Author (#194)April 2008 Archives

Photographer: Kat Tancock, Toronto, Canada.

Getting the Shot: I took the photo in mid-March at the Vernisazh market in eastern Moscow (also known as Izmailovo Park).

The Details: It was a bright day and I was taking advantage of the bright colours in the stalls with my Canon SD750 point-and-shoot camera. I loved the juxtaposition of the Putin doll with all of the standard matryoshki.

We love how this picture helps sum up how tradition and politics mingle in Moscow. No doubt there's a few riddles hidden inside the Putin doll.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

If you watch public television, you've probably seen the popular show Smart Travels, which our own contributing editor Rudy Maxa has hosted since 2001. In May 2008, the show debuts its sixth season with a fresh title, Rudy Maxa's World, reflecting a new worldwide focus after concentrating heavily on Europe and the Pacific Rim during the program's early years. Prior to his work in television, Maxa spent over three decades as a Washington, D.C., journalist—first with the Washington Post, then Washingtonian magazine. Over the past six years, he's written several stories for National Geographic Traveler. With every job he's held, Maxa has wrangled assignments that have allowed him to travel the world. Amazingly, he still can't get enough of gallivanting about. Here Rudy is interviewed by Keith Bellows, Traveler's editor in chief. Check out the print version of his story in our upcoming July/August issue, and more of Keith's One-on-One interviews online.

Photographer: Vahid Jahed, from Minden, Nevada.

Getting the Shot: The photo was taken at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco in 2006. I wanted to take some night photos there. A few swans, accustomed to being fed, approached me and one actually pecked at my camera as it was sitting at the water's edge.

The Details: I used long exposure to capture the background and the built-in flash to capture the swan.

We like the way that Vahid managed to make a make a traditional landmark shot unique. Think your own picture is good enough for Global Eye? Add your photos to our Flickr pool.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

John Ur clicks his heels and takes us to Kansas for this week's issue of Cinematic Road Trip.

Think of the words "Kansas" and "movie." What's the immediate thing that comes to mind? If you're like 99.9 percent of Americans, I'd guess that The Wizard of Oz was the first film you thought of. And while the Sunflower State is more than willing to accommodate your instincts for Judy Garland memorabilia, if you’re on the road in Kansas searching for locations from the film, you’re in the wrong spot: The film was shot entirely on set in Culver City, California, and not in Kansas.

Kansas is arguably the symbol of the American Heartland. It contains the geographic center of the lower 48 states and is one of the country’s leaders in agricultural production. This is due to the large amount of flat, arable land in the western two-thirds of the state. The eastern third tends to be a bit more hilly and forested, with more of the big cities located in this trident: Topeka, Wichita, and Lawrence among others.

In Paper Moon, we get to see both areas of the state. In Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 Great Depression Era period piece, Ryan O’Neal stars with his real-life daughter, Tatum, as Moses and Addie, an unlikely pair of con artists as entertaining to watch as Newman and Redford in The Sting. A novice actress, Tatum O’Neal became the youngest person to ever win an Academy Award when she took home the Best Supporting Actress statue.

Most of the film was shot in Hays, Kansas, a small town off of I-70 about 200 miles due west of Topeka. But the duo also take a road trip of their own. Moses intends to drive Addie to her only known kin in St. Joseph, Missouri. Along the way, Addie quickly picks up on the scams that Moses is running. Their journey takes them through the north-central plains of Kansas, picking up money and tramps and running from the law. At a certain point, they need to get rid of their car, which is now hotly pursued. They end up at a remote farm in the hilly, forested eastern section of the state where Moses has to wrestle a young Randy Quaid for his vehicle. Only in Kansas.

When you go to pick out a guidebook, there's always a risk. While you expect to be getting a fantastic compass to help you navigate your travels, you could end up with a poorly-written, out-of-date, or worse, completely fabricated disaster. Luckily, travel writer Andrew Evans, who has written several guidebooks, is here to um, guide us through the buying process.

In his recent book “Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?” a very smug Thomas Kohnstamm confesses to accepting bribes, plagiarizing text, and not even visiting the countries he was covering for travel publisher Lonely Planet.  One man’s publicity nightmare is another man’s royalty check, yes, but where does this leave the traveler? How reliable is any one guidebook and how can travelers avoid buying fiction when they’re looking for facts? 

For starters, the popular conception of the travel writer is a myth. We do not run around the world with limitless corporate credit cards getting free spa packages and business-class upgrades. How does it happen? For a new title, I usually travel for at least two to three months in the country, spending 10-12 hours a day doing intensive research. Everything is research, whether I’m noting how long it takes to walk from the train station to the beach or remembering the cleanest bathrooms. Obviously, it’s impossible to see and do everything, but I try my best since nothing beats writing about a place firsthand. As backup, I collect every scrap of paper I can find on-site:  tourist brochures, café menus—even phone books. The Internet is a great secondary source once I’m home and writing things up. 

No (gasp!), guidebooks are rarely fact-checked—at least not in the way that magazines and newspapers get fact-checked. Authors are contractually liable for the information they submit so the onus is on us to get it right the first time. Proofreaders and regional experts will review the manuscript to check for inconsistencies and blatant misrepresentation but they can’t vet every phone number or hotel review. Instead, sections of the book are spot-checked to get a sense of the overall level of accuracy. If it passes the test it goes to press. 

