Archives for April 2020

That’s why Dutch Daffodils, a Dutch family flower farm, and Tulips in Holland, a travel blog dedicated to the tulips in the Netherlands, teamed up to create a special message for those sad about missing the flowers this year.

“We headed the tulips a bit earlier to write this message. From our families to yours!” Dutch Daffodils wrote in a Facebook post, along with “See You Next Year” written in the flowers, along with a heart. “We hope that this brighten your day a bit and we hope to see you next year! Much love!”

(CNN) — Glimmers of a gradual return to air travel mean airlines are rolling out new policies aimed at protecting passengers and crew from coronavirus transmission and increasing consumer confidence in air travel safety.

One day after the TSA marked its highest number of screened passengers in the US since April 3, JetBlue Airways announced that it will require all passengers to wear face masks starting on May 4. Crew members were already required to wear masks.

The TSA figure — 128,875 passengers screened on Sunday — was still only about 5% of the 2.5 million people screened on the equivalent day in 2019, but it’s an uptick nonetheless and safety measures are top-of-mind for anyone considering flying.

As people in many corners of the world begin to move around more freely, airlines are issuing policies that are likely to evolve with the pandemic.

All of the carriers have plans for enhanced cleaning and sanitation.

Here’s where some major carriers stand so far on personal protective equipment and social distancing measures:

United Airlines

“We are not mandating that passengers wear a mask, however, we strongly encourage travelers follow CDC guidance to wear a face covering when social distancing is difficult,” said Nicole Carriere, a spokeswoman for United. “By providing the masks, we’re making it that much easier for them to do so.”

The carrier has also modified in-flight service to minimize touchpoints and has moved primarily to pre-packaged foods and sealed beverages.

A passenger prepares to board a flight departing Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on March 15.

John Moore/Getty Images North America

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines is requiring all employees to wear masks or face coverings when unable to maintain the six-foot social distancing rule, the airline said in a memo to employees on Monday.

“We are strongly encouraging our customers to wear masks and will make them available at ticket counters, gates and onboard airplanes,” the memo also said.

American Airlines

“American will not assign 50% of main cabin middle seats or seats near flight attendant jump seats on every flight, and will only use those middle seats when necessary,” the carrier’s temporary policy reads.

JetBlue Airways

“Wearing a face covering isn’t about protecting yourself, it’s about protecting those around you,” said Joanna Geraghty, president and chief operating officer of JetBlue, in a statement. “This is the new flying etiquette.”

JetBlue has also limited the number of available seats on most flights and regularly reviews seat assignments to maximize space between passengers.

Air Canada

Masks and other protective equipment common in Asia

Korean Air is providing cabin crew with protective clothing, including goggles, masks and gloves.

All Korean Air passengers are required to wear masks, and the airline is providing surgical masks and hand sanitizer at airports and on aircraft.

Some European carriers are offering or requiring masks

Passengers must wear face masks when flying with Lufthansa Group beginning May 4. The group includes Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Flight attendants will also be required to wear masks, according to a Lufthansa Group news release.

Lufthansa added that leaving middle seats vacant will no longer be necessary.

“As a result of this new regulation, the middle seat that has thus far been left vacant in Economy and Premium Economy Class, will no longer remain a necessity, as the facial covering provides the necessary protection,” the news release said.

“Yet, currently, due to a decrease in flight demand, seats will be allocated as far apart as possible throughout the cabin.”

Air France says on its website that the majority of its flights are not full, allowing social distancing.

(CNN) — No one element of my life has required such consistent spontaneity (and solvency) as the College Football Bowl schedule.

The appeal is sometimes a mystery. There’s the annual displeasure, every December, of not knowing where you’ll be going in the next few weeks. Of having to book multiple hotel rooms across several different cities, of having to track multiple flights, just in case.

And then there are the disappointments of defeat. One after another.

I did not go to a “football school.” Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has always been in the shadow of more sports-focused colleges like Ohio State, Notre Dame and Alabama.

The Northwestern University Wildcats were nothing but a punchline until the year 1995 — the year I graduated. There was no real reason to pay them any attention.

I’d just moved to Washington, DC, that year and was housesitting a friend of friend’s Georgetown townhouse. My roommates were fellow alumnae, and as one of them had family going to the game, we turned on the Wildcat football season opener.

Center Dusty Zeigler of the University of Notre Dame sets to hike the football during the Fighting Irish 17-15 loss to Northwestern University at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images

The Wildcats were, unsurprisingly, 28-point underdogs, having lost to the Fighting Irish 14 times since 1962. Notre Dame was ranked #9 in the country.

