Intelligent Travel

The Amazing Adventures of a Nobody

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?”

Up Next: Blackstone Valley

Slater Mill, the little yellow mill that could

In 1793, the American Industrial Revolution was sparked in a yellow wooden textile mill perched on the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. More than two centuries later, the oft-overlooked Blackstone Valley is finally coming into its own, chosen recently as the winner of the 2008 World Travel and Tourism Council’s prestigious destination award. Sure, Robert Billington, the region’s chief champion of sustainable tourism, knows industry isn’t exactly hip. So what? This is true authentic travel.

How is the Blackstone Valley relevant today?

Because we [in the U.S.] don’t make things here anymore. Most Americans don’t understand how food is produced or how a product is made. And you can bring people to a place where things began. You name it, we made it. We had the power of the day—wonderfully sustainable, renewable energy, and it was the river.

When you come to New England to learn where the beginnings of America are, we’re part of that story. If you haven’t come to Blackstone Valley, where industry began, then you really haven’t seen America. This was the Silicon Valley of its day.

Checking In: The Ritz-Carlton Moscow

Not quite a year old, the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow, is all the buzz in a city that just recently confirmed that it's the world's most expensive city. With views of Red Square, the 334-room hotel features over-the-top amenities, including a vodka sommelier who oversees 400 varieties of the drink, the glass-domed O2 Lounge where you can dip into a caviar sushi roll, and a nightlife butler who helps guests navigate Moscow's trendy club scene. Associate editor Susan O'Keefe recently checked in with Oliver Eller, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow, and asked him how to make the most of a an overnight stay or day-visit to his opulent hotel and city.

Tell us about some of the features that make the Moscow Ritz-Carlton unique. How does it speak to the destination? Caviar at turndown?

Our large guest rooms measure from 452 sq. feet and feature high-tech amenities such as flat screen TV’s and finger touch panels for controlling lights and curtains. The Jeroboam restaurant is run by Three-Michelin Star Chef Heinz Winkler. Recently, the restaurant has been recognized by Time Out Moscow magazine as Moscow’s best restaurant in 2007. And the panoramic views from the 12th floor O2 terrace lounge over the city center are breathtaking.

When I step out of your hotel, what will I see within a mile's walk? Any personal favorite shops, restaurants, or must-see attractions?

[We have a] great location adjacent to Red Square and the Kremlin, on the famous Tverskaya Street, Moscow’s main avenue. [And there's] Saint Basil’s Cathedral, Christ the Savior Cathedral, Pushkin Museum for Arts, Bolshoi Theater, famous luxury shopping malls GUM and  TSUM, the largest exhibition hall Manege, the Russian Historical Museum, Armory etc. I personally like the Kamergersky street. It is a pedestrian zone with many small restaurants and cafés. In summer it is the best place to sit on the terrace, enjoy the beautiful summer weather and watch Muscovites strolling by.

Project Manila

While fact-checking Traveler’s City Life department, I frequently discover intriguing city-themed blogs — irreverent, beautiful, informative, and hilarious slices of life. And on some occasions, I reach out to local bloggers to help me track down elusive facts, like phone numbers for tiny cupcake shops in the Philippines or nightclubs in Senegal. Meet Rick Manzano, photographer and author of Project Manila, a photo-driven blog that aims “to change how people perceive Manila.” Read more about Manila in the April issue of Traveler (on newsstands now!).

If you could recommend one part of Manila to visitors hoping to catch an authentic glimpse of the city, what would you suggest?

That would be Malate. The buildings are just fantastic. They may be old and some of them dilapidated, but they tell a lot of stories of how the culture and lifestyles were decades ago. I'm a sucker for good architecture and rich history.

What are a few must-do Manila experiences, in your opinion?

Our Indian friend, whom we met in Kuala Lumpur, flew to Manila a few months ago. My friends and I agreed to have her drink San Mig Light, a famous local beer, and try duck embryo ("balut") and grilled chicken intestines ("isaw"). Personally, I think that's one of the many authentic Manila experiences I'm sure she's going to remember, because certainly she doesn't have that at home. 

How would you describe Manila to someone who's never been before?

I'm pretty sure everybody's got a bittersweet relationship with this city. It's not exactly the cleanest nor the safest. But the contrast makes it all interesting because, I think, more often than not, we find beauty in the midst of imperfections.

What's your favorite neighborhood in Manila? Tell us about it.

