Seth KugelChicken City, outside of David Bilderback’s Carolina Country Store, in Georgetown, S.C.I can see how a solo camping trip or a week of beachfront isolation might appeal to some travelers – perhaps those who spend harried days on a trading floor or teaching middle school, then come home to wrangle three young children into bed before collapsing on the couch.But for me, traveling is all about people. Any kind of people, really. Preferably, though, the sort who build chicken coops to look like Wild West towns, silver-haired restaurant owners who greet regulars with a hug and hosts who rent out their spare bedroom for a reasonable price, and throw in waffles and stories of their dating life at no extra charge.Which is to say, ... Continue reading →
Paul Smith for The New York Times The entrance pavilion to the Botanical Garden in Medellín, Colombia, designed by Lorenzo Castro. More Photos » FOR some time now, if you asked architects and urban planners for proof of the power of public architecture and public space to remake the fortunes of a city, they’d point here. Twenty-odd years ago, this was Pablo Escobar’s town, with an annual homicide rate that peaked at 381 per 100,000. In New York City that would add up to an almost inconceivable 32,000 murders a year. But Colombia’s second city has lately become a medical and business center with a population of 3.5 million and a budding tourist industry, its civic pride buoyed by the new public buildings and squares, ... Continue reading →
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The quickest way to drive from the Washington, D.C., area to Savannah, Ga., is to steel your nerves, grit your teeth and high-tail it for nine and a half hours down the monotonous, multilane, McDonald’s-laden highway called I-95. Looking for Southern culture? Try a McRib sandwich.But there’s an alternative. It’ll take you a lot longer — six days or so — but offers so much more: a mishmash of coastal and inland roads that form U.S. 17, from Winchester, Va., as far as Savannah. The route has one constant appeal — good barbecue — and, outside of gas expenses, it offers plenty of frugal options: bursts of Civil War history, alligator-filled wildlife reserves, old plantations and schlocky miniature golf courses.Courageously agreeing to be frugal along ... Continue reading →
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York TimesThe offices of Joy World Cruise Tour agency in New York.I remember the days when it wasn’t faceless online search engines that helped me find the best deals on flights, but real live people called travel agents. Ivica got me a great bargain to Croatia. Alla helped me maneuver domestic flights within Russia, with an unbeatable price. And Fanny planned my dream trip to China with expert ease.Actually, it’s pretty easy to remember those days: they were just last month. Those trips were actually only tests — tests of the real-life niche travel agencies in New York City and elsewhere that serve specific immigrant communities, pitched against the popular Web sites — like Expedia, Kayak, Vayama — that have become ... Continue reading →
RT @pink RT to help boy, 9, dying from brain cancer trend worldwide #RyanKennedy http://t.co/FtxpgeAo RT @ariannahuff .@LisaBelkin on the Time magazine cover: “Breastfeeding is not a macho test of motherhood” http://t.co/lSkULNsb .@LisaBelkin on the Time magazine cover: “Breastfeeding is not a macho test of motherhood” http://t.co/lSkULNsb Continue reading →
