The Worldwide Rafting Championship 2011 is just around the corner. International teams have been arriving since last week and are already training at the renowned Pacuare River.
For the third time, Costa Rica will be hosting this important event; the first was back in 1991 for the first World Rafting Championship, then again in 1998. The International Rafting Federation (IRF), main body of the sport chose Pacuare River commemorating the first championship that took place 20 years ago and also to
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Pandemonium has been reigning over Munich for the last two weeks. Hordes of people wandered the cramped streets of the capital of Bavaria in hopes of finding a seat on a wooden bench under one of 14 tents. What kind of madness is this? Answer: The kind of madness you would be lucky to be part of.
Yes, it’s Oktoberfest.Sixteen days filled with würstl, dirndls dresses, oompah music and more “Maß” (one-liter mugs) than you can count.
Every year during mid-to-late September, the fairgrounds of Ther
I AM NOT AN EXPERT. Yet. There's a couple dudes better than me (Arthur Frommer & Rick Stevens to name a few). I'm trying. I'm learning. So here's a couple tips to be a better guide.
1. Don't hide all your money in one place. Cause if someone gets it, that's it. Have a couple spots for some emergency money.
2.Don't you dare wear a fanny pack. DON'T YOU DARE.
3. Make several copies of your passport. I know its a pain. I know. Just do it.
4. Guidebooks. Here's my thoughts. The DK series is really my g
2.Don't you dare wear a fanny pack. DON'T YOU DARE.
3. Make several copies of your passport. I know its a pain. I know. Just do it.
4. Guidebooks. Here's my thoughts. The DK series is really my g
It’s not one of travel’s burning issues: shower wall shampoo and conditioner or those small bottles that travelers can take home if they don’t use them?
Or even if they do.
So it was interesting to read that Hotelmarketing.com was just as curious, and asked the question.
But the AP’s Beth Harpaz, in a piece picked up by MSNBC, thought increasing fees charged by hotels was immediately more important than the issue of shampoos.
Today, she says, hotels are not much dif
FOOD IS LOVE. . .ESPECIALLY WHEN ACCOMPANIED BY WINE
by Denise Mattia
"Valentines Day...What better day to open a restaurant and bring the culture and customs of my homeland to New York."
Since opening on February 14, 2006, one of the customs Stathis Antonakopolis has continued is his native tradition of wine celebrations at his restaurant, Kellari, a Greek Seafood Taverna at 19 West 44th Street in Manhattan. The 1500 year-old Dionysian festival of wine cultivation takes place traditionally thr
Sometimes a vacation within a vacation is just the ticket before you head back to the everyday life you left behind a week ago. I had just finished up a 4-day trip to trendy St. Augustine, Jacksonville’s neighbor to the Southeast. After all that fabulous wining, dining, touring, and shopping I needed a day off to relax and recoup before making my way back to the West Coast. PR great Leigh Cort suggested I try the seaside Casa Marina Hotel. What have I got to say about that experience? Always,
super important tips and tricks you'll need to know.
1. Don't drive into most major cities. Lucca, Florence, and Siena are all
walking towns. Park on the outskirts of town and walk/taxi it in. You DO NOT
want to even attempt to finagle the narrow streets. Some spots won't even let you
drive in or you're arrested (so there's that too).
2. The Auto Strada is your m
There is no doubt that hotels and retail will go to great lengths to avoid negative publicity.
It’s in their DNA.
In many instances, whether or not a guest or customer's complaint is legitimate or warranted, companies, and hotels in particular, will "buy" the guests good will or silence by providing an upgrade or some valued service at a discount.
But with the clout inherent in Social Media, many hotel guests and customers are playing pirate, holding managem
This is a great month to travel in Southern California. The weather is cooler, but the “rainy season” hasn’t started, and daylight savings time doesn’t end until November 6.
In La Jolla, San Diego’s favorite coastal community, visitors can expect daytime temperatures of about 75°F (22°C) and overnight lows of around 58°F (14°C).
