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Wallonia, Belgium
by Ben Keene | 12.22.06 | 7:04 AM ET
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Yahoo! Buzz2006: The Year of Mapping Dangerously
by Ben Keene | 12.21.06 | 1:00 PM ET
‘Tis the season to look back on the year that has passed and make lists, and those of us in the maps business are no less backward looking than others. Borders shift, populations grow or shrink, and place names are altered. The pace of change can be mind-numbing. So I thought I’d compile my own short—and consequently incomplete—list of some of the most noteworthy geographical developments of the last 12 months.
Nation Branding: What the World Can Learn From Spain, India and New Zealand
by Michael Yessis | 12.21.06 | 7:30 AM ET
They’re “universally acknowledged to be the crown jewels in the recent annals of nation branding,” writes John Cook in the January 2007 issue of Travel + Leisure, the latest publication to address one of our favorite topics: how countries present themselves in an effort to lure travelers. Cook recounts success stories—Spain’s transformation from a “sleepy low-rent vacation spot for the British and German working classes to a hip, cutting-edge cultural destination” and New Zealand’s capitalization on its starring role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy—but, more interestingly, also examines countries with branding problems. Among them: Serbia, Ecuador and Kazakhstan.
Carmelo Anthony and the Perils of In-Flight Publishing
by Jim Benning | 12.20.06 | 2:33 PM ET
The December issue of Northwest Airlines’ in-flight magazine features a cover story on Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony. Yes, the same Carmelo Anthony who was just suspended for taking part in a brawl during a game over the weekend. As a result, the airline has decided to pull the magazine off its planes and replace it with the January issue. As the airline said in a statement, “Northwest does not want to appear to condone in any way the behavior of some of the players during Saturday’s game, including Mr. Anthony.” We at World Hum salute the airline and would like show our solidarity: We won’t be publishing any travel stories by Mr. Anthony or any of the other players involved in the brawl. Sorry, Mr. Anthony, but you’ll have to send any travel stories you may or may not have written elsewhere.
The Move to Open Travel to Cuba
by Jim Benning | 12.20.06 | 1:59 PM ET
The effort to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba appears to be gaining momentum. One of the U.S. representatives who visited Cuba over the weekend said he and other House members plan to hold hearings early next year on easing the ban. Massachusetts Democrat William Delahunt said hearings could help make the case. “There’s a significant transition going on in Washington with Democrats coming to power,” Delahunt said. “There’s a particular opportunity for dialogue and now is the time. Clearly, a majority in the House and Senate believe there ought to be a new direction in Cuba.” The Boston Globe has a full report. It notes that a likely first step could be working to lift restrictions for Cuban-Americans visiting family members, but that President Bush could still veto any changes.
Related on World Hum: New Hope for Legal Travel to Cuba?
CouchSurfing in Good Magazine: ‘This Isn’t Just About a Place to Crash.’
by Michael Yessis | 12.19.06 | 7:50 AM ET
The story of CouchSurfing, the fast-growing site that connects travelers with fellow travelers and their couches, begins with founder Casey Fenton. Peter Alsop tracked down Fenton and several CouchSurfing devotees, aka the Collective, in Montreal and profiled them in an intriguing story for Good Magazine. Fenton, it turns out, has a motive beyond bringing travelers together. “His mission,” Alsop writes, “is to transform people’s lives.”
More Gifts for the Traveler
by Jim Benning | 12.18.06 | 3:19 PM ET
We’ve already noted a number of books that could make fine gifts for the traveler in your life. (For more book ideas, see World Hum contributor Jerry V. Haines’s suggestions in Sunday’s Washington Post, or, for classic narrative titles, our list of the top 30 travel books.) But what if—gasp—the traveler you have in mind doesn’t want more books? Worry not. We have ideas. For starters, consider a T-shirt featuring one of the New Yorker’s many travel-related cartoons, such as the class-conscious one pictured here. Perusing the cartoons is good fun, even if you’re not in the market for a shirt. How can you not love this one in which a flight attendant announces to passengers, “Ladies and gentlemen, is there a bankruptcy attorney on board?” If you place a T-shirt rush order by tomorrow, you can still ensure pre-Christmas delivery.
Reflections on a Year Well-Traveled
by Jim Benning | 12.18.06 | 2:56 PM ET
Usually when the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Thomas Swick looks back on his year of travels, it’s the people he met that stand out most clearly. “But this year they came up against some stiff competition,” he recalls in Sunday’s paper. “Sights (sights!) kept trying to upstage humans. They started early one morning in February when I looked out the window of my plane and saw the lush green folds of Tahiti below. I flew on to the Cook Islands, swam in Aitutaki’s lagoon, returned to Papeete, sailed on a ferry to Moorea, but nothing matched that first, kingfisher’s-eye view of the South Pacific.” Among other highlights, Swick mentions visits to India and Poland.
‘This is an Emergency’: Life After a Near Crash
by Michael Yessis | 12.18.06 | 2:55 PM ET
Which is Longer: The Nile or the Amazon?
by Michael Yessis | 12.18.06 | 7:38 AM ET
The San Francisco Chronicle published its annual geography quiz Sunday, featuring 50 questions and an entire section devoted to “the glorious nation of Kazakhstan.” Do you know if it’s the largest landlocked country in the world?
What Do Yaks, Sword Wounds and Voodoo Consultations Have in Common?
by Jim Benning | 12.18.06 | 7:30 AM ET
Federal Aviation Administration Sets Rules for Space Travel
by Michael Yessis | 12.18.06 | 7:10 AM ET
As private companies race to send private citizens into space, the Federal Aviation Administration has begun to lay out rules for commercial space travel originating in the United States. Among them: Travelers would need to be informed in writing about the risk of death, and they would have to promise not to sue the government. The rules kick in Feb. 13, 2007.
Related on World Hum:
* Neil Armstrong and the Promise of Space Travel
* Space Travel: Beyond the ‘Dweebs, Geeks and Dorks’
Belgium has a ‘War of the Worlds’ Moment
by Michael Yessis | 12.15.06 | 8:52 AM ET
Belgium has been had. On Wednesday, a French-language television station hoodwinked the country, reporting that Flanders had declared its independence. It was a hoax, just like the one Orson Welles perpetrated on the United States in 1938 with the radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds.” And as in the U.S., this one caused a bit of a panic.
Prospect: ‘The Naked Tourist’ One of the Most Underrated Books of 2006
by Michael Yessis | 12.15.06 | 7:29 AM ET
Prospect magazine has put a spin on the books of the year piece, surveying writers, academics and others to arrive at lists of the most underrated and overrated books of 2006. Bartle Bull hailed Lawrence Osborne’s The Naked Tourist: In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall as one of the most underrated. Two travel writers also contributed to the lists. Pico Iyer picked Monica Ali’s Alentejo Blue as most underrated and American Prometheus by Martin J Sherwin and Kai Bird as most overrated. William Dalrymple selected A Royal Affair by Stella Tillyard as the most underrated and Londonistan by Melanie Phillips and “Celsius 7/7” by Michael Gove as the most overrated.
Related on World Hum:
* Pico Iyer on ‘The Naked Tourist’
Kissing, Germany
by Ben Keene | 12.15.06 | 7:08 AM ET
