Condé Nast Traveler is currently holding a poll to pick the films released since July, 2005 that most inspired viewers to travel. The results will be published in their December issue, and one poll-taker will win a five-night trip to Cancún. There are some likely candidates on the list – Brokeback Mountain, The Constant Gardener, Pride and Prejudice. I’m rallying for a little-seen Chinese film, Mountain Patrol: Kekexili, that’s set in the remote Tibetan plateau and has some gorgeously bleak cinematography (see left). Alas, Snakes on a Plane was released in August, too late to qualify; it’ll just have to wait for next year.

Good news for green-inclined travelers today, online-travel giants Travelocity and Expedia are adding the option to balance out the greenhouse gases produced by flights, rental cars, even the average hotel stay, to their checkout pages. “Zero footprint” programs of this kind have existed for a while, but streamlining the choice to offset into the reservations process seems like such a simple and smart way to ensure that more people will take advantage of them. Travelocity has partnered with the Conservation Fund to turn $10-$40 donations into enough new trees to absorb that last trip to Europe. Expedia is taking a different route, allowing users to pay a fee, between $6 and $30, that will fund TerraPass, an organization that supports research efforts into alternative energy sources such as “wind farms, [and] innovative ‘cow power’ methane capture plants on American dairies.” In both cases a small amount of cash translates to a big result: just $30-$40 offsets enough carbon dioxide to compensate for 13,000 miles worth of flights, or a long-weekend package vacation for a family of four.

What will become of the Big Easy remains anyone’s guess. Here are three versions of the city’s reality, in ascending order from grim to hopeful:

- ‘New Orleans is rotting away’ (Globe and Mail)

- ‘New Orleans in Photos: Then and Now’ (NYT)

- Mardi Gras – New Orleans

It was another round of the unlikely-destination Olympics this weekend with each paper trying harder than the last: Libya! Vanuatu! Angola! Honorable mentions go to the Times of LA and London, respectively, for pieces on car-cult tourism in Germany and love-cult tourism on Aphrodite’s isle, Cyprus.

On a more sober note, USA Today ran a piece encouraging renewed tourism to New Orleans since the the most-visited parts of the city – the Garden District, the French Quarter – were relatively unharmed by Katrina, and much needed tourist dollars will only spur redevelopment. A story from the San Francisco Chronicle, on the redevelopment of Kauai’s east shore, where visitorship has been low and at least one major property derelict since Hurricane Iniki blew through 14 years ago, shows what a long and hard road New Orleans has ahead of it.

- ‘French Quarter set to roll’ (USA Today)
- ‘Tripoli: Once a Pariah, Now a Hot Spot’ (NYT)
- ‘The Original Bali Hai’ (NYT)
- ‘In Post-War Angola, Glimpses of an Emerging Country’ (Washington Post)
- ‘Kauai’s east side comes into its own’ (SF Chronicle)
- ‘Temples of Vroom’ (LA Times)
- ‘Mighty Aphrodite’ (Times of London)

Turn Here continues to expand their area of coverage, and taps into the recent trend of Eastern European and Balkan locales as hotspots. One of this week’s featured films is on Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, and nicely captures the energy of a city that’s remade itself since leaving the communist bloc almost 20 years ago.





Kristin is off communing with the natural world this week. This post was originally published on 07/25/06.

If, like me, you’ve yet to make it to Cape Town to sample its reputedly great low-key vibe, wining and dining, and killer surf breaks, you can get a vicarious dose of SA style via Cherryflava’s photoblog. Local man-about-town Jonathan Cherry has been documenting Cape Town’s goings-on, and his travels elsewhere in Africa, through images, and a regular ol’ blog-blog since 2004. Be sure to browse the photo archives for maximum envy inducement. (via Jaunted)



Kristin is off communing with the natural world this week. This post was originally published on 05/24/06.

