Best Cave Hotels

by Neil Woodburn on

I
couldn’t resist this article in The Independent when I came across its tantalizing headline, “Five Best: Cave hotels.”

I really enjoyed my first and only night I slept in a cave when visiting the Cappadocia region of Turkey.  The
air was a little musty and the accommodations sparse, but it was an awesome experience nonetheless.  I’d
heard of other cave hotels around the world but thought them all to be on par with my Turkish experience.  But
this is not the case.

Entrepreneurial troglodytes have converted a handful of caves into luxuriant, first class accommodations. 
Apparently there aren’t enough to warrant a top ten list, but the five The Independent came up with seem
rather impressive on their own.  

I was pleased to see Cappadocia on the list—albeit a
different place than where I stayed.  The other hotels mentioned are located in a mineshaft in Australia; a former monastery in Rochecorbon, France; the romantic cliff-side town of Oia on the Greek island
of Santorini; and the coast of Jamaica.   The Jamaican cave hotel seems particular opulent and at
$515 a night, it damn well should be.

 

Australia for Cheap?

by Erik Olsen on

A couple of buddies of mine just got back from a few weeks in Australia. Man, I wish I could have joined them.
They were diving the Great Barrier Reef while I was stuck in the grind. Sad. It was also pretty expensive  when I
was looking into flights and it just didn’t seem possible to swing a seven day trip for some $2000, the cost I came up
with looking for fares. But I was pleased to learn that there are deals to be had. TravelPost tells us that a new
deal from Quantas, the Quantas Air Pass,
provides for  roundtrip transportation from a U.S. city and three flights within Australia once you’re
there. That is sweet. You could do Sydney, Melbourne and Cairnes and have some cashola left over to gnosh on some of
the excellent Aussie roo meat.

Turns out the passes are only good for up to 21 day stretches, so you’re not
going to be able to circumnavigate the continent.  this is an ideal option for travelers who want to get the most
out of the country in a relatively short amount of time. If you jump on it now, the passes will run from $999 if you
start your trip in San Francisco and stopping in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne first. Jump like a roo on this
one. 

Word for the Travel Wise (03/05/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

When we ran our Sydney CityScapes a few months back I pointed out a place to help pick up some popular Aussie lingo, but today I’d like to direct your attention to the language of the Aborigines. There are actually many Aboriginal lingos which are either extinct or endangered, but that shouldn’t stop us from learning a word or two. In fact it should be used as fuel in prep for your next trip outback.

Today’s word is an Aboriginal word used in Australia:

cooee – A call used to attract attention from a distance, particularly in finding someone lost in the bush.

Should you and your backpacking buddy find yourselves on two different ends of the bush remember the name of this search technique and then take action by belting out a cooee to find your pal. Unlike some Aboriginal words this one appears to be used in Australian English and even better for those of you interested in living langs.

Hiroyuki Yokose does a great job outlining Aboriginal words used in Australian English like our vocab word today from which I plucked this piece of information. For additional words you may wish to check out his findings. The Bangerang Cultural Centre is one of the first Aboriginal museums in the country and has a list of words online from this particular tribe. Wiki lists a large number of tribes and languages found in Australia which if you already haven’t set your mind on one in particular you can try picking one off their list. Try Lonely Planet’s Outback Australia guide for additional offline reading and trip planning.

Go to the Land Down Under, Young Man

by Erik Olsen on

I guess I’ve always thought that the United States was considered the Land of Opportunity. Isn’t that what we’ve always been taught? Then what is happening here? Is George Bush’s single-handed effort to besmirch America’s reputation abroad having an effect even on those who are looking for greener pastures for themselves?

Well, maybe. According to a new Pew poll, most young men and women now see Australia as the place to go where the opportunities are best. Who knew?

Only in India did the US register as the most popular country to which to migrate (thank God for the Indians. Prediction: one of our closest allies in the next several decades will be India…mark my words). So, yes. Australia topped the ratings in four countries: Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany. Canada was the most highly regarded destination in the US, France and China. What is up? Well, it does seem W’s policies are the deal-breaker. The poll found that the US’s reputation continuing to suffer around the world because of Iraq and the administration’s stridency.

It should be noted that there was a turnaround in Indonesia due to the American response to the tsunami disaster. Do we need more tragedies to get back in to favor in the world? If so, that’s sad.

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