Today is the 50th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System, which was signed into existence on this date in 1956 by Eisenhower. Since our car-obsessed culture is currently being served a double wake-up call in the form of climate crisis and $3-dollar-per-gallon gas, there couldn’t be a more perfect moment for a critical look at our largest shared piece of infrastructure. So how does America’s circulatory system look in its middle age? The consensus is: “not too good.” From crumbling roadways in the mountain West, to privatization and tolls in Indiana and Illinois, the highways that united the country while (arguably) hastening the decline of regional culture are arriving at this mile-marker in a troubled state. Citizens of Memphis, TN chose to celebrate today in honor of a four-mile stretch of I-40 that was never built, and in Boston, the cost of the “Big Dig” to bury the troublesome inner-city stretch of I-93 is currently running over $14.6 billion. Even the plot of Cars the current Disney/Pixar effort hinges on an evil interstate sucking the life out of a town on a less-traveled secondary road. When Disney turns against such an integral part of Americana, it’s fair to say that something is wrong. But the IHS isn’t without its champions: Ike’s great-grandson led a convoy of classic cars, trailers and trucks along the route of a cross-country military transport survey in 1919 that originally inspired his great-grandpa. They arrived in DC today in time for a welcome from members of congress and auto-lobbying groups. The project was underwritten by Bridgestone, the American Trucking Association, Daimler-Chrysler and others with a vested interest in keeping the Interstate system vital. The Washington Post’s Hank Steuver, sums things up nicely in a piece published today, arguing that though the Interstates never get the “American dream” treatment – they are in fact our national reality, and they deserve a closer look at both the bad and good, then they often get.

Even before the highway act was signed we were already going suburban; we were already homogenizing, Woolworthizing, turning Texacoid, watching for the next orange roof of Howard Johnson’s. The interstate didn’t create us, it is us; it is something we built.

The interstate is one of the few places we can all feel good about having paid our taxes. Could anything this expensive, so fought over in Washington at budget time, ever feel so apart from pure politics, once you’re out on it, once you’re sailing along?

Love them or hate them, the interstates are an intrinsic part of what America is right now; the question, it seems, is where do we go from here?

Elsewhere:

- “The Roads Most Traveled” (Washington Post)
- “What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been” (Newsweek)
- “U.S. interstate system marks 50 years today” (USA Today)

The NYT’s Frugal Traveler, Matt Gross, continues his thrifty jaunt through the summer that started a month back in Lisbon. This week’s installment finds him in Albania, where he visits the capital, Tirana, and Gjirokastra- a UNESCO-designated “museum city” in the south. Though Albania is Europe’s poorest country, and is still regaining its footing after a toppled pyramid scheme destabilized the entire national economy in the ‘90s, Mr. Gross encounters much to enjoy – friendly locals, newly cosmopolitan city centers, cheap cuisine and drinks, and the “refreshing” regional brand of crazy. But he also, unsurprisingly, finds less than stellar infrastructure and many, many inconsistencies and contradictions. Currently he’s on route to Greece and Turkey, and is accepting travel tips from readers here.

Previously:
- “Around the World in 90 Days”

(image via Globe trotting anthropoid’s photostream)

The guidebook gurus at Rough Guides have launched a series of free “PodScrolls.” Not to be confused with audio podcasts, PodScrolls are sequences of text pages and images that you can navigate using the clickwheel on your iPod. The first 10 are eating and drinking guides for cities in Europe and the US, based on Rough Guides’ City Directions series. The scroll for New York that I previewed was pretty information-packed, with separate multi-page sections covering restaurants and bars in most Manhattan neighborhoods, and sizable listings for the Outer Boroughs. The only drawback to these handy little guides is that they’re only usable on later-generation color-screen iPods (damn technical obsolescence). (via InFlightHQ)

Latvia’s Prison Hotel:
“I can’t say I’d recommend the food, the service, the accommodation or the location, but for a sobering and memorable experience, a night at Liepaja prison is hard to beat. And at just £7 a night, it’s better value than many youth hostels I’ve stayed in.”
- “Handcuffs are included in the room rate, sir” (The Observer)

