Recently in Do IT: Sleep Category

If you ever find yourself traveling near Ottensheim, Austria, (located in Upper Austria just seven miles from Linz on the Danube River) in need of a place to rest your head, the Das Park Hotel offers an affordable night's rest so long as you don't mind sleeping in a former sewer pipe. The hotel, which is only open from May to October, has put cement pipes to unanticipated use with each pipe featuring a made-up double bed and enough room for backpack storage, but bathrooms and restaurants are not on site (it's suggested that you use a nearby gas station should you need to go). The doors of the rooms come affixed with code locks and guests can choose how much they would like to pay for the room each night. The Das Park Hotel is located on Rodlpark, the site of the annual Ottensheim Open Air music festival each summer in June. [Via Passportchop] 

Photo: Dietmar Tollerian

Richard Morgan looks down on the world from his perch in the Peruvian jungle.

If you're going to go so far as to have a private luxury treehouse in the Peruvian Amazon accessible only by Ewok-inspired treetop canopy wooden bridges, it makes sense to have an on-call jungle butler on the ground. For emergencies. Or for more towels.

That's the idea behind the recent expansion at Inkaterra's Reserva Amazonica, about an hour down the river from Puerto Maldonado. The treehouse suite hopes to ameloriate a particular thorny problem Peru has: how to get tourists to enjoy its spectacular environmental splendor - the jungles, the rivers, the mountains, the World Wonder of Machu Picchu, etc. - without having the whole country look like the last day of spring break in Acapulco, all cigarette butts and crushed beer cans and regret.

Much has been written about this dangerous game. There's the fratty party town at the bottom of Mount Everest. The trashing of the national parks. The concerns about preserving ruins. It's an especially weird problem for luxury travel; the Grand Canyon gets too touristy, so people head to Arches National Park, which gets too touristy so people head to Denali, and on and on. Like locusts with fannypacks.

Elizabeth Seward fulfills a childhood desire to visit Costa Rica.

I was in elementary school the first time I heard Costa Rica referenced as a destination people actually traveled to. A boy in my class answered his "what did you do this summer?" question with tales of this mystical place, which sounded a lot like Narnia to me. He was wearing a shirt covered in a colorful image of a parrot and the words "Costa Rica" scribbled underneath the bird in cursive. He made my summer's trip to Ocean City, Maryland sound like garbage and while I resented him for this, I still went home that evening parading the idea of Costa Rica vacation to my family. around the dinner table. When my mother told me how many birthday checks I'd have to save up before I could afford to fly the family to Costa Rica, I realized I would be 39--in which case I'd just fly myself. Fortunately, the prospect of vacationing in Costa Rica in my adult years didn't hinge on (only) birthday checks. 

I set out this past summer to embark on a trip to the land filled with monkeys and brightly colored poisonous frogs.  Flights to Costa Rica, as it turns out, are much less expensive than I'd once imagined.

Alaska's Kachemak Bay spans over 400,000 acres of glaciers, mountains and wilderness. And tucked along its coastline is the Kachemak Bay Wilderness Lodge, which travel writer David Hanson recently visited.

There's that old question: If you could have dinner with anyone in the world, who would it be? I don't like that question because it makes my head spin with all the possibilities. But recently the answer came to me in the form of a 66-year-old man sitting across the table. I was at the lodge he and his wife built almost forty years ago on the rugged southern shores of Alaska's Kachemak Bay. Michael and Diane McBride moved to this chunk of fir forest, basalt cliff and rocky beach in the mid '60s when no white person lived here permanently. Michael was a bush pilot and boat captain, and they both fished commercially until deciding to build a lodge and invite people to stay.

The problem with the "dinner with anyone in the world" question is that it leaves the parameters up to you, and that is limiting. Never would I have put together a person like Michael: bush pilot, sea captain, master hunting guide, fisherman, yoga instructor, carpenter, lodge owner, environmental warrior (his efforts defeated two resource extraction initiatives), father, grandfather, musician, and member of Explorer's Club, Royal Geographic Society, Smithsonian Board, and Nature Conservancy. Tonight, over dessert, he played an accordion he picked up in Austria decades ago.