Time was, the hitchhiker by the side of the road was as much a symbol of Americana, in his own way, as the Marlboro Man. But, just as the cowboy has galloped off into a wheezy sunset, the hitchhiker has become a boogeyman, more Jeffrey Dahmer than Jack Kerouac. The spread of highway/strip-mall culture, endless bad horror movies, differing state regulations, our general culture of paranoia, and legitimate fears about violent crime for both drivers and hitchers have pretty much done away with any kind of hitchhiking culture in many parts of the U.S. The folks at digihitch.com would like to change that: since 2001 they’ve dedicated themselves to creating a community of people who hitch (or hop trains) to share the realities of their experiences and counteract negative stereotypes. An online portal for travel-by-thumb the world over, digihitch has forums, tips for how to both pick up travelers and hitch safely, detailed info about local laws, likely spots for rides and lots of other useful info for those who want to take travel into their own, er, hands.

Elsewhere:
- CBS4 Denver: ‘Hitchhiker Says Ride-Sharing is Safe Way to Travel’

Image courtesy of sunflowerandcoconut’s photostream

Kristin is off communing with the natural world this week. This post was originally published on 04/13/06.

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)


Kristin is off communing with the natural world this week. This post was originally published on 06/27/06.

This clip has been circulating around the Web for awhile, but it cropped up recently while I was searching YouTube’s travel pickings, and I was reminded how great it is. Such a simple, genius idea: a time-lapse camera mounted on the back of a convertible captures the entire country, coast-to-coast, in the span of one music video. It was directed by impish cine-wizards Olivier and Michel Gondry for the French pop group Laquer.





Kristin is off communing with the natural world this week. This post was originally published on 05/10/06.

The hard-hitting travel journalists at the Washington Post want you to know that the plot of the infamous Snakes on a Plane – which opens, finally, today – is purely fictional, and that you need not fear any reptile encounters on your next flight.

“When snakes do go on a plane, the International Air Transport Association’s regulations forbid them in the passenger compartment. They must be shipped as cargo, with requirements on the size and sturdiness of the container.

“There’s no way to get between the cargo hold and the passenger compartment,” says Tim Wagner, spokesman for American Airlines, which accepts only nonvenomous snakes.”

They’re not afraid to ask the big questions, though, like “on the chance that you do encounter a snake on a plane, what should you do?” The answer? Try crying out: “Is there a herpetologist on board!?”

National Geographic, on the other hand, good naturalists that they are, have a different story to tell:

“Most of the illegal smuggling of snakes [in and out of the country] takes place in the passenger arena,” Osborn, the FWS official, said.

“A person may try to bring the snakes onto the plane in their carry-on luggage or even tape them to their body.”

One traveler, Osborn says, was caught at the L.A. airport with 53 baby snakes concealed underneath his clothes.”

Elsewhere:
- ‘Pilot Fights Black Snake Stowaway on Plane’ (Fox News)

Vlogger tburnett5 over at Current TV posted this nicely meditative pod about traveling alone on the wrong side of a language barrier.

A story in USA Today, er, today, reports that the UK has eased it’s clampdown on hand baggage somewhat since the news of last week’s terror plot, with travelers again allowed to carry laptops, phones and ipods, and solid, but not liquid or paste, toiletries. The permissible size of a carry-on, though, has been halved – to about the size of a laptop bag or briefcase, and this restriction looks to become permanent:

“A representative of British airline Virgin Atlantic said permanent limits on carry-ons and a ban on liquids made sense in light of the alleged bombing plot. “You only need a few essentials for the flight,” said Paul Charles, Virgin Atlantic’s director of communications. “Less hand baggage helps speed up boarding.”

Speeding up the boarding process is all well and good, and there’s a certain appeal to never again having to worry about someone dropping their vastly overstuffed mini-suitcase on you as they try to wedge it in an overhead compartment. But another report today, this one from the Guardian, announced that BA has lost some 20,000 bags at Heathrow since the madness began, something that I doubt will clear up quickly as the baggage system is flooded with extra checked luggage. Nothing beats arriving at your destination in a speedy, secure and efficient manner, to spend countless days waiting for your bags to (maybe) show up.

