Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Big Mac Turns 40, Gets Own Museum in Pennsylvania
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.07 | 2:44 PM ET
The burger that’s so influential the Economist magazine named an index after it is four decades old this year, and the centerpiece of the celebration is the just-opened McDonald’s Big Mac Museum Restaurant in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It’s the museum featuring the 14 feet by 12 feet statue of a Big Mac, naturally. America’s most famous contribution to world cuisine—or, to some, an imperial symbol of the country’s gluttony—was created in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania McDonald’s in 1967 by Jim Delligatti.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzNeed a Passport? Try Calling Your Congressional Representative.
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.07 | 11:23 AM ET
Slate’s Bruce Reed, who has been chronicling the “Kafka-esque frustration of the passport experience,” reports that one of his readers was told by a passport agent to call her senator to solve her problem getting a passport. “There’s nothing wrong with members of Congress responding to requests to cut through red tape,” Reed writes. “But something is rotten in Washington when the federal agency responsible for the red tape is the one asking.” I’ll go further. Something is rotten when you have to resort to calling your government representative to complete a simple bureaucratic task. The Durango Herald also reports passport seekers getting action by calling their representatives.
Tunneling the Bosporus Strait
by Michael Yessis | 08.23.07 | 11:02 AM ET
We’ve got the Chunnel between England and France. Plans are being drawn for a tunnel between Spain and Morocco. Why not a tunnel beneath the Bosporus Strait, connecting the Asian and European sides of Istanbul? Well, there are good reasons not too, such as the strait’s proximity to the violent North Anatolian Fault. But Turkey has been cautiously moving forward with the Marmaray Project, which according to a terrific story by Julian Smith in Wired, will relieve some of the stress on the two bridges already spanning the Bosporus and also offer new opportunities for world travelers.
Tourists, ‘Diamante-Encrusted Bikinis’ Return to Lebanon’s Beach Resorts
by Michael Yessis | 08.22.07 | 10:48 AM ET
A year after war between Israel and Hezbollah rocked Lebanon, and with “sectarian tensions and political standoff” still simmering, Reuters reports that the country’s beach resorts are back and packed with revelers. “Until three weeks ago, it seemed that people couldn’t forget the scars of last year’s war. But now Damour is back again,” said Fady Saba, general manager of Oceana resort, referring to the coastal strip near Beirut. The resorts are using fashion shows and concerts, among other things, to attract travelers from Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, particularly Arabs from Persian Gulf states.
World Hum Seeks Submissions, Bloggers
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.07 | 2:23 PM ET
We’ve just updated our submissions page to reflect our new status as a daily, paying publication. If you’re interested in blogging for World Hum or contributing travel stories, please take a look.
Three Travel Tips: Planning a Caribbean Vacation in Hurricane Season
by Jim Benning | 08.21.07 | 1:45 PM 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) Play the odds. “Travelers can minimize the risks by choosing islands like Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao or Trinidad and Tobago, all located so far south that they are rarely hit by major storms.”—The Washington Post
TSA Deploys ‘Behavior Detection Officers’ at U.S. Airports
by Michael Yessis | 08.21.07 | 11:16 AM ET
It’s an Orwellian name for a rather Orwellian program. According to a story by Kaitlin Dirrig of McClatchy Newspapers, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley revealed last month that Behavior Detection Officers are currently working in airports around the country. They’re “watching body language and facial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions,” Dirrig writes. “The watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbside baggage attendant.” A TSA spokesperson added that 500 officers will be working in airports nationwide by the end of this year.
The Unexpected Pleasure of an International Terminal
by Jim Benning | 08.20.07 | 3:30 PM ET
After a fun and invigorating four days at the Book Passage Travel Writers conference in Corte Madera, California—the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to a travel writers’ Woodstock, complete with karaoke—I headed to San Francisco International Airport yesterday for my first flight on the new Virgin America airlines. I’d been looking forward to the flight and the highly touted entertainment system, which on the gleaming white seatbacks looks like a giant iPod. The flight and entertainment were great. I’d happily fly Virgin America again. But the highlight wasn’t the plane.
Passengers Flee Burning Plane in Japan
by Jim Benning | 08.20.07 | 12:57 PM ET
Wild scene today on the tarmac of an airport in Okinawa, Japan: A China Airlines Boeing 737-800 skidded to stop and caught fire, prompting passengers to evacuate down emergency slides and the pilot to jump from the cockpit window. The plane then “burst into a fireball,” according to the AP. Amazingly, all 165 people aboard reportedly escaped serious injury. The AP notes that the incident “is a setback to China Airlines, which in recent years appeared to have improved on a troubled safety record among international carrier.”
