The Onion: “Southwest Airlines Now Taking Passengers To Destinations By Shuttle Bus”
DALLAS—In what the company is calling a “bold new leap” in comfort, convenience and overall quality of travel, Southwest Airlines announced Monday that it would be replacing its entire fleet of passenger jets and planes with daily shuttle buses.
The shuttle buses, which will […]
My mom and step-dad arrived in Bangkok yesterday for a visit from the US. Here’s how their visit has shaped up, numbers-wise, so far:
Thai Foot Massages
Hour-long Thai foot massages enjoyed in the last 24 hours: 2
Combined hours of full-body massages planned for them for tomorrow: 4
Thai Cuisine Consumed
Approximate number of individual Thai dishes we have […]
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Tagged family, Food and Drink, foot massage, Funny Products, kimchi, lot chong, mbk, sim cards, songkran, thai food, Thailand, vacation
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I have an article in the April issue of Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia magazine about a recent six-day trip I took through the northeast of Vietnam on a Soviet-era motorbike. The issue isn’t online, but if you’re in the region you can find the magazine on newsstands. If you’re in Bangkok, look for it […]
Here are some pics from a recent three-day beach trip A and I took to the Pranburi region, just south of Hua Hin on the Gulf of Thailand.
Our stretch of beach
Shell-eye view
Bottle
Vittles
Beach dog
A
Yours truly
You can see a few more images from the trip in this photoset.
BBC News:
Some of India’s richest people are paying $150 a night to live like peasants at a “native village” in the southern state of Karnataka.
The village, Hessargatta - just outside India’s IT capital, Bangalore - is designed to encourage the preservation of some of India’s rural traditions.
It offers visitors the chance to qualify in tasks […]
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Tagged India
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Many months ago, Newley.com reader Paul D., who lives in California, asked me for advice on learning Thai. While I’m not an expert and certainly not an advanced speaker, here’s a slightly expanded version of what I told him based on my experience as an enthusiastic — but far from talented — student. I invite […]
Happy Thanksgiving, folks. To those of you in the US of A: Eat some turducken for your old uncle Newley in Siam. (To mis amigos y familia in South Carolina, Oregon, and all along the eastern seaboard: tuck into some deep fried turkey in my name. And to my aunt Cee Cee in Beaufort: my […]
“The World’s Worst Airports,” from Foreign Policy, names “five airports around the world that make traveling hell.” They pick those in Dakar, Senegal; New Delhi, India; Mineralnye Vody, Russia; Baghdad; and Paris.
Last year A and I visited Indira Gandhi International Airport, in New Delhi. While the crowds massed outside can, indeed, seem chaotic, I must […]
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Tagged India
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Times Online:
An Indian entrepreneur has given a new twist to the concept of low-cost airlines. The passengers boarding his Airbus 300 in Delhi do not expect to go anywhere because it never takes off.
All they want is the chance to know what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be […]
I get a lot of questions about Skype — people ask me how it works and how I use it. So here’s a description of my setup. I’ve found Skype to be enormously helpful in communicating with friends, family, and colleagues all over the world. And I’m amazed that so many of my friends — […]
World Hum:
Big news in the travel publishing world: BBC Worldwide has purchased indie guidebook publisher Lonely Planet. Founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler will retain a 25 percent stake in the company they founded more than three decades ago. Reuters puts the price of the deal at $203 million. Tony Wheeler said he believes the […]
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In today’s Ask the Pilot, a Salon.com column, the author tackles “wind shear, aging planes and the safety of budget airlines.”
(Image via Airliners.net.)
My little brother C is studying in Buenos Aires this semester. So when A and I heard that our pal G — an American friend who used to live here in Bangkok — would be passing through Argentina, I put G in touch with C faster than you can say carne asada.
Hence, this excellent […]
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I’ve got a travel story in today’s New York Times. It’s about how Bangkok’s legendary Khao San Road, long a meeting place for backpackers, now offers a variety of upscale amenities.
My latest globorati post is about the Ecuadorian capital’s rejuvenated historic center.