Always Pack your Powerstrip

Max Hartshorne complies a list of 15 very useful tips that make travelling much easier in his article, “I Wish I ‘d Thought of That” Travel Tips from a World Traveler.” These tips vary from products to bring, to where to sit on the plane, and safety precautions. All these tips will help make your trip safer, easier and more enjoyable.

Have your passport scanned and email it to yourself before you leave. Take all of your credit cards and copy them onto a piece of paper along with the phone numbers of the credit card companies so you can easily cancel them if they are lost or stolen.

Do the same with prescriptions if you would be in trouble without them; having that info makes refilling them much easier abroad. If you’ve emailed them they can easily be retrieved on line.

Tell your bank you are leaving the country so that when you use your cards abroad, they won’t think someone has stolen them and deactivate them.

If you have an iPhone, you can download a whole host of incredibly useful applications such as Skype -- call any phone anywhere for pennies a minute or call any computer for free using your iphone handset. Other apps include translating, soothing ambient music for sleeping in noisy places, and weather forecasts for wherever you are.

Bring a small power strip that you can use to charge up your cell phone, camera, iPod and laptop. That way you only need one small adapter and you’ve got plenty of places to plug in your gear. No hotel in the world provides as many plugs as in the US, and it’s always hard to find that one electric plug in most hotel rooms.

Bicycling through Cuba

One thing is for certain, the Cuban landscapes are amazing, and unlike any other landscapes elsewhere. Matthew Kadey’s feature on “Bicycling Cuba: Bluebird Skies and Welcoming Homestays,” not only demonstrates the beauty through pictures, but demonstrates the fun activities to partake it, especially bicycling.

The Cuba saturated with grandiose architecture among ancient cities, marvelous Afro-Latino influenced music and remarkably affable denizens just trying to make a go of things under the noose of the outdated U.S. trade embargo, a government that zealously squashes all capitalistic inclination and morale draining hurricanes.

For the cyclist, roads sans cars, bluebird skies, numerous and welcoming home-stays and the diverse topography of the Caribbean’s largest country are making Cuba an increasingly popular cycle touring destination. Where else do you have beaches and cathedrals and mountains cheek by jowl?

All in a caught-in-a-time-warp setting.
For most of the 40 some miles the road hugs the shore closer than a mother does her newborn. The ocean mist provides welcomed respite from the roaring mid-day sun. Still, I’m sweating like an overripe piece of pork vindaloo.

Each new curve in the rising and descending pavement unveils a view magnificent beyond words. To Tabi’s chagrin, I can hardly manage 10 minutes of cycling before needing to pull out the camera.

South African Safari

Jim Prevet explains his wild adventure in his feature about his vacation to Africa, “Kapama Lodge, South Africa: Predators and Prey,” and the unique out of every day activities he enjoyed. A trip to the African Safari is not something everyone can say and not many can say they have staed in Kapama Lodge’s. This is a story you don’t want to miss out on reading.

The bush — technically a woodland savannah — was lovely in the early morning light, shadows stretching across the grasslands, the air cool even brisk, and the scents fragrant.

Cynit told us that the rangers call this lion Calvin Klein. He was beautiful, but he did not have the same great heart as an old male lion in the preserve, who once took down a Cape buffalo after a three-hour fight, but who now, old and without teeth, would not survive the coming winter.

Once or twice, one would circle us, coming within five feet of the truck but never threatening us. Our guides were relaxed — the engine was shut off, and the rifle lay in its case on the floor of the jeep — and this gave us a sense of safety.
It was a cool, clear morning; a herd of impala leapt, graceful with their rear legs bent high above the trunk of their bodies. Zebras, springboks, giraffes, and wildebeests were everywhere, unthreatened by predators.

Before he could raise his rifle, the elephant was upon him, thrusting his tusk through Henry’s thigh close to his groin. He then pierced his back, the tusk forcing itself out the front of his chest.

The elephant knelt on Henry’s back to crush the life out of him. He played dead, exhaling and going limp. The elephant walked away.

Unexpected Beauty

“Bliss” is the perfect word to describe Susan McKee’s trip to the Oberoi Resort on Mauritius as she depicts in her article, ”Delicious Mauritius: Sugar Plums and Coconut Therapy.” The perfect get-away for the ladies and relieve some stress. As McKee mentions, this trip will help you escape from reality, thanks to the atmosphere and location.

It must have been the coconut. After the most delicious massage I’ve ever enjoyed, I awoke covered with curly white aromatic shavings like a giant macaroon.I had fallen asleep as my petite masseuse administered the “paillasson” at the spa in the Oberoi Resort on Mauritius. The therapy involved the entire coconut -- first, a full body scrub with the husk, then a peeling with the soft, white interior and finally, a rub with scented oil.