A revolutionary leader in the organic architecture movement, Frank Lloyd Wright constructed homes that were one with their natural surroundings. Taking into consideration every imaginable perspective, Wright's designs aimed to create peaceful and harmonious spaces. In 1992 the Seth Peterson Cottage in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, was the first of six homes designed by Wright to open to the public for vacationing and events.

One of Wright's last commissioned works, the Seth Peterson Cottage was built in 1958 overlooking Mirror Lake. Although the home is small in square footage, it appears much larger because of the abundance of natural light and other design elements. A masterful stone fireplace is the focal point in the home, while the great room is walled by picture windows and extends in to the fully functional kitchen. The intimate bedroom is also lined with windows and offers views of the hillside.

The home is secluded and would be a unique and peaceful retreat for design enthusiasts or anyone looking for a special getaway. Located near the Wisconsin Dells, there are a wide variety of activities available within ten minutes of the Seth Peterson Cottage including hiking, golf, spas, fishing, etc.

The home is open all year and rental rates range from $225-$275 per night. A two-night minimum reservation is required and the cottage sleeps four people. If you are just interested in visiting, the home is open the second Sunday of every month for tours.

For more ways to stay Wright, check out our past post on his buildings in Pennsylvania.

Photo: Courtesy of the Seth Peterson Cottage Conservancy

It's summertime and the living's easy. Why not spend the night at the zoo, drifting off to sleep to the hoots of owls and the growls of lions? Zoos across the country host overnight sleepover events where kids and their families, Scout troops, and school groups can pitch their tents, snuggle in their sleeping bags, and get a behind-the-scenes look at zoos after hours when the crowds have gone home.

Visitors pitch tents at the Houston Zoo

Most zoo overnights are aimed at a local audience; oriented toward kids; typically provide dinner, a late-night snack, and light breakfast the following morning. Some may focus on a particular theme or animal (conservation, adaptation, African elephants, animals of the Bible, for example), and range and price between $30 and $139.

As I compiled this list of U.S. zoos putting on such fun events, I discovered, to my delight, that a lot of U.S. zoos organize overnights and put their own spin on them. To make sense of things, I contacted Allen Nyhuis, co-author with Jon Wassner, of America's Best Zoos: A Travel Guide (The Intrepid Traveler, 2008) to get a feel for some of the best zoo overnights. Here are his top five picks:

1) Probably the most attractive-looking program has to be at the San Diego Wild Animal Park's Roar & Snore Camp (in Escondido, CA). They have a camp of tents set up overlooking SDWAP's gorgeous East Africa Savanna, with its many antelope, giraffes, zebras, rhinos, and more. The rows of perfect tents look authentically like one of those tent camps you've seen in the real African safari camping resorts in South Africa or Tanzania. This camp is near the park's Lion Camp exhibit, so campers usually wake up to lions roaring.

2) A lower-budget ($35/person) option would be the Binder Park Zoo's Overnight Safari (in Battle Creek, MI). The safari is entirely in the zoo's Wild Africa section, which we find amazing in its African realism. This zoo exhibit is modeled after an African national park, so I can imagine that sleeping there would have the same feeling.

 3) Some zoos have overnight programs with a chance to sleep in some very interesting buildings. At the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, you can sleep in the Manatee Springs building and fall asleep watching the peaceful creatures. At the Minnesota Zoo, overnighters tuck in at their Discovery Bay building and doze off watching either dolphins or sharks. Here in my hometown, the Indianapolis Zoo offers the same -- a chance to sleep within view of dolphins, sharks, or even jellyfish.
 
4) At the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, you can fall asleep watching gray wolves in their rustic Wolf Lodge, a replica of a 19th-century trapper's cabin. You might also get the thrill of hearing them howl at night.

5) At the Fort Worth Zoo, their Outdoor Explorers Overnight program includes using a compass to find your way around the zoo and fishing in a stream early in the morning. You'll likely stay in the excellent Texas Wild! exhibit area, learning about the animals and habitats of the Lone Star State.