Enter you, the savvy traveler in search of the perfect guide. Here’s a few tips to help you find what you’re after:

Be a Picky Eater: Guidebooks are like restaurants—sometimes the better ones are harder to find. Resist the temptation to grab the first thing you see. Before you head to the bookstore, check online to see every title that's available.

Check the Sell-By Date: Start with today’s date and subtract one year. That’s about the last time the author was in country for any given title, even the ones with next year’s date on the cover (e.g. France 2009). Always check the date of first publication on the inside cover and verify if subsequent dates represent actual updated editions of just reprints or partial updates. A quality guidebook has a lifespan of two to three years, after which it usually needs to be fully updated.   

How Many Travel Writers Does It Take To Screw In a Lightbulb? Just one, sometimes two. Generally, the more writers involved in a single guide, the lower the quality. Varied experience and different voices mean that a separate editor has to massage the text into a single book and risk losing authenticity. The exception to the rule are multi-author books to huge countries like Russia, China, Brazil, or Indonesia—in which case you should really consider buying a region-specific guidebook. Avoid the thick, 1,000+ page tomes that are too “all-inclusive” to carry any sustenance. Most of these are cut-and-paste jobs gleaned from smaller guidebooks.

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson rounds out his week-long tour of San Antonio's Fiesta with the big shebang: the River Parade.

The ambulance chasers and personal injury lawyers must love the River Walk, San Antonio's spectacularly successful network of leafy, landscaped pathways lacing its river flowing through downtown.

Few barriers, rails or poles separate pedestrians from the river. Any one can fall in. And sometimes, after a few margaritas from the many restaurants clustered along its banks, they do. I've heard they retrieve a mountain of muddy cell phones from the depths each year when they drain and clean it.

It's really unique. My hotel room at the Riverwalk Vista, a 17-room inn housed in a 19th century grocer's building, frames the river with its huge, 8-foot-tall windows. I spent more than a few minutes gazing down below at the meandering crowds and the tourist barges passing by. It's better than movies-on-demand, with nothing added to your bill at checkout.

So I'm a little nervous when my friends and I arrive at a crowded private party to view the floats at the River Parade at San Antonio's Fiesta. We're part of the 250,000-strong crowd hanging off bridges and along the promenades hoping for a glimpse of a Texas Cavalier.

What's a Texas Cavalier?  (find out after the jump...)

Hotel Central Editor Susan O'Keefe wants your take on televisions in hotel rooms. Is bigger really better?

Travel Agent Central recently reported that Sandy Lane, the luxury resort located in St. James, Barbados, where celebrity guests have included Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, and Jackie Kennedy, will close on August 31 and reopen on October 3, to undergo a $6-million makeover. Renovations to the hotel will include new outdoor patio furniture, new guest room bedding and drapes, and TVs—all 112 rooms and suites will upgrade from huge 55-inch TVs to 70-inch monsters.

Reader, I don't know about you, but if I'm going to the Caribbean, I'm not really planning on spending much time in my room, let alone flipping through channels with a remote. Have we gotten so caught up in bigger being better when it comes to flat-screens and plasmas, that 15 inches will really make a difference, especially in a bedroom?

Don't get me wrong, I like my TV when I'm traveling for business and sitting in my characterless room eating bland food from room service. And I like giant TV screens during events like the Super Bowl, when I can leave the family room to refill the chip bowl and still see the game from my kitchen. But the Caribbean is a getaway. It's where you go to dig your toes in the sand, plunge into the crystal-clear water, and lounge beachside for long periods of time with a fruity drink and a good book. At Sandy Lane, outdoor recreation includes kayaking, sailing, state-of-the-art golf courses, tennis, and swimming with Hawksbill turtles that play and feed along the inshore reef. So, tuck the TV remote in a drawer and get outside. But I wonder, what amenity must you have in a hotel room? Mini bar? Stationery with the hotel's logo? Slippers? Q-tips? We'd like to know what you can't live without, whether you're at a resort in the Caribbean or a motel on the side of the road.

Psst...National Geographic is on the verge of releasing an exciting new video site called Everyday Explorers. But first we need your help!

Everyday Explorers is a user-generated video site (sort of like YouTube, only better!) where you can upload your own videos in one of four categories:

- Wildlife and Pets (anything animal-related)
- Weather (storms, sunny days, snow, etc.)
- Favorite Places (travel destinations, or your own backyard)
- Green Tips (anything related to promoting a healthy environment)

We know you readers must have some amazing video footage out there, so see this as a chance to get your videos out to the world and share them with people interested in exploring the planet. At the moment, we are starting from scratch, which means that this is a good chance for your video to get a head start on the rest of the public. So go online to upload your video clips and help us get things rolling.

The Everyday Explorers site goes live this May, so stay tuned for more information. Thanks!

Subscribe to this blog's feed

In our upcoming May/June issue of Traveler, Senior Editor Dan Westergren (the man behind Photo Tips from Dan) gives us an incredible view of the North Pole, and Traveler photographer Pete McBride goes deep into Guatemala to expose its cultural splendors. So we're excited to announce that when National Geographic Traveler hosts our Adventure Travel Seminar this Sunday April 27, in Denver, Colorado, both Westergren and McBride will be on hand to give you the tools to capture your own incredible journeys on film.  Westergren and McBride will be teaching the same photo seminar in Seattle on May 18.

