Travel Blog
United Airlines Switches to Coke. Uh, Hooray?
by Jim Benning | 05.02.07 | 10:57 AM ET
We’re not sure why, but it was widely reported yesterday that United Airlines is switching from Pepsi to Coke on its flights. “We look forward to the joint promotional activities that consumers and employees will be able to participate in and the economic benefits this new agreement brings to United,” an airline official was quoted as saying. Right. As a traveler—I mean, flying consumer—let me just say that I can’t wait to participate in those joint promotional activities. Perhaps I can do so while munching on the insipid, plastic-wrapped turkey-wasabi sandwiches—food units, if you prefer—that United is selling for five bucks in economy class. Oh, the economic benefits. Oh, the promotional possibilities.
Photo by mag3737 via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
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Yahoo! BuzzThe Fastest Cities in the World on Two Feet
by Jim Benning | 05.02.07 | 9:17 AM ET
Researchers who secretly studied pedestrians in 32 cities around the globe found that people in Singapore walk the most swiftly, covering 60 feet in 10.55 seconds. Copenhagen came next at 10.82 seconds, followed by Madrid, Guangzhou and Dublin. New Yorkers ranked 8th at 12 seconds flat. (Come on, New York, we know you can do better than that. Let’s get a move on.) Not surprisingly, technology is blamed at least in part for the increasingly frenetic pace of life. The radio show Marketplace notes a correlation between cities where people are walking faster than they did a decade ago and economic growth. The two cities where walking speeds have increased the most in the last decade: Singapore and Guangzhou, China.
Happy 50th Anniversary ‘Europe on 5 Dollars a Day’
by Michael Yessis | 05.02.07 | 7:33 AM ET
Arthur Frommer self-published “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day” 50 years ago, an event that still resonates among travelers. “On the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication,” the AP’s Beth J. Harpaz writes in a profile of the legendary guidebook, “Frommer is still being credited with helping to change leisure travel by showing average Americans that they could afford a trip to Europe.” Harpaz points out that Frommer’s approach—“a combination of wide-eyed wonder and getting the best value for your money”—has become typical, but at the time it was a radical shift.
‘Buttock-Swinging’ Dance in Guinea Leads to Violence
by Jim Benning | 05.01.07 | 3:56 PM ET
The booty-shaking dance called Wolosso, which involves women wearing revealing skirts, is scorned by some in the Muslim nation. A performance last week led to attacks of dancers by men and “rampaging youths.” Reports the BBC: “The police have confirmed a few cases of alleged rape committed by the rampaging youths and more than 30 men have been detained in connection with the violence.”
World’s Tallest Pagoda Opens
by Jim Benning | 05.01.07 | 3:34 PM ET
In Changzhou, China. For those keeping score—and who isn’t?—Tianning Pagoda is 510 feet tall, 13 stories and dates back to the Tang dynasty. It was recently rebuilt for the fifth time.
The Dollar-Euro Exchange Rate Blues
by Jim Benning | 05.01.07 | 1:49 PM ET
Travelers are starting to sing it. With such a weak U.S. dollar in Europe—it’s at roughly $1.367 per euro—U.S. travel bookings for summer trips to Western Europe are down 2 to 3 percent, according to USA Today. But interestingly, some European hotels are finding inventive ways to lure exchange-wary Americans. “Luxury hotels such as the Merrion in Dublin, The Capital in London and the Esprit Saint-Germain in Paris offer specials that guarantee room rates in U.S. dollars, shifting the currency exchange risk to the hotel,” the paper reports. “And the Four Seasons hotels in Dublin, Lisbon and Geneva are offering a fourth night free during the peak summer season through Sept. 3.”
The New U.S. Passport: ‘It Is Like Being Given A Coloring Book That Your Brother Already Colored In’
by Michael Yessis | 05.01.07 | 9:41 AM ET
Reviews of the new U.S. passport are rolling in and we can all agree on one thing: It’s really, really patriotic. Should we expect anything less from a document called “American Icon”? “The short, 28-page version of the passport comes with 13 inspirational quotes, including six from United States presidents and one from a Mohawk Thanksgiving speech,” writes Neil MacFarquhar in the New York Times. “The pages, done in a pink-grey-blue palate, are rife with portraits of Americana ranging from a clipper ship to Mount Rushmore to a long-horn cattle drive.”
