United States Travel Guide
Tags: Barack Obama / History Travel / Political Travel / Walking Tours / → All Tags
Discover President Obama's Lost Years on a Tour of His New York Haunts
President Obama is most closely associated with the city of Chicago, but he spent five years in New York as a student and community organizer, and a local actor has created a walking tour that shines a light on what he calls Obama's "lost years" here. The AP introduces us to Jeremiah Miller, whose two-hour "Obama's New York" tour takes visitors to some of the places the 44th president spent time during his 1981-1985 stint in the city.
Tags: Pedicabs / Manhattan Pedicab / Taxis / → All Tags
New York Pedicabs Go Legit, Lose Outlaw Status
I've never taken a pedicab in my life, but it seems I'm in the minority, as the number of the pedal-powered bicycle taxis has risen dramatically since their introduction to New York in 1995. Pedicabs have become so popular, in fact, that they're now regulated by the city, which requires vehicles to be insured, inspected, and fitted with seat belts, headlights, and hydraulic brakes. A story in The New York Times explains that the new regulations legitimize an industry that began as something of a fringe group, attracting actors, artists, and various downtown weirdos to a unique profession that could net them up to $1,000 a week and help them stay skinny and hot.
Tags: Smuggling / Lizards / Crime / U.S. Customs / LAX / Weird Travel / Animal Smuggling / Money Belts / → All Tags
Leapin' Lizards! Cali Man Busted Smuggling Aussie Reptiles in Money Belt
Things travelers should put in a money belt: Passport, tickets, cash, emergency contact information. Things travelers should not put in a money belt: lizards. It may seem rather obvious to most readers of this blog, but there's one guy in California who somehow never picked up this basic tenet of travel wisdom. As the LA Times points out, 40-year-old Michael Plank was arrested by U.S. Customs agents at Los Angeles International Airport this week when he was found to have 15 lizards stuffed in a money belt. Plank was on his way back from Australia and apparently decided to bring 11 skinks, two monitor lizards, and two geckos with him to his LA home, where they'd be worth around $8,500.
Tags: Airfare Wars / FLL / Virgin America / JetBlue / Inaugural Flights / New Routes / Fort Lauderdale Travel / Florida Travel / → All Tags
Fort Lauderdale Airport Is The New Bunker Hill
When the Colonials learned that British forces were planning to send troops out of the city to the surrounding unoccupied hills, they acted. The colonials set up shop at the top of Bunker & Breed's Hill and picked off the redcoats sending them retreating towards Cambridge. Seems to us that FLL is the new Bunker Hill, though we will leave it to you to determine which airline wears what uniform.
By now we all know how Virgin America launched their 10th destination earlier this week at FLL and we have the photo gallery to prove it. However, what really struck us about our jaunt to meet them in FLL was the obvious jockeying for position that was going on there between JetBlue and Virgin America.
The feud deepens, after the jump.
Tags: Art Travel / Los Angeles / Los Angeles Travel / → All Tags
Run, Don't Walk to See David Lynch's Painting Exhibit in LA
Los Angeles' reigning auteur of "weird," director David Lynch, doesn't limit his mode of creative expression to the screen. Though better known for helming films such as Mulholland Drive and hawking the benefits of transcendental meditation on college campuses, the fabulously-coiffed Lynch actually began his career as an artist. In 2007, a major retrospective of Lynch's multimedia art was featured at Paris' Fondation Cartier, and earlier this year, a selection of his photographs were on display at L.A.'s Michael Kohn Gallery.
We deemed the latter exhibition, a visual offshoot of the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse album Dark Night of the Soul, a mediocre representation of Lynch's creative bounds. We've yet to see his paintings in person, but as dedicated Lynch-o-philes we'll be rushing off to see his first L.A. painting show in a decade at Santa Monica's Griffin Gallery.
Tags: Movie Travel / Celeb Travel / Award Show Travel / → All Tags
One Year Later, 'Slumdog Millionaire' Stars Jetsetting Couple
Last year, audiences around the world watched as Jamal and Latika (spoiler alert!) reunited for a Bollywood-style dance on a Mumbai train platform. Now Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, the stars of Best Picture Winner "Slumdog Millionaire," are a jet-setting couple chasing their next big projects all over the globe.
The young actors, British and Indian by birth respectively, were spotted recently at LAX after a romantic lunch at La Conversation Cafe in Los Angeles. Pinto recently finished filming her role as the title character in "Miral," a drama about adoption shot in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel with Best Director nominee Julian Schnabel. Now, she's filming Woody Allen's new movie "You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger" in London with Naomi Watts and Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Tags: College Football Travel / Sports Travel / Football Travel / Sports / → All Tags
Football Rivalry Travel: The Bruins And Trojans Head To The Coliseum
The weather is getting cooler, and college football is going strong. Here’s the scoop on just one of the country’s best rivalries to help your sports travel planning.
· Rivalry Match-Up: UCLA at USC on November 28.
