Intelligent Travel

Savor IT

IT's been known to plan entire vacations around food. In fact, for your bloggers, restaurants tend to be paramount to all else. Which is why we're rather ecstatic to share IT's newest find: Savory Cities. So far, the company only has two city sites—Savory New York and Savory San Francisco—but we love their idea, their utility, and best of all, their great videos. The two sites, built as wikis, offer detailed information about popular restaurants in each city—from the basics (address, cuisine, price) to the specifics (occupancy, noise levels, house specialties). However, their cool drool-inducing feature is their video footage, one- to two-minute documentaries usually featuring an interview with the restaurant's chef or owner (think: Thomas Keller), a behind-the-scenes look at the kitchen (think: stainless-steel paradise), pictures of the various entrees (think: salivation), and a tour of the dining room (think: get me there now!). If you can't already tell, we love these sites, so much so that we've dropped more than an hour this week watching videos of Hayes Street Grill, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Tocqueville, Pearl Oyster Bar, and more. Our one complaint? You can't sort by price. IT likes to eat, but we can't always (er, ever?) splurge at The French Laundry.

Where IT's @

Chief researcher Marilyn Terrell tickles our trivia centers this week with a coda to her Croatian adventure:

I was trying to send Goran this photo I took of him on my trip to Croatia, but when I typed what I thought he had dictated to me, my email kept bouncing back. I called him again and he repeated the same thing, some email address involving the word 'monkey.' When I sounded confused, he stopped and consulted a friend. When he came back, he said, 'At. You say "at." We say "monkey."' Which is when it dawned on me: 'monkey' is Croatian for '@'.

After I stopped laughing, I started thinking. How many other names are there in the world for the 'at' sign? Obviously, not everyone calls it 'at.' So I did a little research and found some interesting articles about the origins of @, which may have been invented by weary sixth-century monks as a shorthand version of the Latin 'ad' meaning 'at,' 'to' or 'toward' (Unrelated question: Did monks get carpal tunnel syndrome?)

Rooms with a Muse: Traveler Inspires a Hotel

IT was intrigued to read a recent Advertising Age article (thanks to a tip from Gawker) about a California hotelier who bases the concepts for his boutique properties on magazines. We moved from intrigue to infatuation when we learned that Joie de Vivre Hospitality's holdings include a hotel inspired by National Geographic Traveler. San Francisco's Hotel Carlton was designed to exhibit five qualities CEO Chip Conley and his staff attribute to our publication: "enchanting, international, cheerful, bohemian, eclectic." (We are, aren't we?)

We bloggers think they did a pretty good job, and wonder whether Conley might be willing to send his designers over to make Jessie's office look a little more like this, or maybe upgrade our conference room. Other JDV properties include the Rolling Stone-styled Phoenix Hotel, the Wired-themed Hotel Avante and the Dwell/Real Simple love child Hotel Vitale.

Frightening Facts

Stonehenge's proximity to highways is revealed in a Google Earch screen capture.

It takes a certain kind of über-nerd to be a researcher at National Geographic Traveler—one who takes disproportionate pleasure in determining which of the world's volcanoes are currently the most active, figuring out the Assamese name for the elephant-apple tree, and speaking in stilted Spanish with Andalusian monks. As we've already shared with you, Marilyn Terrell is one such person. Jessie Johnston is another.

In addition to her blogging duties, Jessie is responsible for fact-checking articles that get published in Traveler magazine. In the current issue, she had the daunting task of checking the World Heritage Destination Scorecard, which included not-always-favorable descriptions of 94 separate destinations. In the process of tracking down some of the more cantankerous facts, she had some geeked-out fun. (Be sure to click the hyperlinks to see what she's talking about):

Light IT Up: Holiday Light Festivals

After the end of Daylight Saving Time, festivals that light the longer nights in various ways proliferate, starting with Halloween, and continuing with the likes of Chanukah and Diwali. Besides these holidays, unspecified "holiday light festivals" are known to spring up throughout the United States. It's far beyond our capacity to detail them all here, so we offer up one festival on each coast to whet your appetite for illumination.

