Travel Blog: News and Briefs
American Travelers Embracing (Gasp!) Food Tourism
by Jim Benning | 02.28.07 | 1:20 PM ET
We all know Americans love their food, so it’s not surprising that food is playing a prominent role in their travels these days. Nevertheless, a new study confirms it, finding that 27 million Americans have recently made culinary experiences—including wine tours and cooking classes—a part of their holidays. Barry Glassner, author of the new book “Gospel of Food” (as well as the excellent “The Culture of Fear”) isn’t surprised. “We define ourselves by how we eat,” he told the AP. “We show others and we show ourselves what kind of people we are by how adventurous we are about food.” So where are Americans going for culinary tourism? Among U.S. states, California leads the way, followed by Florida and New York.
Related on World Hum:
* How To: Dig Dim Sum in Hong Kong
* The Pasta Nazi
* Confessions of a Chicken Man
Photo by Jim Benning.
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Yahoo! BuzzThe New Hot Job in India: Flight Attendant
by Michael Yessis | 02.27.07 | 7:21 AM ET
The country’s travel industry is growing so fast—50 percent last year, according to the Indian government—that Indians are clamoring to pursue careers in aviation. Indian women, in particular, are beneficiaries of the boom. “Until recently, many Indian families would have frowned on the idea of a young woman dressing in a short skirt and serving strangers on a plane,” Somini Sengupta writes in the New York Times. “But a rapidly expanding economy has helped to transform the ambitions, habits and incomes of India’s middle class in ways that would have been unimaginable just a generation ago, not least for young women.”
Related on World Hum:
* The Not-So-Glamorous Life of a Flight Attendant
* Singapore Girl: Icon, Anachronism, Winged Geisha and Pretty Young Thing
* Who Wears the Pants on Alitalia Flights?
* The Return of the Stews
Alex Espinoza: A Return to Michoacán
by Michael Yessis | 02.26.07 | 8:46 AM ET
The youngest of 11 children, Alex Espinoza never felt the same connection as the rest of his brothers and sisters to his family’s native Mexico. They mostly grew up in a village called El Ojo de Agua in Michoacán; he was raised riding his BMX bike, watching cable TV and collecting “Star Wars” action figures in Los Angeles. “Their connection to Mexico was close, deep and also painful, something I simply could not grasp,” he writes about his family in a terrific Lives essay in the New York Times Magazine. “Growing up, I felt no ties to El Ojo de Agua. I traveled into Mexico with my family as a child a few times, but I felt disconnected and uninterested during those trips—and was always eager to return to my American life.” Recently, however, he returned to El Ojo de Agua with his mother to see if he could connect with a place that, over the years, had become “mythic” in his mind.
More Travels With Conan O’Brien
by Ben Keene | 02.26.07 | 8:12 AM ET
Travel certainly has its comedic moments, and yes, remembering to bring your sense of humor when visiting another city, state or country is almost always a good idea, but few people intentionally set out on a trip in search of slapstick. Not so with Conan O’Brien.
Full-Body X-Ray Security Scanner Debuts
by Michael Yessis | 02.26.07 | 7:48 AM ET
Initial reports out of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, where a full-body X-ray machine (read: one that can see through clothes) was unveiled Friday, reveal that air travelers seem willing to give up some of their privacy in favor of improved security. “Most passengers asked to submit to a full-body X-ray at Security Checkpoint B didn’t bat an eyelash,” writes Faye Bowers in the Christian Science Monitor. “Nine in 10 gamely stepped up to a scanner about the size of a vending machine, placed their feet on the red footprints painted on the carpet, and raised their arms.”
Heading to Canada? You Better Have a Clean Record.
by Jim Benning | 02.23.07 | 12:31 PM ET
That’s because Canadian immigration officials have been turning away U.S. citizens with even minor criminal records, including a California man on a ski trip to Whistler who had been convicted of marijuana possession—in 1975. “Welcome to the new world of border security,” writes C.W. Nevius in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. “Unsuspecting Americans are turning up at the Canadian border expecting clear sailing, only to find that their past—sometimes their distant past—is suddenly an issue. While Canada officially has barred travelers convicted of criminal offenses for years, attorneys say post-9/11 information-gathering, combined with a sweeping agreement between Canada and the United States to share data, has resulted in a spike in phone calls from concerned travelers. They are shocked to hear that the sins of their youth might keep them out of Canada. But what they don’t know is that this is just the beginning. Soon other nations will be able to look into your past when you want to travel there.” Creepy.
National Geographic Introduces ‘Talk Abroad’ Travel Cell Phone
by Jim Benning | 02.22.07 | 1:32 PM ET
Using a cell phone overseas has always been an expensive proposition, and that’s if you get service. But National Geographic, in partnership with Cellular Abroad, is about to release what it’s touting as an inexpensive solution for travelers that will work in more than 100 countries, from Aruba to Yemen: the National Geographic Talk Abroad Travel Phone. Coming in March, the $199 GMS phone will require no contracts. Instead, it will come with 30 minutes of free outgoing calls. Users then pre-purchase time at a rate that starts at $29 for 30 minutes. Incoming calls will be free and unlimited in 65 countries. CNET, among others, has coverage.