Uncover the secrets of how to photograph not just as a passive observer, but as a part of the action — whether you hike, bike, ski or climb. They'll show you their solutions to the problems they encounter while on assignment in the most unforgiving environments – everything from shooting in low light to lessons in how not to break your camera. Register now to take part in the action!

Photo: Maasai tribesmen inspect Dan Westergren's camera, by Dan Westergren.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson offers us a metaphor, or perhaps medalphor, for San Antonio's Fiesta...

Wandering San Antonio during Fiesta Week you'll encounter a lot of people whose jackets, baseball caps and sashes are emblazoned with dozens of brightly colored medals making them look like walk-ons from an opera set in a 19th century Spanish military academy.

Medals are to Fiesta what beads are to Mardis Gras - currency, status symbol and collector's items. They are bartered and sold – even auctioned. One on eBay, a 1941 version, is selling for more than $299.
Other people buy them at San Antonio's official Fiesta Store, but I can't seem to figure out where it is.

San Antonian Christa Emrick was doing Fiesta with a good three dozen hanging from her sash.

"Each group will make one," she says pointing to several. "I've got one from a military organization, an AIDS group, and a German group. You can even make your own," she said fingering an elaborate one set with greenish stones. "This is one I did." The San Antonio Express has a great roundup of all the different kinds.

It's one of the niftiest elements of Fiesta in that anyone can make something and join in the fun. Sure, there's a big social scene – I saw one "king" and his "court" of debutantes roll by in a police-escorted motorcade of gas-guzzling Cadillac Escalades. (No one in that kingdom got the memo about going Green, apparently.) Yet the official Fiesta appears much more accessible in its way than, say, the secret krewes of New Orleans with their exclusive balls, open only to a small group of rich families. That may be because San Antonio is optimistic about its future and remains vibrant economically. Dynamic cities tend to steamroll hidebound customs - but something changing as fast as San Antonio has a real need to keep traditions if only as an anchor in times of great change. So when they pin a medal on you at Fiesta, they're actually helping to pin down the past, securing it in a city that is speeding headlong into to the future.

For more information about Fiesta visit www.fiesta-sa.org. For visiting San Antonio head to www.visitsanantonio.com.

Photo: Andrew Nelson

Subscribe to this blog's feed

You didn't think we'd let Earth Day slip by without making a mention, did you? Here at National Geographic Traveler, and at Intelligent Travel, we like to subscribe to the Earth Day, Every Day line of thinking. Sustainable and authentic travel is our beat, our locally-sourced bread and organic butter, if you will. So instead of celebrating the single day, here's a sampling of some of our favorite posts that celebrate and support the planet from different parts of the globe.

• WWOOF! No, it's not a stuttering dog, it's the program that let's you receive free room and board on farms in exchange for helping with the harvest. Getting close to nature, knowing where your food comes from, and living with locals? All amazing in our book.

• Couchsurfing - Need a place to crash? Join their network and find a world of friends willing to let you cozy up on their couch.

• Up Close to the Proximity Hotel - This North Carolina hotel is working to be the first to gain LEED Platinum Certification. Former Traveler intern Ali Ogden interviews the manager in her video visit.

• Bears and Bulbs - How many tour companies does it take to change Manitoba's light bulbs? Just one apparently, and outfitter Natural Habitat Adventures offered to supply the city that plays host to their polar bear tours.

• Organic New Zealand - Need to know where you can find stinky cheese in Omaru, NZ? This impressively thorough website has got you covered for sustainable eats, hotels, and experiences.

• Maasai Inc. - African lodge owners partner with the Maasai community to repopulate the dwindling wildlife and help stimulate the local economy. These partnerships are setting great examples.

• Masdar City - Will the world's first solar city in Abu Dhabi be more about hype or hope?

• Go for the Gold  - Get smart about getting to Beijing for the summer Olympics.

• NatureAir - Want to really feel good about flying? Book a seat on NatureAir, the Costa Rican airline that's the planet's only zero-emission carrier.

Poke through more our archives for items that show smart thinking. And have a Happy Earth Day!

Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Image by Reto Stöckli

Subscribe to this blog's feed

The cloistered campus of the Southwest School of Art & Craft in downtown San Antonio is a far cry from the raucous, Rabelaisian crowd that attended the Fiesta Oyster Bake on the city's west side. Here, set amidst 1851-era limestone buildings, the flesh is mostly covered, more apt to display Ralph Lauren polo ponies than tattoos. The art on display is highbrow, but the humidity's even higher - it is hot today - so people are lingering in the cool shade of the oak-shaded courtyards where fountains splash, just as the Ursuline nuns must have done when this was their convent 150 years ago. Today's event is the 35th annual art fair, and the artists are of a national caliber – spread out inside the complex in bright tents that display their oil paintings, ceramics and sculpture. The fair's getting crowded.  I'm worried someone might elbow a glass vase (the prices here aren't cheap) and be out a few grand.

