U.S. Department of the Interior considering new nominees for UNESCO World Heritage sites

by Kraig Becker on

The U.S. Department of the Interior is in the process of considering a number of new sites for possible nomination for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage list. That list, which currently features 936 properties from across the globe, recognizes some of the most culturally significant and naturally beautiful locations on our planet. Many of those locations, such as Machu Picchu in Peru and the Great Pyramids of Giza, also happen to be popular destinations for travelers.

Among the sites in the U.S. that are being considered for nomination are the San Antonio Missions in Texas which played a major role in the early exploration and settlement of that region. The missions trace their history back to 1690 and continue to have a cultural and religious impact on San Antonio to this day. Additionally, the four missions that make up the National Historical Park remain excellent examples of early-American architecture as well.

In total there are 13 sites being evaluated for submission to UNESCO including George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona and the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. Of those, nine fall under the heading of “cultural” sites while the remaining four are in the “natural” category. To view the entire list click here.

The list is now open for public comment giving us all the opportunity to weigh in on the choices that are under consideration. The Department of the Interior says it will take into account those pubic comments, along with the recommendations from the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage, when making their final decision.

Once that process is complete the nominations will be submitted and it will be up to UNESCO to add these sites to its very prestigious list.

‘Egyptomania’ grips Houston

by Sean McLachlan on

The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, has just opened a new exhibition exploring the West’s fascination with ancient Egypt.

“Egyptomania” collects forty objects from the Egyptian revivals of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. This was the time when the West became widely aware of the great civilization of Egypt and started excavating there. Cutting open mummies became popular entertainment, the rich collected Egyptian artifacts, and it seemed like everyone wanted to own something in the Egyptian style — like this Art Deco perfume bottle shown here in a photo courtesy MFAH. It was designed by Baccarat c. 1930. Other items on display are Egyptian-style furniture, garden sphinxes (much cooler than garden gnomes) and even Egyptian asparagus tongs.

Visitors to the museum can get a double dose of ancient Egypt right now because the traveling exhibition “Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs” is on display through April 15. This exhibition features more than a hundred artifacts, most of which have never been shown in the U.S. prior to this tour.

If this isn’t enough to stave off your Egyptomaniacal cravings, I suggest a trip to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium in San Jose, California. This place is a strange hybrid of serious museum and cultish quackery founded by a modern spiritual group inspired by ancient Egypt.

“Egyptomania” runs from March 18 through July 29.

The Boca Bind: are we obligated to do travel-y stuff when we travel?

by David Farley on
People don’t walk in Boca Raton. Instead they drive their steel monoliths that pass for automobiles down the wide, palm-lined streets flanked by pink mansions. Or, in one case, they run, evidenced by the shirtless (six-packed) camelback-wearing dude burning off his mojitos from the previous night. And then there’s me: dressed for a New York autumn in a blue button-down shirt, a brown V-neck sweater and blue jeans. I’m walking back from the store to my hotel carrying a six-pack of Red Stripe and a bottle of my favorite mineral water, Aqua di Nepi, which I hadn’t seen since moving back to New York from Italy a few years ago.

I’m also trying to make some sense of this town, a place I dropped into unexpectedly for a few days last week. Here are some things I had just dug up about Boca Raton, Florida: this city of 75,000 is the “spam capital of the world”; it has a long history of being associated with confidence tricks (i.e. the work performed by confidence men or, as they’re commonly referred to, “con men”); and according to some U.S. federal indictments a few years ago, the Gambino family still operates here.

I wasn’t really sure why I was in this seaside, south Floridian town associated with wealthy geriatrics and cyber criminals (and wealthy, geriatric cyber criminals). When I told friends I was going there, I was often asked if I was attending a bat mitzvah. This was an impromptu trip, booked with frequent flier miles, and one in which I had a lot of downtime. Besides the beach, there are not many attractions in Boca. The National Cartoon Museum is supposed to be here. There are a lot of upscale restaurants. And something called the Sports Immortals Museum.

For a while, walking beside me on my way back to the hotel, a novelty: probably the only fat man in the entire town. “It’s nice to see someone else walking these streets,” I said as I passed him.


“Someone’s got to do it,” he said and then laughed.

But do they? I thought. And am I obligated to do something travel-y when I travel? I feel the pressure; I’m a traveler. I’m a travel writer. Is it okay to just sit in my hotel all day long, get some work done, read a little, watch old people struggle to do yoga on local cable access TV and await dinner and drinks in the evening? Or do I have to get the most of this place, even if it is a place I’m not wildly sold on? I wasn’t planning on doing any of the local things: hit an early-bird special, take oxycontin, enjoy a game of bocce, nap in the afternoon or pass away in my sleep.

Because I usually go somewhere in the world just for eating (and writing about it), I thought I’d give it a try. The previous day I had met with my friend and fellow travel writer Tom Swick, a longtime Ft. Lauderdale native. Fish sandwiches, he told me, were about as local as you could get in terms of food. So I got in a cab and directed the Haitian driver to a place across town, just a few miles away. The cab driver, though, had no idea how to get out of my hotel parking lot. He was struggling with the GPS, trying to put in the address of a restaurant just down the road. I sat there in quiet frustration, as we were stalled on the side of the road, the driver still trying and failing to type in the address, and the taxi meter going up and up and up. Yep, I should have just stayed in my hotel. Just another day in one of the most sedately, strange places in America. I got out of the cab and walked back to my hotel. I had a couple bottles of Red Stripe left and they would do just fine.

Video: A sadhu singing by the Ganges River, Varanasi

by Sean McLachlan on

One of the best gifts travel gives you is all the great music you wouldn’t otherwise hear. Strange tunes often stick in the mind long after the memories of meals and sights have dimmed. Last week I brought you a video of a kalimba player in Malawi. Here’s a completely different tune from a completely different country, yet both tunes have gotten into my head.

This man is a sadhu, one of the countless Hindu holy men who wander the city streets and country roads of India preaching the tenets of Hinduism. He’s playing by the Ganges River in Varanasi, one of the holiest spots for Hindus. Watch how he plays two instruments and sings with ease. The camera is a bit shaky at the beginning but gets much better. Does anyone know what he’s singing?

North Carolina readies for ‘Hunger Games’ opening

by Chris Gray Faust on

Anticipation for the movie version of “The Hunger Games,” which will be released next week, has been building for more than a year – and no more so than in North Carolina, where most of the film was shot.

At the North Carolina Governor’s Conference on Tourism this week, Governor Bev Perdue cheered the first movie of the dystopian saga, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as the rebellious Katniss fighting for her life. While “The Hunger Games” has become North Carolina’s largest film set on site (previous biggies were “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Dirty Dancing”), another 119 films are being shot in the state, Perdue said.

If you’re looking to follow in the stars’ footsteps, you’ll have to rent a car; shooting sites range from Charlotte (a stand-in for The Capital) to DuPont State Recreational Park, site of the Arena, to the tiny town of Shelby, where the Reaping scenes were filmed. During the shoot, the stars were based in Asheville, in the western part of the state.In anticipation of visiting fans, the VisitNC website has put together several “Hunger Games” resource guides, including a four-day itinerary and a Pinterest board. While businesses such as the Nantahala Outdoors Center in Bryson weren’t used during the filming, the state is cleverly tying them in with the movie’s survivalist message (you, too, can train like Katniss!)

So will the movie generate the tourist dollars that the state hopes to receive? The odds are ever in their favor. Just look at the boom in visitation that a certain Washington town named Forks received after the “Twilight” movies came out.

Travel writer Chris Gray Faust covers value luxury vacations on her award-winning blog, Chris Around The World.