Spa Escape

It's been a stressful week, and right now lounging on the couch with my laptop isn't enough for me to unwind. I would give anything for a day at the spa. New York is known for its mineral spring resorts and healing waters. Read more about the enticing journey through spa city below, from the New York Times Travel article, They Came to New York for the Waters.

"PUNGENTLY sulfurous waters burble up from the ground alongside a concrete 1970s hospital building in Clifton Springs, N.Y., southeast of Rochester, and I’m soaking in them. That is, waters from a mineral spring renowned in the 19th century for healing properties have been pumped from a stream running beneath the hospital lawn into a new spa wing, where I’ve gone more for relaxation than anything curative, and a has prepared a hot bath for me.

In a serene pale-purple treatment room, I step gingerly into the tea-colored water. The vapors clear my head, and I soon feel tingly and light, yet strangely immobile. The sound of the spring outside, gurgling into tiers of concrete fountain pools, mingles with the indoor soundtrack of pan flutes. When a knock on the door comes for my scheduled massage, I’m sorry to let the water drain.

Upstate New York is hardly known as a center of mineral springs. But in the 19th century, the golden age of mineral-water spas, at least 50 New York towns, scattered from Long Island to Lake Ontario, had resorts or sanitariums drawing on water emerging from rocky places underground and laced with elements like magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron and sulfur. “There were more mineral baths available in New York than in any other state,” said Charlotte Wytias, the program manager at the Clifton Springs Hospital’s spa.

The official nickname of Saratoga Springs is Spa City, and a few Victorian hotels there still have wraparound porches for lounging between baths. Only two spas in town still draw on certified mineral water: the privately owned, 20-year-old Crystal Spa just outside Saratoga Spa State Park and the state-run 1930s Roosevelt Baths deep in pine groves inside the park. My husband and I opted for the latter, a sprawling Georgian-style brick complex with black-and-white tiled hallways and bright ceiling lights, built during the Depression and used ever since. Wounded World War II veterans frequented it, and the German government paid for Holocaust survivors’ treatments there.

All sorts of healing powers were claimed for the waters, which often carry a metallic or swampy taste and smell. But primarily, the resorts were places to go on vacation. “Life at the springs is a perpetual festival,” an 1850s guidebook said."

For more check out New York Times Travel.

Huntington Beach: Bring Your Surfboard

You dont have to be an Oakley team rider to catch a wave at Huntington Beach. These smooth waters, are great for first timers. One of GoNOMAD'S writers, Max Hartshorne, had the oppertunity to slip into a wetsuit and sample the waves. Read more about his trip below from Huntington Beach: A Surfer's City:

"Huntington Beach California is the ultimate surfer's paradise. The eight and a half mile long stretch of beach in this city of about 200,000, south of Los Angeles is lit up at night with campfires.

Nowhere else in California's long coast can you legally build a campfire and sit by the warm glow like this.

The waves are steady, and just about perfect for riding. And the surf breaks pretty far out, so when you catch a wave, you're in for a long ride to shore.

I paid a visit to this Southern California city in February, en route to Australia, and did what many people do when they come here. I donned a wetsuit, got on a surfboard and tried to stand up.

My luck wasn't as good as I had hoped, and the waves were tough, crashing down on me and rolling me over.

While my experience learning to surf in Surf City proved that it takes a lot more than a few hours to learn this ancient art, there is much to explore and a wonderfully laid back atmosphere here that I discovered later that day.

The best way to see this sprawling city by the sea is either by bike, blade or four-wheel pedal bike. I rented a nice beach cruiser at Zack's Beach Resorts, right near the city pier, where they charged me $10 for one hour. You can keep the bike for an entire day for $30.

On Saturday mornings you can join an organized "Fun Roll," for a 16-mile round trip skate from Huntington Beach Pier to Newport Beach. It's at a nice and easy pace for all ages and bicyclists are welcome to join the wheeled throng. The group meets afterward for lunch at Huntington Beach.

Huntington Beach is well known for its dog-friendliness, and was recently voted one of the most pet-friendly cities around the world by Fido Friendly Magazine. There is even a special doggie bus that offers bus service every weekend for any dog owner to Huntington Dog Beach.

