Travel Channel 

‘Beyond the Great Wall’: Exploring China’s Edges

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:53:13 EST

Julia Ross on a new cookbook/travel memoir

Inspired by a recent New Yorker profile of the food writer/adventurer couple Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford, I ordered a Christmas present for myself this year: the duo’s wonderful cookbook and travelogue, Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China. It’s an affectionate look at the cultures and foodways of China’s outlying regions, including Tibet, Yunnan and Xinjiang.

The recipes, for simple dishes like Ginger and Carrot Stir-Fry, are surprisingly low maintenance. But my favorite sections are Duguid’s and Alford’s recollections of traveling in China in the mid-1980s, when the country was just opening up to foreign tourists. Alford, who taught English in Taiwan in 1982, remembers the mystique China held for Westerners at the time:

“Every once in a while I’d hear a story about someone visiting ‘the Mainland,’ traveling independently, but it seemed very hard to believe. The rumor was that a visa could be arranged in Hong Kong from a travel agent in Chungking Mansions, a low-life building full of bottom-end hostels, Indian restaurants and drug deals. It all seemed a bit unlikely—it was ‘Communist China,’ after all.”

R.I.P. Alfred Shaheen, Aloha Shirt Revolutionary

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:44:52 EST

He designed the shirt Elvis wore on the cover of "Blue Hawaii"

He’s credited with advances in manufacturing aloha shirts and raising “the garments to the level of high fashion with artistic prints, high-grade materials and quality construction.” He also designed the shirt Elvis wore on the cover of the “Blue Hawaii” soundtrack. Shaheen was 86.

The Myth of the Carbon-Neutral Air Traveler?

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:27:43 EST

Joanna Kakissis on the efficacy of carbon offset programs.

Photo by Kossy@FINEDAYS via Flickr (Creative Commons).

By 2025, air travel could hurl nearly 1.5 billion tons of carbon annually into the environment—about a half of what the 457 million people at the 27-nation European Union currently emit. If you care about the environment, this is a terrible trend to ponder on an international flight.

I’m in Athens, Greece, now spending the holidays with my family but my flight from Denver, Colorado, did its small part to pollute the earth, producing some 5,243 lbs of CO2, according to the TerraPass carbon footprint calculator. I felt bad, to some extent, but air travel is the most efficient way to visit people and places when we’re on tight schedules. (And there are many other things we can do to be better eco-travelers until the day all planes can run on biofuel, but that’s another blog post altogether.)

Some airlines already offer travelers opportunities to buy offsets that would help pay for carbon-reducing projects or programs (and perhaps reduce their eco-guilt). And San Francisco International Airport is set to become the nation’s (and perhaps the world’s) first airport with self-service kiosks where travelers can swipe their credit cards to buy carbon offset credits.

Lisa Ling: Globetrotting Journalist, ‘Thinking Man’s Sex Symbol’

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:18:01 EST

Eva Holland on the surprise honor for the National Geographic host

One small step for Lisa Ling, and one giant leap for female journalists everywhere? Well, maybe not. But giant leap or not, Ling, who travels the world as an “Oprah” correspondent and as the host of the National Geographic Channel’s Explorer, has landed at No. 5 on the Daily Beast’s list of Thinking Man’s Sex Symbols.

Writes list author Touré: “Lisa Ling is sexy without even trying. Whether she’s striding up a mountain in front of National Geographic cameras searching for wild California cannabis or uncovering bride-burning in India, she’s that super-smart polymath who’s such a courageously crusading journalist that she doesn’t have to do anything to elicit admiration.”

(Via The Book Bench)

‘Gilligan’s Island’: Castaways Hitting the Big Screen?

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:43:30 EST

Just when you thought there were enough travel movie remakes and adaptations in the pipeline, Hollywood has found one more old storyline to re-work.

The New York Daily News is reporting that a movie version of the desert island sitcom classic Gilligan’s Island is in the works. Michael Cera of “Juno” and “Arrested Development” fame has agreed to play the bumbling title character, and producers are reportedly chasing singer Beyonce Knowles for the role of Ginger. There’s no set start date for the project.

(Via The Remote Island)

The (Official) End of ‘Staycation’?

