Seychelles idyll for Royal Couple

by Alex Robertson Textor on

The British media reported this morning that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge–the two young lovebirds you may know as William and Kate–arrived in the Seychelles earlier today to kick off their long anticipated honeymoon.

After touching down at Seychelles International Airport in Mahé, the Royal Couple boarded a helicopter and took off for a private, unidentified island.

The location of the Royal honeymoon has been a matter of intense speculation in the UK over the last several weeks. Jordan, the Isles of Scilly, and Barbuda have all turned up as potential destinations.

The Seychelles, a cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean, are a top upscale destination, with tourist inflows coming mostly from Europe. Surely the Royal Couple’s decision to honeymoon in the country will not damage the Seychelles’ reputation as a playground for the rich.

[Image: Flickr | Olivier Cochard-Labbé]

Elephants break out of Tsavo West National Park, locals go into hiding

by Sean McLachlan on


More than 500 elephants strayed out of Tsavo West National Park in Kenya, destroying crops and scaring villagers before being herded back onto park property, the Nairobi Star reports.

The elephants were simply grazing and looking for water, park officials say, but that doesn’t reassure villagers who saw their fields trampled. The elephants wandered through five villages and there are reports that they attacked people, although these haven’t been confirmed. Many people hid for days indoors until Kenya’s Problem Animal Control Unit took care of the problem.

Locals are complaining of threats to their livelihood. Many farmers live in poverty and one ruined crop can be disastrous. Park warden Samuel Rukaria told them they should invest in tourism businesses to cash in on the hugely popular park in their back yard. Not bad advice for someone with capital and a knowledge of the tourism business, but it’s unrealistic to expect everyone in the region to be able to do this. This story is just another example of how difficult it is to reconcile the needs of tourists and wildlife to those of local residents. With Africa’s expanding population putting ever more pressure on parks and game reserves, incidents like this will only become more common.

[Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Five hot travel sites: Hejorama, We Heart, Beach Tomato, Pinterest, Sunset Travel

by Alex Robertson Textor on

These five travel sites are hot; all five are worth some serious browsing time. And while most are newish kids on the block, sustaining buzz left and right, the final of this batch is a tried-and-true evergreen, offering a sustained focus on a very popular region of the world.

Some are good for general contemplation, while others are good for thinking through potential destinations and ways of organizing future travels. These five include a community site, a lifestyle guide, a bespoke travel agency, an image creation site, and the online component of a print magazine.

1. Hejorama. A group travel community site, Hejorama is cute and spunky, though what sets it apart from others in its class is the high-quality quirk of its content. There are in-flight meal reviews, a journey to Ramallah, and an encounter with a taxi driver in Almaty (see above). Hejorama advances a philosophy of travel that is immediately compelling, quite untidy, and truly social.

2. We Heart. An all-purpose lifestyle guide, We Heart has strong coverage of innovative boutique hotels and other travel-related subjects. As far as travel inspiration is concerned, however, the site’s explicit travel content is just the tip of the iceberg. We Heart’s coverage of designers, branding projects, photographers, and design studios is a broad exercise in lifestyle inspiration that extends effortlessly to travel.

3. Beach Tomato. Those crafty folks behind the gorgeous bespoke travel company Black Tomato and the edgy expedition-led adventure outfit Epic Tomato recently launched Beach Tomato, a site that marries beach style to destination inspiration. Beach reviews, trend alerts, fashion recommendations, and even a post-beach hair care guide give the site a vibe that is distinctly girly.

4. Pinterest. Not a travel site, granted, but a gorgeous place to see beautiful images and find travel inspiration. Currently invitation-only, this image curation site is a seriously pretty procrastination aide. Pinterest’s travel category is great for daydreaming, though it’s by no means the only category of interest for travel obsessives. Browse through Pinterest and find “boards” organized around many subjects that refer to cultural exchange and any number of destinations: architecture, graphic design, even interior design.

