Intelligent Travel

IT's Halloween!

In celebration of pumpkins, witches, and bags full of candy, IT searched the country for Halloween festivities suited for those of us too old (tear!) for trick-or-treating. Below we've listed three events worth your travels:

Tampa, Florida: Help the mythical Mama Guava "take the bore out of Ybor" with her annual Guavaween in Ybor City, Tampa's historic Latin district. The Halloween happening brings in about 80,000 guests during its nighttime celebrations; festivities include the Mama Guava Stumble Parade, cooking and costume contests, and various big-name bands/artists (Slick Rick, LeToya, and Seether) performing on four different stages. Entry: $15

New York, New York: This year New York's Village Halloween Parade has chosen an Ancient Celtic communal fire theme.

Cravable Croatia

The spooky sounds of the Sea Organ come out of holes beneath the steps in Zadar, Croatia.

It seems National Geographic Traveler staffers can't get enough of Eastern Europe. Fresh from a weeklong trip to Croatia, chief researcher Marilyn Terrell dishes on her day in Zadar:

The hot sun gleaming on the blue Adriatic was too hard to resist. 'Order me calamari and a salad,' I called to my lunch companions as I headed for the ladies' room with my bathing suit. I ran across the street onto the stony beach, where older couples were toasting themselves on this quiet Monday afternoon on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast. I plunged right in, the warm, clear, salty water just what I needed after five hours in a van on switchback mountain roads curving down to the sea.

IT's All Relative

It's been a while since IT has shared a press release with our readers. And while this one is a bit silly, we applaud the idea—sorry Mom!—of ditching the family. We've opted to forgo commentary, as this pitch pretty much speaks for itself:

Have you ever been tempted to skip stressful, family holiday get-togethers but haven't had a good enough excuse? Wanted to escape the clutches of a controlling mother-in-law, and dreamed of a calm and peaceful getaway? You can control your own fate this holiday season with the 'Run From the Relatives' Package available at any of the four Omni Hotels in the West including San Diego, Los Angeles, Tucson, and Denver/Boulder.

IT Travels with Amy Alipio

Just back from Eastern Europe (and maternity leave), assistant editor Amy Alipio shares the highlights from her trip in get-to-the-point fashion:

Best Hotel Amenity—The locally produced bath products made from lavender, rosemary, and other Adriatic plants at the harbor-front Hotel Kastil in Bol, on the island of Brac, Croatia. They made me feel like I was showering outdoors in a summer meadow.

Spookiest Moments—Driving through Bosnia and passing whole villages of abandoned houses—brick and concrete skeletons bearing witness to the 1992-1995 war. We found good roads in Bosnia, with modern and clean gas stations, and discovered that Sarajevo is a lively city with stylish young folk. But those silent houses were unforgettably eerie.

What Time Is It When an Elephant Sits on Your Passport?

Regardless of whether a plague of travel-document-perching pachyderms is imminent (and, to be honest, we suspect that it isn't), for many Americans it's time to get a new passport. Unless further lobbying by the travel industry causes yet more changes to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, American citizens will be required to show a passport in order to reenter the U.S. by air from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean as of January 8, 2007. Since new passport applications take six to eight weeks to process, and you'll need to have your document with you when you leave the country in order to present it when you return, this is the ideal week for current non-passport-holding Americans with trans-border holiday season air travel plans to get their applications in. If you'll be driving or cruising out of the country at holiday time, you are still exempt from the passport requirement. Up until three weeks ago, the effective date requiring passports for non-air entry was slated for January 1, 2008, but recent legislation means it may be pushed as late as June 1, 2009. If we're still at IT, we'll post a reminder that March. Save the date.

IT's Reader Roundup: The Sequel

Last week we shared a number of tips inspired by "Insiders Amsterdam" with you. This week we continue the series with our readers' favorite things to do in and around the Dutch capital.

