Travel Blog
Metros of the World: How Many Have You Traveled?
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 2:17 PM ET
Some travelers like to brag about their country count. We’ve never heard anyone brag about their “metro count,” but this simple site lets you easily figure out how many of the world’s metro systems you’ve ridden. Just type in cities where you’ve taken the metro and it pulls up the corresponding logos. For the record, I’m at 33. You? Via Jaunted.
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Yahoo! BuzzVideo: Travels with “Laguna Beach” Star Jessica Smith
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 1:17 PM ET
Last year we noted that guidebook publisher Let’s Go named Jessica Smith of MTV’s “Laguna Beach” as a spokesperson. Part of the gig apparently included shooting video during a spring-break trip to Europe, which recently debuted on uthtv.com. In the first episode, the cameras follow Smith through London. The result: one not-so-discreet plug for Let’s Go, and lots of yawn-inducing mingling with people who recognize her from the TV show. Still, parts of the video offer an interesting look at someone embarking on a trip to Europe for the first time, dealing with what to pack, navigating new cities and what it feels like to stand out in a foreign place. More of her travel videos are on the way.
Welcome Guest Blogger Michael Shapiro
by Michael Shapiro | 08.16.06 | 12:31 PM ET
Starwood to Debut its New Aloft Hotels with a Virtual Aloft Property in ‘Second Life’ Virtual World
by Michael Yessis | 08.16.06 | 6:01 AM ET
This is fascinating: Starwood Hotels & Resorts, the corporation behind Sheraton, W Hotels and other properties, will open its first Aloft hotel next month within the Second Life virtual world. The virtual Aloft will be patterned after the real-world Aloft hotels, a new brand of properties that emphasizes social interaction and is scheduled to debut sometime in 2008. According to a News.com story by Nicole Girard, Starwood plans to make the virtual Aloft profitable on its own within Second Life and also to use it to gain feedback for the development of the real-world Aloft.
Generation X: Dragging RVs into the 21st Century
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.06 | 9:49 AM ET
Who said my generation was full of slackers who weren’t going to accomplish anything? According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, we are in the process of reinvigorating the recreational vehicle industry. We are outfitting RVs with disco ball lights, Tiki fabrics and flat-screen TVs! We are sleeping off hangovers in bar parking lots! And we are even protecting ourselves from terrorism! Hooray for us! “Generation Xers, who grew up on Star Wars, Ataris and Cabbage Patch Kids, have become the fastest-growing group of RV buyers, a trend that is forcing the $14-billion industry to rethink how it designs and markets the ultimate toys for grown-ups,” writes the Times’ Kimi Yoshino.
The Future of Travel: ‘Will August 2006 be Remembered as the Point of No Return?’
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.06 | 8:31 AM ET
In the wake of last week’s foiled plot to blow up airplanes traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States, Simon Calder steps back in today’s Belfast Telegraph and examines what the future of travel might look like. Some conclusions: Environmentally-responsible travel will gain popularity, guidebook sales will fall as electronic distribution of information rises and people will consider themselves permanent travelers. “The very concept of a vacation is beginning to disappear for some people, who have latched on to low-cost flying as a way to live double lives and can be considered to be on a permanent holiday,” he writes.
Is Travel Worth the Stress, the Fear and the Disappearance of Carry-On Bags of Duty-Free Vodka?
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.06 | 7:30 AM ET
The answer to the question is yes, says the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Thomas Swick. His latest column is a typically insightful piece about flying in a world where large quantities of liquids are now banned on planes and security lines grow forever longer. “Flying has been the least enjoyable aspect of travel for quite some time,” he writes. “No one arriving at an airport these days quotes Robert Louis Stevenson: ‘For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.’ Not just because we don’t read Stevenson anymore, but because, very often, we’re not moving. We’re standing in line, trying to untie our shoes.”