Mauritius is all about retreating from reality. First of all, it’s an island nation -- one of those places that will cause your friends to stare at you blankly as they try to place it on the globe. (Hint: look for a small island that’s south of the equator and east of Africa.) Nobody from back home is likely to run across you accidentally when you’re surrounded by the Indian Ocean!

Flowers are everywhere on the island: frangipani, bougainvillea, jacaranda, orchids, hibiscus, anthurium. Every time I returned to my room at the Oberoi Resort, the maid had rearranged the towels and folded the clothing I’d discarded on the rattan couch -- then carefully placed fresh flower blossoms in the folds.

Expeditions around the island are many and varied. I enjoyed an afternoon at Pamplemousses gardens, had lunch barbecued by my captain on a boat trip to a picturesque cove, drove a bit along the Tea Route, visited a sugar plantation and took an underwater trip on a mini submarine. The island is volcanic, so the topography is varied. There are steep jagged peaks inland and deep gorges with plummeting waterfalls. At Black River Gorge National Park, the resident monkeys begged treats from visitors.

France, Fun for All in the Family

I remember going to France when I was younger and I loved it. But usually when you think of fun family trips you think more along the lines of Disney world or land- which, don’t get me wrong, is an amazing place and one of my favorite places to visit to this day. Alexandra Regan writes about her family trip to France in the article, “Strasbourg, France: A City to Enjoy with the Kids.” She makes a good point than when travelling with a family there is still a segregation in interests, kids want to go to fun parks, adults to museums, teenagers, elders, all have different interests. So, it is important to travel to a place where everyone can find adventure and fun.

This vibrant symbol of European unity (it is the headquarters for the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, and the European Court and Commission for Human Rights) has a complex and fascinating history, and the blend of French and German architecture, cuisine, and language makes Strasbourg very different from other French cities.

Winter is a fabulous time to enjoy Strasbourg’s coziness. The Christmas markets that run from the end of November through December 24th are perhaps the best in France. These outdoor markets sell hot spiced red wine (spiced cider or orange juice for the kids), pretzels, crepes, and cakes, as well as crafts and inexpensive Christmas items.

Cathedral Notre Dame - This stunning pink stone cathedral is one of the most beautiful gothic cathedrals in Europe. Victor Hugo described it as “a skillful combination of monumental size and delicateness.” Building began in 1015 and the spire was completed in 1439. The kids can burn off some energy (and their parents the heavy Alsatian meals) by climbing the 330 steps to the base of the spire. From the cathedral platform you can enjoy the view of the city and beyond in all directions.

If the kids get hungry outside of regular mealtimes, try one of the informal brasseries found throughout the city. Perhaps because of the German influence, meal times seem to be earlier than in most French cities, and we found it easy to dine before 7:00 pm. Most restaurants will have Alsatian dishes such as choucroute and tarte flambe on the menu.

Taxi Ride Through Iran

Troy Nahumko takes us on a wild taxi adventure through Northern Iran in his article, “No Translation Necessary: A Taxi Ride in Northern Iran.” He depicts his roller coaster ride through highways, towns, and mountains. This article follows a fun, unexpected voyage all by taxi.

The lingering smell of burnt rubber was an inauspicious end to an eye-opening journey through the beautiful though scarcely traveled northern tip of Iran. As the driver pitched us from one near-death experience to the next, vibrant green rice paddies melted past the window on the left while the Caspian's black sand beaches hemmed us in on the right.

The Talesh and Sabalan Mountains may be dwarfed the by towering Alborz Mountains that rise from the smog of northern Tehran, but as they run down the Caspian coast from the border with Azerbaijan, the hues of green found in this fertile area challenge the preconceived idea of Iran being nothing but a vast desert littered with beautiful blue tiled mosques.

Here perennial mists seem to slide off the Caspian and drape these ranges with a diaphanous light when temperatures in the more famous southern tourist sites might be hitting 110º under an unrelenting sun. Brahman cows wander along the roadsides while brightly dressed women tend the tea bushes of the plantations in the area.
Back to that happy reverie before the Brahman jolt. To a place west of the black market caviar dealers in steamy Rasht, where the roads wind through rice paddies and tea plantations that wouldn't be out of place in Southeast Asia.

Locals rent out rooms to travelers and it's impossible to walk through the village without being invited in for tea and the orange flavored tobacco that wafts from every terrace, no matter where you are from. The inevitable trinket shops cater to the mainly Iranian tourists looking to buy local delicacies and most of the handicrafts available are locally produced, but livelihoods here are still made on the side of the mountains.

Perhaps the most notable difference after traveling around traffic-crazy Iran, when coming to this green mountain village, is the silence. Due to the way the village is constructed, only the bravest of drivers dare work their way up the tangled paths. So amidst the mist you are treated to something that is indeed rare in this enormous country, a total lack of car noise.

A New Kind look at Australia

“Australia’s Coober Pedy: A Gemstone in the Desert,” by Laura Sicilano-Rosen, characterizes what you don’t picture of Australia. Cooper Pedy is a small town in Southern Australia, a very dry dessert land not depicted as that lovely from first sight. However, as Sicilano-Rosen continues, as she states herself, Cooper Pedy is in example of how beauty is “not skin-deep.”