I grew up in the southern part of metro Manila (Alabang, Muntinlupa area), which is considered the suburbs. I lived inside a very peaceful subdivision where trees are abundant and birds wake you up in the morning. It's a few minutes' drive to the malls and there are a lot of food joints around. I always enjoy going to a nearby gasoline station—we have coffee shops and restaurants there—to catch up with close friends and enjoy nice conversations.

Photo: Rick Manzano

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Local Flavor: Organic Sparkling Wine

The Domaine Carneros Winery in Napa, California announced today that they'd received their organic certification from California Certified Organic Farmers, making them the first organic-certified sparkling winery in the United States. I had the chance to sit down with the company president and chief winemaker Eileen Crane to learn more about the process behind making a fine wine an organic wine as well.

Crane grew up in New Jersey, but packed up her car 30 years ago and headed west to pursue her passion for wine. In that time, she's worked her way up through the vineyard ranks, and now oversees the development of new wines each season. She sums up her line of work as the pursuit of "Aha!" moments, the times when your taste buds quiver with delight at a delicious sip. Fortunately for us, Crane says that since switching to organic farming, the flavor of the grapes have intensified, leading to even more satisfying "Aha!" moments than even she expected.

Congratulations on your organic certification. I understand the process takes over three years, what changes did you have to implement at the winery?

It’s a return to doing things the natural way – the way that preserves the earth. You have to learn how to farm differently. Instead of using herbicides, we had to learn how to cultivate. You’re not spending money on chemicals, you’re putting money into labor instead. But it also needs to be efficient to compete in the market. Running organically is more expensive, but I always say that we can brainstorm and find ways to run efficiently while being organic.

Have you noticed a difference in the wine since switching to organic farming?

I was really surprised at how much better a product it makes. When we started doing it, I thought, Will I really be able to notice a difference? How substantial would it be?  You know when you get a teabag, you can tell whether it's good tea or great tea? You can tell the gradations: This is really awful, this is reasonably good, or this is something with that “Aha!” to it – this is really lovely. People always have descriptors for wine, and we use those, but some of it is just the feeling, just being conscious of that “Aha!” moment. It’s just wonderful. It’s like when you sit down to a meal and the presentation and balance is just perfect. The ingredients and seasoning is perfect, it just seems really right. I say yes, there’s more flavor in the grapes and there’s better balance, but it’s really the “Aha!” sense – this is really fabulous quality.

And I'm sure the vineyard has changed a bit as well.

The vines look happier when you look at the vineyard; the greens seem more vibrant. It’s like when you see a child that’s well nourished and cared for: the rosy cheeks. The vines have a sense of vibrancy.
Going organic is restoring the natural balance of microbes and animals. I realized that the three years that it took for certification is the time it takes to start to restore the earth to its natural state, the way it should be.

Paris in the Fifties

Waxing nostalgia about the bygone days of Paris is hardly new or rare, but that doesn't make us eat up pitch-perfect prose on the City of Light any less. And when it's written by the likes of Pulitzer Prize winner Stanley Karnow, who does it with such je ne sais quoi, we're mere putty in his hands. Karnow—father of one of our favorite Traveler photographers, Catherine—penned a lovely account of living in Paris for ten years as a young man, starting in 1947, called Paris in the Fifties. We checked in with him recently to get his pulse on Paris, then and now.

How has Paris changed since you lived there in the 1950s?

You can’t afford it! There’s a phrase, one I use in my book: Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose—the more things change, the more things stay the same. Things have changed tremendously in Paris since my first time, but yet there’s a lot that hasn’t changed. It certainly still ranks as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and its beauty has been greatly enhanced in recent years.

The marvelous thing about a lot of the changes that have taken place is that the French were very good—if they wanted to modernize something, they would maintain the facade and change things internally. You’ll walk by a building from the 17th or 18th century, and the outside is how it always has been, but the inside is air-conditioned and all that.

How do you think the French people have changed?

The whole younger generation of France travels more. There’s a lot of mythology about the French being anti-American. They’re not at all. They love America and come here a lot.

And the new president of France is very pro-American. One of the things that is important is to speak the language. When you speak the language—my French is now fluent—I think the French very much appreciate that. I think if you speak the language you’re way ahead. But now, of course, a lot of French speak English.

Saddling Up with TrustyPony

While we tend to ignore most of the silly travel swag orbiting the blogosphere, that doesn't mean we don't occasionally go weak in the knees over stylish laptop sleeves, totes that compress into keychains, and tiny pirate spyglasses. To that end, IT's Katie Knorovsky was thrilled to discover fellow Drake University alumna Berit Thorkelson had launched TrustyPony, an independent travel goods blog determined to help inspire people "to get out there and explore the world...in style." Check out daily picks and a Global Eye-type photo feature. But first, Berit divulges TrustyPony's backstory as well as a few highlights of her stomping grounds: the Twin Cities.

