And the winner is ... Moscow, where the average cup apparently costs $10.19. Forbes brings us the full list, but I have to wonder about the methodology behind the survey. Are we talking cups of joe, or are we talking venti caramel mocha frappuccinos? It was the New York City listing that got me doubting: it landed in the middle of the pack, with the average cup costing $3.75—but when was the last time you paid nearly $4 for a regular coffee from a New York City deli?

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It’s changing fast, to be sure, but in some ways, it’s the same as the old Moscow. World Hum contributor Peter Delevett recently paid the city a visit and stopped by the Kremlin. As he writes in the San Jose Mercury News: “Customer service, to put it mildly, is an embryonic concept.”

* Update, June 17, 5 p.m. ET: Peter just finished an online chat with readers about his trip. Transcript here.

Related on World Hum:
* The Rise of the Russian Traveler

Photo by Argenberg via Flickr, (Creative Commons).

From Sin City to St. Petersburg, Russia, we’re not worried about traveling with too many clothes this week. Here’s the Zeitgeist.

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
36 Hours in St. Petersburg, Russia

Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Sin City Uncovered: Vegas Strips Down to Embrace its Naughty Side
* It’s an $8 billion embrace.

Most Viewed Travel Story
Telegraph (current)
The Perfect Break: Jersey
* The island, not the home of Bon Jovi.

Most Viewed Travel Story
Brisbane Times (current)
Gang Violence Marring NZ’s Image

Most Viewed Travel Story
Los Angeles Times (current)
A Mass-Transit Trek Through Portland’s Singular Sites

Top Travel and Adventure Audiobook
iTunes (current)
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
* It’s been so many weeks now we’ve stopped counting.

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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.”

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A lie detector system could be in use at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport by July, according to Adrian Blomfield’s story in the Telegraph. Travelers’ voices will be analyzed for stresses as they respond to four questions. Blomfield writes: “The first is for full identity; the second, unnerving in its Soviet-style abruptness, demands: ‘Have you ever lied to the authorities?’ It then asks whether either weapons or narcotics are being carried.”

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The Olympic spirit has really gotten into Yang Guangwen. The 46-year-old plans to ride his bike around the world beginning in March, visiting the cities that have hosted the Games since their modern inception. Beijing will host the 2008 Games, and Yang wants to do his part to promote the Olympics through travel. 

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The land of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky has an image problem. In brief, it is this: When people in the West think about Russia, rarely do Tolstoy or Tchaikovsky come to mind. According to a terrific article by Julian Evans in Foreign Policy, a poll commissioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government revealed just how deep the problem goes.

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Is the new pope, Benedict XVI, a big traveler? Only time will tell whether he racks up the kind of frequent flyer miles John Paul II did. An interesting AP story in USA Today noted recently that John Paul II “made jet travel a hallmark of his papacy.”

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The final story in Tom Haines’ four-part Boston Globe series, “Crossing Divides,” was published during our winter break. It was an eloquent end to an ambitious project. The article looked at the remote world of the Bering Strait and the people who live there. “After the ice age thaw,” Haines writes, “Chukchis, Inupiat, and other indigenous peoples crossed the strait freely in skin boats in summer. But in the 20th century, distant capitals, Moscow and Washington, split the Arctic into communist and capitalist lands, making a barrier of the border through the middle of the strait and changing forever how natives and newcomers on both sides live.” The installment also featured a fascinating look at how Haines and photographer Essdras Suarez navigated the region. “The strait crossing was made aboard a 9-seat propeller plane chartered for a flight from the coastal port town of Provideniya, Russia, to Nome,” he writes. “Passengers on board included an elderly Siberian Yupik couple traveling to visit relatives on St. Lawrence Island, in the Bering Sea, and a Russianborn anthropologist returning to Alaska after months of research on the traditional use of mushrooms in native culture.” Finally, the Globe created a handsome Web page for the entire series.