Intelligent Travel

Our New Blog Update

By now, we hope that you've had a chance to check out our terrific new blog (which is just part of our newly redesigned website). Over the next week, we'll be transitioning over completely from this old site, and redirecting all links and content there. Our RSS feed will be moving over as well, so we encourage you to resubscribe if you stop getting updates from us.

Check out some of the great stuff we've got going on over at www.intelligenttravelblog.com

Ask IT: Finding Finland's Design

A reader asks: Where can I find ceramic vase featured in the September issue that looked like a piece of birch?

The Lunatic Express

Contributing Editor Carl Hoffman is attempting to find the slowest, most dangerous ways of traveling, and we think he just might be insane.

What's New at the National Gallery

Contributing Editor Jim Conaway reviews Pompeii's relics and the works of Dutch Master Jan Leivens.

Jenss Family Travels: Gross National Happiness

This Jensses find out what makes the Bhutanese, or Drukpa (people from the Land of the Thunder Dragon), so happy anyway?

Thanks for reading, and please let us know if you encounter and problems with the new site.

Photo of Bhutan, by Rainer Jenss

Dear Mr. President... (Part II)

Read, share and discuss this and other travel news at our new blog website: www.intelligenttravelblog.com

If you're not in a cave somewhere, you're probably already fully aware that today is election day in the U.S., and we encourage all of you registered voters to go out and perform your civic duty. As part of our election coverage, we're continuing the conversation we started yesterday with our readers, and presenting the rest of contributing editor Christoper Elliott's "Dear Mr. President..." essay from our November/December issue of Traveler. In the essay, Elliott outlined a series of travel-related items that are likely to be on the new president's agenda, and we're taking this opportunity to let our readers discuss how they'd like to see them sorted out.

STRUGGLING AIRLINES

The post-9/11 recovery made by the domestic airline industry was short-lived. High energy prices have pushed a poorly managed industry to the brink of yet another wave of bankruptcies. Passengers now feel the IRS offers better customer service; routes are being slashed; additional fees are now being tacked on for everything from bags to pillows. Some people are talking re-regulation. Should the airlines be held accountable for their customer service shortcomings with the passing of a passengers' bill of rights? Or should the next President focus on the health of the airline industry, ensuring that government policies allow air carriers an unobstructed path to profitability? And what about the nation's antiquated air-traffic control system? Should making the necessary upgrades be a top priority?

SECURITY HASSLES

Since the 2004 election, the government has imposed a series of new requirements for air travelers, including a ban on liquids and gels, plus new passport and ID rules - causing many passengers to opt to stay home. The travel industry is pushing the government to reduce the hassle factor at borders and checkpoints, and the Travel Industry Association of America has launched an ad campaign to persuade candidates to address these problems. Some changes are on the horizon, including more efficient airport screening and the loosening of visa requirements for some visitors. What is the appropriate balance between security and unimpeded travel? Should visitors to the United States be fingerprinted and eye-scanned? Do liquid-and-gel bans at airports work, or are they nothing more than "window-dressing," meant to make passengers feel safer? Do "no-fly" and watch lists protect travelers-or needlessly detain thousands of innocent people?

Dear Mr. President

Read, share and discuss this and other travel news at our new blog website: www.intelligenttravelblog.com

In our November/December issue of Traveler, contributing editor Christopher Elliott opens our Smart Traveler section with an essay outlining some travel-related considerations our next president should keep in mind once he enters the Oval Office. In the piece, we encouraged our readers to share their responses with us online, so now we're divvying up his major points, and posing the questions to you directly. How do you define the issues of the day and how would you address them? Check back for more excerpts from the essay.

GAS PRICES

A gallon of regular unleaded fuel averaged about $4 last summer, about $1 more than a year ago. Airline fuel prices have similarly skyrocketed. And while energy prices eased by autumn, it wasn't enough to stop a lot of vacations from turning into staycations. Clearly there is a need for a comprehensive energy policy that lessens the country's dependence on fossil fuels, but what does that mean? Offshore drilling? Tax incentives for companies investing in wind power and nuclear energy? What do you think?

A WEAK DOLLAR

The greenback has lost strength against currencies used in popular vacation destinations, such as Europe. And while the dollar has rebounded somewhat, its diminished value still makes overseas travel prohibitively pricey for many. The weak dollar is likely to be on the new President's agenda for reasons that have little to do with travel, but it's obvious that a stronger economy, or even the prospect of one, would boost the dollar. How best to accomplish that? Should the U.S. withdraw from the expensive war in Iraq? Is there another way to reduce both the budget and the trade deficit?

How would you address the concerns of travelers? Email us or share your opinions in comments below.

Photo: By Traveler assistant photo editor Krista Rossow

Día de los Muertos

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Meg Weaver, our senior researcher and resident expert on all things español, gives us the deets on the Day of the Dead.

As the macabre spectacle that is Halloween wraps itself up, it's time to celebrate El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) this November 1st and 2nd. One of Mexico's most important holidays, the Day of the Dead originates in pre-Hispanic indigenous traditions spanning at least 2,500 years.

Unlike Halloween's focus on the frightening and scary, Day of the Dead is almost like a Mexican Memorial Day during which families gather to remember their recently departed and assemble an ofrenda (offering) in the form of an altar, filled with the favorite foods and drinks of the deceased, wax candles to represent their soul, water to quench their thirst, and papel picado of various vibrant colors.

Many families head to the cemetery on the Day of the Dead on November 1st to welcome deceased children back from Mictlan (land of the dead) and on November 2nd to commune with deceased adults also returning, for one day, from Mictlan. During this time, the cemetery takes on an almost festive air.

Mysticism blends with mariachis playing and people dancing. Copal, a resinous sap, is burned. People place calaveras (skulls) made of sugar, often emblazoned with the deceased's name, on the ofrenda tables. A black humor pervades the space as yellow and orange cempasúchitl (marigold) petals are scattered about. (This video captures some of the icons of the Day of the Dead.)

Nobel Prize-winning Mexican writer and poet Octavio Paz quipped that Mexicans don't mind getting up close and personal with death; in fact, the Mexican "...chases after it [death], mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love." Ironically, the Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration of life, an acknowledgement of death as a fact, and a culmination, of life.