Most Popular Travel Vehicle: a Whim

Most Popular Travel Vehicle: a Whim
By BARRY ESTABROOK
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/travel/30lastminute.html

FOR travelers who have put off making holiday reservations, there's some early cheer: as late as the week before Thanksgiving, rooms were still available at popular winter resorts -- on the ski slopes and on the beaches. At a time when most hotels are usually booked solid, late planners could even find bargains on the Web. ''There are still plenty of opportunities for any number of cruises and resorts,'' said Karen Crager, public relations manager for 11thHourVacations.com, a site serving late bookers. ''But if you are looking at a specific travel date, I would advise you to book soon to get the maximum amount of choice.''

South Beach: From Hot to Cold, Back to Hot Again

South Beach: From Hot to Cold, Back to Hot Again
By PAMELA ROBIN BRANDT
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/05/travel/escapes/05SOBE.html

FOR the past few years, the word has gone out among the fashionable set: South Beach is so over. The litany of complaints piled up as this high-profile strip of Miami Beach seemingly fell victim to its own success. The place was too crowded. The traffic impossible. The hotel service inept. Ocean Drive now a fraternity-house nightmare of sports bars, fuzzy navels and hot body contests — a "South Street Seaport for tourists," in the words of Brett Sokol, a columnist for New Times, a Miami weekly.

And thus the hip crowd moved on in search of the new South Beach. But what were the alternatives? Rio? It's where the beautiful people are flocking, to be sure, but not for a weekend getaway. St. Bart's? No direct flights and prohibitively expensive once you get there. Jamaica? You're chained to your resort because of local crime and the lack of good restaurants. Puerto Rico? Fine for one visit to the Water Club, but that's it. The much-touted Fort Lauderdale? You've got to be kidding.

So, like swallows to Capistrano, the hipsters are returning to South Beach. And greeting them are signs that South Beach's glory days are indeed far from over, that the "new South Beach" may, in fact, be South Beach itself.

Hawaiian Surfer Brought Down by a Shark

Surfer on Her Way Up, Brought Down by a Shark
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/04/national/04SURF.html

HANALEI, Hawaii, Nov. 3 — She was a member of the "dawn patrol." Every morning before sunrise, Bethany Hamilton, a 13-year-old and one of the country's top female amateur surfers, would follow the pull of the turquoise water and head to a favorite reef, to defy gravity on a wave.

"She's aggressive and a really good surfer," said Alana Blanchard, also 13, her best friend and fellow champion. "She pushes me and I push her."

But on Friday, while the two girls were surfing with friends at Tunnels Reef, a legendary surfing spot, Ms. Hamilton was bitten by a shark. She lost her left arm in the attack, believed to have been from a 14- to 15-foot tiger shark, the most dangerous species in Hawaii. Ms. Blanchard's father, Holt, 49, who was surfing with them, swam Ms. Hamilton to shore and fashioned a tourniquet out of his rubber surfboard leash. Ms. Hamilton is in stable condition at a local hospital. It was the fourth shark attack in Hawaii this year.

China In Paris

In Paris
By CORINNE LaBALME
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/05/travel/05wdparis.html

Every fall, France adopts a new theme for the winter's cultural focus. This year's Année de la Chine, inaugurated tomorrow, promises to be the most extravagant and eclectic so far. The actors Gong Li and Jackie Chan are honorary patrons of a nine-month nonstop festival bringing Chinese opera, circus and ballet - plus museum exhibits devoted to Chinese history, art and pop culture - to cities throughout France.

As usual, Paris claims the biggest share of the riches, including a giant Chinese New Year parade down the Champs-Élysées on Jan. 21, with a fantasy dragon, firecrackers and martial arts displays.

Virtual Travelling

[this is the coolest thing for virtual travelling!! 360 panoramas of world heritage sites in china, southeast asia, and egypt! check out this awesome site:]
http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/

The Sweeping View From Inside a Digital Bubble
By MATTHEW MIRAPAUL
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/25/technology/circuits/25virt.html

BORDERS don't bother Tito Dupret. When Mr. Dupret, a Belgian photojournalist, travels in his homeland, an hour's drive in almost any direction will put him in another country. "A border is something I don't really understand," he said in a recent telephone interview.

So when Mr. Dupret embarked on an international mission to photograph the 754 sites, from the Statue of Liberty to the Taj Mahal, that have been registered as World Heritage sites by Unesco, it seemed apt that he would document them as interactive panoramic images. These digital pictures, which offer online viewers a 360-degree view, are essentially photographs without borders.

For Flight Attendants, Stress Comes With the Job

For Flight Attendants, Stress Comes With the Job
By FRANCINE PARNES
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/business/12ATTE.html

First the passenger cursed Mary Sutphen for refusing to serve him another whiskey on the flight from New York to Amsterdam. Then he kicked her in the knee. Then he decided to get her attention by urinating on her jump seat. On arrival, he was met by the local authorities at the aircraft door.
''I will never understand what happens to people when they get on an airplane,'' said Ms. Sutphen, a recently laid-off flight attendant who lives in Manhattan and is hoping to get a call soon to return to work. ''Some people check their brains with their bags.''

You think your business travels have become more stressful? Put yourself in the shoes of flight attendants (and even they sometimes have to take them off for the security guards). The free time they are allotted in cities where they stay overnight has become shorter. The list of security measures they must take, from watching passengers' behavior to checking for unusual bags, has become longer. The travelers they serve have become surlier. And their financial prospects have become bleaker.

