Travel Blog
Promo Videos Gone Wrong: ‘Tourist’
by Eva Holland | 03.05.09 | 9:46 AM ET
OK, OK. So this isn’t precisely a promotional video from a hapless tourism board. But still, this hilariously dated trailer for a 1980 made-for-TV movie, Tourist—described as “an adventure-filled journey through the glamor capitals of Europe”—fits the bill and gets a chuckle or two, don’t you think?
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Yahoo! BuzzMorning Links: Michael Lewis Asks About Bjork in Reykjavík, Yoko Ono’s Travel Daydreams and More
by Michael Yessis | 03.05.09 | 8:06 AM ET
Where are the Elegies to the World’s Troubled Landscapes?
by Joanna Kakissis | 03.04.09 | 4:02 PM ET
The Eagles were on to something in 1976, when they lamented the pillaging of the western American landscape in “The Last Resort.” As eco-awareness of global warming makes major headlines, and movie stars and scientists link hands to march against coal-fired power plants, I wonder: Where are the music videos? The equivalent of “We Are The World,” climate-change edition? Or at least a few elegies to the troubled landscapes of our world?
Then I came across “Uyan (Wake Up),” a song about the ravages of environmental irresponsibility released late last year by hunky Turkish pop star Tarkan and baglama viruoso Orhan Gencebay. It’s a fabulous tune, brimming with eastern Mediterranean soul and accompanied by a video (see below) featuring the sexier-than-thou Tarkan and the comfortably weathered Gencebay jamming in a cracked and desiccated land—likely a reference to the fact that great swathes of Turkey are in danger of desertification.
So, inspired by Tarkan and Orhan Gencebay, I compiled a short list of place-evoking environmental songs. I’d love to hear your picks—and if you think eco-songs can save fragile lands, or at least get people thinking that they should stop abusing them.
The Angelina Jolie of Olive Trees
by David Farley | 03.04.09 | 2:24 PM ET
If you have an extra $90 sitting around and a long-standing desire to tell people at cocktail parties that you own an olive tree in the Italian countryside (and, really, who doesn’t these days?) then this site is for you. For just under a hundred bucks per year, you can adopt an olive tree in Italy. There’s no word if the tree will send you letters telling you about its progress, but you will get some of its goods—two liters’ worth.
Lost and Found: Jack Kerouac’s First Novel
by Eva Holland | 03.04.09 | 1:11 PM ET
It looks like another previously unpublished Kerouac novel has surfaced, and is set to land in bookstores in the near future. “The Sea is my Brother” was written while Kerouac worked in the merchant marine, and according to his notes it tells the story of “the vanishing American, the big free by, the American Indian, the last of the pioneers, the last of the hoboes.” (Via The Book Bench)
Feeling Seasonable?
by Alexander Basek | 03.04.09 | 11:17 AM ET
So, let’s talk Four Seasons. Not the actual seasons—we’re getting plenty of winter fun here in New York—but the hotel chain. Worldwide, the Four Seasons is luring guests with third-night-free packages at about 40 properties. The offer’s ubiquity is what makes it such a value, though you should hurry as it expires come the end of March.
Down in Texas, you needn’t even spend the night to get a taste of Four Season goodness. The Houston and Austin properties have special offers for visitors who want to check out the facilities. Austin’s package features a massage, lunch and day-long use of the steam room for about $160 bucks; in Houston, you can drop $20 for access to the pool on weekends. Depends on how much you’re spending on a day at the spa in the first place, but should your plan to survive the economic downturn involve finding a sugar mommy or daddy, the outlay may prove worth your while.
‘Model’ Behavior From Southwest?
by Rob Verger | 03.04.09 | 10:28 AM ET
Would you feel offended if your Southwest plane had an enormous decal of Sports Illustrated model Bar Refaeli on it? Or if you saw the plane in question—called “S.I. One”—at an airport?
Today in the Sky has a good roundup of some of the negative reactions the plane has generated.
A quick glimpse at the comments below a photo of the plane shared by Southwest via TwitPic reveals that some don’t care so much (one commenter wrote: “The Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is mainstream, and hardly controversial”), some disapprove (another wrote: “Tacky and sexist. Boo”) and others just want to joke about it.
As for me, all humor aside, I say: I think it was in poor taste to put this image on a plane. It’s a step too far. (Via Today in the Sky)
New York Dubs West 53rd St. ‘U2 Way’
by Eva Holland | 03.04.09 | 9:27 AM ET
In honor of the Irish band’s unprecedented five-night appearance on Letterman this week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has temporarily renamed a section of West 53rd Street “U2 Way,” the AP reports. The section being renamed is close to the intersection of 53rd and Broadway, where the Late Show is taped. It’s a fine idea, I suppose (and a nice bonus promotion for the brand-new album, too), but if any street in North America is going to be named after U2, shouldn’t it be the one where this video was filmed? (Via NewYorkology)
Morning Links: Best Job in the World Finalists, ‘Narco-Tours’ and More
by Michael Yessis | 03.04.09 | 8:18 AM ET
- The 50-person short list for Tourism Queensland’s “best job in the world” includes a man who staged a musical on an Ontario street and Geek Brief’s Cali Lewis.
- The Tsunami Museum commemorating the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami is open in Indonesia.
- China plans to open its earthquake ruins to tourists.