Elsewhere:
- TSA – Full List of Prohibited Items
- ‘Airlines tally cost of terror alert’ (AP)

Not owning a car, and being a dedicated urban traveler, I’m a big fan of public transportation, and not just for the ability to get around faster and more cheaply, but for the typically slick-but-simple design package that goes along with it. Ergo, I really like this Metros from the World site unearthed today by the folks at Jaunted. You can click on the logos of 151 different public transportation systems to make a list of the ones you’ve ridden. That’s a third of my list up at the top, what does yours look like?

The papers were buzzing over the weekend with sometimes conflicting reports about the snarls of new regulations at US and UK airports. Fittingly, all other coverage in the travel sections played it quite safe, with lots of pieces on tried and true summer destinations like Italy, France and New England, and one story on how to avoid flying from the UK, by driving to, yep, Italy and France.

New Security Measures:
- ‘No fly zone – ways to avoid planes’ (Times of London)
- ‘Air passengers still face delays’ (Guardian)
- ‘Fewer delays as fliers adjust to new rules’ (USA Today)
- ‘UK hand bag restrictions eased’ (CNN)

Italy:
Abruzzi: ‘In Abruzzi, Italy Shows a Rougher Edge’ (NYT)
Sardinia: ‘From Sea to Shining Sea’ (LA Times)
San Gimignano: ‘For a Tourist, Too Much of a Good Thing in San Gimignano’ (NYT)

France:
Aquitaine: ‘An Adventure in 37 Courses’ (LA Times)
Normandy: ‘La France Profonde’ (Times of London)

New England:
Rhode Island: ‘Clamming Up in Rhode Island’ (Washington Post)
Maine: ‘The End of America: Way, way Down East in Maine’ (Chicago Tribune)

The business-traveler fantasy of the carry-on-only flight is no more. In response to Thursday’s news of the foiled plot to blow up trans-atlantic flights using liquid explosives, travelers on both sides of the pond were greeted at the airport with an onslaught of new restrictions and longer and still more byzantine security queues. In the UK, travelers were required to check all but the essentials before boarding, their carry-ons reduced to plastic baggies of glasses, prescriptions and passports. According to a piece in the NYT some who arrived without the time to stow their gear in checked luggage had to part with iPods, cellphones and toiletries, or face missing their flights. The new security measures, coupled with countless canceled and delayed flights, have caused mammoth backups at Heathrow and other British airports, where, according to the BBC, some fliers have been grounded for up to 58 hours between connecting flights. While the delays will eventually ease up, the carry-on rules will remain in place for the immediate future.

Restrictions are lighter in the US, requiring only that any liquids, creams, gels or pastes be packed in checked bags. Still, travelers who arrived at the airport Thursday and Friday without knowing the new rules had to throw out an arsenal of toiletries before boarding. Check out this news report from Phoenix, and the amazing indignation of one lady forced to chuck her makeup kit full of expensive products. (Why do I suspect that some lucky TSA employees are going home with pocketfuls of Chanel and Kiehl’s this weekend?)



For a view of the situation on the ground in England, and some news coverage that’s more concerned with the terrorism aspect of recent days than with the indignity of having the government confiscate your toothpaste, take a look at this report from the UK’s Sky News:

More guidebook news today. It appears that Lonely Planet is indeed the travel advice force to be reckoned with, as the city of Moscow has decided to pin their image problems re: crime, corruption, and hedonism on the publisher’s Moscow city guide. That’s a lot of punch for a 258-page paperback. According to a report in the Guardian city officials claim the book “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.” Among the complaints are mentions of the possibility that tourists might encounter scams, fake vodka, prostitution, or the occasional bedbug. Unfortunately for Lonely Planet, the release this year of the Moscow guide’s third edition coincides with a $26 million effort on the part of the Moscow government to pretty up their reputation overseas and drive tourism. The Guardian points out, though, that tourism is already growing at a healthy 10% per year, and quotes a local hostel owner who says that the majority of her new guests arrive “clutching the Lonely Planet guide.” The copy for the tome on LP’s website is hardly unflattering:

“Delight in the iconic onion domes of St Basil’s Cathedral, treat yourself to world-class ballet at the Bolshoi, be dazzled by chandeliers in the metro and get steamed and washed at a banya. From the splendour of the Kremlin to fine dining haute-russe, you’ll discover a city that’s cloaked in history and embracing the future. Revel in this frenetic, changing capital with this best-selling guide.

DISCERNING REVIEWS – hand-picked eating and sleeping options from Georgian cuisine to the best renovated Soviet hotels

MUSCOVITE NIGHTLIFE – elite clubs, bohemian bars, cafés, opera and ballet”

Makes Moscow sound pretty appealing, doesn’t it. What would be the use of a guide that didn’t steer travelers away from the potential bad mixed in with all that good? I would hazard that there isn’t a world capital that’s been spared the same treatment, the only difference here being a Russian history of, well, image control and political coercion in the not-too-distant past. The times may be changing fast, but it seems the tactics still have some catching up to do.

Elsewhere:
- “Furious Muscovites say ‘nyet’ to Lonely Planet” (The Age)
- “Doughnuts get down and dirty when lost in translation”: Tony Wheeler on the perils of publishing Lonely Planet (The Australian)

Is the mighty, middle-of-the-road Frommer’s guidebook series losing ground to the Lonely Planets and Rough Guides of the world? (let’s not even begin to discuss the interweb) The AP ran a story yesterday about how Frommer fille, Pauline Frommer, has launched her own sub-brand “Pauline Frommer’s Travel Guides”, that are apparently directed at “the adult budget traveler – but not the backpacker,” and “have a bigger focus on alternative accommodations – ranging from bed-and-breakfasts to monasteries – than most guidebooks…there is also advice on where the locals eat, when to get the best deals and how to use Web-booking services to your advantage.” What this all adds up to, according to Ms. Frommer, are far more “authentic” travel experiences. Which means, by contrast, that the original Frommer’s are peddling “fake” ones?

Perhaps as a response to the recent heat wave, when NYC’s normally odoriferous subways must have risen to a whole new level of rankness, the Gawker crew are asking their readers to submit info about the particular smells of subway stations all over the 5 boroughs. Their goal is to create a “subway smell map” so you can determine precisely how to avoid (I would hope not how to find) any of the nasties in NY’s cornucopia of stench, or at least have the comfort of seeing your own unpleasant olfactory experiences seconded in print. Says Gawker: “if you know of a particular ordure unique to any [station], drop us a line at subwaystink@gmail.com. Be sure to note the station name, and try to be as specific (and as “colorful”) as possible when describing the smell(s). We almost forgot to mention—not all these smells must be bad, you know. Of course, as current data indicates, there’s always room for debate. One person’s “rotting corpse” is apparently another’s “fresh bagels.”

It was a mixed bag of features this weekend: a few locales with troubled history, some ultra-peaceful escapes from any troubles currently in the making, hitchhiking in the unlikely destination of Japan, and the long-delayed opening of Dubai’s manmade palm-shaped island.

Serbia: ‘A style all of its own‘ (Guardian)
Bavaria: ‘Rising Above the Past’ (SF Chronicle)
Dubai: ‘Dubai’s palm island being readied for its first residents’ (USA Today)
Mt. Athos, Greece: ‘Of Monks and Men’ (Washington Post)
Ibiza: ‘Ibiza Gets in Touch With its Hippie-Chic Roots’ (NYT)
Romania: ‘The Danube’s green waltz’ (LA Times)
Hitchhiking: ‘One thumb up for Japan’ (Chicago Tribune)

While half of the country bakes in record temperatures and every media outlet offers up their “beat the heat” tips, Current TV vlogger soumyadeep shows us how to keep cool Rajasthani style, with turbans as the stylish man’s answer to the extreme heat of the Thar desert.

