A Spot For All To Enjoy

Maine has many communities that have been enjoyed by families and vacationers for hundreds of years. As Letitia Baldwin of The Boston Globe writes in a new article, Northeast Harbor is continuing to entertain and satisfy those who come back every year. Described as a traditional New England town, Baldwin writes,

The Pastime Theater, Mrs. Flye's Sandwich Shop, and the Mt. Desert Apothecary with its soda fountain are gone but residents can still buy brooms, nautical charts, and other standbys at F.T. Brown on Main Street. There they can catch up with the proprietors of the century-old hardware store, Tom and Frederick "Buddy" Brown, and eye the stuffed guillemot, cormorant, and other seabirds displayed in glass cases in back.

At the Kimball Shop & Boutique, run by the same family since 1931, shoppers will find plush towels, porcelain cookware, cashmere sweaters, and ballet flats. At The Romantic Room across Main Street, they can check out the latest "Lillies," pastel-print dresses named for Palm Beach socialite Lilly Pulitzer who first designed them to conceal citrus stains while tending her juice stand in Palm Beach in the late 1950s.

You can read the rest of this article at Boston.com.

The Latest Travel Gadgets

In a recent article on GoNOMAD, I talk about four different travel accessories that are making a stir. Here's a selection from the article.

oYIKES 24.7 Packs Within Packs
Ever have the problem of too many bags and not enough room? oYIKES has the solution for you. Introducing the 24.7 Slingback pack set, you get three bags in one with a convenient and comfortable strap. Like a Babushka Doll, the bags fit comfortably inside each other. In the smallest bag you can fit travel accessories like iPods, chargers, and travel alarm clocks. GoNOMAD Editor Max Hartshorne has quickly become an oYikes fan since he finally has found a place for all those chargers and cords. In the medium sized bag you can fit a book or magazine, airline tickets, or even a small portfolio. In the largest bag you can keep your laptop safe from damage or theft, all while keeping a bag lunch or spare clothes inside as well. Once you’ve got the bag on, you don’t need to worry about fumbling in your pocket to find you cell phone because a cell phone pouch is located right on the strap. These bags are great for outdoor activities like biking, hiking, or kayaking, as the single strap rests on you shoulder and back, freeing up your arms. The single strap has a trendy European look too, so you’re bound to get some good feedback. oYIKES sells the bags for $145 directly from their website. These bags are a must if you stress about saving space when you travel. http://www.oyikes.com/slingback.html

Read the entire article on GoNOMAD

The Beer of Maine

Beer tasting can be a wonderful thing, as Jake Mooney of The New York Times writes in his latest feature. Mooney went up to Maine and explored the brewing process. Here's a selection.

We were just inside the front office of the D. L. Geary Brewing Company, where two black Labs lounged among the cubicles. The sound that followed, as we passed through a plain door into the back brewery after half a day on the road, was even sweeter, in its own way: Thaddeus Mullen, a stubbled 35-year-old brewer in a T-shirt, jeans and Boston Bruins hat, looked up and said, “You guys want a beer?”

Yes. And we had come to the right place. It may be the blustery weather or it may be the local populace’s stubborn independence, but Maine has grown into a hub of craft brewing, a smaller-scale East Coast answer to Oregon. D. L. Geary, in business since 1986, was a Maine microbrewing pioneer, the first in the state, and for us — a dedicated craft brew drinker and his designated driver who, all things considered, prefers Coors Light — it was the first stop on a satisfying beer tour 170 miles up the coast to Bar Harbor.

Over the course of the weekend, we would find two barns, one shaggy old mule and a tasty blueberry pie, but here at Geary, toting ice-cold bottles of the company’s signature pale ale on a tour through the entire brewing process in the company’s factory, we were surrounded, Willy Wonka-style, by canvas sacks of fragrant hops and big open fermentation tanks of bubbling brew.

Read more about Mooney's trip on NYtimes.com.

