Travel Blog: Shrinking Planet
So Long, Vancouver 2010
by Eva Holland | 03.02.10 | 7:48 PM ET
The medals have all been handed out and the flame’s been extinguished. Monday saw Vancouver International Airport have its busiest day on record as 39,000 visitors left the host city for home. As for me, I won’t forget joining in the massive red-and-white street party that consumed downtown Vancouver anytime soon—I think my favorite moment had to be seeing a crowd of turbaned Indo-Canadian kids dancing to a bhangra beat to celebrate our victory in men’s hockey, creating their very own wonder of the shrinking planet.
The Big Picture has a top-notch pair of photo essays for your final Olympic Games fix. See you in London?
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Yahoo! BuzzFrom Beijing to Vancouver: A Very Different Olympics
by Eva Holland | 02.22.10 | 2:22 PM ET
REUTERS/Shaun Best It’s been nearly two years since I blogged from the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and—as I thought I might—I now find myself on the Olympic travel trail again, in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games. I’ll be honest: The two host cities couldn’t feel more different.
I stepped off the train from the airport and surfaced in downtown Vancouver this weekend, expecting, perhaps, to feel some uniquely Olympic vibe in the air, familiar to me from my brief time in Beijing. But the scene on Vancouver’s streets has almost nothing in common with the one I encountered two years ago. My memories of Beijing are all broad boulevards, empty except for uniformed Chinese volunteers offering directions to clusters of wandering foreigners, and subdued subway cars full of commuters. Vancouver, in contrast, is a non-stop maple-leaf-painted street party—flag-draped young people careen through the streets, impromptu break dancing circles pop up on corners, and buskers work the crowds. The brightly-dressed foreigners that I remember from Beijing are here, too, but they’re wildly outnumbered by the revelers in red and white.
I suppose there are plenty of economic reasons for the contrast. The 2008 Games probably weren’t as accessible to the average Chinese citizen as these Games are to most Vancouverites, while the expense and difficulty of visiting China could explain why the many young Olympics visitors here were absent in Beijing. (The local high school students I rode the bus home with last night, for instance, weren’t likely to make a transcontinental Olympic trek.) But economics aside, I still feel like there’s a fundamental difference at work: Beijing’s Games, to me, were clearly aimed outward, at the world, while Vancouver’s, so far, feel more like an essentially Canadian party to which everyone else has also been invited.
Video You Must See: Ice, Water and Steam in Iceland
by Eva Holland | 01.22.10 | 11:18 AM ET
Video You Must See: Summer Solstice on the Arctic Ocean
by Eva Holland | 01.15.10 | 10:29 AM ET
Video You Must See: At the Aquarium in Okinawa, Japan
by Eva Holland | 01.14.10 | 2:21 PM ET
Photo: Devastation After 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti
by World Hum | 01.13.10 | 3:01 PM ET
REUTERS/Ho New Homes destroyed on a hillside near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after yesterday’s devastating 7.0 earthquake. USA Today offers a range of ways to donate and help.
Photo You Must See: Ecuador’s Tungurahua Volcano
by World Hum | 01.12.10 | 11:00 AM ET
REUTERS/Carlos Campana Ash, gas and molten rock spew from the Tungurahua volcano south of Quito, Ecuador, yesterday.
Video You Must See: Parkour in Berlin
by Eva Holland | 01.11.10 | 3:45 PM ET
Photo You Must See: Catching Air in Calgary
by World Hum | 01.11.10 | 11:57 AM ET
REUTERS/Todd Korol Skier Nina Li of China soars above the Canadian flag while preparing for the women’s aerials portion of the Freestyle World Cup in Calgary, Canada.
Photo You Must See: Stonehenge in the Snow
by World Hum | 01.08.10 | 2:45 PM ET
REUTERS/Kieran Doherty Snow blankets Stonehenge, the ancient monument outside Salisbury, England.
Photo You Must See: Snowbound Britain by Satellite
by World Hum | 01.08.10 | 2:40 PM ET
Photo via NASA A satellite image shows a snow-covered Great Britain. The walloping has left thousands without power.
Photo You Must See: Moon Over the U.S. Capitol
by World Hum | 01.07.10 | 5:04 PM ET
REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang The three-quarter moon rises over the dome of the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Photo You Must See: Roll Cloud Over Uruguay
by World Hum | 01.06.10 | 3:46 PM ET
A rare roll cloud formed by an advancing storm front hangs above the beach in Maldonado, Uruguay.
Photo You Must See: Troop Train in China
by World Hum | 01.05.10 | 1:38 PM ET
REUTERS/Stringer Shanghai Paramilitary police recruits wave goodbye to family before leaving a railway station in Changzhi, China.
Video You Must See: People in Yosemite
by Eva Holland | 01.04.10 | 3:47 PM ET
(Via The Daily Dish)
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