Would You Go to Iraq for Your Next Vacation?

No really, would you? I can't tell you how many people I've talked to have been surprised to find out that Iraq was part of the Persian Empire and all that that signifies.

VIDEO: Obama's contribution to Hawaii's tourism industry is a real Hono-LULU

By GottaLaff

Riding the Obama wave:

A Cottage Industry Centered Around The Hometown Hero Has Emerged In The Aloha State

It's nice to see some positive news out there.

Obama-Mania: Tourism Business Booming in Obama's Chicago

By GottaLaff

(M. Spencer Green/AP Photo)

Every city has its tourist attractions...

But this year, they are hitting some newly ascendant Windy City hotspots -- including Hyde Park Hair Salon & Barber Shop, Manny's Deli, 57th Street Books, Valois Cafeteria and Medici on 57th -- all allegedly frequented by hometown boy Barack Obama, who was elected president three weeks ago.

The signs are everywhere: Obama-mania is here.[...]

From delis to barber shops and business offices to bookstores, visitors have been seeking out the Illinois lawmaker's favorite Chicago stomping grounds, sending business spiking throughout town.

There he goes, affecting the economy again before he even takes office.

Chicago's official tourism Web site lures travelers to "Presidential Chicago: Experience the city the Obamas enjoy." The Illinois Bureau of Tourism has launched a three-day tour of the "President-elect Obama Trail," taking visitors to 14 attractions from the state capital of Springfield, where Obama launched his presidential campaign, to his Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago.

Don't forget the "do":

"We have a lot of Europeans and people from different countries coming in just to get their hair cut by Barack's barber or in Barack's barber shop," Coye said, citing a "big spike" since Election Day, with about five people a day coming in, as well as numerous others driving by to take pictures.

"We try to get it as close as possible," said Coye, on duplicating the Obama 'do'.

Vendors drop by the barber shop trying to make a buck, too:

[O]ne man [was] seen walking into Coye's barber shop recently selling wood carvings engraved with the words, "Barack Obama and the Book," accompanied by a picture of the president-elect and the Holy Bible.

Wait. Isn't Obama a Muslim? Strike that. A terrorist Muslim? That whole Bible thing must be a mistake, a ploy, just to make a working stiff a few dollars. Da noive...

Meanwhile, our president-elect better start watching his cholesterol. Bacon's full of the stuff. Yum, bacon. Mmmmm:

Business also is booming at Obama's favorite neighborhood eateries, including the historic Valois Cafeteria. [...] Visitors to Valois frequently ask for "The Obama Special" -- egg whites, bacon and hash browns -- which Obama still eats about five times a week, sending in an aide to pick up his breakfast at about 7:30 most mornings, according to Chronopoulos.[...]

"A lot of people don't eat egg whites," he noted. "I remember one time he came in, just ordered his lunch, sat by himself, said 'hi' to people," Chronopoulos recalled about an Obama visit three years ago. "He seemed like a normal guy, just a regular Joe."

An autographed photo of the president-elect, along with a business card from his Senate office, now hangs on the back wall at the cafeteria.

"To Valois, Thanks for the great eats!" Obama signed it.

Down the block, at another restaurant, we get a chance to see more high-fat faves and wish we all had Obama's metabolism:

One of his favorites, along with the breakfast omelettes and bacon cheddar burgers, is the "Garbage Pizza," complete with pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon, ground beef, green peppers, mushrooms and onions. [...]

"If it's good enough for Michelle Obama, it's good enough for my wife," said Sibery, who naturally asked for -- what else? -- the "Garbage Pizza."

"Pan or thin crust," asked his waitress, wearing, of course, an "Obama Eats Here" t-shirt.

"What does Obama have?" responded Sibery.

"He has the pan," came the server's reply.

"So that's what I had," he said. "It was wonderful. A little pricey, but very good."

And very big, too.

"I had the small and it was huge," Sibery noted. "I don't know how he stays that thin."

And what is sure to be a popular attraction:

Obama's daughter Malia has also left her mark on the eatery. In green crayon, she followed a restaurant tradition of scrawling her signature onto an upstairs wall.

Meanwhile, back at Manny's Deli:

One patron asked this reporter if Obama was coming back into the deli, but sadly, it was just a writer hungry to try the famous corned beef. However, key Obama aides, such as incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser David Axelrod, are regular customers.

There are a lot more little vignettes in the article. Fun read. And filling.

Hawaii's Obama landmarks featured on tourism site

It won't be official 'til they get those big double decker buses running the routes...

Barack Obama's Hawai'i — from his Honolulu birthplace and Punahou School to where he ate shave ice on an August vacation — can now be traced on the Web.

The Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau today officially unveils its microsite at www.gohawaii.com/Obama. And a local writer got another site running last week.

(snip)

Some of the locations pinpointed are:

Kapi'olani Hospital for Women & Children, where Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961.

Punahou, where he attended school from fifth grade through graduation (with the caution that the campus is private and visitors are not permitted to enter any part of the property without prior consent).

Lower Makiki to East Honolulu, where Obama lived in six different places and spent most of his youth in an apartment with his grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn "Toot" Dunham.

The Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop on South King Street, one of the first places the president-elect worked as a youth.

Kenya feel Obama's magic?

By GottaLaff

Obama is having a positive effect all over the world. Now Kenya is benefiting from Obama's election:

Ripple effects of Barack Obama's election are already being felt in Kenya, where the beleaguered tourism industry is preparing for an inaugural-season surge of visitors eager to trace the President-elect's African roots.

Tour operators are starting to offer packages to Kenya with trips to Kogelo, the rural village in western Kenya just north of the Equator where Mr. Obama's father was born and raised and where some of his relatives -- including Sarah Onyango Obama, his grandfather's wife, whom he calls "Granny Sarah" -- still live.

The election "will have a big effect," predicts Jonathan Sloan, a Kenya Tourist Board official in London. "Americans might not be knowledgeable about Kenya, but with Obama's election it has been thrust into their imagination." [...]

Kenya tourism officials are hoping to ride the Obama coattails to global visibility for their industry and their country. "The Obama election results became known on Wednesday, and on Thursday Kenya took a national holiday to celebrate," says Mr. Sloan. "It's an amazing thing for them. They're going to promote this massively. Kenya feels that it has been put on the world map." [...]

"It's highly unlikely they'd meet the relatives," says Louise Newton, a spokeswoman for Somak Holidays, a sister company of Somak Safaris in London that is offering its own Obama tours. "Initially the relatives were very available to the press," she adds, "but now we're getting reports of security being stepped up."

Paying it forward.

Inauguration prompts travel rush to Washington

See, he's already helping the economy!!! (circulation is up at the Chicago papers also)

(CNN) — It may be freezing in Washington in January, but the city is a red-hot destination for people around the country and the world eager to see President-elect Barack Obama sworn into office.

he nation's capital is preparing for a massive influx of visitors on Inauguration Day — January 20, 2009 — and the surrounding period of festivities, galas and celebrations.

"We've had a tremendous amount of interest from travelers who want to be here for the big historic moment," said Rebecca Pawlowski, director of communications for Destination DC, Washington's official convention and tourism corporation.