Six more fun overnights await after the jump!

Q: I am a faithful subscriber to Traveler and need some direction. We will be attending some performances in Tanglewood in July 2009. We're looking for accommodation "with heart" at $200-300 per night, near sights and restaurants. Sincere thanks. -- Joy

A: Thanks for your support. Hoping that Traveler has steered you to some world-class experiences. Lucky you: The Berkshires is one of my favorite places on Earth! Gorgeous scenery, great folks, intriguing shops and cafés, plus seriously memorable culture. If you are a fan of the dance, look into the offerings at Jacob's Pillow.

I am going to recommend two widely different places to stay--both on Traveler's 2008 STAY LIST of hotels. I suggest that you depend on their tremendous hotel staffs to steer you to see/do/eat options.

For a trendy mix of old and new try The Porches Inn in North Adams, MA (www.porches.com). Or for pure New England quaint opt for the Red Lion Inn, in Stockbridge, MA (www.redlioninn.com).

Wishing you happy trails,

Sheila Buckmaster
Senior Editor, National Geographic Traveler

Have a question for Traveler? Feel free to Ask IT. 

Photo: The Tavern at the Red Lion Inn, by Kristian Septimius Krogh

Camping may seem like one of the greenest possible ways to travel. You're close to nature, bringing only what you need, and leaving only footprints behind. But as it turns out, the managers of campsites across the country are attempting to make the camping experience even greener, and are rolling out new methods of cutting the energy costs of running their sites. It's all part of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC) green parks initiative, called "Plan-it Green."

"A lot of parks were already doing things that helped the environment and I think a lot more of them are embracing the concept," says Linda Profaizer, president and CEO of ARVC, which represents the more than 8,000 private campgrounds, RV parks and resorts across the United States. Sites have been installing geothermal heating and cooling systems, low-flow shower heads, and efficient lightbulbs and hand-dryers, switching from chlorine-based pool cleaning systems to salt water treatments and even encouraging their staffs to use bikes instead of cars to travel the grounds.

As part of the initiative, ARVC has launched a competition which awards parks with the most outstanding forward-thinking practices. Last year's Green Award winner was the Grand Haven Resort in Kimbolton, Ohio. What put them over the edge? Among their eco-efforts was the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system for its customer service and fitness centers. The result? The site's heating and cooling costs drop from over $12,000 per year to just over $1,200. That's a big chunk of change. And that kind of change is a good thing.

Photo: ARVC

Senior editor Norie Quintos recently visited New York City with her teenage sons, trying to go as green as possible. Here's her report:

Getting there: The train, the most eco (as well as the most comfortable) way to go, was too expensive, so we took one of the many inter-city buses that ply the busy DC-New York corridor. Public buses are an excellent green option, and the one we booked, a double-decker Megabus, was modern, clean, and offered free Wi-Fi. Promotional rates start at $1 (good luck getting that rate) but typically go for about $20 one-way. On a five-hour ride, you'll likely get hungry; pack a sandwich and bottled water. We saw someone get on with a large takeout pizza.

With the new visitor center opening at Monticello this week, now is the perfect time to plan a visit to Charlottesville, Virginia. IT Editor Janelle Nanos shares some of the highlights from her recent trip.

I'm no country bumpkin, but I do admit that I tend to feel a bit confined if I don't get out of the city from time to time. So a few weeks ago, when I was looking for a weekend away, my boyfriend and I decided to check out the rumors about Virginia wine country and packed up our car for the three-hour drive down to Charlottesville.

Home to both the University of Virginia and Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's quirky estate (did you know that both are World Heritage sites?), Charlottesville is a easy escape. Tucked in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, downtown C'ville, as it's known to locals, is a hip mix of independent storefronts, a local theater and ice-skating rink, and a funky outdoor pavilion with free live performances every Friday during warmer months. Huge chalkboards along one stretch of the main thoroughfare encourage free speech - and the vibe is distinctly warm and friendly, even in February when I visited.

