A Visit to GoNOMAD's Past Ten Years

 

A beautiful day for a drive up to the GoNOMAD office in South Deerfield, a short two hour journey, it has been a bit since I sat down with Max to BS. It was great to laugh over our ten year trip down the GN road and recall stories of the harrowing days when online was a death sentence. When we worked travel shows, long before we spoke at the NY Times Travel Shows. When a basement was the office and Max trucked down every night after working his regular job. Seeing Steve putting up new stories and a work space for U Mass interns was gratifying and so far from ten years ago. The future looks bright.

Lunch next door was also a treat, the GoNOMAD. Café was packed and the menu choices so far ahead of a few short years ago. We had to smile and a lot while eating. Ten years ago I couldn’t just drive over; I was living in Scottsdale AZ and dealing with my own set of circumstances. As I got in the car to head back I was overcome by a whim, to just hit a back road and see where I ended. In an inn perhaps or motel, a great meal and some time to think about the last ten years, why not the circumstances have changed.

Kent E St John has a Face for Radio, Syndicated in Australia

I occasionally Google (Kent E St John) myself to see where I pop up or my articles do anyway. Frequently there are links to GN or pieces that run elsewhere. I also am reminded just where I am read or heard. Totally forgot that I am syndicated by Ison Live Radio in Australia. From there my segments sometimes end up in places like New Zealand, Europe and Asia. I can only laugh how my accent must sound to the good people of OZ much less an audience in Cambodia. In the morning I will do two segments on China with Kevin McCarthy on the Travel Planners that is based in St Louis but from there spreads out ending up even in Belgium. It is a small world after all.

The Ritz Carlton Gets It, I Got to Meet the Reasons Why in NYC

I could talk hotels all day long, love the great ones. I did get to talk Ritz Carlton over a fabulous lunch today in NYC. My hosts were Julia Gajcak the VP for Marketing and Communications and Allison Sitch Senior Corporate Director, Public Relations. Also providing insight was Jim Wells from Attention!. The few other attendees were blogger related or in an online forum of some kind.

In was fitting since I recently read a CNN.com piece by Christopher Elliott titled Pushy Bloggers to Travel Industry: be nice. It was also on MSNBC. It basically is about how the travel industry is beginning to understand the effects of blog comments in today’s world. Our own GoNOMAD Editor Max Hartshorne gave a lot of great quoted advice in the piece, the link to us was amazing.

I salute Ritz Carlton for keeping up on changes in the travel world, Simon F Cooper and his people get it. That’s what keeps them on top. By the way the lunch at BLT Market "Bistro Laurent Tourondel," was great another great Ritz marketing move.

GoNomad's New Food and Wine Page, Read about Some Food Adventures

Soon I will be headed to Salvador and Recife, Brazil and be indulging in the dishes based on azeite-de-dende (palm oil) and cassava. Food is such a huge part of traveling and taste buds easy to pack. That grilled red snapper served in a low key beach shack in Puerto Rico or a fancy foie gras de canard served in a châteaux in France are both a ten on a scale of ten. Food can define a place, mood or setting, making a travel memory complete. The Travel Channel with top food shows with Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern certainly gets it. At GoNomad we now have a page with links to all of our food and beverage articles, a tasty place to learn or relive food experiences from around the world. Pop a cork and tuck in a napkin and check some food adventures at the GoNomad edible page!

Frommer, Steves, Farley and GoNOMAD, New York Times Travel Show Seminars

It is the last day of the NY Times Travel Show the dreaded; Sunday pack up is a few hours away. Fighting traffic, looking for a place to load up the truck and the drive home is tough to face. It was a good show but my hat goes off those that do it for a living, I couldn’t. We did our seminar yesterday about travel writing and it went well with 180 audience participants who sat for an hour and a half. It was an audience that seemed very interested about travel writing and they asked some great questions. Arthur Frommer and Pauline Frommer gave a great presentation as did Rick Steves and David Farley. Home soon for a night then back to NYC for the French Tourism bash Monday night.

Hamburg and the Sea, the Block is Over, Beatles and Norman

Every once and a while I block about a place, strangely it is usually a place I loved and found so very interesting, happening Hamburg is such a place. After a trip to Düsseldorf I arranged to rail hop over and was blown away by the city and its eclectic grasp. So working and busy with exceptional beauty, all anchored with a live and let live attitude.

While recouping on a snowy and icy night I picked up a book that I have had for a bit, John Lennon, The Life by Philip Norman. It was an amazing read especially the Hamburg days. Memories of the Reepersbahn even though just a few months ago were vivid. I happened upon the Indra Club, where first gig was, really.

I laughed when I read about the popping of Preludin (phenmetrazine) an over the counter weight loss tablet tablets, it causes the eyes to pop like ping-pong balls. I took the picture of the working girl just a block away. Had I been to Hamburg in those early days I might have popped a Preludin and picked Lennon up off of the floor, George was only seventeen and Europe picking up the pieces. The writing block is now gone.

