Travel News : 2003

March 2003

St. Petersburg Preps for 300th: In anticipation of its pending May Jubilee, St. Petersburg is draped by scaffolding, and busily renovating buildings along Nevsky Prospekt and citywide ... AMR Bankruptcy fears: American Airlines, burning through nearly $5 million a day as war fears pummel the travel industry, faces the prospect of bankruptcy by May, warned a pilots union official ... Ansel Adams at 100: More than 100 black-and-white photographs of natural California, Canada, and Alaska pay homage to the master innovator of landscape photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, through 4/27 ...

Iditarod Start Delayed: Lack of snow has detoured the ceremonial start of Alaska's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the first such delay in its history ... SF Cultural Icons Return: Two revamped local treasures reopen this month: Waterfront icon and '06 quake survivor the Ferry Building, with its bustling new food court, and the esteemed Asian Art Museum, in a structure rebuilt by Gae Aulenti, famed for Paris' Musee D'Orsay ... Surprise Van Gogh Fetches $550,000: An unsigned painting valued at $83 soared in value at auction upon verification it was painted by the Dutch master ...

... Warhol in Vegas: Now showing at Bellagio: 45 of the pop art master's celebrity portraits, from Liz Taylor to Mickey Mouse and Mick Jagger ... New London Congestion Toll: To stem traffic and pollution, London has begun a controversial plan of charging motorists $8 to enter an 8-square-mile swath of downtown. Reactions have been highly mixed ... Zapatistas Targeting Tourism: Tensions grew in Southern Mexico between indigenous Zapatista rebels and resettled westerners with the 2/28 seizing of Rancho Esmeralda, an ecotourism lodge ...

... 'Glacier Express' Top Train: Switzerland's Glacier Express, billed the 'world's slowest express train', tops the Best Railway Experiences poll of the Society of International Railway Travelers. Amtrak's Coast Starlight leads the North American list ... Rebels Impact Nepalese Tourism: The ongoing Maoist rebel insurgency has drastically hurt Nepal's once-booming tourism industry, which posted a 28% decrease from 2001-2002. More than 8000 Nepalese have died since hostilities started in 1996 ... Matisse, Picasso at MoMa Queens: Contemporaries and competitors, Twentieth Century masters Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso hang side-by-side at 'Matisse Picasso', at the temporary Queens home of New York's Museum of Modern Art ...

February 2003

NY Subway Tokens Phasing Out?: Wracked by rising costs and deficits, the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority is considering dumping its once-ubiquitous copper tokens - now only 9% of total fares - for Metrocards ... 'Get Into London' Discounts: To combat waning tourism, London launches 'Get Into London Theatre' a series of discounted tickets through February. Concurrently, restaurants will offer bargain 2 & 3-course prix fixe menus ... SF Hotel Sale: Bunk at discounted rates - $99-135 - in boutique hotels citywide, through 4/15 ... Indonesian Tourism Rebound? New figures show tourism recovering in Bali, devastated by Oct. 12 bomb attacks. Though bookings plunged in November, government statistics saw a 17% increase of arrivals in December ...

... New SoCal City Pass: Count Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Sea World, and the San Diego Zoo among attractions included in new, highly-anticipated Southern California City Pass, coming spring 2003 ... Tri-Carrier Codeshare Alliance: Three airlines - Delta, Northwest, and Continental - will forge ahead with a new code sharing agreement, despite competitor's objections and heavy DOT restrictions designed to restrict anti-competitiveness ... NM Changing Highway of the Beast?: NM Highway 666, dubbed "Satan's Highway" and "Highway to Hell", may soon be history, as legislators seek to renovate, and rename, this rural mountain road with high fatality rates ...

January 2003

... Endangered National Parks: Big names like Yellowstone, Glacier, and Denali top the 2003 National Parks Conservation Association list of endangered parks. Also challenged: the Everglades, Joshua Tree, and the Great Smoky Mountains. Sprawl, pollution, and snowmobiles are the top culprits ... 2003 Anniversaries: The new year yields significant markers: Centennials for the Wright brothers, Harley Davidson, and baseball's World Series; 75 years for the Academy Awards, five decades for the Corvette, Playboy magazine, and camping favorite, Cheese Whiz... Venezuela Warning: Continued economic and political turnbulence has prompted the US State Dept. to issue a warning against non-essential travel to Venezuela ...

... Five-Star Dining Shuffle: Among the 14 recipients for coveted 2003 Mobil 5-Star Restaurants status: two newbies (The Dining Room in Atlanta and Le Bec-Fin in Philadelphia) and standbys Gary Danko in San Francisco, Alain Ducasse and Jean Georges in New York, and Charlie Trotters in Chicago ... Mickey, Movies in China: While Disney broke ground on the Hong Kong Disneyland, a 310-acre park due to open in 2006, China recently inked an initial agreement with Universal Studios to open a theme park in Shanghai ... TSA Packing Tips: To ensure smooth travel, the Transportation Security Agency has issued packing recommendations. Among the suggestions: Leave baggage unlocked, avoid cable ties, check pocket knives and scissors, bag toothbrushes so screeners won't directly finger them ...

– Jay Cooke is a San Francisco-based travel, food, and culture writer.

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