Calling all inspiring international journalists! National Geographic Glimpse is launching a correspondents program that will enable a few talented writers, videographers, and photographers to contribute to the Glimpse magazine and website while they live or study abroad.
Want to learn more? Here are some easy answers to the big questions (And we know what you're thinking: Yes, you will be paid.)
Here at IT, we love a good tale of chicken grit. No, we don’t mean chicken and grits, but rather the industrious and absurd tale of Mike, the headless chicken of Fruita, Colorado.
Legend goes that on Sept. 10, 1945, an almost six-month-old Wyandotte rooster was looking especially delicious to his owners, the Olsens. Lloyd Olsen swung his ax just so as to leave a “generous neck bone” in the hopes of pleasing his mother-in-law, who would be joining the family for the bird feast. But for whatever reason (perhaps the water in Fruita is extra-fortified?), the chicken shrugged off the assault and “returned to his job of being a chicken,” albeit a bit shorter and with two fewer eyes for navigating the barnyard.
Besides officially ruining dinner that evening, “Mike” persevered to live for another 18 months, growing from a paltry 2.5 pounds to a plump eight. After about a week of feeding Mike grain and water with an eyedropper, Lloyd Olsen drove him to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to be scrutinized by some skeptical scientists, who determined that the ax blade “had missed the jugular vein and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Although most of his head was in a jar, most of his brain stem and one ear was left on his body. Since most of a chicken's reflex actions are controlled by the brain stem, Mike was able to remain quite healthy.”
Mike went on to achieve fowl fame, appearing in sideshows from New York to Los Angeles and features in Life and Time magazines, not to mention an obligatory Guinness World Record (you can watch a video about his life here). Today, the “Headless Wonder Chicken” is celebrated with an annual festival each third week in May (that's this Friday and Saturday!). Hightail it to Fruita for all the trappings of a kitschy small-town festival you could ask for, from a car show and eating contests (of, no doubt, a few of Mike’s less-fortunate relatives) to a chicken dance contest and the 5K “Run Like a Headless Chicken” race.
Photo: A sculpture tribute to Mike on Fruita's Main Street, by Andy Orr
USA Today ran a story last week about how the U.S. economic slowdown is affecting European tourism:
"Amy Ziff of Travelocity says bookings for countries that use the euro, such as France, Italy and Spain, are 15% lower than last summer. Bookings are up 16% for Eastern European countries that don't use the euro, she says."
So, for your planning pleasure, here's a list of European countries that don't use the euro, and may therefore offer you a bigger bang for your buck:
Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Estonia. (Slovakia will be adopting the euro by the beginning of next year.)
But not all non-euro countries are bargains. Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Great Britain, for example, have kept their own currencies but "hotels, restaurants, and other attractions in the major urban areas of those countries are among Europe's priciest," reported the Washington Post, adding that, "in some of the most popular destinations in Central Europe and the Balkans, a limited supply of hotels and restaurants has driven prices to London and Paris levels."
Will the economy be affecting your summer travel plans? Where are you heading to make the dollar (or euro, or the currency of your choice) stretch further?
Photo: Market Square in Krakow, Poland by smif via Flickr
As the weather warms up along the Mid-Atlantic, people inevitably start thinking crab. But writer Jody Mace admits that for her, crabs are a borderline obsession. She takes us through the entire thought process at her favorite crab shack Original Benjamin’s Calabash Seafood in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
I hold the crab leg with both hands, my thumbs almost touching. I give it a sharp, measured, snap. The goal is to crack the shell, but not tear the meat.
I turn it over and snap again, cracking the shell all around. I gently wiggle the two sections apart, revealing a long piece of crabmeat hanging, quivering, from the shell. I dip it in the butter and bring it to my mouth. I hold the crab leg lightly with my teeth, and, closing my eyes, pull the meat from the shell. Sweet crab, rich butter, and a hint of salt mingle in my mouth. Heaven.
Going for all-you-can-eat crab is de rigueur when my sister and I visit Myrtle Beach. We’ve got a strategy. First there’s the basket of hushpuppies. I could eat them all. But that’s just what they want us to do! If we fill up on hushpuppies, we won’t put a hurting to the crab legs. So we resist.
Whoever has the best view of the buffet bar alerts the other when a new vat of steaming hot crab legs arrives. It’s easy to be sidetracked by the 70 other items at the buffet. I skip them all. Each bite of shrimp scampi takes up a little stomach room reserved for crab legs. You have to focus.
