Travel Blog
Branson on Fossett: ‘He Truly Was the Adventurer’s Adventurer’
by Julia Ross | 10.15.07 | 9:55 AM ET
Now that the air search for Steve Fossett has been called off, at least one longtime friend has stepped forward to pay tribute to the life of the millionaire adventurer. Writing for Time, Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson praises Fossett’s seemingly indefatigable pioneer spirit. “He began adventuring in a modest way, swimming the English Channel in 1985, ” Branson recalls. “Over the next 22 years, he amassed 115 records in aviation, gliding, ballooning, sailing, boating, mountaineering, skiing, triathlon, even dogsledding. He truly was the adventurer’s adventurer.”
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Yahoo! BuzzMeet Eric Anderson, Space Tourism Middleman
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.15.07 | 9:43 AM ET
If you have an extra $30 million or so, you can buy a ticket on a Russian spacecraft and sing among the stars. And the man best suited for making your space travel dreams come true? A 33-year-old Northern Virginia-based entrepreneur named Eric Anderson, who has already sold five such trips to business moguls and has been credited with revitalizing the interest in private space vacations, according to a recent profile in USA Today.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: The Power and the Glory
by Michael Yessis | 10.12.07 | 2:17 PM ET
This week travelers immersed themselves in the power of nature—and travel—from Yosemite to Mexico City to Easter Island. Here’s the Zeitgeist.
Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
The Fall Glory of Yosemite National Park
* The Times also has a terrific slide show.
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Flight Stats
Most Read Feature
World Hum (posted this week)
Where the Roads Diverged
* “Wow,” said one commenter of Catherine Watson’s powerful Easter Island piece. “Easily one of the best travel stories I’ve ever read.”
Most Read Blog Post
World Hum (posted this week)
Three Travel Tips: Traveling With Your Laptop
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
What to Tip, in 77 countries
* Or, in the case of Japan, what not to tip.
Top Ranked Travel Story
Propeller (this week)
Online Guide To Thailand
Luggage We Have Loved
by Julia Ross | 10.12.07 | 1:48 PM ET
I recently parted ways with a beloved North Face backpack, one that had seen me through seven years of delayed flights, typhoon rains and a would-be pickpocket in Shanghai. Its zippers had broken down irretrievably, the plastic lining was crumbling, and the water bottle pockets had stretched way beyond their usefulness. When I finally surrendered the pack to a recycling truck in Taiwan, I felt a small stab of grief and wondered how I could ever replace it.
Women’s Travel E-Mail Roundtable Wrap Up
by Michael Yessis | 10.12.07 | 11:58 AM ET
Thanks to Stephanie Elizondo Griest, Liz Sinclair, Terry Ward and Catherine Watson for participating in our first-ever roundtable this week. The compelling discussion touched on everything from the perils of traveling for women to reasons why everyone—male or female—should consider hitting the road alone. All twelve installments are linked below.
Secret Thoughts of Travelers Revealed
by Terry Ward | 10.12.07 | 11:03 AM ET
PostSecret is one of those Web sites I wander onto and proceed to lose a good half morning. The site’s founder, Frank Warren, invites strangers to send him their deepest, often darkest secrets on a handmade postcard. The results range from enlightening to downright disturbing. So I was interested to see this recent Frequent Flier piece in the New York Times relaying the secret thoughts of travelers, as mailed to Warren.
Travels in Afghanistan: ‘This is no Ordinary Vacation’
by Michael Yessis | 10.11.07 | 3:37 PM ET
That realization hit Cassie Biggs 40 minutes into her flight to Afghanistan, which to me seems, oh, at least 40 minutes too late. Afghanistan is, after all, a war zone. Yet among a certain breed of curious travelers it’s showing signs of returning to popularity—Lonely Planet just released a new guidebook—and even for those who, like Biggs, are just looking for “something unusual to do” for a birthday. In a story for the AP about her trip, Biggs writes about a country where the signs of war and destruction are all around, yet she still finds things one might see on an “ordinary vacation.” She writes: “[W]hat I found on a week-long trip was a surprisingly green country with incredibly welcoming people. Often peeping from beneath those enveloping burqas I saw strappy high-heeled sandals and crimson-colored toenails.”