Mongolia:
“Later in the trip, we encountered Alix, happily drinking beer with her friends, her arm slung in a scarf. At Moron Hospital, the doctors took one look and pulled her dislocated elbow back into working order in one sudden, excruciating snap. Then they sent her along to the dispensary for a painkiller – and she was duly issued with a bottle of vodka.”
- “In the steppes of Ghengis Khan” (SMH)

Mexico City:
“At 2 a.m. on a Saturday at Hotel Virreyes, an 1940’s hotel that is now one of the youth hostels where artists can rent rooms for $200 a month, it was like an art school dorm party but without the art school.”
- “Art on the Edge in Mexico City” (NYT)

Brussels:
“Belgium reportedly has 200 breweries making some 900 varieties of beer—each poured into logo-bearing glasses of different sizes and shapes. Supposedly, this brings out the quintessential taste of every beer; more likely, it’s all about marketing.”
- “Who says Brussels is boring?” (SF Chronicle)

Word of the Weekend:
smultronställe – n. [Swedish] a favorite place, a spot of personal magic or, literally, “a patch of wild strawberries.”
- “Gather ye wild strawberries while (and where) ye may” (SF Chronicle)

Not the industry, but the actual neighborhood that gave Tinseltown its name. The NYT has a new video up with their version of how to see the real city lurking beyond the Walk of Fame, the Kodak Theater and Grauman’s Chinese. No shocks here: the Times’ intrepid reporter braves some “weird” left-coast new-age culture at Golden Bridge Yoga, goes to the Hollywood Hills, and drives a car (woah!). There’s also an obligatory mention of Thai Town and everyone’s favorite symbol of quirky LA culture, Palms restaurant’s Thai Elvis impersonator. Having eaten at Palms recently, however, I can attest that locals do eat there, and the food is damn good — Thai hot, not milquetoast Westerner hot. All in all, though, this is a nice sampling of things to do that give you a real feel of the place, behind the scenes. It sure beats the heck out of “Homes of the Stars” tours.



Elsewhere:
- “Kitsch LA” (GO Airtran Magazine)
- “Database of Elvis Impersonators” (Boing Boing)

According to a recent USA Today article, there’s a new breed of backpacker on the loose: the flashpacker. Sounds a bit dirty for America’s squeaky clean broadsheet, doesn’t it? And it gets better, flashpackers are very likely you, me, and everyone we know. The term, apparently coined in New Zealand a few years back, refers to “business-class backpackers”, not, as another article from the Sydney Morning Herald helpfully notes, those with a penchant for exhibitionism. Flashpackers want the thrill of a traveling close to the ground, without having to stay in a dorm bed, and without leaving the tasteful, gadgety comforts of home — laptop, iPod, broadband — behind. The budget travel industry has responded with private rooms in hostels, free wi-fi, spruced-up bars and other upgrades. While some might decry this as a betrayal of backpacking’s granola roots, for others it’s a necessary and stylish evolution. Elsewhere in the world the phenomenon of mid-20’s-to-mid-30’s travelers known by this name isn’t exactly news, judging from this two-year old piece from the London Times, and upstart techies are already squatting flashpacker.com , flashpacker.net, and flashpacker.org (though, admittedly, not doing much with them). The term is even under consideration for inclusion in some of HarperCollins’ dictionaries. What’s driving the resurgence of interest in this concept, I wonder? Could it be the travel industry trying to grab a piece of the newly sliced “grup” pie? Or just the typical jet lag experienced by Anglo slang terms crossing the pond?

