EDITORIAL
2 Obiter Dicta
One Point Five Billion Inches
The circumference of the Earth. Lets talk about a few of them.
A
h, osg oode. We meet again. Returning
from winter break is always a surreal expe rience. Whereas the long summer months
leave me restless and excited at the
prospect of renewed intellectual stimulation come
September, the fleeting few weeks we have in
December pass too quickly in a haze of mulled wine
and family gatherings. They never seem fully ours,
and just as we begin to remember who we are outside
of lectures halls and libraries, we find ourselves back
in the hallowed halls of Osgoode.
It is for this reason that I find myself particularly
resistant and begrudgingly in denial of the fact that
a new semester has indeed begun. And this is likely
amplified by the fact that I undertook the project
of planning my post-bar exam trip during the time
between the new year and the new semester. My
days were spent in a flurry of researching which
border crossings between Thailand and Laos are
least rife with corruption (a very relative concept,
I’ve learned), comparing different bus connections
between Ho Chi Minh City and Mui Ne, and determining exactly which Cambodian town specializes in fried tarantulas, so that I can make sure to
avoid it (Skoun, nicknamed Spiderville, in case you
were wondering; it is, by all accounts, the stuff of
nightmares).
My research predictably led to all variety of travel
blogs and an embarrassing number of Anthony
Bourdain episodes. But I noticed, at one point, that
missing from my resources was the New York Times
“Places To Go in 2015” list. It has become something of a touchstone for travel trends and hotspots
(at least for amateur travel enthusiasts, such as
myself), which is impressive, given its measly ten
year existence. As I anxiously await the release of
this year’s list (almost as anxiously as I await the
release of fall grades), I’ve assembled my own predictions regarding up and coming destinations. The
NYT list is meticulous and impressively thorough
(last year, for example, they highlighted the island of
Ishigaki, Japan, in light of recently added services by
budget airline Peach), and while my predictions will
undoubtedly be much more cursory, I’m interested to
see how they’ll stack up to the real thing.
Northern Italy
I’m not talking about Venice or Tuscany, I mean
places like Padua, Bologna, and Verona. Although
it would be inaccurate to refer to these as “off the
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“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come.
We have only today. Let us begin.”
mother teresa
ê The streets of Havana, Cuba. Photo credit: Michal Novak.
beaten path,” Italy’s northern towns are often the
first to be eliminated from itineraries in favour
Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast. Despite the fact
that Milan has long been known as the fashion and
financial capital of the country, and Turin has been
steadily developing a reputation for playing host to
some of the best student nightlife in Italy, they’ve
often stood in the shadow of Florence and Rome.
Thus, the Milano Expo 2015, held between May and
October, presents an excellent opportunity to draw
more tourists to the less-visited, yet equally charming cities of Italy’s north.
Laos
The evolution of tourism in Southeast Asia is a subject
which I find endlessly fascinating. Seeing how each
country opened itself to tourists, and how this interacted with political and social developments within
its own borders (the end of the Khmer Rouge, the
Doi Moi reforms, and the recent Burmese democratic
reforms) sheds light on this culturally and politically diverse region. Thailand emerged as a haven for
editorial board
editor-in-chief | Karolina Wisniewski
managing editor | Sam Michaels
layout editor | Heather Pringle
editorial staff
business managers | Alvin Qian,
Adam Cepler
communications manager | Angie Sheep
copy editor | Subban Jama
news editor | Mike Capitano
opinions editor | Carla Marti
arts & culture editor | Marie Park
sports editor | Evan Ivkovic
website editor | Asad Akhtar
backpackers in the 1970s and 80s, and soon after,
Vietnam followed. The last decade or so has seen an
explosion of tourism to Cambodia, which leaves Laos
as the last one standing, so to speak. The culturally
and architecturally stunning Luang Prabang boasts
unreal French cuisine and Buddhist temples that
rival the best wats in the region. The Shangri-La of Si
Phan Don, on the other hand, offers palm trees and
beaches without the crowds of southern Thailand.
Cuba
An obvious choice, given the recent loosening of
travel restrictions for Americans. Though Canadians
have long enjoyed its well-priced resorts, now is the
time to ditch the all-inclusives and experience Cuba
outside the hotel gates. Given the soon-to-come
influx of American money and attendant modernization, the streets of Havana will only feel authentic
and frozen in time for so long.
staff writers
Kate Henley, Gleb Matushansky, Erin Garbett,
Hannah de Jong, Kenneth Cheak Kwan
Lam, Kendall Grant, Rob Hamilton, Esther
Mendelsohn, Parmbir Singh Gill, Michael
Silver
contributors
Sophie Chaisson, Jeffrey Hernaez, Nabila Khan,
Sabreena Delhon
Submissions for the January 19 issue are
due at 5pm on January 10, and should be
submitted to: [email protected]
» see EDITORIAL, page 12
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