Flying High

I was originally going to write about the whole weird Frank Williams debacle, but when I read the seventeen-plus pages of comments (always the best part of the story — some dude actually has a dinner bet going with his dad as to whether the little girl is the judge’s daughter or the judge is just a pervert. Seriously.) by projo.com readers I decided I’d rather drink gasoline than join in this fray.

So onward and upward to something more positive: It seems that Providence has made the cut to be included in Travel + Leisure’s America’s Favorite Cities, 2009. The results on thirty cities were released yesterday and we were scored on all sorts of things from most attractive people (we’re number 13) to hotels, shopping, quality of life and food. Turns out we got some high marks for food and culture (number 2 for neighborhood restaurants and number 4 for theater). If you’re looking for a wild weekend, pack your bags and hit up Vegas or New Orleans; Providence tanked in this category (not necessarily a bad thing, right?), coming in at number 25.

So, according to the survey, what’s our overall best feature? Turns out it’s a bit outside of Providence. In Warwick. Yup, you guessed it, our airport. T.F. Green gets a gold star for on-time arrivals (number 1), design/functionality (number 2), and security and luggage-handling (number 1). So whether they’re coming or going, visitors first and last impressions of Providence are sure to be positive (so long as they don’t glance at the front page of the Journal).