In 2009 the city celebrates a milestone -- 100 years of existence -- and the events include "1000 Surfboards in the Sand. " This will be a visual art project on the beach that will use surfboards brought in by the public lined up 1000 strong on the beach. A chalk art contest, concerts and many other activities will be held during 2009 to commemorate the one city's 100th birthday. "

For more from this article check out GoNOMAD.

A Trip to Sardinia

One of GoNOMAD.com writers got the oppertunity to travel to Sardinia this past week. On his trip he was able to visit many of the different sites of the area. Read below for more from Sardinia: Notes From a Big Wild Island

Where can you ride a speedy go-kart around a track built to resemble a real F1 track? And skate on a real ice skating rink, play soccer under the lights, dine in 32 restaurants, or stay either on the oceanfront, or in a more intimate hotel setting?

Hint, you won't have to drive anywhere, because it's all in the self-contained Forte Village, an all-inclusive resort on Sardinia's coast.

This place might not be for everyone, but for the person who wants to avoid any driving, have a place for the kids to have fun, and enjoys lots of sports activities and a variety of restaurants and different lodging options, it might be great. Oh, and another great and unusual thing for Italy -- they have free Wi-Fi throughout the property.

For 350 Years, This Parade Has Been the Highlight of Cagliari
Last night we had a late dinner and while we sat at long tables, we learned a bit more about the festival and parade of Sant'Efisio that we had seen in Cagliari earlier in the day. For 350 years this has been a very important event that takes place the first day of May

This parade features elaborate costumes and gold jewelry that is all owned by the families, kept in special places and authentic right down to their shoes. Each village wears its own unique style, a conical hat, or a swept-back beret.

Of the more than 350 villages in Sardinia, just 150 are selected each year to be a part of the parade, and have their oxcarts and horses march before the thousands of cheering local citizens.

For more of this article or others, visit GoNOMAD

7 Tips for Drivers

Previously I have touched on driving skills, especially how to save on gas and help the environment. I have not however, touched on how to drive properly and in control. Perhaps we all should have listened a little more closely to our drivers ed instructors - because if you are like me, the feeling of getting one is awful. An article I happened upon is a bit off the travel topic, however, if you plan on driving to your next adventure, take time to remember the steps below. Here is more from Seven Ways to Drive Like a Pro

1. Look out.

“Drivers tend to fixate on an object that’s too close like the car bumper right in front of them.”

2. Concentrate.
“Driving can be boring,” says Mike Speck, an instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, “so we eat, talk on the phone, fiddle with the radio.” Instead, he says, you should be checking side and rearview mirrors, watching traffic ahead, and planning for various “what if” scenarios.

3. Slow down.
If there’s weather, construction, traffic, then take your pedal off the metal. Sudden braking is a recipe for an accident: The weight of the car shifts quickly toward the front tires, throwing it off balance.

4. Don’t panic.
“Often, it turns out that a driver just drives off the road or into another car, without even turning the wheel or using the brakes or gas,” Speck says. Rather than stare at the car that’s sliding toward you, identify an open area and steer in that direction.

5. Watch your hands.
In driver’s ed you learned to put your hands at 10 and 2 o’clock on the wheel. Clark prefers 9 and 3 o’clock, because this position gives drivers a better range of motion and enables them turn the wheel almost completely without their hands getting tangled up.

6. Leave a way out.
The worst place to be on a multilane highway is in one of the middle lanes surrounded by cars, Clark says. You always want to be able to pull onto the left or right shoulder if you need to avoid trouble.

7. Know your brakes.
Go to an empty park­ing lot and practice braking. If your car has anti lock brakes (ABS) you’ll feel them “lock” up when you press hard on the pedal. “This allows the computer to pump the brakes but gives you some steering effectiveness,” Cox says. If you have traditional brakes, pump them to stop in an emergency; to be able to steer, release the brakes completely.

