Tag: tourism

Tourist bids goodbye to NYC

The time has come for me to leave New York City. After almost 2 whole days here on business, it just feels right.

It’s hard to pinpoint when New York officially was over for me. Was it this morning in my hotel room, when I got the check-in e-mail from Delta? Or 5 minutes later, when I took a taxi to the airport?

I can still recall the moment it all began like it was yesterday, because it was yesterday. I landed at J.F.K. on a misty Friday afternoon, to attend a conference on plastic utensils. I had finally realized my childhood dream of moving to the concrete jungle, where dreams are manufactured.

Reminds me of the many visitors who confuse Manhattan with NYC, and proclaim that they could never live here based on their extensive times square experience.

Facebook for trafficking

Syrians are helped along their journeys by Arabic-language Facebook groups like “Smuggling Into the E.U.,” with 24k members, and “How to Emigrate to Europe,” with 39k. Migrants share photos and videos of their journeys taken on their smartphones. The groups are used widely by those traveling alone and with traffickers. In fact, the ease and autonomy the apps provide may be cutting into the smuggling business.

Super-cheap flights

If the cost of international flights drops to the $300 to $400 range instead of $700 to $1500 or more and better cabin air pressure means no jet lag, then shorter one week international vacations would open up as a far bigger market and more frequent option.

2017-09-05:

After 2050, there will likely be 6-7B people that are the equivalent of today’s developed world middle class or affluent class. 2 to 4 trips per person per year is not inconceivable (higher incomes and low transportation costs). This would be 12-28B international arrivals.

Perpetual passenger

about a guy who has literally lived in the first class cabin for the last year.

His trip reports betray a theme, in photo after photo entirely devoid of human companionship, empty lounges, first-class menus, embroidered satin pillows — inanimate totems of a 5-star existence. On our next flight, a 7-hour run from Jakarta International to Tokyo, Schlappig tries to get himself motivated about the champagne selection, holding forth on the best meal pairings with a $200 bottle of Krug.

The lost luggage store

If you’ve ever wondered where your lost airline baggage in the US ended up, there’s a good chance it’s Alabama. More precisely, the Unclaimed Baggage Center, a retail store filled with treasures from unfortunate travelers’ misplaced bags. For decades the operation has been quietly buying up the unclaimed checked bags and carry-on items that airlines find themselves holding for more than 90 days, after which they legally become airline property. The sprawling store in the small town of Scottsboro, Alabama—spanning the length of a city block, with a retail floor measuring 4000 m2—stocks some 6000 items daily, 85% of which come from lost luggage. The remainder comes from the unclaimed cargo the company also buys up.