Best Food Abroad

I love food. Like, really love food. Andrew Zimmern territory? Umm... maybe not that much. Can I be Gizmo, then Mogwai if I don't get my fill? Yes. Only the Gremlins midnight is more like my 9AM, Noon and 6PM feedings. Suffice to say, food equals good in my book. Naturally then, my travels invoke instant curiosity and excitement in me to seek out new and tasty cuisine.

I was talking today about my favorite culinary destinations in this world. After a bit of thought, I realized my two all-time favorites are Thailand and Spain. I'm curious to hear what other destinations people list amongst their favorites.

For me, Thailand is the surprise entry on my list. Not many people think of Thailand as a food mecca. And frankly, if you don't like spice, you probably won't ever list it as one of yours. That said, I can't get enough spicy food. In addition to the fact that Thailand has some of the freshest food dishes I've tasted, the balance of sweet, sour, salt, spiciness and texture are hard to beat. I love their noodles. I love their soups. I love their curries. I love the mix of influences - East and West - that build the dishes. Love, love, love.

And Spain? What can I say. The mere thought of tapas and sangria is enough to get my heart pumping. Calderos, grilled squid in olive oil & garlic, beef tenderloin & blue cheese, goat cheese baked in tomato sauce, perfect olives, paella, perfectly cooked meat, do I need to go on? It's also worth mentioning that any culture that sits down to frequent meals that surpass the two-hour mark, will always get high marks from me.

I can't write about food for too long, because I get hungry. So, I'm out for now but give us your thoughts. Read more...

Most polluted locations in the world

Has environmental damage ever made you not visit a location? It is a big reason why I have never been to China, although I know it also contains picturesque locations filled with historical significance and a wonderfully kind culture. So I thought I would blog on some of the worlds most polluted cities and how they have found themselves in this position. This list is not in any particular order and there is still some disagreement which cities are more polluted than others.

Linfen, China: This city is the hub of China's coal production, and the smell of burning coal comes from both of legal and illegal sources. This city has a population of more than four million and located in the heart of Shanxi, from which the local population suffers from the ingestion of coal dust which causes a myriad of lung aliments as well as drinking water polluted with arsenic. (Source: MSNBC)

Sukinda, India: Located in the north eastern portion of the country this particular city is plagued by hexavalent chromium in drinking water. This type of chromium is a heavy metal used for stainless steel production and leather tanning that is carcinogenic if inhaled or ingested (Source: Time). In Sukinda, which contains one of the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world, 60% of the drinking water contains hexavalent chromium at levels more than double international standards.

La Oroya, Peru: Mining in this area has devastated the local environment in the Peruvian Andies. Lead, copper, zinc and sulfur dioxide are the main culprits and all of which come from the lack of regulations from mining. 99% of children have blood levels that exceed acceptable limits, mostly due to American-owned smelter that has been polluting the city since 1922 (Source: Time Magazine). This particular plant is owned by the Missouri-based Doe Run Corporation.....(author side note: how do these people sleep at night when they know they are giving children cancer?) Sulfur dioxide emissions from the Doe Run plant sometimes reach 10 times the amount considered acceptable by the World Health Organization, and the annual mean concentration exceeds this level by a factor of two or three (Source: Oxfam)

Chernobyl, Ukraine: Not unexpectedly this city is still reeling from the ecological disaster that occurred in 1986. In Chernobyl, the report estimates 5.5 million people are still threatened by radioactive material that continues to seep into groundwater and soil 20 years after the nuclear power plant exploded there (Source: MSNBC).

Some other severely polluted cities: Dzerzhinsk, Russia, Vapi, India, Mayluu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan, Tianying, China Read more...

Travel Secrets

Today's post may be a bit off-kilter, but I wanted to comment on a few things I've seen more and more of since joining the "travel community." Oh heck, let's just get to the point: There are some really annoying expectations people have about travel. Now before I put my foot in my mouth any further, I want to make the compulsory public service announcement that everyone (including me) has expectations from time to time about what a place ought to look like, how much it ought to cost etc. etc. that aren't quite on point. Fact is, often times travel reality is the opposite of what we expected. That said, there are some things the general public needs to know. As a side note, if you travel frequently, or have not been locked in a box for the last ten years, you can tune out now. For the unfortunate few that do not, or have been, read on:

1. You can no longer fly from LAX to Paris for $399. Yep, shocking, I know.
Oh, what's that?
"You did it in college?"
Well guess what? Ten years ago: gas was cheaper, our dollar was stronger, and supply greater.

2. You cannot stay on the beach in Thailand (specifically Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, Samui, Krabi or elsewhere) for $10/night. And no, there are no secret communities of backpackers that have occupied an otherwise unknown island where days are blissful, and everything is free.

