If you have dogs, you know that car rides can be an adventure. Whether you’re on a road trip, running errands or just taking your pups to the vet, time in the car with dogs is always interesting. I have two dogs and they couldn’t be more different in the car. We take our dogs camping, on hikes and to family gatherings. Our little guy curls up in a ball and sleeps. Our black lab mix, however, barks, spins in circle and, if we let him, sticks his nose out of the car. He then makes strange horse noises. I remember, as a kid, seeing dogs heads sticking out of cars and thinking that they looked so happy. It’s a dogs life out there.
Boutique hotel in Turkey allows guests to sleep in caves and meander through underground tunnels
Located in the center of Cappadocia, Turkey, on the site of an ancient monastery, there is the Argos in Cappadocia, a historical and experiential boutique hotel. The remains of the historical structures, tunnels, and caves have been restored and turned it into a unique accommodation for travelers.
The views from the hotel look like a mix between a fairy tale and a sci-fi film, overlooking volcanic peaks and valleys of apricots and apples as the hotel is literally imbedded into the layered hillside. Room styles vary from “standard” to “Splendid Suites”, with each type being housed inside of a cave. These cave rooms are each located in hillside mansions that are connected to underground tunnels containing meeting rooms and fully stocked wine cellars. If you’re imagining a dark and dismal atmosphere, think again, as these rooms open onto terraces, balconies, and private courtyards with clear views of the adjacent Guvercinlik Valley and faraway mountain peaks. Moreover, each guestroom is technology-capable, with wireless internet and state-of-the-art sound systems. Turkish carpets, artifacts, and candles adorn each dwelling, although you may want to opt for the Splendid Suite for your own private in-suite swimming pool.
Having a hard time picturing it? Check out the gallery below to get a better idea of what you can expect.
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SkyMall Monday: Clocks
We’re a culture that’s fixated on time. We schedule meetings, play dates for our kids, parties and dates. We’re hyper-aware of the time. Here at SkyMall Monday, we have our days scheduled right down to the minute. We keep clocks on the walls, watches on our wrists and smartphones handy to check the time no matter where we are in the ol’ HQ. Our lives can get pretty chaotic this time of year, but you don’t have to let the holidays get the best of you. Stay calm, organized and precise and you’ll not only get through the holidays but also get your whole life in order. Thankfully, SkyMall has clocks for every personality and decor. Let’s take a look at some of the best options.We’ve actually covered some clocks in the past here at SkyMall Monday. You can’t go wrong with the Day Clock (unless, of course, you need your clock to tell you the actual time). Meanwhile, the Message in Time Clock allows you to haunt your family members. For coffee drinkers, the TimeMug kills two birds with one stone.
SkyMall doesn’t stop there, though. It has clocks for everyone:
Irrational Numbers Clock (pictures above): Your underachieving middle schooler will be late for school in no time!
Math Clock: See above.
Target Clock: I’ll defer to the product description on this one:
To make it stop or snooze, the sleeper must sufficiently awaken, grab the laser gun, and hit a bull’s eye. Includes 2 other shooting games for target practice.
All joking aside, this is awesome. However, I think we can all agree that it should be a paintball gun and the target should be your significant other who, if hit, has to turn off the alarm for you. The welt will remind her all day that you love her.
10.5″ Reel Clock: Perfect for film lovers who like to roughly estimate the time based on the vague location of the clock hands.
Fishing Effects Clock: From the product description:
Each hour is announced with fishing sounds: line casting, water splashing, and more.
Perfect for the bathroom.
Original Bird Clock: Let’s migrate over to the product description:
The 13″ Original Bird Clock features 12 of the most recognized birds in North America.
A different bird song announces each hour with live recordings provided by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
Save your obscure birds for some other clock. I want to make sure I can easily recognize the sound when it’s a quarter past Tufted Titmouse.
Classic Glory Clock: Haunting. Disorienting. Capable of stealing our souls. Isn’t that how we want to describe our clocks?
Peaceful Cosmos Entertainer Clock: See above and watch this video instead.
Anthology Legend Clock: See above, add lights and you have yourself some nightmare fuel.
Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.
5 Phnom Penh restaurants where you can eat ethically
In Cambodia, Phnom Penh is known for its great restaurants. And since many of the city’s eateries are run by NGOs or function as social enterprises – companies that operate for profit while providing a social benefit – it’s easy to combine social responsibility with sustenance. Here, a sampling of Phnom Penh restaurants that allow you to eat ethically.
Friends Restaurant
As the name implies, Friends is a popular, cheerful café run by local non-profit Mith Samlanh, in partnership with international NGO Friends International. Street children and other marginalized youth are trained in every aspect of running a restaurant in Phnom Penh, from cooking to serving to management. Many move on to higher-paying hospitality jobs, or start small enterprises of their own.
Try: Delicious fresh fruit shakes in off-beat combinations.
#215, Street 13Café Living Room
Of the Phnom Penh restaurants, Café Living Room is one of the most popular for ex-pats, serving up a mix of Western and Cambodian dishes using fresh and imported ingredients. The owners employ and pay a fair living wage to graduates of programs that work with vulnerable and at-risk groups.
