Travel Blog: News and Briefs
How Pure Are New Zealand’s ‘100% Pure’ Ads?
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.07 | 9:09 AM ET
Less than 100%, say some critics. Why? “One advertisement shows an idyllic scene of two kayakers with dolphins swimming around their canoes,” reports TVNZ. “But the image is not a single photo. Instead it is a digital adjustment which blends two different photos—one of dolphins and the other of kayakers—together.” Tourism New Zealand spokesperson George Hickton defends the image as representative of what goes on in the country every day, “and therefore it’s a 100% pure New Zealand experience.” Hmmm. It’s not as misleading as the recent Nepal-Peru mix-up, but when you’re promoting your country as 100% pure you might want to avoid doctoring photos. Via Jaunted.
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Yahoo! BuzzJetBlue Founder is ‘Humiliated and Mortified’
by Jim Benning | 02.19.07 | 1:57 PM ET
What’s the airline executive equivalent of the celebrity apology/mea culpa/trip to rehab after committing a major faux pas? Witness JetBlue chief executive David Neeleman attempt to regain his airline’s A-list reputation after a disastrous week of flight cancellations and stranded passengers—or hostages, depending on your perspective. On Sunday, he told the International Herald Tribune he was “humiliated and mortified” by the airline’s problems. He blamed the troubles on faulty communications and reservations systems. And he vowed to reveal a plan on Tuesday for the airline’s full recovery. We like it. Good luck, Mr. Neeleman. But you know, you had us at “humiliated.”
JetBlue ‘Hostage Crisis’: The Blog
by Jim Benning | 02.16.07 | 4:57 PM ET
It was only a matter of time: JetBlueHostage.com. This is one story that’s got legs—or should we say wings? (Via Jaunted.)
Related on World Hum:
* JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Bali, Bargains and Jet Blues
by Michael Yessis | 02.16.07 | 9:20 AM ET
The Silk Road, Mexican beach towns, Chiang Mai and those poor passengers stuck on the tarmac at JFK were on travelers’ minds this week. Here’s the Zeitgeist:
World’s Best Travel Value: Island
Travel + Leisure Readers’ Poll (March 2007 issue)
Bali, Indonesia
* The rest of the top five: Phuket, Thailand; Ko Samui, Thailand; Langkawi, Malaysia; and Borneo.
World’s Best Travel Value: City
Travel + Leisure Readers’ Poll (March 2007 issue)
Chiang Mai, Thailand
* The rest of the top five: Kathmandu; Mendoza, Argentina; Hanoi; and Bangkok.
Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Armrest Seating, Anyone?
* Perhaps those stranded JetBlue passengers can relate.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Viewing Two Chinas From a Stop on the Silk Road
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Check Out Under-the-Radar Mexican Cities and Beach Towns
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Mobissimo
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
* It makes this seem not so far fetched.
Supersonic Passenger Jets Poised for a Comeback
by Michael Yessis | 02.15.07 | 9:00 AM ET
What would William Shurcliff think? Two U.S. companies—Aerion and Supersonic Aerospace International—are making plans to bring back supersonic passenger jets by 2012 and 2013 respectively. If they succeed, they’ll be the first commercial supersonic carriers since the Concorde’s last gasp in 2003.
JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
by Michael Yessis | 02.15.07 | 8:47 AM ET
Who can relate to the passengers on JetBlue flights who were stuck on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport for as long as nine hours yesterday? Perhaps the passengers who recently were stuck for more than eight hours in Austin, Texas with malfunctioning toilets and no food. If this effort to support a passengers’ bill of rights gains traction—and it looks like some members of Congress are behind it—perhaps these incidents will become a thing of the past.
Flying With Pets
by Jim Benning | 02.14.07 | 5:36 PM ET
The Associated Press offers a list of tips and regulations. Among them: “Fees vary. JetBlue charges $50 for a pet to fly in the cabin; Continental, $95, American and Northwest, $80. It’s free on USAir Shuttle and Delta Shuttle.”
Chocolate Travels, From Hotel Hershey to the Boston Chocolate Tour
by Jim Benning | 02.14.07 | 3:12 PM ET
We think every day is a good day to eat chocolate, or write about eating chocolate, for that matter. But Valentine’s Day seems a particularly good excuse to point out this story highlighting chocolate-related hotels and attractions around the United States. It turns out that chocolate lovers can find all kinds of creative ways to indulge during their travels. Among the most intriguing: the Boston Chocolate Tour, which concludes with “the Langham Hotel’s infamous chocolate bar, with such innovative concoctions as create-your-own crepes, chocolate ‘sushi,’ and chocolate croissant bread pudding.”
