Travel Blog
On the ‘Red Sauce Trail’ in Italy
by Sarah Schmelling | 02.21.07 | 1:02 PM ET
We’ve read a lot of great culinary travel tales, but this one in today’s New York Times takes the, well, sauce. Kim Severson recently became obsessed with tracking the source, or at least the ancestry, of her mother’s beloved spaghetti sauce. It’s a sauce that she’s been eating—and trying to measure up to in her own kitchen—her whole life. Her quest led her to the Italian village of Ateleta, where her maternal grandmother grew up and where she’s told she’s “luckier than Madonna” because, unlike the pop star, she was able to find distant Italian relatives—and perhaps the key to unlocking her own personal “spaghetti code.”
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Yahoo! BuzzThe Sound of Cairo
by Michael Yessis | 02.21.07 | 9:21 AM ET
We’ve posted several times about the impact sounds can have on travelers. Here’s another terrific piece, Marcella Prokop’s meditation on hearing the call to prayer in Cairo, Egypt. “The call is beautiful to me,” she writes in the Christian Science Monitor. “I am moved to my core by its reassurance, its grace, and its timelessness.”
JetBlue Unveils ‘Customer Bill of Rights’
by Michael Yessis | 02.21.07 | 8:23 AM ET
Days after saying he was humiliated and mortified by JetBlue’s disastrous series of flight cancellations and stranded passengers, CEO David Neeleman has announced a Customer Bill of Rights. In a video posted on YouTube, Neeleman promises that, under his watch, such a meltdown will never be repeated.
On a Flight, ‘I’m Blissfully, Hermetically Out of Reach’
by Jim Benning | 02.20.07 | 1:52 PM ET
Air travel is getting some terrible press these days, but flying isn’t all bad, especially when your plane actually takes off with you on it. Writes Michael Shapiro in an essay in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle: “On the surface, spending hours in the middle of a cramped, poorly ventilated, germ-circulating metal cylinder has little appeal. But after boxing out my fellow passengers to secure some carry-on space, I shoehorn into my window seat and a sublime sense of relaxation slides over me. For the next six hours (if I’m flying across the country), no one can touch me. I can’t be reached via cell phone (and thankfully no one else can either), nor can I be pinged by e-mail (on most flights). I’m blissfully, hermetically out of reach, a feeling I used to have traveling to the remote corners of the globe.”
Let Us Now Behold the Stranded Passenger
by Jim Benning | 02.20.07 | 1:15 PM ET
Thanks to JetBlue, it’s suddenly hip to be left stranded by an airline—or at least newsworthy. USA Today rolled out a front page story today about 110 United Express passengers left stranded in Wyoming just before Christmas as a result of bad weather. Their planes actually left without them, bound for better climes. According to the story, “Some in the airport cried as they were left behind.” That’s not to say that being stranded is always an unhappy experience. What if you’re one of 90 employees of a California landscaping company on a business trip to Bermuda when JetBlue leaves you stranded there for days? The company’s chief financial officer wasn’t happy about it, but even he admitted, “The bright spot is that we were stranded in Bermuda and not at Terminal 6 at JFK.” Too true.
Related on World Hum:
* JetBlue Founder is ‘Humiliated and Mortified’
* JetBlue ‘Hostage Crisis’: The Blog
* JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
Photo by Ingorrr, via flickr. Rights: Creative Commons.
Study Travel Writing in Paris
by Jim Benning | 02.20.07 | 12:30 PM ET
World Hum contributor Rolf Potts will teach creative writing in Paris once again this summer. No word yet on whether, afterward, he’ll walk across Andorra.
The $300 Million Private Jet (Whirlpool Not Included)
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.07 | 9:30 AM ET
An individual buyer has signed a letter of intent to purchase an Airbus A380 for private use, according to the Wall Street Journal. The world’s largest commercial plane can be configured to carry 853 passengers, or, if you’re an unnamed Middle Eastern head of state who wants it for his own personal use, it can contain two dining areas, a 600-plus-square-foot master bedroom, a whirlpool tub, a missile-defense system and other amenities. The extra cost: up to $150 million.
How Pure Are New Zealand’s ‘100% Pure’ Ads?
by Michael Yessis | 02.20.07 | 9:09 AM ET
Less than 100%, say some critics. Why? “One advertisement shows an idyllic scene of two kayakers with dolphins swimming around their canoes,” reports TVNZ. “But the image is not a single photo. Instead it is a digital adjustment which blends two different photos—one of dolphins and the other of kayakers—together.” Tourism New Zealand spokesperson George Hickton defends the image as representative of what goes on in the country every day, “and therefore it’s a 100% pure New Zealand experience.” Hmmm. It’s not as misleading as the recent Nepal-Peru mix-up, but when you’re promoting your country as 100% pure you might want to avoid doctoring photos. Via Jaunted.