Virginia Tourism’s ‘Symbol of Love’ Actually Symbol of Chicago Gang
by Michael Yessis | 08.20.07 | 8:06 AM ET
Oops. An advertisement (pictured) developed by the BCF agency of Virginia Beach for the Virginia Tourism Corp. features two hands coming together to form the shape of a heart, a playful reference to the state’s long-time slogan, “Virginia is For Lovers.” The gesture, however, is also associated with the Gangster Disciples, “one of the most violent of four African-American gangs that hang out on the south side of Chicago,” according to an FBI report. The FBI also notes: “They are known for their violence and the distribution of crack cocaine.” Apparently Virginia does not want to associate itself with gun play and illegal drugs, and thus will be removing the image from its new “Live Passionately” campaign, according to the Virginian-Pilot.
The Upscaling of Khao San Road
by Michael Yessis | 08.20.07 | 7:57 AM ET
In yesterday’s New York Times, World Hum contributor Newley Purnell highlights all the ways travelers can now blow their budgets on Khao San Road, Bangkok’s famed backpackers hangout. The once dingy “decompression chamber for those about to leave or enter Thailand,” as Alex Garland described it in “The Beach,” now contains a spa offering body wraps and salt scrubs, as well as a Starbucks, Purnell writes. The changes should come as no surprise, particularly in the wake of Khao San Road’s central role in “The Beach.”
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: From Machu Picchu to Provence
by Michael Yessis | 08.17.07 | 12:28 PM ET
In the wake of Wednesday’s 8.0 earthquake, Peru topped the minds of travelers this week, along with France, Japan and one famed guidebook writer. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Machu Picchu, Without Roughing It
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Lost America: Roadside Gallery
* Terrific photography of the “Abandoned West” at nighttime
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Beautiful Places with Tony Farley
* This week: North Dome
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Provence Life Tastes Sweet
Most Popular Travel Story
Netscape (this week)
ACLU Charges TSA Official and JetBlue With Racial Profiling
* It stems from the “We Will Not Be Silent” T-shirt incident we covered last year.
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
Rick Steves: Reflections on Three Decades of World Travel
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
Elliott: Five ‘Ridiculous’ Travel Rules That Should Be Abolished
Most Popular Travel Story
Iloho (this week)
Tote a Small Library to the Beach
* Note: Iloho is like Digg and Netscape, but exclusively travel.
German Travelers Urged to Pester ‘People in Authority’ Abroad About Human Rights
by Michael Yessis | 08.17.07 | 11:21 AM ET
Germans, as many travelers will attest, are everywhere. With their mandated multiple-week vacations and desire to see the world while sometimes wearing dark socks and open-toed footwear, they are among the world’s most avid travelers. And, according to the German government, that helps make them excellent candidates to “pester staff in foreign airports and hotels about human rights concerns.” German foreign ministry’s human rights envoy Günter Nooke said so this week, according to a Financial Times story by Hugh Williamson. Nooke had a lot of ideas for the estimated 44 million Germans who travel abroad each year.
New York’s JFK vs. Frankfurt Airport
by Jim Benning | 08.17.07 | 8:29 AM ET
Thomas Swick recently flew home from Europe, passing through Frankfurt airport and New York City’s John F. Kennedy International. According to Swick, they couldn’t have been more different. In Frankfurt’s airport, he encountered an inviting rustic tavern, walked among large windows looking out onto sun-lit planes and watched an international crowd of travelers passing Hermes, Boss and Swarovski and chatting in the Goethe Bar, near a statue of the writer. And it was only 7 a.m. “I had never seen such a wide-awake airport at such an early hour,” he writes. “It felt as if the world had left home.” And what of JFK, where Swick landed nine hours later?
Take a Vacation. It’s Presidential.
by Ben Keene | 08.16.07 | 10:19 AM ET
Love him or hate him, our commander-in-chief, George W. Bush, can teach Americans at least one lesson: how to vacation. With only a few weeks of summer remaining, President Bush, like many other world leaders, is trading the stress of executive office for some rest and relaxation. And he’s leaving the majority of U.S. citizens in his Texas dust. Actually, if a survey conducted by a global human resources firm is accurate, even the average Finn, Israeli or Lithuanian would have a hard time keeping up with his seven-year vacation-time total. Because whatever President Bush may lack in creativity—he’s taken 65 trips to Crawford, Texas since entering office—he more than makes up for in number. According to the Houston Chronicle, G.W.B. is well on his way to claiming the White House record for time off, rapidly closing in on the 436 days Reagan racked up during two terms.
