27 September 2010

Travelers Anonymous

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The Cunard Line famously opined that "getting there is half the fun"; the phrase is a a charming reminder of how travel used to be. Were the legendary cruise line run like a modern airline, of course, their slogan might be more like, "Getting there was fun at all? You owe us a $50 enjoyment surcharge." We can expect the handy chart of airline fees USA Today has compiled (via Lifehacker) to be supplemented with a new "Enjoyment Surcharge" once someone from the airline industry spots this post. Sorry.

I've long admired the anonymous Blawg Review Editor's willingness to brave the unfriendly skies to visit the many of us who've come to know him through his long stewardship of the Carnival of Legal Blogging. Frankly, when one considers Ed.'s obvious aversion to self-identification, the demands of post-9/11 air travel make his efforts all the more remarkable. His Blawg Review #283 is occasioned by World Tourism Day, which celebrates "the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide"; nonetheless, Ed. doesn't spare us a few links here and there discussing the "security theater" and other challenges and indignities which make modern air travel something less than half the fun of getting there.

Highlights of this week's edition include posts on suspicionless border searches, libel tourism, and the appeal in the "Twitter Joke Trial", which began with an exasperated comment made at the UK's Robin Hood Airport. Bon voyage, Ed.!

Next week's Blawg Review #284 will be hosted by the extraordinarily-industrious Date Available, who is scheduled to host sixteen of the next eighteen weeks. Kudos to Mr. Available!

UPDATE: Mark Bennett, who hosted Blawg Review #282 just last week, has signed-on to host next week's edition at his Defending People blog. His Constitution Day post was great; to follow that effort just two weeks later is nothing short of amazing. I'm looking forward to it already.

Image Credit: Duke University Libraries

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