An inexplicable amount of junk — rusty street signs, abandoned tires, plastic doll heads — dots the moonscape terrain. There is little vegetation except where determined residents make watering efforts, for the climate is extreme and water expensive in this strangely apocalyptic land. Actually, there’s little hint of life in Coober Pedy besides the locals, the black flies that swarm the air, and the camouflaged grasshoppers that leap from the dust.

Less than a century old, the town’s history is short but remarkable, and marked by a number of novel developments that have made living and visiting there both possible and enjoyable — like underground businesses and a grassless golf course with “greens” of oiled sand.Construction workers from the country’s Transcontinental Railway and soldiers returning from World War I were among the first to populate Coober Pedy in 1917, back when it was called the Stuart Range Opal Field.

Modern dugout homes are, like the opals, hidden riches of the land. Half of the residents live underground today, and, as I discovered on my visit to Coober Pedy, it’s impossible to imagine the luxury concealed within the unassuming orange sandstone hills scattered around town. No two dugouts are ever the same, but they often begin on ground level with doors and garages, and descend deeply into endless cool spaces of utmost comfort and modernity.

There’s no shortage of stores selling opal jewelry or even just non-precious (common) opal pieces, so, having admitted defeat in the mines, I picked up a little souvenir before heading to one of Coober Pedy’s more recent tourist draws — Underground Potteries, family-run since 1982. The gallery, a pretty display of finished pottery and local photographs for sale, offers instant respite from the uncomfortable outdoors.

Maine's Lobster and Trails

Esah Samajpati’s article “Magnificent Maine: Hikes and Lobsters on Mount Desert Island,” will make anyone want to visit Maine, hike (even if you don’t like it), eat lobster (even if you don’t like it), and coast the harbor with a beautiful sunset (who doesn’t love that?). It seems like a perfect story book vacation.

Paying the entrance fee, we drove into Acadia National Park’s 27 mile long Park Loop Road winding gracefully through the greenery, connecting various points of interest. By now, the sun had come out and we could see every bend of the road opening up to vistas, each more breathtaking than the next. There is no end to the things you can see and do at Acadia National Park. There’s Sand Beach, Jordan Pond, Thunder Hole, Otter Point, Cadillac Mountain, Gorham Mountain, The Beehive, Abbe Museum, Bubble Rock and many more.

As the hike progressed, we came upon a plaque in memory of Waldron Bates. He set the trend of utilizing stone stairways and iron-rung ladders to help hikers. Thanks to him, the Beehive Trail is accessible to amateur climbers like me.With the sun warm on our faces and the cool mountain air refreshing our very souls, we trudged uphill. Ignoring the Cadillac Cliffs trail, we followed the trusty blue marks and soon came upon what is known as the false summit.

Cracking open the shells with the nut-cracker, I dug out the soft white meat with a prong, dipped them into the butter and put them straight into my mouth. Nothing like fresh sea-food to round up a coastal hike.

Turning into the lane, we saw a band of three playing live Jazz. Spotting a brief break in between numbers, with the applause refusing to die down, I walked up to the pretty lady in a flowing skirt and asked her if it would be okay to mention her in my travelogues.

Mythical Adventure in Switzerland

Gary Singh’s insight on Switzerland after visiting H.R. Giger’s Museum located in Gruyeres, small medieval village, changed drastically from the jolly hillside Switzerland, to a unique artistic museum with more than a history than you read about in books. In his articl "Spooky Switzerland: Alien Nightmares and Mystical Savages" he mentions the typical tourists spots and reasons, but explores he own adventure in the Giger’s Museum and Giger himself.

“Most people travel to Gruyères for the castle and the cheese factory,” says Aurore Sierro, one of the Museum’s tour guides. “And when they come in here, they get disgusted.”
Ascending a spiral wooden staircase, we eventually arrive at a room featuring huge airbrushes of The Spell, I, II, III and IV — one on each wall. Spell III includes Giger's version of the Baphomet symbol at its center, complete with the Caduceus — two snakes coiling into a figure 8 around a shaft. Baphomet and the snakes represent male and female energy or dark/light polarity.“But he is definitely a Swiss artist,” Sierro enthuses, pointing out traditional Swiss doily textures Giger stenciled on the skins of the snakes in Spell III. “He also painted aliens eating fondue.”

And the transformation didn’t stop there. Outside on the cobblestone pathway, some tourists paused to have their photos taken in front of the 500lb cast aluminum Birth Machine sculpture, instead of actually visiting the museum itself. The massive work is two meters high and features mechanical babies in place of the bullets inside a revolver. The piece is one of many where Giger explores the lifelong psychological effects of a traumatic birth.

