Intelligent Travel

Crabcakes and ... Buggy Rides

My mom grew up in Pennsylvania, so when my boyfriend and I spent some quality time with my parents a few weekends ago, it only seemed right that the setting was a verified Amish market.

Just outside historic Annapolis, in a little shopping center called Annapolis Harbour, we found hordes of Marylanders taking a break from crab cakes and football to indulge in shoofly pies, handmade pretzels, and more varieties of salad (potato, shrimp, pasta, cucumber, egg, jello…) than seem necessary.

Open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, the PA Dutch Market is as traditional and authentic as any I've seen in Pennsylvania (aside from the patrons clad in Baltimore Ravens jerseys, of course). According to the market's website, all the merchants are from Lancaster County, PA, and the prepared dishes are made from heirloom Amish recipes.

Walking into the store, you run into wooden furniture, but after that nearly everything is edible. Fresh-baked breads crowd the counter next to the ovens where they were baked. Bags of grains, tubs of candy-colored sugars, and jars of fruit preserves line the shelves. The mix-and-match whoopie pies—any combination of six varieties for $5.95—means you can bring home this classic Amish treat in a range of novel flavors: peanut butter, mint, and banana, in addition to the standard chocolate and cream.

This Old Thing? Flea Markets in Geneva

Friend of IT Kathryn Dill is spending her summer working in Geneva. As a recent college grad with a limited budget, she shares her favorite way to save in one of the most expensive spots in Europe (and that's saying a lot).

Is your fondue pot just crying out for a new burner? Do you need a Barbie doll sans la tête—guillotined decades ago during the course of childish play? How about copper kitchen utensils or elegant, hand-embroidered table linens? Discount surplus household goods? A clock whose pendulum may have once swung in an 18th-century salon? 

Whatever your desires, from the refined to the eccentric, from the voyeuristic to the neurotic, from the practical to the downright bizarre, the market at Plainpalais in Geneva has everything your heart could desire, at a price your wallet can accommodate.

Strollers, shoppers, and the ambiguously intrigued can amble along the rows of stalls every Wednesday and Saturday, digging through dog-eared stacks of Tintin comics and Victorian pornography. Amidst the high sheen of impeccably maintained fine wood antique furniture and the tacky appeal of paperback novels and bent toaster tongs, the most highly-trained antique enthusiasts and the average flea-market-goers alike can find something to strike their fancy. 

But the market shouldn’t be dismissed as just another place to dig up an eccentric gem destined to one day find its way into your own yard sale heap. In a city consistently ranked one of the most expensive in the world, where a significant part of the population is comprised of an ever-changing, transient group of internationals attached to the United Nations and myriad NGOs that call Geneva “HQ,” the market at Plainpalais is also a viable source of economically priced essentials.

Carry Your State Pride on Your Arm

For me, a cross-country road trip is just about the only good use for a car (that, and perhaps hauling furniture and unwieldy goods). Sure, the prices at the gas pump are soaring, but that doesn’t make the romance of a Kerouac-style journey any easier to dismiss. Think charming roadside diners, on-a-whim detours, ridiculous billboards, delightfully tacky souvenirs…ah, summer bliss.

But wait, you don’t want shot glasses and magnets for every state you traverse? Fret not, at least those of you ladies in the crowd, for Star 50 Handbags has a solution to your souvenir conundrum. Their Star 50 Collection offers special-edition totes and clutches inspired by iconic state attributes, from the Arizona Rattler or Arkansas Diamond Digger to the Connecticut Commuter, Utah Sport Tote, and Washington, D.C., Blossom. Artist and fashionista Amity Cooper dreamed up the line, drawing on her love for travel and ’40s and ’50s nostalgia.

So when you return from your journey, you can pick and choose which state(s) you want to commemorate (though, admittedly, Cooper hasn't quite spanned the country yet, more bags are always in the works). Even better? Star 50 donates a portion of its annual proceeds to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Every Star 50 handbag reflects some of the greatest features of a state, so we’re very interested in preserving the best attributes of the places you live in or visit,” explains Star 50’s website.

