The Best Way to See New York City
Plus, photos of The Line in Saudi Arabia, more Expedia miserliness, shark attacks and influencers, and a new Versace-themed hotel in Miami.
It’s easy to take New York City for granted. To speedwalk through its streets, admiring the immensity of it all, without really stopping to ask yourself how it happened. To wander its more picturesque neighborhoods—Tribeca, the West Village, Soho—and not dwell on their story.
To walk on a street like Canal and, yeah, maybe you’ve assumed it got its name because of a canal but, um, which canal?
I’ve spent the past week devouring Walking New York: Manhattan History on Foot by historian Keith Taillon, underlining tidbits of info that I hope to retain as interesting little nuggets for a dinner someday (roughly 25,000 people are buried under Washington Square Park, Chatham Square was the Times Square of its day, the East Village’s name is a modern invention, and so on). I’ve also marked out two of the walks I’m definitely doing the next time I’m in town—the Financial District and Seaport and then his Gilded Age one that traces the greatest mansions still standing.
The book is full of answers to questions I was too lazy or incurious to actually ask, including the aforementioned origins of Canal Street’s name. The same goes for Times Square, Union Square, and more.
I should note that Keith is somebody I’ve worked with and become friends with. His journey into writing about history after leaving the corporate world is one that I find inspirational—an example of great things happening when you just do the work. It’s fitting that my 50th newsletter features somebody who built something on his own using an unconventional path. Before writing this book Keith gave hundreds of tours around the city and is such a beloved resource on New York City history that even cast members of HBO’s The Gilded Age head to his Instagram to catch his take on the historical aspects of each episode.
This book is a product of years of those walking tours (which he still offers!) and research for social media and publications. I still think of Keith every time I pass the Place Concord in Paris because it was through a piece he wrote for me on the history of the Egyptian obelisks in New York, Paris, and London that I first got to know him.
I’ve walked around with Keith before, which is a delight, and his tours are excellent if only for the fact you can pepper him with all your questions that pop up as you explore the city. But I’m not an auditory learner, so I’ll be doing my own walks next time I’m in town, this totable guidebook in tow. Although, to call it a mere guidebook undersells it. It’s filled with personality (blue glass skyscrapers catch a stray) and captivating tales. The rich and poor alike get their due. Not since William Seale’s two-volume history of the White House, something I treasure, have I enjoyed a book as much for its utility as for the historical tidbits I’ll pocket for a later date.
If I were slightly more petty, I would be burning with envy because it’s so well done.
DEPARTMENT OF GRIEVANCES
Expedia really doesn’t want people to see their rewards program as valuable, I guess. When it blew up years of loyalty at Hotels.com to launch One Key (which everybody in the industry lamented for its miserliness), one main selling point was that it theoretically offered more by encompassing Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. Earlier this week, though, I got an email from the company saying that it’s already cutting into that promise and that the lowest tier members can’t earn cash on Vrbo bookings.
Photos have been posted showing construction is very much underway on The Line in Saudi Arabia…
The images selected by the BBC for their article on Mackinac Island are preeeeetty selective. They include almost no actual people. The island is absolutely beautiful, the historic houses gorgeous, and the lack of cars a nice reprieve. But the crowds here are overwhelming and the elegance you see in the BBC photos is not what you’ll see around you in terms of the people when you go. (There’s nothing wrong with that crowd, but this piece is very misleading!)
Maybe I’m nuts, but I have a bit of a romantic feeling toward staying at budget hotels near national parks on road trips. I always know what I’m getting at a Holiday Inn or a La Quinta if I go the chain route or I love the quirkiness of some of the family-owned spots. Given that these types of hotels are often the only option, I get why somebody like Abercrombie & Kent would be opening a luxury retreat in Moab near Arches National Park–the demand is very much there. But there’s something about mixing a national park with luxury (to be clear, they are not the first) that I am just having a bad initial reaction to.
A new study on the rise of shark attacks concludes that we should blame influencers who are encouraging people to interact with sharks. Now, I’m as annoyed by a lot of social media stars as much as the next person, but, I kind of think at some point we’ve got to stop blaming “influencers” and blame those who are actually listening to people online. Mad that you ended up at a tourist trap that’s pretty but has a long line and mediocre food? Maybe you shouldn’t have traveled based on TikTok. Been bitten by a shark? Maybe you shouldn’t have followed what somebody on Instagram told you when it comes to playing with deadly predators.
As anybody who has tried booking a reward flight from London’s Heathrow Airport recently will know, its fees are by far and away the highest in the world. I’m not particularly impressed with the explanations by its CEO, though.
The Giza Pyramids experience is absolutely horrible–constant harassment by vendors often trying to trick or extort you as well as plenty of visible animal cruelty. It’s a problem the Egyptian government has wanted to address for a while, and now is doing so. Given the aggressiveness of the problem-creators, though, there’s no surprise that it’s now turning into a fight between the government and those who operate here.
I understand why car manufacturers do this, but it really is terribly annoying that a lot of cars won’t let you add a Bluetooth device while the car is moving. It assumes that only the driver would be trying to add a device, which often isn’t the case.
If you think everybody you know has been going to Brazil this year, you’re not hallucinating. The first quarter of 2025 was the busiest tourism quarter in Brazil’s history.
TRAVEL INDUSTRY NEWS
You can now redeem JetBlue points on Japan Airlines
BILT adds Southwest to its redemption partners
The CEO of Booking.com made $126 million last year
A new Versace hotel will open in Miami next month–the Donatella
One&Only’s second U.S. property will be in the Hudson Valley next to the Culinary Institute
Airlines are dropping domestic flights as demand softens
Turkmenistan is making it easier to visit
CLEAR is testing out new e-gates which could dramatically change the value of membership