Travel the World with Oscar

by Willy Volk on

In years past, local tourist boards saw generous spikes in traffic after popular movies featured the locations they tout. For example, both Alberta and Wyoming enjoyed gobs of slack-jawed, cash-carrying visitors last year after Brokeback Mountain won all those accolades. If you want to travel to the locations in which this year’s Best Picture-nominated films were set, here’s where you’d have to go.

The nominees for best picture are:

  • Babel — To visit the locations in this whirling dervish of a film, you’d better make sure your passport is current. After all, you’ll be heading to Morocco, Japan, and Mexico.
  • The Departed — Set in Boston, lucky movie-set-hunters may also get to see where Good Will Hunting was filmed.
  • Letters From Iwo Jima — Next month, Military Historical Tours will visit Iwo Jima on the 62nd anniversary of the historic Battle.
  • Little Miss Sunshine — Road trip!!! Follow the dysfunctional Hoover family’s path along Route 66. Just be certain to have a more dependable vehicle.
  • The Queen — Filmed in Scotland, the movie mainly uses stand-ins for the locations on film, but persistent travelers can book cottages at Balmoral Castle.

Personally, I’d like to visit Uganda, but The Last King of Scotland didn’t get a nod for Best Picture. Nevertheless, the 79th Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday. You can book your travel any time you like.

Photo of the Day (2/15/07)

by Neil Woodburn on

Every tourist who ever walks into a European cathedral eventually looks up in awe and then snaps the quintessential photograph of the quintessential cathedral ceiling. I’ve done so myself dozens of times and yet none of my shots possess that perfect symmetry which Moody75 has managed to capture with this photograph of Salisbury Cathedral.

Great job Moody, and congrats once again for being chosen for our Photo of the Day.

Snow Brings Travel Misery To US And UK

by Willy Volk on

Everybody knows that the weather in much of the US is really rotten right now. Frigid, icy, and wet, some areas of upstate New York have already topped 100 inches of snow since Sunday — and the end is not in sight. Moreover, at O’Hare, more than 140 flights were canceled this week. The unreal snowfall and airport closures aren’t restricted to the US, however. The UK is getting sacked, too.

Throughout southern England, the Midlands, Wales, and Northern Ireland, heavy snowfall has blanketed the area, and thousands of airline passengers have had their flights delayed or canceled. In fact, at least five airports in the south of England were forced to delay flights and suspend departures this week. Moreover, the region’s train systems have come to a stand-still. The country, apparently, is crippled. According to David Frost, Director-General of the British Chambers of Commerce, “It is expected that the lateness and loss of work hours caused by transport disruptions will cost the British economy up to £400 million… This situation highlights the need for a real change in the current UK travel infrastructure.”

Wow. Not to rub it in, but I’m sitting in shorts and flip-flops on my back porch.

[Photo: gunbot]

Oswego, New York. Historical for Two Reasons

by Jamie Rhein on

Snow is dumping on Oswego, New York. Five inches by the hour. When I heard this on the news, I perked up. I used to live there, and I haven’t lived in that much snow since. If anything, it’s been the opposite. From time to time I’ve even lived close to the equator. I don’t know if it’s the snow that chased me south.

I’ve thought about the Oswego snow from time to time, though. From where it sits next to Lake Ontario it can’t help but get snow. It’s called “lake effect.” Whatever it’s called, it’s a sight. Snow plows have some sort of contraption that throws snow into dump trucks so it can heaved onto the lake. The result is that streets look more like corridors that can reach chest high and the lake has mini-mountains. Cars sometimes put orange flags on the antennas so they can be seen at crossroads.

Although Oswego’s snow puts it in the national and local news across the U.S. from time to time, there is another claim to fame that not many people know about. It’s not as flashy as the snow, but it’s interesting to note just the same. During World War II almost 1,000 Jews were allowed to “temporarily” enter the United States to escape the Nazi regime in Germany. They were housed at Fort Ontario which just happens to be in Oswego.

Fort Ontario is the sight of a battleground bonanza. First built by the British in 1775 it was destroyed by the French only to be built again by the British, to then be destroyed by the Americans during the American Revolution and again destroyed again by the British in the War of 1812 (Are you keeping up?). Eventually, after wars weren’t fought in upstate New York anymore, the fort had some more incarnations until its rare use as a refugee camp between the years 1944-1946. This was the only place in the U.S. that served as such a haven and the only organized U.S. effort to bring Jews into the United States. There was fear that once people were allowed into the U.S., they wouldn’t leave. For awhile, the people who were housed at the fort had to stay there 24-7. After awhile the regulations lifted so the adults could get jobs and kids could go to Oswego’s schools. The kids going to school happened first. It wasn’t, I think, until year number two when the adults could leave for longer periods of time.

Today the fort is open as a tourist site. I’ve been there but I can’t recall how much information is on display about the fort’s role during WWII. I didn’t find out about this bit of history myself until after I had moved away and saw a program on educational television.

Photo of the Day (2/7/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Since we’ve committed the day to helping you get your act together for the big V-day next week, I went in search for a friendly photo reminder of what you could get your sweet. The idea is simple: flowers. This photo was captured by londonsir well after purchasing hours in London. London Flowers is the name of the shop window in question and as one might guess love is the flowers. It’s all about the flowers, but if it were up to me I’d prefer a trip to the London Flowers shop for a first-hand look at the window display. That being said I guess I’m just greedy.

Anyhow, great job londonsir for dropping this lovely shot into your Flickr photo stream.