East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by award-winning veteran journalist and author David DeVoss.
05/02/2024
Before Charles Dickens’s bones were laid to rest after his death from a stroke in 1870 literary tourists already were arriving in London, eager to experience for themselves the world that the 58-year-old writer brought so vividly to life in fifteen novels and countless short stories and essays. Variously described as a literary superstar, the world’s first celebrity and, not incidentally, a social reformer, Charles Dickens created characters and places that continue to resonate in the popular imagination, says writer Nancy Wigston. Most recently, Barbara Kingsolver’s 2022 novel, Demon Copperhead, co-winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, cleverly echoes the characters met and dilemmas faced by an orphaned American boy in Appalachia very much like Dickens’s David Copperfield who was very much like Dickens himself.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
05/02/2024
An estimated 1.8 billion people (24% of the world’s population) are Muslim. Of that number about 3.5 million live in the United States. Indeed, Islam is America's third-largest religion. Mosques now exist in most cities, yet few Americans have ever been inside one. Throughout Europe, Asia, Arabia and Africa most countries are proud of the architectural beauty and historic importance of their mosques. If you’re traveling to a Muslim country this year be sure to visit a mosque. U.S. Ambassador Charles Cecil, who worked in ten Muslim nations during his 36 year diplomatic career, has a few tips on what to expect once you get through the door.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
16/01/2024
There are over 40,000 worldwide where passengers are likely to spend multiple hours before their departures. That assumes that the flight is on time, which it's often not. Not many travelers enjoy sitting around a packed airport waiting anxiously. Fortunately, a growing number of airports today are taking steps to provide a more pleasing experience, attracting in the process many people who aren't even ticketed passengers.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
16/01/2024
sits perched beside the opalescent-blue waters of California’s Monterey Bay, not far from where Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno first landed in 1602. "The biggest and best exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium is the Bay itself,” says Julie Packard, the aquarium’s executive director. "You go out on the back decks and see humpback whales breaching or sea lions and harbor seals, sea otters and sea birds going by. It's the place where people connect with the real Bay and feel that deep connection to the ocean.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
16/01/2024
San Miguel de Allende lies in the Eastern part of Mexico’s State of Guanajuato, about a three-hour journey from Mexico City. It’s a cobblestoned colonial town with pastel-colored buildings that has changed a lot over the past century yet remained remarkably the same, notes writer Ramaa Reddy. The city's main square, or Jardin Principal, is canopied by trees. It’s a popular local hangout where Mariachi bands roam about awaiting paying customers. On the Northern corner stands the majestic Catholic church, Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
13/12/2023
Sunset Boulevard, a 22-mile winding stretch of road, traverses a dozen neighborhoods of Los Angeles and two independent cities. It runs from just north of downtown in urban Chinatown to the ocean bluffs of Pacific Palisades. Los Angeles can’t truly be defined by its busy freeways. You have to take an offramp down to the boulevards, avenues and streets where cars, bicycles, scooters, and pedestrians mingle to fully appreciate the geography and demography of America’s second-largest city.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
11/12/2023
Excitement flew on the breeze as the American Queen revved up her engines at the Port of New Orleans, sending curls of steam skyward from towering smoke stacks as her giant red paddle wheel churned waves into foam. As the brass calliope pipes fringing the top deck began tooting Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer, passengers cheered, reports writer Toby Saltzman, excited by the prospect of rolling up the mighty Mississippi River atop a white gingerbread palace.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
08/12/2023
Jason Spoolstra stands with his back to a mural of Jesus welcoming Stanley Rother into heaven. He is introducing a tour group to more than 20 martyrs depicted on the Oklahoma City mural. “The gentleman closest to Jesus holding the long, skinny cross is Saint John the Baptist,” says the Rother shrine’s Director of Pilgrimage. Rother himself is crouched on a cloud, his left hand reaching up toward Jesus. “You’ll notice that Blessed Stanley is wearing a red vestment,” Spoolstra continues. “That’s because he is celebrating his own martyrdom.” Shrine tourism is well known in places like the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France and Portugal's Shrine of Fatima. Spain's Camino de Santiago is a popular walking pilgrimage with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Shrine tourism, notes writer Teresa Bergen, is alive and well in North America, too, even in places like Oklahoma City.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
14/11/2023
East of the wine-making capital of Bordeaux and north of the Canal de Garonne lies the River Lot. Every day vacationers arrive on the train from Paris and hop aboard boats bound for a romantically medieval landscape that once belonged to English kings. A river trip on the Lot is a voyage through 800 years of history, reports Nancy Wigston. Legendary figures like Richard the Lionheart grew up in the Aquitaine and his Plantagenet parents, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II, are buried here. Only after the brutal 100 Years War and the coming of a peasant girl called Joan of Arc were French kings able to dislodge the English.
