via Flickr (Creative Commons).
The World Monument Fund has issued its 2008 list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. Threatened landmarks making the cut this time include Leh Old Town in Ladakh, India (increasing rainfall due to climate change is damaging medieval buildings); Machu Picchu (facing too many visitors and increasing ease of access); Old Damascus, Syria (pictured, where historic buildings are being “abandoned and demolished to make way for modern construction”); and Route 66 (as we recently noted, many sites are deteriorating).
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News and Briefs
by Jim Benning | 06.06.07 | 5:01 PM ET
Don’t you hate it when you check in to a perfectly nice hostel in Slovakia only to find a group of men waiting to murder you? That’s the plot of Hostel: Part II, opening Friday. It sounds downright Turistas-esque. We trust no backpackers were harmed in the making of the film. The shot in the movie poster: boar meat.
by Terry Ward | 06.05.07 | 4:37 PM ET
When checking in to my room at the Jury’s Inn in Limerick, Ireland recently, I noticed a coffee trolley labeled “Il Barista” in the lobby. It was adjacent to the reception desk and had a sleek espresso machine and mini-pastries. Mind you, there was no warm-blooded barista in sight. But my hotel, it seems, was latching on to an emerging trend. USA Today’s Roger Yu reports that access to quality coffee both inside guest rooms and in public hotel spaces is increasingly common.
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by Jim Benning | 06.05.07 | 12:40 PM ET
Rudyard Kipling famously remarked, “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” Branding experts hope the same can be applied to hotels—and, more importantly, guests’ memories of their stays in hotels. Early last year, we noted Westin’s efforts to establish a memorable scent reflecting its brand, highlighted by its advertising campaign: “White tea. The calming new scent of Westin.” Now the publication Hotel & Motel Management, which I always start my day with, reports that other hotel chains, from Marriott to Park Hyatt, are spritzing their own branded scents. Sadly, there’s no indication that their approach includes the handy Vend-A-Scent machine pictured here.
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by Michael Yessis | 06.05.07 | 10:41 AM ET
The besieged faux Shangri-La, that is. German tour operator TUI has purchased the Tuscan village of Tenuta de Castelfalfi—four square miles of land with a golf course and “scores of elegantly crumbling villas,” according to the Guardian—for €250 million. TUI plans to turn the village into an Italian retreat for up to 3,200 German tourists by 2009. The Guardian’s Kate Connolly writes that it’s a move that would “make the Tuscany-loving author EM Forster turn in his grave.”
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by Michael Yessis | 06.05.07 | 8:03 AM ET
Perhaps too successful. Five years ago the Chinese town of Zhongdian renamed itself Shangri-La, claiming that the town was the basis for the Shangri-La described in James Hilton’s 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.” “Evidence is sketchy,” we wrote back then, “but no matter.” They moved forward with their plan and now Shangri-La has become besieged by tourists. Whether that’s good or not depends on your perspective.
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by Jim Benning | 06.04.07 | 5:35 PM ET
When I walked up a stairway into Tiananmen Square during a trip to China several years ago, the first thing to pop into my mind was the massacre. Tiananmen, of course, is synonymous with the government crackdown that left hundreds of demonstrators—or possibly more; facts are in dispute—dead 18 years ago today. But visiting Tiananmen is different from visiting other sites known for atrocities. Unlike Dachau or the Killing Fields, which have memorials marking the events, there’s no monument or public acknowledgment in Tiananmen that the massacre even happened.
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by Michael Yessis | 06.04.07 | 5:32 PM ET
For U.S. citizens, it seems, but not Europeans. While most of our overseas counterparts get at least 20 guaranteed vacation days each year, and while Italian lawmakers are proposing to add seven new holidays to the country’s slate, Americans seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Last month the Center for Economic and Policy Research released its No-Vacation Nation report, which reveals that the U.S. is “the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation.” Those that do have vacation time aren’t taking it all, or are taking working vacations.
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by Michael Yessis | 06.04.07 | 1:20 PM ET
And, just like us, Yoda hauls his own baggage. I’ve learned these bits of trivia from some posters now on display exclusively at Orlando International Airport—and seen at StarWars.com.
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by Michael Yessis | 06.01.07 | 6:41 PM ET
Kelly Slater, Billy Graham and Harry Potter all make the Zeitgeist this week as travelers contemplate Hawaiian surf, learning to speak French, Planet Theme Park and the alleged return of the Loch Ness monster.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Q&A: Eight-Time World Champion Surfer Kelly Slater
* He says the sight of the heavens from Mauna Kea (pictured) is probably the best view in Hawaii.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in Florence
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Harry Potter, Billy Graham Get Theme Parks
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Travelers Face Frustrating Passport Delays
* Earlier on World Hum: U.S. Passports in Demand: Lines Look ‘Like a Rolling Stones Concert 25 Years Ago’
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Panoramio
* The site allows users “to locate photos exactly over the place they were taken.” It’s also being acquired by Google.
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
National Geographic’s Atmosphere
* The pitch: “It’s not quite as cool as teletransporting, but it’s close.”
“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Cheyenne, Wyoming
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News and Briefs
by Jim Benning | 06.01.07 | 6:39 PM ET
Most experienced travelers are well aware of the potential pitfalls of making hotel decisions based on TripAdvisor reviews. Which reviews to trust? Is a negative review legit? Or is the writer simply out to help a competing business? The Wall Street Journal has published a helpful look at the many ways that experienced TripAdvisor users sort through reviews to find ones they can trust. The article’s author, Nancy Keates, quickly moves beyond the obvious tactic of looking for patterns and discarding opinions at odds with the bulk of a hotel’s reviews. What other strategies do readers use?
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by Jim Benning | 06.01.07 | 4:01 PM ET
Oh, to be Bill Gates’s yacht. The waters you’d sail. The navigational software that would chart your course. The luxury tourism developments you’d inspire. Developer Gulu Lalvani says a conversation he had with Gates in Phuket, Thailand earlier this year has inspired him to build a small island just off the Thailand coast in Phang Nga Bay. As Lalvani recalled, Gates told him: “If I could bring my yacht, I would come here every year.” The trouble is, Gates’s 54-meter yacht (a little larger than the pleasure craft pictured here) is too big for Phuket’s marina, which holds yachts up to 40 meters long.
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by Michael Yessis | 06.01.07 | 2:04 PM ET
So are bisexual men, gay men, gay women and bisexual women. In fact, that’s the map-reading hierarchy according to a study conducted by the UK’s University of Warwick with help from the BBC.
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