Manhattan Bridge Plan Tomorrow

Here's information on how to access bridge from Manhattan or Brooklyn.

Prepping for the Manhattan Bridge

The 76-Second Travel Show is taking today off, but is gearing up for the SSSTS 100th birthday celebration of the Manhattan Bridge at 11am Thursday. It's a fascinating bridge -- not too beautiful, not too controversial and completely overshadowed by its neighbor, the Brooklyn. That sort of thing appeals to me. I've asked Beau Jennings of the rock band Cheyenne to write and perform a song about the Manhattan Bridge for the occasion, and there will be homemade cake (my first) and plastic forks. (There's still a chance of a magician too.) Come if you can.

Meanwhile, I take a stab at the 'decade of travel highlights and lowlights' for Lonely Planet today -- and justify why Kansas beat out New York City, Siberia, Sardinia, Thai beaches or a Bogotá hat shop for my favorite place visited.

2010 Predictions

Everyone loves a list of what will happen in the world of travel, fashion, food, sports, news. And I fell for the temptation too, by producing my 2010 list for Lonely Planet.

Of all the claims, I am most certain that Hanoi will win for the best birthday of the year in 2010. The Vietnamese capital has been planning celebrations for years -- and it's a big one, 1000.

My perfect day in Hanoi, if I only had one and wanted a taste of attractions, is something like this:

Wake early, like 4.45am – and walk around Hoan Kiem Lake when locals do their Jazzercise routines. After breakfast, cab to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum when it opens to take a quick (bizarre) look at Vietnam’s goateed hero, then get back to the center to walk around the Old Quarter. Time it for a good lunch – pho is super at Pho Gia Tuyen (49 Bat Dan St) – and then cab to see the infamous 'Hanoi Hilton' as John McCain's one-time home -- the Hoa Lo Prison -- is known.

Before dinner, I’d have a ten-cent beer or two, and people-watch, at the fascinating 'bia hoi corner' (at Ta Hien & Luong Ngoc Quyen Sts in the Old Quarter) then taxi to the artsy, shoes-off Chim Sao (65 Ngo Hue St) for dinner, and return for a last walk around Hoan Kiem Lake after dark.

Manhattan Bridge Cake Party

A D V E R T I S E M E N T:

76-Second Travel Show's
"Manhattan Bridge's 100th
birthday celebration"
11am, Thur, Dec 31
Manhattan Bridge's south walkway

The Manhattan Bridge -- New York's last great East River crossing -- turns 100 next Thursday. The city -- dodging weather and any sense of anniversarial integrity -- celebrated in October.

We're celebrating on its birthday. And you're invited.

If you're in New York, meet at 11am December 31, mid-way across the southern-facing pedestrian walkway on the bridge. After a group handshake, we'll walk to Brooklyn -- as the original crossing of a "little calvalcade of automobiles and carriages" did a century ago -- and have cake and receive commemorative booklets in the north end of the Empire Fulton Ferry State Park (aka "Brooklyn Bridge Park," aka "Phil Collins Park" for the chosen setting at the 1:35 mark of this video) under the bridge in Brooklyn's Dumbo. It's OK to meet at the park, by 11:45am.

Music courtesy of the Spelman Brothers' "The Most Durable Thing"

76-Second Travel Show: "Robust Christmas Special"

Episode #014
F E A T U R I N G * 7 2 * B O N U S * S E C O N D S

"Three American hikers were detained on the cusp on the Iraq/Iran border today..."

Why does that sound so off? Because 'cusp' is one of those words that gets pigeonholed in its use despite a potentially broad use by its definition. We use 'cusp' only when talking of the day or two before or after a horoscope sign changes. And nothing else.

'Robust' used to be an other example -- frequently used to describe economic plans, growth in sales or (far too often) the taste of wines. But here at the SSSTS* HQ, we've spotted a growing trend. Not only are more people using 'robust' in everyday sentences, but in ways that extend beyond merlots on conference-room strategies.

