Intelligent Travel

Going Round the Board

IT knows there's never enough time available to travel. To quench the wanderlust of the desk-bound, we've shared a number of armchair-excursion opportunities with you: chocolate, beverages, computer games and good ol' fashioned books. The latest addition to the list: Monopoly. Last week Hasbro launched a "Here and Now" edition of the 71-year-old game, replacing the Atlantic City street names with 22 new properties from around the country. The locations—which include Gateway Arch in St. Louis, New Orleans' French Quarter, the Golden Gate Bridge and Times Square—were selected in an online poll conducted this spring. In addition to the new properties, the game features inflated rents reflecting current prices and branded tokens including a Starbucks mug, McDonald's fries, and a Motorola Razr cell-phone. We dig the fact that many of the new places are destinations we'd enjoy visiting (who's ever planned a trip to Baltic Avenue?); too bad the tokens represent the stuff we try to escape when traveling.

Boston IT Party

To maintain IT's jet-setting reputation, co-editor Emily King recently took a weekend jaunt to Boston. She writes:

I've visited Boston twice. I've been to Faneuil Hall, seen the Paul Revere House, visited the graves of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, and learned about the Boston Tea Party from tour guides. This time, though, I made my way to Beantown to visit friends, so I did what residents actually do. Here are my five tips:

Go to the suburbs—Boston residents may hold a grudge against their commuting co-workers, but the towns around Boston are adorable—not your typical Home Depot, Target, Applebee's-in-every-stripmall suburban outposts. This trip, I only visited Newton and Wellesley, but both have charming town centers, beautiful homes, and tree-lined streets. Have a sweet tooth? Try Truly Yogurt in Wellesley. It's a popular destination for townies; stars have even been known to visit—including Will Ferrell this past summer. There are darling shops in each town. Jasmine Sola, a women's clothing boutique, has locations in both.

Get Your Muse On

IT likes free stuff. So we're amped for Museum Day, taking place this Saturday, September 30, across the U.S. Originally a promotion for Smithsonian magazine subscribers, this annual event is now available to all with access to the Internet and a printer. Simply download and print the Museum Day card, and gain free entrance for two people to the hundreds of participating museums in 49 states (no takers in North Dakota) and the District of Columbia. Heads up: The free admission doesn't include special exhibits or IMAX movies. Which is OK with us. Those big screens make us nauseous.

Drink Up

This week the winner of Nicaragua's National Drink Contest will be announced at a gala reception at Managua's Hotel Real InterContinental. The contest invited all Nicaraguan residents, from professional bartenders to amateur barflies, to submit recipes for cocktails involving rum (competition-sponsor Flor de Caña-brand only) that could act as the country's alcoholic ambassador, along the lines of Cuban mojitos and Mexican margaritas.

In the spirit of the contest, as well as our globe-hopping chocolate post a couple of weeks ago, IT did a little research into other "national drinks." Some were familiar—Irish stout (Guinness), Greek ouzo, Scottish whisky, the Brazilian caipirinha, Japanese sake, Russian vodka—others less so. Who knew pastis was the Frenchman's tipple of choice, or brandy the Peruvian patriot's? We'd never even heard of baijiu, China's national spirit. We knew that yerba mate was Argentina's national drink, but not that it held that title in Paraguay and Uruguay as well. It's also one of the few nonalcoholic national beverages.  Tibetan salted butter tea is another. If 28 determined Filipinos get their way, buko juice (coconut water) will join those ranks as their country's official drink. Somewhere between alcoholic and non- is airag, Mongolia's fermented mare's milk.

Enthused as we are about travel-by-taste, IT was a little skeptical of endeavors to dictate national culture through a contest. That is, until we did our homework. We found that a number of important national emblems have been chosen by contest, including the anthems of Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. Skepticism duly retired.

This Week's Bloggers

Emily King isTraveler's assistant to the editor. Jessie Johnston is a researcher at the magazine. They will be witty again next week.

Monkey Surround

IT has a thing for monkeys, so when Jessie Szalay—an English teacher in Kyoto, Japan—sent us this item about a monkey park, we were naturally curious. She writes:

It's no secret that the rock gardens of Kyoto are incredibly beautiful. But if all those meticulously placed boulders, trees, and blades of grass leave you wondering what exactly the landscape would look like without the help of gardening monks, the Iwatayama Monkey Park offers a gorgeous answer—as well as lots and lots of monkeys.

