The Blue Ridge Parkway is famous for a reason. It’s a 469-mile stretch along the Blue Ridge, which is a mountain chain within the Appalachian Mountains. The mountains out west might be more grandeur, but I grew up in the Appalachians, so this drive has a special place in my heart. Contrast to the jagged, towering, snow-capped mountains you’ll see in the western parts of the U.S., the Blue Ridge Mountains are subtler in their majesty. You’ll see rolling hills upon rolling hills all the way into the horizon while driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. The park connects the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the Shenandoah National Park. When you feel moved to stop and take photos of the jaw-dropping landscape, you’ll find there are plenty of places to pull over and do just that. Buy some homemade jam, salsa or an assortment of other treats when you stop. These kinds of Blue Ridge specialties are widely available along the route and unlike so many gimmicky regional foods many of these offerings are worth the price.In addition to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park, you’ll pass through the Pisgah National Forest, Stone Mountain State Park and George Washington National Forest, among other destinations.
10 Apps To Help Pass The Time On Long Journeys
Backpacking my way through South America, I spent many hours – sometimes entire days – making my way from city to city via bus. Whether you’re taking a bus, plane or train, here are 10 great apps that work offline to help you pass the time.
Kindle
Kindle makes it easy to stay up-to-date with your favorite books, especially when it can be hard to find novels in your spoken language abroad. Just download the app, shop when you have Wi-Fi and then enjoy the books even when you’re without Internet connection. There are over 1,000 books in the Kindle store, as well as hundreds of newspapers, magazines, textbooks and PDFs. You can also sample the first few pages of books before buying, to decide if it’s worth the purchase.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android and Blackberry. Free.Pocket
Formerly called Read It Later, Pocket allows you to save articles, images, videos and other online media to read later, whether you’re on or offline. This allows for hours of entertainment via various media forms, and can help make the time go by very quickly when spending hours on a bus, train or plane.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. Free.
A music-listening app, Spotify allows you to stream and listen to thousands of songs, and even listen to your favorite playlists when you’re offline. Simply switch “Available Offline” to the “on” position for any playlists you’d like to listen to when you don’t have an Internet connection. Offline users can also sync playlists containing any songs from Spotify’s selection to their smartphone, with the ability to sync tracks on up to three computers or smartphones at the same time.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android and Blackberry. $9.99 per month.
World Travel Guide Offline Deluxe
World Travel Guide Offline Deluxe is an app that is specially suited for travelers. It allows users to browse information for over 20,000 travel destinations around the world through travel guides, itineraries, language guides and more. Best of all, it can be enjoyed while offline on a bus, plane or train. Research a current destination, or learn more about a place on your bucket list.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The first 50 pages are free. After that, you can purchase unlimited pages at a low cost. Android users can download a similar app by clicking here.
I’m obsessed with Word Mole on long journeys. Not only is it fun, but it exercises the mind. It’s kind of like Boggle in the sense that you need to make words with adjacent letters in order to gain points. However, with Word Mole you’re making words in a garden plot. If you use letters that aren’t touching any other letters, you’ll get a big hole on the board. Because the game is timed and requires some critical thinking, it’s also a good way to get some brain exercise in while killing time.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Blackberry. $0.99.
Flixster
Watching movies is one of the easiest and most entertaining ways to pass the time. Unfortunately, even when a film is showed on public transportation, it is rare that it’s a flick that everyone will enjoy – if it’s even in a language you understand. Flixster allows travelers to browse their Flixster Collections page, a free application where you can browse movies and shows from various sources. If the movie you want to watch offline is compatible, you’ll be able to watch it without an Internet connection.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android and Blackberry. Free.
The Ben Stein: It’s Trivial app is one of my favorites, as you can spend hours going through over 1,000 trivia questions in the categories of pop culture, sports, natural wonders and random Steinage. The game starts off easy and gets harder as you progress. Furthermore, answers are timed, adding an element of adrenaline. There’s also a bit of comedy, as the game includes quips and wry comments by Stein.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. $2.99.
Adobe Ideas
For art-lovers, Adobe Ideas allows users to “paint” masterpieces on their smartphones. You’ll be able to sketch using vector-based drawing tools, use an eyedropper to color with precision and work with 10 drawing layers. It’s also got some of the same features as Photoshop, for example, drawing over a photograph. Moreover, you can email your creative pieces to work on them again later.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. $9.99.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love Fruit Ninja. It’s perfect for times when you don’t feel like thinking too hard, but want to pass the time. The object of the game is to chop as many pieces of flying fruit as possible by sliding your finger over the phone screen without hitting any spontaneous bombs. Certain fruits are extra points, as is slicing multiple fruits at the same time. It’s simple, but seriously addicting.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. $0.99.
18,000 Cool Jokes
This app is extremely entertaining, especially on long journeys. You won’t need an Internet connection to laugh your way through 18,000 Cool Jokes, which includes numerous categories, like blondes, bar, dirty jokes, at work, business, foreigners, yo mama, military, travel and many more. You can also browse the top jokes of the day, week and month. To give you an idea, here is one of the cute – and PG – travel jokes from the app: “What steps should you take if you see a dangerous animal on your travels? Very large ones.”
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android. $0.99.
What 50 Euros A Night Buys In The Greek Isles Right Now
The day before we left for Greece, the newspaper headlines made it sound as though the country was about to disintegrate. “Greece on Brink of Collapse,” blared the U.K broadsheet The Daily Telegraph in a front page above the fold piece last week, after the International Monetary Fund said that Europe’s leaders should prepare for the possibility of Greece leaving the Euro zone.
