Travel Blog: News and Briefs
Elliott: Five ‘Ridiculous’ Travel Rules That Should Be Abolished
by Jim Benning | 08.15.07 | 1:00 PM ET
Consumer travel columnist Christopher Elliott has identified five travel rules that he says “make no sense whatsoever” and should be done away with. For starters, he thinks airlines should stop barring travelers from changing the name on an airline ticket they purchased, so they can transfer that ticket to someone else if, say, a relationship goes south before a trip. “Well, air carriers disingenuously claim that they prohibit name changes because they’re worried about security and potential fraud,” he writes. “But what they won’t tell you is they’re also worried about their earnings.”
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Yahoo! BuzzOutside Magazine Returns ‘Into the Wild’
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.07 | 10:25 AM ET
Based on Outside’s coverage of Sean Penn’s upcoming film adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” I’m upgrading my hopes about its quality. Christopher Keyes visited the set and compiled an oral history of the making of the movie for the September issue. He reveals that Penn has the support of the family of the movie’s subject, Christopher McCandless, and was apparently meticulous with the details of the story.
Peru, Chile Clash Over New Map’s Borders
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.07 | 10:19 AM ET
Anyone else got an issue with Chile’s borders? Last year we noted that Argentina produced a tourist map claiming a disputed area with Chile. Now Peru has published a map in its official newspaper, El Peruano, that encroaches on what Chile believes is its “fishing-rich portion of the Pacific Ocean,” reports the AP. The dispute, according to the story, stems “from a war fought more than 120 years ago.” That would be the War of the Pacific, in which Chile captured, among other things, Bolivia’s former coastline. It’s becoming a big issue. Chile has already summoned its ambassador from Peru, and Peru has plans to bring the issue to The Hague’s International Court of Justice.
New Discoveries at Cambodia’s Angkor
by Jim Benning | 08.14.07 | 12:14 PM ET
An international team of scientists using NASA satellite images, among other tools, has determined that the medieval city of Angkor was at least three times larger than previously thought—about the size of present-day Los Angeles.
Road Deaths Will be World’s No. 2 Killer of Men by 2030
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.07 | 12:10 PM ET
That scary prediction comes from Tony Bliss, lead road safety specialist for the World Bank, via a USA Today story by Gary Stoller that offers a thorough look at the dangers of foreign roads. For U.S. travelers, road deaths already top the list of killers among both sexes. “Motor vehicle crashes—not crime or terrorism—are the No. 1 killer of healthy Americans in foreign countries,” he writes. “And the threat to travelers is poised to increase dramatically as worldwide economic growth gives more people access to motor vehicles.”
30 Years After Elvis’s Death, Graceland Set For $250 Million Makeover
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.07 | 11:26 AM ET
Or, as the groan-inducing headline in the Los Angeles Times reads, Graceland About to Get All Shook Up. According to the AP, CKX Inc., the company that controls Elvis Presley’s name and image as well as Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, plans a new visitors center, a convention hotel and a museum with high-tech displays. “As great as it is,” CKX Chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman said of Graceland, “it can be so much better.” The project will take approximately three years.
The Return of the Sea Chantey
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.07 | 10:31 AM ET
A Bicycle Ride Around Bagan, Burma
by Jim Benning | 08.13.07 | 3:45 PM ET
Photo by worak via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
We noted a story in the Los Angeles Times news section last year examining the Myanmar government’s ill-conceived, theme park-like development among the historic temples in the ancient city of Bagan. On Sunday, the Times covered the story from a traveler’s standpoint. Joe Robinson visited Bagan, exploring the temples on a rented girl’s bicycle with a leopard-print seat.
