Travel Blog
The ‘Salmon-Thirty-Salmon’ and the Rise of ‘Specialty Aircraft’
by Michael Yessis | 09.13.07 | 11:10 AM ET
When I was a kid, for a short time I used kid logic to justify the safety of flying in airplanes: I thought that if they were painted with at least one color that occurred regularly in the sky, they belonged in the sky. Hence, no crashes. In the ‘70s, that seemed to cover pretty much every airplane I could see at LAX, the airport where my dad worked and I spent a lot of time. If I still employed this sort of logic, I might now have some issues with flying. As USA Today’s Ben Mutzabaugh points out—and shows off in a terrific photo gallery—from “Delta’s breast-cancer-awareness-themed plane to Alaska Air’s ‘Spirit of Disneyland’ jet, U.S. airlines have been busy rolling out specially painted aircraft over the past few years.”
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Yahoo! BuzzThree Travel Books: Josh Swiller’s Picks
by World Hum | 09.13.07 | 7:27 AM ET
Josh Swiller is the author of “The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa.” Frank Bures reviewed the book this week, and he asked Swiller for three travel book recommendations. Here’s what he said:
The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner.
Swiller says: “Beautiful and audacious. The truest depiction of daily life in Africa I’ve yet read—the heat, the waiting, the sexuality muted by heat and waiting, the drunkards, the lost, the found. A criminally underread book.”
Dollar Sinks to Record Low in Europe
by Jim Benning | 09.12.07 | 6:44 PM ET
Bad news for Americans traveling in Europe: The dollar hit a record low against the euro today. It now takes about $1.39 to buy—gasp—one euro. As the AP points out, a 300-euro hotel room in Paris would have cost Americans about $351 in November 2005. Today, that same room would cost about $417. Said one analyst: “Anyone who goes to London or Paris right now is going to feel like they’re being gouged and regret booking the trip.”
Related on World Hum:
* Three Travel Tips: Ways to Save Money in Europe
* Given the Weak Dollar Overseas, Any Advice on Long-Term Travel?
* The Dollar-Euro Exchange Rate Blues
Photo by jopemoro via Flickr (Creative Commons).
Rebranding Libya: We’re Eco-Friendly!
by Julia Ross | 09.12.07 | 4:25 PM ET
Talk about rebranding. In a surprise move earlier this week, Libya rolled out a plan to transform a swath of its Mediterranean coast into the “world’s largest sustainable region.” British architect Norman Foster has been brought in to design three “green” luxury hotels near the ancient ruins of Cyrene, while additional initiatives in the Green Mountain region will focus on archaeological conservation, eco-tourism and production of organic food and drink.
Restaurant Criticism: Is Anonymity Possible, Post-Google?
by Jim Benning | 09.12.07 | 3:47 PM ET
Many restaurant critics treasure their anonymity, slipping into restaurants and sampling dishes without fearing they’re getting special treatment. But as Regina Schrambling writes in today’s Los Angeles Times, that’s becoming increasingly difficult to do in a post-Google environment. “After Google, the rules are being rewritten by the hour,” she writes. “When any human being is searchable online not just verbally but visually, how can a critic possibly hope to retain anonymity long enough to give a restaurant a fair evaluation? Throw blogs into the mix and it’s a mashup of Facebook and a masquerade ball. In the last month, a youngish but old-style critic adamant about his anonymity has been involuntarily outed for all of cyberspace and thousands of magazine readers to see, while a blogger-turned-critic happy to bask in the limelight has been hired by a newspaper that puts her pulchritude on prominent display with every review.”
Where in the World Are You, Eva Holland?
by World Hum | 09.12.07 | 2:50 PM ET
The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: Eva Holland, a new contributor to the World Hum blog. Her response landed in our inbox last night.
World Hum: Where in the world are you?
The Search for Steve Fossett: Why Are They Finding So Many ‘Uncharted Plane Wrecks’?
by Michael Yessis | 09.12.07 | 11:57 AM ET
It’s been more than a week since adventurer Steve Fossett and his single-engine Bellanca disappeared during a flight from a private airstrip in Western Nevada. Searchers have been looking for him and his plane in a rugged area “twice the size of New Jersey,” according to ABC News, and though they haven’t found either, they have identified at least six “uncharted wrecks” in the Sierra Nevada. Slate’s Explainer wanted to know how so many crashes could go uncharted, and discovered that the area contains many more crash sites that have never been found.