When In Rome, Forget Vespas

If you've been to Rome, or any Italian city for that matter, you know about the traffic jams and confusion that comes with driving in the city. Even if you've never been, you can probably picture crowded narrow streets with scooters shooting by and horns blaring. There's a new way to get around in Rome now, and it still has wheels. The bicycle is becoming ever more popular, as Finn-Olaf Jones of The New York Times discovered in a recent trip to the ancient city. Jones writes,

CAESAR, clad in a bedsheet toga, lighted a morning cigarette next to a centurion wearing a plastic helmet. Both were leaning against a railing on the slope above the Colosseum. But before anyone snapped their photo, I had coasted 300 yards to the Colosseum’s deserted eastern plaza, where it was easier to conjure the lions’ roars and cheering Romans across 16 centuries. Veni, vidi, bicicletti — I came, I saw, I cycled.

Bicycles are a good way to visit the Colosseum.

Subways don’t run through the old part of the city, cabs are often stuck in gridlock, and walkers quickly come to rue the fact that Rome was built on seven hills. But for bicyclists, the Eternal City offers eternal rewards. Rome is, after all, a city of contrasts, best appreciated via rapid mobility between medieval alleyways and airy piazzas, oozing marshes and sycamore-lined heights, crumbled antiquities and Baroque expanses.

Although the city’s hills, old cobblestones and dense streets can make biking difficult for some, it’s now easier than ever to enjoy the sights from the perch of a bicycle seat. The number of bicycle lanes and rental shops and the indulgence of Rome’s otherwise aggressive drivers make biking in Rome convenient. Also, the municipal government occasionally bans private motor traffic in central Rome for a day, making the city a biker’s paradise.

It sounds like a great way to see Rome, and many other European cities. In fact, many bike tour companies are growing and succeeding all over Europe. Read more about Jones' travels at NYtimes.com.

Cruising in Alaska

Have you ever thought about taking a cruise but just couldn't decide where to go? Maybe you've always wanted to go to Alaska and experience the outdoors. Well, it's more plausible than you might think, as Stephen Jermanok of The Boston Globe desribes from his latest family vacation.


I wanted a real cruise, one that would appeal to my daughter, Melanie, 9, and to my 77-year-old father. Alaska and the weeklong jaunt aboard the Oosterdam fit the bill handsomely. We liked the fact that Holland America has been taking passengers through the Inside Passage since 1947. And unlike a Mediterranean cruise where you must try to see Barcelona or Rome in a day, six hours is the perfect amount of time to see Juneau, Sitka, or Ketchikan.

We enjoyed two days at sea, traveling close to 900 nautical miles from Seattle to Juneau. Binoculars in hand, we would stroll the outside promenade in the early morning, finding porpoises and some of the humpback whales that make their way to the Inside Passage each summer from Hawaii.

To my landlubber wife, arguably the best part of the trip is that you're sheltered on both sides of the Inside Passage by islands, so there were no powerful swells.

Read more about Jermanok's trip on Boston.com.

Wine Tasting in Northern Spain

In a new article on GoNOMAD by Marina Solovyov, the little joys and discoveries of northern Spain are discussed. Solovyov took a tour of a good portion of the country, and in this selection she describes wine tasting in La Rioja. Solovyov writes,


Don Jacobo Bodega

La Rioja

La Rioja is the smallest autonomous community in all of Spain, yet is well visited. The region is well known for producing some of the best wine in Northern Spain. Although it is true that the majority of Spanish wine is delicious, la Rioja has a strong reputation for its wine because it is one of the few areas in Spain that produces wine on an international level. For example in the States, most local liquor stores will carry “Rioja Red”.

One especially fun thing to do in Rioja is visit a bodega (wine vineyard). During our travels we stopped at the Don Jacabo vineyard.

