Travel Blog
Editor’s Note of the Month
by Jim Benning | 04.25.06 | 11:43 AM ET
It appears something went more than a little wrong in a recent Christian Science Monitor travel column. Click on the link for an April 14 story intriguingly entitled Backstory: Flying with Kimmie, Kimmie, and Kimmie, and the following message appears in place of a story: “[Editor’s note: The original article satirized the airline industry using what was supposed to be a fictitious carrier, Trans States Airlines. A Trans States Airlines has existed since 1982. The regional carrier, which provides service for United Airlines, American Airlines, and US Airways, won the regional airline of the year award in 2004 from Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. The Monitor never intended to make any observations about this airline and regrets the error.]” Ouch.
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Yahoo! BuzzExploring the “Hungry Planet”
by Jim Benning | 04.24.06 | 5:49 PM ET
Our favorite Washington Post travel book critic, Jerry V. Haines, reviewed an intriguing new title Sunday, Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. It’s a collection of coffee-table-quality photos and writing about what families eat and drink in 24 countries. Writes Haines: “We watch them cook and learn how they shop or forage: hunting seals, traveling three hours down a mountain to buy fresh fruit, braving a crowded Chinese supermarket as loud as ‘a football stadium in overtime.’ We encounter puzzles, such as why we’re getting fatter as we get unhealthier. Or why Okinawa has so many centenarians: Could it be their dictum, ‘Eat only until 80 percent full’?” It’s a great idea for a book.
McSweeney’s and the “Pocket Guide to the Middle East”
by Frank Bures | 04.24.06 | 12:07 PM ET
The new McSweeney’s arrived in my mailbox the other day, and I noticed the package (a nicely done, war-themed cigar box) had a small travel element: a reprint of the Department of Defense’s 1957 “Pocket Guide to the Middle East.” Some of the stories we’ve heard in the news would suggest suggest the Pentagon should hand out a few more of these. Among the helpful tips: “When you shake a Moslem’s hand, do it gently. He is unaccustomed to a firm grip and to vigorous pumping action.” And: “If you are burdened with racial prejudices, conceal them carefully. The Moslem draws no color line. He will appreciate it, too, if you treat his servants with consideration.” And perhaps the most badly needed: “You’ll find these people good company because most of them have a sense of humor. Not only are they charming and courteous hosts, but they are intensely loyal to their friends. Make friends with them. You won’t regret it.” The guide’s text is not available online.
Kinsley: “These days, my dream doesn’t involve bedbugs and jackals, but a five-star hotel in Rome”
by Michael Yessis | 04.21.06 | 12:27 PM ET
And that’s just one reason he’s eschewing a chance to win a trip with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. “I try to picture the scene,” he writes in an odd but amusing slam of the globetrotting Kristof today in Slate. “It’s the middle of the night. We’re in a small tent pitched on the rocky slope of a mountain trail: me, Nick, our trusty guide, three prostitutes we’ve rescued from a life of sex slavery, and four local businessmen unjustly accused of insider trading on the village’s primitive, hand-pumped stock exchange. Outside, the jackals are yelping. Inside, nature is calling. Urgently. Am I man enough to face the jackals, or masochist enough to wait until morning? Answer: Whatever. I’m tough. I can handle either of these. But ultimately, the jackals are less terrifying than the thought of one more minute listening to Nick’s tales of all the real adventures he’s been on that make this one seem like a game of paddycakes. I flee the tent, am devoured by the jackals, and Kristof gets a column out of it.” Kinsley says he’s holding out to win a trip with Tom Friedman or, maybe, Maureen Dowd.
Santa Maria del Tule, Mexico
by Ben Keene | 04.21.06 | 11:02 AM ET
Coordinates: 17 2 N 96 37 W
Weight of tree: 636 tons
Speaking about Earth Day, the grassroots initiative he started on April 22, 1970, former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson remarked: “The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” Mi Amigo el Arbol, one example of an environmental group that shares this perspective, devotes itself to protecting Mexico’s most famous tree. Arguably the largest single biomass on the planet, the giant cypress known as the Arbol de Tule has been a constant presence for generations in the Oaxacan town of Santa Maria del Tule. It’s estimated to be over 2,000 years old. The tree’s health is now threatened by the strain human activity places on the aquifer beneath its ancient roots. Tomorrow marks the 36th anniversary of Earth Day.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
Notes From the Global Travel & Tourism Summit
by Michael Yessis | 04.20.06 | 2:27 PM ET
Last week in Washington DC, travel ministers, travel company CEOs and other industry bigwigs gathered for a three-day Global Travel & Tourism Summit, an event that, if my Google searches are any indication, didn’t get much coverage from major media outlets. That’s not just a shame. It’s practically unconscionable. The travel industry is central to the economies of so many countries around the world, and here in the United States, the number of incoming visitors is at its lowest rate since 1992. According to a story on Hotelmarketing.com about the summit, the U.S. market share for international travel has decreased 35 percent, which has cost the country’s economy $286 billion. Yes, that’s billion.
