Travel Blog
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Disney, Debauchery and ‘Our Dumb World’
by Michael Yessis | 11.16.07 | 4:13 PM ET
A holiday weekend is on the horizon, but travelers from Hong Kong to Las Vegas are already poised to cut loose. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
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Top 10 Foreign Cities for Americans to Get Arrested
* Mexico City (pictured) was No. 5.
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Debauchery Tourism Sets Holiday Trend
* From the story: “Las Vegas reigns supreme as the US capital of debaucherism.”
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Woman in SWA Dress Debate Poses Nude
* That would be Kyla Ebbert, and is anyone surprised she said yes to Playboy? The title of her photo spread: “Legs in the Air.”
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Yahoo! BuzzThree Travel Tips: Surviving Thanksgiving Air Travel
by Jim Benning | 11.16.07 | 11:37 AM ET
Travel tips are easy to find on the Internet, but some are better than others. Herewith: World Hum-approved travel tips from around the Web.
It starts today: Thanksgiving travel madness. An estimated 27 million people are expected to fly between now and Nov. 27—up 4 percent from last year. Military air space has been temporarily opened to ease congestion, but it’s going to get ugly out there. What to do?
1) Ship your luggage using a courier service and print your boarding pass at home. Then avoid the airport’s departure level. “When getting to the airport (especially for a morning flight), don’t go to the departure level. It will be a zoo. Besides, you have no baggage to check and you already have your boarding pass. Instead, skip the car and people traffic and head for the arrivals level. In the early morning, no one is there. Then take the escalator upstairs and go through security to your gate.” (Peter Greenberg, MSNBC)
Hostelling Seeks to Honor 100th Anniversary With U.S. Postage Stamp
by Michael Yessis | 11.16.07 | 10:39 AM ET
German schoolteacher Richard Schirrmann started the hostelling movement in 1909, and throughout its history Australia, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan and Sweden have all honored it with commemorative postage stamps. Hostelling International USA wants the United States to join those countries for the 100th anniversary of hostelling, and it’s asking travelers to help by signing an online petition.
Record Setting Cross-Country Drive Enthralls, Scares Nation
by Michael Yessis | 11.16.07 | 9:27 AM ET
Alexander Roy seems like an idiot. But a media-savvy idiot. A month after first revealing to the world that he and his co-driver David Maher teamed to drive from New York City to Los Angeles in 31 hours and 4 minutes in 2006, the media have kept him and his reckless achievement in the spotlight. Wired devoted a big magazine spread and an online package to the road trip this month, and earlier this week National Public Radio weighed in with an 8 minute and 18 second piece on Roy and his epic ride.
Are Robberies and Carjackings of Surfers on the Rise in Baja?
by Jim Benning | 11.15.07 | 5:43 PM ET
It’s hard to say because some crimes go unreported, but it’s clear there’s cause for serious concern. We recently wrote about a surf trip that went horribly wrong when three veteran surfers and Baja travelers were robbed and carjacked just off the road in northern Baja. Now, the San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting that about six robberies and carjackings of surfers have occurred in Baja since June, according to “unconfirmed tallies reported via the Internet.” Among them was an attack at Cuatro Casas, a popular surfing and camping beach 200 miles south of the border.
Controversial Hawaii Superferry to Resume Operations
by Jim Benning | 11.15.07 | 12:50 PM ET
The saga of the Hawaii Superferry continues. The controversial 350-foot catamaran will resume operating in about two weeks, its CEO has announced. The ferry began carrying passengers and cars between a few Hawaiian islands last summer, offering an alternative to jet travel between islands, but it hasn’t operated for weeks as attorneys and officials debated its future. Environmentalists believe the ferry will harm whales, among other things.
Saudi Billionaire Buys First Private Superjumbo A380
by Terry Ward | 11.15.07 | 11:54 AM ET
Oh, to travel like a Saudi prince. Or the wife of India’s richest man. I was driving home from Orlando’s airport a few days ago, having just booked a long haul flight in coach and already dreading the knees-in-my-teeth-feeling to come, when I heard an NPR segment about Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s purchase of his own personal A380 superjumbo jet (like the one pictured) to the tune of just over $300 million. According to an envy-inducing piece in the International Herald Tribune, the prince, worth an estimated $20 billion and the world’s 13th richest man, regularly travels with an entourage of around 50 people.
