Jezebel: vacations

Four Vacation Packages We'd Like To Take!

Sadie — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:00:00 EDT

An article about a holiday "On the Trail of Laura Ingalls Wilder" got us thinking: what book vaycays would we like to see?

The Genuine Crime and Punishment Experience: Learn to swing an axe in a 6 X 6' room! Spend one week doing penal servitude in Siberia! Price includes one wooden cross, unlimited time for mental anguish, soul-searching, and the ultimate rejection of nihilism.
"I'd recommend the Crime and Punishment Experience to anyone searching for an escape from the materialism of the prevailing zeitgeist!" - Peggy Nolan, Akron, OH

Outward Bound: Lord of the Flies: Your child will be dropped on a deserted island with no wilderness or survival training. Included in price: one-way airfare, conch shell. Learn first-hand the evil of man and the significance of civilization on our baser natures! Contemplate the influence of the Cold War on cultural nihilism!
"Lord of the Flies really helped Ryan grow up. He hasn't been the same since! He'll thank us one day." - Bill Pretz, Williamsburg, VA

Death in Venice Walking Tour: Experience the beauty of Venice through the eyes of an author consumed with his own mortality and desire for a pre-pubescent Polish aristocrat! Like Gustav, you'll get the "middle-aged Italian roue makeover" complete with rouge and pomade, flee from the cholera, and stalk children across a picturesque Venetian resort. An escape from reality you won't forget!
"This really gives you time to enjoy your own company. I know myself a lot better now." - Mike Collins, Irvington, NY.

Grow Your Own Flowers in the Attic!: A perfect experience for you and three friends! Your journey begins in idyllic Gladstone, Pennsylvania, then continues by train to beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia, where you'll study arts and crafts, home decor and landscaping in cozy accomodations!
"You have to experience it to understand." - Molly Katz, 13

On The Trail Of Laura Ingalls Wilder [Star Tribune]

Happy Returns

Anna — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:20:00 EDT

I'm baaack. (It was less walkabout, more lazeabout.) Thanks to the staff for steering the ship while I was knee-deep in friends/floods/food. Speaking of: at left, the glorious Aussie "brekky" that made a longhaul flight through my intestines on Saturday...and an excuse to talk about favorite breakfasts.

The Great Outdoors

Sadie — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:45:00 EDT

With the economy taking a toll on people's vacation budgets, camping is experiencing a new popularity. Good news for state parks, whose budgets have been slashed. [CNN]

Dog's Best Friend

Sadie — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:45:00 EST

While any number of hotels will allow dogs, if man's bets friend is your highest priority, that hardly cuts it. Enter The Inn at Lake Joseph, a picturesque Catskills retreat for dog and master. While you stay in one of the inn's cabins, your pooch can run in the woods, swim in the lake's "dog crib," and romp with the other dogs in residence. The inn's owners say that about half their guests bring dogs; there are also non-canine accommodations and activities. [Bloomberg]

Beach-Loving Turkish Women: In Hot Water

Dodai — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Over the weekend, E! aired a nauseating show called 30 Best & Worst Beach Bodies. Talking heads lauded Fergie for being fit, while saying things like "Star Jones should not be in a bikini" and that, instead of a brief Euro swim trunks, Arnold Schwarzenegger should wear a T-shirt and long shorts. Apparently, the beach is not just for enjoying the sea breeze and a refreshing dip in the water: in the U.S., it's for judging the bodies of others. And in Turkey, the beach is a hotbed of controversy. Islamic tourism is the fastest-growing segment of Turkey's billion-dollar industry, reports the Independent. Islamic hotels have separate pools for men and women, though the beaches are no longer segregated (the coast is a "public space.") A well-known columnist, Nihal Bengisu Karaca, took her husband and son down some cliffs in search of secluded inlets to swim in. And when she did hit a beach, she wore a hasema, which she says looks "like a Ku Klux Klan cloak."

Ms. Bengisu thinks a covered woman on vacation is like "an out-of-tune singer in the middle of a concert" and blames not Islam but the Turkish patriarchy. And she may have a point. Last summer, a woman was wearing a sundress while fishing on a bridge in Istanbul when a gust of wind blew her skirt up. Last week, she was found guilty of exhibitionism and charged with a five-month suspended prison sentence.

Over the weekend, a group of women protested the verdict on the streets of Istanbul, walking across the very bridge where the incident took place. They chanted things like: "It's not exhibitionism, it's male abuse!" and "State, take your hands off my body!" Many people think conservative thinking is on the rise in Turkey; a devout Muslim party has been in power since 2002.

Some questions: Isn't the beach is supposed to offer some escape from life's problems? Can't everyone, regardless of size, shape or abdominal tightness, enjoy the earth's natural beauty by the sea shore? How can you have a "bad" body for squishing your toes in the sand? How can a gust of wind make a woman guilty of exhibitionism? And where is the middle ground between calling a sundress "improper" clothing, the booming bikini-free vacation industry and the nit-pickery seen on E! and in tabloid magazines? How would the people telling Star Jones and Arnold Schwarzenegger to cover up feel if the government agreed with them?
Boom In Bikini-Free Holidays As Turkish Women Cover Up [Independent]
Turkish Women Attack Clothing Law [BBC News]