Three Travel Tips: Stay Healthy When You Fly
by Jim Benning | 08.13.07 | 2:03 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) Take an early flight to minimize your risk of a delay. “[G]round delays are especially risky. That’s because pilots aren’t required to turn on the air supply until the plane is airborne. ‘As a result, everybody is basically recycling everybody else’s air,’ says Vance Fowler, M.D., assistant professor of infectious disease at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. A dramatic example of how rapidly illness can spread during a ground delay occurred in 1979, when a planeload of passengers in Homer, Alaska, was kept waiting for three hours. Almost 75 percent caught the flu, most likely from just one person.”—Self magazine
‘Galactic Suite’ Space Hotel Planned for Earth Orbit
by Michael Yessis | 08.13.07 | 11:56 AM ET
Not just any hotel. A boutique, pod hotel, according to Galactic Suite Limited director Xavier Claramunt. The “pod structure, which makes it look like a model of molecules, was dictated by the fact that each pod room had to fit inside a rocket to be taken into space,” writes Pascale Harter in a Reuters story. Galactic Suite says guests will use Velcro suits that stick to the walls in order to move through the hotel. For the privilege, it plans to charge $4 million for a three-day stay, as well as “eight weeks of intensive training at a James Bond-style space camp on a tropical island,” Harter writes. I’m not quite sure what a James Bond-style space camp might involve (Gadgets? Martinis? Leggy women with punny names?), but I have a feeling the training session could be more fun than spending three days cramped in a pod, wearing a Velcro suit.
Highway Signs and the ‘Corporate Identity of a Country’
by Michael Yessis | 08.13.07 | 10:55 AM ET
Of course we all want highway signs to be easy to read, and thanks to the efforts of Don Meeker and James Montalbano, two designers profiled in a terrific New York Times Magazine story, that may soon be the case throughout the United States. The duo developed a font called Clearview, which, writes Joshua Yaffa, “is poised to replace Highway Gothic, the standard that has been used on signs across the country for more than a half-century.” Clearview will allow drivers to read signs a few seconds earlier, particularly at night, which can make all the difference safety-wise. At the same time, the change of font will have an enormous effect on the image of the United States.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Less Money, More Adventure
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.07 | 2:54 PM ET
Lisbon, Portugal (pictured) and the rest of Europe are top of mind this week—particularly Europe on the cheap. The Big Apple, the debut of Virgin America and the Island of Tiki round out the Zeitgiest. Have a look.
“Hot This Week” Destination
Yahoo! (this week)
Lisbon, Portugal
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
10 Ways to Keep Europe Within Reach
* We’ve unearthed some fine tips, too.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
10 Ways to Keep Europe Within Reach
Most Popular Travel Podcast
iTunes (current)
Beautiful Places with Tony Farley
* This week: North Dome
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
James Teitelbaum: Escape to the Isle of Tiki
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
New York Shopping: The Best of the Big Apple
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
How I Scored a New U.S. Passport in One Day
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
Virgin America Returns the Frills to Flying
‘Egypt Hearts Becks’: Notes from David Beckham’s MLS Debut
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.07 | 1:31 PM ET
Photos by Michael Yessis.
I’ve attended a German Bundesliga game in Hamburg, a Japanese J-League game in Osaka and a Mexico-Argentina friendly in Los Angeles, which, during 90 minutes of “Si se puede” chants, could have passed for Mexico. The atmosphere at last night’s D.C. United-Los Angeles Galaxy match in Washington D.C.—the Major League Soccer debut of David Beckham—was equal to any of those games in electricity, sometimes greater. The three Brits sitting in front of us said it exceeded the atmosphere at most Premiership matches in England, where Beckham first made his name and gave birth to his global cult.
NPR Series Chronicles ‘Changes in Air Travel’
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.07 | 10:03 AM ET
The first week of National Public Radio’s “Changes in Air Travel” series finishes up today with a story about how low-cost carriers stimulate local economies and travel in general. It’s a wide-ranging, in-depth project, with state-of-the-state pieces on security, delays and overcrowding in the skies.
Related on World Hum:
* The Summer of Our Air Travel Discontent?*
* In-Flight Internet Likely Coming Next Year
Latest Reason to Stow Your Tray Table: Ads
by Jim Benning | 08.09.07 | 2:40 PM ET
US Airways, the airline that brought you advertisements on barf bags, is at it again, adding advertising to some of its first class tray tables. The airline is following the lead of America West—the two airlines merged in 2005—which began experimenting with tray table advertising as early as 2004. The phenomenon is still fresh enough that Entrepreneur magazine recently named airline tray tables one of five new places to advertise: “Imagine having hours of a consumer’s rapt attention. It’s just your ad and their eyes; they can’t leave, and they can’t use their phone.” A New York Sun story suggests other airlines could follow suit depending on passenger response. Not surprisingly, the ads are getting mixed reviews, not unlike the ads on airport security bins.
Related on World Hum:
* US Airways to Sell Ad Space on Barf Bags
* Who’s ‘the Official Corporate Sponsor of Airport Paranoia’?
Photo by justin via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