Not particularly in the market for a handbag? Star 50’s website is still worth a gander for its trove of state facts, many of which helped inspire the designs of each bag. For instance, I’m well aware of Iowa’s Strawberry Point, home to the world’s largest strawberry (in the form of a big strawberry sculpture perched atop the city hall) and a regular pit stop of childhood treks to my grandparents’ house in northern Iowa, so I would be proud to carry an Iowa Sweetberry clutch. But I had no idea that Iowa’s arch-nemesis (at least in terms of misspoken state names), Idaho, has hosted a tug-of-war contest held over a pit of mashed potatoes since 1927.

Speaking of geo-trivia, don’t forget about Traveler’s highly addictive WorldWise quizzes.

Photo: courtesy Star 50 Handbags

Coffee with an $11,000 Price Tag

As I deliberated over coffee beans in my neighborhood grocery store, the guy next to me struck up a conversation. It was run-of-the-mill small talk at first, but soon he was swooning over Grape + Bean, a combo wine-and-coffee shop that had just opened in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. Clearly still on a caffeine high from his visit, he was positively rapturous over the “best cup of coffee he’d ever had.” Intrigued, I pressed for details—after all, anyone who knows me at all understands coffee is my true love (sorry, Noah). And a couple of weeks later, I hopped on D.C.’s Metro on a pilgrimage to check the place out for myself. 

Just off bustling King Street in Alexandria’s adorable Old Town, Grape + Bean beckons with a cozy-but-classy feel (hardwood floors, exposed brick walls) and a friendly barista manning the coffee bar’s coveted gem: the much-buzzed-over Clover, only one of about 200 such high-end machines scattered throughout the world that brews coffee (not espresso) on a cup-by-cup basis. Produced by a small Seattle company, the machine costs a mean $11,000 and is for the bean connoisseur, or, really, anyone who’s willing to shell out more than $3 for a cup of joe. Sort of like a French press, the Clover precisely micro-manages each variable of the brewing process (temperature, time, et al), ensuring each cup’s quality is consistent. At Grape + Bean, each cup steeps for 44 seconds, though you can request longer or shorter if you know what you want.

Slate’s Paul Adams managed to get his hands on a Clover to tinker with the brewing process. In his words: “I'm sure I'm not the first Clover user to experience a quick flashback to a vivid childhood memory—watching, horrified, as Darth Vader lowers Han Solo into his carbonite freezer.”

The Genuine Article: Brazilian Lace

Traveler's Shopping Guide columnist Laura Morelli is off to Brazil this month to learn about renda di bilros, the craft of bobbin lace. Explaining its history, she writes:

[It] came to Brazil along with Portuguese colonists who claimed its beautiful northeastern coastline as their own in the 17th century. Portugal already counted a rich tradition of lacemaking, and colonists continued the practice in the New World. Mostly the province of women, lacemaking was passed down from mothers to daughters, who learned by watching and repeating their motions.

Crafting lace is tedious, requiring as many as 50 bobbins pinned to a firm pillow, the workspace for the lacemaker.

Lacemakers complete the pattern by winding and overlapping the threads from the bobbins to create a distinctive weave. Experienced lacemakers work at a rapid pace that, on the surface, seems effortless. Their wooden bobbins click together as they render circles, stars, rosettes, and more complex motifs like scrolls, animals, leaves, and flowers.

To learn more about Brazilian lace, check out this month's Shopping Guide column, and don't miss other shopping tips from Rajasthan, India, to Paris, France. To learn more about Brazil, check out the March 2008 issue of Traveler.

Photo: Imagebroker/Alamy

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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...

Eat and Shop Better

For eager wanderers like us, browsing a bookstore’s travel guidebook section tends to stir raw and conflicting emotions: lust, for the thrill of a new adventure; ennui, for the too-often trite content; and angst, for the endless options from which to choose.