Rick Steves to Speak on ‘Travel as a Political Act’
by Jim Benning | 09.12.07 | 11:07 AM ET
Europe travel guru Rick Steves will deliver a presentation at Seattle’s Town Hall Thursday night entitled “travel as a political act.” As he told the Seattle Times: “When I talk about travel as a political act I’m talking about how travel can change your perspective in a way that when you get home, all of a sudden you’re more difficult to con.” Steves was recently the subject of both a World Hum interview and a World Hum call for a Tijuana-Off.
From Ireland to Iyer: Inside Condé Nast Traveler’s 20th Anniversary Issue
by Michael Yessis | 09.12.07 | 9:18 AM ET
Surfing Mags Reporting Tale of Robbery, Carjacking in Baja
by Jim Benning | 09.11.07 | 3:00 PM ET
For surfers, Baja California has long had a mystique as a Wild West playground where crime is rampant but, if you’re savvy or lucky or both, you can find a dusty point break with perfect curling waves that you can carve up all by yourself. Having grown up surfing in Southern California and made countless Baja surf trips over the years, I know the legend well. Stories that confirm surfers’ wildest wave fantasies or worst crime fears take on lives of their own, quickly spreading on the coconut telegraph and, now, the Web. At the moment, SurferMag.com and Surfline.com are reporting three surfers’ accounts of being robbed and carjacked on a trip to northern Baja.
Guardian Picks Top 10 Hostels in the World
by Jim Benning | 09.11.07 | 11:30 AM ET
Making writer Benji Lanyado’s list of the top hostels around the globe: Art Hostel in Sofia, Bulgaria (“The Bulgarian avant garde is still in its infancy, and it’s mainly in this hostel”); the Gershwin in New York City (pictured)—yes, a hotel (“Just off 5th Avenue, the building is a 13-storey homage to Andy Warhol and all things pop art”); and Hostel Celica, Ljubjana, Slovenia (at the former prison, “People turn up for tours of the Celica even if they aren’t staying”).
New Travel Book: ‘Far Afield’
by Michael Yessis | 09.11.07 | 10:17 AM ET
Full title: “Far Afield: A Sportswriting Odyssey”
Author: S.L. Price, author of Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into The Heart of Cuban Sports and a writer for Sports Illustrated.
Released: Sept. 1, 2007
Travel genre: Sports travel/France memoir. “Think ‘A Year in Provence’ in sweats,” says a press release.
Territory covered: Europe, Asia.
Americans Defy Cuba Travel Ban Before ‘Other Americans…Ruin it All’
by Jim Benning | 09.11.07 | 8:02 AM ET
Yes, this is the peculiar form of national self loathing a number of Americans express in defying the Cuba travel ban. Just how many Americans visit Cuba without U.S. permission? Reliable numbers are hard to come by, but a new AP report citing Cuban government sources puts the number at close to 20,000 in the first half of this year alone. And according to the story, “many say being sneaky is part of the fun.”
Singapore, Brand That Nation!
by Jim Benning | 09.10.07 | 3:26 PM ET
Photo by Alex.ch via Flickr, (Creative Commons).
The latest focus of Brand That Nation!—our tip sheet for countries that may or may not be considering new branding campaigns and that just might want to improve their image in the U.S. travel market, where simple, easy-to-remember slogans are key: Singapore.
Location: Southern tip of the Malay peninsula in Southeast Asia
Capital: Singapore City
Noteworthy factoids: Durian fruit is not allowed on public transportation. Also, Singaporeans hold the world record for the most people exercising simultaneously while wearing green.
Our Long National Passport Nightmare is Over
by Michael Yessis | 09.10.07 | 2:05 PM ET
The U.S. State Department says the months-long delays, the Kafka-esque frustrations and the lines like Rolling Stones concerts just to get a passport have come to an end. From the AP: “The department said steps taken to deal with the crisis—the hiring of hundreds of new adjudicators, temporary transfers of employees to passport centers and the opening of a new facility to handle the deluge—had brought the waiting period for a standard application back to six to eight weeks and three weeks for expedited service.” Let’s hope this bears out in practice. If it doesn’t, government officials might have to resort to something like this.
Related on World Hum:
* U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee on National Passport Month
* How I Scored a New U.S. Passport in One Day
* Is Getting a Passport Patriotic?
Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
