Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Virgin America Debuts With ‘Party-Like Atmosphere’
by Michael Yessis | 08.09.07 | 12:36 PM ET
Richard Branson’s long-awaited and much-anticipated Virgin America airlines took to the air for a heavily-documented first outing yesterday. The flight from New York City to San Francisco was delayed 15 minutes by bad weather—the storms caused guest of honor Stephen Colbert, who the plane was named after, to miss the christening ceremony, too—but reports from the air were favorable.
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Yahoo! BuzzIn-Flight Internet Likely Coming Next Year
by Terry Ward | 08.09.07 | 11:47 AM ET
While I’m just as keen to check my inbox as the next traveler, I’ve always relished that time in transit when logging on simply isn’t an option. But the days of Internet-free air travel are numbered. If all goes according to plan, writes USA Today’s Roger Yu, travelers will be able to shop on eBay and answer e-mail at 30,000 feet as early as 2008. The service is not expected to be widely offered until 2009 and later.
Three Travel Tips: Ways to Save Money in Europe
by Michael Yessis | 08.09.07 | 11:03 AM ET
Travel tips are easy to find on the Internet, but some are better than others. Each week, we’ll bring you World Hum-approved travel tips from around the Web.
1) Eat seasonally. “Germans go crazy for white asparagus. Italians lap up porcini mushrooms. And Spaniards gobble their snails (caracoles)—but only when waiters announce that they’re fresh today. You’ll get more taste for less money throughout Europe by ordering what’s in season.”—Rick Steves.
Happy 100th Birthday, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
by Terry Ward | 08.09.07 | 9:31 AM ET
I could practically smell the funnel cake and picture the big wheel turning while reading this nostalgia-inducing AP piece about the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. When I visited the northern California beach town several years back, I recall being surprisingly moved by the sight of the old-school Ferris wheel, set just back from the sand. (You’d think a girl from Orlando would be harder to impress.) While other iconic seaside attractions in spots such as Coney Island and Atlantic City are shutting shop, according to the AP report, Santa Cruz’s good times gathering ground appears to be here to stay.
Drexel University Launches ‘The Smart Set’
by Jim Benning | 08.09.07 | 8:04 AM ET
The online publication covers, in its own words, “culture and ideas, arts and sciences, global and national affairs—everything from literature to shopping, medicine to food, philosophy to sports.” It’s being edited by Jason Wilson—World Hum contributor, series editor of “Best American Travel Writing,” and, most enviably, a man with three—three!—dishes named after him. Its debut features stories by a number of World Hum contributors, including Emily Maloney, Tony Perottet and Rolf Potts. It’s an impressive start. I traded e-mails with Wilson and asked him a couple of questions about TheSmartSet.com.
How did The Smart Set come about?
Hannibal Lecter to Hotel Guests: ‘It’s Time to Wake Up’
by Michael Yessis | 08.08.07 | 11:43 AM ET
Creepy. But is it better to get a wake-up call from from a faux Hannibal Lecter, offering you a breakfast of fava beans and a nice chianti, or, depsite requesting one, no wake-up call at all? The former can be had at the Curtis Hotel, a pop culture-themed lodging in Denver. The latter, according to a story in the New York Times, is, unfortunately, becoming more common. Hence, travelers are losing trust in hotels to wake them at the appropriate time, and are increasingly taking the responsibility of waking themselves up with their cellphones or their own alarm clocks.
U.S. Authorizes, E.U. Considers ‘Electronic Travel Authorization System’
by Michael Yessis | 08.08.07 | 11:28 AM ET
Travelers heading from Europe to the U.S. will soon be answering some questions. What’s more, according to Spiegel Online, “Now that Washington has passed a law requiring visa-free passengers from Europe to answer questionnaires online before they board a plane for the United States, the European Union may set up a similar system of ‘electronic travel authorization’ (ETA) for Americans coming to Europe.” The U.S. legislation was part of the “Anti-Terror Bill” President George W. Bush signed last week. A spokesman for E.U. Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini responded yesterday, saying that a similar system targeting U.S. travelers is under consideration.
Tabloid Travel Headline of the Day: ‘A Flying Monkey: Simian Smuggled Aboard Plane’
by Michael Yessis | 08.08.07 | 10:31 AM ET
The headline comes from the New York Post. The monkey flew to the Big Apple from Lima, Peru via Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a passenger on Spirit Airlines. “Spirit,” as the airline opportunistically called the baby marmoset, was apparently the size of a person’s fist and hid under the man’s hat. “Other passengers asked the man if he knew he had a monkey on him,” said Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell. If the man didn’t know, then that’s a different story.