No one cares. The 12,000 or so participants are all too busy gabbing with friends, sipping drinks and tapping their feet to the music of the Sisters Morales, a pair of soulful singer-songwriters up on a stage between a pair of French-colonial-styled buildings. The folkies are pumping out a catchy Spanish ballad that the crowd adores.

"They say Austin's got the 'cool'," someone says, "but San Antonio's got the soul."

And, it seems, few travelers know about it. Fiesta is a big deal in the city, of course, and throughout Texas, but it is nowhere near as popular – nor as overrun – as Mardis Gras. It's local, it's neighborhood and it's authentic.

Traveling with tweens and teens to New York? Senior editor Norie Quintos shares some tips and tricks from a recent trip to the Big Apple with her 12- and 14-year-old sons.

Limit the number of museums and choose them carefully. Just because there are dozens of world-class museums in the city doesn’t mean you have to see them all. Whiny teens are worse than whiny toddlers. I’d read about a temporary exhibit at the Guggenheim by the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang, who worked with exploding gunpowder and cars hanging from the ceilings. Bingo. We hit the museum on Friday evening, when admission was pay what you want (I noticed most New Yorkers weren’t paying anything, so we didn’t either.)

Central Park is good for any age. Try to go with a plan, say, to catch the remote-controlled sailboats in the Conservatory Water or skate dancers in the Bandshell. Because my kids are Beatles fans, we went on a John Lennon pilgrimage to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic, then walked over to the Dakota building where the singer was shot. Plan your visit with the interactive map of Central Park.

Do something active. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, a leisurely 45-minute stroll. It’s one of the world’s most iconic spans and there is a separate path for walkers and bikers, so you aren’t inhaling car fumes. You can view the Statue of Liberty from here. Tips: To avoid constantly craning your neck looking back at the incomparable Manhattan skyline, take the subway to Brooklyn and walk towards Manhattan. Also, be sure to stay off the bikers’ lane, lest you get clipped or cursed at by speeding cyclists.

Contributing editor Andrew Nelson is in San Antonio this week celebrating Fiesta, and he'll be sending us dispatches from the road all this week.

How hard is it to eat a Texas-sized bucket of baked oysters? Really hard, I'm discovering. Each mollusk is the size of your fist, shut tighter than Area 51, they mock my feeble efforts to pry them apart.

I'm at the 92nd annual Oyster Bake, one of the kick-off events Fiesta San Antonio, a ten-day-long party that is to the Texas city what Mardis Gras is to New Orleans: colorful parades and raucous revelry marked by too much food, too much drink and way, way too much fun.

Around me swirl many of the 70,000 people who will pour into the campus of St. Mary's University on the city's west side, home of one of the USA's oldest and proudest Mexican communities.  Tonight San Antonians of all backgrounds are going to drink, dance, listen to Tejano and rock and roll, and wolf down entire beds of shellfish. This is their party, and San Antonio, unlike Louisiana's Crescent City, appears to have kept the fun to themselves. Few travelers outside of Texas it seems have heard of Fiesta. But while it's on, America's seventh largest city can think of little else.

Fiesta San Antonio began in 1891 as a way to honor the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. It's evolved into 100 different events, which include over-the-top balls held by San Antonio's Old School Old Money elites, spectacular parades and satirical mockery of pretense in a counter-cultural Fiesta Cornyation. Here's a guide to the whole shebang.

Former Traveler intern and friend of IT Lisa Lombardi is studying abroad in London this semester, but she recently escaped away to Wales for an adventure-packed weekend.

After five weeks of living in London, this Midwestern girl was ready for a break from the glamour of metropolitan life, so I booked a weekend adventure trip with the Preseli Venture outdoors group and headed to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in Wales. As promised, the Welsh coast wilderness was the perfect remedy for the sensory overload of big-city living.

Among the many trips and options Preseli offers (including corporate retreats and stag and hen parties) is the outdoor adventure weekend, short enough to experience without taking time off and reasonable enough in price that even I, the lowly college student, can indulge. Guests can try out two excursions, choosing between mountain biking, sea kayaking, surfing and coasteering (scaling and jumping off of sea cliffs). For the third outing of the weekend, there is a hike along the stunning coastal cliffs.

Setting your sights on city lights this summer? You can hit the ground running with CityPass booklets, which now feature insider tips from Traveler. For about half the regular price of admission, you can see must-see attractions in Seattle, Toronto, Southern California, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and starting this year, Houston. Here's a sample Traveler tip for the Big Apple:

Grand Central Terminal is a cathedral not just for its hundred shops and dining [spots] but for oddities like the Whispering Gallery, opposite the Oyster Bar, where you can talk into a column and be heard from 20 feet away. Look up at the massive domed ceiling on which the zodiac was mistakenly painted backwards. Unwilling to have it redone, William K. Vanderbuilt, who built the terminal in 1913, claimed it was from "God's vantage point."

The New York pass gets you in the door to many of the city's finest museums (MOMA, The Met, The Guggenheim, and the Museum of Natural History), up to the top of the Empire State Building Observatory, and on board a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise on the Hudson, so you can get a glimpse of Lady Liberty. And as of this year, it now includes admission to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and a double-decker bus tour. Even better, the CityPass lets you cut the line at many attractions, allowing you to get the most of your trip.