In the last year, the New York Times used it to describe a Bruce Springsteen song, an old clock and a trilogy of dances by Christopher Wheeldon.

The travel world is jumping in too. Travel & Leisure likened a collection of Rubenses as 'robust,' World Hum dropped it for a morning serenade of (Texan) birds, while Jaunted pulled it out for RV camping tendencies and Gadling hopes it'll describe the travel tweet nation in 2010.

With all its merry tidings, Christmas is way behind the curve, and the SSSTS team is striving to give December 25 an ample robust boost.

But in doing so, takes a stab and returning to its original definition -- which changed in 1953 (according to Stephen M Stigler's 1973 report on the mathematical concept of 'robust estimation') from something meaning powerful, healthy yet vulgar, to something just powerful and healthy.

* The 76-Second Travel Show abbreviation is being changed from SSTS to SSSTS.

76-Second Travel Show: 'USA's Greatest Pyramid'

Episode #013

F E A T U R I N G * 3 9 * B O N U S * S E C O N D S

THE PHOENIX SPECIAL

Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport is supposed to be the worst in the world for making friends. Weather's just too good, so no stretched time for mingling during a delay, plus a relative lack of amenities. Unless you like shops selling dream catchers and 'Paint Your Own Pony' sets, Wendy's and overly lit bars with $4.40 beers and no music.

I went to see if I could debunk the notion, but broke away to Papago Park for an early m morning hike to do something serious: retrace the footsteps of my favorite dead governor, seven-time Arizona governor-elect George Hunt: a strange Missourian who called himself the 'walrus,' and his people 'his peepul,' and who died 75 years ago this Christmas.

Top 3 Travel Hugs

Thursday is for Huggers

Do we hug more when we travel? I mean, hug people you've known for 10 minutes and will never see again? I've had some memorable ones -- by teachers on train platforms, grandparents on Polish balconies, drunk telephone line workers near a crocodile-filled pond in the Yucatan. But I've narrowed it down to my most memorable trio:


IN A VIETNAM CAVE
When I first went to Vietnam in the mid '90s there was still real concern how locals would treat Americans. Sometimes things feel different on the road, like this full-on hug from a former North Vietnam captain in an empty cave in Cat Ba a couple years ago. Maybe he liked my zip-off-pants/shorts.

BY JFK (AIRPORT)
I always talk with taxi drivers, particularly on the road, because there's always stories to hear, and there's time to kill anyway. Recently my first THREE taxi drivers in Las Vegas were all women. All seemed from the same worn-out-from-Midwest club, and indeed they hailed from Ohio, Illinois and upstate New York (kinda Midwest). But the best experience was the Nigerian-American man, a very large one, who responded to my $15 tip one time with a lasting bear hug at the JFK curb.

--> New travel rule? Taxi drivers and their passengers should hug more often, particularly in New York.

IN A TINY TURKISH BAR
I've only been to Istanbul once, but the 'time spent: likely hug' ratio was stunning. At least for me. The biggest and most bruising hug came from a large bearded guy at a bar in an alley off Istiklal Caddesi. From the get-go, he sort of adopted me as his new buddy, splitting time with his laughing girlfriend and embracing me ways that I still don't comprehend. My friends thought it was hilarious. The free beer was a nice touch though.

76-Second Travel Show: "Goes to Sesame Street"

Episode #012

F E A T U R I N G * 3 7 * B O N U S * S E C O N D S

My first look at New York City wasn't from cop movies, Broadway musicals or covers of The New Yorker -- Sports Illustrated is more the norm in Oklahoma -- but of Sesame Street. I was intrigued by its urban space, with things like brownstones, stoops, a mix of diverse people, green monsters, corner shops.

I showered my mom with eager questions about a new world that seemed both inviting and foreign:

• 'Mom, why do people do their laundry in shops?'
• 'Mom, does Tulsa have an Uptown too?'
• 'Mom, why doesn't Bert have two eyebrows?'