Bomb-Making Materials Pass U.S. Airport Checkpoints
by Jim Benning | 11.15.07 | 11:05 AM ET
In all, screeners at 19 airport checkpoints failed to detect liquid explosives and other bomb-making materials in a recent study. What’s worse, officials say in most of the cases, those screeners were following approved security procedures. Remarked one Congressman: “The terrorist threat to our airlines is constantly evolving. Is the Transportation Security Administration keeping up? Unfortunately, the news is not good.”
Related on World Hum:
* Air Traffic Controler to United Pilot: ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!’
* TSA Deploys ‘Behavior Detection Officers’ at U.S. Airports
Photo by goldberg via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Writer on Las Vegas Coverage: Enough With the Sin City Clichés!
by Jim Benning | 11.15.07 | 10:54 AM ET
In the Former Yugoslavia, Monuments to Rocky, Tarzan and…Samantha Fox?
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.14.07 | 5:18 PM ET
A bronze-and-concrete statue of Rocky Balboa exalting in victory anchors the village square of Zitiste, a farming hamlet in Serbia. And, strange as it seems, Rocky isn’t the lone pop icon in the region: A statue of Bruce Lee has been erected in Bosnia, and statues of Tarzan and the former Playboy model and sort-of singer Samantha Fox are also set to go up in the Balkans, which is still recovering from the bloody wars of the 1990s. In a strange and hilarious story in The New York Times, International Herald Tribune writer Dan Bilefsky reports that these monuments to Hollywood and pop culture are “either delighting or alarming cultural critics.” Milica Tomic, the Serbian visual artist, told Bilefsky that the statues are “a dangerous joke in which history is being erased and replaced by Mickey Mouse.”
From Tonga to Texas, Doing the Haka
by Jim Benning | 11.14.07 | 11:31 AM ET
Photo of Maori dance by Gaetan Lee via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
Texas is not a place where you’d expect to see the haka—the war dance that originated with New Zealand’s Maori and is performed on a number of Polynesian islands. But that’s changing. The CBS Evening News aired a terrific segment last night on how the migration of Tongans to Dallas Fort-Worth, largely to work in the airline industry, has led one high school football team in the nearby city of Euless to take up the dance as a pre-game ritual.
Go Forth And Run: Marathon Tours Taking Off
by Eva Holland | 11.14.07 | 11:25 AM ET
We recently blogged about urban running tours that allow devoted runners to take in some sights while getting their daily exercise fix. Now, an increasing number of travel agencies are promoting marathon packages—to destinations all over the world, writes Andy Riga in The Montreal Gazette. Want to run the Taj Mahal Marathon? Or the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon? Somewhere, according to Riga, there is a package tour that will get you there—though don’t expect they’ll guarantee a personal best time.
How to Make a Great Road Movie
by Michael Yessis | 11.14.07 | 6:35 AM ET
Who better than Walter Salles to define what makes a stellar road movie? The Brazilian director of the best road movie in recent years, The Motorcycle Diaries, and the upcoming adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, wrote an excellent essay in the New York Times Magazine outlining his “theory of the road movie.” Salles gets the influences out of the way in short order—all road movies, he believes, owe a debt to “The Odyssey”—then dives into an insightful analysis of the ingredients of a great road movie. It should resonate with anyone who looks at travel as an immersive, life-altering experience.
What’s Your Dream Airline?
by Eva Holland | 11.13.07 | 3:40 PM ET
That’s the question posed by USA Today to three travel experts, asking them to pick a winning airline for each of 10 categories, including food, flight attendants, baggage handling and online booking. The verdict is in, and Singapore Airlines dominated the competition, getting votes from at least one expert for best flight attendants, best in-flight entertainment, best food, best coach class, best first class, best customer service, and best baggage handling. JetBlue got a couple of nods for best in-flight entertainment and best coach class, while United was picked by one panelist for best frequent-flier program. And which airline won for best Web site?
Colombia’s Tayrona Park: From Drug Battlefield to Tourist Paradise?
by Joanna Kakissis | 11.13.07 | 1:39 PM ET