Kids are free
During the month of October, kids 12 and under are free at 24 San Diego County museums when accompanied by a paying adult. The program is limited to two ch
Santa Teresa beach offers the perfect settings to practice this discipline; this might be the reason why many of the resorts and hotels are getting specialized in bringing options to this kind of guests.Yoga retreats are usually thought o
I have been working with Native Americans in the tourism industry for two decades. My first forays in this industry were in South Florida, home of the Miccosukee and Seminole people. Today I work at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village in South Dakota, where the ancestors of the Mandan people lived. Despite the huge geographical gap, there is similarity to how visitors imagine how these tribes may have lived.
The Miccosukee and the Seminole were originally from the area that became Alabama,
Our last tour day in VN was reserved for a trip down the infamous Mekong River. Mary Ann and I had flown over the headwaters of the Mekong located high in the Himalaya mountains while we were in Nepal. We had floated on the Mekong when we visited the Golden Triangle area of Thailand. Both of those wonderful trips are archived in this blog.
I could not help but think that we were probably on the same molecules of water we saw leave the Himalaya. The length of the river is over 3000 miles, and it c
Mitt Romney – yes the GOP candidate – is La Jolla’s newest celebrity resident. In fact, he and his wife Ann bought their beachfront home here in 2008, but no one paid much attention until he filed an application to bulldoze the $12 million house and build a much larger mansion on the site.
If you’re in town and would like to see the “before,” the house is located at 311 Dunemere Drive. The best view is from the beach, which can be accessed from the end of Sea Lane. Island Architects is working o
There is a religion in Vietnam called Cao Dai. The full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Great Religion [of The] Third Period [of] Revelation [and] Salvation). That might be the least complicated thing I know about it. The religion has approximately 30 million followers in Vietnam. They believe that before god existed, there was the Tao. Then a big bang occured from which God was created. In order for God to create the heavans and the earth he first had to create the Yin and the Yang. All thing
Caroline’s is perched on a sandstone bluff and serves up a 180° blue-water panorama, as well as healthy, California-style meals.
Some time ago, I wrote about “San Diego’s Best Beach Breakfast,” which described Snackropolis on the SIO (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) campus. However, that landmark closed in early August when Caroline’s Seaside Café opened in the nearby Scripps Seaside Forum.
Caroline’s is named for the wife of Nico Nierenberg, whose father William A. Nirenberg served as dire
Boston Sunset from the Top of the Deck
It's hard to argue that Boston is not the birthplace of America. Just take a walk along the Freedom trail, and you can relive American history. You too can walk the steps of Samuel Adams and imagine America succeeding from the British, and follow the footsteps of Paul Revere and the Boston Tea Party. Indeed, American independence centers around Boston. Politics, finance, religion all centered in Boston as a new nation was created.
Walking around Boston is
We stumbled upon a very detailed step-by-step, illustrated guide on how to "crack, crunch and suck out the best bits" of Shanghai hairy crabs, on CNNGo. Couldn't have stopped for a second to wonder why on earth would anyone eat anything that looks like a mitten, from another planet.
A hairy crab is not exactly the prettiest creature to crawl out of Yancheng Lake into your plate, but they are certainly the most sought after, at this time of the year. When a slight chill can be felt in the air, an
We saw HCMC (onetime Saigon) on the fly. We used it as a base to visit both the tunnels of Cu Chi and the Mekong Delta. Consequently this will be a short post.
The first place we visited was a brand new version of the War Remnants Museum. It is dedicated to the victory of and the gallantry of the people of VN in the war against the American aggressors. It is divided very nicely into areas of interest where you can pick and choose what you want to see. This poster is in the area that displays inte
Customized itineraries are an important aspect of authentic luxury travel. These days we like to focus on our individual interests and leave room in the trip plan for spontaneous detours.
This flexibility may enable staying longer than expected at a colorful marketplace or hiking farther than originally planned. It may also mean, as I learned a few years ago, being able to seize the moment and lend a hand in a developing country.
We stayed at the best hotels in Costa Rica and zoomed over the
The 2011 Fantasy Fest celebration in Key West is the 32nd year of weeklong fun on and around Duval Street and this year it runs from Friday October 21 to Sunday October 30.
This year’s theme is “ Aquatic Afrolic “ and please note that some of the events listed below are official and sanctioned by the Fantasy Fest committee that oversees the event and some events that are “unofficial” may require you to check with locals to confirm that they are still scheduled on their respective days. Some o
