Travel Blog
RV Industry on ‘RV’ the Movie: Show Us the Money!
by Jim Benning | 04.14.06 | 4:14 PM ET
Yup. Coming to theaters later this month is the movie “RV,” in which a father played by Robin Williams takes the family on a road trip to Colorado in a big, lane-spanning recreational vehicle. Could be funny, could be awful. But the RV industry is understandably delighted.
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Yahoo! BuzzMovie Review: ‘Mountain Patrol: Kekexili’
by Ben Keene | 04.14.06 | 2:33 PM ET
The menacing howl of the wind across a barren plateau 13,000 feet above sea level. The sharp cry of vultures circling over the carcasses of hundreds of chiru (Tibetan antelope) slaughtered for their downy fur. The crackle of flames leaping from a rusty Land Rover abandoned by suspected poachers. These are the sounds of Mountain Patrol: Kekexili, the latest dramatic release from National Geographic World Films, which opens in select theaters this weekend. I was invited to an advance screening Wednesday and was both entertained and educated.
Los Angeles Times Pulls Plug on Travel Blog
by Jim Benning | 04.14.06 | 1:14 PM ET
Air Passengers May Be Responsible for Mumps Outbreak
by Michael Yessis | 04.14.06 | 1:00 PM ET
Two travelers who flew on nine different flights on Northwest Airlines and American Airlines during late March and early April may be responsible for a mumps outbreak in the Midwest, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Health authorities are asking those who flew on the flights to see a doctor if they begin showing signs of the disease. A Reuters report has all the details about which flights were affected and what symptoms to look for.
Chodová Planá, Czech Republic
by Ben Keene | 04.14.06 | 9:45 AM ET
Coordinates: 49 50N 12 44E
Annual beer production: 2,378,000 gallons (90,000 hectoliters)
Clever advertisers may have come up with the slogan “Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach” for the Dutch brewer, but it took Czech ingenuity to turn a tagline into reality. Perhaps in an effort to cater to a local population that leads the world in per capita beer consumption, the Chodovar Family Brewery in Western Bohemia recently began offering a unique type of therapy in the form of real beer baths. Bizarre as the notion of soaking in a hot tub of yeast and herbs may sound to some, the owners certainly chose their location well—the geothermal activity beneath this forested region of the country has drawn people to its salubrious spas and mineral springs for centuries.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
Think All McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets in the World Are Created Equal?
by Jim Benning | 04.13.06 | 10:52 PM ET
In our About Us section, we celebrate travel in the Age of Globalization, noting, “A visit to a McDonald’s in Shanghai is still nothing like a visit to a McDonald’s in Durban or Auckland or Newark.” We were thinking in cultural terms, but it turns out the same is true when it comes to nutrition, too. According to an AP story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, a study of KFC and McDonald’s restaurants around the globe found that the same menu items—including McDonald’s chicken nuggets and KFC hot wings—varied widely in artery-clogging trans fat content from country to country, and even from city to city. It turns out, for example, that hot wings-and-fries in New York had far less trans fats than in Poland and Hungary, and that a chicken nuggets combo in New York City had far more trans fats than the same combo in Denmark, Spain and Russia. Researchers blame the different kinds of oils used.
Getting Religion on the Road
by Jim Benning | 04.13.06 | 9:10 PM ET
The Joys and Perils of Travel Romance
by Jim Benning | 04.13.06 | 8:41 PM ET
If you fall headlong for someone you meet on a trip, should you try to rekindle the romance back home? No way, Rolf Potts writes in his latest Yahoo! column: “It simply doesn’t work. Ever.” Potts offers up as evidence the case of Katia, the willowy, doe-eyed Belgian woman he spent a glorious week with in Thailand. Long after their meeting, at her invitation, he visited her in Brussels. As he explains in agonizing detail, “[T]hings fell apart almost immediately.”
2006 Webby Award Nominees Announced
by Michael Yessis | 04.13.06 | 12:36 PM ET
Webby Awards are given in dozens of categories, two that are of direct interest here: travel and tourism. As with the ongoing traveler vs. tourist debate, I’m not quite sure of the difference between the two categories, and I’m not sure the Webby nominators are either. For instance, coolcapitals.com, one of the nominees in the travel category, is credited to, um, the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions. Nominees were announced Tuesday. They are:
Celebrating “the World’s Nastiest Outhouse”
by Jim Benning | 04.12.06 | 11:40 AM ET
Okay, perhaps “celebrating” isn’t quite the right word. In Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, John Flinn recalls his visit to the spartan outhouse used and abused by climbers working their way up icy Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains near Chechnya. In 1993, Outside magazine named the outhouse the nastiest in the world. “I haven’t heard of any upstarts staking a new claim to the title,” Flinn writes. “I checked. Really.” In fact, in addition to visiting the remote outhouse himself, Flinn did a surprising amount of research. In his column, he invokes both the World Toilet Organization and a group called Hikers Against Doo-Doo.
Phaic Tan: It’s No Vietnam
by Michael Yessis | 04.12.06 | 7:57 AM ET
The U.S. edition of the Southeast Asia guidebook parody Phaic Tan: Sunstroke on a Shoestring came out recently, and yesterday I got my hands on a copy. It’s hilarious all the way down to the blurbs about contributors (“Jenny Ronalds is a freelance travel writer with a special interest in Southeast Asia who, over the years, has contributed to Travel & Leisure, Globe Trotter and International Gourmet. None have ever been published and we kind of felt sorry for her.”). It’s also so dead on in its aping of guidebook style and convention that I almost started believing Phaic Tan was a real place. It’s easy to do. How easy? Take our Vietnam vs. Phaic Tan quiz and find out.
Captain Cook Tops Wanderlust’s List of Greatest Travelers of All Time
by Michael Yessis | 04.11.06 | 2:02 PM ET
Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang finished second in the poll. Sir Richard Burton, Ibn Battuta and Christopher Columbus round out the top five. Wanderlust’s editors surveyed a bunch of famous and semi-famous modern travelers—Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, John Gimlette and Susan Spano among them—who nominated their favorites. The magazine hasn’t posted the story online, but The Independent did, complete with quotes from the nominators.
On the Road With Your iPod
by Michael Yessis | 04.11.06 | 12:10 PM ET
National Geographic Traveler has a quick rundown of nine ways travelers can use their iPods or other MP3 players while they’re out and about. It includes links to electronic maps and audio tours, and tips on storing digital photos.
“Lust in Translation”
by Jim Benning | 04.10.06 | 11:51 AM ET
My latest travel essay, about a sexy phone call I received in a hotel room in Xian, China, appeared in Sunday’s Washington Post. It’ll be coming to the pages of World Hum soon.
“United 93”: Editors, Writers and 9/11 Family Members Speak Out
by Michael Yessis | 04.10.06 | 7:21 AM ET
The movie “United 93” opens in less than three weeks, and it’s certainly on a lot of people’s minds. Families of those on the flight that went down in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11 were given a private screening Saturday in Newark, New Jersey. Los Angeles Times writer Scott Martelle reports that the families lauded “Universal Studios and director Paul Greengrass for what they felt was a realistic re-creation of events whose true details can only be guessed at.” At Slate, the editors have posted an interesting internal e-mail discussion about the controversy over the “United 93” trailer, which at least one New York City theater pulled last week. Meanwhile, at Time, someone (I don’t see a byline) has written a story that covers several 9/11-related movies in the works, goes behind the scenes of “United 93,” and delivers another positive review of the movie.