East-West News Service covers the history, business and culture of global travel destinations, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
09/11/2023
When gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada foothills in January 1848, a Gold Rush began that soon would change the American West. Today, most 19th-century mining communities are eerie ghost towns whose storied pasts consist of crumbling foundations and swirling dust. Yet, over the course of time, reports journalist , a few towns have survived the sun, storms and inattention.
When gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada foothills in January 1848, a headlong Gold Rush began that soon would change the American West. Today, most 19th-century mining communities are eerie ghost towns whose storied pasts consist of crumbling foundations and swirling dust. Yet over the course....
26/10/2023
Drinking beer is woven into the social fabric of Vietnam, says writer . At family affairs and business lunches, impromptu meetings and private karaoke parties, beer flows like water. Cartons of beer — Saigon Special and Bia Hanoi, 333 and Larue — balance in towering store displays and on the backs of motorbikes that careen through swarming traffic en route to their final destinations. A 2022 survey reported that Vietnam's annual per capita beer consumption is 41.6 liters (over 11 gallons), or about 125 standard-sized cans per person.
In Vietnam, beer flows like water. A 2022 survey reported that Vietnam's annual per capita beer consumption is 41.6 liters (over 11 gallons), or about 125 cans per person. Indeed, Vietnam is Southeast Asia's leading beer market.
16/10/2023
Romania conjures mysterious and sinister images of Count Dracula and the Transylvanian forests. Bran Castle high in the Carpathian Mountains certainly looks like the location of Irish writer Bram Stoker's Dracula. Stoker's story of vampires rising from their coffins is an invented tale, says writer Jacqueline Swartz. But in autumn when twilight comes early it's easy to imagine ghostly spirits of the undead lurking in the shadows.
Romania is offen known for it's vampires, but travel offers even more experiences. East-West News Service covers global travel and cultural analysis.
15/10/2023
There are more than 3,000 haunted houses operating as charity events in the U.S. Over several weekends in October these haunted attractions sell tickets worth more than $500 million. Halloween is second only to Christmas as the most economically significant U.S. retail holiday, says writer Teresa Bergen. This year consumers will spend over $12.2 billion on costumes, candy, party decorations and greeting cards bearing the likeness of ghosts, werewolves and vampires.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
13/10/2023
The first Africans arrived in Charleston in 1670. For the next 137 years, approximately 150,000 enslaved men, women and children plodded across the wharf where the International African American Museum now stands. It opened five months ago, reports Nashville writer Tom Adkinson, amid Charleston’s reassessment of its slave history and its continuing fealty to the plantation culture of the antebellum South.
Charleston's new International African American Museum brings the rich culture of historic South Carolina to life.
04/10/2023
Are you a coffee drinker who gets annoyed when wine snobs start talking about the “nose “of their preferred varietal? Now you can do the same with your favorite morning beverage. Depending on the altitude and microclimate where they are grown, new specialty coffees from Colombia can exude flavors of tangerine, whiskey, or vanilla ice cream, reports writer Richard Varr. And unlike wine, Colombia’s new coffees won’t make you tipsy.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
03/10/2023
Southern California is renowned for picturesque beaches, iconic theme parks, Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and vibrant cultural scene. But visitors who travel from Los Angeles south toward Orange County will discover a rich tapestry of diverse Asian communities. New story from our Communications Director, Jian Huang.