For more of this article or others, visit Health

A Canadian Escape - Anticosti Island

Finding the perfect escape can mean simply talking a hike through nearby woods, or traveling off to the end of the earth in search of adventure. An article I found online could be useful if you are one of those looking to go far away. It discusses Anticosti Island which can be found north of the United States, in Quebec, Canada. So if adventure, peace and quiet, and a great get-a-way are on your travel list, check out more below from Anticosti Island: Quebec's Best Kept Secret

Anticosti is one of the best kept secrets of North America for travelers who appreciate nature and want to get away from stress, noise, rush, traffic,and poluted air. This island, at the mouth of the great St. Lawrence River where it forms the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the Atlantic Ocean, is the perfect discovery for anyone seeking crisp, cool, pristine nature, quietude, clean fresh air, glorious clear skies or mystical fog, hundreds of kilometers of driving on excellent gravel roads with no other vehicles for hours. You'll experience breathing deeply the Christmas scent of evergreen forests, listening to whitecaps lapping the sandy coast, finding intact shells that are impossible to find on crowded beaches, fishing in glass-clear pure rivers, diving beneath waterfalls, hiking deep canyons, photographing huge limestone cliffs and brilliant sunrises.

Anticosti is 8,000 square km, one-third larger than the well-known Prince Edward Island, and is also about the size of Rhode Island, but only 265 people live there year-round.

In 1534 Jacques Cartier, the first explorer, thought he had discovered the Northwest Passage when he navigated the largest of the many rivers on Anticosti. Later this was named Jupiter River. Cartier thought that peat bogs were rich farmlands and encouraged settlers to come, but they quickly discovered that peat bogs will not grow any crops. Settlements became ghost towns.

Residents know, love and care for each other. A resident told us, "Everyone here, including tourists, follow the golden rule, so it works." The island has long been a favorite place for hunting deer and fishing, especially for salmon. Now adventure and outdoor travelers can enjoy exploring the island any time of year. Travel agents offer value-priced packages, which include your transportation from Quebec mainland and, when you arrive in Anticosti, a four-wheel drive vehicle with your personal driver/guide, very clean accommodations or outfitted camping facilities, and fabulous meals.

For more information about Anticosti Island, visit Real Travel Adventures

Cruise Ships - Cause Commotion

I have written before about cruises and the benefits that arise from taking one. I have failed to write about the down side to cruises - especially the really big ones that go to the really big ports. An article I found on SmartMoney talked all about the effects that large cruise lines are having on the ports that they stop at and also the effects it's having on travelers who are not a part of the cruise. Read below for more from Cruise-Ship Gridlock at the Island Ports

With the cruise industry booming (even in this economy), port and resort towns throughout the Caribbean are facing a flurry of cruise crowds. Last year the Bahamas alone hosted more than 2.4 million cruisers, and George Town, Grand Cayman, is regularly visited by up to six ships a day, with a combined passenger capacity of more than 14,000 — well over a quarter of the 22-mile-long island's total population. The largest islands may be able to hold the vacationing masses, but stepping off the ship at smaller ones is "like stepping into a tidal wave of people,"

Caribbean remains the destination of choice for nearly half of the 12.8 million people expected to set sail this year. In addition to old standards like Cozumel and St. Thomas, little guys like St. Vincent, once just a blip on the radar, have seen cruise traffic spike by nearly 70 percent in the past year alone.

While the average Caribbean cruiser spends $98 per port, according to the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, bars and restaurants usually see less than $8 of that, since they're competing, in part, with the ships' free food. Hotels do even worse. And the size of the crowds alone can make doing business in the ports nearly impossible, turning off the onshore guests who pump money into tourism mainstays.

The cruise lines, for their part, say they're doing plenty of crowd control. They point to an increase in staggered scheduling, meaning ships leave their home ports on various days, avoiding the gridlock that results when everyone sets sail on Saturday and returns a week later.

