RECENT DISPATCHES
8.6.08
Like Writing on Water
In western Uganda, Christopher Vourlias met Colin, a farmer and poet who questioned the purpose of life while happily revealing the meaning of nohandika ha maiise. 7.15.08My Senegalese Cousin, the Rice-Loving Pig
When the woman selling peanuts at a Samba Dia market learned the Senegalese name adopted by Katie Krueger, negotiations took an insulting turn SPEAKER'S CORNER
A Tourist With a Shovel and a HoeWhen she arrived in Kenya to volunteer with the Maasai, Daniela Petrova looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different? ASK ROLF
How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel Q&A
Paul Theroux: Invisible Man on a Ghost TrainJim Benning asks the author of “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star” about his new book, aging and the challenge of disappearing in the age of the BlackBerry HOW TO
Eat Ceviche in LimaGrab a Cusqueña and get comfortable. As Nicholas Gill explains, a trip to a Peruvian cevichería can be an all-day immersion in good conversation and raw seafood. BOOKS
Unsentimental Journeys: Wrestling With Paul TherouxBronwen Dickey considers “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star: 28,000 Miles in Search of the Great Railway Bazaar” AUDIO SLIDESHOW My Travels, My FeetAfter taking one too many headless torso shots of herself, solo traveler Sophia Dembling started snapping photos of her feet around the world, from the Grand Canyon to Red Square THE LIST
Seven Reasons to Have a Foreign FlingSure, having an overseas romance is fun. But Terry Ward points out seven other benefits to cross-border love, mon petit chou. |
TRAVEL BLOG: Las Vegas
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to Go Global
Las Vegas Strip Going Eco-Friendly?It’s giving green a shot. More than 50 million square feet of construction built to LEED standards is planned “on and around the Las Vegas Strip, not including the 8.3 million square feet of the 7-month-old, $1.9 billion Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino, which, in May, was designated the nation’s largest LEED-certified building,” according to USA Today. High-Speed MagLev Train from Disneyland to Las Vegas Gets $45 MillionThe money, which was earmarked in the transportation bill President Bush signed Friday, “will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project,” reports the AP. Gizmodo wonders if it’s just greenwashing, since $45 million is but a fraction of what it might cost to build a legitimate high-speed MagLev rail line. I think it’s a fine step forward, and likely not the last. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hails from Nevada, and he’s on the record supporting the project. That’s a powerful ally.
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Why Disneyland is Hot and Vegas Is Not
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Photo by gruntzooki via Flickr, (Creative Commons). So Long, Guggenheim Las VegasLos Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne bids farewell to the Rem Koolhaas-designed Guggenheim Museum, which closed Sunday. “Like a lot of Las Vegas marriages,” he writes, “the one between the Venetian Hotel and the Guggenheim Museum was born of some seriously misplaced optimism.” The Las Vegas Mob Bus Tour: The Sights Aren’t Spectacular, But the Stories Are
Las Vegas’ Hooters Hotel to go Boutique
Deadly Ricin Found in Las Vegas Motel RoomThe discovery was made Thursday at an Extended Stay America Hotel. Seven people, all apparently in good condition, have been sent to hospitals for observation. It puts the whole bedbugs debate into perspective, doesn’t it? High-Speed Train From Southern California to Las Vegas ‘Picking up Steam’The plans for a high-speed link between Los Angeles to San Francisco make more sense to me. Alas, they’re stalled. So are the plans for a Disneyland to Las Vegas MagLev train. That has given an opening to the DesertXpress, a privately funded high-speed project that seeks to connect Las Vegas with Victorville, California, perhaps best known as the place where, when you’re driving from Los Angeles to Sin City, you can stop off for a Double-Double at In-N-Out.
By Michael Yessis • 2.26.08
Weblog • Las Vegas • Los Angeles • Train Travel Permalink • Comments (0) Two More Bookstores Beloved by Travelers to CloseCandida’s World of Books, Washington D.C.’s only travel bookstore, opened to the public for the last time this past weekend, and the Reading Room, the only literary bookstore on the Las Vegas Strip, announced it will be closing as soon as March. Monte Carlo in Las Vegas to Reopen FridayThree weeks after a three-alarm fire broke out on the top floors of the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas, the hotel and casino will reopen on a limited basis Feb. 15. Most of the rest of the hotel will reopen the following week, according to Reuters.
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Fire Breaks Out at Monte Carlo in Las Vegas*The three-alarm fire started on the roof of the hotel and casino around 11 a.m. Las Vegas time, according to an early report from the AP. |
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Yes, despite the oh-so-clever do-not-disturb signs—not to mention that fact that Hooters and Las Vegas would seem to be made for one another—redevelopers have come a knockin’. That’s the word from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which 