Bon Jovi Comes to Aid of New Jersey Tourism
by Michael Yessis | 04.20.06 | 1:23 PM ET
Where would oft-bashed New Jersey be without its homegrown rock stars? I can’t think of any state that gains more from its association from musicians, namely Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi. The latter has donated its latest hit song, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” to New Jersey’s latest tourism campaign.
Study Travel Writing in Paris
by Jim Benning | 04.19.06 | 1:06 PM ET
Rolf Potts will teach his annual creative writing workshop in July at the Paris American Academy. According to the course description, “Since the Paris setting is ripe for place-based narrative, travel writing will be a central aspect of this workshop—but students will also be encouraged to explore the art of memoir, as well as the ins and outs of literary journalism.”
Talking Travel Writing at the L.A. Times Festival of Books
by Jim Benning | 04.19.06 | 12:31 PM ET
For Southern California book lovers, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is, hands down, the must-attend event each spring, mainly because of the terrific panel discussions. This year, the festival takes place at UCLA on April 29 and 30. Two panels are of particular interest to travel-lit fans, and both are conveniently scheduled for Sunday.
Tony Wheeler Goes to Iraq
by Jim Benning | 04.19.06 | 11:59 AM ET
While the Lonely Planet co-founder says one would “have to be crazy” to visit much of the country, he offers tips for visitors on his blog.
Non-Profit to ‘Ugly Americans’: Slow Down, Shut Up and Learn How to Listen
by Jim Benning | 04.18.06 | 6:47 PM ET
Business for Diplomatic Action, a U.S.-based non-profit funded by American companies and working in concert with the U.S. State Department, plans to issue a guide for American business travelers featuring 16 etiquette tips to improve America’s reputation abroad. According to the organization, people around the world resent the U.S. because of its foreign policy, globalization, the pervasiveness of American culture and the “perceived” personality of its citizens. “Research from 130 countries confirms that Americans are broadly perceived by others as arrogant, ignorant, lacking in humility, loud and unwilling to listen,” the group’s Web site reports.
The 2006 Pulitzer Prizes: And the Travel-Writing Winner Is…
by Jim Benning | 04.18.06 | 5:57 PM ET
Oh, wait. Whoops. Our mistake. There is no Pulitzer travel category. Just another reminder of how low the regard is for travel writing in the American newspaper biz. It’s too bad, too, because the travel section is where most Americans are likely to first encounter published travel writing. On a brighter note, congratulations to the winners announced yesterday, including our friends at the San Diego Union-Tribune, who single-handedly uncovered the misdeeds of one very crooked congressman.
Freedom of the Seas: The New Biggest Cruise Ship
by Michael Yessis | 04.18.06 | 11:45 AM ET
The former biggest cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2, is six meters longer, but Royal Caribbean’s new 4,375-passenger capacity Freedom of the Seas is 15 meters wider, reports the BBC. As we mentioned a few months ago, this is the one with the FlowRider “surfing pool” on board, and it’s creating a stir in Hamburg on the eve of its maiden transatlantic voyage. Waiting in the wings to become the next new biggest ship, though, is a $1 billion cruise liner, which Royal Caribbean hopes will make its debut in 2009. After that, I imagine we’ll welcome the $2 billion cruise ship, a Delaware-sized vessel with a 32 screen multiplex, 17 Starbucks coffee outlets and a NASCAR oval.
Rick Bass Ponders the Fate of the West
by Michael Yessis | 04.17.06 | 1:50 PM ET
The Western part of the U.S., that is. “It’s a long way from San Diego to Denver, from Seattle to Albuquerque, and yet there remain some undeniable if intangible threads unifying Westerners,” the O. Henry Award-winning author writes in a terrific cover essay for this week’s issue of West magazine. “A hundred and forty years ago, Major John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War veteran who explored the Grand Canyon and much of the rest of the West, said the unifying thread was water, or the absence of it, and for sure that was, and largely is, one of the major physical threads. But there is something else too, some unseen thread of spirit.” Bass’s story is available through the Los Angeles Times Web site, but registration is required.
‘Airport’: An Animated Short Created Entirely With Transportation Symbol Signs
by Michael Yessis | 04.17.06 | 12:14 PM ET
Iain Anderson used the universal transportation icons—the neckless representations of men and women with the perfectly round heads, airplanes and other symbols—to create a clever animated short film, Airport. The symbols are in the public domain, and Anderson used them to tell the story of a guy who takes a trip. It’s fun, even if you have to watch the animated little guy wait in line at immigration. Via Boing Boing.