Insiders Cabo

While we bloggers prefer colder climes for Christmas (Ogden and Vancouver), many of you are gearing up for holiday travel to warmer weather. Matthew Dexter, a freelance writer living in Cabo San Lucas, sent us some insider tips from his popular getaway hometown:

Play on the beaches. Along 'tourist corridor'—the 21-mile (33.8-kilometer) stretch of shoreline between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo—there are miles of unpopulated beaches. All beaches are public in Mexico, so if you see a spot you like, you are free to drive, hike, or swim. My favorites are Chileno and Santa Maria—both have spectacular natural scenery and marine life. If you like quiet beaches, I suggest Twin Dolphin, about five miles (8 kilometers) out of Cabo.

Wired Wanderlust: Video Passages to India

Far be it from IT to say anything against doorbells, sleigh bells, or schnitzel with noodles, but our list of favorite things veers more than a little from the one proposed by a certain former novice as a comfort to her sweet-voiced young charges. Though still susceptible to brown paper packages tied up with strings, we currently incline toward the following: videos , blogs , and (thanks to Traveler's recent special section) India. Put those favorite things together, and you know what you get? Our new favoritest thing: vlogs about India.

Ryanne Hodson recently returned from a monthlong visit to the subcontinent, during which she posted a number of videos on her blog. Check out her footage of Mumbai traffic, mehndi, Pune, and a party featuring entertainment by puppets, a snake charmer, a conjurer, and a monkey.

Want more? We did. And were amply satisfied with our discovery of Deirdré Straughan's Indian vlog from a trip with her daughter a year and a half ago. Straughan, who lives in Italy but went to school in India, posted about 20 clips, including an elephant ride to Jaipur's Amber Fort, a demonstration of Rajasthani hand-block printing, a turban-tying lesson, and an exuberant parade that had us tapping our feet and checking Orbitz for fares to BOM.

Lightning Field of Dreams

                                       

IT loves both nature and art , so when Bryan Lavietes, the senior Washington producer for Court TV (and onetime Harvard English major), suggested a piece combining the two, we lent him our ears…then, gave him a pen:

I don't remember the first time I heard of The Lightning Field (near a one-street town called Quemado, New Mexico), but it's been on my 'things to see before I die' list ever since. A fall wedding in Tucson last week finally gave me the opportunity. The Lightning Field is a work of land art by Walter De Maria, commissioned and maintained by the Dia Art Foundation.

Par Avian: Turkey in the Mail

If you've opted not to ditch the relatives for Thanksgiving, but still don't feel like cooking, we have a solution. Order your turkey dinner from Flagstaff House Restaurant—the only Mobil four-star restaurant in Boulder, Colorado— which is selling the feast online for overnight delivery to any location in the U.S. The "heat and serve" dinner for four—including roasted butternut squash soup; organic free-range turkey;  a creamy gratin of Yukon Gold and sweet potatoes with nutmeg and tarragon; seasoned dressing made from brioche; cinnamon-and-clove-infused tomato jelly (in lieu of cranberry sauce); dinner rolls; and Chef Mark Monette's signature pumpkin chai cheesecake with macadamia nut crust—is $178 plus overnight shipping and handling. Orders must be placed by November 16, 2006 (today!).

For those who'd rather travel for their four-star Thanksgiving meals, try Michel Richard Citronelle in Washington, D.C., Campton Place Restaurant in San Francisco, Nana in Dallas, or Gilt in New York City. Who else is offering special T-day meals? Check OpenTable's Thanksgiving page for a list of restaurants and a description of what each has to offer. Amen.

Tour Iran and Come Back Glowing?