Asian and Asian Americans influence on the history, infrastructure, and culture of Southern California from education to food to healthcare
28/08/2023
Tempranillo's tale begins during the Middle Ages, a turbulent yet transformational period for Spanish viticulture. As the Moors retreated south, the Christian reconquest brought a resurgence of wine production across the Iberian Peninsula. In the wake of Islam’s retreat, people could enjoy drinking again. Historians speculate, writes Marisa D’Vari, that the Tempranillo grape was cultivated by monastic orders, who played a crucial role in vine propagation and production during this time.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
25/08/2023
In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Harrison Ford in his quest for the Holy Grail says the chalice is located at the end of a narrow gorge called the “canyon of the crescent moon.” That place is Petra. Petra’s fascination today, says Ramaa Reddy, lies not in its association with Hollywood but with lingering echoes of the Nabatean civilization that softly murmur when shadows envelop the terraced caves wealthy merchants once called home.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
15/08/2023
Airlines that rely on the support of customers who fly regularly and pay their bills with airline credit cards are building customer loyalty by offering access to exclusive airport clubs with gourmet food, deferential servers and plenty of space, says writer James Cruikshank. Now, Delta and United are opening opulent lounges. So are JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Capital One. https://www.eastwestnewsservice.com/airline-loyalty-wars-now-waged-in-exclusive-airport-lounges/
15/08/2023
Airlines that rely on the support of customers who fly regularly and pay their bills with airline credit cards are building customer loyalty by offering access to exclusive airport clubs with gourmet food, deferential servers and plenty of space, says writer James Cruikshank. Now, Delta and United are opening opulent lounges. So are JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Capital One.
Airlines now build customer loyalty by offering access to exclusive airport clubs with gourmet food, deferential servers and plenty of space.
14/08/2023
Travelers often find themselves seeking unusual items while on the road. These curios may be explained by the psychology behind the souvenir–the French word for “memory.” Travel writer Nancy Wingston shares some of her most tangible memories acquired during four seasons of shopping. May they inspire you to leave the hotel, break away from the guided tour and explore neighborhoods not detailed in the guidebook.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
08/08/2023
New Orleans is not the only French city in America. From the cafes near the French Consulate to the celebration of Bastille Day; from the Museum of the Legion of Honor (a copy of the one in Paris) to the Matisse paintings donated by the Gertrude Stein family to the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco has long been a city with a French accent. There’s a reason it was called the Paris of the Pacific.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
06/08/2023
For five whole days, the capital city, Valletta, turns into Party Central, and virtually the entire population – children included – dons elaborate costumes and takes to the streets. Read about Malta's celebratory tradition in Liz Campbell's article, "WHERE IN THE WORLD IS MALTA? TRAVEL THERE AND YOU’LL BE AMAZED WHAT THE TINY MEDITERRANEAN ARCHIPELAGO HAS TO OFFER."
04/08/2023
Baden-Baden, the idyllic spa town at the foot of Germany’s Black Forest, draws spa-goers to its thermal waters and wine enthusiasts to its nearby vineyards. Walkers stroll the flower-dotted paths and hikers can trek up hills or attempt to summit the 2,191-ft Merkur Mountain.
With Europe's 'crazy' tourism peak, feel free to read about what makes it so special in Jacqueline Swartz's article, "BADEN-BADEN: GERMANY’S BLACK FOREST GEM OFFERS HISTORY, WINE, NATURE & MUSIC PLUS EUROPE’S BEST SPAS."
03/08/2023
Bourbon and whiskey tourism is booming thanks to the colorful bars and restaurants along the whiskey trails winding through Kentucky and Tennessee. Kentucky has 43 distilleries, most of them clustered around the cities of Louisville, Lexington, and Bardstown. Bourbon blogs and YouTube channels introduce drinkers to new brands and fuel a craft cocktail movement.