It should’ve been a foregone conclusion, but about halfway through the first quarter, the Cats recovered a fumble and scored a touchdown. Was Northwestern actually beating Notre Dame, 7-0? As the NBC announcer said, “This score will reverberate throughout college football stadiums.”

William Bennett #20 of the Northwestern Wildcats celebrates on the field after the Wildcats defeated the Fighting Irish 17-15.

Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images

Fight for victory

Guess what happened after Northwestern won? Well, they just kept winning.

This may not seem any kind of life-altering event, but imagine watching something unfold that was wholly and completely inconceivable — like the real meaning of the word (not capable of being imagined or grasped mentally; unbelievable).

It would never have occurred to anyone who had the sad lot of trying to support “Northworstern” football, who attended games at Dyche Stadium and listlessly tried to sing the fight song they didn’t know the words to.

Nonetheless it was the start of what was later called a “Cinderella” season. I had become, in under three hours, a die-hard Northwestern fanatic. And as the season drew to a close, it was also the beginning of my travel career.

The Rose Bowl

The author and her friend Julie King at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, 1996.

Courtesy Brekke Fletcher/CNN

That year, Northwestern made it to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. We were going to play college football powerhouse USC on New Year’s Day. The Rose Bowl is one of the biggest and most revered championship games of the college football season, and at that time, to me, it was the Super Bowl.

I grew up in Southern California, I had even performed on the Rose Bowl field (not during a bowl game) as a high school cheerleader. And I was already flying from DC to Santa Barbara to be with my family for Christmas.

But there was a problem.

I had a new job I had to return to DC for and no vacation days to extend my stay in California past December 26. And no money.

I had a decision to make: Was this game important enough to fly back to California, four days after returning to work, to watch it in real life? Then head straight back across the country again?

Of course it was. And thankfully my amazingly generous parents insisted I do it, because it was a “once in a lifetime” experience. They helped me finance the trip and hosted me and my friends, Laura and Julie.

We drove to Pasadena after a New Year’s Eve spent in our crappy hotel, rung in with the pizza delivery man.

The game itself was the epitome of a nail-biter. It put me through a bout of emotional intensity I’d only previously felt when I was in or out of love. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t look at the field, I couldn’t look away, I screamed myself hoarse, I cried and laughed and flailed about as if I was being electrocuted. At times it really looked like we were going to pull off the upset of the century.

We didn’t.

We drove back to Santa Barbara in silent misery, listening to the recap on the radio. I can’t describe the combination of pride and joy and soul-crushing disappointment. I’ve since come to call the sensation “exquisite pain.”

Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson does it better:

“I hold it true, whate’er befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.”

Here we go

Superfan Andrew Hilsberg with the author at a tailgate before Northwestern beat Wisconsin in 2003.

Courtesy Brekke Fletcher/CNN

The following fall I moved back to Chicago to live with my friend, Laura, and the plan was we would share season tickets.

Looking back I can hardly believe it: I moved to Chicago for a football team.

I worked a terrible temp job at a bank to pay the bills. I was filling out paperwork for a woman who had a broken arm and lorded over me like the horrendous boss, Bill Lumbergh, from the film “Office Space.” I was literally a rented hand.

What a fantastic time at the games, though. We beat Michigan. We beat Wisconsin. Our Cinderella season was no fluke — we went to our second bowl game.

Sadly, I was not solvent enough after my fall in Chicago to fly to Orlando for the 1997 bowl game and wouldn’t be flush enough to finance much of anything for a few years.

Then I moved to New York City to fulfill my dream of becoming a writer and where a conclave of college friends already lived.

Northwestern fans gathered at a bar called Blondies on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on fall football Saturdays — and we cheered and drank and ate and laughed and cried. The exquisite pain of being a Wildcats supporter follows wherever you go.

Purple pride

The sign-holding author appeared on ESPN2 during the 2013 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL, when Northwestern finally won their first bowl game in 64 years.

Courtesy Brekke Fletcher/CNN

When I finally stopped living paycheck to paycheck, I flew back to Evanston every year for a home game. I flew to games at Nebrasksa and Penn State.

I went to the Alamo Bowl in 2008 (lost), the Outback Bowl in 2010 (lost), and finally, at the 2013 Gator Bowl, Northwestern won its first bowl game since in 1949.

I was on ESPN2!

I credit this team with showing me what was possible. That buying a plane ticket and going somewhere at a moment’s notice could and should be done regularly, even if it doesn’t involve football.