For more of this article, visit SmartMoney

TvTrip - The True Side to Hotels

I am sure most of you reading this can attest to a time in the past when travel plans were all set and done, but as soon as you pulled up to the hotel you booked months in advance you realize that you made a horrible mistake. Not having a clean, dry, safe, or flee infested hotel is always best, but sometimes the photos online just don't do justice for the real thing. A great new site that has hit the internet, could make any travel hotel plans a bit easier. TvTrip.com is the name of the site which offers photo and video footage of hotels across the world, which give a 100% real representation of hotels. A article on GoNOMAD.com that I wrote has the whole scoop - Check out more from Avoiding Nightmare Hotels: TVTrip Takes the Guesswork Out of Travel Planning

TvTrip.com has taken the guesswork out of the equation. No longer will the average traveler have to stress about the quality and condition of his/her lodging.

This website provides viewers with videos of hotels at their destinations showing exteriors, dining areas, lobbies, rooms, and even the view from the window.

Created in Paris in 2007, former Expedia managers came together and pondered over what was missing from the tourism industry. They came up with the idea of TVtrip and it caught on like wildfire.

Offered in more than five languages and having more than one thousand hotels on-board, this website is designed with international travelers in mind.

Like other hotel websites it is possible for people to book their accommodations on the TVtrip site; however they are not a travel agent or booking company. The site also provides information about services provided by third parties. Mainly it was founded in order to provide knowledge and a firsthand view of your establishment.

Now guests will feel even more confident about their selection due to the video feature of TVtrip. It provides videos of the rooms, as well as the dining areas, pools, meeting rooms, lounges, the outside of the hotel, and even the surrounding town, city or country.

The videos taken are not edited or altered by the hotel. What you see is what you get. Easy to view, unbiased, informative, professional videos give an accurate picture of the accommodations.

For more of this article and others, visit GoNOMAD!

The New Surfers Paradise

The one sport it seems which I haven't tested the waters with, is surf boarding. It seems a rugged sport - sea salt water in your face, the sun on your back, the wind in your hair - you get the idea. Looking through the New York Times I found an article on the new "it" spot for surfers. So if you like to surf, or just want to give it a shot, check out Riding the Waves of Peru

Despite having monster swells on par with those that hit Hawaii's legendary northern shores, Peru isn’t known as a surfing destination, except perhaps by a small band of jet-setting surfers for whom no wave is beyond reach.

That is, unless you happen to be one of the approximately 28 million inhabitants of Peru, South America's third-largest country in area. Then you know very well that surfing has swept the nation recently in a pop cultural frenzy.

And now, as Peru rides a tourism wave propelled by a strong economy and favorable exchange rates for bargain-minded Americans, it is poised to become the new “it” spot on the international surfing circuit. After all, Peru has 1,500 miles of rugged coastline dotted with countless breakers, from pristine beaches tucked around Lima to unexplored pockets up north where some waves are said to last more than a mile. And unlike Malibu, Hawaii’s northern shores and other well-known places, many of Peru’s best surfing spots are often nearly empty.

For more check out New York Times Travel

Taste your way around the world

I was fortunate to grow up in a family where both of my parents love food. It was common for my family to sit down to dinner and pig out on dishes of all kinds - whether it was Thai food, Mexican, Greek, Turkish, African, ostrich, crocodile or a combination of many types. This is why I have grown up to be very passionate about food, at least when it comes to eating it, since cooking is still one of my weaker skills! This week on Fodor's website they listed in their article Culinary Tourist: A Curious Eater's Checklist, several different authentic dishes from around the world. Check a few of them out below!

Whether a food is exotic or not completely depends on the experience of the person consuming it. Fodor's editors and writers have had the good fortune and fortitude to have tried the following local specialties.

Okonomiyaki
A Local Treat In: Japan
A kind of pancake made with egg, meat, and vegetables, okonomiyakis

Geitost & Norvegia
A Local Treat In: Norway
Norway's famous brown goat cheese, Geitost (a sweet, caramel-flavor whey cheese made from goat and cow's milk) and Norvegia (a Norwegian Gouda-like cheese) are on virtually every table. They are eaten in thin slices, cut with a cheese plane or slicer---a Norwegian invention---on buttered wheat or rye bread.

Bourride
A Local Treat In: Provence, France
This poached fish dish owes its anise kick to pastis and its garlic punch to aioli. The name comes from Provencal bourrio, which translates less poetically as "boiled." Monkfish--known as baudroie in Provence and lotte in the rest of France.