Why did you start TrustyPony?

I've been a travel writer for over a decade now, and I'd started doing regular travel-gear roundups for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, my hometown paper's Sunday travel section. While researching gear, it struck me that there wasn't an independent, leisure travel-specific shopping blog on the web. I've always been a compulsive traveler, as well as a compulsive solution-finder, so it really made perfect sense that I fill that void. I went live with TrustyPony in July of 2007.

You mentioned on your website that you're "not about more stuff" but "about finding the right stuff." How do you determine what the right stuff is?

For the site, I'm careful not to select stuff that only I would use. Everyone travels quite differently, has different tastes, and each type of trip requires different necessities. I try to mix it up and to be selective, yet open-minded about items. I envision what style of traveler would see what I've posted and get excited about it, because it fulfills a definite need or just because it's an interesting or cool-looking version of something they'll use on a trip. You only get to bring so many things. Best to make them really count.

How can a traveler determine what the right stuff for them is, especially in a time of shrinking baggage allowances?

I’ve always felt as though less is best. I've done month-long backpacking trips overseas where I loaded up a pack with everything I "needed," then started paring down until the bag was less than half full. In the end, I still ended up overestimating and bringing a t-shirt or two I could have done without. So my best piece of advice is to pack a few days in advance, then take three or more items out. Try to select articles of clothing that mix well, so you can get lots of mileage out of each piece. And try to accumulate double-duty clothes that can go from beach to dinner, or sightseeing to the club. That sort of thing. Beyond clothes, it really depends on your trip and your style. An item that might seem unnecessary to one can end up playing an integral part in another's travels.

What are the goods that you don't leave home without?

It depends on the trip. I'm obsessed with luggage and bags, so that's where my thoughts first turn. There's my trusty Kelty backpack, which I've used for over 15 years. It's seen a couple dozen countries and is still kicking. I love my Hideo Wakamatsu three-way carry-on trolley for more urban travel. It has a padded front laptop pocket, made of black basketball rubber, both sleek and durable. And my Yak Pak Chinook bag is the perfect size to act as a purse or a tote. Plus, it's cloth and washable. And super cute. When my husband and I might be sharing the bag, though, he prefers we go with the Haversack, made of recycled bicycle tires. Unisex. Durable. For international travel, gotta carry the all-in-one universal adapters, which have inputs and outputs for different countries in one compact little device. I have a couple of those. And, of course, Moleskine notebooks for recording road thoughts. They have new artsy versions, plus city-specific styles with little maps and such. I could keep going, and going, and going...

Words of Parisian Wisdom from Taras Grescoe

In Traveler’s March issue, renowned travel writer and former Paris resident Taras Grescoe takes readers through the streets of authentic Paris, a city through the eyes of Parisians themselves. IT had the chance to grill Grescoe on his first Parisian encounter, his favorite little rue, and how those Frenchies are holding up under the new smoking ban.

Describe your first meeting with Paris. What stuck with you? What remains the same?

I was bumming around Europe with a rapidly diminishing stock of travelers checks; Paris is where the last of them ran out. I ended up staying for four years, teaching English, living in four different arrondissements, and doing a great deal of walking.

Paris in the 1990s was a somewhat grittier place. Cigarettes cost ten francs a pack, less than two bucks at the time (now they’re five-plus euros), and people smoked everywhere—metro platforms, elevators, toilet stalls (they had convenient ashtrays set above the toilet paper rolls). There were still first-class cars on the metro (identical to second, but less crowded), and cell phones had not become the chief means of flirting and conducting a love affair.

In many ways, Paris has become greener since I lived there. Bicycles are everywhere, as are bike paths. There are far more pedestrian-only sectors, and vast new parks (like the one at Bercy). But Paris is still Paris, and there are still passages, museums, and café-tabacs I’d like to discover. I wouldn’t mind running out of money and getting stranded there all over again.

In Authentic Paris, your friend Hélène Lurçat says that, “Parisians still shop in it [Paris] like it’s a village.” What is your personal favorite petite slice of Parisian “village” life?

I always make a beeline for the Rue Montorgueil in the second arrondissement. It’s a pedestrian street near the former site of Les Halles food market, and it’s full of fishmongers, cheese shops, bakeries, pastry shops. I grab a seat at a café terrace some time before noon (if I can find one—competition can be fierce) and watch the parade: check out which pattern of scarf everybody seems to be wearing this year, which breed of dog is fashionable.