It became no big deal. London for the weekend? Yep. Rent a villa in Tuscany for five friends? No problem. A weekend in Cabo? Sure. Take a train, rent a car, book a hotel? Yes, yes, yes.

It aligned with my desire to focus my editorial career on travel and luxury lifestyle. And while I clawed my way from magazine to magazine (most of which are now gone), I would basically go anywhere with anyone. If someone mentioned they were headed on a trip, and would I come, the answer was invariably yes. Conversely, I would plan trips and ask friends to come along.

People started asking me for recommendations, what hotel or restaurant, what airlines I favored and what credit cards I used. I’d work out itineraries for other people’s honeymoons, family trips, and some of my own birthday celebrations in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or Paris.

All grown up

David Chalian, fellow alumnus and CNN Political Director, and the author take in a Cardiac Cats victory, this time over Nebraska in Lincoln, November 2011.

Courtesy Brekke Fletcher/CNN

My travels were primarily self-financed, and still I longed to align my vocation with my personal passion for travel (if not my obsession with Northwestern football). I did have a high-ranking magazine job, so I was able to finagle trips to write about. Usually because it turned out to be cheaper to send me than anyone else.

Then CNN came calling. I finally got my dream job in 2016. I’ve been to Singapore, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada, London and more. Every story and every trip is burned on my brain as a superlative of one sort or another.

But I never stopped following my Cats. I travel with a rotating crew of fellow Wildcats, from all over the country. We’ve gone to cheer on Northwestern at their last three bowl games in Nashville, New York and San Diego.

The big dance

Ryan Hedges (left) and Andrew Hilsberg with the author at Northwestern’s first appearance at March Madness, Salt Lake City, 2017.

Courtesy Brekke Fletcher/CNN

And I would be remiss not to mention another inconceivable moment. In 2017, Northwestern made its first-ever appearance at March Madness (the NCAA basketball men’s tournament) in Salt Lake City.

And alongside Wildcat superfan Julia Louis-Dreyfus, we assembled our crew and deployed. We unexpectedly won our first game, followed by a heartbreaking loss I’m still not quite over. But it’s also one of the best travel experiences I ever had.

More to come

A common anxiety-ridden pose of the author’s, visible during any Northwestern game.

Courtesy Brekke Fletcher/CNN

Still, the list of places I haven’t been and want to go is much longer than the list of places I’ve visited. I’ve been walking down memory lane for the past several weeks, to think about better days, to smile at my incredible luck, and hope for a better, safer future for all travelers.

And still, each year, my favorite thing to do is organize our travel to Northwestern football games. This year is my 25th college reunion, and 25 years since that Notre Dame upset.

If there’s any way I can travel safely to Evanston for the Nebraska game on October 3, that’s where I’ll be. Regardless, this year I celebrate a quarter century of exquisite pain. I wouldn’t change a thing.

That said, don’t book your summer vacation just yet.

Many of these flights are government subsidized and solely for the purpose of transporting cargo. Though some are open to public bookings, others will only issue tickets to emergency personnel or essential workers who need to get around.

Think of these flights as a dress rehearsal for a gradual re-upping of the aviation industry.

“Melbourne to Sydney is the second busiest [air] route in the world,” a Qantas spokesman explains. “Normally we do a five flights an hour, and now we’re doing seven per week.”

Currently, these flights are reserved for emergency personnel and private citizens cannot purchase tickets. But they are keeping planes in the sky and pilots in practice, both of which are important steps toward bringing the airline back to full service.

“These are not commercially viable. We’re still way off from unrestricted travel between states in Australia,” the spokesman continues, noting that Qantas estimates leisure flights between Australian states will likely resume mid-June.

In Thailand, some low-cost airlines announced they will resume domestic flights from May 1 following a temporary suspension.

In Vietnam, domestic flights are being run by VietJet, Bamboo Airways and Jetstar. As of April 23, there were 20 flights a day between the country’s two largest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Social distancing regulations require at least one empty seat between passengers, so none of the flights are operating at full capacity.

(CNN) — There have long been drive-thru theaters, fast food restaurants and even, in some places, pharmacies.

Now, in Texas, there’s a drive-thru zoo — at least temporarily.

Visitors will be able to see lions, tigers, and bears all from the security of inside their vehicle as they listen to an audio guided tour. They will also be able to buy food and drinks curbside throughout the park.

Map of the zoo.

