Travel Blog
Cashing in on Santeria Tourism in Cuba
by Jim Benning | 05.08.07 | 9:58 AM ET
Visitors to Cuba have been exploring the religion of Santeria for years, but Reuters just published an interesting little story about the financial rewards for some Santeria priests. “Whereas a Cuban would pay with a fistful of pesos, a foreigner might spend $20 to meet a priest and $50 on good-luck charms like gravel-filled gourds or plastic bead bracelets,” reports the news agency. As a result, in a nation where most people struggle to live comfortably, priests can do quite well. Business can be competitive. In the neighborhood of Regla, Santeria priests gather by the dock when tourists step off ferry boats. At least one Cuban—a Santeria expert and anthropologist—is nonplussed by the practice. She told Reuters: “Santeria is not a commercial thing. Everyone has to pay to be cleansed, but priests shouldn’t pester people for business.”
Photo by jon crel via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Yahoo! BuzzVenice to Tourists: Keep Your Shirt On!
by Michael Yessis | 05.08.07 | 8:19 AM ET
And don’t take a nap in Piazza San Marco. And, for the love of Ronald McDonald, throw away your Big Mac wrappers. Reuters reports that officials in Venice, Italy plan to crack down on unbecoming behavior in Piazza San Marco. “Six stewards, men and women, will explain to tourists that it is not a good idea to eat, camp out, lay down or walk around the city bare-chested,” said the deputy mayor, Michele Vianello. Stewards won’t hand out fines. Maybe they should, though, and put the funds toward solutions for Venice’s biggest problem: Figuring out how not to sink.
What Happens When a Plane Passenger Vomits Bags of Suspected Heroin?
by Jim Benning | 05.07.07 | 4:53 PM ET
If it’s a guy on a plane heading to Australia from Vietnam, as was the case Saturday, the plane turns around, the cops are called in and the man is taken to the hospital. The Reuters story about the incident ominously notes: “Several Australians of Vietnamese descent have been arrested for trafficking heroin to Australia from Vietnam in recent years and at least four were sentenced to death.”
Bhutan Opens Up to Tourists, Globalization and Matt Lauer
by Michael Yessis | 05.07.07 | 4:15 PM ET
Only seven years ago satellite television was banned in Bhutan. Since then, the landlocked kingdom squeezed between India and Tibet has opened itself to waves of outside influence. “Today, globalization is officially sanctioned,” Somini Sengupta writes in the New York Times, “and it is rushing in fast.” The Today Show’s Matt Lauer dropped in last week with cameras rolling during his “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” jaunt, and Hollywood types such as Uma Thurman and Cameron Diaz are reportedly frequent visitors. Non A-listers are making their way to Bhutan, too, and Thuji Dorji Nadik, joint director in the Department of Tourism, told Reuters reporter Simon Denyer that the arrival of the masses has put the country in danger of becoming a victim of its own success.
Thousands Get Naked in Mexico City’s Zócalo
by Jim Benning | 05.07.07 | 11:30 AM ET
An estimated 20,000 people disrobed in the main plaza, all for the lens of photographer Spencer Tunick. Reports the Washington Post: “His arrival was preceded by weighty philosophical battles about public nudity. The prominent Mexican art critic Raquel Tibol declared that Tunick’s photos would be ‘an antidote to Mexican prudishness,’ while the Spanish critic Roman Gubern sniffed that the photographer’s work is redundant and doesn’t appear artistic.” Tunick’s first choice for the photo shoot was Teotihuacan, with its ancient ruins, but the government refused him that.
A Traveler’s Account of Dengue Fever
by Jim Benning | 05.07.07 | 10:24 AM ET
Photo by ÇP, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
On the way home from a vacation in New Zealand, Pamela Ferdinand stopped off in the Cook Islands, including Aitutaki. It seemed like an idyllic way to cap off her South Pacific holiday. She didn’t know an outbreak of dengue fever was hitting the region; she knew all too well after she returned home. As she writes in Sunday’s Washington Post, “The next week I lay in torment at my home in Cambridge, Mass., alternately suffering chills and sweats with excruciating joint pain, bleeding under the skin and severe dehydration that landed me in the hospital for nearly a week.” She recounts her painful recovery—she lost seven pounds along the way—and offers a fine overview of the mosquito-borne illness.
