Travel Blog: News and Briefs
R.I.P. Ted
by Michael Yessis | 06.05.08 | 10:31 AM ET
United will discontinue its low-cost airline, Ted, which launched in 2004. The move is part of a United-wide effort to offset rising fuel costs.
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Yahoo! BuzzOh, and the Airplanes Are Badly Designed, Too
by Eva Holland | 06.05.08 | 9:51 AM ET
Talk about piling on. As if the passengers, political bloggers, environmental psychologists and even pilots jumping on the “air travel is miserable” bandwagon weren’t enough, now the design critics are joining in, too. New York Times By Design blogger Allison Arieff has added her take on the design of the planes themselves.
U.S. to Require Visa-Free Travelers to Register Online
by Michael Yessis | 06.04.08 | 4:23 PM ET
Travelers from 27 countries, including Australia, Japan and England, will be required to register personal information three days before they arrive in the U.S., according to an announcement yesterday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The new rules will take effect by January 12, 2009.
What Does Obama’s Nomination Mean for American Travelers?
by Jim Benning | 06.04.08 | 1:34 PM ET
Photo by scragz via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
My hunch, based on anecdotes like this one: Overseas this summer, they’ll be greeted with lots of questions and—more importantly—greater enthusiasm. FishbowlDC showcases some of the global coverage of Obama’s win.
Would You Pay a $1 Tax on Travel to the Caribbean to Fund Disease Control?
by Michael Yessis | 06.04.08 | 1:17 PM ET
That’s what the editor of the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases proposes. Such a tax—“less than the cost of a single piña colada!”—would go toward fighting neglected tropical diseases, which are a “high burden” in the region.
Where’s the World’s Largest Restaurant?
by Jim Benning | 06.04.08 | 12:03 PM ET
In a suburb of Damascus, Syria, of all places. “The 6,012-seat Damascus Gate has taken the accolade from a Bangkok eatery serving a mere 5,000 diners,” the BBC reports. According to the article, the restaurant “has a huge open air area complete with pools, fountains and replicas of archaeological ruins for the summer, and separate themed areas for Chinese and Indian cuisine.”
P.J. O’Rourke at Chicago’s Field Museum
by Jim Benning | 06.04.08 | 11:36 AM ET
The Field Museum of Natural History, that is. He checked out the new permanent exhibit, “The Ancient Americas.” His take? “The savages and barbarians are the museum’s curators,” he writes in The Weekly Standard. “They plunder history, ravage archaeology, do violence to intelligence, and lay waste to wisdom, faith, and common sense.” (Via Arts & Letters Daily)
Photo by tacvbo via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Train Hopping: ‘Pure Unadulterated, Un-homogenized America’
by Eva Holland | 06.04.08 | 11:29 AM ET
From road tripping to hitchhiking to rolling on the river, there’s certainly no shortage of iconic American modes of travel to celebrate. There’s one old stand-by that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, though: the (almost) lost art of hopping freight trains. Shawn Lukitsch, train hopper, filmmaker and founder of the Hobo Film Festival, aims to change that.
Deanne Stillman’s ‘Mustang’
by Jim Benning | 06.03.08 | 6:07 PM ET
A quick congratulations to Deanne Stillman, whose new book, Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West, hits bookstores Monday. Last summer, we published an excerpt from the book, The Horse Spirits of Big Sky Country. “Mustang” has already earned critical praise from the likes of Tony Hillerman and Ian Frazier. Remarked Frazier: “Told with passion and skill, filled with drama and dust and fascinating facts, ‘Mustang’ is a worthy addition to the literature of the horse in the American West.” Stillman is also the author of Joshua Tree: Desolation Tango and Twenty Nine Palms.
Jalalabad’s Sweet Ice Cream Shop
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.03.08 | 11:33 AM ET
You never know when you might find yourself in eastern Afghanistan in need of a little ice cream. Try Pakiza in Jalalabad, which is lit up like a casino. NPR’s Ivan Watson recently sampled the handmade, cardamom-flavored ice cream, which comes plain and topped with a tangle of thick white noodles (an Afghan specialty called jalla). His verdict? “It melts fast, but for a sweet moment offers a much-needed escape from the Jalalabad heat.”
Photo by zoonie via Flickr (Creative Commons).
When Futuristic Vacation Villas Go Bad
by Joanna Kakissis | 06.03.08 | 10:29 AM ET
Taiwanese officials started building San-Zhr Pod Village in the 1960s, with every hope that it would turn out to be a hip place to visit or even live. It was supposed to be an ahead-of-its-time kind of development, with spaceship-like dwellings, an amusement park and a dam that protected it against sea surges. But the project turned out to be doomed from the start.
Back to the Garden: Woodstock Museum Opens Today
by Eva Holland | 06.02.08 | 4:14 PM ET
From time to time in high school, I used to throw my dad’s old vinyl copy of the Woodstock album (complete with crowd chants and warnings about the brown acid) on the record player, crank the volume, sit back and try to pretend that I, too, was at Max Yasgur’s farm (pictured) on a wet August weekend in 1969. Seems I’m not the only one keen to re-create the event. The Museum at Bethel Woods opens today on the site of the original concert in upstate New York, and it sounds groovy.
Airlines Will Never Charge $15 For This, Will They?
by Michael Yessis | 06.02.08 | 1:53 PM ET
Hilarious editorial cartoon by Steve Benson. I just hope it doesn’t give the airlines any more awful ideas.
When it Comes to Fragile Places, ‘Don’t Go’
by Jim Benning | 06.02.08 | 1:06 PM ET
Think Machu Picchu, the Galapagos, Palawan in the Philippines. Writes Dan Neil in the Los Angeles Times Magazine’s travel edition: “Travel conscientiously wherever—Paris, Bangkok, Banff—but when it comes to the most delicate and imperiled places, resist the urge to see them before they, or you, are gone. The fact is, most places in the world cannot withstand retail tourism.”
Universal Studios Hollywood to Open Today, Despite Fire
by Jim Benning | 06.02.08 | 12:42 PM ET
The popular theme park will open on time, officials said, despite a fire yesterday that destroyed part of the King Kong attraction and various back-lot film sets.