Brigid Hayes, of Ottawa, Ontario, visited Amsterdam in July of this year: "We visited the Verzetsmuseum (Dutch Resistance Museum), which explores the moral quandaries faced by the Dutch during the German occupation and paints a complex and moving picture of the choices people made. All written commentary is in both Dutch and English. Included as well is a section on the Japanese occupation of Dutch Indonesia and the colony's fight for independence from the Netherlands after World War II. The museum complemented the Anne Frank House museum, offering a taste of what was happening in the city outside the house.

Tokyo Toes

Thanks to the geographic diversity of IT's social circle, we are lucky enough to receive great dispatches via informal e-mail. Here, (with her permission) we've posted Jessie Szalay's Thoreauvian tips for those traveling to Tokyo:

Tokyo's mass transit system is both a blessing and a curse for tourists. It is efficient, with subway trains running every few minutes to every hub in this big town. It is also an attraction in itself—all but the extremely claustrophobic should experience the insane morning rush as thousands of identically suited salarymen cram themselves onto trains. But, by taking the crowded trains, visitors miss out on an interesting, if time consuming, alternative: walking, the best way to see how Tokyo's 12 million residents actually live, not just commute.

Internet Itinerary: TurnHere and Travelistic

IT was introduced to the travel video website TurnHere (tagline: "Short films, cool places") a few months ago, but didn't get to explore it thoroughly at the time. Last week, we were introduced to another  such site, brand new Travelistic (tagline: "Watch where you're going"), and realized it was time to take a closer look. On a recent and relatively quiet evening at home, Emily camped out with her laptop and watched 17 short films. Suffice it to say she's now addicted:

The concept of watching short films before you travel is brilliant. I always try to watch a movie filmed in the location I'm going before I leave; in reality, I rarely have time to view a 136-minute film the day before I go. These websites have created the perfect solution: Spend one to five minutes watching short films (for free!) on your computer and you're ready to take off.

IT Lit

IT has been known to get a little festive now and again. We've also been known to pick up a book. So it should come as no surprise that we're hopping on the book festival bandwagon with both feet.

Just as the end of summer is a key time for film fest goers, autumn offers a healthy crop of opportunities for bibliophiles wishing to indulge their wanderlust. This post is too late to catch some of the season's earliest literary offerings (in Ottawa, San Francisco, Brisbane, Berlin, and Bali) but the weeks and months ahead boast many more to come. Both of your bloggers' hometowns will be getting their lit on in the coming weeks, as will Toronto, the Vegas Valley, and Banff. The Midwest is already awash with bookworms, with reading sprees currently underway in Chicago and Milwaukee. And for those who would cross the sea for a good read, there are upcoming literary gatherings in Perth, Scotland; Durham, UK; and balmy Antigua.

IT's Reader Roundup: Insider Edition

Just like we did for Montreal, National Geographic Traveler asked readers to contribute their own insider tips after reading "Insiders Amsterdam" in the September print issue. The emails flowed in, and over the next few weeks we'll be sharing the best suggestions with you. First installment: where to sleep.

Michael Wagner, who has visited Amsterdam several times, recommends the Hotel Brouwer on the Singel Canal for its "small, European feel and great quiet location."

Bonnie Krasik, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, spent her birthday three years ago in a houseboat on an Amsterdam canal: "Even in March, we could wake up early and sit outside with a hot cup of coffee made in our own kitchen. While nightly rentals cost about the same as a hotel room, boats can accommodate many people, making it extremely easy on the budget."

Happy Trail Mix

Last week, IT received several samples of Barking Buffalo Trail Mix. We weren't enthused by the odd name or the appearance of the mix, but our first handful of the Wake-Up Mix changed our minds. Subsequent snacking (Emily's still munching on this stuff!) has made us believers. The company banks on its design-it-yourself feature (trendy with sneakers and cereal) and, from ordering to eating, it is its legitimate selling point. Their online order form is interactive and fun; you click on the ingredients (say, a barrel of peanuts) to fill up your virtual "bag." As you do this, a Nutrition Facts label changes with each new addition. Did the scoop of banana chips add too many carbs? Replace them with almonds and watch how your numbers drop!