The Not So Lazy Environmentalist

A self-described "passionate yet lazy environmentalist" Josh Dorfman, radio host, environmental entrepreneur, author, and speaker, is anything but lazy. Since starting his satellite radio show, The Lazy Environmentalist, Josh has interviewed people ranging from celebrities to magazine editors highlighting green living, sustainable travel, and more.

What inspired you to start the Lazy Environmentalist?

I felt that a voice was missing from the environmental movement that embraced the realities of our consumption society and instead of guilt-tripping and preaching, strived to make green living fun, attractive, and super convenient. As much as so many of us care about the planet, leading environmentally responsible lives is not always top priority. There’s our careers to attend to, our kids’ soccer practice, and millions of other aspects to our frenetic lives that make going green challenging. My aim is to constantly inform about green choices that actually make our lives better, so that going green becomes something we want to do instead of something we feel compelled to do.

In what ways have your own habits changed since starting your radio show? Are you still lazy?

I’m definitely still lazy, which is why I want green solutions that don’t require me to change my habits. But if changing my habits is required, then I want green options that are cool or save me money or make me healthier. I’m more apt to go green if it’s in my enlightened self-interest – that is, it’s better for the planet and it’s also better for me. “Sacrifice Environmentalism” is a really lousy brand marketing concept. We need smarter thinking, more innovation.

Do you have any examples of innovative ideas that seem to work for you?

I’ve been sampling reusable bags from Envirosax and Flip and Tumble and Angry Little Girls (I love this one). I’m more apt to change my behavior and bring a reusable shopping bag with me to the store if the bag is stylish, convenient, and/or funny. Think about the Toyota Prius. People buy it partly because it saves them money at the pump and it’s better for the environment. But people mostly buy it because they know that when they’re driving it, everyone else on the road sees what a wonderful, enlightened, hero of the planet they are. We need more solutions like that. Relying upon people to “do the right thing” is a losing proposition. Engage people and let them feel really conspicuously good about going green and we’ll get some results. I know a lot of people take issue with me on this, but the question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we want to feel righteous or do we want to be effective? I prefer trying to be effective. 

On Tap with the World's Best Bartender

Photo: Catherine Karnow

Barman extraordinaire Colin Field meticulously crafts cocktails at the Hotel Ritz's Bar Hemingway in Paris, so named because the legendary writer was known to spend quite a bit of time with his belly up to the bar (the hotel, in fact, was his second home). Field, one of the world's most celebrated bartenders (named the world's best in 1997 and 2001 by Forbes magazine), innovates fresh cocktails nightly. He has manned the bar since 1994 and is known to please both regular customers and travelers with his mood-matching concoctions. While researching the "Authentic Paris" cover story in the March issue of National Geographic Traveler, IT's Katie Knorovsky chatted with Field about the Bar Hemingway from his side of the bar.

Happy former customers of yours say you know all the cocktails in the world and that you’ve even invented your own drink tools.

I definitely do not know all the cocktails in the world—cocktails are being invented right now somewhere. However, yes, I do know the vast majority of the classics and semi-classics. And I do invent loads and loads of cocktails every night, most of which I don't even remember either. A lot I write down in a special book if I think that they are really interesting or present a new facet to cocktails—rare!

The Barman Tool was created about four years ago. It is excellent for stirring cocktails, opening bottles, crushing mint and fruit, cutting fruit and taking zests, not to mention smashing ice and pouring layered cream.

Did Hemingway really drink at Le Bar Hemingway, or is the name contrived?

Heavens, most definitely did Hemingway come very, very, often to the Ritz. He was the very good acquaintance of Bertin, the bartender, and his wife. Bertin is not of this world anymore. But his wife and Bertin were very good acquaintances. I spent time with Bertin in his very late 80s to learn more about the Ritz and Hemingway. Believe me—they knew Hemingway very well. I would tell you more but it would be a book. Just take my word.

How Is Your City Feeling?

We can't help but think that Eric Weiner's research for his new book, The Geography of Bliss, would have gone a lot easier if he'd paired up with Erik Krikortz, the installation artist behind Stockholm's Emotional Cities project. The Internet-based artwork asks people to answer a simple question: "How Are You Today?" and rate their feelings on a scale of colorful smiley faces. Factors like how well you slept, whether you had any physical activity, and how inspired you felt are all part of the equation. The results are then averaged and aggregated by region to get a sense of how a city is collectively feeling. Right now, for example, Washington, D.C., is rather green, while the rest of the world is feeling a bit more yellow.

