Intelligent Travel

Hostel Hopping 2.0

We'd like to welcome Traveler's newest intern, Carolyn Beeler to the mix. She'll be our go-to blog girl, so be sure to make her feel welcome.

Backpacking doesn’t need to be the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants endeavor it once was. Though true vagabonds might scoff at the notion of planning ahead, most of us like to know we have a clean, safe place to sleep when we arrive in a new city, even if we are of the more adventurous (read: cash-strapped) breed of traveler. Thanks to a slew of hostel search websites, travelers with an Internet connection and a credit card can easily book beds online before they leave or during an earlier leg of the trip. And perhaps more importantly, given the number of hostel horror stories that are out there (lice, anyone?), travelers can read user reviews and ratings for each property.

Most sites have databases of properties, searchable by city, price, and rating, and many provide a forum for users to post and answer questions. Many also allow users to limit by accommodation type—hostel, budget hotel, campground, etc. Europeanhostels.com, which, contrary to its name, includes listings from around the world, is my current favorite. With the most search criteria of any site I’ve found, the intuitive interface allows users to search by popularity, price, name, rating, and proximity to the city center. The results of your search are prescreened for availability based on your travel dates, and are accompanied by a Google map, which marks each property and features an embedded photo and address. But since it was relaunched just last week, the reviews and customer rankings are predictably lacking.

In the meantime, check out hostels.com, which has plenty of user reviews. It also remembers your locations and dates even after you close your browser, saving you a few seconds of typing if you’re shopping around. Hostelworld.com stands out for its “quick compare” feature, which allows you to view the details of several hostels in the same screen. Another handy feature: Both sites break the ratings down into six criteria, from cleanliness to character, so you have a better idea of what to expect from your temporary pad.

One catch: The sites tack on a booking fee for each reservation. Not very budget friendly, eh? Most of the charges are minimal, though (and hostels.com offers to forgo the booking fee if you sign up for their mailing list). While no amount of research will ensure that every place you bunk is clean, well-managed, and in a great location, the Internet (once again) has taken some of the guesswork out of travel. Happy surfing!

Photo: Travelers relax at a hostel in Genoa, by rivos

Minnesota Greenroutes

Writer and  National Geographic Green Guide "Ecopolitan" blogger Jay Walljasper often contributes to Traveler's Destination Watch Department, and today he sends along a dispatch from the wilds of Minnesota.

While Lake Wobegon is a figment of humorist Garrison Keillor’s imagination, the small towns he celebrates each week on his show A Prairie Home Companion are real. A drive through the Minnesota countryside introduces you to a land of Old World Lutheran churches, cafés with daily hot-dish specials, and other charming local attractions. Now an innovative website devoted to authentic travel, Greenroutes.org, can help you plan such a trip. It’ll guide you to Spring Grove, where you stroll down a Main Street that feels more Norwegian than American, then to a tour of a more than 100-year-old plant where soda pop is made the old-fashioned way (with cane sugar...and no caffeine). It’ll also direct you to a Native American café at a highway crossroad on the White Earth Reservation, which has buffalo and wild rice on the menu.

Greenroutes.org is the brainchild of Minnesotan Brett Olson, who conceived the idea after going on camping trips in the West and on a voyage exploring beyond-the-guidebook sights in Europe. He and several friends thought it would be fun to do the same thing back home and went to work finding unique attractions that promoted environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The site now details more than 110 unique locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin, which was just added recently. Next up on the Greenroutes.org agenda: the states of Washington and Arizona, and upstate New York.

Photo: Early Morning Minnesota, courtesy Brett Olson

Exploring Israel: What Would Jesus Eat?

Travel writer and guidebook author Andrew Evans has just returned from a trip to Israel, where his eating experiences were downright heavenly.

 “Don’t eat too much bread” seems odd counsel coming from the guy who baked it, but Israeli chef Moshe Basson doesn’t want me filling up on carbs, no matter how great it tastes. As a leader in the slow food movement, he values patience and tradition–the menu at his Jerusalem restaurant, Eucalyptus, is fully inspired by the Bible. Strange herbs mentioned in the Book of Psalms turn up in his appetizers and the kitchen prefers clay pots to Tupperware. The chef’s attempts at classic Old Testament meals are sinfully delicious, like his lentil soup with boiled yellow lentils and hyssop, or the braised lamb with pomegranate.

