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Destination Colombia
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This week the NY Times spends its token 36 hours on the ground in Cartagena, Colombia. "With its cocaine days in the past, the Colombian seaport of Cartagena has emerged as the belle of the ball." Save for the bizarre metaphor that seems more befitting of a Betty Ford survivor than a seaport, the article proves worthwhile, shedding light on a lesser-known destination teeming with salsa, stunning architecture and white sand beaches. [NYTimes]
An Apology to Joe Sharkey
Some travel blogs are all attitude and no original research, seemingly typed by hung-over media manqués whose idea of reporting is to tumble out of bed late each morning and desperately scan the newspapers for items to make sarcastic comments about.
Thus
spake New York Times business travel columnist Joe Sharkey back in 2006. This anti-blog broadside was delivered less than a month after I
made impish sport of Sharkey for one of the NYT's clumsier attempts to slap online video on every subject, no matter how dull. But that wasn't Joe's fault, and in the aforelinked article, he calls out a few sites he likes even while slaggin' blogs in general. Sharkey notes that both his personal site and his attic are perpetually under construction, and "don't hold your breath waiting for my own blog to go up. The attic comes first, I am reliably informed." Well, how's that attic coming? Let's check
Sharkey's blog.
Continue reading "An Apology to Joe Sharkey"
An Open Letter To Mr. Stuart Emmrich, Travel Editor of The New York Times
This week, Stuart Emmrich, the travel editor at The New York Times, is fielding questions from readers for the paper's popular "Talk to the Newsroom" feature. My favorite part of the interview is when two readers call the Travel section out for being completely focused on high-end crap that no normal person can afford. Another highlight is when Cole Couture, a questioner who claims to work in the airline industry, takes Mr. Emmrich to task for the frequent errors in the flight information at the end of destination articles. Mr. Emmrich is forced to admit that his section is rife with "recurring mistakes" of this sort. Ouch. But Emmrich's interview really didn't address any of the issues that I have with the Times travel section, so I've written him a letter of my own and posted it here.
Continue reading "An Open Letter To Mr. Stuart Emmrich, Travel Editor of The New York Times"
T, the New York Times'
T, the New York Times' lifestyle magazine, is all about travel for spring. Its guide to Vancouver is superpretty, but it's also Flashtastic, and that means lots of waiting to load, morose click-though Gucci ads, and some difficulty extracting what you need out of it. Click around patiently for tips on nightlife and a feature on the demographically friendly neighborhood of Gastown.
Today's Times includes a 1,674
Today's Times includes a 1,674 word piece by Jennifer 8. Lee on the history of the fortune cookie. Basically, she just uses those precious column inches and minutes of your life to say the fortune cookie actually comes from Japan not China, and that it first appeared on American tables in San Francisco in the 1950's. Lee's ponderous story isn't so much an article as a preview for The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, her upcoming book on Chinese food. If the Times story somehow still leaves you hungry for more 8-o-liciousness, don't despair! Lee also posted a 841 word companion piece to the article on her blog. [NYT]
New 'Weekend Explorer' Does Hell's Kitchen
On Friday, the New York Times inaugurated a new occasional feature entitled "Weekend Explorer," and the first installment tours Hell's Kitchen. It's all up in yo' multimedia face, with writer John Strausbaugh treating you to his prose, his narration on a downloadable MP3 tour, and an accompanying video clip of the man and his shirt traipsing around HK. Despite the concept of the walking tour and the title of the column, it's pretty much a history lesson. Interesting for those unaware of the gangsterlicious past of Hell's Kitchen, but revelations regarding the contemporary neighborhood are thin on the ground. My favorite bit is how the owner of Mr. Biggs credits karaoke for driving out the ghosts of Irish gangsters from the bar's previous incarnation.
Continue reading "New 'Weekend Explorer' Does Hell's Kitchen"
Frugal Traveler Goes Cross-Country
Matt Gross -- the New York Times "Frugal Traveler" who just got back from Dubai -- has set out on a 12-week cross-country jaunt in a Volvo station wagon he bought on Craigslist. In addition to the usual reports from the road, he'll also be filing photos and video, and he's apparently tagged with a GPS device as well -- so you can track his progress on a map. One assumes there's a slight lag in the map data to prevent kidnappers from stalking Gross and swiping that sweet ride.
Frugal Traveler [NYT]
-- Chris Mohney
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Denny Lee of the New York Times has been accused by the Argentine blogger 