- Interesting essay by Alexei Tsvetkov on leaving Prague: “In the end some people here will probably miss me, but not many, not too much, and not for long.” (via The Rumpus)
- Ryan Adams: Travel writer? BlackBook has his take on Hollywood. Here are his musical takes on New York and Jacksonville.
- “Narco-tours” are on the rise in Mexico.
- Independent Traveler lists 10 reasons you should travel now.
- Esquire lists the 59 best breakfast places in America.
- Are you an, uh, anal traveler? (via BootsnAll Today)
- How great is this: John Wray will be giving a reading from his new book Lowboy while traveling on a Brooklyn-bound L train next week. Details in this video.
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Is ‘One Week’ Canada’s ‘Into the Wild’?
by Eva Holland | 03.03.09 | 3:41 PM ET
For such a vast (and, like its neighbor, public-transportation-challenged) country, Canada hasn’t produced as many great road trip movies as you might expect. Sure, there’s the quirky Thunder Bay-to-New Orleans indie, Highway 61, but most of the action takes place south of the border. And Dan Aykroyd’s brief cameo in “Canadian Bacon” never gets old, but if you want to be a purist about it, that’s an American-made movie. So there’s a void waiting to be filled here—and this week, we may finally have a candidate to fill it.
One Week stars Joshua Jackson as the terminally ill Ben, who decides to give up the daily grind and ride a vintage motorcycle from Toronto to Tofino, British Columbia, visiting corny landmarks and touching random strangers’ lives in unexpected ways as he goes. (Sound familiar?) Throw in a few cameos from Canadian rockers, an inevitable hockey reference or two, and some stunning wide-angle shots of mountains and prairie, and you get—as the Globe and Mail’s Liam Lacey puts it—an “alarmingly life-affirming road movie.” The film opens across Canada this Friday. There’s no word yet on a U.S. release, but we’ll keep you posted; I’m betting the scenery alone will make this one worth seeking out. Check out the trailer and see for yourself:
The Saint From Moloka’i
by Pam Mandel | 03.03.09 | 2:07 PM ET
He wasn’t named Father Damien at birth. He was Joseph De Veuster, a Belgian, a son of wealthy farmers. He became Father Damien at his ordination, and in 1873, after a few years on the Big Island and Maui, he went to work on Moloka’i, caring for the forgotten people of Kalaupapa, victims of Hansen’s disease—then called leprosy—abandoned to their fate on a remote peninsula.
Father Damien built churches and taught his religion, of course, but he was also instrumental in ensuring that the community had a working water supply. There’s a bronze statue of Father Damien, always covered in flower leis, “up top”—it stands outside a church he built in spite of the fact that the Board of Health expressly forbid him to visit with those “outside.” Father Damien contracted Hansen’s disease and died at age 49. Because of miracles attributed to the Moloka’i priest, Father Damien will officially become a saint on October 11.
Martha Stewart: Travel Writer
by Eva Holland | 03.03.09 | 1:11 PM ET
The homemaking maven will soon be penning an “occasional personal travel column” for Martha Stewart Living, Mediaweek reports. Said the acting editor-in-chief: “Martha has been blogging about her trips and gets tons of hits on her blogs.” The first column, covering Stewart’s recent trip to Prague, is due out in April; the shift is part of a larger effort to broaden the magazine’s editorial content and appeal to new advertisers. In this tough publishing climate, I suppose it’s a good thing.
Sawasdee, Golden Arches
by Julia Ross | 03.03.09 | 12:35 PM ET
Anyone who has frequented a suburban swimming pool or beach resort on the East Coast in recent summers should be familiar, by now, with the sound of consonant-heavy Eastern European accents piercing the salt air. That’s because thousands of college students from places like Moldova and Ukraine arrive each year to work summer gigs as lifeguards, waitresses or hotel clerks under the increasingly popular J-1 student visa program.
Now comes word that the next big J-1 wave could be from Thailand. GlobalPost reports that large numbers of Thai students have begun securing summer visas to work at U.S. fast food joints, with McDonald’s emerging as the workplace of choice. The story portrays the students as single-minded in their endeavor, trudging dutifully to the local Mickey D’s in unglamorous locales like Pittsburgh and Mobile, determined to parlay foreign work experience into hospitality-related jobs back in Bangkok. I hope they’re working in some fun as well. If the Serbian kids who staffed my sister’s pool outside Washington, D.C., last summer are any indication, I’d advise the Thais to consult their Eastern European counterparts on the finer points of letting loose.
I’m not in McDonald’s often (maybe twice a year), but I’ll keep an eye out this summer to see if the trend has reached the nation’s capital.
South America: Sticker Shock at the Border?
by Eva Holland | 03.03.09 | 11:39 AM ET
I’ve heard more than a few stories of shoestring travelers in South America getting burned by three-digit entry fees that they didn’t see coming. Luckily, BootsnAll has come to the rescue, with this detailed breakdown of existing visa and reciprocity fees for Americans. The article also includes a few hints and (legal) workarounds to reduce the number of fees you wind up paying. Gracias!
Oklahoma Officially Rocks
by Sophia Dembling | 03.03.09 | 10:55 AM ET
Like I’ve been telling you, Oklahoma rocks. “Do You Realize??” by the Flaming Lips has been voted the state’s official rock song, beating out other Oklahoman-written rockers “Heartbreak Hotel,” “After Midnight,” “Never Been to Spain” (but, if you will recall, “I’ve been to Oklahoma”) and others. Read about the finalists, then listen to the winner on the Flaming Lips’ website or in concert video after the jump.