East-West News Service covers travel and in-depth cultural analysis from around the world, edited by journalist and author David DeVoss.
26/07/2023
A colossal figure in alabaster rising majestically from a hilltop outside Danang stares regally across an armada of fishing boats into the vastness of the South China Sea. She is Quan Âm, whom the Vietnamese call "the Lady Buddha." In the mother temple of the Cao Đài religion near Tây Ninh, 50 miles northwest of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), scores of white-cloaked worshippers prostrate themselves before a giant eye set into the middle of a globe-like orb. Inside the flamboyantly decorated parlor of a home in the Central Highlands town of Bảo Lộc, a young Tứ Phủ spirit medium dances before an altar. Her colorful brocaded silk costumes invoke the goddesses of heaven, earth, water and mountain.
There is a diversity to Vietnam's religious beliefs that defies expectations. Traditional Buddhism heavily mixes elements of Taoism, Confucianism and ancestor worship. Catholicism has adapted the faith to shape a uniquely Vietnamese understanding of the gospels. Faith systems like Cao Đài and Hòa...
09/07/2023
Deep in the mountainous heart of Bali, away from the island’s pristine beaches and resort hotels, two enormous volcanoes slumber fitfully. The larger, 9,800-ft. Mt. Agung, erupted violently in 2017, closing the airport and forcing 100,000 Balinese to evacuate their homes. Toward the center of Bali is the smaller but more spectacular Mt. Batur. It has a fiery summit that erupts less often but bubbles throughout the year spewing bursts of magma into the night sky. Read more with the link below!
Journey into the Alaskan wilderness: Hunting, frozen rivers, and the spirit of self-sufficiency. Read about our adventure in the Arctic Circle with Northern Alaska Tour Company in "Above the Arctic Circle Alaskans Skin Moose and Mush Dogs."
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About
East-West News Service editor and senior correspondent David DeVoss has been a professional journalist since 1968 when he joined the Time-Life News Service as the youngest staff correspondent in the history of Time Magazine. He worked in Houston, Montreal and Detroit before becoming a war correspondent at age 24 in Saigon. After four years in Los Angeles covering the music industry, he returned to Asia in 1977 serving as Time’s Hong Kong correspondent and Bangkok Bureau Chief before moving to Mexico City to report on the wars in Central America.
📷David DeVoss in 2013 at the ancient city of Ur in near Nasiriya in Iraq’s Dhi Qar province
In 1985, the Los Angeles Times hired DeVoss to be a Special Correspondent with the Los Angeles Times Magazine. While there he won three national writing awards in four years. Then he became the Americas Correspondent and Editor for Asia, Inc. and Asia Times, a business magazine and newspaper published by the Manager Media Group in Thailand.
In 1998, after 30 years in journalism, DeVoss entered the field of International Development. He headed a $2.5 million print media development program in Bosnia & Herzegovina before moving to East Timor where he helped a number of struggling publications become sustainable by helping the UN Transition Authority establish a print media consortium.
DeVoss served as the Senior Information Officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Baghdad in 2004 and 2005. From 2008 to 2013 he worked as the Director of Communications on USAID projects in Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter a $192 million effort to create a private sector in the previously state-centralized economy.
While working for the Los Angeles Times DeVoss won national writing awards from AP, the Sporting News and the Art Directors Club of New York, plus the Unity Award in Media from Lincoln University in Missouri. In 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2011 DeVoss received the Best Magazine Story of the year Gold Award from the Society of American Travel Writers for work appearing in Smithsonian. In 2008, his essay on the Natchez Trace garnered a Silver Award from SATW. In 2014, he won the Gold Prize for travel writing from the North American Travel Journalists Association.
The author of seven books, DeVoss also serves as a part-time Visiting Professor at the Hebei Institute of Communications in Shijiazhuang, China