Apparently we're on the bird-poo beat these days. But I was interested to hear that a municipal ordinance in Venice has outlawed the feeding of pigeons in St. Mark's Square. Could a character of the city nearly as iconic as its canals really be abolished? And more interestingly, should it? The International Herald Tribune explains:
Like other metropolises with a significant pigeon population, including New York and London, Venice has long been concerned with the potential hazards the birds pose to human health, not to mention the damage caused by their guano and taste for marble. Previous efforts to control their numbers—nets, spikes and electronic contraptions to deter perching—have been mostly unsuccessful.
What has made the situation particularly drastic in Venice is the spiraling number of tourists—about 20 million a year by official estimates—which has triggered a whole new law of nature: More tourists equals more birdseed sold and more garbage produced. That equals more pigeons and more damage to the historic buildings in the square, including the delicate mosaics on the façade of St. Mark's Basilica.
We recently gave you an up-close and personal look at the Proximity Hotel, an eco-savvy hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina. Now IT brings you another style of eco-dwelling: The Lodge at Sun Ranch, opening June 6.
Located on Sun Ranch’s 26,000 acres in Montana’s Madison River Valley, the intimate Lodge (16 guests max, please) boasts a lengthy list of love-the-earth tactics, beginning in the rooms themselves. The Lodge uses biodegradable shampoos, organic cotton linens and towels, and detergents free of hazardous chemicals, among a slew of other guest room eco-amenities.
The Lodge remains green throughout the rest of the property, too, and brings in guest speakers to promote conservation education. And it should come as no surprise that one of IT's favorite touches is the Lodge's sustainable cuisine, which uses organic, natural and local ingredients.
The Lodge on Sun Ranch even plants 10 trees in the Amazon through Trees for Travel for every guest to offset carbon emissions. (We can’t imagine how many trees other hotels would have to plant to achieve the same goal.)
Before you consider “booking it” to Big Sky Country, have a look at National Geographic's recently released MapGuide for the area, and read about Montana's cinematic history and scenery. Bike enthusiasts and/or history buffs should check out Adventure Cycling Association's week-long pedaling trip through Montana's historical hot spots.
Photo: The Lodge at Sun Ranch
Friend of IT Amanda Jack lived in Austin, Texas, for several years, and she recalls her favorite saloon's Sunday afternoon chicken show. (Shouldn't all saloons have a Sunday afternoon chicken show? We think so.)
A true measure of any sustainable establishment is how well it uses its recycled waste. Every Sunday afternoon at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon (North Burnet Rd.) in Austin, Texas, the savvy visitor will find the bar in the throes of a sustainable celebration. Of course, it's not quite in the way one might expect.
At Ginny's, a long time Austin establishment (its motto: No Fussin', No Cussin', No Hasslin', No Wrasslin') far from the frat packs of the popular 6th Street, small monuments of fowl feces (pun intended) are found plopping their way onto a large grid covering a wooden board set on the pool table. Cheering the chicken on as it lays a less celebrated specimen are hoards of regulars and instantly hooked first-timers clutching a number that just may be the lucky square chosen for defecation target practice.
Ginny's Sunday standard, Chicken Shit Bingo, has branded itself into the hearts of a faithful following and is not to be missed if you are in town. Participants hope to turn their $2 into $100 via this popular crap shoot, and the crowd spills out into the parking lot as a surprisingly calm chicken does her dooty for the mid-afternoon onlookers. Most Sundays, local country legend Dale Watson serenades the winners and consoles the losers with his true country voice that makes you sway even if you've never seen the two-step.
While Sunday afternoons are a special treat, this tiny stalwart of an establishment will please any day of the week. Cowboys of all ages swing their partners in tight circles, expertly navigating tables and bar stools as more sedentary patrons stomp a foot in time while chugging down longnecks of $2 Lone Star beer. Once the Poultry Queen has expelled the last of her marker-pellets, continue the adventure by walking down Burnet Road to a smattering of thrift stores. And if the fecund fecal display hasn't turned you off it, grab some grub at the nearby Austin Diner, where the only chicken around is served as dinner.
Amanda Jack likes traveling and cheese, but not necessarily the cheese she finds while traveling.