Elsewhere:
- “The Flashpacker: A New Breed of Traveler” (Hotel Travel News)
- “Flashpacking around Fiji” (This is Travel)
- “Bags a good night’s sleep” (Radar Blog)
- Flashpackers: Backpackers Doing it in Style (Blogspot)

Yesterday’s Guardian had a piece about David Rockwell’s interior design for the new JetBlue terminal at JFK, which will replace Eero Saarinen’s abandoned TWA hub as the airport’s fifth. In fact, the building, created by sustainable-design firm Gensler, will form a backdrop to Saarinen’s landmark, tracing a low-lying arc around its perimeter. The old Terminal 5 will serve as a gateway for passengers, and will potentially include a gallery or restaurant. But the real story is in the new concourse’s layout, which Rockwell, designer of Nobu/Next Door and the W at Union Square, is developing in conjunction with choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, Hedwig and the Angry Inch). The pair have previously worked together on sets for Broadway, and have now teamed up to direct the footwork of a busy airport. While the image of TSA screeners in a Busby-Berkeley kickline is a tempting one, I think there’s a real genius in designing a space that is increasingly shaped by tortuous ticket- and security queues around how people move, instead of around a show-stopping architectural statement. What this translates to is a leisurely departures area, with wide staircases cribbed from the front of the Met for lounging and spectating, and a straight-to-the-point arrivals route that will “slingshot” passengers straight into the rush of New York. Too bad the show doesn’t go on until 2009.

Elsewhere:
“Passengers May Now Pirouette to Gate 3” (NYT)

In Other News:
“Ballet for Bellhops” (World Hum)

Budget Travel is attuned to the plight of American travelers looking for a low-cost local vacation in the age of $3.00/ gallon at the pump. They’ve launched a new online “Daily Gas Watch” feature, which has links to all sorts of fuel calculators, and lists of the cheapest gas by state in the US and Canada. This month’s issue, though, has a feature designed to do away with gas-gauge paranoia altogether, focusing on four small cities where you can spend an entirely walkable long weekend. They’ve also got Google Maps up with their itineraries for Madison, WI, Burlington, VT, Wilmington, NC, and Portland, ME, just to underscore the point.

Now that summer is hitting its stride in the Northern Hemisphere, which in NYC today means heat and humidity in the high 80’s (mmm-mmm!), cue lots and lots of stories about frosty, faraway and sometimes inaccessible places where you can leave both the human crush and summer temperatures behind:

- “A national park to yourself…Canada’s Arctic Preserve awash in silent beauty” (SF Chronicle)

- “Iceland’s Ring Road: The Ultimate Road Trip” (NYT)

- “Going native up north (Canada’s Charlevoix region)” (LA Times)

- “Where Sweden meets Denmark” (Chicago Tribune)

- “A pilgrim’s trail (Tibet’s Mount Kailash)” (SMH)

I recently discovered Blip.tv which has some of the best-shot vlogs I’ve seen (and a nice, simple interface, to boot). Case in point: girlwithamoviecamera’s vlog, with several entries she shot while traveling in Japan. Check out her footage of the otaku-and-cosplay circus in Tokyo’s Akihabara.

Well, not exactly. The two branches of Yotel set to open in Heathrow and Gatwick late this year, and in the city proper in 2007, prefer to call their 10’x10’ rooms “cabins.” Like their Japanese brethren, however, these small compartments are bookable in chunks of a few hours-to-a-night, and are designed for business types who need to refresh before a meeting, or travelers stuck in the airport for odd stretches of time. They’re cheap, too, at roughly $75 (at the current exchange rate) for a full night in a standard cabin. What’s not cheap are the advertised business-class amenities like a flat-screen TV, free Wi-Fi, desk with universal port, and the sleek, attached mini-bathroom. Also promising is the fact that two of the people behind the Yotel “concept” are the creator of the UK’s ubiquitous YO! Sushi chain, and a former GM and Development Manager from the inexpensive-but-stylish Hotel du Vin group. It’s high time this idea made its way to the other side of the International Date Line, if you ask me, but whether anonymous check-in and paying by-the-hour will translate successfully to the decidedly less fastidious West is anyone’s guess. (via Gadling)

Elsewhere:
– “Goodbye mini bar, hello mini room” (CNN)

