Guidebooks that feature only locally owned businesses

by Neil Woodburn on

The problem with travel these days is that the ubiquitous presence of chain stores and restaurants transform any destination into the very same thing you have at home. Take Miracle Mile in Chicago, for example. I walked nearly its entire length two months ago and found nothing but the same chain stores we have back home. Tell me again what makes this so great?

The true joy of travel is not shopping at a Banana Republic in an exotic location, but rather seeking out local haunts, those unique, one-of-a-kind places you don’t have back home–wherever that might be.

And that’s why I was particularly pleased to come across eat.shop guides. These guides specialize in only “locally owned businesses” within the “urban core” of a city. Each city edition includes just 90 of the very best local restaurants and shops so that tourists aren’t overwhelmed with choice or underwhelmed with any given recommendation.

Currently, only 18 cities are featured in the lineup–all of which are in North America with the sole exception of Paris. Be sure to go out and buy a copy for your next trip – I got mine and Barnes at Noble. Er….

GADLING TAKE FIVE week of 1-4-2008

by Catherine Bodry on

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that another holiday season has blurred by, drenched in spiked eggnog, reindeer sweaters, and of course, the ever-sobering debacle that is holiday travel.

Justin gave us the top ten stories of 2007–check those out here. As for this week, when 2007 rolled over into 2008, here’s what stands out:

  • Kelly gave us a preview of ten travel books for 2008, as part of her ongoing feature One for the Road.
  • Jamie offered two travel resolutions every savvy traveler should make this year.
  • Matthew got his very own apartment in Tokyo, and gave Gadling readers the rundown on just how much cash you need to rent an apartment there (hint: it’s a lot more than first, last, and a security deposit).
  • Abha had a heart to heart with Chuck Thompson, author of Smile While You’re Lying. Find out what he had to say about “sun-dappled barf” and how he ended up starving and begging for help on a Thai island. Also, enter to win a copy of his book.
  • Finally, if you suffer from post-holiday letdown (or, more likely, post-holiday hangover), Aaron’s got an idea to help turn that frown upside down.

That’s all! May your 2008 be filled with on-time flights, first-class upgrades, and alternative fuel.

Ten Most Overrated US Tourist Traps

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Chuck Thompson Day here at Gadling continues… Over at the website of his new book Smile When You’re Lying, Thompson presents his Top 10 Most Overrated U.S. Tourist Attractions. He makes a number of interesting picks, and I can’t say I disagree with them. Here are just a few:

Graceland: “Or any spot dedicated to Elvis kitsch. If the man wasn’t over-marketed before, he is now. When did Presley go from American icon to white trash icon? Blame Graceland.”

New York City’s Ground Zero: “Six years later, the smoking hole in the ground is a national disgrace, a monument to American litigiousness, lack of national will, and craven political leadership.”

Architecture in Las Vegas: “We went to the moon in 1969. Big fountains and replicas of pyramids built 4,500 years ago aren’t that impressive. Nor is a city where you can’t walk to the building next door without burning 600 calories.”

More here.

In my opinion, as a general rule, any tourist attraction that is designed and built with the intent to be a tourist attraction is automatically suspect. My hometown’s Gateway Arch certainly fits that bill, though its not without some appeal (to somebody, somewhere). What are your picks for most overrated tourist traps?

One for the Road Looks Ahead: Ten Travel Books on Tap for 2008

by Kelly Amabile on

As the year draws to a close, instead of compiling a list of favorite books from 2007, I’ve decided to focus this last post on what’s to come. Looking forward, there are some interesting travel titles set for release during 2008. Maybe you’ll find something among these to add to your “must-read” list for the new year:

For Louisiana lovers:
Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana by Rheta Grimsley Johnson (John F. Blair Publishers, January)

For intrepid explorers:
Near Death on the High Seas: True Stories of Disaster and Survival, edited by Cecil Kuhne (Vintage, March)

For jet-set shoppers:
Suzy Gershman’s Where to Buy the Best of Everything: The Outspoken Guide for World Travelers and Online Shoppers (Wiley, April)

For travelers who like to stay close to home:
Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey by James Atlee (University of Chicago, Spring)

For gamers:
The Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities (University of Michigan, May)


For a really good laugh:
Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live Squid by J. Maarten Troost (Random House, June)

For fans of fiction:
Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim by Tom Corwin (Flying Dolphin, June)

For travel-with-a-purpose types:
The Great American Attraction: Two Brits Discover the Rolliking World of American Festivals (Three Rivers Press, August)

For lit-minded travelers:
From a wonderful travel lit press in the U.K., three new titles in their Poetry of Place series: Rome, Dublin and England (Eland Books, November)

For inspiration:
Traversa: A Solo Walk Across Africa from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean by Fran Sandham (Overlook Press, Winter)

This is merely a quick preview of what’s sure to be another year chock full of travel book choices. There’s plenty more on the publishing horizon, including innovative “beyond the book” projects like the recently launched “networked novel” Flight Paths. The sky’s the limit when it comes to reading journeys! Regardless of what you read in new year, I hope the experience takes you to great places.

One for the Road: Well, Actually…Two

by Kelly Amabile on

Since I skipped out on posting a book suggestion yesterday, I’ll offer up two recommended reads for today. Consider it a Friday bonus, courtesy of NPR. A recent discussion about some of the year’s most overlooked books included mention of two travel-related titles that sound fascinating:

First up is Autonauts of the Cosmoroute, released in Dec. 2007 from Archipelago Books. Translated from the Spanish, it is a “… love story, a travelogue, a collection of stories and snapshots, both visual and verbal, irreverent and brilliant.” Author Julio Cortazar and his girlfriend spent an entire month living along the Paris-Marseilles freeway, a stretch of road that usually takes about ten hours to journey between the two cities. As this review notes, it is a strange book, but definitely one worth reading.

The second title mentioned is The Far Traveler, by Nancy Marie Brown, which chronicles the adventures of a Viking woman named Gudrid. This October 2007 release from Harcourt Press is a biography about an intrepid female traveler who crossed the Atlantic eight times and visited Greenland, Iceland, Rome and Newfoundland 500 years before Columbus set sail. Little is known about the courageous Gudrid, so the book delves into the history, archeology, economy and technology of the time. Brown is praised for her well-researched book and tribute to this mysterious Viking explorer.