In fact, it seemed like the longer I remained in Switzerland, the more mystical everything seemed to become. Things began to connect in unexplainable ways — Jung, alchemy, transformation, Giger, male/female polarity, etc.

Mystery and Adventure to Colombian's Lost City

Do you want adventure? Mystery? Well Dominic Degrazier experiences adventure, mystery, discovery on her trip to South America, Colombia to the lost city of Teyuan. The trail to the lost city was very precious, only one group was allowed per day and the trek lasted more than two days to travel to.

Settling into my hostel in Santa Marta, I learned that we would spend three days of trekking into the mountain range in order to reach the lost city, then another three days to return. There would be a guide, a cook, and seven of us travelers.

Two rivers had to be crossed within the first hour -- our shoes and socks were soaked with an oozing mud that would self-crust itself to form new hiking boots. This "new shoe" would appear and disappear repeatedly over the remaining days’ hike as we crossed more moving water and accompanying wet earth. We quickly learned to be little Indiana Jones characters via traversing, swimming, swinging, and rock hopping across obstacles while at times being pelted by cursory rain downpours.

When the trail allowed us an open view to the land, we were consistently exposed to valleys and peaks exploding with unobstructed trees and vegetation. It was as if we were being swallowed up in an untouched dreamland. Along the trail, the group also passed several small hut villages inhabited by the Tayrona descendents -– the Kogi and Assario indigenous people -- who have, for the most part, remained unchanged for thousands of years.

Then came the magical moment: realizing that we had reached La Ciudad Perdida while standing in front of mossy, stoned staircase hugged closely by palm trees and ferns. We had jumped, scurried, fallen down, endured and more along the route; it was a bit surreal to actually arrive. As we climbed the reported (although I was very far away from counting my steps at this point) 1,200-plus steps, the exaggerated closeness to the ancient town grew.

Tropic Getaway on Horseback

I love horseback riding, so when i saw Daniel Ramsey's article on "Costa Rica Escape-- on Horseback," it instantly caught my attention. His quick idea to take a vacation, away from daily stresses, proves to be a magical escape.

We drove for about half an hour and arrived at the Sugar Beach Hotel. The hotel is right on the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by banana trees, all sorts of birds and is visited at night by giant sea turtles. And yes, the sand really is like sugar.

We set off -- walking and trotting at first to get acquainted with our mounts -- along one of the many trails in the sparsely populated province of Guanacaste. This area, on the West Coast of Costa Rica, was formed 60 million years ago by volcanic eruptions that left behind the magnificent mountain range through which we rode. When we reached the beach, one of 17 we would explore during our stay, we cut loose in a superb gallop along the sand, with surf curling at our feet and erasing our footprints behind us.

It was a new experience for us but obviously not for our horses, who seemed to enjoy the swim as much as we did. I couldn't believe that after years of lessons in a ring ("Heels down, Daniel, and shorten your reins.") I was actually swimming with a magnificent horse in the Pacific Ocean!

Monkeys went about their business with barely a glance. Trees and plants that I kept in pots in New Jersey grew to massive size around me. A cousin of my puny office potted palm stretched more than 50 feet high, with a six-foot trunk. When I turned in after my first day on the Costa Rica trail, I realized how much there is to life that is exciting and delightful - and how much I loved riding.

Arctic Adventure on Land and at Sea

Vacationing in the rugged chill of Arctic Canada might not seem like a peaceful vacation, but as Margie Goldsmith points out in her article, "Running a Marathon in the Canadian Arctic, even far up north where you only picture snow and ice, you can find adventure. She took a cruise ship, Cruise North to tour the beautiful arctic. I would love to take this trip despite the chill, for the experience of a life time, learning about history not taught in classes, seeing whales, icebergs, and more.

I’d signed on partly because the cruise promised icebergs, beluga whales, musk ox, walrus and polar bears, and partly because Cruise North is an Inuit-owned tour operator with Inuit staff onboard, and we’d be stopping at Inuit villages along the way; but mainly because midway through the voyage, there’d be a 26.2-mile marathon to be held on top of a 3,000-foot-high fjord.

Churchill is the polar bear capital of the world, our bus driver/guide said, but that’s in the fall when polar bears migrate out to the ice; this was July. That was one surprise. Another was that the temperature here was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, not the 50-degree average for July.

“They are thought to be ancestors of Native American Indians. The early ancestors of the Inuit are believed to have crossed the Bering Straight 10,000 years ago, migrating from the area currently known as Mongolia. It seems unfathomable to think all the world’s people simply went about roaming the earth ceaselessly. Yet, the logistics of such a migration offer a realistic perspective. The circumference of the earth is approximately 40,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles)."

There were no spectators, but Inuit volunteers from Kangiqsujuaq, a village three hours away, had come out early to build Inutshuks out of rocks at each kilometer marker. They manned the water spots every four miles, and cheered us on. The average time was four hours and change. I was out much longer because I hurt my foot on a rock. That left me little choice but to walk the entire second half of the race.