Pulling up to downtown C'ville and a bit hungry after the trip, we stumbled upon one of the best finds of the weekend: The delectable dumplings from Marco & Lucas. Cheap and hot, with a line of hungry college kids spilling out the door, this spot is located along the downtown pedestrian-only West Main Street, and they're the best dumplings I've found in the (relative) D.C. area. When fried, they were like little crunchy pockets of heaven, and honestly, I've been craving them ever since. Unbeknownst to us, these dumplings would kick off the weekend's theme: food and drink, as many of the adorable clothing shops closed early over the weekend. But that turned out to be just fine.

We were hoping to stay in a bed and breakfast, as there are dozens in the area, and were fortunate to find at room (on short notice) at the High Meadows Vineyard Inn in nearby Scottsville. Immediately taken with the periwinkle home with chartreuse shutters, I was even more smitten with our host, Nancy, who was incredibly warm and generous with her suggestions about where to visit in the area. Plus, she and her daughter make a mean breakfast - if you haven't tried their broiled grapefruit drizzled with honey and cinnamon, book your reservation now (plus, they offer great mid-week deals).

Friend of IT Tala Katner is traveling around Asia. After stops in the Himalayas and Kathmandu, she visited India's state of Rajasthan, and took a camel ride in the Thar Desert.

My number one recommendation after a tour of Rajasthan: spend one night under the stars in the desert dunes of western India. Less than an hour from the golden city of Jaisalmer, near the Pakistan border lays a little desert village called Khuri. Here, my Arabian Night fantasies came alive as a red-turbanned and blanket-clad camel driver took me to watch the sun set over the wind-rippled dunes from the back of the huge animal.
 
After watching the sunset, I took a two-hour camel ride back to the campfire and bungalow area. Rajasthani dances and live music with a traditional dinner provided entertainment for the night. Forced to join in with the women and dance, I was somewhat relieved when the performance was finished. Then as the sultry day turned into a bitter night we made our way to a secluded stretch of desert on camel-pulled carts to set up camp. The complete silence of the desert was interrupted only by the huffing of the camels.

While fact-checking one of Traveler's April features, "Avenue of the Volcanoes," senior researcher Meg Weaver was transported (through cyberspace) to Ecuador's scenic haciendas nestled high in the Andes. And thanks to a great deal that the hacienda is offering, she might be able to get there in reality. Details after the jump.

Hacienda Zuleta is alluring not merely for its idyllic 5,218 acres that guests can explore on horseback and its picturesque colonial buildings dating back to 1691. Hacienda Zuleta, home to former Ecuadorian president Galo Plaza Lasso, provides guests a home-away-from home among the volcanoes, and it funds the Galo Plaza Lasso Foundation.

The foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization formed in 1995, seeks to empower and educate the local, primarily indigenous, people of Zuleta and the surrounding Ibarra region. The foundation also aims to protect the environment and culture of the area.

It works toward these goals through two major projects: the Embroidery Project and the Condor Huasi Rehabilitation Project. The Embroidery Project began with Doña Rosario, wife of the former president, who was inspired by her travels to Spain and Italy in the 1940s and the embroidery she saw women doing there on their doorsteps. She thought of the intricate brocades, tapestries, and gauze work the Andean women of Zuleta had been doing since pre-Columbian times. Upon her return from Europe, Doña Rosario established a workshop for the local women as well as a shop, El Taller, at the hacienda where they could sell their wares to supplement their families' primarily agrarian income. Zuleta embroidery is now part of the region's cultural heritage and the sale of the product and perpetuation of the art form clearly benefit from increased tourism to the hacienda and the region in general.

While Hollywood is all abuzz about the Oscar nominations (Did Benjamin Button really deserve 13 nods?), we can't help but feel like cheap lodgings - especially given the current economic crisis - are worth celebrating as well. So we were glad to hear that Hostelworld.com recently announced their Hoscar Awards (get it?). As we've noted before, hostels aren't just for backpackers any more, and they saw a 14% spike in bookings in 2007, according to Hostelling International. What's more, there are now over 1.7 million hostel beds around the globe (and even better news: three-quarters of the hostels now feature en-suite bathrooms).