As the world becomes increasingly health conscious, both Jew and Gentile have renewed their focus on a Mediterranean diet and the natural products of the Holy Land, namely figs, barley, wheat, grapes, dates, olives, cheese, and fish. What’s more, because Israel suffers from a severe water shortage, sustainable agriculture has been a way of life ever since Noah’s ark. My drive across the Judaean desert took me past the kiwi-fruit kibbutz and date plantations that keep Europe in fresh fruit. “Clean and green” is the new culinary mantra there, and it seems like every rooftop gutter directs runoff to a nearby fruit tree.

Travelers in the land of milk and honey should check out Mizpe Hayamim, a self-proclaimed “health farm” surrounded by clean air and mountain views of the Sea of Galilee. The organic kitchen supplies two in-house restaurants (one vegetarian) with the same local ingredients mentioned in the Gospels. The daily catch of tilapia is still known as “St. Peter’s Fish” and served with lemon butter sauce and baked vegetables. The farm animals are all free-range and hormone-free, and whatever food gets left on your plate goes back to their trough. Also, the goats, sheep, cows (and buffalo) are milked to create well over a dozen types of cheeses, all of which appear on the breakfast buffet. But my favorite touch was the 24-hour “tea bar” loaded with fresh herbs, all picked that day (apparently, a cup of sage tea cures jet lag).

The Radar: IT's Weekly Web Reconnaissance

The Radar

Each week, Intelligent Travel offers up a host of interesting travel tidbits, but even we admit that our cup runneth over when it comes to fascinating facts. So we've compiled a weekly compendium of the things we've found on the web, and share them with you.

North America

-A Travelzoo.com poll reports that 82% of Americans are planning to stay home for the July 4th weekend due to increased energy costs. However, according to another poll by Reuters/Zogby, only 39% were considering changing vacation plans, which probably means most were staying home anyway. [Global news & trivia]  

-Meanwhile, Canadians are considering giving up exotic fruit and meats to cope with increased energy costs. [Global news & trivia] 

-Florida to buy missing Everglades link. [History & world heritage]  

-Pack your bidding paddle: An unused life jacket from the Titanic will be sold at auction in New York this month. [Global news & trivia]

-For the first time in human history, there will be no ice in the North Pole. [Environment & wildlife] 

-A Reuters reporter spent four days in Los Angeles, California, test-driving a fuel-cell car. [Global news & trivia]  

-Foreign Policy lists five good reasons to love 4-dollar gas. [Web & blog news]  

South America

-Brazil confiscated 3,100 head of cattle, illegally raised in an ecological reserve in Pará state. They hope this warns rogue ranchers against illegal livestock grazing throughout the Amazon region. [Environment & wildlife] 

Can’t Make it to Beijing? Go to Eugene!

The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing may be over a month away, but there's still time to catch some Olympic action stateside at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for track and field, held June 27 through July 6 in Eugene, Oregon. My hometown of Eugene, lovingly known as Track Town USA, is a mecca for runners who come to literally follow in the footsteps of running legends. But I can testify that you don’t have to be a runner to appreciate what Eugene has to offer. 

For the fourth time, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held at the historic Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus. Hayward has been home to Ducks track and field since its construction in 1919 and is the place to go to get a track and field fix. Check out statues of stadium namesake Bill Hayward, who built up the Ducks’s track and field program in the 44 years he served as coach, and Bill Bowerman, who coached the legendary Steve Prefontaine and also co-founded Nike. 

Hayward Field has been expanded by 6,000 seats for the trials, but if you don’t have a ticket head to Eugene 08 Festival happening just outside of the stadium. This free, sustainable festival is open to everyone and will have two jumbo screens with simulcast of the events, a solar-powered entertainment stage, sports bar, food court (try a burrito from Ritta's Burritos), along with interactive exhibits and kid-friendly areas. Buses will provide shuttle service and a bike and skateboard valet will be available to keep the carbon footprint down.

For a break from the action, wander onto the beautiful 295-acre U of O campus. Check out the exhibits at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Take in the beautiful old buildings like Deady Hall and new modern marvels like the LEED-certified Lillis Business Complex. Grab a seat in Columbia Hall 150 to catch one of the films in the first Running Film Festival, (screening times won’t interfere with trial times for all the die-hard fans). Or head to the 1873 Pioneer Cemetery across from McArthur Court for a nice stroll among old gravestones and towering Douglas firs. 