The recent news that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has handed over the reins to his brother Raul (at least temporarily) while he undergoes surgery for intestinal bleeding, has kicked off intense speculation about the island’s political future. But within the industry of top-tier clubs, restaurants and hotels, the question of the day isn’t “Communism or Democracy?” it’s “bottle-service bar or boutique hotel?” According to an item in today’s Page Six, the Ian Schragers of the world are already envisioning Havana as a kind of South Beach South, crumbling infrastructure and economy be damned.

“I guess I’m in the catbird seat,” said Tommy Puccio, the top South Beach promoter who reigns at Andre Balasz’s Raleigh hotel and the club Sweet. “When I got here in ‘91, I said I wanted to be the first one to serve Jell-O shots in Cuba. Here it is 2006, and it might just be reality now. ... You could Jet-Ski there on a full tank.”

“There’s a part of old Havana that has a kind of charm,” said Ian Schrager, whose luxe residential Gramercy Park Hotel opens this week. “It’s got great architecture. ... It’s a very special place.”

Elsewhere:
- ‘Cuba libre? N.Y. and Miami club owners say they’ll drink to that’ (NY Daily News – 2nd item)
- ‘Cuba says communists in control’ (Reuters)

Despite the ubiquity of internet cafes and wifi while traveling in most parts of the world, postcards don’t seem to be going out of style anytime soon. There’s something about a piece of mail that’s traveled that far, a tangible little piece of wherever your friends or family visited, that seems to trump a string of ones and zeros any day. They make for good stories too – I once sent a postcard from Florence that arrived at its destination almost a year to the day after I’d mailed it. I like imagining the convoluted route it must have taken around the globe (though it was probably just stuck in a mail box somewhere.)

A piece from this weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald, however, takes issue with what all too often gets written on postcards – the “wish you were here” clichés, and breathy drivel about how “fantastic,” or “gorgeous” some place is. The author, Patti Miller, points out that all this “advertisers’ copy” isn’t meant to give any sense of place or of the trip you’ve taken, but rather to make your nearest and dearest green with envy over where they’re not.

“Postcards might be the shortest and most democratic form of travel writing, but it’s time to acknowledge the standard of writing is as abysmal as the level of truth.

Of course, underlying the dishonesty and the cliches is a suspect motivation. We claim it’s simply to stay in touch, but brief introspection will lead us to the real motive – to demonstrate that our life is much better than our friends’ or family’s at this moment.”

As a remedy, Miller argues for a new sincerity in postcard writing, a version of your vacation that includes the mishaps, the language barriers, and the impossibly wretched hotel rooms. These are the cards that Miller insists are destined to wind up on the fridge “writing-side up.” To that end she’s come up with a six-point plan that includes such wisdom as:

2. Don’t use the words amazing, beautiful, magical, romantic, lovely, charming or fabulous – unless you have mastered the art of irony.

3. Master the art of irony. It’s best done flat (like an iron – hence the name) and straight-faced. You can then write things such as: “I had an amazing and magical cup of tea …”

Check out the piece for the whole list, read and learn.

(Image via juznuts’ photostream)

First, there was Matt Harding, whose ‘Where the Hell is Matt?’” video, of himself dancing like a loon in far-flung places and near famous sites all over the planet, became one of YouTube’s most watched clips. Then, there were a million homages, and parodies. Now, a Norwegian named Lars has reinvented that particular wheel, by – wait for it – playing a global game of catch with himself, in far-flung places and near famous sites, through some bargain-basement editing tricks and expensive plane tickets.