Travel Blog
Barricaded Hotel Workers Living on ‘Food Delivered in a Bucket Pulled up on a Piece of String’
by Michael Yessis | 01.04.08 | 10:22 AM ET
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Yahoo! BuzzChop Wood, Carry Water, Party in Vegas
by Jim Benning | 01.03.08 | 1:25 PM ET
Operators of Prive at Planet Hollywood recently asked a Buddhist monk to bless the new Las Vegas nightclub. The club’s managing director told the Los Angeles Times: “He burned sage and blessed the club, worked with us on our energy, got our minds focused right. We did meditation and had acupuncture for all our key employees. It is important to us that there is no ego and we work as a team.” Top that, Club Tao.
Photo of Buddha statue in Japan by aakaakaakaakaak via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
In New Orleans, A Streetcar Returns
by Julia Ross | 01.03.08 | 11:31 AM ET
A piece of pre-Katrina New Orleans staged a quiet return last month, to the thrill of storm-weary residents and tourists. The St. Charles Avenue streetcar is once again ferrying passengers from the French Quarter to the Garden District. Reports the New York Times: “The streetcar has represented something else besides the connections through time and space: the city’s living room, a privileged spot for tentative social encounters across lines of race, class and nationality, in a place not otherwise given to them.”
Related on World Hum:
* The Critics: ‘Chasing the Rising Sun’
* Rolf Potts in New Orleans: A Visit to the Lower Ninth Ward
Photo by dbking via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Photo: Breathing Fire in Kashmir
by Jim Benning | 01.03.08 | 11:23 AM ET
Good times in Kashmir: A Sikh warrior performs at a festival in Jammu. His fireball looks better than those I’ve seen during my travels in Mexico, where street performers wander into intersections, inhale from gasoline-soaked rags and blow fire at passing cars. I imagine it’s all in the wrist.
Related on World Hum:
* ‘Beatles’ Ashram’ in India to Become Eco-Hotel, School
* Mumbai Plans Museum for Rudyard Kipling
Crime Fiction Where You Least Expect It
by Julia Ross | 01.03.08 | 11:00 AM ET
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to break out of an entrenched non-fiction habit—memoirs and travel narratives are stacked 15-high beside my bed right now—and read more novels that convey a sense of place or culture. I’ve previously enjoyed crime fiction set in foreign countries, including John Burdett’s Bangkok 8 and Qiu Xiaolong’s Death of A Red Heroine, but had no idea the genre had expanded so much, and not only among those writing in English.
2007: Safest Year for Air Travel Since 1963
by Michael Yessis | 01.03.08 | 10:36 AM ET
So says the Geneva-based Aircraft Crashes Record Office. It reported yesterday that 136 accidents caused “severe damage” to aircraft last year, and 965 people died in air crashes, a 25 percent drop from 2006. Numbers are based on planes big enough to carry six passengers and a crew, according to Reuters. The AP also reports that the number of air passengers increased by 3 percent in 2007 to about 2.2 billion passengers. In that context, the drop in accidents and fatalities seems even more impressive.
NBC News: The ‘Black Market in Fraudulent Passports is Thriving’
by Michael Yessis | 01.02.08 | 4:27 PM ET
It shouldn’t be too surprising to anyone who’s been paying attention to the news in recent years. False travel documents have helped enable plots ranging from the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 to the London bombings in 2005. Authorities around the globe are on the case, building databases and turning to biometrics and RFID chips, but as the Dateline NBC story—and this over-the-top video clip make clear—it’s currently quite easy to procure a fraudulent passport. (Via Gridskipper)
Related on World Hum:
* 2007: The Year in U.S. Passports
Year Off to a Rocky Start for Travelers
by Jim Benning | 01.02.08 | 10:57 AM ET
Spare Lithium Batteries Banned in Checked Baggage
by Michael Yessis | 01.02.08 | 10:40 AM ET
As of yesterday, the Department of Transportation no longer allows air travelers to pack spare lithium batteries in checked baggage. According to the AP, the move was made because “fire-protection systems in the cargo hold of passenger planes can’t put out fires sparked in lithium batteries.” Passengers will, however, be allowed to carry two spare batteries—packed separately, though—as carry ons, and continue to use laptops and other devices with batteries stored within.