Medialunas
A Local Treat In: Argentina
These croissant-like pastries are a cafe breakfast staple and come in two types: de grasa, which tend to be a little drier and skinnier but have a very delicate, mellow taste, and de manteca, which are plump, moist, sweet, and hard not to eat six of at a time.

Rijstafel
A Local Treat In: Amsterdam, Holland
This multi-ingredient Indonesian dish with rice, vegetables or meat, and sweet and spicy condiments is a tasty legacy of Dutch colonialism.

Check out more of these at Fodor's website!

Finding the freshest Breath

No matter where in the world people travel to these days, there is no escaping the air we breathe. A great article was posted in Travel and Leisure magazine discussing the air quality from around the world. I chose a small piece from the article The Worlds Cleanest Air as well as listed the top 10 places to visit to find the cleanest air.

Even if you live in a clean, ecologically conscious area, you may be inhaling pollutants from faraway, less-pristine locales. Your hometown air may contain microscopic particles of mercury-coated coal dust from China, diesel from Europe, ozone from LA, or carbon monoxide from India —or possibly a cocktail of all of the above.

With more and more travelers looking to take a breather from pollution, it’s no surprise that destinations are starting to boast about having the world’s cleanest air. But even in the wilds of Alaska it’s possible to suck in trace elements of toxic fumes from Siberian coal mines. So where, exactly, can travelers go to be sure of finding pure O₂?

Air cleanliness is usually measured by monitoring stations set up by local governments with the purpose of assessing long-term changes in carbon dioxide or ozone. These stations track air purity by measuring more than 250 pollutants, which can vary drastically in their harmfulness. Air that looks clean can still harbor invisible, odorless toxins, while a hazy horizon can sometimes be caused by harmless water vapor.

Travel and Leisure's list of places with the cleanest air are: Tasmania, Big Island, HI, Iceland, Cape Peninsula, South Africa, Tahiti, Samoa, Antarctica, Easter Island, Patagonia's Lakes, and South Island, New Zealand,

For more, visit Travel & Leisure

Gaudi Gaudi Gaudi!

Some of my fondest memories from my Euro-trip a few summers ago was Barcelona and not just for the beaches. Gaudi was an amazing artist of his time and used the city as his canvas to create art. I was able to see many of Gaudi's creations, my favorite being Gaudi Park which overlooks the whole city. Lola Akinmade, an author for GoNOMAD visited this crazy city and wrote an article all about Gaudi and his masterpieces. Read below for more from "Tracing Gaudí around Barcelona"

While many artists remain content displaying their masterpieces in galleries and museums, one of Spain’s most profilic and world renowned artists, Antonio Gaudí, made the entire city of Barcelona his living, breathing museum with instantly recognizable landmarks – series of twisting structures, colorful tiles and mosaics, and undulating patterns.

"Tortures of the imagination, fetuses in stone, bulbous obscenities!” one harsh critic of Gaudi’s was recorded as saying in the 1950s. Gaudi had initially been received with disdain throughout Barcelona amongst his peers and other artists.

"Send Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia to Hell," Pablo Picasso once wrote in a letter to a friend at the turn of the twentieth century. The profound artist was said to have disliked Gaudi’s work.

A staunch Catholic, Gaudí designed Sagrada Familia to have eighteen towers; 12 representing the apostles of Christ, four for the evangelists, one for Mary, mother of Christ and the last for Jesus himself.

Completed in 1900 for industrialist Count Eusebi Güell, Park Güell was intended to provide garden-like solace for the count and support sixty luxury plots for houses, boasting beautiful views of the city.

In the end, only two houses were constructed, and when one was up for sale, Gaudí purchased it and moved in with his family.

Now a city park, at the main entrance to Park Güell is a bench formed as a colorfully tiled sea serpent or dragon. In 2007, the dragon was vandalized by a group of youths but has since been restored.

Colorful mosaics, stone structures, motifs of Catalan culture, as well as mystic elemental designs were integrated into the overall design of the park.

To learn more about Gaudi, visit GoNOMAD