Happy 25th Anniversary Rough Guides
by Michael Yessis | 05.07.07 | 7:50 AM ET
They’re half the age of Arthur Frommer’s guides, and not quite as old as Lonely Planet, but for many travelers Rough Guides are equally influential and loved. Mark Ellingham started the company 25 years ago with a volume on Greece, and several British papers have put together packages celebrating his vision and his travels. The Times compiles a list of 25 wonders of the world, the Independent spends a day with Ellingham and the Guardian asks him and his long-time colleague, Martin Dunford, for their 25 all-time favorite travel experiences.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Hawaii, Highways and One Hot Book
by Michael Yessis | 05.04.07 | 5:14 PM ET
‘I Used Arthur Frommer’s ‘Europe on 5 Dollars a Day’’
by Michael Yessis | 05.04.07 | 3:05 PM ET
We recently noted the 50th anniversary of the classic travel guide, Arthur Frommer’s “Europe on 5 Dollars a Day.” USA Today’s Kitty Bean Yancey pays tribute today by taking a trip to Paris in search of answers to the questions, “[D]o his budget staples survive? And can a euro-trashed tourist find satisfaction there today?” Yancey also turns back the clock, sharing a terrific journal entry—and a great photo of her hitchhiking—she wrote in 1971 while traveling in Paris with the guidance of “5 Dollars.”
‘Our Consultants Are Now Very Excited About Selling Space Travel’
by Jim Benning | 05.04.07 | 9:43 AM ET
So says the operator of a travel agency in Dubai. We don’t often note articles in travel trade publications, but we can’t help pointing out this piece about a training session for travel agents selling space travel. It’s not that there’s anything particularly newsworthy here. It’s that space travel is treated like just another travel commodity—say, a Caribbean cruise.
Restaurants ‘Nudge Diners’ in Campaign for Zagat Votes
by Michael Yessis | 05.04.07 | 8:26 AM ET
The Zagat guides took another punch this week. The New York Post’s Steve Cuozzo revealed that restaurant owners in New York are mounting e-mail campaigns to have diners vote for their restaurants, a practice allegedly forbidden by the Zagats. Yet, according to the Post, the Zagats don’t seem to be enforcing their rules.
Indians: Would Somebody Please Move the Boeing 737 in the Street?
by Jim Benning | 05.03.07 | 3:15 PM ET
A decommissioned Boeing 737 that was being towed through Mumbai five days ago has been abandoned on a busy street, the BBC reports. Apparently the driver reached an impasse in the road and simply took off, leaving the fuselage behind. It was reportedly being transported to a flight school with its wings and tail removed. While some are angry, others see the plane as an intriguing new tourist attraction. Here’s the real kicker: “The driver has not been seen since and no-one is assuming responsibility for the 737.”
The Rise of the Portable In-Flight Entertainment System
by Jim Benning | 05.03.07 | 9:20 AM ET
Airline passengers have been using laptop computers and portable DVD players to watch movies for some time now, but increasingly, airlines themselves have been offering portable viewing devices, especially on international flights. This week, American Airlines has upped the ante by offering first- and business-class passengers the latest gee-whiz portable devices on some domestic cross-country flights, USA Today reports. The devices feature a seven-inch touch-screen monitor, first-run movies and updated news. The huddled masses in economy class can also try out a modest version for a fee on a limited number of domestic flights. Such systems just might be the future of in-flight entertainment, particularly since, according to the paper, “they are cheaper than installing seatback entertainment systems.”
Related on World Hum:
* United Airlines Switches to Coke. Uh, Hooray?
* The End of the Middle Seat?
* Sports Bars Go Airborne: ‘We Definitely Sell a Lot More Liquor When Games Are On’
Photo courtesy of American Airlines.
‘Terminal Men’ Spend Almost Seven Weeks Living in Delhi Airport
by Michael Yessis | 05.03.07 | 7:16 AM ET
Two Bangladeshi men recently lived in the Delhi airport for 48 days after being turned away from Riyadh and having their passports held by Saudi Arabian authorities, according to a Reuters report. The duo reportedly “would often request the eatery staff to give them some work—not to earn money but to pass time.” It’s an epic stay, but no comparison to Merhan Nasseri‘s legendary residence at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Nasseri inspired the 2004 Spielberg-Hanks flick “The Terminal” and Alfred Merhan’s book “The Terminal Man.”
Related on World Hum:
* Adventures in ‘Airworld’
* Tale of a Travel Martyr
* Airports Get Their Pop Culture Close-Up
* What a Difference Between the Quality of the Items Handed Out by Air France and at the Shelters!
Theme Parks Bound for Mumbai and Dubai
by Jim Benning | 05.02.07 | 3:24 PM ET
Here at the Planet Theme Park desk, it’s hard to keep up with all the projects in the works, but we try. In the latest news, a $100 million Bollywood theme park is planned for the Indian city of Mumbai—or Bombay if you’re a certain UK newspaper apparently still in denial about that whole name change thing that was so 1995.