Beauty in New Hampshire

I saw the feature picture, and i didn't care where it was, i wanted to go. Little did i know it was just a short trip north, to the Mount Washington Hotel surronded by the Presidential Mountain Range. Kent St. John depicts the beauty and history in his article, "The White Mountain's Grande Dame."

Traveling up the mile long driveway toward the hotel is a captivating experience that doesn't diminish no matter how many times you take it. The 200-room pearl white Spanish Renaissance structure has the majestic Mount Washington for its focal companion. From a distance the distinctive red roof gives it an Alpine feel. The main hotel has over 900 ft. of verandah that captures the heart of the Presidential Range.

Upon entry you will step back 100 years! Huge stone fireplaces and a grand lobby will mark a period in time not found in many places today. It takes you back to the days when a vacation meant enjoying your companions, nature and place.

On our last visit, in March, we stayed in the main hotel. It's an experience like being on a big old fashioned ocean liner. The halls are so long and the rooms are each named for a dignitary who stayed there during the 1940s when the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were created in the hotel's Gold Room.

I personally like to stay in the Bretton Arms Country Inn. It's on the hotel grounds and each of the 34 rooms is filled with Victorian charm. It is also where the chauffeurs stayed while the big bank bosses cozied up at the main hotel. The small restaurant on the ground floor offers meals that any bon vivant would love. A wonderful lower budget option is the Bretton Woods Motor Inn with views of the Grande Dame. If going with a group or bigger family, a great alternative is to rent a Townhouse mountainside. They are large, comfortable and offer fireplaces, decks and full home facilities.

The resort also offers many special event weekends such as Murder Mystery and Gourmet Dining. The best event may just be relaxing and doing nothing at all. The veranda is a great place to amid the mountains and the trout-filled stream that passes the hotel. Getting lost on the many trails is also a peaceful selection. If in the mood, do it on the back of a horse.

The South Bronx, and Unexpected Vacation Destination

Daniel Reynolds Riveiro point out in his article "A Visitor's Guide to the South Bronx " that the South Bronx is not a huge desired destination location. Honestly, i wouldn't think too hard about taking a trip to South Bronx, it doesn't seem to have that much to offer. But after reading this article you'll feel differently the next time you plan a trip to the "real New York."

This is for the Bronx that never makes the guidebooks. The South Bronx: the Bronx that burned, the cradle of hip-hop, the childhood playground of Colin Powell, Al Pacino and J-Lo. The northern half gets noticed often enough: guidebooks explain how to catch express buses from Manhattan to the rightly-acclaimed Bronx Zoo or sprawling New York Botanical Gardens, wheeled cocoons that shoot up nonstop before heading straight back.

The books encourage more intrepid travelers to visit the Bronx's Little Italy, with its Zagat-rated restaurants and pizzerias. A select few explain how a quarter of the Bronx is parkland and recommend visiting the lakes of Van Cortland Park or the rolling hills of Woodlawn Cemetery, which holds the final resting places of Duke Ellington, Herman Melville and Joseph Pulitzer. But the South Bronx is usually given short-shrift. There are no chain hotels to stay in, no five (or four, or three, or two) star restaurants, no specific "sites" to see. What there is, though, is a slice of life unlike any in the world.

Funk, hip hop and salsa undulate out of windows. Joyous singing comes from outdoor churches, the parishioners sitting on steel folding chairs underneath faded striped tents. African men drum in parks.

Women tend communal gardens, old men play mancala and dominoes on tables made of plastic crates and scrap sheets of plywood and kids blow bubbles, ride bikes and toss tennis balls to one another across traffic-crowded streets. Life goes on everywhere: people shout news up to balconies, a fight breaks out between two drunk men near the grocery store and one ineffectually hits the other with a French loaf, a teenager practices his rap lyrics for hours, chanting them to himself as he circles the block again and again and again.

Building Communities and Friends

Volunteering is something i've always felt as a rewarding gift you can give someone else and yourself. In Jessica Courtney's "Volunteers for Peace: Making Travel More Meaningful," she takes a look at the organizatoin Volunteers for Peace. Volunteers for Peace is a inexpensive travel oppotunity for any adult who wishes to make a difference at any location around the world.

They offer placement in more than 3000 projects, often referred to as work camps, in more than 100 countries every year. VFP also organizes 50-60 service projects in the United States each year. Some of the most popular destinations for volunteers in 2007 included Italy, France, India, Thailand, Kenya and Vietnam. Many different kinds of work are available, including environmental protection, working with children and orphans, and historic preservation, to name a few.

Hogar Urpi provides shelter for boys who have been abandoned by their families, or who have been removed from their homes by the state. “Our goal was to do activities with the boys that would be something they could use in the future,” said Chang. “Something that would help them in a long-term way.” The program lasted two and a half weeks. Each day Chang arrived at the home around nine in the morning to help the boys with homework, get them ready for school, and engage them in planned activities, such as English lessons, cooking, gardening, athletics, circus activities, and photography.

