This is sure to mean a tourism bonanza!

In recent years, Providence has not only seen a new convention center and a revitalized waterfront, but historic corridors have also been restored to their Revolutionary-era glory, giving the Rhode Island capital an architectural sense of place. But these cultural trappings, more commonly associated with overcrowded metropolises, have not caused this city of 200,000, near the banks of Narragansett Bay, to lose its small-town flavor. Drivers still request their initials on license plates, sandwich shops let regulars run a tab and Mayor David N. Cicilline greets residents by name and lists his home number in the phone book.

For the record, the Times ended their Friday and Saturday nights at the Black Rep and Local 121, which sounds pretty true-to-life. And did you know that the original State House, “where, in 1776, Rhode Islanders declared independence two months before the rest of the country,” used to be on Benefit Street?

Espresso at Caffe Dolce Vita, brunch at Nick’s on Broadway, and dinner, oh so predictably, at Al Forno. Sounds like a typical weekend!

Huh?  I get what they’re trying to do.  But super-awkward way of explaining it.

Newport, RI, May 24, 2008 –( PR.com)– On Friday, May 23, 2008 Perry Kessler, Director of Marketing at the Newport Marriott hotel, in the heart of historic Newport, Rhode Island, announced a summer gas card promotion aimed at fighting tough economic times. “The high price of gas is a struggle, especially on the tourism and travel industry”, Kessler explained, “This promotion is designed to reward the traveler for driving, for each night they stay they will earn a $20 name brand gas card.”

Phil Goldman is a self-professed jack of no trades, but his resume reads like a Wes Anderson character: jungle guide, improve actor, failed nude model, etc. On his blog, Taste The Tuna Fish Ice Cream! he chronicles his time in Thailand during his jungle guide phase, impressing tourists with his his expansive knowledge of week-old elephant dung. And on a personal note, he looks like he’s wearing a sweater even when he’s not.

Ralph Nader’s gotta find a new favorite airline. (Actually, I think he once called Southwest his favorite for-profit corporation, but can’t find the citation.)

Until a few weeks ago, my only beef with Southwest was the hokey comedy routines their attendants always ram down the ears of their passengers. But the news that’s been trickling out of the FAA hearings on Southwest’s negligence is, err… a bit more disturbing than those failed attempts at humor:

(more…)

(Thanks to tipster Amanda)

The push is on to ban the reviled Segway from the streets and sidewalks of ‘America’s Society Capital’ aka ‘the Queen of Summer Resorts’ aka ‘the City by the Sea’. aka, Newport:

NEWPORT — The Newport City Council is considering an ordinance to ban Segway personal transporters from city streets and sidewalks.

The two-wheeled, single-person battery-operated vehicles can go about 12 miles an hour. Riders stand and steer with a handlebar.

The city last year denied a request from a tour operator to run Segway tours around downtown Newport and to the city’s famous oceanside mansions, saying they could be a traffic hazard. Segways are used in other tourist destinations around the country to give tours.

A spokesman for New Hampshire-based Segway told the council Wednesday night that cars, scooters, roller blades and bicycles can go on city streets and sidewalks, and Segways should be no different.

But at least they’re not neon green, by default.

What a hilarious letter from Scott Wolfe in today’s Projo:

I was recently in Providence at the lovely Providence Place mall, where it finally dawned on me. As I walked around, I was happy and yet depressed, because I was so angry that Worcester had absolutely no upscale place for me to shop and offers no quality of life whatsoever, as Providence does.

The wonderful thing about Providence is that it is small enough to get around without any hassles. When I compare Worcester and all its ugly triple-deckers and bombed-out factories with idle smoke stacks, I cry.

Yep. That’s Providence for you. No bombed out factories whatsoever. No ugly buildings right downtown (certainly none like in the picture above). Who needs working infrastructure and living wages when you have the glorious upscale shopping of the Providence Place Mall?