Erik then went further and negotiated with a building company in Stockholm, where he resides, to project the corresponding colors on huge panels on the side of five buildings. (A live Webcam shows how the lights change with Stockholm's moods.) The result is a very public display of the emotional status of the city, sparking conversations about how we interact with each other and influence our feelings. IT Editor Janelle Nanos spoke with Erik about his own feelings on the project, and where he plans to take it next.

What was the impetus for this project? Did you originally envision it as a work of public art?

When I started working on the project one year ago, I had just launched a similar project, Colour By Numbers, together with the architect Milo Lavén and the interaction designer Loove Broms, also based on a light installation connected to an Internet platform. (In Colour by Numbers, people interacted with the light installation using their mobile phones, though.)

All my projects are staged in public space and/or online. I find that these two arenas are the most interesting places where art can meet an audience in a non-inbreed atmosphere. Also my projects are based on the participation of people and they often do not even exist without people taking part.

How did Emotional Cities evolve out of your other work?

When coming up with the original idea for Emotional Cities I was studying psychology, and in my art I was playing around with concepts on how to publicly discuss basic psychological issues with strong connections to society and politics. "How are you today?" has very political implications if you take the question seriously and discuss it on a collective level.

Hence the project was a product of these thoughts around psychology and society. It was both productive and interesting to use a light installation again as a huge communication tool.

Which cities are currently participating in the project? Where do you plan to take the project next?

Almost a thousand cities already participate in the project. At emotionalcities.com anyone can participate and the project has started to spread internationally. The light installation in Stockholm, at Hötorgshusen (the Hötorget buildings) will be up until March 1 and might come back again next autumn when it gets darker.

In February there will be a light installation in Seoul, South Korea. Next autumn there will probably be a major light installation in Washington, D.C. (in time for the U.S. elections). Other Swedish cities are also in the pipeline. I dream of setting up light installations in cities like New York, Paris, and Tokyo.

Why do you think it's important for us to gauge our emotional status not only as individuals, but as a group?

I think the reflection of life is essential for our individual lives and the foundation of our culture. If you know why you feel bad (or good), you can do something about it. The same goes for our society.

Rethinking Shanty Towns

Generally speaking, travelers tend to eschew slums in their urban itineraries. But Robert Neuwirth—a journalist who spent two years living in four squatter communities in Brazil, Kenya, India, and Turkey—considers these shanty towns vibrant neighborhoods worthy of exploration. After all, one in six people on the planet are considered squatters (that’s one billion people), an astounding number expected to triple by the year 2050. His adventures led an influential book on the topic, Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World, as well as a blog, Squatter City. IT's Katie Knorovsky caught up with him recently to get his take on the rise of “poorism”—so-called “reality tours” that offer excursions through urban slums.

What role, if any, should squatter communities play in a responsible traveler’s itinerary?

That’s a difficult question. There’s a phenomenon that goes on in Rio’s Rocinha—normally the [tours] come through the community I lived in. They come through as if on safari—they come in literally on Jeeps. The people in the community are OK with it, but to me as an outsider it was sort of weird. It smacked of "look at the wild animals in their habitat." There was kind of an element of unreality to it. But I do think it’s really important for travelers to understand that these communities exist and that the cities they go through are not just fancy bars and hotels. The desire [to learn about these communities] is really important.

So what would be a better way to learn about squatter communities?

You don’t really understand a community by driving through on a Jeep. If you go to Rio, you should be aware that in many cases the guy serving you breakfast at the hotel probably lives in a favela. If you start asking him questions, you might even get an invitation. That’s a more honest way to go into these areas, and the bulk of the money [for these types of tours] goes to the tour operator.

Or, just walk in, which takes a certain type of person. You have to be clear on where you’re going, and I guess you have to be a calm and confident person who knows what’s going on around them and doesn’t get fazed easily. I’m from New York, and I remember New York from the 70s and 80s. Crime was rampant. You developed this sixth sense—when I walk I can tell who’s walking behind me. But I don’t want to overplay the danger in these communities; 99.9 percent of the time they’re not dangerous at all.

The Inn at Little Washington Celebrates 30 Years

From time to time Hotel Central editor Susan O'Keefe likes to check in with industry folks—from GMs to chefs and housekeeping staff—for a behind-the-scenes chat. She begins with a talk with Patrick O'Connell, proprietor and chef of the acclaimed Inn at Little Washington, an elegant English country hideaway in Rappahannock County, Virginia, tucked in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains about two hours from Washington, D.C.

