Issues: December 2008 Archives

I know the rivalry between York and Lancaster runs deep.

They got a baseball team. We wanted a baseball team. They have a thriving arts district. We're building one.

So what I want to know is why they transform their baseball stadium into an outdoor ice park during the winter months and we don't?

Some say it's because we have an indoor ice arena that is struggling financially.

Well, Lancaster has an indoor ice arena too -- and while I don't know whether it's struggling financially -- I can tell you that skating at an ice arena and skating at an outdoor ice park are two completely different things.

According to this story, Alaska governor and former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin showed she understands the impact of tourism. Especially when that tourism is coming mid-winter to a place not known for much (if any) sun and warmth.

I personally don't understand the appeal of Fairbanks in the winter. I mean, besides looking for the Northern Lights and getting your picture with a sled dog, what else do you do?

Then again, I'm a summer baby and warm-weather girl, so never mind me. Plus, I've never been to Fairbanks in the winter, so I could well be missing something.

While the rest of the Caribbean struggles to attract tourists, Cuba is enjoying a steady stream of visitors -- Canadians and Europeans, mostly, escaping their chilly hometown winters.

I've written before about my fascination with the island and how much I would like to travel there (kind of like time travel, from what I imagine).

But I can't. I'm a citizen of the United States of America, where you're pretty much free to come and go as you please, as long as your destination isn't this island (and a few other places on the globe).

If the reasons for the embargo are still valid, why are we still allowed to travel to China and Vietnam?

I guess I never really thought much about the difference between these two words.

Until now.

I was reading an interview in a recent issue of National Geographic Traveler where editor Keith Bellows asked that question to Wade Davis, an ethnobotanist.

This was Davis's answer:

"Tourists are by definition out of their element, and there seems to be something about the institution of tourism that creates an inherent imbalance between visitor and host. This is the curse of a service-inspired industry....

Travel is very different. Travel implies a one-way ticket, with no fixed itinerary, no plans, no date of return. The responsible traveler is one who finds that correct means or metaphor to break down the inherent cultural barriers that exits between an outsider and a community in which that outsider appears as guest....

The cardinal rule is to always give more than you take, not merely in a material sense, but at every single level -- emotional, spiritual, political, economic."

Wow, how's that for a little food for thought?!

I just saw this story about flooding in Venice.

My first reaction was: "No! Wait! I haven't gotten there and seen Venice yet!" It reminded me of when the news hit about Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I was devastated, but glad I had gotten the opportunity to travel and see New Orleans before the storm tore it apart.

Then, I wanted to know why Venice is having its worst flooding in more than two decades. The story didn't really answer that question.

Is global warming to blame? Something else?

What do you think?