Check out the entire list of cities and more exclusive Traveler tips at their website, and place your CityPass order online.

John Ur returns for this week's edition of Cinematic Road Trip. Today's stop: Nebraska.

Every time I begin one of these columns, I chant the name of the state that I mentally try to inhabit and see if it fits a song like “Ooooooooklahoma.” Well Nebraska does not, as far as I know, serve as the title of any popular song, but the Counting Crows once sang of, “Omaha, somewhere in middle America, get right to the heart of matters. It’s the heart that matters more.” As in: Somewhere in middle America, believe it or not, there are actual people living out their lives.

This may come as a surprise to people fixated on the East and West Coasts, but not to Alexander Payne. Over the past decade, Payne has become a prominent writer-director on the backs of some strong movies—most recently, Sideways, which won him (and his writing partner, Jim Taylor) the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Payne grew up around Omaha but is not the first famous Hollywood figure to sprout from the city among the cornfields. He follows native Omahans Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, and Nick Nolte, all of whom also made their way to Tinseltown.

Payne must maintain a fondness for his home state. He’s adapted two novels set in east coast states to be shot around Omaha. In Election, Reese Witherspoon plays an over-achieving high school student running for Student Council President of Carver High School. Payne shot the high school scenes at Papillion-La Vista High School in Papillion, Nebraska, which is in the suburbs ten miles southwest of Omaha. (The original novel by Tom Perrotta is set in New Jersey.)

Although less critically acclaimed than Election, About Schmidt provides a greater view of the rest of Nebraska. In this film, Payne relocates Louis Begley’s novel from Long Island to Omaha and casts Jack Nicholson as Warren Schmidt, a retired assistant vice president for Woodmen of the World Insurance Agency. This is an actual company located on Farnam Street in Omaha.

Senior Editor Sheila Buckmaster is known for her good taste, so for our Authentic New York coverage, we wondered which New York City locales can satiate her appetite.

Cookbooks and guidebooks aren't all that different when it comes to taste. When I thumb through a cookbook, I think, "Okay, of the dozens of recipes here, which are the really great ones?" When I thumb through a guidebook, I think, "Okay, of the dozens of eat/see/do/stay recommendations here, which are the really great ones?"

I'm always after the "don't miss" spots, and I don't want to have to guess. But I know that a book can't have just 30 pages....Which is why I loved writing the New York City Place of a Lifetime mini-guide for the National Geographic website. There is no padding in this set of recommendations, just the very best. As a native New Yorker now living in Maryland and working in D.C. at Traveler, I try to get "back to my roots" as often as I can so that I can see my pals, walk my favorite streets (Madison, Bleecker), and eat the food that transports me to my New Yorker days.

Here are a few of my favorites, one of which I included in the online New York guide:

• No falafel sandwich I tasted in Israel holds a candle to what's served as Mamouns, a hole-in-the-wall West Village storefront open 365 days a year, 11 a.m. - 5 a.m. (119 MacDougal Street).

• "I'll have a cappuccino, please." Invariably the place I place that order is La Lanterna di Vittorio, a Greenwich Village wine bar and coffee house down the street from Mamouns. At night, enjoy live jazz along with your coffee, pizza, desserts, and wine (129 MacDougal Street).

• Cookie! Oversize and like a nearly flat iced cupcake, the black-and-white has been a staple at Glaser's Bake Shop since 1902—and in my family's house since the 1940s. New York all the way. In the "Dinner Party" episode, Jerry Seinfeld says, "The thing about eating a black-and-white cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet, still, somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie. All our problems would be solved." (87th Street and First Avenue).

Do you have your own New York dining recommendations? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo: Nikkicookiebaker via Flickr

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States has the local media in a bit of a frenzy, so naturally, we felt inclined to take part. After all, the Holy Father definitely has some serious eco-credentials: He's outfitting the Vatican roof with 1,000 solar panels, called on bishops, scientists, and politicians to focus on "the needs of sustainable development," and even made polluting a sin. IT correspondent Lauren Jones was on hand to get an glimpse of the man himself, as well as one of the most fascinating modes of transport on the planet, the Popemobile.

The buzz in Washington is all about Pope Benedict XVI's first visit to the United States, which officially began on Wednesday with a formal greeting at the White House, just four blocks from National Geographic Society’s headquarters. Not a Catholic myself, but intrigued by all the hype, I decided to check out the scene down on Pennsylvania Ave. I printed out my "Popemobile" map (conveniently posted on local news sites), and headed out for an early lunch to witness the Pope on his route from the White House to the Vatican Embassy for his next event of the day.

A Catholic colleague keyed me in on a “secret” location that would allegedly have fewer people crowding the sidewalks. I soon realized this Pope-spotting corner—on 20th and Pennsylvania—wasn’t so secret after all, as I had to wedge my way through the crowd to get a good view. The excitement of the crowd grew as we waited for the Popemobile to reach us, and when we heard the crowds go wild one block down, the cameras came out. 

As I witnessed the Mercedes-Benz Popemobile zoom by in what seemed like the blink of an eye, I tried to snap as many shots as I could. What really caught my attention, though, and touched me, was a group of nuns to my right who were chanting, "We see Heaven!  We see Heaven!" as they laid their eyes on the Pope, possibly for the first time. As the Popemobile disappeared in the distance, the crowded sidewalks parted for the nuns, who were running after their Chief Shepherd with an urgency that seemed instinctive.

Following yesterday’s speech given to 300 bishops in the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception at Catholic University, today the Pope presides over an open-air mass for 45,000 in the Washington Nationals Park. Too bad the Nats are on the road... IT would have loved to see the Pope’s windup for the opening pitch.

Photos: Above, Lauren Jones, below Juan Tituana.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Leave it to our beloved Help Desk columnist Chris Elliott to help clarify the confusion behind "greenwashing" in travel. In a recent article he wrote, now up on his blog, he exposes techniques used by airlines, hotels, and other culprits in the tourism industry to wrap themselves in a cloak of "green" by purporting to save the planet while actually doing little to help. He writes:

[T]here’s no credible evidence that the greening of travel is saving the Earth. But here’s what we do know. A recent Deloitte survey found that nearly half of all travelers try to be “environmentally friendly” when they’re traveling, and almost a quarter of them are willing to pay more for green hotels, resorts and rental cars. Another poll by Travelocity found that almost three-quarters of active travelers were prepared to pony up more cash for a greener getaway.

In other words, travelers want to feel socially responsible—and the travel industry, true to character, is more than happy to take their money.

Elliott speaks with some experts to learn more about what you can do to avoid being duped. His highlights are after the jump:

Each one of these flags represents a new way of looking at tourism

A few months ago we introduced the GeoTourism Challenge, a contest sponsored by National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations and Ashoka's Changemakers to help seek out the people and places which are using innovative tourism methods to help "sustain, enhance, and preserve a sense of culture and place."

As travelers, you can help by nominating people you've come across in your wandering, from elected officials, to corporate leaders, to tour operators who are doing things right. And for simply offering a reason why you're nominating them, you'll be entered to win a week's travel including airfares, accommodation and spending money, anywhere in the world where WHL Travel operates.

So take a look at the list that's been created so far, which ranges from Mom and Pop B&Bs to the king of Bhutan, and then nominate someone yourself – just do it soon, as the deadline for entries is April 16th.

Okay, now that we've got your attention, we have to admit we're not giving anything away. But the essence of travel writing at its best is the fact that, for the cost of a magazine, paperback, or a trip to the local library, you can escape into another world for a little while. Friend of IT Kristen Guth writes about her favorite low-cost way to get away (after Traveler, of course!)

I want one of those fashionably-old antique suitcases with art deco destination stickers plastered all over, announcing where I’ve been so onlookers can get jealous.  I can even get a head start on the stickers by buying one vintage or as a colorful, updated version.  But even if I had one, as a 21-year-old strapped for cash, there wouldn’t be as many authentic, exotic stickers as I’d like. So I satiate my appetite for travel instead by snatching up The Best American Travel Writing as soon as it hits the stands. 

These stories bring you to the inner circle of travel connoisseurs by reinterpreting the meaning of travel several times over, interspersed with tidbits of local knowledge and the wisdom that comes from dog-eared passports.  In the 2007 collection of "The Best American Travel Writing," Susan Orlean poignantly writes in her intro, “In a way, these [stories] are the exact opposite of the travel you might do on Google Maps – these stories are the world not as it can be plotted by satellite but as it is observed and meditated in a very subjective and personal way.”

As I read, I felt I was slinging along with Kevin Fedarko in the backseat of a taxi driver’s fast-moving car in Djibouti, racing over 80 miles per hour to beat other drug dealers to make the daily khat delivery.  I chuckled and identified with familiar scenes of sickness experienced by every traveler as Ian Frazier skirted ailments that make us cringe with a delicate humor.  I couldn’t help grinning as I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s witty dialogue, and her trip catapulted my already willing and enthusiastic imagination to start designing plans to stroll through rural Provence with a cork and cheese knife in hand.

John Ur returns with another glimpse into the cinematic adventures of the 50 states. Today, he presents us with a double whammy of both Dakotas.

National Geographic’s recent feature article on North Dakota, "The Emptied Prairie," documented the ghost towns that lie in the open space between the cities of North Dakota and the farmlands where cattle, buffalo and wheat reign supreme.  In South Dakota, there is much of the same: a few mid-size cities, lots of farmland, Native American Reservations, and in every direction, horizon.

Given that North and South Dakota respectively rank 47th and 46th out of 50 in population (as of the 2000 Census), and that the majority of their land is devoted to agriculture (like much of the rest of the Great Plains), it stands to reason that there would not be many movies to choose from when reviewing homegrown cinema. Unfortunately, reason stands true in this instance. With apologies to Dakota natives, I have made the executive decision to combine North and South Dakota into one column for the purely selfish reason of giving me more material to work with.

North Dakota, though not rich in film history, holds (a small) claim to a cinematic gem. The Coen Brothers’ 1996 crime-drama, Fargo, was named after the largest city in North Dakota. But unfortunately, to further undermine the North Dakotan Tourism Industry, Fargo was largely shot in Minnesota. There is however, one distinct shot that you can look for if you’re driving through ND. There is a large statue of Paul Bunyan that sits west of the city of Bathgate on Pembina County Highway 1. Besides this minor claim to fame (and the larger fame that the film’s title brings to the small city), I can’t find another movie set or shot in North Dakota. Native Dakotans, can anyone help me out?

