Travel Blog: News and Briefs
And the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Travel Writing Goes to?
by Jim Benning | 04.16.07 | 4:31 PM ET
Nobody. The 2007 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded today, but of course, there’s no category for travel writing. Still, we’re delighted that LA Weekly food writer Jonathan Gold won the Pulitzer for criticism. That’s close enough, because Gold approaches Los Angeles restaurants with a traveler’s sensibility, venturing into hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants where few food critics dare to go, from Thai Town to Little Ethiopia. His 2000 book, Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles, is probably a little dated by now, but it’s still a great guide for anyone seeking out the city’s most interesting food—and neighborhoods.
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Yahoo! BuzzSleepy British Airways Pilot Delays Flight 13 Hours
by Jim Benning | 04.16.07 | 12:52 PM ET
The pilot made the decision after a noisy night in a New Delhi hotel. The London-bound passengers, who passed the time in hotels as the pilot and crew rested, were just happy the pilot took the safety precaution, right? Uh, not so much.
R.I.P. (and Aloha) Don Ho
by Jim Benning | 04.16.07 | 11:21 AM ET
Legendary performer Don Ho has died of heart failure at the age of 76. Ho was a cultural ambassador and icon, bringing the sound of Hawaii to the world and performing for countless visitors to Waikiki over more than four decades. The Honolulu Advertiser has put together a nice tribute with photos, music clips and a place to post memories and comments about Ho’s life. A typical entry: “My husband and I have seen Don every year for the last 38 years…Don Ho was Hawaii and the spirit of Aloha he created throughout his career will never die.”
Charles Dickens, Led Zeppelin Get Theme Park Treatment
by Jim Benning | 04.13.07 | 12:52 PM ET
It’s the best of times and the worst of times here at the Planet Theme Park desk. On the one hand, we always have something to write about. On the other, our planet is being transformed into a giant theme park. Today brings news that Led Zeppelin will get its own roller coaster at the new Hard Rock theme park being built in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The park is due to open in spring 2008 and will have 40 rock-related attractions, but the Zeppelin ride is expected to be a key amusement. If he were dead, Jimmy Page would be rolling over in his grave.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: More Posts About Buildings and Food
by Michael Yessis | 04.13.07 | 8:00 AM ET
And airplanes and, uh, guns, too. This week the Zeitgeist takes travelers to Oklahoma, Oregon, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain and Pakistan.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
New National Historic Landmarks in 10 States
* Shown here: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Most E-mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in Portland, Ore.
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Passenger on Northwest Pilot: ‘He Was Having a Fit, Swearing Up a Storm’
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
The Costas Turn Chic and Cheerful
Most Read Weblog Category
World Hum (this week)
Italy
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Wikitravel
* Bad publicity, good publicity and now more good publicity for the user-driven site.
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
* This book became a movie with Diane Lane.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* This book will become a movie with Julia Roberts.
Top Rated “Your Pick” Video
LonelyPlanet.tv (current)
Hong Kong Guerilla Guide
R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut
by Jim Benning | 04.12.07 | 11:32 AM ET
Vonnegut’s books have enriched our travels. On the long drive from L.A. to Las Vegas, we particularly recommend the audio version of “Slaughterhouse-Five.”
It’s the Caribbean Cruise Anna Nicole Smith Tabloid Shore Excursion!
by Jim Benning | 04.11.07 | 8:02 AM ET
It sounds twisted, we know. And to be fair, we haven’t heard about a cruise ship officially offering such an excursion—yet. But according to a TV news report, many of the gawkers outside the Bahamas courthouse where Larry Birkhead declared his odd sort of paternity victory Tuesday were cruise ship passengers who decided the spectacle should be a part of their vacation. If that’s true, it wouldn’t be the first time tourists had taken a creepy interest in the tabloid story unfolding in the Bahamas.