Photo: Bingo at Ginny's, by Casey Moore via Flickr
Photo of Dimen Village by Lynn Johnson
In May's all-China issue of National Geographic, novelist Amy Tan explores life in a minority ethnic village deep in the green mountains of Guizhou in southern China. The village might as well be in another millennium, as the Dong people who live there follow the same lifestyle as their ancestors did 1,200 years ago. Their language has no written form, so they preserve their heritage through songs that have been passed down through generations. Here's an excerpt from Tan's story about the village Dimen:
In Dimen people sing nearly every day. In classrooms students sit with perfect posture at their desks. They repeat in perfect a cappella pitch what their teacher has just sung. On weekends a troupe of older girls dressed in jeans and pink tops stand before the Singing Teacher and practice fast-paced songs, each taking a solo. Two gravelly voiced elderly women, respectfully called za by all, guide the younger children in reciting simpler chorals.
One of the za has blue-tinged eyes. At first I thought this was a genetic remnant of outsiders who had come through the region—perhaps foreign traders diverted from the Silk Road. Dimen has had many invaders, the blue-eyed za told me. "In 1920 a Chinese warlord kidnapped my mother's 16-year-old aunt to make her his ninth concubine. No one heard from her again." In those days, the blue-eyed za said, people who came stole our things and killed people. Each time, she and her family put sticky rice in their baskets and ran into the mountains to hide.
When the za asked me for eyedrops, complaining that her eyes were cloudy, I realized the blue in her eyes was cataracts. Several people had already told me she was the only one who knew all 120 verses of the epic song of Dimen's history, hours of a bluesy repetitive melody. According to this anthem, the original Dong ancestors of Dimen began as a people who wore no clothes. Invaders had driven their descendants to Dimen. "That old song is boring," two teenage girls later told me. "We're too busy to learn something we don't like."
You can hear a sampling of the songs of this village here, and see more amazing images from Lynn Johnson online at National Geographic magazine's website.
Beloved Traveler senior researcher Meg is in the midst of planning her honeymoon—she's thinking warm, English- or Spanish-speaking (her fiancé is Salvadorian), and on a budget. She thought Costa Rica would be nice, but found that hotels were either super-luxe (and out of her budget), or very rustic. "I'd like to have hot water," she confesses. "And I want to see the sloths in the trees, but not be in the trees with the sloths." It is her honeymoon, after all.
So the Traveler research team was put to the test, and we think we might have found something that works. Travel company NatureVacations has created a 100% carbon-neutral Costa Rica vacation. That means every pound of carbon emissions their customers use on their seven-day/six-night journey is offset in some way. And travelers like Meg won't have to worry about hot water—the accommodations are definitely eco-chic.
How exactly does this carbon-neutral vacation work? Upon arriving in San Jose, all vehicle transfers from the airport to Finca Rosa Blanca for the first night's stay are carbon-neutral certified and use bio-diesel fuel. The next day, travelers are again transported by the same eco-friendly vehicles to Tobias Bolanos Airport where they will fly (on carbon-neutral airline NatureAir, pictured right) to Lapa Rios Ecolodge (above), located on 1,000 acres of private nature reserve. During the next five days at Lapa Rios, visitors will get to: plant a tree, take a sustainability tour of the lodge, learn about traditional Indian medicines of the rain forest, go on an environmental walking tours of the reserve, and eat organic, sustainable cuisine.
Of course, I couldn't find any information on how the flight from the States to Costa Rica is offset... it looks like that is up to the traveler's own prerogative.
For other eco-conscious tour operators, don't miss our Tours of a Lifetime in the May/June issue of Traveler.
Photos: Lapa Rios Ecolodge (above) NatureVacations (above right)
So it seems like all of America is abuzz about Harrison Ford's triumphant return as Indiana Jones in this summer's sure-to-be-blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And the travel industry is more than willing to satiate the public's appetite for adventure. Expedia is now running a whole series of experiences that celebrate the films (Swanky Shanghai nightclubs? Check. Exploring ancient Incan ruins in Peru? Check.) And Spanish travel company Vacations with Imaginations is now offering a smattering of Indy-inspired tours that add an element of danger to the itinerary: staged robberies, kidnappings, and visits from otherworldly spirits (we have to agree with Gadling that this creeps us out).
But we're not going to lie, as the preeminent arbiter of adventure travel, Indy has set our imaginations aflame more than once with his acts of derring-do (see our tribute to "Indy-pendence" in The Source in our current issue). So we're pretty darn excited to announce that our very first Intelligent Travel Contest is in the spirit of his heroic, dangerous, and exotic excursions.
