Making Christmas festive while on the road

by Jamie Rhein on

While the song might say, “There’s no place like home for the holidays,” being on the road offers the excitement of places new and getting away from it all. Particularly, if staying at home means endless hours of decorating, baking cookies, and trying to make a day “perfect.” Instead of feeling relaxed with that holiday glow, you’re left feeling frazzled and about ready to bite someone’s head off.

Being on the road also avoids the let down feeling after presents are opened, the food has been eaten and darkness has set in because it’s winter and 5:30 pm (or therabouts), at least if you live in the northern hemisphere. However, being on the road can be a let down if you like the holiday trimmings and want to have some visual markers that a special time of the year is in one’s midst.

I’ve been on the road a few times on Christmas, and being one of those people who adore the holiday, but also adore travel, I have found a few ways to combine the best of both. Tinsel is a good place to start.

One Christmas we headed to Nepal to trek from Jomsom to Pokora on the apple pie trail. In my backpack, I packed a long tinsel garland, a silver musical bell that shook and played three Christmas songs when you smacked it, and stocking stuffers for the friends we were traveling with. I asked for everyone to give me one clean sock to put their loot in, including those gold foil covered chocolate coins. We also did a name draw where each of us received on nice present from someone in the group. Christmas Eve I pulled out the the bell and the garland to decorate the small, rough guest house we were staying at for the night. We also had gifts for the guest house owner, her kids and our guide and sherpas.

Another Christmas was spent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was my son’s first Christmas, and my daugher was nine. I bought some wall decorations, Santa hats and their stockings with us in our suitcase. While shopping Christmas Eve, I found some more Christmas ornaments to add a festive flair to our hotel room.

Last year, we went to Florida for Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent in Orlando. My four-year-old, soon to be five year-old, was happy to see traveling didn’t mean forgoing Santa and a tree. I bought a small table top tree, ornaments, a nativity scene and my kid’s stockings along. The tree even lit up. In each hotel room we decorated the tree and hung up the stockings. It established each place as “home.” Redecorating the tree went fairly quickly, and repacking was a me and kids’ task. The ornaments fit in a tupperware container so packing was easy and kept the ornaments from getting tangled. Toilet paper squares work wonders.

And, don’t forget to bring a favorite holiday CD along with you. Music works wonders for creating a joyous mood. If you have any ideas that you’ve tried on the road to help make the season bright, let us know.

Indie travel guides – pipe dream or way of the future?

by Leif Pettersen on

With all due respect to my generous client Lonely Planet, without whom I’d still be an obscure, broke, moonshine junkie in a forlorn corner of Romania, guidebook authors wallowing below the Sushi Line are increasingly probing new “Screw the Man” applications for their hard-won expertise – namely their very own online travel guides.

There’s certainly something to be said for a trusted brand name guidebook, but equally independently produced, digital travel guides allow authors to toss in all kinds of wacky content in addition to the usual sights/eating/sleeping content, uncorrupted by editors, guidelines, house styles and meddling lawyers.

A 2,000 word, absurdly detailed walking guide to Tijuana? Why not? A sidebar entitled “Top Ten Curse Words You Should Know Before Attending an Italian Football (Soccer) Match”? Bring it on! Why [insert your least favorite German city] sucks? I’m all ears.

This developing genre was recently augmented by the completion of Robert Reid’s online guide to Vietnam. As Reid rightly points out, the advantages of an independent online travel guide are numerous:

• It’s free – Guidebooks cost $25. Why pay?
• It’s fresher. Unlike a guidebook, turn-around time is immediate.
• You can customize it. The most common complaint guidebook users have is having to tote around 400 pages they’ll never use.
• It’s more direct, personalized. With my site I can ‘tell it like it is’.
• Anyone can talk with the author. [Just] hit ‘contact’.

In addition to this excellent resource, other free sites serving the online travel community include Croatia Traveller, Kabul Caravan, Turkey Travel Planner, Broke-Ass Stewart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco, and (cough), the Romania and Moldova Travel Guide (now with extra moonshine).

For the time being, these independent travel guides are usually not money-making ventures (and boy do they take a lot of time to put together!), thus the current scarcity. However, as print media gasps to its inevitable conclusion – one decade, mark my words – the online stage is set for authors to leverage their expertise and provide autonomous, interactive, up-to-the-minute travel information for anyone with an internet connection.

Hanoi’s own version of Nessie — except with more sightings

by Martha Edwards on

When I first flew into Vietnam, I landed in Hanoi. After travelling through Laos, Vietnam was a bit of a shock — it’s more frantic and dirty than any city I’ve ever been to, even crazier than London, Paris, Bangkok and New York all put together. Crossing the street is a matter of life and death, people yell at you in foreign dialects for no apparent reason and you better not let the crowds push you off the sidewalk — the gutter is full of sewage.

But amidst all the indescribable hustle and bustle, there’s an oasis smack dab in the middle of the city — a beautiful lake surrounded by a equally stunning park is a welcome refuge for a weary traveler. And there’s a little castle right in the center on it’s own little island. It’s pretty surreal.

Here’s something I didn’t know about this little lake — there’s a well-known giant turtle in those waters who calls the lake his home.
The Great Grand Turtle, also known as Professor Turtle or Rafetus Leloi, has been emerging from the waters a record number of times this year — 78 to be exact, compared with around 50 last year — and it’s hoped he will pop up more often. In fact, scientists are trying to clean up pollution around the lake to guarantee it. Appearances are a delight to school children and tourists in Hanoi, because it’s believed the turtle was instrumental in the magic that fought off Ming invaders from China in the 15th century.

No wonder they call him the Great Grand Turtle — he’s 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) long and 1.1 meters (3ft 7 in) wide, and he weights 200 kg (440 lb)!

Birds nest, white fungus. No I would not like some, thank you.

by Grant Martin on

You know those shows you see on the telly where the adventurous, sexy host eats ox testicle because that’s what the back country pygmies eat? Or that one friend you have who will eat fermented shark bile because its the Icelandic specialty? I’m not that guy. Case in point, Birds Nest, White Fungus. This Vietnamese drink comes in a Redbull sized can and contains, well, birds nest and white fungus.

Having a notoriously weak stomach, I’ve never been privy to shooting myself in the foot and trying “new, exciting” food. But in the company of family, it’s harder to refuse. One sip of this stuff though and I was on the floor crying for A&W rootbeer. Who’s idea was it to put these two constituents together into a beverage?

So next time you find yourself in far off lands and you feel pressured to be like that one guy from the Travel Channel and eat sauteed Yak hair, feel free to decline. It’s ok to have a weak stomach and not be the culinary hero. I’m talking about you Bourdain; you’re turning my friends into crazy people. I’ll be in New York with my Santoku knives next Friday and I’m ready to throw down.

Lonely Planet lists Ireland as the friendliest country in the world

by Neil Woodburn on

Sometimes you go to a place for its beauty or famous tourist sites. Other times, you simply go for the people.

That’s partially how I ended up in Ireland to work after college. In my humble opinion, the Irish are some of the nicest people on this planet. And now, there is documented evidence to support this.

Lonely Planet’s remarkable Bluelist now boasts that Ireland is indeed the friendliest, most welcoming country in the world.

While this is no surprise for me, I’d never be able to guess the other countries mentioned in the top ten list. And in fact, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that backpackers and travelers voted the USA in at second; this is great news considering the bashing we’ve been receiving abroad in the last few years.

In case you are looking for a holiday destination where the people themselves will put a smile on your face you may want to check out the other countries which also made the list; Malawi, Vietnam, Thailand, Fiji, Indonesia, Samoa, and Scotland.