At the end of this month (Jan. 28), the Inn will celebrate its 30th anniversary. A gala dinner will be held on April 9 in Washington, D.C. that will benefit YouthAIDS. Foodies can snag one of the 500 tickets at $575 per person (includes wine and gratuity). Guests dining at the Inn's five-star restaurant from now until February 8 (except for Tuesdays and Saturdays) will receive a gratis glass of Dom Perignon champagne and a $30 gift certificate compliments of Patrick and his staff.

Happy Anniversary Patrick. After 30 years and receiving nearly every award ever bestowed on a restaurant and inn, where do you go from here?

We just keep going and continue doing what we're passionate about. We're becoming a self-sufficient farmstead with the recent addition of our own agricultural area that includes an orchard of Montmorency cherries—a small but full-of-flavor cherry that will be used in our jellies and clafouti dessert in the restaurant. We're raising a colony of bees for pollination and for creating our own honey, we'll introduce sheep and llamas that will graze in a meadow. We've developed a network of local farmers who custom-grow vegetables that aren't the size of my leg—small zucchini and eggplant that are flavorful. Pathways to this area will link to the inn and cottages and allow guests to walk to the orchards, see what's growing in the herb and vegetable gardens—all featured in our dishes daily.

You added your kitchen ten years ago and designed it to look like the dairy room of Windsor Castle. Anything new being added to the Inn?

This past summer we added the Claiborne House—named for my good friend Craig Claiborne who was the food editor of the New York Times—a fabulous two-bedroom hideaway with its own dining room, a library filled with Craig's cookbooks, living room, media room, and formal garden created by Dutch landscape designer Guy Williams. Craig celebrated his birthday in this house. We also have added the Gamekeeper's Cottage, a two-story retreat that is a departure from the opulent interiors of the Inn, and features a decor that I call "elegant rusticity." It has limestone floors, a stone fireplace, a large soaking tub, and an outdoor dining pavilion with pastoral views.  Every detail looks as if it's been there forever. It will allow guests to have a closer connection to nature.

What are some of the signature elements of the Inn that a guest can expect during their visit?

The Inn offers a sense of place, but also a sense of personality. We gauge every guest's mood from the moment they set foot in the door, and make it our mission to make them happy and have their experience be life-changing. There are fresh flowers everywhere, our Dalmatian greets guests wearing a strand of pearls (appropriate since 30-year anniversaries are celebrated with pearls), tea is served daily in the library, breakfast can be brought to your room, if you prefer.

Riding the Spine

On my recent trip to Guatemala, I encountered Jacob Thompson, a 25-year-old bicycling nomad who, with his two friends Goat and Sean, has embarked on a three-year trip biking the Continental Divide. He'd also just gotten his swimming shorts stolen, but little did I know that that was one of the tamer moments on his journey.

When did this journey begin and how did you plan your route?
The trip began in July of 2006. The route was inspired by the Great Divide Route, a 2,500-mile series of dirt trails from Montana to Mexico along the Rocky Mountains, and was originally planned by Goat and his high school friends but never materialized into anything. After a few years stuck in college, the dream expanded into an off-road bike tour along the Continental Divide spanning the entire length of the Americas. The goal has been to stick to the mountains and dirt trails as much as possible.

How do you know Goat and Sean?
Goat and I were dorm mates freshman year in college and friends ever since.  We built and lived in a tree house 100 feet up in a redwood for the remainder of our time in college through graduate school. Sean was part of our community of friends and jumped on the trip at the very last minute.

Q&A: The Travel Detective

Hotels, traveler's insurance, airlines, passports, children, luggage -- these are all things we have to think about when we travel, before we even get to where we're trying to go. NBC's Today show travel editor Peter Greenberg has the answers to every travel question you could possibly think of, and the answers come neatly packaged in his new book, The Complete Travel Detective Bible: The Consummate Insider Tells You What You Need to Know in an Increasingly Complex World (October 2007). We chatted with Peter to get some extra insider tips for traveling this holiday season.

You claim to have traveled 18 million miles in your lifetime, to more than 146 countries. Is there any place you haven't been that you'd like to see? What is your favorite place to travel?

There's no one place I’m passionate about traveling to that I’ve never been. I’m excited to go everywhere. And my favorite place to travel? Home.

Your book provides countless resources for travelers for every situation -- from traveler's insurance, to the best airports to sleep in, to embassy information, to pet travel tips. What's the first resource you turn to before going on any trip?

The first resource I turn to before going on any trip? A two-word concept we've almost lost in this country: human being. The Internet is not my first choice. It doesn't think creatively. It operates in a linear way. So I always talk to people first -- to get information, to negotiate what I think might be the best airline deal, and THEN, having made the reservation (but not paid for it yet), I then surf the Web. If I can beat the original deal, fine. But I never go to the Web first, because once I hit that keystroke, I’m trapped. And then who do you call? Ghostbusters?

