Top five weekend travel media stories

by Grant Martin on

Among the travel stories in this weekend’s newspaper travel sections, the following articles were especially inspirational.

1. Peter Frick-Wright writes a lip-smacking ode to the Cowboy Dinner Tree steakhouse in Silver Lake, Oregon in Portland’s Oregonian.

2. In an article in Melbourne’s The Age, Jewel Topsfield cruises down the Mekong, through Cambodia and Vietnam. She eats a tarantula, too.

3. In the Times of London, Tom Chesshyre lists the world’s 20 best art hotels. There are some remarkably inexpensive hotels among the lot, including Amsterdam’s Hotel Winston, with double rooms starting at €70 per night.

4. In the New Zealand Herald, Jim Eagles goes birdwatching in Miranda, in New Zealand’s Waikato Region. Miranda is an hour from Auckland by car.

5. In the Independent, David Leffman provides a great traveler’s Iceland primer. Full of good consumer information, it also provides a handy historical snapshot.

(Image: Flickr/Fredrik Thommesen)

Photo of the Day (6.27.10)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Vietnam’s Halong Bay is natural oddity unlike anything on earth. Huge limestone rock formations surge from the Vietnam’s coast like looming sea monsters, lending the landscape an unforgettable visual appeal. Flickr user andreakw has put Halong Bay’s unique rock formations to good use in today’s photo. The darkened outlines of limestone float mysteriously upon the horizon like some vanishing dream; a fleeting memory soon to vanish in our subconscious.

Have any great travel photos you’d like to share with the world? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Give dad a custom vacation from Kensington Tours this year

by Kraig Becker on

Father’s Day may still be a couple of weeks away, but if you’re struggling to figure out what to give dad this year, than Kensington Tours is here to help. The travel company, which specializes in private guided adventure travel to more than 80 countries around the globe, has officially designated a Vacation Valet who is prepared to help create a custom itinerary to fit your dad’s needs.

Kensington has named Brad Crockett as their official Vacation Valet for Dad, and he is ready to help apply his years of experience in the travel industry to create an unforgettable vacation experience. Whether your dad is an experienced global traveler or this is his first time abroad, he’ll have a custom designed itinerary that has been developed with his interests in mind. Best of all, these custom trips are surprisingly affordable, ranging from $200 to $2000 per day depending on your destination and options.

Of course we all know that every dad is different and each has their own idea of what constitutes a great travel experience. Fortunately, Kensington has the resources to deliver those experiences to even the most demanding traveler. For instance, if your dad is an adventurous traveler, then perhaps he’d enjoy trekking in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco or hunting with Pygmies in the Congo. Is he a history buff? Then let Kensington send him on a tour of famous battle fields in Vietnam or on an archaeological expedition through Egypt. Other options include exploring Kenya by motorcycle, dog sledding in the Yukon, white water rafting in Peru, or fly fishing in Chile. And for the dad who’s passion is golf, Kensington can even arrange a trip to the British Open in Scotland, including rounds of golf and whiskey tasting.

If you have one of those dads who already has everything, perhaps this year you can give him something that he has been lacking in the form of an international adventure of a lifetime. For more information go to Kensingtontours.com.

Vietnam’s secret tradition of annual adultery

by Annie Scott on

It may sound strange to us, but in the mountains of Vietnam, a yearly tryst with an ex-lover is a time-honored tradition.

Up near the Chinese border, in a small Vietnamese mountain village called Khau Vai, a celebration of love takes place two days per year (the 26th and 27th of the lunar calendar’s third month). Hundreds of people come from near and far to meet and, well, “have relations” with people other than their spouses.

Reuters found one couple who had come together for trysts with their ex lovers. “In the past, we were lovers, but we couldn’t get married because we were far apart,” said Lau Minh Pao of the woman he had come to meet. The ill-fated pair meets in Khau Vai every year and “we pour our hearts out about the time when we were in love.”

His wife was there to see an old flame of her own. Everyone wins?
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[via Reuters]
[Photo by Leo Chuoi via Flickr]

Photo of the Day (5.16.2010)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Street vendors fascinate me. Having grown up in a place where I was surrounded by gigantic shopping malls and cavernous grocery stores, it was surprising to discover on my travels such an intimate relationship between buyer and seller. Perhaps that’s why Flickr user don.wright’s image caught my eye today. It’s a great capture of one of Vietnam’s many street sellers. I like how the vendor’s conical hat mirrors the shape of the two wicker bundles in front. It adds a nice element of symmetry that grabs the eye.

Have any street vendor photos you’ve taken during your travels? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.