These two teams have been playing since you great grandparents were in college, so there has been plenty of bad blood over the years to get the rivalry going. Students see each other around town since both schools are located in Los Angeles, so the constant trash talking isn’t just between the schools’ coaches. Yes, they too love to mouth off at one another whenever they get the chance. USC leads the all time series and will probably bring home the win this year. However, if UCLA can pull out a win, the Victory Bell will be sporting Bruin blue for the holiday season.
Stadium Info and tips on where to sleep and party, after the jump.
Tags: Boeing 787 Dreamliner / 787 / Boeing / Airline News / Airplane News / → All Tags
We May Just See The '7-Late-7' Fly For Christmas
It’s pretty clear that engineers and executives at Boeing only want one thing for Christmas, and that’s for the 787 to finally take flight for the first time. We’ve been going back and forth on when this thing will finally test things out, and once again, it seems like there just might be some good news.
The whole wing connecting to the body problem seems to have been resolved, and it sounds like no parts will fall off during a test flight, which is great news. Just to make sure, there will be all kinds of stress tests on the ground to ensure that these wings can withstand the pressures of flight, turbulence, and probably a lot worse.
Tags: Top Chef Travel / Top Chef / Food Travel / Restaurant Travel / Atlanta Travel / Atlanta Restaurants / → All Tags
Flavor is the Focus For Top Chef's Eli Kirshtein at Atlanta's ENO
Spiky-haired, bespectacled Top Chef contestant Eli Kirshtein garnered the ire of Tom Colicchio after serving up what the judge deemed "raw lamb." That's no mark of a master chef, but as we know, even talented artisans are prone to missteps, perhaps owing to the pressure of a major prize and a national audience in the millions.
Off the show, Kirshtein serves as the Executive Chef of Atlanta's ENO Restaurant and Wine Bar. No relation to Brian Eno as far as we can tell, although that would make it infinitely cooler. Like many of his competitors, he's a locavore, sourcing ingredients for ENO's menu from farms and specialty stores around the great state of Georgia.
Tags: Holiday Travel / San Diego Travel / California Travel / Events / → All Tags
San Diego's December Nights Spread Holiday Cheer Under The Palm Trees
It's hard to feel the holiday vibe in San Diego when the temps hover at 80 degrees and the only trees you see are of the palm variety. But when traditional events like the Balboa Park's 32nd annual December Nights roll around, it starts to feel a lot like Christmas.
San Diego's kick-off to the season will take place December 4 from 5 to 10 p.m. and December 5 from noon to 10 p.m. in Balboa Park. More than 300,000 revelers are expected to attend December Nights, the largest free community festival in the city. Start off the festivities at the International Christmas Festival at the House of Pacific Relations Cottages. There you can get eats from all around the globe like Polish kielbasa, Panamanian fried plantains and Filipino lumpia, a yummy kind of egg roll. But wait, there's so much more...
Tags: Travel Snapshot / Flight Attendants / Uniforms / LAX / Guessing Games / → All Tags
Can You Guess The Stylish Flight Attendants?
Yesterday we were participating in some research at Los Angeles International Airport around the baggage claim at Terminal 4 which aside from being home to domestic airlines like American, is also a part of the airport's international terminal.
While we were there, three young ladies in stylish khacki trench coats with adorable little bows in their perfectly coiffed buns caught our attention. We've seen these international flight attendant uniforms before but we were never quite sure what airline they worked for. We now know the answer but do you? Hint: The answer lies in the hair bows.
Do you know the airline that puts their flight attendants in such pretty outfits with cute hair decorations? Put your guesses in comments below. We'll reveal the answer tomorrow.
Tags: Celeb Travel / Movie Set Travel / Tom Cruise / Katie Holmes / Hamptons Travel / → All Tags
The Hamptons See Star Power Even In The Low Season
The Hamptons have always been a hot spot for celeb activity, but this week it's the North Fork region of Long Island that has the big names. Yesterday, Tom Cruise was spotted jogging on Route 25 through Orient and East Marion with his bodyguard, who rode along side him on a bicycle. Tom seemed to be enjoying his run and waved to fans as they drove by. He was probably happy to have a few days off.
Tom's been busy working on the movie Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz in Boston. The production was scheduled to move to Salzburg, Austria today but Austrian filmmakers protested a tax incentive offered to Cruise and company by Salzburg authorities. In response to the backlash, the shoot has been cut down to just 7 days rather than the three weeks they had originally scheduled. Tom and Cameron will also be shooting in Spain and Hawaii over the next few week.
So, what would bring Tom Cruise to eastern Long Island in the middle of November? Most likely, his third anniversary with wife Katie Holmes. Mrs. Cruise is currently filming The Romantics in Southold, NY with co-stars Adam Brody, Elijah Wood, Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel and Malin Akerman. The cast seems to be making themselves at home while filming in Long Island. Adam Brody and Katie Holmes have been frequenting the Starbucks in Greenport while Elijah Wood was recently seen at Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck.
