New Addition to the Travel Lexicon: ‘Vagabond Neurosis’

World Hum’s Most Read: Oct. 4-10

What We Loved This Week: Bajofondo, Rattlesnake Cake and Leaf Peeping

Travel Headline of the Day: ‘Fear Grips Global Stock Markets’

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

TripAdvisor User Threatened with Libel Suit After Reviewing Hotel

I was at an event recently where I sat next to a hotel manager. We got to talking about Internet stuff, bloggers, review sites, etc… and he had a great deal of vitriol stored up for the negative reviewers. I didn’t quite get where he was coming from. “Those damn consumer bloggers!” he said and went on to rant about their improper behavior in writing bad reviews. Reading this makes me think the lawsuit against the individual reviewer is the next supposedly logical step in the property manager’s head.

Why is it creepy?  Doesn’t the other side have their right to their day in court, or do only we anonymous (perhaps cowardly) bloggers have the right to our opinion? 

Jim and Pam: Please send me $2,000,000.  I was offened by what you said!  LOL!

MY 15 YEAR OLD SON STAYED AT A HOTEL IN NEW YORK CITY THAT WAS GIVEN 3 STARS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. THE ROOM HAD 1 DOUBLE SIZED BED. I BOOKED AND PAID FOR 2 QUEENS ONLINE AT THE HOTEL WEBSITE. THERE ARE NO QUEEN BEDS THERE. MY SON FOUND A NEW CONDOM IN THE BED. THE BATH HAD NEW FIXTURES BUT WAS TINY, TOO TINY TO CLOSE THE DOOR WHEN USING THE TOILET. THE ROOM WAS TINY. THE ICE MACHINE WAS AN UNFINISED PART OF THE HOTEL. THE HOTEL APPEARED TO HAVE PEOPLE LIVING THERE. THERE WERE WHOLE FLOORS THAT LOOKED UNFINISED. I WROTE A BAD REVIEW ON TRIP ADVISOR. WE ARE USED TO STAYING IN LAS VEGAS AND OTHER PLACES OUT WEST WHERE IT’S EASY TO GET A CLEAN NEW 600 SQ FT ROOM FOR A LOT LESS MONEY. NEW YORK NEEDS TO WAKE UP. I SPENT YEARS REVIEWING ALMOST EVERY PROPERTY IN NEW YORK CITY, SO THAT OUR NEXT VISIT WILL BE BETTER. I HATE SMALL HOTEL ROOMS AND MUSTY FURNISHINGS. IF I AM PAYING A $1000 A NIGHT , THEN I WANT KIDS WITH ME IN THE SAME SUITE. IN SANTA MONICA ADULT ONLY BUILDINGS ARE AGAINST THE LAW.

Yeah, well, Jim, aren’t you wondering about the name of the Palm Springs hotel which did this? You can find it if you know how to use Google…

Hi Jim:

This libel thing is out of control. Why writein the firdst place if you are going to be taken to account for what you write.

I wrote a scriptnovel called MOVE, which will one day be shown in theaters.

But in my real life I was threatened and 911ed into hospitals for, uh, strange e-mails. It was life-threatening!

Now my anonymous coop board has voted me out. I have to sell my 1.4 million SoHo Loft on Broadway between Spring and Broome for a profit and move out (usuable footage for my film, if they have it . . .) Apparently I was mean to their super, an African named Moussa, whom I mistook for a threatening pickpocket who repeatedly cornered me in the elevator of my building. So what, I, by mistake, hit him with a box when I took out my trash. In court, he won 12,000 dollars.

Big deal, I’m a millionaire. But, wait, now I might not have anyplace to live?

This doesn’t sound legal to me. It sounds like perjury and hearsay. Stuff like this affects every coop owner in Manhattan and elsewhere. It’s hard to love thy neighbor when you don’t know them at all, and they try to kick you out of your building.

As the bible says, “There are aliens in our houses. . . .” For real, it says that.

So where should I move next?

John M. Edwards

I am a hotel manager in Sydney Australia. First off, I support, 100% liberty online and freedom of speech. I am 100% for a free internet that is protected from corporatism and any outside control. It is not only useful it is absolutely important to the free flow of news and information outside mainstream, controlled and corporatised sources.
I have had quite a few scathing and exceedingly nasty reviews on trip advisor, that have substantially damaged business over the long term. For the most part, their comments were either a) very unfair b) not realistic for what we purport to provide c) very often downright incorrect statements and d) ultimately, to me knowing what the circumstances were from the inside, simply people who took whatever little piece of information they could find, twisted that information to support their intended reviews conclusion. This is why unprofessional reviews are often not helpful. The couple of good reviews we have there, which are genuine, are so glowing, that people actually thing they are not genuine! in comparison to the very scathing ones. So ultimately it’s very unhelpful. But none of this is my issue. I have a much more serious complaint. I don’t mind bad reviews, I don’t mind a public forum for reviewers to post their stuff on. Here is what I mind and it is much more serious issue. I’ll try to outline the facts point by point and see if you can connect the dots.
1. Trip Advisor is owned by Expedia, an international global multi billion dollar firm. They have an enormous and well funded legal department going back to London.
2. Trip Advisor advertises it’s reviews. It actually uses the trading names of the business that has been reviewed, and this leads people on google to believe that this will lead them to information about the hotel in question. What it does instead, is show the review. In our case it says “hotel name” you click that and then it takes you to “don’t stay here!” or something like that. Let me make it clear. They are using another businesses trading name to advertise their service. This is quite illegal in Australia and probably many other countries as well.
3. This practice is profuse, ongoing and clearly intentional.
4. I made legal enquiries and confirmed that a) it is illegal practice. b) they do not do it to the larger hotel chains, as those hotel chains have legal departments that are capable of challenging this kind of activity. The small owner is faced with absolute insolvency as he is brought counter suits and drowned in never ending legal fees and paperwork. The justice system cannot work here for the little guy.
5. Some may say “so what”. What this means is that trip advisor is using your business name to advertise it’s service. That means your good name, or the sullying thereof, is going towards generating hits for *their* business. Hits mean statistics. Statistics mean advertising dollars. All on illegal, unethical business practice. If not for the advertisement of those reviews, those reviews could be sought out by interested potential customers of their own accord. Instead, they are pushed, right into their faces, and they may often click on it mistakenly, unintentionally thinking it was our own genuine site.
6. This is just another tool for globalist corporations to stamp out the little guy, hurt him and in some cases kill him off so that they can suck up the left overs.

In my own case I approached a law firm in Sydney a large one that had hundreds of lawyers working there. On the phone I was told by an expert who sounded very informed on this type of law a) you are in the right b) their activity is absolutely illegal c) you can put an injunction against them that is of low cost to you and little danger in terms of return suits since they are breaking the law and this is a straight forward trading suit. d) we should get assistance from the government. e) he told me he would go away and investigate the origins of this trip advisor in preparation for our meeting. I agreed to an expensive one hour meeting on the basis of that phone call. I went to their offices and attended the meeting. I was met with another person I had not spoken to. He told me “Who are you what do you want.” I relay the SAME information, and he said, and this was really as though he knew all along a) You have no case b) the law is maybe on your side but… c) these people are powerful and will drown you in legal expenses - before you know it you will lose your home, your business everything and that basically d) you have no chance to fight these people, and in his words “give up and go home is my advice to you as a friendly advice”. They took my $450 and that was it. I later found out that Expedia in London is the client of a large firm whom this firm in Sydney is partnered with as a Sydney branch under a different name.