Cinematic Road Trip: Indiana

John Ur makes a play at picking the best films of Indiana, the Hoosier State.

Let's start with the obvious. If you were going to name a film Home in Indiana, where would you shoot it? If you guessed Indiana, you’d be wrong. Most of the film was shot in Kentucky. How about The Hoosier Schoolmaster? Though it was made three separate times between 1914 and 1935, it was never shot in Indiana. But the Hoosier State hasn’t been completely left out in the cold. Of those movies that were shot in Indiana, two of them are some of the most famous school sports stories of all time.

The name Hoosier has an unconfirmed origin. Some believe it evolved from a slurring of words like “who’s there” to “Who’sh’ere?” The word could have referred to boatmen, who after successfully “hushing” up opponents in a brawl were known as “hushers.” Another folk tale refers to a man named Samuel Hoosier who hired men to work on the Louisville and Portland Canal. These men came to be known as “Hoosier’s Men” or “Hoosier’s.” The use of the word was, and can still be in some areas, derogatory taking the meaning of slow, derelict or irresponsible. But one movie was able to go a long way in turning that meaning on its head.

The 1986 film, Hoosiers, about an underdog high school basketball team from the small (fictional) town of Hickory, Indiana, is considered one of the top 10 all-time sports movies. Its inspiring storyline launched a league of imitations, all hoping to capitalize on the film's success: Down and out ragtag team gets a new coach with a new style that clashes with the old. After arguments and turmoil, the team comes together and starts to play bigger than themselves, culminating in a most unlikely of championships. Must be Hollywood putting a spin on reality, right? Wrong. The story was inspired by Milan High School’s 1954 Indiana state championship victory.

New Richmond, Indiana, starred in Hoosiers as the town of Hickory. Today, there are signposts around town commemorating the locations represented in the film. Greg Guffey’s book “The Greatest Basketball Story Ever Told” explains how the town still revels in its adopted  role: “As [the fictional] Milan the town still lives for ’54, so does New Richmond  the town live for ’86 and Hoosiers. A small sign hangs under the customary town marker. ‘Welcome to Hickory,’ it reads. The post office has ‘Hickory, Ind.’ under its regular New Richmond identification.”

Jenss Family Travels: Where in the World is Swaziland?

In just a few days, Rainer Jenss and his family will set off for a year to travel the world. They'll be blogging about their adventures here at Intelligent Travel, and today Rainer offers up his itinerary for where they're headed.

Searching for Swaziland

When putting together an itinerary for an around-the-world trip with the help of an eight-year-old and an eleven-year-old, there are going to be some pretty interesting requests. Stefan (8) learned of Swaziland through a piece of a world map puzzle we worked on together to familiarize the kids with different countries. He said wanted to go there because he liked the name. I explained that we would not go there specifically, but we’d be really close by when we visit South Africa. Fortunately, he quickly learned that saying "Namibia," "Botswana," and "Tanzania" sounded pretty cool too.

As we prepare to head out next week, we‘ve come up with the following game plan, knowing that we’ll have to comply with our around-the-world airline ticket, weather considerations, transportation and lodging logistics, and of course, budget. Here's what we've worked out so far.

July – August, 2008: Drive across the U.S. and Canada
We figured we’d start on our home turf to ease into the trip; it will provide us with a good foundation for what lies ahead. But we do plan to get our first passport stamps while visiting Montreal and Quebec City.

September: China
Arriving in Beijing shortly after the Olympics, we’ll head on a two-week “Inside China” tour with National Geographic Expeditions. This should make watching the Games a little more interesting.

Sept/October: Japan
What boy wouldn’t want to visit the birthplace of Nintendo, Pokemon, and in the case of my guys, sushi?  To do so within our budget, we visited the Japan National Tourist Organization, which helped put together an itinerary that provided us with unique access to the “real Japan.” We're looking forward to a professional Japanese baseball game between the SoftBank Hawks and Nippon Ham Fighters in Fukuoka. But who do we root for? Stefan wants to know. Good question.

Early October: Bhutan
We’ll be four of only about a few thousand visitors allowed into this Himalayan country each year.  It’s rugged, beautiful, and very remote, and it measures success not with GNP, but by Gross National Happiness.

