Week End Wrap: India Now; Tube is Tops

Great travel-related stuff pops up in Bloglines and our inboxes every week, and posting it feels like a neccesary public service here at Student Travel -- or fun, at any rate. Starting today, we'll be wrapping up newsworthy tidbits, probably peppered with editorial comment, on Saturdays; post a note if you've got something, especially if it's a little out there, from out there. This week: India on the horizon, sage travel words, London travel safety.

India is the new pink

India is a big blip on the indie traveler radar right now, as it was back in the day when those pesky rebellious youth dropped by in tie dye. Sometimes travel writers and publications seem to pick a spot and decide, en masse, that it's the new thing, as is going to be happening with India. Backpackers with an adventurous bent have been asking what's up with India for a while now.

My understanding is that India's tourist infrastructure is growing in leaps and bounds because of the managers being transferred there for jobs like running the phone for your credit card's help line; because of these folks' upwardly mobile influence, new hotels and such are springing up. (This is my understanding. I'm not saying it's correct. My understanding of rocket science is also probably wrong.) The trickledown effect for backpackers is that travel to and around India should be getting easier. That's a good thing for the masses and probably ruffles some footloose feathers.

At any rate, the mainstream media is noticing India, which will soon mean more travelers heading there by the minute. A good reason to go, or a good reason to wait a bit if you want to see more creature comforts on your future trip.

• Goa, India - A New Generation of Pilgrims Hits India's Hippie Trail (New York Times)

Random thoughts on London safety

I'm pleased to hear that parents have done the right thing in Florida after a Fort Myers school board nixed a band trip based on terrorism fear stemming from the London tube bombings of 2005 (Parents OK Florida-London Student Travel), but I wonder what the promised travel policy to which Fort Myers school officials have referred will be; I don't think it will be a glowing endorsement of school-sanctioned travel. I recently traveled to Europe with a terrific group of students on an EF Tours educational trip, and I was reminded (as always) what a life-changing experience student travel can be. The (mostly high school) students traveled to Paris, Lucerne, Innsbruck and Germany, with stops in Dachau as well as the lovely French countryside.

What they learned goes beyond the borders of a classroom. The students' district's school board did not endorse the trip in any way; the students could not so much as take a school bus to the local airport when starting the trip. However, before leaping to judge, we must remember that it's we, the people, who have brought about this current litigious climate in the US.

(If you don't get why some former student travelers are fussing about the Florida-London trip, read James Martin's "Why it is Important for Youth to Travel.")

In security-related London travel news, a man was detained recently after singing along to The Clash's 1979 hit "London Calling" in his Heathrow-bound cab. The cabbie called the cops after hearing what probably sounded like subversive muttering (think about what you sound like when singing along to the iPod) and the plane was held on the runway while the innocent retro punk rock lover was removed by anti-terrorism detectives, according to Reuters news.

Which simply spotlights Brit travel safety measures. The school-board-slurred London tube is one of the safest underground transporatation systems around. It's clean and bright and everyone working underground, like the friendly folks who drive London's buses, is quick to help if the super simple signs aren't enough to guide travelers. When riding the London tube three weeks ago, I felt like I was tooling around Sesame Street on Mr. Rogers's neighborhood train compared to journies on the (choose your adjective here) New York City subway the following week. But that's just me.

A quick and easy guide to using the London tube:

• Riding the London Tube

Traveling the world wide web

A couple of very quotable lines from travel writers this week in some pieces you may want to read:

• "I think the prime directive of travel is to remember to enjoy the trip."
  "What the..."; Andy the Hobo Traveler

• "If you trust the magic enough, you may realize that the slice you had was pretty good."
  "Really Lonely Planet: 16 Travel Tips for the Developing World"; Tom Zoellner (via Jaunted)

And in the www.really? travel world:

• RUSSIA -- "Airline Passengers Face Lie Detector Tests" (via World Hum)

Student Travel blog headlines this week

• "Backpackers" Should Be "Budget Travelers" in Oz
• Spring Break: There's White in Them Hills
• Passports: US to Canada, Mexico Travel in the News Again
• Parents OK Florida-London Student Travel
  • Board Passes Buck
  • Florida school to London: "We don't have trains blowing up in America"
• You Can't Always Get What You Want...
• Travel Photo Contest Open
• iToors London Podcast is Another Perfect Piece
• easyCruise World Cup Sale
• New Student Airfares: "Generation Fly"
• Finding Last Minute Spring Break Airfare
• Backpacker Guide Seeks Writers
• Megabus.com Opens Cheap Midwest Bus Routes
• "Habitat" Spotlights Student Participation

Final notes

Don't forget to watch the "Travel Deals and Alerts"-- an apparently fat-finger fare of $39 Canada-Cypress flew by this week. Upcoming: talking 'bout Cuba. Been there? Thoughts on US student travel to Cuba? Drop a line (studenttravel.guide@about.com) or post in the comments.