The Check-In: Mapping out The Last of Us, what it takes to design a sustainable hotel, and more

(Image credit: Courtesy of 1 Hotel San Francisco)

By Catherine Garcia, The Week US

published 18 February 2023

Welcome to The Check-In, our weekend feature focusing on all things travel.

It's now easier for 'The Last of Us' fans to check out filming locations in Alberta

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Travel Alberta has put together an interactive map showing the different filming locations, and is updating it with new spots as the episodes air. There's also an accompanying episode guide that dives deeper into the neighborhoods, buildings, and stores that appear in the show. This makes it easy for The Last of Us fans to take a self-guided tour, and while sadly, it's unlikely you'll run across Pedro Pascal during your adventure, at least you can see what these locations look like without a post-apocalyptic sheen.

The incident occurred on Dec. 18, right after United Flight 1722, a Boeing 777-200, reached 2,200 feet. The Air Current reports that the plane began "a steep dive that ... reached a descent rate of nearly 8,600 feet per minute." The aircraft was below 775 feet when it recovered. The flight continued without incident, and upon landing, the two pilots — who have about 25,000 flying hours between them — filed a safety report. United told NBC News an investigation was conducted, which "ultimately resulted in the pilots receiving additional training. Safety remains our highest priority."

It's an ingredient in several dishes at the on-property restaurant Terrene, a garnish, a zest, and even part of the salt that goes around the rim of the ZW (Zero Waste) Cocktail. With sustainability driving the hotel's mission, a team tasked with finding ways to take an ingredient "from A to Z" learned that a lemon can go the distance — after being juiced, they're roasted in the wood-fired oven, which makes them produce more juice. From there, this shell of a lemon is "basically turned into a charred ash, but it's a lemon ash, and we're able to capture that and mix it with a little salt and it becomes a garnish," Joel Costa, director of sales and marketing at 1 Hotel San Francisco, told The Week. "No part of it is ever left."

Before it opened in June 2022, the 1 Hotel San Francisco underwent an extensive, sustainability-focused renovation. To reduce waste and minimize carbon emissions, locally-sourced and repurposed materials were used for everything from the floors to the elevator walls, and the interior was gutted, with new energy-efficient lighting and plumbing systems installed. Five-minute timers are in every shower, to remind people of the drought and the importance of conserving water, and there are no single-use plastic cups, bottles, or straws on the property. "Every choice we make is very thoughtful — it's a very 360-degree thought process," Costa said.

The same research went into key room details, like the sheets, and Costa said there was a learning curve. "Originally, when we were searching for organic cotton sheets, it was brought to our attention through various vendors that organic cotton is actually more harmful to the planet than regular cotton because of the water use," he explained. "Now, we sustainably source our linens, which makes better sense for the planet because we're not encouraging the growth process of organic, which ends up costing more in soil and water and other resources. That was an interesting topic for me to wrap my head around."

The fun part of sustainability is thinking big, and dreaming up ways to enhance the guest experience while still being eco-friendly. There are hits — like letting people borrow bicycles made from recycled Nespresso pods — and misses, as 1 Hotel San Francisco learned when it first gave travelers who forgot toothpaste a charcoal product. "It didn't go over well, because when brushing teeth, it's black," Costa said. "Of course it rinses out, but it sort of turned people off. We subsequently changed to offering little chewable tablets, which are not wasteful."

This goes along with 1 Hotel San Francisco's goal of minimizing waste, especially in the kitchen. "We strove to incorporate as much hyper-locality as possible right off the bat, once we had an executive chef on board," Costa said. "Before we opened, we started visiting local farmers and making relationships come to fruition so we could get unique ingredients for our menus that are coming in from less than 50 miles, or 100 miles at the most. ... We're fortunate in Northern California this is possible."

When there isn't a lot of travel time, produce stays fresh and doesn't go bad before it makes it to the dining room — and if a few sprigs of an herb or some micro greens are needed, there's a chef's garden growing on the hotel's rooftop, alongside bee hives producing honey for drinks and desserts. Costa said that as of December, the kitchen diverts about 71 percent of its waste out of landfills through composting and recycling, and "we're very proud of that. Seventy-one percent and only six months old is a really good number."

Now in its 26th year, the New York International Children's Film Festival — running March 3-19 — will present a lengthy slate of thoughtful and smart live-action and animated movies. The goal of the festival is to use film to help young people better understand themselves and those around them, while showcasing diverse storytellers. The films are screened in theaters across New York City, and attendees can also participate in events like Q&As with filmmakers. For 2023, there will be new movies shown from France, Mexico, and Japan, as well as the international premiere of Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Giberritia.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.