A 12-ounce bag of mix ranges from $5 to $8, depending on your choice of ingredients. Note: Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate chunks and Semifreddi's biscotti bits can run up your tab at $1.59 for two ounces. Even so, the price of one bag is comparable to gourmet mixes you'd find at Whole Foods and you get to choose a custom name (say, Emily's Geo Fusion) to be printed on the label.

On Your Marks

We wouldn't blame you if you thought all National Geographic Traveler staffers do is eat, rent houses on craigslist and eat again. We would correct you, though. We do other things. Really. For instance, researcher Ingrid Ahlgren watches TV. In particular, she's been known to keep a regular date with CBS's world-touring reality series The Amazing Race. She writes:

I was sad to see fellow Rhode Islanders, Duke and Lauren, eliminated recently on Amazing Race. (Who will I root for now? I really miss BJ and Tyler, the happy hippies from last season.) I perked up a little, though, after reading a press release about the Real Race, an adventure vacation in Australia that pits teams against each other in an Amazing Race-style contest. Here's an excerpt:

On the 7th of August, a group of experience-seekers began what would be the holiday of a lifetime.

The Accident-Prone Tourist

Emily King, assistant to Traveler's editor in chief, recently returned from a week abroad with a confession to make:

I thought I was a smart traveler. As a staff member at a well-regarded travel magazine, I figured I'd absorbed the savvy sense I read and write about daily. But no. I was sent into the field—Germany, to be exact—and I floundered. Here are three mistakes I made, and the lessons I learned from them:

Mistake 1: Subscribing to a faulty international calling service—

This Week's Bloggers

When in airports, Emily King, Traveler's assistant to the editor, enjoys smelling and ogling Cinnabons, then excercising willpower and walking away from them. Researcher Jessie Johnston takes pleasure in perusing the invariably excellent selection of watches for sale and in giving herself permission  to buy trashy magazines.

The Norway Way

National Geographic Traveler contributing editor Andrew Nelson dropped into Jessie's office last week with the summer issue of Nordic Reach magazine, folded open to a small item near the back called "Dos and don'ts for an American visiting Norway." We were fascinated, though by the end we didn't really know what we were supposed to think, about Norwegians or their opinions of Americans. So, we're posting some choice excerpts. Interpret as you like.

Do:

"Try not to walk on your toes, and if you're a woman: Walk like a man."

"Know when to use a backpack and when not to. If in doubt: Don't… The only absolutely safe time to wear one is (a) if you're going on a hiking trip in the mountains or (b) if you're a kid on your way to school."

IT Travels with Katie Howell

Despite the wind and water scars, the ongoing lack of housing, and generally somber atmosphere in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina's devastating effects on the region, editorial intern Katie Howell tells us that her summer in the Crescent City was surprisingly positive. Just over a year after the tragedy, she shares some of her favorite things to do in this city that's slowly pulling itself back together:

New Orleans has always been welcoming to tourists and new residents, and the aftereffects of a major natural disaster didn't stop the city from showing me a good time. This is a city of details, and a perfect day can be spent absorbing them by biking along the levee or strolling down the side streets of the French Quarter. Many times, I stumbled upon a back-alley bookstore or an antiques shop and would get lost for hours in the history and culture.

Wee Travel

Traveling with a baby just got easier. Actually, that's not true. It's just that we offspring-free bloggers only recently learned about a service to help those traveling with babies, and we think it's cool, even if it's only news to us. The service? Baby equipment rentals.

Our introduction to this concept came in the form of a press release from Wee Travel. This Canadian company rents strollers, car seats, high chairs and other infant accoutrements to out-of-towners in Vancouver and Toronto so they don't have to worry about transporting all of their parental paraphernalia as well as their still-small progeny.

Chilling in the Catskills

National Geographic Traveler senior researcher and inveterate family traveler Marilyn Terrell took her brood for one last summer fling to a rented house in the Catskills last month. Here's her report:

The key was under the mat, as the owner had promised. But what lay on the other side of the door? Would it be another knick-knack-strewn, mosquito-infested craigslist disaster, like the last time? My family would never forgive me if I managed to screw this up twice in one summer. The last thing the owner had said to me on the phone was "Keep on truckin." What did he mean by that? Cautiously, I turned the key in the lock and opened the door.