Try: Substantial western-style breakfasts with fresh preserves.
#9, Street 306
Lotus Blanc
Lotus Blanc is a training restaurant run by Pour un Sourire d’Enfant, a French NGO that tackles hunger and poverty by providing education and skills training to children on the street. All of the restaurant’s servers are enrolled in PSE’s hospitality school, which means the service is impeccable, if sometimes over-the-top.
Try: Deep-fried prawns in tamarind sauce.
#61B, Street 51
Romdeng
Another Mith Samlanh/Friends restaurant, Romdeng provides upscale dining in a beautiful colonial mansion and garden in the heart of Phnom Penh. The restaurant’s interior is outfitted with locally produced furniture and décor, including silk from Mith Samlanh’s sewing vocational school and paintings from the art classes at their training center.
Try: Romdang’s famous fish amok, a spicy fish curry served in a banana leaf with a side of jasmine rice. The adventurous can also try one of Cambodia’s most popular children’s snacks: fried tarantula.
Sugar ‘n Spice Café at Daughters Cambodia
For the best brownie in Phnom Penh, head to Sugar ‘n Spice Café, a restaurant on the second floor of the Daughters Cambodia visitor center. A Christian organization that works with women who have been trafficked, Daughters also sells fairly produced goods, operates a small salon, and provides an informational exhibit on trafficking in Cambodia.
Try: The brownie with ice cream, washed down with an iced Khmer coffee.
Has Google Maps ruined the art of the road trip?
I may not be old enough to remember the completion of the US Interstate system (1980), but I’m at least old enough to remember what a paper map looks like.
I’ve felt the frustration of trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube of its original folds, and have engaged in the heated front seat argument that inevitably occurs when you realize the black line that crosses the Interstate doesn’t necessarily mean it actually connects with the Interstate.
On my recent 3,600 mile “10 days, 10 states, 10 great American sights” road trip, however, I never got lost once. No wrong turns, no hopelessly unfolded maps, just a bouncing blue ball embedded in the GPS of my smartphone on a little application commonly known as Google Maps.
This, many would argue, is a good thing. You get places faster, there are no front seat arguments, and the unfathomably smart little device will lead you directly to the gates of your hotel, National Park, or even the nearest coffee shop. From this perspective, Google Maps is the best thing to ever happen to the road trip.
If it’s even possible to be 27 years old and referred to as “old-school”, however, I have to say that I respectfully disagree. In my humble, perennially making U-turns opinion, Google Maps has actually ruined the art of the road trip, and I feel compelled to tell you why.
In a thoughtful effort to get you to your destination as quickly as possible, the shiny purple line overlaid on the Google Map points you from A to B on what it calculates to be the fastest route. More times than not, this leads you directly to the nearest Interstate.
As the late Charles Kuralt once stated in his long-running CBS series, On The Road, “Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. From the Interstate, America is all steel guardrails and plastic signs, and every place looks and feels and sounds and smells like every other place.”Part of the joy of the road trip–the true American road trip such as Gadling blogger Paul Brady discovered in his Traveling the American Road series–is not in getting from here to there in the speediest possible fashion, but rather in meandering amongst the back roads that connect village with village and neighbor with neighbor. Though 21% of America’s traffic travels along the Interstate system, it still only comprises 1% of America’s road network. The other 99% is where you will find the true American spirit and scenery, yet the purple line on my smartphone is telling me to pass it by.
Furthermore, getting lost is an intrinsic element of the road trip that Google Maps has eliminated. There is something to be said about not knowing what lies around the next bend, or in happening upon a township, a restaurant, or a scenic viewpoint that you had no plans of originally visiting. Maybe a person you speak with when you stop to ask for directions turns you on to a landmark or a festival that ends up being the best part of your trip. With the bouncing blue ball of precision, however, there are no longer any amicable strangers; there will be no festivals.
In a weird way, getting lost is supposed to happen. In our ever-morphing personal scripts and story lines, it is the unexpected encounters and unforeseen turns of event that add the toppings to the vanilla of our lives. As the ancient Greek philosopher Hericlitus once mused, “If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” Or, for that matter, by GPS.
Lastly, when you’re eyes are constantly on the bouncing blue ball on your smartphone screen in anticipation of the next turn, you’re not even seeing what you originally set out to see, which of course are the communities which are suddenly passing you by. Here is a sample conversation of a Google navigator with eyes firmly glued to a smartphone:
“Ok, turn left in .2 miles…it’s going to fork to the right…you should be passing the Home Depot riiiiiiiiiiiight….now.”
“That was a nice town wasn’t it?”
“I don’t know. What did it look like?”
Though I am as guilty as the rest for relying on Google to get me where I need to go, I hope that we as travelers aren’t sacrificing the wind-in-your-hair freedom of adventure for a calculated algorithm of geographic efficiency. Robert Frost just doesn’t ring as true had he quipped “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one Google told me to!”
While many may not agree, I am fearful that as technology revolutionizes the travel industry, the greatest casualty will be those roads not taken.