What's one travel item you can't leave home without?

My BlackBerry (and of course, its charger). We don't change our lifestyle when we change our location, although so many of us actually think we do. Connectivity – or at least keeping the connectivity option – is essential for me.

Quizzing Peter Sagal

As host of NPR’s Chicago-based news quiz show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” for the past 10 years, the hilariously clever Peter Sagal has hopscotched across the country to tape countless shows, from Beloit, Wisconsin, to Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and everywhere in-between. Sagal draws fans as he goes, amassing 2.5 million listeners who tune in each week. IT quizzed him recently on his favorite haunts, both in Chicago and on the road.

How does being based in Chicago affect the show?

Ultimately, being in Chicago is a great thing. It has disadvantages, sure, but even the disadvantages are advantages. Big disadvantage: It’s not New York or D.C. or L.A. Because we’re here, we don’t have the same access to the celebrities and news and gossip, because we’re not in the same circuit. But that’s kind of a good thing, too. We’re on our own, doing our own thing, pleasing ourselves.

Being outside of the circuits of politics and entertainment frees us up a bit…There ain’t no cocktail parties here, or at least we’re not getting invited to them, so we have this freedom to do what we want. We’re just these guys in Chicago.

We recently covered the rise in debauchery tourism. What surprised you while doing research for your new book, The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)?

Writing my book, I became aware that this is a part of the tourism industry and am now strangely aware that there are a lot of things I could do if I wanted to anywhere, all there lurking under the surface.

Somebody told me in Las Vegas that in Vegas, they’re selling a commercialized version of hedonism. But the city in America with the biggest number of sex workers per capita is not New York, or Vegas, but Portland, Oregon. My wife and I went to Mary’s Club, the oldest strip club in Portland, which is this family-run business. The owner’s daughters run the place, and we’re chatting with this woman who works there—who looks like a Starbucks barista and is talking about how great the place is—and meanwhile while she’s telling us this a stark naked woman is displaying her innermost mysteries to some guys drinking beer.

Berlinski on "Woman Marries Snake"

I recently found myself entranced by an article by Mischa Berlinski, a 34-year-old novelist who traveled to India with his fiancé last year and ended up in a gripping adventure following Bimbala Das, a woman in a remote village who had married a snake because she thought she was cursed. The result, a thoughtful take on a much publicized, greatly misunderstood event, is “Woman marries snake: A peculiar Indian love story,” published in the November 2007 issue of Harper’s. Bimbala, who changed her caste in order to marry the reclusive reptile, became one of those strange news items that fade quicker than you can say “snakes on a plane.” But Berlinski had different ideas. He had just penned his first novel, Fieldwork, (which was a finalist for the National Book Award) and had notions of becoming a cultural anthropologist. So he hired a translator, and drove into a place so humid that his glasses fogged over. He answered a few of our questions about his adventure:

Why did you seek out Bimbala Das after reading her story in the news?

I think part of traveling in India is being confronted every single day with so many mysterious things. You're always asking yourself: Why does he dress like that or act like that? I wanted to try and get to the bottom of just one strange Indian story. That this story caught on in the West made the story even more interesting.

Where is Atala and how did you get there?

Atala village is about 15 kilometers from Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa State. We came by train from Tamil Nadu, in the deep south. I don't know if you've ever taken an Indian train, but it's a wonderful experience. We rode second-class AC, and shared a compartment with a Mr. Aggarwal, Mr. Aggarwal's old college friend, and their families. (It was Mr. Aggarwal's theory that Bimbala married the snake "just to be famous," which as it turns out wasn't so far from the truth.) The children, as I recall, were very noisy, and like to jump from bunk to bunk. Outside the window, there were low flat rice paddies and sometimes a glimpse of the sea and little villages and always another crossing, with motorized rickshaws and motorcycles and bullock carts lined up waiting for us to go by.

Did you tell the people in the village that you were a writer? An anthropologist?

I told them I was a journalist. But I'm not sure that the distinctions between a writer, a journalist, and an anthropologist would have been meaningful at all to the people in Atala, and certainly not to Bimbala or her Guru. The thing that the people of Atala understood chiefly about me was that I was a foreigner, and white, and outside of the caste system. They organized me mentally first by this fact, then by my religion, and then by my marital status, far more than my profession.