Most bodegas allow visitors the opportunity to appreciate wine through wine tastings. Two of the most important tips I learned before drinking my wine are: 1) never hold the cup near the top of the glass, always by the stem or bottom, otherwise you may warm the wine, and 2) hold the cup steady and swirl the wine gently to allow the bubbles in the wine to pop and thus make each sip more potent.

The wine in Spain is excellent and can compete with Italian or French wine in many areas. This helpful information is useful to a novice wine drinker to better appreciate the drink. Read more about Solovyov's trip on GoNOMAD.

High Altitude Hiking in India

GoNOMAD writer Mridula Dwivedi describes in her new article the challenges of a trek in the Spiti region of India.


The biggest question of the day was whether to take Avomine (anti-nausea medicine for our motion sickness) or not? Dilip and I decided to take it and Sesha did not. All of us reached safely to Langza after a 45 minute drive.

Langza has around 20 houses in all and such places instantly appeal to us, because deep at heart we believe we are small town people.

Buddha at Langza

We were dropped at the local monastery and our homestay was at a distance of 500m downhill. This was our first experience of staying at home of local people and I have to say, it was really nice...

Langza is framed by the mountain range Chocho Khang Nilda and the village is beautiful. Because of the altitude of 14435 feet my head started feeling funny after an hour or so.

Sesha actually took ill in the evening (after our visit to see the fossils found here) due to the altitude and not paying enough attention to it. After a very anxious night, he thankfully recovered in the morning and we could start our trek to Komik as planned.

Read more about Dwivedi's adventure on GoNOMAD.

A Honeymoon in Alaska

Most people envision a honeymoon in a perfect resort area by the beach, sipping champaign while laying in a hammock, with nothing at all to worry about. Sounds pretty nice, right? Well, there are alternatives to this sort of vacation if it doesn't interest you, as Kari Bodnarchuk of The Boston Globe discovered. Here, Bodnarchuk writes about her recent honeymoon to the Alaskan wilderness.

It was a little unnerving being 15 feet from a black bear in the Alaskan wild, especially on our honeymoon.

My husband, Howard, and I stood on a little wooden platform with nothing more than a couple of rocks and a few blades of grass separating us from 355-pound Titan, as the locals called this resident black bear. Titan had long, razor-sharp claws and beady eyes that occasionally darted our way, but luckily he had something more palatable than us on the menu: fresh salmon.

"We release more than 100 million salmon into the bay each season," said Dave Pederson, our naturalist guide, pointing to the hatchery next to us in Neets Bay, about a 10-minute flight northeast of Ketchikan. "That's why you can get so close. They have all the food they need."

Read more about Bodnarchuk's honeymoon on Boston.com.

The Forgotten City of Hamburg

This selection is from a good piece by John Powers, of the Boston Globe. In a recent trip to Hamburg, Germany, Powers discovers a city which most travelers often overlook when taking a trip to Germany. Powers writes:

wans are cruising languidly along the canal just a few steps from the majestic sandstone Rathaus. Strollers are licking ice cream cones next to the dock from which ferries cruise the city's two artificial lakes. Along the adjacent Jungfernstieg, shoppers crowd the remodeled Alsterhaus department store and press their noses to the window at Wempe, the country's ritziest jeweler.

This is Hamburg, the same broad-backed, rough-edged port with its notorious Reeperbahn, where the Beatles made their breakthrough in clubs nearly half a century ago. It is also Germany's second-largest (more than 1.7 million residents) and richest city and one of its most cultured, with three world-class orchestras, 40 museums, and 30 theaters, including the Deutsches Schauspielhaus, the country's biggest.

Yet most American tourists never make it here, preferring Berlin and Munich to what locals call "The Venice of the North." Those who make their way to this old hub of the Hanseatic trading alliance on the Elbe River discover one of the continent's better-kept secrets: a vibrant, entertaining, and walkable city, which rebuilt itself twice in less than a century and a half.