IT's Reader (Eater) Roundup

Last week, IT posted tips sent in from readers responding to our call for "stuff we missed" in the Insiders Montreal story in National Geographic Traveler's May/June 2006 issue. There were so many good ideas we had to split their suggestions up into two posts. Here's the second (all-food) half:

Montreal resident W.F. Howard highly recommends

Le Piment Rouge (The Red Pepper) restaurant. Their Szechuan cuisine is exquisite and the wine list is formidable (in a good way!), and neither requires a second mortgage. My favorite dish is boeuf à l'orange—offering tremendous contrast between sweet and sharp. The beef is crispy, very spicy, and never soggy. Pair this with an old vine Zinfandel or Petite Sirah. While I was dining there once with a colleague, four large men entered and sat at a nearby table. I chanced to look over, and was startled to see Mark McGwire and three of his Cardinals teammates in town to play the Expos.

Internet Itinerary: Slow Travel

Whenever IT's in the mood for a really great website, we turn to senior researcher Marilyn Terrell for guidance. This week she directs us to Slow Travel, a site that (shall we say it?) actually makes us excited for retirement. She writes:

I love the website Slow Travel, a community of travelers who like to spend at least a week in one place to get to know it in depth, rather than trying to see a dozen places superficially. Their members have reviewed hundreds of vacation rental villas, apartments, farms, and cottages that make this kind of travel possible. You can read their trip reports (mainly Europe, with particular emphasis on Italy), explore their interactive Google maps, meet other slow travelers, and share their favorite webcams (including the infectious dancing of video blog Where the Hell is Matt?). On the website, co-founder Pauline Kenny decribes slow travelers as people who 'buy supplies and groceries in the local stores, get to know (and become known at) the local coffee bars and restaurants, and generally get a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the area where [they] are based.' The site is extensive, a fun read, and a convincing argument for going slow.

Nantucket Nugget

The sad truth about magazine publishing is that sometimes—because of cost, space, timing, etc.—well-written and informative articles are never published. The happy antidote to that truth is the emergence of blogs, specifically National Geographic Traveler's IT, where such material may be repurposed. Like this week, where we present to you associate editor Susan O'Keefe's Nantucket itinerary (written originally for TRIPS!) in its heretofore unpublished glory:

Some 30 miles off Cape Cod, the island of Nantucket shows its mellow side in autumn. With the post-summer hush comes the harvest of bay scallops and cranberries, the scent of wood-burning fireplaces, empty beaches for endless walking, boutique sales, and reduced hotel rates. The action takes place in Nantucket town and beyond.

Choc and Awe

We've all played Around the World with booze and basketballs, but who's tried it with chocolate? The Chocolate Sophisticate pitched us the idea and, well, since it involved free samples of chocolate, IT acquiesced.

Michel Cluizel's World Tour includes "flights" of chocolate from five locations: Madagascar, the Dominican Republic, São Tomé, Papua New Guinea, and Venezuela. We weren't given samples of the last two, but the three "countries" we tasted, did, in some sultry way, pique our wanderlust. Traveler contributing editor Andrew Nelson found the Caribbean chocolate "silky, like having your cheek lightly brushed by a woman's fingernails." IT's own Jessie Johnston called the São Tomé cocoa "complex—first smoky, then acidic, and buttery at the end." And her counterpart, Emily King, was drawn to the "tart, lemon-like flavor" of Madagascan chocolate, whose "lingering aftertaste transported my spirit to a sunny beach."

Now, if only this chocolate gave us a tan too...

IT's Reader Roundup: Insider Edition

What didn't we cover in the Insiders Montreal in our May/June 2006 issue? A lot! Here, our readers (and true insiders) send us their suggestions and tips.

Kevin Spreekmeester says that his city

is known for its haute cuisine, but for many locals it's the 'sous-cuisine,' that makes day-to-day life so fattening and fun! For a delicious sandwich (with a great kosher pickle and fries), try Schwartz's, Bens, Dunn's, or even newbie Moe's for the authentic deal. Also try the famous ribs at Bar-b-Barn. Why these ribs you ask? I can only answer by asking why gouda from Holland, a baguette from France, or beer from Copenhagen? One other must: a late-night stop for fries and a steamy (spelled 'steamé') hot dog at Lafleur (3620 St. Denis; +1 514 848 1804), part of a chain of bare-bones, street-corner, open-all-night eateries. Once done you'll likely need to roll around the floor of your hotel room while your belly digests the grease in which the fries were double-cooked. But, you'll be blissfully happy in your discomfort.

