Travel Blog
Public Radio Remembers David Foster Wallace
by Jim Benning | 09.16.08 | 7:06 PM ET
Los Angeles public radio station KCRW aired a special edition of its fine “Politics of Culture” show today about David Foster Wallace. Hosted by Michael Silverblatt, who was a friend of Wallace, the show was a touching and thoughtful look back at the writer’s work and unique perspective on literature, focusing mainly on Wallace’s fiction. It’s available in myriad forms here.
Related on World Hum:
* Harper’s Makes David Foster Wallace Stories Available Online
* R.I.P. David Foster Wallace*
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Yahoo! BuzzCuban Government: Gustav and Ike Damage ‘Worst Ever’
by Jim Benning | 09.16.08 | 5:29 PM ET
Somehow, amid the din of media reports about Galveston, lipstick on pigs and the U.S. financial mess, I missed this. The Cuban government has declared that the damage caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike was “the worst ever” in the country’s history. Given that Cuba has been blasted by countless hurricanes over the years, the toll has to be massive. According to the BBC’s report, some 200,000 people lost their homes as a result of the storms.
R.I.P. Elmer Dills
by Jim Benning | 09.16.08 | 5:25 PM ET
The travel and restaurant critic was an institution in Los Angeles media. He was 82.
Next up for Author of ‘Banned’ Harry Potter Lexicon: A Harry Potter ‘Travel Memoir’?
by Michael Yessis | 09.16.08 | 3:49 PM ET
It, too, has drawn scrutiny from “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling. The author’s “agents have asked to see a copy of In Search of Harry Potter before it is published next month to ensure it does not breach copyright,” according to the Times of London.
Mapped: Missed Connections on Craigslist
by Michael Yessis | 09.16.08 | 1:53 PM ET
This map highlights the most common places in each U.S. state where people had missed connections, as posted on Craigslist. Turns out there’s been a lot of missed connections at Wal-Mart. If you’ve been flying through Nebraska or Mississippi, and you’re wondering if someone is pining for you, have a look. Most missed connections in those states occurred on airplanes. In Illinois? On the bus. (via Coudal Partners)
Status Update: ‘On the Road,’ the Movie
by Michael Yessis | 09.16.08 | 12:19 PM ET
It’s been a little over a year since we noted that the movie version of Jack Kerouac’s classic book was slated to be filmed in 2008 by Walter Salles, director of “The Motorcycle Diaries.” The new timetable? The Independent’s James Mottram quotes Salles saying he’ll “be shooting either at the end of this year or the beginning of the next.”
The ‘Common Bonds of Strangers’: 30 Years Riding the La Cubana Bus
by Valerie Conners | 09.16.08 | 11:49 AM ET
For three decades the La Cubana bus has been shuttling its passengers between New York City and Miami, carrying them down I-95 toward relatives, jobs and dreams. “We carry all sorts of people: good people, bad people, all types,” said one of the bus’s drivers. “It’s life.” The New York Times offers a touching glimpse—through words and photos—inside what has become a microcosm of Latino culture.
Photo of I-95 by CoredesatChikai via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Matt Gross: More Reflections on the Grand Tour
by Michael Yessis | 09.16.08 | 11:13 AM ET
The New York Times Frugal Traveler and World Hum contributor will appear in New York City twice during the next week to discuss his summer on the road in Europe, where he updated the Grand Tour for the information age. He’ll be speaking at Idlewild Books Thursday at 7 p.m., and at the New-York Historical Society next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Related on World Hum:
* Matt Gross: Looking Back on the Grand Tour
* Confessions of a Frugal Traveler
Keeping Vintage Planes in the Sky: ‘It’s Part of Your Soul’
by Eva Holland | 09.16.08 | 10:03 AM ET
For all the nostalgists out there (I know I’m not the only one), the Globe and Mail has a heartwarming item about the volunteers who keep Canada’s shrinking fleet of vintage planes in the air. A handful of aging pilots, mechanics and engineers put in hundreds of thousands of hours each year keeping the remaining planes—including a World War II-era Lancaster bomber, one of just two in the world that remain airworthy—in flying condition.
Man to Plead Guilty of Snooping at Passport Records of Politicians, Celebrities
by Michael Yessis | 09.16.08 | 9:03 AM ET
And he didn’t stop there. According to the Justice Department, former State Department contractor Lawrence C. Yontz also looked at the files of “athletes, actors ... musicians, game show contestants, members of the media corps, prominent business professionals, colleagues, associates, neighbors, and individuals identified in the press.”
‘Teacher, Counselor, Mediator and Pastor’: Welcome to Your Flight Attendant’s World
by Valerie Conners | 09.15.08 | 3:54 PM ET
If you haven’t done so already, consider on your next flight the plight of your flight attendant. New York Times writer Michelle Higgins certainly did, ultimately going undercover as an American Airlines flight attendant. Life in the “unfriendly skies” is a far (and stressful, drama-filled) cry from the heady days of Coffee, Tea or Me? The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, Higgins was soon to learn.
Thailand Lifts State of Emergency, Hopes to Boost Tourism to ‘Land of Smiles’
by Valerie Conners | 09.15.08 | 3:24 PM ET
Thailand’s acting prime minister has lifted the country’s state of emergency, the New York Times has reported, declaring that current political conditions were, “frightening away tourists and tarnishing the country’s image as the ‘Land of Smiles.’”
Harper’s Makes David Foster Wallace Stories Available Online
by Jim Benning | 09.15.08 | 2:15 PM ET
Classy move, Harper’s. Here’s the list. Our favorite, “Shipping Out,” is here. It’s about Wallace’s experience on a Celebrity Cruises voyage in the Caribbean. Among the writer’s post-cruise observations, sure to put a knowing smile on the face of anyone who’s ever taken such a cruise: “I now know the precise mixological difference between a Slippery Nipple and a Fuzzy Navel”; “I have met Cruise Staff with the monikers ‘Mojo Mike,’ ‘Cocopuff,’ and ‘Dave the Bingo Boy”; “I have dickered over trinkets with malnourished children”; and “I have learned what it is to become afraid of one’s own cabin toilet.”
John le Carré and the Book That Might Have Been
by Eva Holland | 09.15.08 | 2:00 PM ET
British Airways: 30 More Airlines Could ‘Go Bust’ By Christmas
by Eva Holland | 09.15.08 | 1:56 PM ET
As thousands of stranded U.K. travelers struggle to find their way home following XL Leisure Group’s sudden collapse last week, British Airways CEO Willie Walsh predicted more of the same through the fall. “We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever seen,” Walsh told the Independent. “We have already seen 30 or so airlines go bust this year and it would be fair to expect a similar number of casualties worldwide over the next three to four months.”