In the Event of Emergency

In the Event of Emergency
By SUSAN STELLIN
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/travel/29prac.html

BEFORE I went to Brazil in March, I called my health insurance provider to find out about my coverage when traveling abroad.

A representative told me I would be covered in case of an emergency, but was quick to point out that if I was planning a South American tummy tuck or any other nonemergency procedure - apparently not an uncommon reason for a trip to a country known for its runway models - then I was on my own.

I tried to reassure him that the only thing I suffered from was superstition: the last time I was in Brazil, I got so sick with a gastrointestinal ailment I was convinced I wouldn't make it home.

Fortunately, my recent trip was medically uneventful. But it turns out my caution wasn't entirely misplaced: many, if not most, health insurance policies do not cover policyholders once they leave the United States.

A Famed Resort Where Tourists Fear to Tread

A Famed Resort Where Tourists Fear to Tread
By SETH MYDANS
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/international/asia/20THAI.html

PATTAYA, Thailand, June 14 — It is as if the terrorist attack had already occurred. Beaches and bars are nearly empty. Tour ferries float at anchor in the distance. Even the elephants are idle, with few customers to ride them.

Thailand's most famous beach resort is a study in suspended animation, devastated by a slowdown in tourism caused by fears of terrorism and SARS infection.

As Concorde Service Comes to a Close, Celebrity Watching Does Too

As Concorde Service Comes to a Close, Celebrity Watching Does Too
By JANE LEVERE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/10/business/10CONC.html

As the Concorde era draws to a close, the regulars are reminiscing. And one of their favorite topics has nothing to do with barreling along at 1,350 miles an hour 10 to 11 miles above sea level.

It has to do with an amusement that more budget-minded travelers can indulge in only sporadically but that, given the snob appeal and the sky-high price of supersonic flight, is practically thrown in free on the Concorde: celebrity watching.

This Year, Everybody's Doing Everest

This Year, Everybody's Doing Everest
By JAMES BROOKE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/27/international/asia/27EVER.html

KATMANDU, Nepal, May 26 — It's getting a little crowded at the top of the world.

In the last week, climbers rushing to scale Mount Everest before the 50th anniversary of the first ascent on Thursday have set a rash of records, including oldest (70), youngest (15), fastest (12 hours 45 minutes), again the fastest (10 hours 56 minutes) and the most frequent (13 times).

Three people stood on the peak today, including Sibusiso Vilane, a climber born in Swaziland, who became the first black person to accomplish the feat. It was the third attempt by Mr. Vilane, 32, in recent weeks.

As many as 500 climbers are jostling to reach the summit by Thursday, largely using the southeast ridge that took Sir Edmund Hillary and a Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, to the top on May 29, 1953. Today, along the ridge, climbers have the advantage of about 60 aluminum ladders to cross a treacherous ice fall and thousands of yards of fixed ropes.

Lore Among The Ruins

Lore Among The Ruins
By TIM WEINER
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/travel/27maya.html

WHEN Western civilization becomes trying, you can always leave it for another. One way is to go back in time to Maya civilization. At the height of their empire, from the 3rd to the 10th century, the Maya ruled in an unbroken chain of cities and villages from southern Mexico through Guatemala and Belize and down to western Honduras and El Salvador. It would take a lifetime, maybe many, to see the architectural ruins and remains of those cities, so staggeringly beautiful and strange.

Travelers Urged to Avoid Toronto Because of SARS

Travelers Urged to Avoid Toronto Because of SARS
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/24/science/24CANA.html

TORONTO, April 23 — The World Health Organization added Toronto today to its list of places that travelers should avoid because of an outbreak of a contagious respiratory disease, shattering this city's image as a safe place to live and visit.

The decision stunned local leaders and highlighted the impact of an illness that mysteriously emerged from the Chinese countryside only a few months ago. Toronto is the first locality outside China to be designated as a threat to international health because of the respiratory disease.

'Lost City' Yielding Its Secrets

'Lost City' Yielding Its Secrets
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/science/social/18INCA.html

NEW HAVEN — Working with new evidence and a trove of re-examined relics, many of them recovered from the basement of a Yale museum here, archaeologists have revised their thinking about the significance of Machu Picchu, the most famous "lost city" of the Incas.

The new interpretation comes more than 90 years after the explorer Hiram Bingham III bushwhacked his way to a high ridge in the Andes of Peru and beheld a dreamscape out of the pre-Columbian past.

Bermuda Defends Use of Hawaii Photos

Bermuda Defends Use of Hawaii Photos
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 4:54 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Bermuda-Hawaii-Photos.html

HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) -- A model on a beach might not surprise anybody in the Atlantic Ocean island of Bermuda. But a diver swimming in a school of barracuda?

Bermuda's Department of Tourism is defending its use of photographs from Hawaii and elsewhere in a promotional campaign, saying it's standard practice.

Boots-n-All

there are a few good articles this last week from boots-n-all.

i was in stitches tonight from this one, "Are You Wearing Long Johns?". i started laughing as soon as i got to the third paragraph -- "The First Stage of Freezing. If it's less than -14° Celsius, you'll know it. " haha! we complain so much in NYC from the winter this year. but our winter would be a sunny spring day for those in upper canada!

and i've been lusting after a trip to macchu picchu in peru. which was vicariously and partially sated with this account, Four-Day Trek on the Inca Trail.

oh, to be travelling again...