5. Sunset Travel. We have enthused about Sunset in the past. One could reasonably spend the bulk of one’s traveling life in the western states of the US and Mexico and western provinces of Canada and never get bored. Sunset’s Travel microsite provides an awesome reminder of the dynamic nature of this exciting mega-region with its archive of very good service articles. With a beat that extends southwest to Hawaii, northeast to Alberta, and due south to Guanajuato, Sunset is a comprehensive Western travel bible.

[Image: Romain from Team Hejorama]

Useful foreign phrases, Part 2: how to say, “Can you write this down for me?” in 10 languages

by Laurel Miller on

A post written by Chris on Tuesday reminded me of this little language series I started in March. In “Ten things Ugly Americans need to know before visiting a foreign land,” Chris recommended brushing up on the local language. He joked about dashing around Venice clutching his concierge’s handwritten note, “Do you have 220/110 plug converters for this stupid American who left his at home?”

Thanks, Chris, because I’ve had this post sitting in my queue for awhile, as I debated whether or not my phrase of choice would appear useful to readers. It’s saved my butt many a time, when a generous concierge or empathetic English-speaker would jot down crucial directions to provide to a cab driver. It’s also helped me out when I’ve embarked on long-distance journeys that require me to get off at an unscheduled stop.

I have a recurring nightmare in which I board the wrong bus or train in a developing nation, and end up in some godforsaken, f—ed up place in the wee hours. Actually, that’s happened to me more than once, except I was actually in my intended destination. So the other piece of advice I’d like to impart is: do some research ahead of time on accommodations and how to reach them as safely as possible if you’re arriving anywhere in the wee hours–especially if you’re alone, regardless of your gender.

I digress. Before your next trip to a foreign land, take the time to scribble the words, “Can you (please) write this down for me?” in your guidebook or dog-ear it in your phrasebook (you’re bringing one, right? Right?). It will serve you well, I promise you. Below, how to make this useful request in ten languages.

P.S. It bears repeating that I’m far from a polylinguist; I’m relying on phrases based on past experience or research. If I inadvertently offend anyone’s native tongue, please provide a correction in the “Comments” section.

1. Spanish (Catalan): ?Puedes escribirlo, por favor?

2. Italian: Può ripeterlo, per favore?

3. French: Pourriez-vous, l’écrire, s’il vous plait?

4. German: Könnten Sie das bitte aufschreiben?

5. Czech: Můžete prosím napsat to pro mě?

6. Portuguese: Escreva, se faz favor.

As I noted in my Part 1, many languages, including those spoken throughout Asia and the Middle East, use written characters. For that reason, transliteration will vary, which is why the spelling or phonetics may differ. These languages are also tonal in nature, which makes them notoriously intimidating to Westerner travelers. Just smile, do your best, and have your pen and paper handy.

7. Chinese (Cantonese): Ng goi nei bong ngo se dai.

8. Japanese: Anata ga shite kudasai watashi no tame ni sore o kakikomu koto ga dekimasu ka?

9. Vietnamese: Có thể bạn hãy viết ra cho tôi?

10. Moroccan Arabic: Ktebha līya.

What useful phrases have helped you on your travels? Please tell us!

[Photo credits: pencil, Flickr user Pink Sherbet Photography; tourist, Flickr user Esteban Manchado]

Ancient art stolen from Egyptian Museum recovered by police

by Sean McLachlan on

Egyptian police have recovered four stolen statues, two of which were taken from Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, Ahram Online reported.

Two of the statues were among several items that went missing when rioters broke into the Egyptian Museum. The other two were apparently looted from somewhere else, perhaps an archaeological site. There were scattered incidents of looting from several museums and archaeological sites across the country during the January Revolution, and the extent of the thefts remains unclear.

The statues are all of bronze and depict important gods such as Osiris, god of the afterlife, pictured here in an image courtesy of user Rama via Wikimedia Commons. This is not one of the recovered statues.

The statues date to the Late Period, a period dating from 664 BC to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. This era saw a final flowering of Egyptian art and religion before it went through a long period of domination and decline under Greeks and Roman rule. When the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, poor old gods like Osiris were slowly forgotten.

The thieves possessing the ancient art were arrested. Of the 54 objects missing from the museum, 23 have been recovered.