Laurie Eggett Goundeiah participated in her first VFP project in Bojnice, Slovakia in 2004. The goal was to improve the landscaping at Bojnice Castle. “I decided to volunteer abroad with my first work camp in Slovakia because I had frequent flyer miles I wanted to use, but didn’t have any friends with the financial means to travel with me,” she said. “With Internet browsing I found the Volunteers For Peace website and realized it would be a good way to travel alone. I would be involved with people there, in a meaningful project, and have food and boarding for two weeks for only $250.”

Goundeiah was glad that the project allowed her to understand the conflict. “My eyes were opened to things outside my safe and happy life in America,” she said. However, her favorite part of both projects was meeting the other volunteers. “I have made friends from South Korea, England, France, Slovakia, Belgium, Italy, Palestine, Hong Kong, and Jordan,” she said. “They have been lasting friendships.”

Experiencing Brazil Civilization and History

Paul Shoul sets the mood with his beginning paragraphs explaining his trip to Minas Gerais Brazil in his article, Minas Gerais: A Toast to the Heart of Brazil. Explaining the music, the humming conversations, the location, the people, the poetry. He depicts the beautiful scenery of homes and landscapes around one of the most beautiful and fun locatins in Brazil. Shoul's article depicting his travelling experience is beautiful and thorough with a mix of everything and an amazing assortment of pictures...it has been by far the hardest blog i've had to write because there are so many interesting aspects to his voyage.

He has one of those deep accented voices that makes the most mundane of things seem a prophesy about tortured love. Even if I cannot understand a word of Portuguese I am ready to believe whatever he says. His poetry floats out the window onto the balcony and over the golden town flickering at dusk.

Expanding from a business and convention center, tourism is growing as more people are starting to discover this part of the country and its rich culture and history. It boasts a great gastronomy, the largest outdoor market in Latin America, art museums, historic cathedrals beautiful parks and by the way is also known as the “the bar capital of Brazil.”

The nightlife spreads out onto the sidewalks with countless small tables filled with students drinking from ice buckets filled with quart bottles of skol or other beer. Brazilians like their beer really cold. They are very strict about it. What a great scene.

The main attraction are the countless waiters swarming the room with skewers laden with meat; the action is fast. A bartender mixes drinks for you at your seat from a rolling bar on wheels. There are over 26 cuts of meat that are brought to your table continuously until you give in. It’s hard to pace yourself, but the best cuts are brought to you last, so try to hold out. It was over-the-top amazing.

You need to have your other senses engaged: sweat mingling with the wind and sun on your skin after climbing to the top of the Ouro Preto hills, the thoughtful silence of the miracle room at Congohas, the brilliant colors of Tiradentes or the sudden cold, dense quiet that overtakes you as you descend 1000 feet into a gold mine.

But the best part is the trip over 1,000 feet down into the earth on rail tracks in a small wooden trolley that resembles an antique roller coaster with open seats held by a single cable attached to a huge gas powered motor that appeared to be from the 1800's. It reminded me of a scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies, and there was plenty of gold at the bottom. They would never allow this in the states and it was a blast.

Galveston, Part of the Gulf Coast and Perfect

Stephen Hartshorne does an amazing job depciting all the qualities of Galveston and the Gulf Coast in Galveston: The Indomitable Island. He even states in the beginning paragraph how it truly is a destination for everyone, and he proves that in his thorough overview of the notably beautiful, fun areas on the Gulf. Not only is it tropical, and it is rare for someone to not love something about the tropics, but there is history, art, museums, and more. Sadly, Hurricane Ike in 2008 stormed through this beautiful area full of culture, but it is all being rebuilt. Again, one of the most and another very intriguing article with beautiful pictures to blog about this week.

In Galveston you can really feel the grandeur of Spain, most notably in the Hotel Galvez that fronts boldly on the Gulf of Mexico, named for Governor Bernardo de Galvez, one of the most interesting characters in the history of the Gulf Coast.I also love historic American architecture, and Galveston's position as the commercial center of the Gulf in the late 1800s led to the building of block after block of magnificent Victorian mansions. More than 2,000 buildings in Galveston are listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

There are miles and miles of beautiful beaches, possibly the best birding and fishing in the world (FDR came here to fish for ten days), as well as surfing, sailing, kayaking, shopping, antiques, art galleries, fine dining, you name it. Not to mention the Galveston Railroad Museum, the Lone Star Flight Museum, and the Texas Seaport Museum, home to the 1877 tall ship Elissa.