IT asked Genevieve Contey (a graduate student working on a special project for National Geographic Traveler) to report on two Iranian tourism initiatives. One might inspire you to search for that old lead vest of yours—the other, just a good camera:

Ever fantasize about being a UN weapons inspector? Get a little giddy over WMDs? Iranian President Ahmadinejad recently announced plans to organize a cottage tourism industry around the country's nuclear plants. Tehran's announcement for proposed 'nuclear tourism' came in the midst of forthcoming United Nations Security Council sanctions: The UN and the U.S. government allege that Iran intends to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapons program, a claim that Tehran fiercely denies. Ahmadinejad himself insists the enrichment program is for 'peaceful purposes' only. To support his claim, he's allowing tourists to visit nuclear facilities.

Sleep Easy: Introducing the DreamSack

IT contributor Anne Marie Johnson is an avid traveler who struggles with a compulsion to be clean. Beyond always carrying Purell in her purse, she has one product she simply can't travel without:

Amongst other things, traveling is a departure from familiarity. This leap into the unknown is usually rewarding: the crunchy feel of salt from the Dead Sea, the taste of Burgundy in Burgundy, the vision of a sunset over the savanna. Yes, these are memories that remain visceral long after the end of a voyage. However, on the way to these magic moments of wanderlust, one can also be confronted with some less-than-savory realities. For this germophobe, a night or longer in a sketchy hostel, ratty roadside motel, or bedraggled B&B can take the lust right out of wandering.

Happily, there is a solution in the aptly named DreamSack. The original DreamSack is a portable silk sack, sewn on three sides, ensuring that you will never spend another sleepless night stiff with panic trying to avoid contact with a set of yellowed, less-than-hygienic sheets. It can also be used as a sleeping bag liner to add warmth on a cold night. The DreamSack is 34 inches (86 cm)wide, weighs less than a pound, and folds to fit into its six-by-three-and-a-half-inch (15 by nine cm) stuff-bag. Although made of silk, it's machine washable. The good people at DreamSack have also started to make pillow cases, because if the sheets don't seem clean…well, you get the idea. A DreamSack costs $62, which will probably end up saving you money; just think of all those $2-a-night hostels you can stay in—lice-free.

IT Voluntours

The combination of travel and service work, or voluntourism, is hitting the mainstream—catching the attention of college students, professionals, and, get ready for it…Travelocity. The online travel agency has recently launched Travel for Good, partnering with several nonprofit organizations to make it easier for travelers to access volunteer opportunities around the world.

Travelocity is a newby, though, in a field already populated by established nonprofits like Globe Aware, which offers volunteer vacations in Peru, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cuba, Nepal, Brazil, and other locations. The one-week trips have been called a "mini Peace Corps" and cost around $1,000. Closer to home, Take Pride in America is a clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities throughout the U.S. The site doesn't explicitly link volunteering to travel, but you can easily plan a trip around one or more of their service activities.

This Week's Bloggers

Emily King, Traveler's assistant to the editor, wants to visit the pyramids of Giza before they're just a suburb of Cairo. Researcher Jessie Johnston hopes to see Machu Picchu before it becomes an Angkor-style jungle gym.

IT's Wonderful

Ever wish you'd seen the Colossus of Rhodes? Or the hanging gardens of Babylon? IT sure has. And whether or not you've ever shared in this desire, you've probably heard of these long lost marvels, while other monumental victims of history never cross your (or IT's) mind. Not that we're calling you (or ourselves) callous. Heavens no! It's just that 2,200 years ago a fellow by the name of Philon of Byzantium made a list of the seven wonders of his (ancient) world—including our friend the colossus, the Egyptian pyramids, the lighthouse of Alexandria, and Babylon's gardens—thereby burning them forever into Western civilization's collective memory, while other great statues, gardens, and lighthouses were lost for all time.

With the exception of the pyramids, none of Philon's wonders are still in existence today. Which is why a fellow by the name of Bernard Weber has decided it's time for a New Seven Wonders of the World, one that reflects humanity's remaining heritage and spans the entire planet, not just the greater Mediterranean region.

