The Monitor’s guide to understanding Alaska

by Jerry Guo on

Only in America will you find need a “guide” to understanding one of our own states. But Alaska is weird.

In this insightful Monitor story, the reporter opens with some peculiar relics of life in the 50th state: “The Alaskan Independence Party? Sourdoughs and cheechakos? Boomers and greenies facing off in the “Mad-Zoo?” A moon at noon?”

Now that Sarah Palin is the Republican vice-presidential candidate, I bet a lot more people are googling Alaska, and in particular, Wasilla, her hometown, an exurb of Anchorage.

While much has been said about the bizarre politics and lifestyle of this state, I’ve yet to come across any great travel pieces or dispatches. In fact, I’m tempted to jet up there myself and do the gig. Where should I go though? (Yes, I’ll be the first to admit I need a guide to Alaska).

Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings make a U.S. stop for the first time ever

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s an art exhibit opening at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama on September 28th that is a reminder that art museums other than the big name ones in the big name cities like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Louvre in Paris or The Uffizi in Florence, Italy have wonderful exhibits that are trip worthy.

The Birmingham Museum of Art, a museum that was founded in 1951 and has enough of an endowment that admission is free, has snagged the first showing of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings from his notebook “Codex on the Flight of Birds.” These drawings have never been shown together outside of Italy. The drawings created between 1480 to 1510 offer a look into the workings of da Vinci’s thought process.

Through an agreement between Biblioteca Reale and the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture and the Birmingham Museum of Art, the exhibit ” Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings from the Biblioteca Reale in Turin” is possible. You can see it through November 9.

I’ve always associated Birmingham with the Civil Rights Movement. When I was there a couple years ago, I went to the Civil Rights District, something I recommend. The Birmingham Museum of Art is another draw I know about. Spend a weekend in Birmingham, and I’d say you won’t be disappointed.

Getting on a train in China: Worse than sardines in a can

by Jamie Rhein on

I’ve been on crowded trains and buses–the type of experience where people have to adjust a shoulder, move a hip, perhaps reach up to hold onto a hand hold because there is actually no more room for another arm between all the bodies, but nothing like this. This footage was taken somewhere in China. I traveled on a train in China, but thankfully, it wasn’t like this.

Can you imagine? I wonder when the door opens at the first stop if everyone will explode back out again? How can the people in the middle of the crowd shoved inside the train cars ever hope to breathe fresh air? See the sun?

**Correction. Okay, okay, okay. As pointed out, this is not China, but Japan. See comment threads. The YouTube video was labeled China.

Jamie Lynn, Britany, Kanye: Celebrities at Los Angeles airport create problems for the rest of us

by Jamie Rhein on

Let’s say you’ve arrived at LAX airport and you happen to look, kind of, like Jamie Lynne Spears, and it–kind of, looks like you are carrying a baby. From this LA Times article’s account, you’d be surrounded by some paparazzi in a wild flurry as they snapped your picture hoping to sell it to TMZ, Perez Hilton, or some other celeb loving publication.

That’s what happened Wednesday night when Jamie Lynne Spears was to arrive at the airport with new baby in tow. Spears did show up, but the paparazzi were going after a decoy. [Although, by this account, she wasn’t a decoy–but someone who just happened to look like Jamie Lynn Spears who the police were helping get through the airport in the flock of paparazzi. I’m confused.]

At any rate. Supposing you weren’t a decoy, but someone who REALLY does look a bit like Jamie Lynn Spears? What Wednesday’s story does illustrate is that LAX is becoming increasingly a paparazzi paradise for snapping pics as celebrities haul themselves and their luggage through the airport.

Big deal, you might think. But, according to what I read, it’s having an influence on travel for the rest of us. Sure, you may not be hounded by people trying to take your picture, but when Kanye West was arrested earlier this week, it gummed up the airport’s flow. Security was busy handling Kanye West’s arrest outside the passenger security areas of Terminal 4. As exciting as it may have looked to be part of the melodrama, what about catching that plane?

The article also said that such nonsense creates flight delays for everyone else–not just the celebrities whose pictures are in high demand. The article also talked about how people happened to be at the airport the same time when Britney Spears was flanked by photographers who were vying for a good angle while she was making her way on the escalator.

It’s not that she was on the escalator by her lonesome. As the paparazzi flocked, some people were knocked askew. From the article’s description, it sounds like celebrities make it through the airport often, so much so that photographers stake themselves out there daily.

If you want to see what it’s like to be a celebrity, figure out which one you look like, head to the airport and try to act like you don’t want your picture taken. Might be fun—or not.

The question is. Is the photo of Jamie Lynne Spears or the decoy? I think it’s the decoy.

Gadling TAKE FIVE: Week of September 6-12

by Jamie Rhein on

There were some rather unusual stories floating around this week–the kind of odd stories that makes one wonder. Consider these:

  • There is a naked hiker in Germany who is going to continue with his naked hiking.
  • There was a fist fight on a plane that caused it to divert.
  • You can buy a car for 10 million dollars and shave your head to make money from Air New Zealand.
  • American Airlines is facing a lawsuit for losing a dead woman’s body.
  • A man who trespassed on Amtrak property is suing Amtrak for a really, really, really stupid reason, and O’Hare is the best worst airport, according to Josh.
  • In Spain, Abha braved hail stones that looked like they beaned a bird on her patio, Matthew told us about Sumo wrestlers suffering from too much pot smoking, and Jeffrey wondered who can be sued for the false story about United Airlines bankruptcy. United Airlines is not bankrupt.
  • If you are looking for a travel deal, in case you missed this one, Grant told us about dirt cheap cruises to places like the Bahamas. It’s a little odd to be thinking about a cruise when Ike is barrelling down on the Gulf Coast, but Grant said, don’t let a hurricane stop you–unless you are going to Texas.

Okay, that’s more than five, but, like I said, this has been an unusual week. It was definitely a good one for the first episode of a new season of Bizarre Foods.

If you are in Texas, Haiti, Louisiana or anywhere else battling out much, much, much wind and water, here is hoping you are being taken care of and have found safety.