After all, no matter how off-the-beaten-track you consider your destination, chances are likely the bookshelf holds at least a handful of guidebooks promising to be your travel bible. And while we strongly believe that the best way to experience travel is by immersing yourself in a place full-throttle—not with your nose in a book—there’s no denying the added confidence a guidebook provides in unfamiliar territory.

So when we heard about Portland-based eat.shop guides, we were eager to learn more. The guidebook series only features local shops and restaurants—such as Manhattan's Saxelby Cheesemongers (pictured) in Essex Street Market—so you can support establishments with local color instead of generic big-box stores and chain restaurants and hotels.

“We believe that for travelers, patronizing locally owned businesses is so integral to the real experience of any city,” eat.shop’s Emily Mattson explained to us. “Especially in the U.S., it's too easy to stay within your comfort zone while traveling: drinking Starbucks, for example, because you recognize the logo on the street. Why not go to Ristretto Roasters here in Portland, for example, where the owner, roaster, and barista are passionate about what they're serving you?”

The Genuine Article: Parisian Passementerie

Traveler's authentic shopping columnist Laura Morelli is back this month with an lesson in scouting out the ornamental trimmings, fringes, tassels, and pom-poms that make up the distinctively French art of passementerie .  This "art of embellishment" fed the desires of wealthy French nobles for opulent flair on nearly everything they could touch. Morelli writes:

The French monarchy and noble classes kept the city's artisans busy churning out deluxe interior fabrics and table settings, prestigious coaches, along with shimmering jewelry, lace collars and cuffs, custom shoes, and powdered wigs to adorn themselves as fancifully as their abodes.

Though sadly, the popularity of powdered wigs has declined, Paris remains the world's fashion capital thanks to the work of these artisans. Morelli writes that authentic passementerie shops can still be found in pockets of the city:

Some of today's best artisan passementiers are clustered in the Bastille district of southeastern Paris. In the Middle Ages, this area of town was home to the furniture trade guilds: cabinetmakers, joiners, metalworkers, and specialists in inlay and marquetry. Today, though undergoing gentrification, the area retains some of the flavor of an old-fashioned working-class district, with hole-in-the-wall workshops that transport visitors light years away from the posh avenues of the rest of the Right Bank.

Read more: Check out Traveler's website to find Morelli's current article and to see her columns from months past. Look through IT's own archive of shopping tips. And visit Traveler's Authentic Shopping guide before heading out on your next trip to ensure you can do better than souvenir T-shirts this time.

Photo: Jacqui Hurst/Corbis

Elvis, Je t'aime

Those of you still lamenting the demise of the Elvis is Alive Museum take heart, as you can always head across the pond to get more of the charismatic crooner. The International Herald Tribune reports that the Elvis My Happiness boutique, located not far from the Louvre, offers up a variety of objets for fans of "Le King." The store is run by a French fan club, and it's proprietor believes that Elvis' European fans are more passionate than their American counterparts, in part because he never performed in Europe (though he visited Paris on a tour with the U.S. Army). Check out this video for a slice of that passion.

The Genuine Article: Chinese Silk

We're loving Laura Morelli's new column for Traveler's website, The Genuine Article. This month, to tie in with our China-centric issue, Laura guides us through the process of buying traditional Chinese silk. She writes:

Many travelers to China are overwhelmed by the choices for silk fabrics, garments, and smaller accessories. The number of silk shops in Shanghai and Beijing alone is staggering. For the most authentic shopping experience, head to one of the regions known for silk. The city of Suzhou, west of Shanghai, for example, developed a reputation as a silk capital because its silk-makers turned out imperial garments from the seventh to the early 20th centuries under the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties. At the Suzhou Silk Museum, you can view silks dating back to the seventh century, and train your eye for the many silk shops and factories that lure travelers across the region.

We had no idea, for example, that the Chinese still use a "burn test" to determine whether their silks are authentic. But we think it's best to let the experts handle that, for fear of singeing your souvenirs.

Photo: Mark Thiessen/NGS