Call It Multiple Personality Packing Syndrome
by Jim Benning | 05.01.07 | 7:23 AM ET
Or MPPS for short. Perhaps you suffer from it: packing way too much for more than one personality that you may exhibit on your trip, from the no-nonsense traveler who favors sensible shoes to the strutting fashionista who wears only the latest from Prada or Jimmy Choo. Christine Schoefer, who comes clean about her packing problems in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, doesn’t identify her condition as MPPS, but the symptoms she describes clearly identify her as a sufferer. “In my travel reveries, I am a mixture of Carrie Bradshaw, Edith Wharton and Bruce Chatwin,” she confesses.
World Hum’s Most Read: April 2007
by Michael Yessis | 05.01.07 | 6:12 AM ET
Our 10 most popular stories posted last month:
1) Passenger on Northwest Pilot: ‘He Was Having a Fit, Swearing Up a Storm’
2) It’s the Caribbean Cruise Anna Nicole Smith Tabloid Shore Excursion!
3) India’s ‘Spiritual Backbone’: Two End-to-End Explorations Down the Ganges River
4) French Train Clocks In At 357.2 MPH*
5) Selling Israel: A Land Rich in Holy Sites or Hot Babes in Tel Aviv?
6) Charles Dickens, Led Zeppelin Get Theme Park Treatment
7) ‘American Shaolin’: Interview with Matthew Polly
8) The Rise of the Trader Joe’s Pilgrimage
9) Deadly Dengue on the Rise in Mexico
10) Google ‘My Maps’ Debuts With Oral History of Route 66
Burma: ‘There Are So Many Songs Waiting To Be Sung in This Country’
by Michael Yessis | 04.30.07 | 1:47 PM ET
The debate about whether travelers should visit Burma goes on, but Carolann Moisse made her decision: She and her husband traveled through the country, supporting “private initiative” and putting their tourist dollars in places that they hoped wouldn’t support the country’s government. Her story in the Christian Science Monitor describes roads with “potholes the size of meteorite craters” and a few fleeting moments of connection.
Related on World Hum:
* The Burma Debate, Continued
* Burma’s Ongoing Cycle of Despair
* Big Brother in Burma
Stalking the Best Boulangeries in Paris
by Jim Benning | 04.30.07 | 1:19 PM ET
I’ve never met a chocolate croissant I didn’t like, but even I, a mere croissant dilettante, recognize that some are better than others. Travel + Leisure offers a look at the best boulangeries in Paris, covering top spots for croissants, baguettes, sourdough loaves and other starchy treats. Maison Kayser in the Latin Quarter is one of the shops earning rave reviews. Among other qualities, their croissants have a “meltingly tender center,” the magazine maintains. Meanwhile, elsewhere in town, Boulangerie Bechu offers pain au chocolate orange, which the magazine calls “an addictive variation on the classic treat.”
Photo by stu_spivack via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Another Dead Man Traveling
by Jim Benning | 04.30.07 | 12:46 PM ET
We recently noted the flying corpse on a British Airways flight. Now comes news that a dead man spent hours on an Indonesian train before he was discovered in a locked lavatory. Understandably, the man’s daughter isn’t happy with the train company.
The Burma Debate, Continued
by Michael Yessis | 04.30.07 | 8:12 AM ET
Should you go to Burma, a culturally rich and beautiful country controlled by a repressive military regime? Or should you boycott the country, as opposition leaders and many human rights organizations suggest? Fiona Dunlop takes the pro-travel position in the Guardian this weekend, arguing that the more informed foreign are visitors the better. “I feel strongly that Burma’s Big Brother needs observers,” Dunlop writes.
‘Some 60 Percent of Italian Restaurants Abroad Are Awful’
by Jim Benning | 04.27.07 | 3:25 PM ET
The Joys of ‘Sudden Journeys’
by Jim Benning | 04.27.07 | 2:39 PM ET
Who among us hasn’t, on a whim, taken off on a completely unplanned trip and had the time of our life? National Geographic Traveler celebrates just those sorts of “sudden journeys” this month. The Web site has anecdotes from 25 travel writers, from Pico Iyer and Holly Morris to Rolf Potts and yours truly. I recalled the time I convinced my wife to join me on a spontaneous snowboarding road trip to Park City, Utah. It took a little time. I wrote: “I watched, bemused, as Leslie passed through the four requisite stages of spontaneous travel co-conspiring: refusal (‘Are you crazy? We have things to do’); bargaining (‘How about next month?’); doubt (‘The place is probably all booked up so close to New Year’s Eve’); and finally, my personal favorite, gleeful acceptance (‘Wheeeeeeeeee!’).”