Here's the deal: We have a whole mess of Indiana Jones DVD box sets, and we're giving them away to those of you who can best evoke Indy's spirit of adventure with your photographs or prose. There are two ways to enter:
For the writers – Send us 300 words or less about your most ridiculous Indiana Jones moment; the time when you couldn't help hearing the notes of Dun-dun-dun-daaah swell up as your adrenaline kicked into gear. Whether you were whitewater rafting or just rushing for your flight, we know that travel can be complicated, and it's those complications that often make the best stories. We want to hear them.
For the photographers – In the spirit of our Global Eye series, we want to know the back story to your most adventurous pics. Did a pack of mad dogs come running at you as you clicked the shutter? Or were you still huffing from a treacherous hike as you snapped an amazing view? Send us your photo along with the tale.
Send entries to intelligenttravel@ngs.org with "Contest" in the subject line. We'll pick the best from the bunch and will feature the winners all next week.
Photo: Courtesy Paramount Pictures
As you may have already heard, a few weeks ago the U.S. Department of Transportation revised its passenger compensation rules.
Beginning later this month, passengers who are involuntarily bumped could be compensated up to double what they would have gotten before—a $400 maximum for getting moved to a flight that gets them to their final destination within two hours of their originally scheduled flight (four hours for international flights), and up to $800 for a flight that doesn't arrive within that timeframe.
This new rule also extends the regulation to flights with 30 seats or more (previously, it only applied to flights with more than 60 seats) and allows passengers to opt for cash instead of ticket vouchers.
The DOT's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report keeps records of how many passengers are involuntarily bumped on which airlines—see the October-December 2007 Oversales report (Download bumping_report PDF)—as well as how many passengers voluntarily give up their seat, as MSN reports. For example, during the first quarter of 2007, American Airlines had 22,133 voluntary bumps and 2,213 involuntary bumps. JetBlue (pictured above), by contrast, had zero voluntary bumps and only 19 involuntary bumps during that time.
I happen to be one of the seemingly few lucky travelers (knock on wood) who has never been bumped involuntarily, although whenever the opportunity arises for volunteers I am the first one to give up my seat. The last time I volunteered to get bumped I got $250 and food vouchers to wait 90 minutes for the next flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Baltimore-Washington. A few weeks later, my mom volunteered to get bumped on a St. Louis-Seattle flight—for $400, food vouchers, and a first-class ticket on a non-stop flight. If passengers get bumped to a flight the following day, many airlines will also offer them a night in a local hotel, transportation to and from the airport included.
A printing company has come up with an alternative to those ubiquitous plastic hotel keys: biodegradable, paperboard keys that guests can recycle after their stay. Green Key bills itself as economical, eco-friendly, and sanitary (you're not getting the same grimy key that's been used by umpteen guests). So far, parent company The Whitehall Group has sold more than a quarter of a million keys to some 50 hotels.
Those plastic keycards we're all used to are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which releases a very toxic chemical called dioxin, and PVC is difficult to recycle, according to Greenpeace. Studies have linked dioxin to health problems and more and more reports are surfacing about its harmful effects. Keep your eyes peeled for the year-old invention, it may just be the key to a greener hotel stay.
Photo: courtesy of Cadmus/The Whitehall Group
Leon Logothetis, the host of the reality show “Amazing Adventures of a Nobody,” which airs internationally on the National Geographic Channel, and on Fox Reality in the States, is at it again. After traipsing through England and the U.S. for less than five dollars a day in his first two seasons, the "Urban Survival Guide" has now set off from Paris to begin his third season, where he will attempt to cross Europe and arrive in Moscow using only his limited resources and the help of strangers. Leon will be sending us dispatches from his travels as he films the season, and IT editor Janelle Nanos spoke with him as he prepared for his journey.
Hi Leon, it sounds like you’ve got a big trip planned. Can you tell us a bit more about how the show works?
It's pretty simple: I will receive five euros a day – that’s for food accommodation and travel. I cannot be given money – people can buy me food, a hotel room, or let me stay with them – they can show generosity. The crew are not allowed to help me, they stay in luxury hotels, drive a Volvo, and they eat whenever they want. There are five lifelines that are held by the director: 20 euros, a train ticket, free food, a tent, and a mystery envelope.