World Hum Writers Win North American Travel Journalists Association Awards
by Michael Yessis | 12.31.07 | 4:48 PM ET
The 12-part World Hum Women’s Travel E-Mail Roundtable written by Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Liz Sinclair, Terry Ward and Catherine Watson was named a runner-up for best travel series in the 2007 North American Travel Journalists Association Awards. Peter Delevett’s The Distance from Dachau to Darfur finished runner-up in the historical travel category, and World Hum received an honorable mention for best online travel magazine. Congrats to all, and thanks for helping make 2007 a great year at World Hum. Here’s to an even better 2008!
Travel Warnings for Pakistan
by Jim Benning | 12.28.07 | 12:54 PM ET
Not surprisingly, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and ensuing violence and unrest have prompted new travel warnings for Pakistan.
2007: The Year in U.S. Passports
by Jim Benning | 12.27.07 | 4:27 PM ET
We American travelers often complain that too few of our fellow citizens hold passports, but perhaps we can complain a little less in 2008. Reports the AP: “The State Department issued a record 18.4 million passports in fiscal year 2007, compared to 12.1 million in 2006. Thirty percent of Americans now hold passports, up from 27%.” The boost was thanks largely to new passport requirements, not because the nation suddenly awoke to the joys of international travel. And according to the same report, Americans are expected to travel closer to home over the coming year because the dollar is so weak overseas. But we have to take the good news where we can get it, right?
Related on World Hum:
* How I Scored a New U.S. Passport in One Day
* U.S. Passports in Demand: Lines Look ‘Like a Rolling Stones Concert 25 Years Ago’
* The New U.S. Passport: ‘It Is Like Being Given A Coloring Book That Your Brother Already Colored In’
The Mystery of Grandma’s Travel Photos
by Michael Yessis | 12.26.07 | 5:14 PM ET
Here’s a sweet tale to stoke any post-Christmas family travel buzz you might have: Inspired by three albums of cryptic travel photos her grandmother passed down, Patricia Morrisroe dives into her family’s past and traces the roots of her own wanderlust. “As for future generations,” she writes in Travel+Leisure, “if my grandmother had purposely set out to frustrate them with the photo albums, she couldn’t have done a better job.”
The State of the Burma Travel Debate
by Michael Yessis | 12.26.07 | 2:37 PM ET
It’s been three months since the military junta in Burma cracked down on protesting monks, and the debate about how travelers should respond still rages. In the January issue of Conde Nast Traveler, Susan Hack highlights the latest arguments about whether to go or not to go.
Related on World Hum:
* Invisible Burma
* Can Your Panties Help Save Burma?
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Booked for the Holidays
by Michael Yessis | 12.21.07 | 12:42 PM ET
Travelers are hoping for a white Christmas this year, or they’re just worried if they’re going to make it to their destination with minimal pain. Either way, they’ve found some great books to take along. Happy holidays to all. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Top Ski Getaway
TripAdvisor (current)
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Ski Report: Smoothing Bumps for Boomers
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
15 Places to Visit to See the Real California
* The subhead “dare[s] you to disagree.” OK. Where are the California Missions?
Most Read Feature Story
World Hum (posted this week)
Travel Books We Loved in 2007
Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph UK (current)
Airport Staff at Heathrow and Gatwick to Strike
Most Read Blog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
What’s Your Travel ‘Dealbreaker’?
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Airline Glitches Top Cause of Delays
* So it’s not all JFK’s fault?
Top User Video
TravelChannel.com
Christmas in Athens
