Travel Blog
From London to Ulaanbaatar—in an Ice Cream Truck
by Terry Ward | 07.24.07 | 2:22 PM ET
Driving from Western Europe to anywhere in Asia has always been a dream of mine. I have a German friend who set off in her Audi for China, and a Swiss friend who hit the road for Iran in an aging Mercedes. But traveling in a working ice cream truck from London to Ulaanbaatar as one group of three intrepid travelers is attempting to do, takes the, well, cake.
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Yahoo! BuzzConfucius: More Popular Than Harry Potter?
by Michael Yessis | 07.24.07 | 12:55 PM ET
Looks like he is in China, and it’s not because the country somehow missed the boy wizard’s bandwagon. We posted recently that a self-help book based on the teachings of Confucius, “Notes on Reading the Analects” by Yu Dan, topped the nation’s best-seller list. Today the Washington Post weighs in with a wider-ranging story about the popularity of Confucianism in China, which notes that “Analects” sold more than double the copies of the country’s next best-selling book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza Festival a Tourism Bust
by Jim Benning | 07.24.07 | 12:32 PM ET
The tourism woes continue in Oaxaca, Mexico. The annual Guelaguetza folk festival usually draws more tourists than any other event in the southern city, but this year’s celebration, held Monday, was apparently a tourism bust. Hotels often fill, but this year occupancy was at only about 38 percent, according to the Los Angeles Times. “A year ago, protests forced the cancellation of Guelaguetza,” the Times reports. “This month, a new round of violent demonstrations over the rule of Oaxaca state Gov. Ulises Ruiz led to hundreds of cancellations and delivered a ‘death blow’ to the tourist industry, local business groups said.” The low tourist numbers recall Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead festivities last fall. That celebration is usually a big hit with visitors, too, but as we noted, last year, the place was, uh, dead.
Photo by stevecadman via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
The U.S. Taxicab Capital is…Bethel, Alaska?
by Michael Yessis | 07.24.07 | 10:23 AM ET
Likely so. Bethel, a city of 5,900 located about 400 miles west of Anchorage, has one cab for every 84 people, according to the AP. New York City has one cab for every 149 people. Bethel owes its cab-happy status to its geography: It’s ringed by thousands of ponds and you can’t drive in or out of town.
World Hum’s New Seventh Wonder of the Shrinking Planet: The Irish Pub
by Michael Yessis | 07.23.07 | 5:15 PM ET
The Irish pub has long intrigued us, both as a subject to write about and as a fine place to drink the occasional pint of Guinness. Thanks to Eva Holland for reminding us that the Irish pub also embodies many ways the globe is shrinking and cultures are colliding. It’s a worthy addition to our Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet. As Eva wrote in response to our call for a replacement to the now-closed Starbucks in China’s Forbidden City—hers was among a number of terrific suggestions; thanks to everyone who posted an idea—Irish pubs can be found just about everywhere in the world.
A Traveler’s Take on Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’
by Jim Benning | 07.23.07 | 3:12 PM ET
Forget the controversial fact-checking piece CNN’s Sanjay Gupta put together for Michael Moore’s documentary on health care, “Sicko.” Now, the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Flinn—ever the provocateur columnist—takes Moore to task for his coverage of foreign hospitals, based entirely on Flinn’s own unplanned visits to hospitals in France, Cuba and elsewhere during his travels. “Michael Moore got it all wrong about the French health care system in his new movie, ‘Sicko,’” Flinn writes. “The best part isn’t that the government sends workers out to the homes of new mothers to do their laundry. It’s that French hospital meals come with wine. I don’t know how Moore, who seems rather starry-eyed over la belle France in the film, forgot to include that nugget.”
China’s Air Pollution Goes Global
by Jim Benning | 07.23.07 | 2:50 PM ET
Talk about a shrinking planet. “On some days,” reports the Wall Street Journal, “almost a third of the air over Los Angeles and San Francisco can be traced directly to Asia.”
Burj Dubai Soars Past Taipei 101
by Julia Ross | 07.23.07 | 1:46 PM ET
From the rooftop of my apartment building in Taiwan, Taipei 101 (pictured) blinks reassuringly in the distance, hovering just above the hills. Some nights it glows blue and gold in its upper reaches; other nights it’s green and purple. I’ve whiled away hours on the building’s fourth floor, home to the city’s best English bookstore, and spent New Year’s Eve watching fireworks explode around the skyscraper’s edges. The spectacle is guaranteed to net Taiwan much-coveted global exposure on CNN. The world’s tallest building is always within sight, but I didn’t realize I held such affection for the place until I read Saturday that the Burj Dubai had unofficially stolen Taipei 101’s towering thunder. Taiwanese have long known the day would come; still, I felt my stomach drop.