Read the rest of the article on Boston.com

Exploring the Spanish Influence on Guatemala

Guatemala might not seem like the ideal place to go for a family vacation, but as Tim Leffel writes in his new article on GoNomad, entitled "Pyramids to Panajachel: A Family Vacation in Guatemala," it has just as many treats, if not more unknown adventures, than a typical vacation spot. Here, Leffel describes a traditional city, Antigua, which has clear Spanish influence.

After a day on Lake Peten, near the city of Flores, it’s time to head south to Antigua for some Spanish immersion classes. By bus it would take an entire day of travel to get there, so I’ve splurged for flights to get us to Guatemala City ($110 one way), where we can take a quick shuttle over.

Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of those picture-postcard Spanish Colonial cities that seems too perfect to be real. All the clichés are in place, but nothing seems forced.

The cobblestone streets, the horse-drawn carriages, the 15th-century churches, and the grand central square — it all belongs. I get the strong feeling that civic pride — not just a grab for tourist dollars — is what drives the smart preservation practices. There are more than a few warts showing though in the form of crumbling churches that are open to the blue skies.

Antigua has seen more than its share of earthquakes and in a city that seems to have a church every two blocks, some of them just weren’t worth saving. It gives us visitors some dramatic photo ops anyway.

The remains of a historic church in Antigua

Read more about Leffel's experience in Guatemala.

William Gordon writes all about the inside information on visiting Hollywood in his book, The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. If you've ever thought about visiting L.A. and wanted to take a look at some sights of famous homes, this book has tons of valuable information, including how to spot a hoax on Star Maps. Gordon writes:

Of course, another, probably even more important, reason why the tours of Beverly Hills do not always meet the highest standards of accuracy is that the tours are based on maps to the stars' homes that have been around since at least 1924 (real estate agents used to publish them themselves to lure prospective homebuyers to Beverly Hills). These maps are an inescapable part of life in L.A. They are hawked on seemingly every street corner along Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills and in virtually every souvenir shop along Hollywood Boulevard.

The best-selling map is called simply "Map of Movie Stars' Homes." Even though celebrities move as often, if not more often, than regular folk, the current edition of the map is remarkably similar to a 1977 edition on file at the Beverly Hills Public Library.

The reason the mapmakers do not keep up with the celebrity comings and goings is because they have no incentive to. After all, their customers never know the difference. Tourists who are in town for a short period do not have the time or the inclination to independently verify the information they are given--even if they know how to...

While it is possible that you may see celebrities outside their homes...any such sightings are strictly up to chance. The likelihood is that you will not see celebrities outside their homes.

There you have it. Gordon isn't trying to discourage travelers from going on these excursions, but he's definitely providing some important info to keep in mind if you try to see some stars in L.A.

Max Hartshorne writes about the joys of traveling to Elba.

Today was the classic Italian beach day. But first it was time to visit the market in Marciana Marina. A typical Italian weekly market, with the usual stuff--clothing, shoes, kitchen stuff and one highlight--rotisserie chicken. We had asked our guide Tatiana her favorite place for lunch and she steered us to the stand where they roast it in the back of a truck.

So we headed off to the island's southern coast to the small beach town of Cavoli. Like so many of these towns, it's a long way down from the road up above, and mountains tower over that. We wound our way down and found a parking place that also sold umbrellas and beach chairs. So we made our way up to the first row and devoured the chicken and some fresh figs and peaches from the market.

Beach scene at Cavoli, on the south side of Elba. Max Hartshorne photos.

No where on Elba, it seems, do you get to park for free near the beach. There's always a machine to feed coins into, or an attendant waiting for euros. So for e22 we had the whole package and were set for a half-day of beach front leisure.

The water was brisk but soon felt great as I floated out and looked back at the beach. There was nothing to do except bask, bask in the lovely little sliver of beach, bordered by rocks, and gaze at our fellow beach goers while letting the afternoon drift away.


It sounds like a perfect day. Elba seems to carry that traditional Mediterranean island atmosphere like Sicily or Mallorca. Read more about Max's trip to Elba.