Well, the pickings are very slim out there among this week’s newspaper travel sections in the US, especially for readers who like a good yarn about an unknown destination. But to be fair, I had never heard of Puyallup, Washington, which the Seattle Times says has the country’s largest sewing expo and it’s on this weekend.
I told you: slim.
So, let’s look outside the US. You wouldn’t necessarily think of the Financial Times as a place to check every weekend in search of travel stories, but it excels at getting a number of well-known travel writers to pen regular dispatches. This week is no exception, with Pico Iyer writing about the southern coast of Sri Lanka and Taprobane Island.
One of my biggest regrets is that I never ditched life for a spell when I was in my early 20s to become a ski bum. Simon Mills writes about how to be a grown up ski bum, in Engelberg, Switzerland, in the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
In the Times of London, Ian Belcher (and unfortunate name, let’s be honest) doesn’t exactly break new ground with this dispatch about Lithuania’s Communist era legacy. I mean, writers are always talking about this when they’re in the former Soviet Eastern bloc. Here, Belcher points out that touring Cold War monuments and leftovers outside Vilnius will cost you a hell of a lot less than doing so in Moscow.
One of the hardest things to write about is home. John Allemang makes a gallant effort at this in Toronto’s Globe and Mail, taking a long winter walk to celebrate the founding of Canada’s largest city.
Back in the US, the New York Times‘ Frugal Traveler, Matt Gross, pens a long piece about visiting off-season Venice with a six-week-old newborn. It’s part deals, part how to travel with a baby. Also in the Times, Michelle Higgins writes about hotels welcoming back groups of college kids for spring break.
Travel writers seem to love “walking in the footsteps of…” stories. In the LA Times, Susan Spano shows she’s not afraid of this hackneyed convention as she walks in the footsteps of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Washington Post publishes its annual Islands Issue this week, with dispatches from the British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The Baltimore Sun has this feature on the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Lastly, funny piece of the week goes to Phil Marty in the Philadelphia Inquirer, who lists some stupid questions asked by tourists that English Heritage has culled from various tourist attractions around the UK.