Richard Holbrooke on Travel: ‘I Think the Ugly American as a Tourist Cliché is Overblown’
by Michael Yessis | 04.11.07 | 7:16 AM ET
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke sat for a Q&A with Dorinda Elliott in the April issue of Conde Nast Traveler, talking about his own travels and the importance of travel in understanding the world. His favorite trip? “The next one is always the best,” he says. That’s our kind of traveler.
2007 Webby Awards Nominees Announced
by Michael Yessis | 04.11.07 | 6:53 AM ET
The same day Slate’s Tim Wu took some shots at Wikitravel—and we had a few things to say about Wu’s story—the user-driven site received a nomination for a 2007 Webby Award in the Travel category. Another user-driven site, TripAdvisor, picked up a nomination, as did booking sites Kayak and Expedia. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s Gods of Chinatown site rounded out the top five. Rob Corddry will again host the awards ceremony, which takes place June 5 in New York City.
A Wikitraveler Goes to Thailand
by Michael Yessis | 04.10.07 | 4:44 PM ET
What’s it like to leave Lonely Planet at home and travel to Thailand guided only by resources on the Internet? It’s an interesting question, but the resulting Slate story by Tim Wu, unfortunately, poses more questions than it answers. “The Internet has long been terrible for travelers—full of sham sites designed to lure visitors to selected hotels, or, in Thailand’s case, go-go bars,” he writes. The Internet has long been terrible for travelers? Huh?
Deadly Dengue on the Rise in Mexico
by Jim Benning | 04.10.07 | 11:45 AM ET
Mexican officials are concerned about an alarming rise in dengue fever—cases have risen 600 percent in the country since 2001—and they recently dispatched teams to coastal resorts to spray pesticides and clear pockets of standing water where mosquitoes multiply. It’s “one of the primordial public health problems the country faces,” one Mexican health official told the AP.
The New Yorker ‘Journeys’ Issue: Extreme Commuters, the Beijing-Lhasa Train and More
by Michael Yessis | 04.10.07 | 7:40 AM ET
Another New Yorker ‘Journeys’ issue, another page turner. It includes a What are they thinking? piece on commuters who travel several hours a day each way for work, a lengthy examination of the impact the Beijing-Lhasa train might have on Tibet and a terrific Orhan Pamuk essay about his first passport. “[A] passport is not a document that tells us who we are,” he writes. “but a document that shows what other people think of us.”
Odorless Durian? That Stinks.
by Jim Benning | 04.09.07 | 5:14 PM ET
The first time a Singaporean friend insisted I try durian, that notoriously stinky Southeast Asian fruit, I feared the worst. I’d heard fellow travelers’ horror stories and read all about how the fruit had been banned in hotels and on Singaporean trains. My friend shrugged all that off and carefully selected one of the spiky fruits at a giant outdoor stall near his home, eliminating the need to smuggle it onto a train. Yes, it smelled like sweaty feet. But when we sliced it open and dug in, I enjoyed my first bites, savoring its sweet flavor and buttercream consistency. Then, after a few more bites, I started to feel a little ill, overwhelmed by the rich, nutty flavor and odor. So I’m not a big fan of durian.
Passenger on Northwest Pilot: ‘He Was Having a Fit, Swearing Up a Storm’
by Michael Yessis | 04.09.07 | 5:57 AM ET
And thus Flight 1190 from Las Vegas to Detroit this weekend was cancelled, delaying many Easter travelers. Another drunken pilot? The AP reports the serial swearer was not given a field sobriety test, but the FAA is looking into the incident.
Google ‘My Maps’ Debuts With Oral History of Route 66
by Michael Yessis | 04.06.07 | 7:44 AM ET
Another great story-telling tool, another great travel story told. My Maps, a new feature of Google Maps, debuted this week. Early entries include Jay Crim and Shekar Davarya’s interactive oral history of Route 66. It’s yet another step toward a multimedia “On the Road.” Via Gridskipper.
