Travel gems and hidden secrets from Concierge.com

The winners of Concierge.com’s Million Mile Contest have been announced and their essays are posted on the website. Some essays offer a unique angle about a place where people might miss certain details if they didn’t know where or how to look.

The winner, Elizabeth Dwoskin of Brooklyn, New York wrote about Parque Lage, a jungle park in the middle of Rio De Janeiro. Within the reserve is my kind of place–Saint Teresa, a neighborhood of artists who live in 19th century mansions. Not one artist per mansion, but up to twenty. For her essay, Dwoskin won one million OnePass miles from Continental Airlines.

Here are the runners-up essays about particular places. They are quick, interesting reads that stimulate ones own memories about what made a particular travel spot at a particular time special. I’m thinking about the day I spent riding a motorbike around Skopelos, Greece.

Along with each essay are links that lead to more details about each location.