3. Tokyo is insanely expensive. Yes, worse than New York. And no, there's nothing I can find for you under $200 in that city anywhere near the sections of the city you'd want to be near.
"But why?!"
"That's insane!?"
"It can't be true!"
Answer: It just is, yes it is, unfortunately it is.

4. If you are looking to get "off-the-beaten-path", steer clear of Europe.

5. The combination of 4-5 star, centrally located, and very very cheap rarely, if ever, exists.

6. In remote parts of this world, you cannot always just fly from place to place - you have to drive.

7. There are ATM's in foreign countries. I know, totally crazy. It's almost as if there are banks in countries other than our own.

8. You get what you pay for. Simple enough, right? If you want to spend $75 a night on a hotel abroad, don't expect much. Furthermore, don't write a review on Trip Advisor once you've stayed at that $75/night property that the valet was poor, breakfast incomplete, or room not very big.

9. Iceland is not covered in ice, and Greenland is not really green.

10. Cancun is dirty, gross, not very foreign, and chalked full of drunk college kids. It's not an ideal family vacation spot. Read more...

Top 10 reasons not to use online booking agents

I am going to turn to this blog to express my utter outrage at online booking agents, Obritz, this is primarily geared at you. Although, I am not particularly fond of Expedia either. These are simply big, faceless entities who only care about booking airfare in mass quantities to make a profit. Their ridiculous regulations are formed to make the most money they possibly can, while at the same time providing the least amount of customer service possible. So to publicly announce recent Orbitz experience, and a particular evil manager named Jasper, I am going to tell you exactly why no one should ever use online travel agents:

1. They might not find it all that important to tell you a flight change has happened or that your flight has been cancelled. In what other business does this happen???? Could you imagine another company getting away with this nonsense? Well, they are not obligated to let their customers know if a flight has been canceled or changed.

2. You will NEVER get a refund. Ok...I guess I cannot say never, but almost never. They can screw up, admit they screwed up and still not refund you money.

3. Their 24 hour cancellation window is a complete joke. Basically, they have a window of 24 hours in which you can cancel your flight, 'free of charge'. What they do not tell you is it can take up to two months to get your money back! How is this even legal! They should have to pay for my credit card fees if they are going keep my money for multiple months.

4. Use Kayak.com. Period, they are the best. Find the best flights and then book directly with the carrier. Flights are often cheaper (no admin fees) that these sites charge.

5. If you have a problem, expect to be put on hold for a very long, long time. Customer Service is very important to me, if there is a problem all I need is someone to tell me it will be fixed. I hate the response, sorry there is nothing I can do it is our policy. Be prepared to hear this response to almost any question.

6. If you book a flight and it is comfirmed, be sure to watch you email. The word 'confirmed' is somewhat of an ambigous term for online travel sites. It can mean confirmed as Webster's defines it, or it can mean just kidding the flight is not actually valid. My advice, if you book a flight, be prepared to receive an email back saying, sorry the flight was not actually available.

7. Fees, fees and more fees. Be prepared to pay lots of fees, $5 service fee, $15 fedex fee, $15 for agent assistance, $150 change fee, etc.

8. No matter how much business you put through an online travel company, you are still no more important than the next person.

9. If you make a mistake, it will cost you. I think everyone has done it, accidentally booked the wrong flight time or day. Well, even if you call them within 2 minutes to try and correct the mistake.....too little, too late is your response. You will pay a $150 dollar change fee.

10. If there is ever a problem with an online booking, wether it was your fault or the companies, the process leaves you feeling, helpless, unimportant and very, very, very angry. Jasper....i sincerely hope you are reading this!

If you want to want a forum to complain, or just to read other's experiences here are few great websites for that: Orbitz-sucks.com or marketingshift.com Read more...

Super Rad Organization II...

Hello loyal readers. Awhile back we profiled one of the many organizations (Invisible Children) that we make travel-related donations to for our clients. If you'd like to know more about how this program works, please click here. Today I want to draw attention to another one of our partners near and dear to our hearts: Surfrider Foundation. Like Invisible Children, Surfrider definitely falls into both Jessica and I's self-proclaimed "rad" category. This is an organization that started here in Southern California and has blown up throughout the country as a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 80 chapters worldwide. Basically, Surfrider started as a bunch of surfers just wanting to make sure our beaches and waves are safe, clean and protected. Yes please.

Surfrider spearheads numerous projects, and if you'd like to see many of their recent successes click here, but I want to talk about one in particular today: their Rise Above Plastics Campaign. Now if you're like me, you hear facts about pollution etc all of the time and 99% are forgotten two seconds later. A lot of times I can't adequately understand or put into context the scope of the problem, and hence forget all about it. Jessica and I recently went to a Surfrider chapter meeting and were made aware of one of the most disturbing facts I have ever heard. Here it is (straight from Surfrider's site):

There is a section of the Pacific Ocean twice the size of the continental United States called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Within it, 100 million tons of plastic swirl in a vortex of currents. There is so much plastic in the water that it outnumbers zooplankton by six to one! This plastic ends up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals. In fact, one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die globally each year due to ingestion of or entanglement in plastics.