Oscar Travel: From Malibu to Iwo Jima
by Michael Yessis | 02.22.07 | 8:35 AM ET
Harry Medved and Bruce Akiyama don’t seem to be interested in the creepy type of Oscar tourism. In advance of this weekend’s Academy Awards, the duo put together a travel story for MSN highlighting U.S. destinations where five Oscar-nominated movies were filmed, including “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Letters From Iwo Jima.” The latter flick was filmed at the same California beach where “Gidget” and “Point Break” were filmed: Leo Carrillo State Beach. Just how convincing was the California beach as a stand-in for Iwo Jima? Medved and Akiyama wanted to find that out, so in their second Oscar travel tie-in of the week they launched a poll at Fandango to determine which American city best portrayed another location in this year’s Oscar-nominated films.
Paulina Porizkova Goes ‘Dancing With the Stars’
by Michael Yessis | 02.22.07 | 8:08 AM ET
Globetrotting supermodel turned travel writer and novelist Paulina Porizkova will participate in the upcoming edition of Dancing With the Stars. She’s also a recent World Hum interviewee, and if she’s as candid on the show as she was speaking with us, it could make for some terrific television.
Introducing Xuani, Tijuana’s New (Sigh) Tourism Mascot
by Jim Benning | 02.21.07 | 1:53 PM ET
You have to feel for Tijuana tourism officials. The Mexican border city is plagued by murders and drug trafficking. And what of the city’s police force? Officers recently had their guns taken away from them by federal officials investigating organized crime. Yes, visiting Tijuana is a tough sell these days, especially for families on holiday in San Diego. But Tijuana officials think they’ve come up with a way to spit-shine the city’s image: a mascot. Meet Xuani, a cuddly costumed character representing a mix of Mexico’s native Indians. With his bright smile and fuzzy red-and-hello hat, Xuani will stroll along touristy Revolution Avenue, past the sad painted zebras and strip clubs, and, as the San Diego Union-Tribune put it in paraphrasing one official, “provide a more positive representation of the city’s offerings.”
On the ‘Red Sauce Trail’ in Italy
by Sarah Schmelling | 02.21.07 | 1:02 PM ET
We’ve read a lot of great culinary travel tales, but this one in today’s New York Times takes the, well, sauce. Kim Severson recently became obsessed with tracking the source, or at least the ancestry, of her mother’s beloved spaghetti sauce. It’s a sauce that she’s been eating—and trying to measure up to in her own kitchen—her whole life. Her quest led her to the Italian village of Ateleta, where her maternal grandmother grew up and where she’s told she’s “luckier than Madonna” because, unlike the pop star, she was able to find distant Italian relatives—and perhaps the key to unlocking her own personal “spaghetti code.”
JetBlue Unveils ‘Customer Bill of Rights’
by Michael Yessis | 02.21.07 | 8:23 AM ET
Days after saying he was humiliated and mortified by JetBlue’s disastrous series of flight cancellations and stranded passengers, CEO David Neeleman has announced a Customer Bill of Rights. In a video posted on YouTube, Neeleman promises that, under his watch, such a meltdown will never be repeated.
On a Flight, ‘I’m Blissfully, Hermetically Out of Reach’
by Jim Benning | 02.20.07 | 1:52 PM ET
Air travel is getting some terrible press these days, but flying isn’t all bad, especially when your plane actually takes off with you on it. Writes Michael Shapiro in an essay in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle: “On the surface, spending hours in the middle of a cramped, poorly ventilated, germ-circulating metal cylinder has little appeal. But after boxing out my fellow passengers to secure some carry-on space, I shoehorn into my window seat and a sublime sense of relaxation slides over me. For the next six hours (if I’m flying across the country), no one can touch me. I can’t be reached via cell phone (and thankfully no one else can either), nor can I be pinged by e-mail (on most flights). I’m blissfully, hermetically out of reach, a feeling I used to have traveling to the remote corners of the globe.”
Let Us Now Behold the Stranded Passenger
by Jim Benning | 02.20.07 | 1:15 PM ET
Thanks to JetBlue, it’s suddenly hip to be left stranded by an airline—or at least newsworthy. USA Today rolled out a front page story today about 110 United Express passengers left stranded in Wyoming just before Christmas as a result of bad weather. Their planes actually left without them, bound for better climes. According to the story, “Some in the airport cried as they were left behind.” That’s not to say that being stranded is always an unhappy experience. What if you’re one of 90 employees of a California landscaping company on a business trip to Bermuda when JetBlue leaves you stranded there for days? The company’s chief financial officer wasn’t happy about it, but even he admitted, “The bright spot is that we were stranded in Bermuda and not at Terminal 6 at JFK.” Too true.
Related on World Hum:
* JetBlue Founder is ‘Humiliated and Mortified’
* JetBlue ‘Hostage Crisis’: The Blog
* JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
Photo by Ingorrr, via flickr. Rights: Creative Commons.
The $300 Million Private Jet (Whirlpool Not Included)
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.07 | 9:30 AM ET
An individual buyer has signed a letter of intent to purchase an Airbus A380 for private use, according to the Wall Street Journal. The world’s largest commercial plane can be configured to carry 853 passengers, or, if you’re an unnamed Middle Eastern head of state who wants it for his own personal use, it can contain two dining areas, a 600-plus-square-foot master bedroom, a whirlpool tub, a missile-defense system and other amenities. The extra cost: up to $150 million.