Water Falls in the New York Harbor

A new high-profile spectacle flowed into New York this week, courtesy of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The New York City Waterfalls—riding high with a $15-million price tag—is the city’s loftiest public art installation since “The Gates,” when saffron-colored ribbon shimmied atop more than 7,500 gates throughout Central Park in 2005. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the installation will inspire a wonder akin to what the Danish settlers felt when they first stumbled upon New Amsterdam (they apparently looked at the shoreline and compared it to the Garden of Eden.) Though we're not convinced the project will channel visions of paradise among jaded New Yorkers, Bloomberg seems to expect that it’s certain to cause passersbys to slow their steps and gape, if only for a moment. 

The larger-than-life waterfalls flow from four giant spigots affixed to the New York shoreline (Pier 35, by the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo, near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and on the north shore of Governors Island). Two of the falls rival Lady Liberty in height and are “three-quarters the height of Niagara Falls,” according to Bloomberg, the project’s über-cheerleader.

"America's Front Yard" in Disrepair

The Washington Post has been running a series of interesting articles about the deterioration of "America's front yard," Washington D.C.'s National Mall. The grounds surrounding the monuments and tidal basin are National Park Service property, and the service says they're owed more than $350 million in maintenance fees. Which means that if you wander the Mall you'll find rusty toilet fixtures, cracked pavement, dusty lawns, algae-filled reflecting pools, and a host of other signs of wear and tear. (I know, I've seen most of these things myself.) More than 25 million visitors come to the Mall each year–that's more than the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite parks combined–but there are only 100 toilets, 54 rangers, and three places to buy water. Though the monuments still inspire, their surrounding environs are less than impressive.

A few groups have sprung up to help address these concerns. The Trust for the National Mall is working to raise funds and refurbish the space, using a model similar to that of the Central Park Conservancy, which revitalized New York City's grand backyard after years of disuse. They launched last month and are working to raise over $500 million in donations (right now there's a volunteer section on the Trust's website, but no information on how to donate your time quite yet). And the Mall Conservancy is seeking to expand the boundaries of the Mall for future exhibitions and museums, and help in the long-term planning efforts to revitalize the space. A bunch of task forces have been formed to create a National Mall Day, improve the quality of visitor and welcome centers, and promote performance and art activities. Their site has a great section about the Mall's history, and a variety of proposals for taking Pierre L'Enfant's plan into it's third century.

All I can say is: Amen. I got to enjoy the efforts of the Central Park Conservancy during my time in New York, but it will be a long time before I pack a blanket and head down to the Mall. Besides being overrun with people, there are too few amenities to make it an enjoyable excursion. You go there with a mission in mind: See the cherry blossoms, visit the Smithsonian, or if you're one of the many D.C. leagues, to play in a softball game. But hopefully with these efforts, I can start feeling like it's my own little front yard.

What are your impressions of the National Mall? What do you think can be done to make it better?

Photo: courtesy of the National Coalition to Save our Mall

Following in Fossey's Footsteps

38 years ago, Dian Fossey wrote about her encounters with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo, offering a first fascinating peek at how these elusive apes behave in the wild. National Geographic published her account in the January 1970 issue of the magazine, and just republished it this month, along with the original memorable photos, on the NatGeo website, to coincide with the July cover story "Who Murdered the Virunga Gorillas?" Fossey's patient, painstaking work with mountain gorillas convinced the world that these gentle, intelligent creatures were worth protecting, and years later a successful mountain gorilla tourism program was born in Virunga National Park, bringing income and education to local people who trained as wildlife rangers and trackers, and allowed carefully limited views of the gorillas in their native habitat. That success was shattered last year when seven mountain gorillas, known and loved by tourists and the rangers, were mysteriously and inexplicably murdered. 

Despite this setback, several nonprofits are still actively helping to protect the gorillas and the rangers, including the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. I happened across a blog by McGill University student Sarah Conner from Montreal, who landed a plum internship in Rwanda this summer working for Fossey's foundation. She'll be reporting "on all the programs that Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International helps fund. So I am going to visit all the schools, clinics, and biodiversity programs and interview those involved."  She's got great photos, and you can follow along with her here. More about the Virunga gorillas, and an upcoming National Geographic Channel documentary about them, here.

UPDATE:  A new video about the gorilla murders is now available on the National Geographic site.

Photo: baby mountain gorilla by Tristan 27 via Intelligent Travel Flickr pool.

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