Travel Blog
Stephen Colbert on SkyMall
by Jim Benning | 12.06.05 | 2:35 AM ET
It’s one of only two places where the host of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report shops, Colbert dead-panned Monday night. (There and Sharper Image.) SkyMall, he opined, is “the best source for solar-powered, self-inflating pool equipment.”
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Yahoo! BuzzPaul Theroux and the “Demon Eel”
by Jim Benning | 12.06.05 | 12:29 AM ET
Our own Frank Bures wasn’t the only one to take issue with some of the erotic writing in Paul Theroux’s latest novel, “Blinding Light.” Theroux’s prose also came up in a recent Los Angeles Times piece about the “Bad Sex in Fiction Awards” held in London last week. Started by the eldest son of Evelyn Waugh, the awards “lampoon dysfunctional literature,” explains Stephen Bayley.
The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson
by Jim Benning | 12.06.05 | 12:10 AM ET
Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle featured a review of “Myself and the Other Fellow,” a new biography of the man who wrote “Treasure Island.” Critic Diane Scharper writes of Stevenson: “[H]is work received mixed reviews after he died. The gothic tales lacked the psychological twists popular in the 20th century, and his adventure stories were too difficult for children but didn’t contain enough sex for adults. Although he took the personal essay to new heights with a combination of craftsmanship and directness, and practically invented modern travel writing, his literary essays are relatively unknown today.”
Robert Young Pelton on the Writing Life
by Jim Benning | 12.02.05 | 1:15 PM ET
Rolf Potts has posted an interview with the man of many titles, including National Geographic Adventure columnist, filmmaker and book author. “I…wish I was as funny and professional as Tim Cahill, as mainstream popular as Bill Bryson and as literary as Paul Theroux,” Pelton told Potts. “But honestly, I just do my thing and if people dig it that’s good. If they don’t—well, as one of my favorite irate fan letters said: ‘I hated your book so much I am never going to check it out from the library again.’”
Porto, Portugal
by Ben Keene | 12.02.05 | 12:06 PM ET
Jessica Smith of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” Named Let’s Go Spokesperson*
by Michael Yessis | 12.02.05 | 11:59 AM ET
It’s a sweet gig for the reality TV star. Smith will take trips to locales of her choosing, blog about her experiences and make personal appearances for Let’s Go. According to a Brandweek report (scroll to bottom), “Smith was seen as a good fit for the young-skewing budget-travel guides because, unlike some of the party-oriented and privileged Paris Hilton types chronicled on the series, she’s a more down-to-earth student.”
Italy Ranked Number One “Country Brand”
by Michael Yessis | 12.02.05 | 11:56 AM ET
Australia took the runner-up spot, and the United States rounded out the top three in a recent global survey conducted by FutureBrand and its sister company, public relations firm Weber Shandwick. It also named China as the “most improved” country brand.
MTV’s “Laguna Beach” Spawns Reality Show Tourism
by Jim Benning | 12.01.05 | 6:19 PM ET
The Southern California town of Laguna Beach has always attracted its share of tourists, but it’s getting plenty more now, thanks to the MTV reality show Laguna Beach. The interest is so great, in fact, that the Laguna Beach Visitors & Conference Bureau has issued a guide to the show’s key spots (not available online).
Jack Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums” Manuscript Moves to Florida
by Jim Benning | 12.01.05 | 1:29 PM ET
Jack Kerouac is most famous for his novel “On the Road,” but I’ve always been partial to “The Dharma Bums,” with its train-hoping, Zen-musing, haiku-writing, Sierra-tramping protagonists. I’d put it on my Top 10 Desert Island Novels List any day. So I was happy to see a recent story in the Orlando Sentinel noting that the Kerouac Project of Orlando just acquired the final 197-page draft manuscript of the novel for preservation. Kerouac apparently found inspiration for the book’s ending while star-gazing in Florida.
Stowaway Cat Upgraded to Business Class
by Michael Yessis | 12.01.05 | 10:48 AM ET
A family cat from Wisconsin that somehow ended up in Paris, France several weeks ago will return home today—in a business class seat.
British Cyclist Completes Four-Year, ‘Round-the-World Trip
by Jim Benning | 11.30.05 | 12:35 PM ET
You have to admire Alastair Humphreys’ determination. He left England in 2001, explaining that he was “trundling along towards getting a job” and “just wanted to do something a bit more difficult and challenging.” So off he went on a ‘round-the-world trip by bicycle. He wanted to quit many times as he struggled with loneliness. But the 28-year-old endured, and earlier this month, having passed through Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa, he was in Paris and finally pedaling toward home, where he planned to write a book about the journey.
Paris Hotels Fined for Price Fixing
by Michael Yessis | 11.30.05 | 1:14 AM ET
Disruptive Plane Passenger is a “Homeless Lawyer”
by Michael Yessis | 11.29.05 | 11:47 PM ET
Mark McGovern, the man who urinated in the aisle of a United Airlines jet last week—we ranked it the second oddest travel story of the holiday weekend—was charged with creating a disturbance and interfering with a flight crew Monday in a Charlotte, North Carolina court.
Forget Taking a Seven-Day Cruise. How About a Luxury Cruise That Never Ends?
by Jim Benning | 11.29.05 | 1:32 PM ET
Say you like taking cruises. I mean, really like taking them. As in, afterward, you don’t want to go home. If you have boatloads of cash (at least a million bucks), you’ll soon be able to buy a condo aboard one of four luxury ships and cruise the world full-time. Seriously. Until now, according to a story in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, there was only one ship offering such a thing: the 644-foot World that circles the planet once every two years with extended stops in far-flung ports. But all that’s about to change.
Rio Takes Aim at Sexy Postcards
by Michael Yessis | 11.29.05 | 10:51 AM ET
The law that state Gov. Roshina Garotinho signed last week bans bikini-clad women in photo montages or outside of natural beach settings on postcards. The goal of the law is to reduce sex tourism and exploitation in Brazil’s tourist hot spot. Luiz Alberto, who runs a newsstand near Copacabana beach, told AP reporter Peter Muello that postcards of Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer are much bigger sellers. “These cards were mostly for gringos,” he said. “This ban is just silly.”