This year’s Webby Awards were handed out on Monday, with festivities at New York’s Cipriani, a brief performance by Prince and five-word thank-yous from the honorees. The big success of the night, from any perspective, was Google: Google Earth earned both the industry mandate and the People’s Voice award in the Best Visual Design-Function and Broadband categories, and Google Maps took home both honors in the Services category, and the People’s Voice for Best Practices. (Today the Webbys, tomorrow the world!) The Webbys for Tourism went to New Zealand Travel, for their capable version of what’s admittedly an easy job (raise your hand if you don’t want to go to New Zealand), and to Earth Cam’s worldwide webcam consolidator. In the Travel field Expedia and Trip Advisor earned the accolades. Trip Advisor’s five-word acceptance speech nicely sums up the Web 2.0-ness of the evening, which also saw wins by Flickr and Myspace: “Real reviews beat marketing fluff.” Cheers to all the winners.

Think “Morocco” and “Condé Nast Traveler” and you might picture socialites lounging around riads in Marrakech, or plundering the souk for jewelry, carpets and lanterns. If your Saharan fantasy is more desert-nomad than sheik-of-the-medina, though, this month’s issue has a story for you. Flagging Morocco as an underappreciated adventure destination, Jason Harper canvassed the Atlas Mountains region on foot and on horseback, scaling North Africa’s highest peak and visiting Berber villages along the way.

Travel Basics:
– The Globe and Mail’s section is devoted entirely to a “How-To” issue with tips on everything from airports to travel photography, stopping by jet lag, family travel and mapping en route.
– The SF Chronicle dedicates its pages to packing, with a recipe for the mythic carry-on that will get you through a whole trip, and travel writers weighing-in on their must-have items.

Argentina:
– The Washington Post and the NYT agree, Argentina is paradise for carnivores; the WP keeps it genteel while visiting an estancia, the NYT opts to see their meat on-the-hoof at the La Rural agricultural fair.

The American West:
– “Aspen for cheapskates” (Houston Chronicle)
– “A hiker’s best of the West” (Chicago Tribune)
– “In Arizona, it’s 10 miles to Cloud 9” (LA Times)

The 2006 World Cup is blowing up the blogosphere as commentators, aficionados, and bystanders post on-the-ground reports, photos and video of what must be a truly surreal international spectacle. BootsnAll’s World Cup Blog site quite possibly takes the cake, with a fan-written blog for each team — that’s 34 in all — and live text play-by-play during matches. They’ve also got a video stream on YouTube, where they’ve been posting interviews with a random slice of global fandom, shot in front of a giant silver football that’s landed in front of the Brandenburg Gate like some kind of spacecraft from planet FIFA.

And the nominees are:

USA Today: “Urinals with a view at Stockholm Airport”

Gadling: “Hidden Gems: Hell”

CNN: “Hotel checks in “CrackBerries” for addicts”

NYT: “The Disney Touch at a Hindu Temple

Guardian: “Plane’s Mayday call missed due to pilot’s poor English“

John Batelle over at Searchblog posted yesterday about a new airfare search engine called Farecast that will track ticket prices historically to predict the cheapest period to fly to any given destination.

“The basic premise is neat – Farecast pays attention to the market price of all airline fares out of particular cities (it only does Boston and Seattle for now) at all times (it uses an industry data feed that, unfortunately, does not include Southwest). It then uses this data to help forecast when the right time might be for you to buy your ticket (and get the best price). In short, it’s a rip off detector for flights. Farecast leverages the power of data to put you back in charge, or at least more in charge.”