San Antonio Zoo

“This is a very unique and safe way for families to see the zoo while we are closed from the comfort of their own car,” Tim Morrow, president and CEO of San Antonio Zoo, said in a news release. “This new, creative way to see the zoo will be a gradual step towards our plan to reopen to foot traffic when we are given the ‘green light’ and the time is right.”

The zoo has been closed to the public since March 14 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and as a result has taken a financial hit after a lack of ticket sales.

“We are now in the process of contacting some of our furloughed team members to return even before our zoo truly ‘reopens’ in the traditional sense, and that makes us very happy,” he said.

Tickets range from $60 for non-pass holders to $32 for annual pass holders and members.

The experience was originally scheduled for just this weekend, but tickets sold out in two hours. Now, the zoo has extended the tours daily through May 17.

“The overwhelming response to Drive Thru Zoo, which sold out in less than two hours for the original three dates is very promising for us during this difficult time,” Morrow said.

Guests have not been able to tour the zoo on four wheels since there were carts led by donkeys, and then later trams, according to the zoo.

The zoo is operated by the non-profit organization, San Antonio Zoological Society, which was established in 1929.

(CNN) — What do a sexy Hong Kong icon, a bankrupted entrepreneur and a failed military defense campaign have in common?

They all contributed to the rise of bubble tea, the insanely popular Taiwanese drink that’s taken the world by storm in recent years.

Invented in the 1980s, bubble tea (also called “black pearl tea” or “boba tea”) is a beloved Taiwan classic. Though there are dozens of different variations, at its core it’s a combination of tea, milk and the ‘bubbles’ — which are essentially little balls made of anything from tapioca to fruit jelly.

A global addiction

The origins of bubble tea

So where did it all begin?

The roots of bubble tea can be traced back to the 1940s.

The result was a rich and silky iced tea with fine air bubbles on top — dubbed foam tea in Taiwan.

Today, shou yao is an essential bubble tea element. No shou yao, no bubble tea.

It was a revolutionary invention at that time — not only were cold drinks not common then, but the idea of consuming food and beverages for pleasure had only begun to grow in post-war Taiwan. In the coming years, the island’s passion for tasty cold beverages intensified.

“The trend of tea beverages prospered together with the rise of the leisure food trend in the 1980s as Taiwan was experiencing rapid economic growth,” says Tseng Pin Tsang, a Taiwanese food historian.

“In addition to the industrial pre-packaged tea products, there were more tea shops on the street and tea restaurants in the suburbs.”

The white fenyuan, tapioca balls, were first used to make bubble tea. The larger black balls appeared later.

Hanlin Tea Room

In 1986, Taiwanese artist and entrepreneur Tu Tsong He decided to kick start a new business venture by riding on the tea shop trend.

After his previous business blunder — a hot pot restaurant that went bust — Tu was left with a TWD 4 million (about $133,000) debt and desperately needed an idea to set his tea shop apart from the masses.

“I was visiting the Yamuliao wet market in Tainan when I saw fenyuan [tapioca balls], a traditional snack I loved from my childhood,” recalls Tu.

“I thought to myself ‘why don’t I add some fenyuan into my green tea.’ The white fenyuan looks almost translucent with a white center when brewed inside the golden green tea, much like my mother’s pearl necklace.

“So I coined it ‘zhen zhu lu cha’ (pearl green tea).”

Tu then experimented by adding bigger, black tapioca balls to milk tea for a richer taste and a chewier texture, which became the classic bubble milk tea most fans know and love today.

“The black bubble tea balls were bigger than the straws the market had then,” says Tu. “Our customers had to use spoons to scoop out the tapioca balls. We had to work with a plastic factory to customize straws just for our tea.”

Bubble tea is made using a cocktail shaker.

Hanlin Tea Room

“Bubble tea soon became a hot-selling item in the market and the steady revenue of the tea shop has helped me clear my debt,” says the tea-loving businessman.

Hanlin now operates about 80 branches across Taiwan and has franchises everywhere from the United States and Canada to mainland China.

But here’s where things get tricky. Tu isn’t the only person claiming to have invented bubble tea.

Just for fun, she poured the tapioca balls she brought with her into her Assam tea and drank it.

Chun Shui Tang staff also claim the brand was the first to debut foam tea shaken up with a cocktail shaker.

The court decided that bubble tea was a drink that anyone or shop can make. It is, therefore, unnecessary to debate who created it.

“We’re all old friends in the tea industry,” comments Tu. “The lawsuit with Chun Shui Tang is a must-fight battle for truth but nothing personal. We will let the people who drink our tea be the judge.”