Senseless (and Signless) in Seattle

It hurts us to say it, but we're starting to think that your faithful bloggers are better at writing about travel than we are at actually navigating the world outside our offices. Jessie recently returned from Seattle, where she attended a conference intended to improve her blogging savoir-faire. She really enjoyed both Seattle and the conference—where she met, had interesting chats with, learned a lot from, and befriended the blogosphere's old hands, leading lights, and up-and-comers—but a series of experiences led her to think she probably should have been at a conference called Traveling for Dummies. If they have such a thing. Which they should. We need it:

As IT's intro so kindly noted, I loved Seattle. It reminded me a lot of my beloved Vancouver, but with new-to-me quirks and corners to explore. What stands out from my trip, though, are my sojourn's disasters and disappointments. I'll document them here (with blame appropriately apportioned) so you don't duplicate them.

Wired Wanderlust: Top Travel Blogs

The days of recording your travels in a worn leather journal in a sidewalk café on the streets of Amsterdam are not obsolete; it's just that you'll likely be typing away on your MacBook instead. As cyber cafés continue to sprout up all over the world, travel blogs have become a staple for keeping in touch with those stranded at home, posting a picture of that Seattle coffee shop's frothy cappuccino, and recording the name of the oh-so-cute bed-and-breakfast in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Let IT be your guide to a few travel blogs that have caught our collective eye by being inspirational, informative, or just too interesting to ignore. And keep your eyes peeled for future Wired Wanderlust updates. We'll be back.

A Taste of Europe: Tammy and David, a thirty-something wanderlusting couple sold their house and decided to spend a year in Europe "slow traveling"—spending two to three months in each country. Tammy writes, "As a last fling by ourselves, the conversation began as an idea to go to Europe for a two-week vacation. Where to go? England? Ireland? Italy? …The idea turned from spending two weeks in Europe to six months to possibly a year." This extensive travelogue is filled with beautiful photographs, local history, and personal experiences. By the end of each posting, you will begin to wonder why you are still sitting at your desk.

Snap, Crackle, Croatia!

Last week, chief researcher Marilyn Terrell tantalized us with her stories of swimming in the Adriatic Sea and wandering down the narrow streets of Zadar. We wanted more, and so did our readers—one e-mail in IT's inbox (which may have been from Marilyn's brother) read, "What a wonderful description. I was transported. Give me more!" So, this week, we post more of Marilyn's insights into Croatia, its thriving capital, Zagreb, and the highlights that have her jonesing for a return. (Be sure to click on the underlined links to see Marilyn's Flickr pics.)

IT's Music Review

IT was feeling rather energetic today until we started listening to "Delta Sleep" from Kelly Howell's new Relieve Jet Lag CD. Its soothing music layered with "precision-engineered sound waves" put us to sleep at our desks, which we suppose was the point. The two-CD set includes three pieces of music: "Delta Sleep" (60 minutes of Delta waves), "Theta Relaxation" (30 minutes of Theta and Alpha waves), and "Beta Refresher" (30 minutes of High-Beta and Gamma waves). The first two songs are meant to put you to sleep, and they do.

IT's Reader Roundup: The Last Supper

We all know Traveler readers love to eat. With this final installment of our Amsterdam trilogy, they share their favorite places to do just that.

Kimberly Ray, of Portland, Oregon, visited Amsterdam on a European vacation a few years back: "I allowed myself to wander the streets with complete abandon. One day I happened upon a chocolate store with an unusual name: Unlimited Delicious. I had stumbled upon what is by far the best chocolate store I've ever visited. Their bonbon flavors were so unique (caramel cayenne amarins, tomato balsamic pimento, and cardamom), I had to bring some home to the States. I hauled those boxes across four more countries, and it was worth it."

Mia MacDonald, of Brooklyn, New York, has some dining recommendations for the vegetarians among us: "A great place to grab a tasty bite is Maoz. The menu is simple and vegetarian: falafel, fries, and soft drinks.