The Hoscar list was culled from the votes of over 800,000 users of the site who judged each location based on character, security, location, staff, fun and cleanliness. Topping their list overwhelmingly was Lisbon, Portugal, which seems to be the Benjamin Button of the bunch. Among the top picks were Travellers House, Rossio Hostel, and the chic-to-the-point-where-you-wonder-if-it's-a-hostel Lisbon Lounge. The Guardian has the full list, which includes hostels in Wales, Krakow, Beijing, and Barcelona.

Read More: Check out a hostel housed in an refurbished plane. Choose from a list of hostel booking sites. The Barcelona Urbany was Spain's first eco-friendly hostel.

Photo: Travellers House

In this month's issue of Traveler, Hotel Central features some of the finest Australian stations, the Aussie version of a cattle ranch. There are a variety of ways to experience the outback at its best; accommodations include lodge guestrooms, bungalows, and tented cabins. But for as little as $10 (USD) per night, you can camp on a cattle station and fall asleep under the Southern Cross stars.

At El Questro Wilderness Park, choose from camping at the Black Cockatoo grounds or, if you prefer your own space away from fellow campers, you can pitch your tent at a private site along the Pentecost River.  

Camping along the Pentecost River also is an option at Home Valley Station. The Bindoola River Camp is located about 2.5 miles from the main Homestead, complete with views of the gorgeous outback sunset and landscape. If you're looking for someone to share ghost stories with, the more social site at the Homestead grounds, near the Dusty Bar & Grill, Station Store, and lagoon-style pool, may be just what you're looking for.

With the money you'll save by forgoing luxury lodgings, you can afford to participate in the activities offered at the stations...like a daily boomerang contest. Check them out after the break.

News Flash! The economy is crumbling (in case you hadn't heard). But that doesn't mean you have to put your travel plans on hold. One Caribbean company is giving travelers the chance to trade their stocks for a getaway at their resort.

Elite Island Resorts announced earlier this month that it is accepting stocks in exchange for a night at one of their luxury hotels. "Roll Back Your Stock's Value," as the chain is calling it, allows travelers to spend up to $5,000 per room in stock transaction, and the stocks will be rated at their July 1, 2008 value. Stocks will be accepted as payment through January 31, 2009, and will be valid until December 20, 2009.

The company claims it has set aside $10 million in resort accommodation towards the program, and there are no blackout dates.

What do I think? If I had thousands of dollars in stocks, I might give it a go. But seeing as I never had any money even before the economy went downhill, it looks like I'll have to pass up this deal.

Photo: courtesy the Verandah Resort & Spa

Imagine for a moment that you are a Maasai tribesman in Kenya and your entire livelihood is invested in your livestock. One day, a lion attacks one of your cows, killing it. Enraged, you set about to seek justice and protect your cattle from further harm. But justice today is not the same as it once was. The Maasai once used spears alone to take down lions, but now, with the rise of poisonous insecticides, it's simple for you to spread some poison on the carcass while the lion has wandered away. When the lion returns with its cubs, it ingests the poison. But so does the rest of the pride. In the span of a few hours, an entire family of lions is wiped out. Your cattle are safe...for now. But there are side effects: The region's economy, dependent on tourism, becomes unstable, and the fragile ecosystem of East Africa is shattered.

This was the reality facing Tom Hill, who began his work on lion conservation efforts in the Kenyan bush 16 years ago. As a trustee of the Maasailand Preservation Trust (known as the Ol Donyo Wuas Trust in Kenya), Hill has worked on the Mbirikani Group Ranch; and he has watched the population of lions deteriorate in the Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem (Located at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro). The arrival of poison in the region has only hastened the problem. In 2003, he says, "We lost eight lions in one afternoon. It was the last great pride of the Chyulu Hills."