The Summer of Our Air Travel Discontent?*
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 2:56 PM ET
Oh yes. In June, almost a third of all domestic flights arrived at least 15 minutes late. That means the U.S. airline industry “posted its worst on-time performance for the first six months of the year since 1995,” according to the Los Angeles Times, and that “U.S. airlines are on track for their worst annual record for on-time performance ever,” according to USA Today. Experts blame storms and an air traffic control system struggling to cope with more planes in the air. Reports the Times: “Only six airports had planes depart on time more than 80% of the time. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was the worst with only 65% of its flights taking off as scheduled.”
* Update August 7, 6:07 p.m. ET: Delays are only part of the problem, writes Carol Pucci of the Seattle Times.
Related on World Hum:
* Slim Planes Now in it for the Long Haul
* How Not to Panic When Your Circling Plane Runs Low on Fuel
Photo by Michael Yessis.
Family Friendly Las Vegas Swimming Pools
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 2:43 PM ET
The Los Angeles Times offers its take on Las Vegas’s top six pools for families. Among those making the list: Flamingo Las Vegas (“a 15-acre tropical oasis with four pools amid pounding waterfalls and mature foliage”); Golden Nugget (“teems with real sea life and a three-story water slide”); MGM Grand (“five pools in a 6.6-acre water complex”); and Mandalay Bay (“kudos for putting 6-foot-high swells in the middle of the desert”). For the true budget-minded Vegas pool connoisseur who delights in variety, of course, there’s always pool-crashing.
Joe Bravo’s Tortilla Art on a Roll
by Jim Benning | 08.07.07 | 1:03 PM ET
War Tourists Descend on Falkland Islands
by Michael Yessis | 08.07.07 | 12:17 PM ET
Twenty-five years after Argentina and the United Kingdom fought for their control, the Falkland Islands, or Las Malvinas as they’re known to Argentinians, are the latest destination to get a boost from war tourism. More than 900 people died in the 73-day war. According to the AP, most visitors are drawn to the sites of the fiercest fighting: Mount Longdon and Mount Tumbledown. Earlier this year, we noted El Salvador’s entry into the war tourism business.
Did Hemingway Really Drink Mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio?
by Jim Benning | 08.06.07 | 3:23 PM ET
Depending on your perspective, mojitos are either all the rage and part of “mint’s moment” or as dated as “Sex and the City” reruns. I polished off a too-sweet-for-my-taste mojito last night at San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado, as evidenced by this photo of my empty glass, mainly because the drink set me back $11 and I couldn’t stand the idea of wasting it. I like the occasional mojito, but I’ve been enjoying the mojito press coverage even more, and I particularly liked this piece in the Wall Street Journal focusing on Ernest Hemingway’s relationship—or lack thereof—with the drink. I thought it was a given that Hemingway tossed back mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. Tourists flock to the bar for that very reason.
R.I.P. Rock ‘n’ Roll Balconies at Hyatt ‘Riot House’
by Jim Benning | 08.06.07 | 2:46 PM ET
Reports ‘Laurel Canyon’ author Michael Walker: “The textured concrete balconies (above) from which Led Zeppelin and entourage hurled bottles of Dom Perignon, Zeppelin drummer John Bonham teetered and singer Robert Plant crowed ‘I’m a golden god!’ (immortalized in Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous’) are being ripped out like so many meth-rotted teeth as part of a $24 million renovation of the property.” The West Hollywood hotel on the Sunset Strip is replacing the balconies with glass that will enclose the rooms. That might be an improvement to the property, but writes Walker: “[I]t’s always mournful when another little piece of L.A.‘s anarchic rock and roll heart is taken away.” The changes are part of a larger trend, Walker e-mails:
Iowa Town Pins Hopes on ‘American Gothic’ Tourism
by Michael Yessis | 08.06.07 | 12:05 PM ET
Grant Wood’s American Gothic hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, but the house in the iconic 1930 painting still stands in Eldon, Iowa, a town of 975 people in the state’s southeast corner. To boost its struggling economy, Eldon used government grants, bake sales and raffles to fund a $1 million visitors center it hopes will help keep travelers in town for longer than it takes to pose in front of the house with a pitchfork.