Tragedy of the Common Runway

Airline troubles seem to be in the news nonstop these days, with ongoing reports about flight delays, airport gridlock, and NASA’s controversial decision to withhold the results of a survey on airline near-collisions. So IT checked in with air-traffic expert John Hansman, director of MIT’s International Center for Air Transportation, for his take on the hot air travel topics of the day.

What do you think about NASA withholding their study on flight safety from the public?

The issue is complex. I think it’s important to protect the pilots who reported the data—it’s important to have studies like this where people are free to identify problems, and it’s important not to compromise them. Now, I think NASA did not do a particularly good job handling that—and their explanation for not releasing the data was weak—but there are valid reasons for withholding the study.

What's In a Map?

Mark Ovenden's new book, Transit Maps of the World, a is vibrant 144-page tip of the hat to the world’s urban train systems. From the unusual Hamburg diagram, which lacks curves, to the pitchfork prongs of Buenos Aires, Oveden navigates the history of maps as they have evolved over time. After paging through the lovely volume, we tapped his expertise with a few questions of our own.

What is your favorite transit map?

I'm very keen on the current Moscow map for it's simplification of a complex network into pure geometry; the Paris one as I use it every day, and the London Tube diagram for it's historical contribution to good practice in urban rail map design.

How are transit maps connected to our sense of place?

Because subway maps are so prevalent in society, they have, in some places at least, virtually replaced the physical geography of the city in the minds of their inhabitants. This is especially true of the more iconic maps like Washington, New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo. When the Madrid map (based on 30 degree diagonals) was replaced this year with a highly trendy looking but relatively stark diagram made up only of perpendicular horizontals and verticals, the local population reacted angrily as many had learned the feel of the city from the old map!

How do you recommend travelers tackle foreign metro systems?

• Find out before you descend how to tell which direction the trains run in: Some systems use the Inbound/Outbound or North/South/East/West-bound idea. Many others use the terminal station to show the direction they’re heading in. You may have to check lights on the front of each train, side panels, or announcements to know how far or which way your train is running.
• Make sure you have the best value ticket—it’s easy to over- or underpay for a journey. Fines can be high if you ride too far, and day passes are often better value than buying lots of singles.
• Be streetwise, even below ground! Be respectful of local customs and always try to be polite. You may be the only person offering your seat to a pensioner, but better to be performing acts of random kindness than behaving like a cocky tourist.
• Make sure you know the time the system shuts: You probably don’t want to risk being miles away from where you are staying because the last train left ten minutes ago!

Bringing Meaning to Urban Design

IT caught up with urban designer Ron Fleming at a recent APA symposium on green planning. We spoke with him about the subject of his latest book The Art of Placemaking, which discusses the importance of public art in creating meaningful destinations and homes. 

What is the art of placemaking?

Placemaking is a way of thinking about urban design to maximize a people’s connection to the history, land, flora, and fauna of where they are from. It’s a way to anchor people to their locale.

Why is that important?

It makes people care about where they are from. It gives them a sense of proprietorship and belonging. It creates respect and decreases vandalism.

Welcome to Dot Earth

Returning to the Wanderlust in 1980 on a dhoni 'manned' by boys. 

We were very pleased to see that last week, the editors over at the New York Times added another great blog to their mix: Dot Earth, which will focus on sustainability and climate change and is written by science reporter Andrew C. Revkin. In his introductory slide show, Revkin describes how much of his reporting has been informed by his varied travels, so we decided to ask him to delve a bit deeper about the place where travel and sustainability collide.

Before you became a reporter, you sailed around the world. Can you tell us a bit about that experience and how it led you to do what you're doing now?

As a senior about to graduate Brown University with a biology bachelor's degree (I had visions of being a marine biologist, thanks to Jacques Cousteau), I won a fellowship allowing me to pursue a proposal to study "man's relationship to the sea" in some isolated villages on islands—Fetuna, Raiatea, and a couple of places in the Tuamotus, in French Polynesia.

After a few months, I headed to New Zealand for a big international science conference and while in Auckland saw a sign that said simply: "Crew Wanted, Yacht Wanderlust, headed to Mediterranean. Inquire Marsden Wharf." I'd grown up in Rhode Island sailing, but not bluewater cruising. Nevertheless, that was hard to pass up. I sent a letter back to the fellowship committee at my school and said I was going to study man's relationship to the sea in a more intimate way. . .

I was on the boat for 17 months, 15,000 miles, and about 15 countries as we sailed around Australia, through Indonesia, across the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea, and around the Mediterranean. I saw the splendor of untouched reefs, the troubles created by poverty and pollution, we almost sank twice, and all of that prompted me to take a lot of photographs and return planning to be a writer, not a scientist.