A little help from a sexy star

Though the battle for ownership has no winner, there is one undisputed segment of bubble tea’s history — the origins of its nickname, boba.

Now synonymous with bubble tea in general, the word “boba” initially referred to the large black tapioca balls used in the drink.

Most agree that it was coined by a hawker in Tainan who was inspired by Hong Kong movie star Amy Yip’s nickname, Boba, which, when loosely translated, means “champion of breasts.”

The hawker named the larger black tapioca balls “boba” to differentiate them from the smaller fenyuan normally found in tea shops.

Even Hillary’s a fan.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/Getty Images

An enduring Taiwan icon

But there’s more to Taiwan’s love for bubble tea than just taste and texture, says historian Tseng.

“It also reflects the special mood of Taiwan in that era — the feeling that the society was transitioning from old to new,” he says of the late 1980s.

“It embraces some Taiwanese age-old cultural experiences, with a touch of nostalgic emotion prevailing in this modern society.”

During the process of recreating two traditional staples — fenyuan and tea — society bonded over its shared culture and history, adds Tseng.

“Bubble tea is a successful example of recreating a traditional food. It has become a symbol of Taiwanese’s self-confidence and identity.”

In other words, don’t mess with Taiwanese and their bubble tea — a lesson the island’s defense ministry learned the hard way.

In 2004, hoping to convince the public that a proposed weapons purchase wasn’t really that costly, the defense ministry put out a leaflet stating that if Taiwanese would skip one glass of bubble tea per week for the next 15 years, they could save up enough to pay for the military expense.

The campaign backfired, unsurprisingly, stirring heated opposition while bonding bubble tea makers and drinkers alike.

Bubble tea chain Easy Way argued in a press conference, “Why don’t you ask people to skip drinking Coke instead?”

‘Love at first sip’

Bubbleology is credited with bubble tea’s success in the European market.

Bubbleology

Scandals aside, another key figure credited with getting bubble tea into the international market is Assad Khan. A former British investment banker, he owns one of the biggest homegrown bubble tea brands in the UK.

“I had my first taste of bubble tea whilst in New York in 2009, and it was love at first sip,” Khan tells CNN Travel.

“It was a taro bubble tea and it wasn’t anything like I’d ever tasted. The variation in texture with the tea-based beverage and tapioca balls created a unique hybrid dessert.”

Although bubble tea had become popular in Chinatowns overseas, it remained unheard of among most people outside Asia. Khan saw a gap in the market. He decided to quit his job and launched Bubbleology in 2011.

With its rainbow-colored logo and cheery lab coat-wearing staff, the first Bubbleology shop, in London’s trendy Soho area, turned the beverage into a fashionable lifestyle drink in the UK.

“The best part about bubble tea is its entirely customizable nature — the fact that you can calibrate every part of the drink. You don’t find this with other offerings in the impulse snack category,” says Khan, who calls it “tea’s answer to the coffee-based Frappuccino.”

Bubble tea 2.0

Bubbleology founder Assad Khan says his first bubble tea experience was ‘love at first sip.’

Bubbleology

These days, bubble tea continues to evolve in both taste and texture.

A new crop of shops selling brown sugar bubble tea — using natural brown sugar and fresh milk instead of plain sugar and creamer — has been popping up across Asia in recent months.

Chen San Ding in Taipei is one of the brown sugar bubble tea pioneers. But fast-expanding specialty stores like Tiger Sugar, Youiccha and Xing Fu Tang have helped spread the trend to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan, among others.

A glass of brown sugar bubble tea would require a few hours’ wait when Tiger Sugar first opened in Hong Kong in 2018.

In brown sugar bubble tea, fresh milk is poured into a glass layered with balls and brown sugar, creating some Instagram-worthy marbling patterns.

Maggie Wong/CNN

Traditional bubble tea shops have also joined in on the creativity and continue to diversify their menus. For instance, they often use the word “latte” to suggest the presence of fresh milk and “milk tea” to indicate the drink contains creamer and tea.

Bubbleology is now planning to introduce a new “Skinny Teas” product line — made with reduced sugar and organic soya milk — to “appeal to the modern audience’s interest in health and wellness,” says Khan.

But no matter how funky you get with the recipe, the soul of the drink should be the tea.

He says he still travels the mountains of the island in search of the best possible tea.

“It’s the most enjoyable part of my job,” adds Tu.

“Bubble tea isn’t only the root and the pride of Hanlin, it is also the highlight of Taiwan’s beverage industry. It introduces the world to Taiwan. So it is not only important for Hanlin, but Taiwan, too.”