Sesame Street -- which is filmed at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens -- turned 40 a few weeks ago, and I got the chance to visit, see a segment on 'dirt' be filmed, and ask executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente, who's been there 22 years (and is still 'the new guy') where all the sets were inspired by -- a mix of neighborhoods from the Upper West Side, the Lower East Side and the Bronx. She told me she finds things walking around the streets that seem right off the set. Me too.

If you're on the Sesame Trail, here's a list of a few places to visit around the Big Apple.

Cuba podcast

Americans can travel freely to any country they choose. Except one. Cuba.

The subject came up on Lonely Planet’s new fortnightly travel podcast, done with Public Radio International's The World (where Tom Hall and I put topical news through a travel filter with PRI host Clark Boyd).

Also see here for my three questions with Lonely Planet author Conner Gorry, who has lived in the Cuban capital for seven years.

28 Things That Are Funny

1. Sandwiches
2. Pants
3. Spirals
4. Large beaked animals
5. Calgary
6. Falling down
7. Gerbil attacks
8. Fig bars
9. Faxing
10. Reporters
11. The 'Caveman' commercials
12. Cribbage
13. Words that end with -nsk
14. State quarters
15. Tonsils
16. 'Come again?'
17. That Nepal sets its time 0:45 past the hour
18. Head bands
19. Business meetings
20. The Bolivian navy (flag above)
21. The drum solo at the 1:10 mark of this video by the '80s Hungarian band Trabant:

22. Delaware
23. Speaking of which, Caesar Rodney
24. Spilled porridge
25. 'Dammit!'
26. Dean Reed:

27. Robbed tip jars
28. London, England

76-Second Travel Show: 'Saving College Football, from Fort Worth'

Episode #011
F E A T U R I N G * 3 2 * B O N U S * S E C O N D S

TCU WINS COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP!

If you didn't know, the USA's favorite sport isn't baseball. It's football. American football. And it's taken very seriously. The writer Hunter S Thompson actually shot himself amidst the ennui just after football season ended in 2005. The title of his suicide note? 'Football Season is Over.' And Barack Obama, early in his days as president, addressed a serious issue: the lack of a playoff system in college football.

Now, the 76-Second Travel Show (SSTS) is getting involved.

Presently a BCS ranking system sets up which of 119 college teams get to play in the cul-de-sac championship game at the end of the year. Considering seasons last 12 or 13 games, with no playoffs, it is mathematically speaking the most irrational sports league in the world.

Sure, bickering about it can be fun. But too often some undefeated teams can only look on -- like Penn State in 1994, Auburn in 2004, Boise State in 2007, Utah in 2008 -- as other undefeated teams deemed more worthy, per a complex and controversial human/computer ranking system that smacks of gymnastics judges, play for the coveted (yet butt ugly) Sears crystal trophy.

This week we'll find out who plays for this championship title in Pasadena on January 8. Mostly likely it'll be this Saturday's Florida/Alabama winner versus Texas. No real surprise. And that's the problem. Looking at the six remaining undefeated teams (right), we see a clear separation line between 'tradition' teams and 'newby' programs, the latter working off disadvantageous pre-season ranking (see blue numbers), while the big kids getting favoring ones.

That's not exactly fair.

SSTS proposes a new let-love-rule SSTS system.
No bowls. No playoffs. And NO pre-season rankings. Just bring back tie games and adopt England's Premiership model, where wins gets three points and ties one. All teams would have to play an equal number of games. In case of matching end-of-season records, first compare home/away/neutral site records (Alabama and Florida played four away games each, Texas five, TCU seven!), then the quality of opponents.

The SSTS rankings, then, would look like this:

1. TCU
2. Cincinnati
3. Alabama
4. Florida
5. Boise State
6. Texas

--> Thus, the SSTS names TCU (Texas Christian University) as the SSTS Season Champion. And to tribute the Horned Frogs' championship, we visited its hometown: Fort Worth, Texas.

Another option, I guess, is eight-team playoffs.

It's worth noting that the founders of TCU moved from the original location in Fort Worth in the 1870s because of all the whores and booze. Then moved back when things 'calmed down a bit.'