At the moment, the site is in private beta, but you can add your email to a waiting list for an invitation when it goes into wider release. Even though the site isn’t available as of yet, I’m also excited about the prospect of one more tool to demystify airline ticket pricing. Getting the best value currently involves guesswork about when demand will be lowest for your destination, coupled with aggressive searching of any number of the discount-ticket sites, and that still doesn’t guarantee you the cheapest fare. You have to wait for those goodies to tumble into your lap via last-minute fare announcements from the airlines, or from sites like Airfare Watchdog. Imagine if, when trying to book a long-awaited trip to, say, Australia, you could see when you would be most likely get a ticket that wouldn’t run into the thousands of dollars. Pair that with a search of my current favorite site ITA Software — which has really flexible parameters and will show you the cheapest fare for specific dates, weekends, or in any 30-day period — and you’ve got some real tech-supported power to the traveling people right there. (via Boing Boing)

As a reminder that the US and Canada’s national parks aren’t just for car-camping families, National Geographic Adventure has just posted a web-exclusive “Insider’s Guide to the Great Parks” with info on 30 parks throughout North America where you can get back to some serious nature this summer. There are classics on the list – the Grand Canyon, Arches – but also far-flung corners of protected wilderness – Canada’s Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve? There’s also an abundance of interesting attractions that go beyond Old Faithful-spectating, or getting your photo snapped in a giant sequoia. Who knew, for example, that the Denali lodges have a Northern-Lights wake-up call service, that there’s year-round surfing in the islands of Bristish Columbia’s Pacific Rim National Park, or that there’s a park in Arkansas built as America’s answer to the great European spa towns?

- The NYT asks “Is Qatar the Next Dubai?”- they’ve got man-made resort islands too! It seems like mere weeks ago, Dubai was the next Dubai. And the cannibalizing cycle of the “Next Big Thing” spirals on…

- The LA Times takes a stab at IDing a hot new place with an article on Brooklyn, and manages to cover only Downtown Brooklyn, the Heights and DUMBO. Yup, in a borough that also includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Coney Island, and the recently anointed next-big-neighborhood, Red Hook, the thrills of Borough Hall and Fulton Street are clearly the best things on offer.

– Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald thinks that the next “hot” travel trend is global-warming disaster tourism, exhorting readers to “see them now before they melt”. Cause, of course, the extra body heat and exhaust gases that surplus visitors bring to these sensitive places won’t hasten their decline at all.

– With the kickoff only days away, the SF Chronicle tries to make their World Cup travel special look like less of a cheap attention-grab by declaring that the best time to visit the host cities will be after the stampeding hordes have left. No way!


Previously:
- “Blame the Tourists? Nah.”
- “Weekend Travel Section Roundup – World Cup Travel”
- “Berlin by Bahn“

Judging by this video shot from a taxi zipping through Kathmandu, New York cabbies and Romans don’t have any monopoly on crazy driving. It’s a great glimpse at some really fascinating street life, though, and a nice reminder of the exhilaration of having a new, completely unknown place flashing by your windows. Too bad Nepal is a bit of a no-go zone these days.



The video is from Prague-based Canandian Graham Walker’s TravelVlog, where he’s been posting about his travels in Tibet, Nepal and the Czech Republic.


Elsewhere:
– “Nepal’s Maoist’s come out of the jungle, into the mainstream” (IHT)
– “NEPAL – travel advice and safety concerns” (Thorn Tree)

Previously:
– “Vagabonding”
– “Wheels: 2, Miles: 10,000“

Turning away from all things digital for a moment, I’d like to call your attention to the original, analog travel journal, the Moleskine, whose compact size, accordion pockets and elastic strap made it the notebook of choice for wandering writers and artists — a legend enshrined by Bruce Chatwin’s pointed use of them while creating his cult of the nomad. The Moleskine is getting a 21st-century update, as the company that revived their production in 1998 introduces a series of City Notebooks for a handful of European locales, with worldwide destinations to follow next year. A city atlas and journal in one, the books have region, detail and public transport maps, 76 blank pages for jotting down profound observations, removable pages for sharing notes and info, and a tabbed index that you can customize to sort addresses and such. I think my favorite feature is the removable translucent overlays for the maps, so you can plot your trips and make notes, without making them permanent. You know, sort of like Google Maps, but with a pen and paper. (via Gadling)