It was shortly after losing that pride that Hill and his co-founder, Richard Bonham, began speaking with the Maasai community about creating a better way to account for their losses. The MPT had long been established in the region and had relationships with tribal elders. But, Hill says, they needed to find a reason to make it worthwhile for the 10,000 people in the community to want to live alongside such beasts. "We realized that if we didn't do something significant the lion population was going to go extinct," he says. "So we sat under trees with elders for months talking about life for the Maasai and the nature of conflict with wildlife. We tried to see how could we develop a solution that could stabilize the predator population, and save them from extinction, while saving the quality of life for the people." It was out of those meetings that they developed a novel system called the Mbirikani Predator Compensation Fund.

The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina

A few months ago, we ran this fantastic video, produced by former researcher Alison Ogden and NG Channel Advanced Media Producer Chris Keener about the opening of the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the time, Alison interviewed hotel manager Dennis Quaintance about the steps he was taking to make the hotel achieve LEED platinum status for sustainable building design (recycled building materials, solar panels, and even waterless urinals were among the more inspired design elements). So we were pleased to hear that the U.S. Green Building Council recently awarded the platinum rating to the hotel, making it one of the greenest buildings in the country, and the first building in the hospitality industry to receive the platinum status.

This coincides well with a recent TripAdvisor survey, which found that Americans are increasingly interested in choosing green lodging options (and sustainable travel in general, in fact). So message to hotels: it's a smart idea to go green, let's see more of it soon.

Photo: courtesy of the Proximity Hotel

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Do you ever wish you knew how to carve your own Inuit-style snow goggles, or construct moosehide and canvas mukluks? Well now's your chance: the North House Folk School is offering their annual and wildly popular Winterer's Gathering and Arctic Film Festival on November 20-23 at their campus in Grand Marais, Minnesota. There will be classes in toboggan building and snowshoe-making, how to craft your own wood stove or felt your own slippers, seminars on winter wilderness travel and living skills, plus fascinating international films about Arctic life.      

Why do they call it the Winterer's Gathering?  North House Folk School explains:

The Winterers—or Les Hivernants as the early North American Voyageurs referred to them – were brave, experienced individuals who signed on after the summer’s end to work at winter outposts scattered throughout the ‘interior’ of North America. In respect for the skills, traditions and spirit of this devoted group, the annual Winterer’s Gathering happens each year at the North House Folk School campus on the shore of Lake Superior.

This year, the featured guest speaker is Garrett Conover, wilderness adventurer and expedition leader, and author of A Snowwalker's Companion.  Coincidentally, Garrett and his wife Alexandra were profiled in National Geographic Traveler in our April 2008 issue, when writer James Conaway picked them to lead him through the Lake Onawa region of Maine as part of his multi-part Walk Into America series. For more information, check out the Gathering's website here. This year, in addition to the workshops, they offer a Snowshoe Shuffle Contra Dance, a Great Gear Swap, and the Deep Freeze Chili Feed.

Photo: North House Folk School

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There was a time (25 years ago, to be exact) when women traveling alone could spend the night in hotels with female-only floors. Not surprisingly, this special treatment eventually came to be seen as sexist, and ceased to be—until now. The New York Times reports that the new Crowne Plaza Milwaukee-Wauwatosa hotel has turned its seventh floor into a Women’s Executive Level. Here women will have access to a variety of girlie amenities such as Victoria’s Secret bathrobes, blow dryers, and vanity mirrors. The great equalizing factor is that men can book rooms on this floor too—if they want to. The Times points out that, in a sense, the Women’s Executive Level is an answer to most hotels’ concierge or club floors, which have traditionally been aimed at men.

Bill DeForrest, president of Lane Hospitality (which oversees three Crowne Plazas), maintains that the “Women’s Level isn’t really an exclusive woman’s floor. It’s simply designed to cater to the needs of women travelers, who are growing faster in numbers than male travelers. One of the things we’ve changed is to keep our fitness facilities open 24/7. So much of what we do, by the way, is applicable to both men and women.”