There are train tours, paddlewheel boats, duck tours, harbor tours and aerial tours. Or if you're in a romantic mood, try a moonlight ride in a horse-drawn carriage. In the fall there's a motorcyle rally that draws more than 500,000 riders. And, on top of all that, there are three destinations you just can't miss: Moody Gardens with its Aquarium Pyramid, its Rainforest Pyramid and its Discovery Museum; the Moody Mansion, a fascinating trip into the life of a very wealthy family during America's Gilded Age; and Schlitterbahn Galveston, a 26-acre state-of-the-art waterpark that really has to be seen to be believed.

Then there are more than 30 attractions, some of them four stories high, that twist and turn and percolate according to your level of intrepidity. There's even an endless wave for boogie boarding and body surfing. There are lots of tubes and slides and shallow-water attractions for little kids and a swim-up bar for the grown-ups.They're closed in January and February, but during the "heated indoor season" (October to December and March and April) a huge convertible roof covers twelve of the water features in a tropical oasis.

To me the Hotel Galvez evoked the grandeur of Spain. Walking through its circular grand entrance into the lobby with its cathdral ceilings, ornate mouldings and hand-painted stencilings, I was reminded of the movie Don Juan DeMarco, which also celebrates the romance and enchantment of the Spanish nobility. We dined at Bernardo's Restaurant where the chef came to our table to chat and explained the combination of searing and slow-baking that gave our sea bass filets such exquisite flavor and texture.

The Perfect De-Stresser Vacation

Being a woman, and in need of a vacation i saw Bonnie Way's article, "Jasper, Alberta: A Great Girlfriend Getaway." The beautiful scenery set a sence of tranquility as i was reading her story. I am desiring a getaway just like this after her explanations of the beautiful scenery, getting away from exams to enjoy outdoors instead of stuffing our noses in our studies. Bonnie Way sold me on the trip to Jasper, Atlanta for sure.

“It’s too bad we’ll be driving the most scenic part of the highway at night.”
We’d miss most of the mountains that made the last hour’s drive between the park gate and the town of Jasper so beautiful.But as our truck followed the curves of the highway through the mountain valleys, I realized how wrong I’d been. A full moon hung low in the sky, casting its silver glow over the snow-capped mountains, wide rocky riverbeds, and smooth ice-bound lakes.

A short bridge took us across to an island on the lake, dotted with picnic tables and benches for best viewing the scenery around the lake. In March, the bridge wasn’t necessary -- the lake was frozen solid and we could have walked out to the island. Smooth, white snow spread out for miles around us, stretching across to the foot of the mountains rising on the far edge of the lake.

Some hikers before us had made a snowman on the lake, who grinned merrily towards the bridge while pointing one stick hand up at the mountains over his shoulder. The early afternoon sun brought out the shadows and contours of the snow covering the peaks and made the snow on the lake into a million pieces of cubic zirconium sparkling at us.

As we rambled back along the trail, lost in our thoughts, I caught sight of a large elk standing just up the hill from the trail.“Don’t look left, Carrie,” I said in an even voice as I reached for the camera on my belt. Big animals made her nervous, and so Dawn and I kept up a smooth, rambling conversation, just to let the elk know we were there, while we continued our even pace past him. Another curve in the trail made us pause at the sight of nearly half a dozen more elk. Instead of heading to the trailhead at a parking lot near the Jasper Activity Center, we decided to take a shortcut straight down the hill and back into town, leaving the elk to peacefully munch whatever dry grass they could find.

Athabasca Falls is another popular tourist destination, crowded with tour buses in the summer, but virtually abandoned in March. Here we found more ice than other places we’d hiked, because of the spray from the waterfall. The steps and walkways were icy, particularly the stairs which were no longer stairs but instead a slide.The falls themselves had frozen into icy white formations, with turquoise-green water bubbling and churning in small holes, hinting at the spring to come. Though it was much less water than usually flows through the falls, it had worn the ice as smooth as the rocks around it that had been polished by thousands of years of water.

A Wildlife Adventure with our Ancestors

Visiting the Zoos and seeing those fun loving orangutans that we are so closely linked to is fun enough, but as Michelle Perry experienced, a tour on the Kinabatangan River where your interaction with orangutans are much more closely linked creates for one fascinating destination. Michelle Perry’s article, “Viewing Our Cousins, the Orangutans: A Wildlife Tour on the Kinabatangan River,” depicts her great adventure and learning experience visiting the Kinabatangan river to see animals in their natural habitats. An important statement that readers should hold on to is the point that Michelle Perry makes about the declining in numbers of these amazing animals and our ancestors.

The most impressive thing when you get up close to an orangutan is how similar we humans are to them. Everything about them feels familiar. Weirdly, I felt like I was staring at some long-lost relative. You get the sense they recognise you, too. This feeling of mutual recognition is not however surprising given that amazingly, we share over 90% of our genetic make-up with orang-utans.

Instead I had planned to go to an organutan sanctuary, where you can ogle at the orphaned baby orangutans at feeding times amid other onlookers. There, I knew I’d be guaranteed a glimpse of the notoriously solitary creatures, but the experience is incomparable to seeing them in the wild.The possibilities were, however, slim. Orangutans maintain complex social networks of loose relationships, but adult males are usually found alone, while adult females are usually accompanied by one or two of her offspring. In short, they aren’t easy to spot.