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:07:49 EST

Jim Benning on the word that might finally go away

On a warm Southern California afternoon near the end of the summer travel season, I bade farewell to the word “staycation.” It wasn’t a fond farewell, and I’m happy to report that others followed suit.

Now, at year’s end, comes a last bit of good news on the topic. Lake Superior State University just released its annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. From 5,000 nominated words, the university chose 15 for banishment, including “staycation.”

Thank you, Lake Superior State.

Though she may take some time off at home, the queen would never take a staycation. Neither should the rest of us.

Call it a New Year’s resolution.

R.I.P. 2008: From Philip Agee to Papa Wendo

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:09:14 EST

We said goodbye to writers, adventurers and others

We said goodbye to great writers, adventurers, musicians and others in 2008—all people who, as we see it, had an impact on the world of travel.

R.I.P.:

• Philip Agee, CIA agent and Cuba travel activist
• Bud Browne, surf filmmaker
• Cachao, musician
• George Carlin, comedian
• Michael Crichton, writer
• Elmer Dills, writer and critic
• Steve Fossett, adventurer
• Dave Freeman, writer
• Sir Edmund Hillary, climber and philanthropist
• Tony Hillerman, writer
• Samuel Huntington, writer and political scientist
• Miles Kington, linguist
• Don LaFontiane, voice-over artist
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru
• Richard Marks, activist
• Paul Newman, actor
• Herb Peterson, inventor
• Sydney Pollack, filmmaker
• Dith Pran, photographer
• Diana Barnato Walker, aviator
• David Foster Wallace, writer
• Papa Wendo, musician

R.I.P. Samuel Huntington

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:43:09 EST

Jim Benning on the author and his controversial "The Clash of Civilizations"

The author of The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order and other influential books has died at the age of 81.

I read “The Clash of Civilizations” while traveling in Asia in early 2001 and found Huntington’s theories about culture and the world fascinating, even if I didn’t always agree with them. (The book was based on this article.) I always thought the book should be essential reading for any traveler with even a slightly wonkish bent trying to make sense of the world.

In retrospect, early 2001 was an interesting time to be reading the book. As the New York Times obituary points out, Huntington was startling prescient, writing: “Somewhere in the Middle East, a half-dozen young men could well be dressed in jeans, drinking Coke, listening to rap, and between their bows to Mecca, putting together a bomb to blow up an American airliner.”

Other writers, like Benjamin Barber in Jihad vs. McWorld, have offered what I thought were compelling counter-arguments to Huntington’s theory, suggesting that it’s not so much a clash of civilizations but other factors behind many of today’s terrorist attacks. The two books could well be read together.

Huntington wrote many books, including, more recently, a controversial volume about American culture and immigration. It angered many.

Regardless, he was a thoughtful writer and an important thinker. Many readers—including travelers—will miss him and his contributions to political science and our understanding of the world.

As Eco-Tourism Grows, Struggle for Cultural Identity Remains

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:08:31 EST

Does eco-tourism strain local culture? Joanna Kakissis explores the issue.

Photo by jackmora via Flickr (Creative Commons).

In places heavy with history and natural beauty, eco-tourism often comes deeply infused with nostalgia. Consider the 300-year-old Aspros Potamos cottages in eastern Crete, where goatherds once spent wintry nights as their flocks grazed along the mountain gorge. An Athenian journalist rescued the cottages from dilapidation in 1985 and turned them into simple, solar-powered lodges for those who want to commune with nature and a disappearing culture.

This time of year, you may find young Greeks on winter holiday there, gathered around a communal campfire and singing their grandparents’ favorite folk songs. It’s as much an appreciation of Crete’s fragile natural beauty as an exercise in identity.

Rock Bands Go CouchSurfing: ‘It Beats Sleeping in a Van’

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:15:06 EST

The popular travel site is the new go-to for touring rock bands on a budget

Photo by jmv via Flickr (Creative Commons)

It also beats “staying with crazy fans”—and, of course, paying for a motel room every night. So says Spin Magazine in a brief story on the latest CouchSurfing phenomenon: touring bands using the popular nonprofit travel site to line up post-gig digs.

