Reminder: World Hum’s Restless Legs Reading in NYC Tonight

Louvre, Pompidou Expanding in France and Overseas

Would-Be ‘Hijacker’ Subdued on Turkish Flight

Rabbit, Run … Away

Love Herring in Sweden

From artery-clogging casseroles to a fermented concoction that smells alarmingly like vinegary flatulence, Lola Akinmade digs in to a smörgåsbord of herring and explains how to best appreciate Scandinavia’s favorite fish. 

The Water Is Wide

Bronwen Dickey considers Tim Butcher’s “Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart,” which takes readers deep into the Congo

Vagrant Ruminations of a Compulsive Traveler

Where does the urge to hunt for that “fleeting fix of elsewhere” come from? Peter Wortsman recalls a life of travel inspiration. 

Rolf Potts: Revelations from a Postmodern Travel Writer

His new book “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There” includes his best stories from the past 10 years. Michael Yessis asks him how travel writing has changed in the last decade—and what he sees for the future.

Notes From an Unofficial Tourist Greeter

Summer is over, and so is Julia Ross‘ season as an ambassador to travelers in Washington, D.C.’s Woodley Park neighborhood. She’s happy to be off duty.

10 Great Travel Race Movies

Slow travel is well and good. But there’s something irresistible about a great travel race movie. World Hum Travel Movie Clubbers Eva Holland and Eli Ellison share their favorite vicarious thrill rides.

How Should I Spend My Time in Spain?

Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel

Report: Southwest Airlines Flew at Least 117 ‘Unsafe’ Planes

That’s a damn shame.  Southwest has long been my favorite airline for domestic travel.  I thought they only cut corners in meals, uniforms, and a lot of the authoritarian BS the other airlines revel in.  Now it appears they’ve been cutting corners in safety too.  Shame on them if it’s true.

Don’t let these headlines and selectively leaked exaggerated statements scare you. I will take my wife, children, and my grandchildren on any Southwest flight and know I’m flying on a safe Southwest plane. If you just knew the whole story, you would step right on the plane in absolute confidense. As a matter of fact, if you knew how honorable, open and trustworthy Southwest has acted since the beginning of this whole thing, you would be proud. I am.

While some may find the attitudes of Southwest authorities refreshing under such circumstance, as a parent that puts three children on Southwest flights, all I have to go on is safety.  When you can’t trust a “respectable” company to do all it can to ensure their passengers safety, that’s when I find another company.

You get what you pay for.....

Well hate to tell break the news to everyone but southwest is not the only airline that does not take care of they’re planes. Many other major airlines don’t want to spend they’re money and put certain things off until it becomes a big problem. And i agree with a few of you, about the media not giving the whole facts. Southwest does have a great safety record compared to other airlines.

There is a quote from Lawrence Lessigs book, CODE… “communism fell because it tired itself out”

Maybe our system of business and government tires itself out, so we don’t have to endure a bloody revolution someday soon. As it stands today our government has NO power in the face of most corporations.

The FAA is powerless, how is making them accountable going to change airlines?
It won’t, it’ll just punish the FAA pushing them further out of relevance.