The Highs and Lows of Traveling on iTunes
by Jim Benning | 02.13.07 | 6:35 PM ET
Our Vote for Best Dressed at Last Night’s Grammy Awards
by Jim Benning | 02.12.07 | 7:38 AM ET
Gnarls Barkley, who performed in full airline pilot attire, complete with captain’s hat and shades. Does that make them crazy? No way.
Are Cheap Airline Flights a Blessing or a Horror? Or Both?
by Michael Yessis | 02.12.07 | 7:04 AM ET
As former Lonely Planet global travel editor Don George pointed out in a recent interview with World Hum, the travel equation is getting very complicated. When asked how he sees travel changing, George replied, “When you think about the effects of airplane pollution, for example, it becomes a more complicated equation—the good you do as a traveler and the harm you do.” At World Hum, we’ve been tracking the environmental impact of travel since the site began almost six years ago. In that time I can’t remember a more sobering breakdown of the travel equation, as George put it, than the one in the latest edition of the Christian Science Monitor.
Who’s ‘the Official Corporate Sponsor of Airport Paranoia’?
by Michael Yessis | 02.12.07 | 6:42 AM ET
That would be Rolodex, according to Up in the Air author Walter Kirn. While traveling through Los Angeles International Airport recently, Kirn came across the same bin-bottom advertisement at the security checkpoint that I did a few months ago. “The ad bewildered me for a couple of reasons,” he writes in the New York Times Magazine. “First, I didn’t expect to see it there (even though, by now, I should have, since researchers estimate that the average city dweller is exposed to 5,000 ads per day, up from 2,000 per day three decades ago). The second and greater mystery, however, was why a major company would want me to associate its product with the experience of being searched.” Precisely.
Related on World Hum:
* US Airways to Sell Ad Space on Barf Bags
Should Travel Writers Discourage Flying to Reduce Global Warming?
by Jim Benning | 02.08.07 | 1:36 PM ET
Or do the benefits of world travel—namely greater understanding across cultures—outweigh the damage air travel causes to the environment? A number of writers have been debating the issue in an interesting thread on Travelwriters.com. Wrote “Petra” to kick off the discussion: “I myself, being based in Britain, have decided that I will write about travel in the UK from now on (and believe me - I enjoy overseas travel). I know that rail and automobile travel within our shores will add to the problem, but not to the extent that air travel does. How do you, as travel writers, salve your conscience with regard to the effect air travel will have on global warming?”
Related on World Hum:
* Scientists Unveil ‘Silent, Energy-Efficient Plane’
* Can Slow Travel Save the Planet?
* Airplanes and Climate Change: The Guardian’s Week-Long Debate
Oscars Tourism Tips, or How to Stalk Celebrities Like the Paparazzi
by Jim Benning | 02.07.07 | 1:40 PM ET
Yes, apparently there is such a thing as “Oscars tourism.” Here’s but one bit of creepy advice—um, I mean a savvy insider tip—from an Associated Press story about how to plan a trip to Hollywood for the Academy Awards and spot celebrities: “Wander around. Don’t look like a tourist, but bring a camera. Stars could be lurking around any corner. Even hanging out in the valet line has its perks. Waiting for my sister-in-law and her husband to join us for drinks, we saw rapper Tyrese stroll by and actress Finola Hughes gave us a wave and a smile. Hardly an A-list spotting, but it was a start.”
As President George W. Bush’s Popularity Sinks, Tourism Takes a Hit in Crawford, Texas
by Michael Yessis | 02.07.07 | 11:55 AM ET
Two summers ago, during the height of Cindy Sheehan’s anti-war protests near President George W. Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch, I took an impromptu detour off I-35 on the way to Dallas and drove into town. Only 700 or so people live in Crawford, and there’s not much to it beyond a few dusty buildings, but with all the protesters (including protesters protesting the protesters), TV news crews, souvenir shoppers and curiosity seekers like me, it took some time to pass through. Crawford was buzzing unlike any small town I’ve ever seen. It turns out that the town once had a thriving little tourism business built around its connection to the president. But now, according to an AP story by Angela K. Brown, Crawford is struggling.