Louvre Schmouvre

IT loves Paris. When contemplating our beloved, we generally dwell on her more venerable delights—bridges across the Seine, winding Marais sidestreets— leaving it up to less storied destinations to tempt us with the next big thing. This fall however, the city of lights is forcing us to turn our historically inclined gaze beyond the Mona Lisa to a pair of brand-spanking-new museums.

Open Your Golden Gate

IT's already shivered on cable cars on a summer day and visited Pier 39 a dozen times. Wondering what we should do on our next trip to the City by the Bay, we asked San Francisco resident Andy Isaacson to send us his anti-Alcatraz tips. The catchy headlines are of his own device:

Room with a Helluva View—There are hostels (college students, large backpacks), and then there's Pigeon Point Lighthouse Hostel, perched dramatically on a bluff outside of town. Where else on the California coast can you book a private room under a 19th-century beacon and then soak alone in a secluded hot tub above the pounding surf for a scandalous $50 a night? Even knowing locals happily cough up for the privilege.

This week's bloggers

Emily King, Traveler's assistant to the editor, likes her chocolate dark, melted, and mixed with uncooked oatmeal. Researcher Jessie Johnston prefers 400-gram (massive!) Cadbury bars purchased in Heathrow airport.

IT's Farecast Forecast

Chances are you've already heard about Farecast, the airfare-prediction website that tells consumers whether to buy tickets now or wait for a better deal. Still in beta (trial) form, the site recently made routes to 55 more airports searchable (up from two). Farecast does the same thing as any airfare aggregator: It finds the prices and schedules from all major domestic airlines—except for Southwest which refuses to leak price info to aggregators—and presents it in a readable, easy-to-compare way. What Farecast adds is a graph that tracks the past 90 days of fares and predicts the next seven. For example: Will the airfare to Charleston drop in the next week or should you book now? It gives you the average low of the past month and the 90-day low so you can see, say, how stupid it was that you didn't book your ticket home for Christmas on August 12.

IT Goes Gorging

 
After her exhausting (if wonderful) spring travel orgy, Jessie swore an oath not to leave the District of Columbia for at least a month. She ended up adhering to the vow for a total of 53 days, but finally broke her travel fast to spend the last weekend of August in Ithaca, New York, with her newlywed friends Mia and Todd:

The last time I came to visit, Ithaca was encased in ice, so the purpose of this visit (other than enjoying borscht and backgammon with my buds) was to sample the town's warmer weather pleasures. Saturday, after a slow start involving a 'pre-breakfast' of ice cream, we made our way to the Ithaca Farmer's Market, on the shore of a Cayuga Lake inlet.

Cinema Paraíso

IT's tired of being single, so we're officially entering the dating scene. When we took you out for dinner last week it was more of a "hesidate," but this week IT's serious: We're taking you to the movies.

The fall round of film festivals officially kicked off last weekend in Telluride, and continues apace in Venice and Toronto, with Vancouver and New York in hot pursuit. But you know that already. And we know you know that. What we're banking on is that you might not be so up-to-date on the season's crop of film festivals in Spain.

You ought to be, though, because there are oodles; 16 to be exact. From now until December 2nd, there is an almost constant stream of cinematic celebrations throughout the Iberian kingdom. There are festivals focused on emigration, horror and fantasy, erotica, gay and lesbian film, documentaries, Europe, shorts, Latin America, and alternative cinema, as well as major retrospectives on David Lynch and Luchino Visconti. If you're a film buff with the travel bug, Spain is clearly the place to be.

Caveat: IT won't be paying for your tickets. It's too early in our relationship for that.

ISO Art

IT likes acronyms. So, when we caught word of the TBA Festival, we jumped on it ASAP. Here, Anne Marie Johnson, a native of Portland, Oregon, writes about an art exhibit so cool we actually checked airfares from DCA to PDX (FYI, no good deals):

The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art's Time-Based Art Festival is a ten-day event running September 7-17. The schedule includes all genres and often defies them; mixed media, performance art, dance, film, and visual art are all represented. An artist-led series of workshops, salons, and lectures invites the audience into the creative mind. The city acts as the canvas for the festival, with performances taking place in old printing presses and dry cleaners, and on the streets and bridges of Portland.