Worse still, their numbers are declining fast. It is estimated that well over half of their number have died mainly due to loss of habitat over the past 60 years. There is no let-up in sight either, with the rate of decline predicted to continue.

Kinabatangan is all the more special, because it is hemmed in on all sides by palm oil plantations – one of the biggest causes of deforestation and loss of habitat for orangutans. The rapid expansion of plantations in Borneo has significantly accelerated habitat loss, but jobs like Nelson’s in eco-tourism are offering sustainable, alternative sources of work and income to nationals that might otherwise be tempted into illegal trades, like logging, to earn a living.

After about 20 minutes, however, Nelson cut the engine and nosed the boat into the left bank, again silently pointing up into the trees where this time I clearly saw two baby orangutans swinging between the branches; playing - to the untrained eye - just like human siblings. They were disinterested in us, but their mother was close by nonetheless.

An Extravagant Tent: A Yurt

Who wouldn’t want to stay in a yurt? It’s an inexpensive, fun, unique place to stay. Get away from the traditional hotels and motels and experience something new. A relaxing, circular, tall ceiling, and echo-friendly environment. Their history goes way back to central asian nomads. Meredith Bower discusses in her article "A Yurt Holiday on the Isle Wight: Cheap and Cheerful," the history, the facts, and the attractions of a yurt and surroundings.

However, the name of the company was intriguing (who isn’t making an effort to be “green” these days) and we still needed a place to stay, so we followed the link. We were sold on the idea as soon as we saw that the yurts came furnished with full-size beds (some four poster), and could each comfortably sleep five people.
We were shuttled to Afton Park Orchard and there, nestled among the apple trees, was a crop of four yurts, each completely and comfortably outfitted. From lanterns to linens just about everything in the yurt appeared to be from Ikea.

A quick tour of the site revealed the many environmentally friendly features of the compound. Of course there is recycling, and the wood used in the stoves and outdoor grills is collected from local landowners who have cut down dead or unsafe trees.

The shower is solar heated and environmentally friendly soaps are provided for bathing as well as dish washing. And then there is the composting toilet…enough said.
Being on the western end of the island we were within hiking distance of the famous Needles Rocks, stacks of chalk that jut out of the tip of the island into the blue waters of Alum Bay. We endured gale force winds as we explored the Battery, a Victorian coastal defense and secret rocket testing site perched high above the bright, white rocks.

“From what people tell us, we are popular because we are different and fall between traditional camping and a holiday cottage. I also think most people are more aware of things like recycling and reducing our carbon footprint, and we are one of the few holidays in the UK that genuinely try to make it easy for guests to be as green as they want to be.”

Spa Relaxation In Las Vegas

When you think of Las Vegas, you don’t necessarily think of relaxing in regards to spas, but Kelly Westhoff in her article, “Las Vegas Spas: Why Gamble When You Can Relax,” gives detailed information of the spas, the best places to go, and the surprising relaxing day you can get while in the city of sin. A good, traditional thought Kelly Westhoff made in her article was that Las Vegas was “accustomed to breaking humans down than putting them back together.” A very true, and expected act of Las Vegas, but in this article we learn differently.

I was surprised, though, by just how many spa experiences I had to choose from. For example, upon checking in to my suite at the Palazzo, I found a 30-page spa menu waiting for me in my room. The menu listed fitness classes and beauty services available at the Canyon Ranch Spa inside the hotel.I could have signed up for a Pilates class or a rock-climbing session. I could have analyzed my body fat, met with a nutritionist or ordered a gourmet lunch at the spa café.

The women’s locker room was more than I imagined. It was spotless and decluttered. Gentle sounds of a bubbling brook piped in overhead. Beyond the lockers were private showers plus sink space with lotions, deodorants and hair dryers. As soon as I saw the lounge, I wished I’d arrived sooner. The lighting was soft. The walls, carpet and furniture were various shades of chocolate, ivory and teal. Pitchers of cucumber water stood ready and magazines were spread throughout the space, just waiting for someone to come along and flip their pages.

For the next day, I booked the “Sole Rejuvenation,” a 50-minute foot-focused rub down. Knowing that I would have access to everything in the spa, I picked an earlier time so that I could linger in the saunas and steam rooms.
Nobody has ever rubbed my feet the way my foot masseuse did. Oh, it hurt so good! As I squirmed, she told me, according to Eastern reflexology charts, which of my internal organs she was manipulating.

At the end of that session, instead of heading for the women’s lounge, I relaxed in the co-ed space. I lounged in the Salt Grotto, a warm tiled room filled with sea-salt mist. I moved on to the Wave Room, where I tipped back in a zero gravity chair and was mesmerized by the sounds of dolphins and visions of dripping water overhead.