Photographer: Lola Akinmade, Virginia, USA 

Getting the Shot: Years ago, I remember walking around side streets all day trying to find the best shot of the Seattle Space Needle. After fruitless attempts, I decided to ride the elevators up to the top. By the time I was done for the day and leaving around dusk, I looked up at the tower and shot this picture.

The Details: The sky was a beautiful indigo blue and the eclectic street lamp in the foreground gave the tower an other worldly, intergalactic feel. I usually travel with a Nikon Digital SLR (DSLR) camera, but this shot was captured with a simple point-and-shoot APS Kodak Advantix camera. I wasn't sure what I was going to get until I developed the film...

We love how Lola managed to make the street lamp seem more otherwordly than the Space Needle behind it. What do you think? Send us your own photos for Global Eye by adding them to our Flickr pool.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

“Travelling Without Footprints,” is a video series exploring carbon-friendly travel experiences. In this first installment, former Traveler researcher Ali Ogden takes us to the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina, where owner Dennis Quaintance shows us what it takes to make a hotel green as he works toward achieving LEED Platinum status. His notion is that you don’t have to sacrifice comfort for conscience. Watch as he shows Ali the hotel's solar panels (look out for hot pipes!), waterless urinals, and more...

Travelling Without Footprints is produced by Ali Ogden and Chris Keener.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

"The Colors of Life" by Sonya Brewer

Photographer: Sonya Brewer of Peoria, Arizona

Getting the Shot: In November 2006, I traveled to Israel with my church. At the time I only had a point-and-shoot Kodak DX4330.

The Details: After a day of traveling, we ended with a walk down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, Israel. As a group we wound through the narrow and crowded street. Vendors lined both sides trying to sell trinkets and souvenirs, food and clothing. One store caught my eye; its beautiful colors seemed to fall from the sky and surround us. Emerging from the colors was a young mother, who had been shopping for a head covering. What an experience to see these colors of life!

We love how the colors emerge from the shadows, and the focus in her eyes. What do you think of the shot? Want to be included in Global Eye? Contribute your photos to our Flickr pool.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Associate Editor Amy Alipio shares her New York long-weekend tradition: Sunday brunch at Cendrillon.

Um, brunch where? you might ask.

Cendrillon restaurant in SoHo flies under the radar because of its Filipino menu. Not one of the better-known Asian cuisines, Filipino fare is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Spanish, and even American influences. (How else to explain the fascination with canned meats?) But this isn’t the typical Filipino buffet-style diner that you might find in other places with a high concentration of Filipinos (NJ, Toronto, the West Coast). Chef Romy Dorotan brings his own contemporary, but still authentic, take to Filipino food. Which means you won’t find anything with Spam in it, but your Filipino grandmother would still recognize the fried lumpia egg rolls.

New York may be the only city in the world where you can name any ethnic or global cuisine and find someplace dishing it up (hello, Caracas Arepa Bar). But it’s not the faithful menu of dishes from the old country that interests me as much as the New World interpretations that reflect the chef’s newfound American roots.

As a second-generation Filipino American married to a Hungarian-Romanian-Canadian (I can’t even begin to count how many hyphens our two-year-old has), I love New York’s United Nations diversity—but I lovelovelove how so many individual everyday New Yorkers are a global mix in themselves: the Ethiopian chef raised in Sweden, the Chinese-Jewish journalist who speaks Arabic, the Cajun-Italian fashion designer (ok, I’m beginning to make these up here).

Which brings me back to Cendrillon—a top-notch (the New York Times gave it a two-star review in 2005), contemporary Filipino restaurant with a French name, located right around the corner from a Kate Spade boutique.

Here’s what I’d order for brunch: kalamansi (Philippine lime) juice to drink, ukoy (shrimp, tofu, and bean-sprout fritters) to start, followed by tocino (pork sausage) & eggs with garlic fried rice, and ending with halo-halo (“iced dessert with red beans, coconut, jackfruit, sugar palm fruit, coconut & pineapple gel, toasted young rice topped with purple yam ice cream”).

Mmm, I love New York.

Photo: 536 via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

Subscribe to this blog's feed

IT contributor Erica Schlaikjer will be attending the World Summit of Indigenous Cultures, and offers an invitation to anyone else able to attend.

For those of you traveling to Asia this month, consider attending the World Summit of Indigenous Cultures, which will be held in Taiwan from April 12-17. The two-day conference and subsequent three-day tour of the island's indigenous areas aims to bring together a diverse representation of the world's indigenous peoples — from artists to government leaders — to discuss the intersections between cultural heritage, globalization, and the environment.

The conference's formal list of speakers includes people from the Philippines' Kalinawa Art Foundation, Australia's Seed Savers' Network (via video presentation), and the Taiwan Indigenous Enterprise and Economic Development Association (TICEDA). They'll be exploring these themes including:

1. Indigenous environmental wisdom and protection of the earth's environment;
2. Indigenous belief systems today; and
3. Developing indigenous enterprise.