Around the World Travel Radio, Win the Gold for Travel Radio

I got some great news today as I did my segment on Walloon, Belgium for Around the World Travel Radio, we won! We copped the Best of Travel& Dining in Radio gold from the Irhas International Restaurant & Hotel Awards, the Oscars of the travel world. It is an honor to be a part of the team. The competition was tough and included The Travel Show with Arthur Frommer, Chef’s Challenge, The Food Programme, from cities and stations such as NYC, Sydney and the BBC. I got to hand it to Arthur von Wiesenberger and Richard Mineards they are exceptionally great hosts and make it a pleasure to phone in. Producer Graham M. Brown and Assistant Producer Linda Jorgensen add the power needed to win! The show can be heard online. I plan on heading out to Santa Barbara for some studio time very soon, Max and I are so very proud of GoNOMAD’s contributions to the show and our segments can be heard here.

Rolf Potts, Marco Polo and Endless Night

I tossed and turned Saturday night until I surrendered and went to movies on demand. With so many choices I picked the Beach, Thailand is one country I haven’t been to. What really made me choose the movie was recently reading Rolf Potts's new book, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There. The book has several wonderful past pieces of Rolf’s including Storming the Beach along with background on how the stories came to be. If travel writing is in your future plans this book is a must. Kelly Westhoff recently did a Q&A with Rolf for GONOMAD recently that was also a great read. Though I haven’t met Rolf in person by all accounts he is known as a wonderful guy. Travelers Tales has come out with a slew of new books that also warrant attention; pick one up for your next flight.

Travel Therapy, Karen Schaler and a Blurb

I had a chance to read a chapter from a new book coming out this spring by the unflappable Karen Schaler called Travel Therapy. As I would expect from Karen it was snappy and well worded. That made my task a bit harder, writing a blurb for the book, I wanted to do it justice. I met Karen on an adventure trip to Puerto Rico this past year and was thrilled that she came up with the idea over mojitos and a conversion we shared there. Karen obviously is a girl of action, being an embedded correspondent in Afghanistan is just one example. I have also got to say that I reread that chapter several times and am anxiously looking forward to some more therapy! At some point I plan to ask her for a blurb for a project I have in mind, no doubt it will be snappy and well worded.

Around the World Travel Radio, Nominated for International Restaurant and Hotel Award

It is time to campaign and not for Obama or McCain but for Around the World Travel Radio. ATWR has been nominated in the Best of Travel & Dining in Radio category for the 2008 Traveler’s Vote Awards done by Irhas International Restaurant & Hotel Awards. The other co-nominees are The Food Programme (BBC); The Travel Show with Arthur Frommer (WOR 710 NY) and Chefs Challenge (702 ABC Sydney).

The awards are prestigious and other nominees are Anthony Bourdain in the Best of Travel & Dining in TV, Phil Keoghan of the Amazing Race is also nominated in the same category. In films are Into the Wild and The Darjeeling Express. Nancy Norvogrod of Travel & Leisure and Sara Henrichs of Wallpaper are two of the nominees for Travel Editor. New York Magazine editors Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld are also nominees for Food and Dining Editor. For a complete list of the other nominees including restaurants and hotels click this.

Max and I have been on the ATWR Team for years and we both have had great times with the hosts Arthur von Wiesenberger and Richard Mineards. The show is archived on their website and our segments can also be heard on GoNOMAD. Click here to vote. The Awards will be given Nov. 16th 2008 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, home of the Golden Globe Awards.

Gratitude Is Riches, Even For Travel Writers

With the markets falling faster than me on a zip line I needed some good vibes and I got some from some travel writers that I traveled with this year. While I have often written how close a group can get on a press trip, I have failed to mention how often after people fade back into their own lives. It is okay and it is natural, we all do it. That is why I was so pleased to see that I was the topic of two blogs written by writers met on the road. There are countless people such as Katherine Johnstone, Victoria Larson and my buddy Max Hartshorne to thank for making my dreams of roaming the world a reality. Gratitude is riches and Max’s blog today reminded me of that.

While we, as travel writers look for good things to see and report on, we often overlook the friendships we form. Oh the stories we could tell! I am truly humbled by the kind words in Joel Berliner’s Devil Dog Travel blog and Karen Schaler’s Travel Therapy blog. See you and all the others that mean a lot to me down the road.

The Shooter is Back on GoNOMAD

It is great to see Paul Shoul’s blog back on the GoNOMAD Blogger Page after an absence due to some medical work he went through. I love Paul’s work; it shows such originality and thought. While I love clicking away I really love looking at photos especially ones done by an artist. Welcome back Shooter!

Hudson Valley Connoisseur, a Great Read

There is a new (for me) magazine about the Hudson River Valley called Hudson Valley Connoisseur that I picked up today. Love it, it is packed with great stuff about my area and has some fantastic pictures and writing. Once again I wonder why I have never written about the area as I was born here and after some years away returned. I love my secret places discovered over the years and perhaps hold them as such, still it is time.

In the new issue is a great piece about the city of Kingston where I was born, went to school and owned a restaurant for a bit. The article by Kathleen Wereszynski Murray does a great job of covering NY State's first capital and third settlement . I opted on my return back a few years ago to live in the country, I bought an old house from 1845 in Cottekill. I never for a minute have regretted my decision to move back to the Valley. With assignments in foreign countries, I love my down time on my return. Even job wise as a senior travel editor for GoNOMAD.com and correspondent for Around the World Travel Radio in California and Australia I never have reported about the Hudson Valley, I think Hudson Valley Connoisseur however does the job perfectly. Still I may just have a few secrets.