What made you decide that you wanted to embark on such a journey?
I used to work in the city of London in the shipping business, but that wasn’t my scene. Then I watched The Motorcycle Diaries and something clicked inside. I was inspired by what these two guys did. It’s made me want to connect with people. I never wanted to be behind the desk. I wanted to rely on the kindness of strangers and put myself on the same situations these two guys were in.
I can only imagine some of the situations you’ve found yourself in. How did your first trip through England work out?
One of the most memorable moments was when I was in North Wales. I arrived in a town called Banger at 8 p.m., and it was empty. I didn’t have anywhere to spend the night, so I went to the police station and told them, “I don’t have anywhere to stay. Can I sleep in a cell?” They said no [to a cell]. I ended up staying the night on the floor without a bed – no chair, no heating, just the floor. They gave me some old police jackets to lie on. It was one of my lowest moments. I remember asking myself, “Why are you doing this to yourself?”
As any good traveler knows, there's no better way to get a taste of a place than by sampling the local cuisine. In Hawaii's case, there is of course anything with macadamia nuts (from macadamia-nut honey to wasabi macadamia nuts—those'll clear your sinuses anyday). When I think of Hawaii, beer isn't the first thing to come to mind. But the Maui Brewing Company deserves a second look, not only for its uniquely Hawaiian-flavored beers but also for its sustainable practices.
Garrett Marrero (originally from San Diego) and his wife Melanie bought the brewing business three and a half years ago. It is the only brewery on Maui and has won several awards for its unique beers. Their Coconut Porter, which is spiced with natural toasted coconut, won a gold medal in the 2008 World Beer Championships. Maui Brewing also takes environmental matters into their own hands. Their beer comes in cans (thus eliminating the risk of broken glass littering the islands), and the owners even reuse their brewpub's vegetable oil to power their vehicles.
You can't find the beer on the U.S. mainland quite yet, but it is available in many locations throughout Hawaii. Yard House, located in Waikiki, just began offering Maui Brewing Co. beer on tap, and is the first restaurant in Oahu to do so.
Photo: Garrett W. Marrero
National Geographic Traveler is always looking to highlight the work of tour companies with strong ties to to their communities. So we were glad to hear that one such company is using its business infrastructure to support disaster relief efforts. Lindsay Thompson, U.S. director of Journeys Within Our Community, sends us a report on aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar:
A week after the devastating cyclone in Myanmar, supplies and relief workers are still being delayed into the country to provide help, support and supplies. Fortunately, organizations like Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), a non-profit based in the region, are already in the disaster areas, doing targeted, on-the-ground response with its local staff in Yangon. Coordination is underway to aid in providing shelter and provisions for the thousands of families and children in urgent need of help.
With an estimated 100,000 people dead, 41,000 missing, millions homeless, widespread flooding and destruction of homes, the race is on to prevent further death and the spread of disease in southern Myanmar. Critical resources such as food, clean water, basic medicines and mosquito nets are desperately needed as people seek refuge from the floods.
Because of JWOC's already-standing relationship with communities who have been affected by cyclone Negris, our relief workers are dedicating their efforts to finding solutions for local problems, such as at orphanages, schools, shelters, etc., that aren't getting direct help from larger relief efforts.
Donations are being accepted immediately at www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org, all of which (as in 100%) will go to helping those in need on the ground in Myanmar.
Useful phrasebooks can be found in the back of any decent guidebook, but for foreign-language phobes like me, roman spellings and pronunciation guides can only get a traveler so far. Rosetta Stone is great, except it requires a computer and selling my right arm. I don't usually carry my laptop when traveling abroad, and generally, I like my four limbs where they are.
Fortunately, I found an (affordable!) alternative for even the most cheapo travelers. Collins just came out with iPod phrasebooks. They've taken the phrasebooks from the back of their Collins Gem dictionaries (about 500 different phrases) in French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. The phrasebooks are split up into sections (food, accomodation, emergencies, etc.), and iPod users can both listen to how the phrase is pronounced and see its spelling on the screen.
The best part? Each phrasebook is only about $10 (£4.99), which means you can afford to both say "Uma caipirinha, por favor" ("I'd like a caipirinha, please") and sip Brazil's national drink. The software is only available for iPod Classics and iPod Nanos, but are not compatible with iPod Touch or iPhones.
Photo: Courtesy of Apple
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