The tour, which follows the conference, will explore social interactions in Paiwan and Rukai villages, make a visit to a "hunting school" in Taitung and a wetlands conservation project in Mataian, and discover the intricacies of the Pasibutbut, a harvest song of the Bunun tribe that is known for its complex harmonies (you can watch a video of the song here).

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.

John Ur returns for another round of Cinematic Road Trip. This time, he casts his line and pulls up a winner in the form of the great state of Montana.

There is a certain grace and flair necessary for driving across the United States. As I mentioned last week, if you try to muscle your machine over the hills, you might pop a cork. You have to deal with inclement weather (stay tuned for Wisconsin!) and long hours of mindlessly straight and flat land. You must stay alert for animals straying to the roadways looking for food (like the twelve-foot-tall elk I met around the bend of a dark road through Yellowstone National Park). Without the aid of a GPS, you must pay close attention to signs and landmarks in order to avoid getting lost. And if you're from New Jersey, as I am, you must acclimate yourself to the confluence of speed limits as highways meet neighborhood roads. Or else you'll find yourself, as I did, face to face with the sheriff, who waited patiently at an intersection as the limit abruptly dropped from 75 to 25 mph. But don't worry, he'll be plenty congenial as he takes your fine (in cash) on the spot.

What is there to see in Montana besides flashing lights in your rearview? That depends on which side of the Continental Divide you're on. The eastern 3/5ths of the state, like Colorado, is a part of the Great Plains, long and flat. There's a reason it's called Big Sky country. The western 2/5ths is more densely populated; the Rockies spread up from Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park (which overlaps into Montana) and eventually stretch up to Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.  This section of the state contains some of its most populous cities – Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, the capital of Helena, and Missoula. It also contains the outdoor gem of the state – Glacier National Park.

Former National Geographic intern, and friend of IT Erica Schlaikjer is currently living in Taiwan, where she writes and edits the Responsible China blog, which looks at "environmental sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility in Greater China." She sends along this report about Beijing's efforts to offset athletes' carbon count.

WWF China recently created the Go For Gold campaign, an initiative that that encourages Olympic athletes, National Olympic Committees, and individual tourists to offset the carbon emissions from their air travel to Beijing for this summer's Olympic Games. Before you hop on that plane, consider that a round-trip journey from New York to Beijing will emit about 6.5 tons of carbon. It'll cost about $137 to offset, which sounds like a lot, but when you consider the hefty price tag of the ticket that you bought to emit those greenhouse gases in the first place, it doesn't seem so bad.

According to WWF China's "green olympics" Web site:

On March 27th, 2007, WWF began a global campaign urging Olympic athletes to "Go for Gold." That is, to donate the equivalent cost of the carbon emissions from their flights to meet the Gold Standard – or equivalent – offsetting projects. These include wind turbines in Madagascar, solar power projects in Costa Rica, biomass projects in India, and other energy efficiency initiatives. It is expected that China projects will begin soon.

By signing on, as individual athletes or an entire Olympic delegation, participants can become a member of the global team in the race against climate change. Even before the Olympic Games commence, these team members will already be taking home the gold for their efforts in offsetting their carbon emissions.

WWF China has a list of suggested sites to help offset your emissions. To hear an interview with WWF China representative Dermot O'Gorman, check out this podcast from ResponsibleChina.com.

Image: WWF Go For Gold

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Continuing our Authentic New York theme, we've asked several New York writers to riff a bit about their city. Amelia Mularz offers a reminder that while Times Square may now feel like Epcot Center, it still pays to be on guard when it comes to keeping your stuff safe...

Though I love Europe, ask any traveler who’s toured the continent and he or she is likely to have a pickpocket sob story of some kind. I myself have wandered wallet-less and teary-eyed through a Madrid metro station only to report my crime to a police officer who meets me with that eye-rolling, here-we-go-again kind of look. I’ve always taken comfort in the fact that New York, on the other hand, is relatively theft-free. Of course this is a big city and you have to have your wits about you, but it’s unlikely that a woman in Grand Central will make you hold her baby while she rifles through your pockets, looking to steal your wallet. I, perhaps naively, thought that petty theft in New York had gone out with subway crime and the seediness of Times Square. But after the week I’ve had, I can safely say that thievery is alive and well in New York City.

Last week somebody stole my desk. Yes, it was a full-size piece of furniture. I ordered it online and waited patiently with my new stapler and matching tape dispenser for its arrival. When it never came, I went online to track its progress and was confused when it said it had been delivered and signed for a few days beforehand. I called the company and the agent assured me the doorman had signed and it was safely in my building. The only problem is…my building doesn’t have a doorman.

Just as I was coming to terms with the fact that some doorman imposter had stolen my desk, my mom called to see if my roommates and I enjoyed the Easter basket she had sent…the Easter basket that, like my desk, I never received. Now the fact that I’m a grown woman and still receiving an Easter basket from my mom is completely beside the point. What’s important here is that somebody would actually steal an Easter basket sent from a 57-year-old woman in Illinois…so sad. I imagined at that moment some maniac in New York was sitting with the contents of my basket spread across my desk, separating the good Jelly Belly flavors from the bad.