JetBlue Founder is ‘Humiliated and Mortified’
by Jim Benning | 02.19.07 | 1:57 PM ET
What’s the airline executive equivalent of the celebrity apology/mea culpa/trip to rehab after committing a major faux pas? Witness JetBlue chief executive David Neeleman attempt to regain his airline’s A-list reputation after a disastrous week of flight cancellations and stranded passengers—or hostages, depending on your perspective. On Sunday, he told the International Herald Tribune he was “humiliated and mortified” by the airline’s problems. He blamed the troubles on faulty communications and reservations systems. And he vowed to reveal a plan on Tuesday for the airline’s full recovery. We like it. Good luck, Mr. Neeleman. But you know, you had us at “humiliated.”
Stephen Colbert’s ‘Investigation’ into a Caribbean Resort
by Jim Benning | 02.16.07 | 6:25 PM ET
What will Stephen Colbert be doing on his week off? The Colbert Report host dead-panned to Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” Thursday night: “Jon, I’ll be launching an intense seven-day investigation into the Royal St. Barts Golf Club and Resort, the Caribbean’s ritziest retreat, so my travel agent would have me believe. But I’ll lay down for a one-on-one Swedish massage with a masseuse who isn’t even Swedish. And then, parasailing: Is it really the coolest thing ever? A grueling five-hour examination. Then, I’ll access one riding stable whose occupants live like animals. The Royal St. Barts Golf Club and Resort: It’s the one Stephen Colbert exclusive you can’t afford…boy, you can’t afford.”
Related on World Hum:
* Jon Stewart on the Zagat Prison Guide
* Jon Stewart on Osama bin Laden’s Latest Tape
JetBlue ‘Hostage Crisis’: The Blog
by Jim Benning | 02.16.07 | 4:57 PM ET
It was only a matter of time: JetBlueHostage.com. This is one story that’s got legs—or should we say wings? (Via Jaunted.)
Related on World Hum:
* JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
Sahel, Africa
by Ben Keene | 02.16.07 | 1:18 PM ET
Coordinates: 16 0 N 5 0 E
Approximate length: 3,125 miles (5,029 km)
With the Earth’s rapidly growing population putting greater pressure on resources, recent news from Niger offers encouragement that an attainable, more sustainable future is possible. The Sahel, a swath of semiarid territory stretching across Africa south of the Sahara has long been plagued by drought and famine, made worse by subsistence farmers who cleared vegetation only to leave the terrain vulnerable to wind erosion and further desertification. In the last few decades, however, a largely grassroots effort has led to the gradual re-greening of areas northeast of Niger’s capital city. For a dry, landlocked and exceedingly poor country where less than one percent of the labor force is salaried, a little extra shade and some hope for the years ahead are reasons to celebrate.
—.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) is the editor of the Oxford Atlas of the World.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: Bali, Bargains and Jet Blues
by Michael Yessis | 02.16.07 | 9:20 AM ET
The Silk Road, Mexican beach towns, Chiang Mai and those poor passengers stuck on the tarmac at JFK were on travelers’ minds this week. Here’s the Zeitgeist:
World’s Best Travel Value: Island
Travel + Leisure Readers’ Poll (March 2007 issue)
Bali, Indonesia
* The rest of the top five: Phuket, Thailand; Ko Samui, Thailand; Langkawi, Malaysia; and Borneo.
World’s Best Travel Value: City
Travel + Leisure Readers’ Poll (March 2007 issue)
Chiang Mai, Thailand
* The rest of the top five: Kathmandu; Mendoza, Argentina; Hanoi; and Bangkok.
Most Read Story
World Hum (this week)
Armrest Seating, Anyone?
* Perhaps those stranded JetBlue passengers can relate.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Viewing Two Chinas From a Stop on the Silk Road
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Check Out Under-the-Radar Mexican Cities and Beach Towns
Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List
Most Popular Page Tagged Travel
Del.icio.us (recent)
Mobissimo
Most Read Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
JetBlue Apologizes for Stranding Passengers on Planes at JFK
* It makes this seem not so far fetched.
Jan Morris on the Future of America
by Jim Benning | 02.15.07 | 2:33 PM ET
The United States is no longer beloved around the world, but all is not lost, frequent travel writer Jan Morris notes in the Guardian. “Perhaps, with a future new president already champing at the bit, we are about to witness its rebirth,” she writes. “As a foreigner I am immune to the rivalries or seductions of American party politics, but I have loved the old place for 60 years, and I simply pray for an American leader to give us back its baraka, as the Arabs say - nothing to do with religion or economics or power or even ideology, but the gift of being at once blessed and blessing.” Morris is the author of many books, including “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere,” which ranked 24th on our list of the top 30 travel books of all time.
Related on World Hum:
* A Former Peace Corps Volunteer as President?
Supersonic Passenger Jets Poised for a Comeback
by Michael Yessis | 02.15.07 | 9:00 AM ET
What would William Shurcliff think? Two U.S. companies—Aerion and Supersonic Aerospace International—are making plans to bring back supersonic passenger jets by 2012 and 2013 respectively. If they succeed, they’ll be the first commercial supersonic carriers since the Concorde’s last gasp in 2003.
