In Vienna, A Hotel Room Comes with A Night at the Opera

by Jonathan Spira

I haven’t been to a live performance in a concert hall since seeing “My Fair Lady” at the Volksoper in early March, because, uh, social distancing and all, and I miss it quite a bit.  While it’s doubtful that Broadway will reopen before late fall at the earliest, and the Metropolitan Opera, which cancelled its fall season last week, may reopen New Year’s Eve, I now have the opportunity to …

Here’s How Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland Are Reopening

by Anna Breuer

As the coronavirus wanes in parts of the globe, a number of countries are taking the first steps in reopening their economies.
Here’s a look at how six European nations – Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland – are in the process of doing so.
AUSTRIA
Austria reopened a number of shops in mid April and reported no spikes in the number of new coronavirus patients in the country. Restaurants, cafés, bars, …

U.S. Airlines Struggle as Airports Become Parking Lots

by Kurt Stolz

In early May, Warren Buffett divested all of his investment firm’s holdings in the four major U.S. airlines, warning that the “world has changed” for the aviation industry due to the coronavirus crisis.  In mid May, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said he saw a bumpy road ahead for the airline industry and predicted that a major carrier would not survive 2020 as a result.
It appears Buffett and Calhoun were on …

June News Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Past Month’s Headlines

by Paul Riegler

June is upon us, and it’s time to see how up-to-date you are with travel, aviation, and coronavirus news from the past month, and what a month it’s been!
Take our travel news quiz and you could win a piece of airline and travel history including items from Pan Am, Cunard, and TWA.
In last month’s quiz, which was apparently the most difficult since we began the series, the question asking which …

Great Moments in Travel History – June 2020

by Jesse Sokolow

June, the month with the most daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere, is the sixth month of the year, and is equivalent to December in the Southern Hemisphere. The start of meteorological summer, June derives its name from the Latin name for the Junius, which in turn comes from the ancient Roman goddess Juno, wife of Saturn and protector and special counselor of the state.
The month of June includes the …

Restaurant Review: Cagen – New York’s Best Sushi as Takeout Amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic

by Jonathan Spira

Four and a half years ago, I ventured to the East Village to try what I understood to be the one of the best Japanese restaurants in the city, Cagen.  In it, I found chef and owner Toshio Tomita, who spent 16 years working for Nobu Matsuhisa of Nobu restaurant fame.
Perhaps I had been misinformed as I left believing Chef Tomita had built an establishment that vied with the best …

Restaurant Review: Brownstone Pancake House, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

by Jonathan Spira

Since the closure of restaurants in the United States amidst the coronavirus outbreak, I’ve had nary the opportunity to visit a restaurant, let alone write a restaurant review.  But there I was, in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, dining out, despite New Jersey’s lockdown.
Admittedly, I was still in the driver’s seat of my car in the restaurant’s parking lot when the waitress came to take my order.
Given that the last meals …