According to Spin, more than 900 bands have joined the site. “We’ve never had any bad couchsurfing.com stays,” said the lead singer of The Shackeltons. “Everyone was so welcoming, and their places were nice and clean.”

Stockholm and San Francisco: Two Capitals of Eco-Cool?

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:23:44 EST

Joanna Kakissis tries to determine just what it means to be "eco-cool"

Photo by http2007 via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Stockholm has organic jeans, eco-guidebooks and Michelin-starred chefs specializing in natural cuisine. San Francisco has eco-boutiques, enviro-warriors and dating sites for “eco-sexuals.”

The no-bad-news folks at The Optimist lavished praise on Stockholm, which has been shortlisted as a European green capital for 2010 and 2011 and even has its own eco-focused blog. The pub calls the city “eco-cool.”

Meanwhile, a Qantas blogger obsessed with the evils of plastic bags gave some love to plastic-bag-banning San Francisco. 

I don’t know exactly what eco-cool means. If we’re talking style and sustainability, then I’d also give a shout out to Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Vancouver, Sydney, Copenhagen, Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado.

Who would you nominate?

Colombia On Film (Again)

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:17:52 EST

Eva Holland on the South American country's depiction in films

Photo by *L*u*z*a* via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Sure, 2007’s Love in the Time of Cholera may never have become the big Colombian movie-tourism ticket that we were expecting (the film adaptation of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez classic tanked, critically and at the box office), but Cartagena—the city where “Cholera” was set—isn’t done yet.

There’s a new Cartagena-set movie in the works (called, appropriately enough, Cartagena) that will star Clive Owen as “an undercover agent at the center of the world’s cocaine trade,” as Get The Big Picture blogger Colin Boyd puts it.

Nine Travel Movies to Watch For in 2009

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:41:18 EST

In 2009's slate of travel movies, remakes and sequels are the new original content.

Photo by ginnerobot via Flickr (Creative Commons)

If there’s one December fixture that I enjoy almost as much as the ubiquitous “Best of the Past Year” list, it’s the “Trends to Watch Next Year” list. What’s new and hot? What’s old but hot again? And what never goes out of style? (Trends to Watch lists, that’s what.)

So, with that in mind, here are nine travel-esque movies hitting theaters in 2009.

The Descent 2: Looks like one of our favorite travel horror movies has spawned a sequel. In the second round, the lone survivor of a caving trip gone horrifically wrong heads back below the surface—local sheriff in tow—to confirm the fate of her companions. Predictably, things don’t quite go as planned.

Point Break: Indo: Twenty years later, there’s a new band of surfing bandits on the loose—this time in Bali—and a new surfing cop on their trail, too. The producers are being coy about possible cameos from Patrick Swayze or Keanu Reeves, but hey, Swayze turned up in a Dirty Dancing re-hashing a few years back, so why not Point Break, too?

Goodbye ‘White Christmas’?

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:56:42 EST

Joanna Kakissis sees global warming as the Grinch that's stealing snowy landscapes

Photo by fiskfisk via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Do you want to spend the winter holidays in an idyllic, snow-fringed place just like the one Irving Berlin used to know? Berlin wrote “White Christmas” 68 years ago, when the concept still made sense in the German city of Berlin as well as the rest of the northern hemisphere. In what has become an annual reality check during the increasingly warm winter holidays, climate scientists and meteorologists are again warning that global warming is the Grinch that’s stealing snowy landscapes around the world. Reuters reports that the odds of Berlin seeing snow in 2100 will decrease to 5 percent from 20 percent a century ago. Even frigid Oslo, Norway, will see a precipitous decline in snow days, scientists told Reuters.

D.C.’s Obama Souvenir Trail: Good, Bad and Ugly

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:35:35 EST

With the inauguration less than a month away, Julia Ross surveys the offerings.

There’s nothing like a presidential inauguration to stoke Washington’s entrepreneurial spirit. With the big event less than a month away, Obama souvenirs are multiplying like “real Americans” at a Sarah Palin rally. I’m keeping an eye out for particularly egregious examples, but here’s a snapshot of what I’ve seen around town thus far: