Travel Blog
A Western Woman in Saudi Arabia: ‘The Rules Are Different Here’
by Julia Ross | 06.06.07 | 4:12 PM ET
As a woman, I relish the freedom of traveling alone but admit there are times and places where gender matters. Just last week, on my first trip to Vietnam, I found myself fending off aggressive touts and motorcycle taxis on every street corner in Hanoi while male tourists walked by unnoticed. An annoyance, but nothing on par with Los Angeles Times reporter Megan Stack’s experiences in Saudi Arabia. In a riveting story, Stack recounts, in very personal terms, the rising anger she felt at being treated as a “lesser being” during four years of covering the kingdom as the paper’s Cairo bureau chief.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzLonely Planet Writer Missing in Tibet
by Jim Benning | 06.06.07 | 1:42 PM ET
According to various reports, including this post on Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree, 47-year-old Australian travel writer Clem Lindenmayer was expected back from a six-day solo backpacking trip in eastern Tibet nearly a month ago. He was last known to be trekking near Minya Konka mountain, which one Hong Kong-based magazine editor has called a “cutting-edge destination” attracting travelers “put off by the circus revolving around places like Mount Everest.” Lindenmayer is an experienced traveler. He speaks several languages, including Mandarin. His last book for Lonely Planet was Trekking in the Patagonian Andes, published in 2003.
‘Accent Reduction’ 101, or How to Speak American
by Terry Ward | 06.06.07 | 12:24 PM ET
If this test is any indication, I have a neutral American accent. And further confirmation that my intonation is fairly middle-of-the-road comes when I travel abroad and locals tell me they find my particular version of American English easy to understand. My boyfriend’s experiences, however, have been different. During our recent stint in France, Chris, who is Florida born and bred, had a hard time making himself understood to the French people we encountered who spoke decent English.
Tokyo: ‘Where Yesterday’s Tomorrow is Constantly Being Replaced’
by Michael Yessis | 06.06.07 | 10:48 AM ET
Photo of the Nakagin Capsule Tower by dodeckahedron via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
What will the future look like? See: Tokyo. It’s “the world’s most fascinating, fast-changing, future-friendly city,” writes Momus in a “Culture Review” for Wired. Japan’s capital, Momus believes, has become a laboratory for multiple potential futures as seen through the inventiveness and near-constant churn of architecture.
Bookstore Tourism’s Portzline Jams With the Rock Bottom Remainders
by Michael Yessis | 06.06.07 | 10:44 AM ET
We learned a lot about Bookstore Tourism founder Larry Portzline in our Q&A. We didn’t learn, though, that he rocks. At BookExpo in New York last week, Portzline jammed with Dave Barry, Frank McCourt, Amy Tan and the many other literary all-stars in the band the Rock Bottom Remainders. “It was truly bizarre and amazing,” he wrote me in an e-mail. “Plus it was surprising to hear how well these guys play. In strictly bar-band terms, they’re actually good!”
Out: Bad Hotel-Room Coffee. In: Gourmet Joe.
by Terry Ward | 06.05.07 | 4:37 PM ET
When checking in to my room at the Jury’s Inn in Limerick, Ireland recently, I noticed a coffee trolley labeled “Il Barista” in the lobby. It was adjacent to the reception desk and had a sleek espresso machine and mini-pastries. Mind you, there was no warm-blooded barista in sight. But my hotel, it seems, was latching on to an emerging trend. USA Today’s Roger Yu reports that access to quality coffee both inside guest rooms and in public hotel spaces is increasingly common.
Nicolas Bouvier: ‘Switzerland’s Answer to Jack Kerouac’
by Jim Benning | 06.05.07 | 1:53 PM ET
That’s some high praise, and it’s Rory MacLean’s take on the Swiss writer who died in 1998. An English translation of Bouvier’s book “The Way of the World,” about the 19 months the author spent traveling through Europe and Asia with a friend in a Fiat in the 1950s, has just been published in the UK.
What’s That Hotel Odor? It’s the Sweet Scent of ‘Unattended Service.’
by Jim Benning | 06.05.07 | 12:40 PM ET
Rudyard Kipling famously remarked, “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” Branding experts hope the same can be applied to hotels—and, more importantly, guests’ memories of their stays in hotels. Early last year, we noted Westin’s efforts to establish a memorable scent reflecting its brand, highlighted by its advertising campaign: “White tea. The calming new scent of Westin.” Now the publication Hotel & Motel Management, which I always start my day with, reports that other hotel chains, from Marriott to Park Hyatt, are spritzing their own branded scents. Sadly, there’s no indication that their approach includes the handy Vend-A-Scent machine pictured here.
Inside Raśl’s Cuba: ‘Es Exactamente Igual’
by Michael Yessis | 06.05.07 | 12:10 PM ET
Tenuta de Castelfalfi: Will the Tuscan Village Go the Way of Shangri-La?
by Michael Yessis | 06.05.07 | 10:41 AM ET
The besieged faux Shangri-La, that is. German tour operator TUI has purchased the Tuscan village of Tenuta de Castelfalfi—four square miles of land with a golf course and “scores of elegantly crumbling villas,” according to the Guardian—for €250 million. TUI plans to turn the village into an Italian retreat for up to 3,200 German tourists by 2009. The Guardian’s Kate Connolly writes that it’s a move that would “make the Tuscany-loving author EM Forster turn in his grave.”
Shangri-La: It’s Real, and It’s a Successful Marketing Ploy
by Michael Yessis | 06.05.07 | 8:03 AM ET
Perhaps too successful. Five years ago the Chinese town of Zhongdian renamed itself Shangri-La, claiming that the town was the basis for the Shangri-La described in James Hilton’s 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.” “Evidence is sketchy,” we wrote back then, “but no matter.” They moved forward with their plan and now Shangri-La has become besieged by tourists. Whether that’s good or not depends on your perspective.
Tiananmen Square, 18 Years After the Massacre*
by Jim Benning | 06.04.07 | 5:35 PM ET
When I walked up a stairway into Tiananmen Square during a trip to China several years ago, the first thing to pop into my mind was the massacre. Tiananmen, of course, is synonymous with the government crackdown that left hundreds of demonstrators—or possibly more; facts are in dispute—dead 18 years ago today. But visiting Tiananmen is different from visiting other sites known for atrocities. Unlike Dachau or the Killing Fields, which have memorials marking the events, there’s no monument or public acknowledgment in Tiananmen that the massacre even happened.
Is Summer Now the ‘Vacation Deprivation’ Season?
by Michael Yessis | 06.04.07 | 5:32 PM ET
For U.S. citizens, it seems, but not Europeans. While most of our overseas counterparts get at least 20 guaranteed vacation days each year, and while Italian lawmakers are proposing to add seven new holidays to the country’s slate, Americans seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Last month the Center for Economic and Policy Research released its No-Vacation Nation report, which reveals that the U.S. is “the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation.” Those that do have vacation time aren’t taking it all, or are taking working vacations.
Even Darth Vader Needs to Remove His Boots at Airport Security
by Michael Yessis | 06.04.07 | 1:20 PM ET
And, just like us, Yoda hauls his own baggage. I’ve learned these bits of trivia from some posters now on display exclusively at Orlando International Airport—and seen at StarWars.com.
Mexico to (Miss) U.S.A.: Boooooo
by Jim Benning | 06.04.07 | 12:21 PM ET
I’ve always found Mexicans to be friendly and hospitable on my trips south of the border. Sure, Mexicans often gripe about U.S. government policies—who doesn’t?—but like most people around the world, they can differentiate between individual travelers and their government. But Miss U.S.A. is not your typical traveler. Mexicans at the Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City last week apparently directed their anger and frustration over U.S. government policies at one exceedingly well-quaffed, strutting Rachel Smith, otherwise known as Miss U.S.A.
