Archives for November, 2007
Green Guidebooks
Posted by Crowd Favorite on November 30, 2007 While lots of tour companies are becoming more sustainable and reducing their carbon footprints, there are many travelers who still prefer to explore the world solo. Guidebook companies have answered travelers’ pleas, as the Washington Post recently noted: The new responsible and ethical travel guides, including Lonely Planet‘s recent “Code Green: Experiences of a Lifetime“……
Read the whole post »Handmade Paper from China
Posted by Katie Knorovsky on November 30, 2007 From IT’s vantage point—peering from behind our towering files of research notes and page proofs stuffed with mass-produced (recycled) paper—the notion of handmade paper has a distinct charm. So the fact that Chinese villagers in Guizhou Province’s remote Shiqiao remain patient masters of just such a tradition is especially intriguing. The handmade papermaking tradition dates…
Read the whole post »World Premiere of the ‘Hoppera’
Posted by Katie Knorovsky on November 29, 2007 All-American art icon Edward Hopper is getting major play at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, with 94 pieces on display in the first comprehensive American exhibition of his work outside of New York in more than 25 years. Featuring Hopper’s well-known mid-century works like “Nighthawks” and “Automat,” the striking exhibition has attracted…
Read the whole post »Tour Guide: Earthfoot in Asia
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 29, 2007 Here’s a tour company that offers something many don’t: profiles and biographies of each of their tour guides. Earthfoot hosts very small-scale, low-impact, personalized eco-tours around the world. We know that a tour guide can make or break a trip, and were glad to see that Ecofoot provides detailed bios of their hosts so guests…
Read the whole post »Maasai Inc.
Posted by Crowd Favorite on November 29, 2007 African safari trips are one of the fastest-growing trends in tourism, so IT was interested to hear about an award-winning model in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, where the lodge owners partnered with the Maasai community to repopulate the dwindling wildlife and help stimulate the local economy. When Anthony Russell, a Kenyan architect and safari tour…
Read the whole post »A Japanese Spa for Winos
Posted by Katie Knorovsky on November 28, 2007 For every swimmer who can relate to the unpleasantness of swallowing a mouthful of chlorine water, a hot springs spa in Hakone, Japan, has devised a unique solution: the headline-grabbing new Beaujolais Nouveau wine spa, complete with a 3.6-meter-tall wine bottle that sporadically pours the recently released trendy red into a pool filled with wine-loving…
Read the whole post »Chocolate to Power Trans-Saharan Journey
Posted by Emily Haile on November 28, 2007 On November 23, a team of Brits began the “first ever carbon-negative driving expedition.” Andy Pag of London and John Grimshaw of Poole will drive their recycled BioTruck some 4,500 miles from the U.K. across the Sahara to Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa. The catch? Their truck runs on chocolate fuel. UK-based Ecotec has “developed…
Read the whole post »New York’s New Ever-”Green”
Posted by Crowd Favorite on November 27, 2007 As a transplanted New Yorker new to D.C., I’ve gotten a bit nostalgic this past week for all the holiday trappings of my former home: The massive twinkling UNICEF snowflake that dangles above Fifth Avenue (outshining anything in Tiffany’s windows across the way). The smell of, yes, chestnuts, roasting over the street vendors’ fires. And…
Read the whole post »Climb Down Here and Pick Up Your Trash!
Posted by mary beth larue on November 27, 2007 Rangers worry that the gym-to-outside transition for climbers is threatening the ecology of parks. Maybe the elevation is going to their heads, but the Associated Press reports that some rock climbers aren’t being so kind to the terrain they’re scaling, and are leaving litter scattered all over Yosemite National Park. The increasingly popular sport is…
Read the whole post »Tour Guide: Eco-Lodges in Belize
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 27, 2007 We all want to be green these days, and some companies are making it even easier for us to travel that way. Manaca, Inc. offers eco-tours in more than 20 countries, from Nepal to New Zealand to Namibia. The company selects local operators, guides, and eco-lodges and asks them to sign Manaca’s Responsible Tourism Pledge…
Read the whole post »Beautiful Boquete
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 26, 2007 While Costa Rica has emerged in recent years as an eco-tourism destination, tucked in the Chiriqui Highlands near the Baru volcano is another eco-hot-spot waiting to erupt. The town of Boquete, Panama, is quaint—mom-and-pop shops line the streets, offering a more Southern California feel than a Central American one. But life around Boquete is vibrant—abundant…
Read the whole post »Mapping Chicago
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 26, 2007 If you find yourself in Chicago between now and January 27, be sure to check out the Field Museum’s “Finding Our Place in the World,” which opened November 2. The exhibit features more than 100 maps of all sorts—from those designed by Leonardo da Vinci and J.R.R. Tolkien, to flight charts and Buddhist cosmology maps.…
Read the whole post »Tour Guide: Amazon Adventure
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 20, 2007 Boldly go where no man has gone before. Well, go where few have gone before, anyway. Brazil-based Amazon Nature Tours offers a new boat tour that, by our calculations journeys farther up the Rio Negro than any other tour company. Impressed? It gets better: Amazon Nature Tours began as a lumber company in the 1980s,…
Read the whole post »Dino-in-Residence
Posted by Crowd Favorite on November 20, 2007 In case you wondered, National Geographic is a bit like a college campus. We have a cafeteria, a whole lot of knowledgeable folks milling around, and an ongoing series of events and lectures to keep us learning. And now, for a little while at least, we also have a mascot. This past week National Geographic…
Read the whole post »Lodge-to-Hut Snowshoeing in New Hampshire
Posted by Emily Haile on November 19, 2007 Looking for a winter weekend getaway that’s au naturale? The Appalachian Mountain Club is launching a set of naturalist-led snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trips in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Excursions are available for all skill levels; one of the treks is specially designed for families with kids aged ten or older. Spend a…
Read the whole post »America By Air
Posted by Intelligent Travel on November 16, 2007 Opening this Saturday, Nov. 17th, the new America by Air exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum is eye candy for the aeronautic-obsessed. You can step into the giant nose of a Boeing 747, play pilot in front of an A320 Flight Deck Device, or take a step back in history as you look…
Read the whole post »Eco-friendly Beer Brewed By Monks? Bottoms Up!
Posted by taban salem on November 15, 2007 Beer probably isn’t the first thing you’d associate with a monastery, but for the fellows at Chimay, beer and cheese making is a spiritual labor of love. The whole enterprise began in 1862, when the Trappist monks of Chimay, Belgium, wanted to create jobs for their community and earn some needed funds to run the…
Read the whole post »Tour Guide: Peru
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 15, 2007 IT friend Lolly recently went on a tour in Peru. She raved about her guide Devon Graham (biologist and tour company owner) so much that we just had to look into the tour operator ourselves. Margarita Tours organizes private eco-expeditions in the Amazon. While most of their tours are riverboat-based, they also have three working…
Read the whole post »Crete’s Still Kickin’
Posted by Emily Haile on November 14, 2007 Our friends at Gadling recently pointed out that the top-ranking islands on Traveler’s latest Destinations Rated survey (Denmark’s Faroe Islands, Portugal’s Azores, Lofoten in Norway) aren’t very well known or highly visited. That’s certainly true, given that the tourist traps of Ibiza and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands scored predictably low. The 522…
Read the whole post »Scenic Seattle
Posted by Jeannette Kimmel on November 13, 2007 Ever been in a city and wished you could escape from the concrete blocks? In one Pacific Northwest town, you can. Seattle is making it easier for locals and visitors to find some green space in the heart of the metropolis. The Seattle Urban Nature interactive habitat map uses a Google map interface to show…
Read the whole post »Tour Guide: Learning from Locals
Posted by Katie Knorovsky on November 13, 2007 In Italy, it’s easy to marvel at frescoes painted by the masters. But while gaping at the Sistine Chapel ceiling is nice enough, tour company Context would prefer you try your hand at a more authentic experience: slathering wet plaster with your own artistic finesse during a three-hour fresco workshop in Florence. In addition to…
Read the whole post »Cabaraoke: Rocking Out On The Road
Posted by Beth Lizardo on November 13, 2007 For those with the desire to take the karaoke party beyond the bar and onto the road, one Kansas City cab driver has the answer for you: cabaraoke. The force behind this movement is the Yellow Cab driver called Papa Bear, who, for a standard cab fee, gives you a ride and a full-on karaoke…
Read the whole post »You’re Now Free to Date Throughout the Cabin
Posted by it on November 12, 2007 With all the commotion about what is (or isn’t) happening in the new Airbus 380′s private sleeping rooms, IT thought it might take a look at some more innocent in-flight activities. Take, for example, the new dating service featured by SkyEurope. SkyDate, which will fly from London to Prague on November 28th, hopes to hook…
Read the whole post »Knowing Leads to Going
Posted by it on November 11, 2007 Today kicks off Geography Awareness Week, an annual event sponsored by National Geographic to promote geographic literacy in classrooms throughout the country. The My Wonderful World campaign is hosting activities all week to celebrate, and their terrific blog tipped us off to Lilly, future traveler for sure:
Read the whole post »TSA Amends Sikh Screening Policy
Posted by Emily Haile on November 9, 2007 After an outcry from Sikh and other religious groups, the United States Transportation Security Administration altered its policy for screening airport passengers with head coverings last week. First implemented last August, the controversial policy mandated that cowboy hats, berets, and turbans require additional screening such as removal or pat down—regardless of whether not a metal…
Read the whole post »
Get One Year for $10 »