Twice the size of the U.S.!! I almost fell out of my chair. Worse still, this plastic dump was only the size of Texas four or five years ago. This situation has gone haywire; totally out of control. Surfrider needs help from each of us to help curb the madness. There's currently a member from their team touring with Jack Johnson (who backs Surfrider 100% and wants to get their word out to the masses), trying to educate the public. I was recently at a concert of his where he dedicated a song to Surfrider, and even wore one of their shirts throughout the whole concert (Save Trestles!). We donate a portion of any of our client's vacations that are coastal or onboard a cruise ship to Surfrider. Surfrider has a section of their Web site where you can pledge to help this massive problem with plastics, and get involved today:

- Using reusable bottles for my water and other drinks. By using just one reusable bottle, I will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.

- Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases. For each reusable bag I use, I will save approximately 400 plastics from being used.

- Recycling the plastic bags and bottles I already have. For every thirteen plastic bags I don't use, I will save enough petroleum to drive a car one mile. Read more...

Dark Star Safari

Jessica inspired me the other day when she opened Pandora's box and wrote a book review on Lost on Planet China. The thing is, Jessica and I read a ton of travel-related books. In the last month, I've gobbled up two travel books, and two pseudo-travel books (micro-finance related... my new obsession). Anyhow, I thought I'd follow suit and record my thoughts on a book I just finished, Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux.

Theroux is a well-known American travel writer and novelist who has published many notable books including The Great Railway Bazaar, Riding the Iron Rooster and The Old Patagonian Express among others. He is a fascinating writer, one of the many items I will explain later.

Dark Start Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, as the second part of the title suggests, is Theroux's account of his voyage from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa. An undertaking of this much geography is impressive, made more so by the fact that Theroux did so alone, and entirely overland. For those of you not familiar, the term overland is the traveler's way of saying entirely by bus, car or train (non-air); a popular form of travel in Europe, but hardly ever in Africa (as it is borderline suicidal - a point made evidently clear throughout the novel). Theroux offers a unique perspective on this trip, as in addition to being a traveler, Theroux was both a Peace Corps volunteer and professor in various parts of the continent in the 1960's. His perspective on the landscape and cultures of the countries he visits is refreshingly accompanied by a historical perspective dating back 40 years on the progress (or frankly, lack there of) in Africa.

Theroux's Safari is chalked full of the standard musings one would expect on such a journey: sites, sounds, people, near misses, food, adventure, history, poverty, deplorable conditions and politics. The story is a fantastic read on these accounts alone. However I was really impressed with this novel for its candid view of Africa; the miserable state of it's social/political/economic legacy, and a fascinating look at Theroux's opinion of the "charity" and "aid" that's been dumped into the continent over the last 40 years. This insight was particularly fascinating to me. The over-arching theme of course, and one I agree with entirely, is how on earth has so much money (a number well into the trillions of dollars) been dumped into Africa only to see nearly every major category of distress get WORSE over the years? How is this an acceptable situation? How has Africa become, in many opinions, the case study for why present-day "charity" is totally a broken system? Have people gone there with good intentions? Lives been changed? Sure, but study the facts: 10's of trillions gone, conditions worse. It's almost unbelievable. It's a Hollywood script: Corruption abound, bogus charity, money never reaching its source, kickbacks, despots and tyrants, "charity" workers in Land Rovers, and as bad as it sounds, the World Bank.

In addition to Theroux's candor, he writes with a certain poetic feel that is somehow reminiscent of a younger Henry David Thoreau. While Thoreau was magical at describing the complexities of nature and its relation to the human condition, Dark Star Safari's Theroux seems to tap into the complexities of Africa and its relation to not only humanity, but charity and strife. I mention this as there is, in my opinion, a void in contemporary travel writing of "good" writing. It seems that 75% of travel books published are your neighbors next store who have gone somewhere foreign and captured their accounts. Few classically trained (award winning) novelists exist in the travel writing market.

My only complaint with this novel is that Mr. Theroux frequently takes a "better than thou" approach to his critique and observation (often judgement) of both Africans, fellow travelers, and those there to "help". While he did teach in the continent, has some contacts there, and is in his elder years, he should not be so quick to assume his superiority. After all, he too, at the end of the day is just a traveler as well. Overall however, this is a fascinating read, and one I'd highly recommend to anyone wishing to be further educated on the continent, its politics, and history. Read more...

Airline safety video

Thank goodness we are now going to be 'safe' on airlines!

Read more...