Next Stop for the New Seven Wonders: Space
by Michael Yessis | 07.23.07 | 1:19 PM ET
hotos of the seven wonders, that is. Bernard Weber, who launched the much hyped, recently completed campaign to name the new seven wonders of the world, says he plans to store 3-D images of the honored monuments on a “golden disk” and then shoot it into space to preserve the monuments “forever.” He told the AP: “I think it would be worthwhile to conserve this memory at the beginning of the third millennium in the best possible way and make sure that even if the world gets destroyed, it will be retained somewhere.”
Copenhagen’s Christiania in Jeopardy
by Jim Benning | 07.23.07 | 12:37 PM ET
Like many visitors to Copenhagen, I wandered around the hippie experiment in utopia called Christiania a number of years ago. I bought the local newspaper, strolled “Pusher Street” and passed off-the-grid homes, struck that such a place existed in a major European city. But Christiania’s future is now in doubt. “The current conservative government is feeling the pressure from developers to ‘normalize’ Christiania,” writes Rick Steves in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Trips, Tips and Trash Talk
by Michael Yessis | 07.20.07 | 4:57 PM ET
From Chile to cruising, this week the Zeitgeist is full of advice on what to do and what not to do on the road. Here’s what’s on the minds of travelers this week.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
51 Tips: An Irreverent Guide to International Travel Behavior
* How irreverent? Among the tips—we wrote about them in May—from Thomas Swick: “In Chile, don’t say you’ve always dreamed of driving cross-country.”
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
Honeymooning with Jaws
* Among the lessons learned by writer Nancy Smay: Be careful what you agree to after a few tropical drinks.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
The Cost of Cruising
* Better headline: “The Hidden Costs of Cruising”
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
10 great places to go on safari—in the USA
* Among the places making the list: Alaska’s Denali National Park
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
The B & B Option is Put to a New York Test
Despite a Nose-Diving Dollar, Europe Still Beckons U.S. Travelers
by Terry Ward | 07.20.07 | 11:46 AM ET
During the three months I recently spent in France, sticker shock was so much a part of my daily life that, by the end of my stay, I barely balked at shelling out five bucks for a shot of espresso at my favorite Biarritz tapas bar. Recently, the dollar dove to a new record low—a paltry $1.38 against the euro. And according to a story in the New York Times, the currency pinch for those of us spending greenbacks in Europe is bound to get worse before it gets better.
Virgin America’s Bookings Hampered by Hackers
by Michael Yessis | 07.20.07 | 11:36 AM ET
Tickets for the first Virgin America flights went on the market yesterday, as we noted, but sales were slowed due to hackers’ attacks on the company’s Web site, reports the AP. A spokesperson for the company said the culprits have yet to be identified. Virgin America debuts later this year with hopes of bringing U.S. travelers, according to the AP, “a more luxurious experience at affordable prices.”
Related on World Hum:
* Virgin America Offers First U.S. Bookings
‘Into the Wild’: Sean Penn Adapts Jon Krakauer’s Book for the Big Screen
by Michael Yessis | 07.20.07 | 10:26 AM ET
Sean Penn lined up some impressive talent for his adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s beloved book Into the Wild, the story of twentysomething Christopher McCandless’s self-imposed exile from mainstream society and tragic journey into the Alaskan wilds. Penn wrote and directed the film, which stars Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Zach Galifianakis, William Hurt and others. Eddie Vedder and Gustavo Santaolalla contribute to the soundtrack. The movie opens Sept. 21, and already I’m getting that dueling “I can’t wait to see it/I can’t believe what an awful idea this is” feeling of seeing a favorite book get turned into a movie.
Virgin America Offers First U.S. Bookings
by Terry Ward | 07.19.07 | 3:21 PM ET
My phone is Virgin Mobile. I still have the slippers I got flying to London from Orlando on Virgin Atlantic. And as of today, I can start booking domestic flights on Virgin America. All of us can. Forget Posh and Becks—Richard Branson has just arrived, America. Tickets went on sale at 6 a.m. this morning for the first flights next month on the British billionaire’s start-up airline venture.