515 Years Later, Columbus Controversy Endures
by Eva Holland | 10.11.07 | 6:57 AM ET
In fourteen hundred and ninety-two…the Pinzons sailed the ocean blue? If descendants of Martin and Vicente Pinzon have their way, Christopher Columbus could be sharing some of the credit for his 15th century “discovery” of America. The two brothers piloted the Nina and the Pinta alongside the Santa Maria on the famous voyage, but have been largely forgotten today. “I’d like the name to get recognized,” Bob Pinzon told the AP. “I think Columbus got too much credit.”
Faro, Sweden: Through a Remote Island, Brightly
by Joanna Kakissis | 10.10.07 | 4:38 PM ET
I’m a sucker for quirky, remote places that revel in their magical weirdness. So after reading Danielle Pergament’s fabulous New York Times piece on Ingmar Bergman‘s home island of Faro, Sweden, I’m already dreaming of a Storybook Hollow wonderland of verdant fields, giant mushrooms, wild strawberry fields and a cast of enchanted characters. “Like Bergman, Faro is remote,” writes Pergament. “Getting to the island, off the eastern coast of Sweden, takes a plane, a train or a bus, a car and two ferries. Which is exactly what made it so appealing to the reclusive Bergman.”
New Travel Book: ‘Make the Most of Your Time on Earth’
by Terry Ward | 10.10.07 | 11:17 AM ET
Full title: “Make the Most of Your Time on Earth: The Rough Guide to the World”
Author: Multiple authors
Released: Oct. 1, 2007
Travel genre: List-happy, trip-triggering tome
David Byrne Goes to Graceland
by Michael Yessis | 10.10.07 | 7:01 AM ET
And beyond. Last month David Byrne and his daughter Malu spent a week driving from New York to Los Angeles, a road trip he chronicled with terrific detail and insight on his Web site. The former Talking Heads leader slept at Holiday Inns and Best Westerns, stayed at Dollywood until it closed for the night, digressed about ads for plastic surgeons in a Tennessee tabloid, ate Texas steak and made a pilgrimage to Graceland to visit another musician known for his eccentric choice in suits.
The Che Image, 40 Years Later
by Jim Benning | 10.09.07 | 5:32 PM ET
Forty years ago today, Che Guevara was killed by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers, and the anniversary has prompted gatherings around the Latin world—Bolivian President Evo Morales, fresh off a visit to The Daily Show, choppered in for an event near the site where Che was killed. Predictably, media outlets have published a slew of stories about the man, the myth, the travelers on the “Che Trail” and the iconic image.
Rambo in Burma: ‘This is a Hellhole Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’
by Eva Holland | 10.09.07 | 3:30 PM ET
An unlikely commentator has emerged on human rights in Burma. Sylvester Stallone, who recently spent time on the Thai-Burmese border while filming a new “Rambo” movie, is speaking out about the isolated regime’s ongoing war with ethnic minorities in outlying areas of the country. (He was there before the military crackdown on protesting Buddhist monks.) “I witnessed the aftermath—survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off. We saw many elephants with blown off legs,” Stallone said in an AP story. He added that people in his crew were threatened and had warning shots fired at them, while some of the families of his Burmese extras wound up in prison.
Zen and the Art of Strolling Past Bob Dole While Boarding a Plane
by Jim Benning | 10.09.07 | 1:47 PM ET
I was boarding a flight from San Diego to Washington D.C. last week when I looked up to see former U.S. senator, presidential candidate and erectile dysfunction medication pitchman Bob Dole. He was seated in the last row of first class, rosy-cheeked, with a crisp button-down shirt, watching the hoi polloi shuffle past. He had a vaguely self-satisfied grin on his face that seemed to say, Hey, I may be a fiscal conservative, but I’m willing to cough up something extra for comfort, and boy am I going to be more comfortable than you, with your “complimentary beverage service” and $5 “snack boxes,” during the next five hours.
‘The Darjeeling Limited’: A New Wanderers’ Classic?
by Elisabeth Eaves | 10.09.07 | 11:53 AM ET
Hollywood rarely produces a great travel film. It endlessly mines the road trip for material but doesn’t get at the actual experience of travel, the drama of which, for most of us, involves neither bad guys nor tragic endings, but rather logistical snafus and the occasional small epiphany. So it was with trepidation that I approached director Wes Anderson’s new movie The Darjeeling Limited, about three bumbling brothers on a train trip through India. By the end, though, I wanted to join the protagonists as they ran, yet again, for the train. “The Darjeeling Limited” is a fresh and funny lesson in that most ancient piece of travel wisdom—it’s about the journey, stupid, not the destination.