As usual, this is swiped from Drudge:

AMTRAK passengers will have to submit to random screening of carry-on bags in a major new security push that will also include officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains, the railroad is set to announce Tuesday. The initiative represents a significant shift for AMTRAK, which, unlike the airlines, saw relatively little increase in security after the 2001 terrorist attacks…

Former Providence person-now perpetual world traveler and velvetvoiced singer of all things dark and beautiful, Marissa Nadler will be at the Paradise Lounge in Boston tonight. If you happen to be up there, or are one of our Boston readers (they exist…) do yourself a tremendous favor and see her. After the jump, a “video” accompanied by her gorgeous re-working of Radiohead’s “No Surprises” from last summer. I’m not sure if the video was made by her or someone she knows, but it’s oddly hypnotic. Can anyone tell the city in the distance? (more…)

RI Rep Patrick Kennedy was on his way to meet with slain Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto when she was assassinated. He and Sen Specter instead went to her party headquarters to lay a wreath and offer their condolences.

“The country now has obviously become engulfed in flames,” Kennedy said this afternoon from Islamabad, in a telephone interview with The Providence Journal.

Well, Daddy didn’t come home to Mommy like I asked for, but I did get this really cool book! Available at The Onion Store, and bookstores everywhere, ‘Our Dumb World:The Onion’s Atlas of the Planet Earth’  looks just like a geography primer you might have had in your junior high Social Studies class. They just really nail the whole production — the layout, the typography and the general look and heft of this volume just takes me back.  As to the content? It’s the Onion!

Rhode Island’s dear own Governor Donald Carcieri is in Iraq today as part of a three-governor delegation. The trip, arranged by the Department of Defense, has provided Carcieri with a chance to meet General Petraeus and to visit our troops. He arrived in Iraq yesterday, flanked by Governors Bill Ritter (D-CO) and Michael Rounds (R-SD). The ProJo reports:

The governors were briefed by Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the Multi-National Force Iraq, and by U.S. Ambassador Patricia Butenis, Carcieri then met with members of the Rhode Island National Guard.

“I’m very excited by the opportunity to meet with members of the Rhode Island National Guard and to learn firsthand about their mission in Iraq,” Carcieri said in a statement. “Since 2001, hundreds of Rhode Island National Guard members have been deployed in Iraq. As Governor, I want to better understand the hardships our soldiers are enduring.

[…] In the statement released today, Carcieri said he wanted to personally thanks the troops “for their willingness to endure so many sacrifices for the benefit of all Rhode Islanders and America.”

I would say more, but I think this news speaks for itself.

As a frequent traveller to New York, I’ve been dreaming of this day for some time. The escalator in the Providence train station is, at long last, back in service!

If you’re a PVD-based Amtrak traveller, you probably noticed that the escalator to tracks 1 and 2 stopped working about three years ago. Despite a sign announcing impending service, the roped-off escalator proceeded to collect an embarrassing quantity of dust/cobwebs over the coming years. To many, it appeared that one of our city’s most valuable moving stairways was forever immobilized.

Late last summer though, hope emerged. The escalator was boarded off, and actual construction workers were spotted on site. Over Thanksgiving weekend the escalator was still walled off, but as of yesterday, mobility had been fully restored. I, for one, am overjoyed to see this majestic gateway once again welcome travelers to our fair city.

In honor of the season’s first wintry weather, I thought I’d remind everybody that some people long for what we’ve got — and fulfill their desires in the very most garish of ways.  Let’s go Ski Dubai!

  Providence Business News informs us of Expedia’s praise for the Hotel Providence.

PROVIDENCE – Hotel Providence has been ranked among the world’s 100 best hotels and resorts in the Expedia.com 2007 Insiders’ Select List.

The list – developed each year by a method that combines overall value, traveler opinions and Expedia Hotel Expert input on more than 30,000 institutions around the world – represents the top 1 percent of hotels on Expedia.com.

No doubt this’ll give us a leg up over Rwanda and Kazakhstan, in the race to be one of the Wall Street Journal’s world travel hot spots.