Dembling: “Our Small World Gets Bigger With Every Trip”
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.06 | 7:25 PM ET
Travel isn’t a part-time endeavor and it doesn’t end when you close your front door behind you when you get home. It’s something that seeps into every part of your life. Sophia Dembling knows this, and she’s written a terrific column articulating why in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune. “I was driving home from the hairdresser the other day, thinking about this and that and what to make for dinner when NPR started talking about rural China. I turned up the radio, forgot about dinner and listened with interest. Why? Because I’ve been to China,” she writes. “It’s been a couple of years since my tour of China, and I wasn’t anywhere near the towns under discussion on the radio. But, as always happens for me, after I’ve visited a place, it is forever more interesting to me.”
“A Land Gone Lonesome”: More Tales of the Yukon River
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.06 | 11:30 AM ET
The Alluring Sound of Faraway Places
by Michael Yessis | 08.14.06 | 6:32 AM ET
Steven Knipp used to play a game with his mother where they’d take turns shouting out the names of exotic destinations. “After one of us would holler the name of a particularly glamorous city or island, the other’s job was to describe the first vision that came to mind,” he writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. “At that time, I’d never traveled much beyond New Jersey. But the mere mention of some alluring place name was enough to set my imagination ablaze.” Knipp’s excellent story explores how the sound of a destination can be a bit part of its attraction, and how traveling to a place with an beautiful, romantic name can ultimately be a letdown. “So, is it still worth traveling, despite the risk that some of your ultimate dream destinations might be shattered?” he asks. “In other words, is it better to have loved and lost them, then never to have loved them at all? You bet it is. Actual travel is always superior than the most imaginative armchair journeys.”
World Hum Raises Travel-Terror Fatigue Level
by Jim Benning | 08.11.06 | 11:05 AM ET
That’s right. Based on the recent foiled terrorist plot in England and the ensuing sighs from travelers around the globe, we’re taking the extraordinary step of raising the World Hum Travel-Terror Fatigue Level from Really Annoyed (level 3) to Totally Sick of This (level 4). For those keeping score, that’s just below the highest level on the World Hum Travel-Terror Fatigue Index, Enough Already. Don’t be alarmed. The index simply reflects widespread terror-fatigue levels among business and leisure travelers. While we’re obviously relieved the horrific plot was averted, we can’t believe our ginger-lime shampoo is now under scrutiny. (Remarked one frustrated but well-groomed female traveler on CNN: “I don’t think you can blow up a plane with blush.”) Let’s hope we can one day drop back to level one—Margaritaville. We can dream, right?
Palm Islands, Dubai
by Ben Keene | 08.11.06 | 6:41 AM ET
Petition Filed Asking U.S. Supreme Court to Rule on “Secret Law” for Travelers
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.06 | 7:18 PM ET
We all know the drill: Check in for a U.S. flight and you’re asked to show a photo ID. Most of us hand over a driver’s license or passport and don’t think twice about it. One man did, asking to see the law behind the ID requirement. No can do, he was told. It’s secret. The matter went to the courts, and soon it may be in the hands of the highest court in the land.
Moscow vs. Lonely Planet
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.06 | 4:08 PM ET
Politics, business and travel often intertwine. Take, for example, Lonely Planet. Recently, the guidebook giant has lobbied the United States Congress to support a National Passport Month. In 2002, Hong Kong took issue with Lonely Planet’s guidebook coverage. In 2004, Burma Campaign UK called for a boycott of the guidebook giant simply for publishing a book about the country. Now it’s Moscow’s turn to take some shots at LP. From a story by Tom Parfitt in the Guardian: “Moscow officials have launched an attack on Lonely Planet, saying the backpackers’ guide portrays the Russian capital as a gangster-infested Gotham and presents an image of the city that is at least 15 years out of date.”
Airline Bomb Plot Foiled
by Michael Yessis | 08.10.06 | 7:39 AM ET
British authorities say they’ve arrested more than 20 people who were plotting to detonate bombs in multiple planes flying between Britain and the United States. Travel around the world has been affected today, and London’s Heathrow has been closed to most flights. “The head of London’s counter-terrorist police, Peter Clarke, said the plot had ‘global dimensions.’ He said the number of flights, destination and timing were still under investigation,” according to an early Reuters report. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security raised the threat level for all commercial aircraft to ‘high’ and U.S. authorities banned liquids, including drinks, from U.S. commercial flights.” Police sources say “liquid chemical” devices were the potential weapons. Countless news outlets, of course, have the story.