We’ve been reading bad news about Greece for many months now, so the most recent news that Greece is about to hold yet another election and may very well leave the Euro zone is just the latest chapter in Greece’s economic free fall. Over the last year, protesters have run wild on the streets of Athens, and other Greek cities on several occasions, but why are some tourists avoiding Greece this year?
We spent most of the last month in Italy and I met several people who said that they considered the Greek Isles but decided against it based upon all the bad news coming out of Greece in recent months. A pharmacist in Kefalos named Bill, who gave my family a lift to the island’s lovely “Paradise Beach” told us that he has friends around Europe who asked him if there was enough food to eat in Greece.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “They see all the bad news on T.V. and think people are starving here.”
I have the opposite take – Greece is still safe, especially the Greek Isles, and with other tourists staying away, now is the time to visit as the crowds are thinner and the prices will probably never be better.Is there something unseemly about swooping into a country in crisis for travel bargains? The Greeks would say: hell no, please, please, please come to Greece! There is nothing you can do to help the Greeks more than to come here on your next holiday.
I’ve been in Kos with my family for just a few days but have already noticed that the crowds are light and the prices are enticing. After booking another hotel on the Internet before arriving, I walked into a place on the harbor called the Kosta Palace, and after a brief negotiation, I was offered a two-room apartment with Wi-Fi, a kitchenette and a balcony with no view for a family of four for 50 euros per night, including a copious, if aggressively mediocre, breakfast buffet.
Like nearly all mid-range Greek hotels, the place is nothing fancy. In fact, the furnishings at nearly all moderately priced hotels in Greece are practically identical – that is, not that stylish. But the room is clean and spacious, the Wi-Fi works (sometimes), the water pressure is good and the place has a nice pool and a stunning rooftop bar with panoramic views of Kos (see video). A couple can score a room here for as little as 45 euros through the end of May, and 55 euros through the end of June, which is awfully hard to beat.
Over the next six weeks, I’ll be traveling around the Greek Isles, starting in the Dodecanese islands in the eastern Aegean, so stay tuned for more updates on the situation in Greece.
[Photos and video by Dave Seminara- photo 1 was taken at the beach bar of Kos’s Hotel Artemis, photo 2 was taken at the Kosta Palace’s rooftop terrace.)
Iconic Road Trips: Enjoying Idaho’s Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway
If you’re already in Idaho, chances are you’ve already had your breath taken away at the hand of your surroundings. But the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, also known as Idaho State Highway 21, will make you fall in love with the Idaho landscape if you haven’t already. Beginning in Boise, the “City of Trees,” this road is carved within the Boise National Forest and the scenery here is unbelievable. Flat pastures will merge into green hills that will remind you of photos you’ve seen of the Irish countryside. The highway begins at 3,000 feet above sea level. You’ll see the Boise River, the Boise River Diversion Dam, the Lucky Peak Dam and much more on this drive. Rocky mountains, summits good for stopping and taking in the fresh air, rushing waters and densely packed Pines make this drive worth the trip. It’s best to avoid driving this route in the winter. High elevation points throughout the highway are often closed during the winter because of snow.
[flickr image via bmarmie]
Losing My Ryanair Virginity
Ryanair, Easy Jet, German Wings and other discount airlines have changed how Europeans travel, but until last week, I’d yet to fly on a budget European airline and had no idea what to expect. After booking a ticket from Bari, Italy, to Kos in Greece several weeks ago on Ryanair, my expectations were very modest based upon a very annoying booking process and a series of warning emails I received about baggage and boarding procedures.
But my interactions with live Ryanair staff were pleasant and the flight itself was smooth sailing. Here are some observations and tips for flying on Ryanair.
Don’t use Google Chrome. After clicking through what seemed like a thousand pages offering me everything from rental cars to luggage, I clicked “purchase” but then my browser just spun fruitlessly for hours without confirming my purchase. It was unclear to me if the purchase went through, so I had to call Ryanair, which, like everything else associate with this airline, isn’t free. I was told that their site doesn’t support Google Chrome and that I should try again with Internet Explorer. I did so and the purchase went through without a hitch.
Be careful how you click. Ryanair’s booking process is a mess. You need to click or unclick a lot of different options. Do you want priority boarding? Would you like to buy some new suitcases? Do you want to get a text message with flight details? How about some travel insurance or a rental car? It goes on and on and on.
Better travel light. You’ll pay dearly for your checked baggage, and you need to estimate how much your bags will weigh. For my flight, bags up to 15 kg (33 pounds) cost €20 each, and bags up to 20 kg (44 pounds) cost €30. If your bags go over the limit you paid for, you pay €20 for each kilo over your allowance.
Think you’ll just bring a ton of stuff with you on board? Think again – you can only bring one item of cabin baggage per passenger weighing up to 10kg (22 pounds) with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. If your carry-on is too heavy, they can refuse to allow you to bring it, or they can charge you a €50 surcharge to check it. And they don’t allow you to pool baggage weight, even if you are traveling with small children who don’t have baggage.
They kill you on the exchange rate. You have to keep clicking to figure out how much you’ll actually pay. This is how our tickets broke down for a family of four:
162.96 EUR Total Fare
8.00 EUR Passenger Fee: EU 261 Levy
1.00 EUR Passenger Fee: ETS
24.00 EUR Passenger Fee: Web Check in
60.00 EUR Passenger Fee: Checked Bag(s)
24.00 EUR Passenger Fee: Administration Fee
279.96 EUR Total Paid
The worst part is the awful exchange rate they give you. At the time I booked, the Euro was about 32 percent higher than the dollar but they gave us a ridiculous 42 percent exchange rate, bringing our €279 ticket up to $397. If we’d gotten the legit exchange rate, it would have been about $368.
No assigned seats. You’re required to print your boarding pass in advance, and can check in up to 15 days prior to your flight. I wasn’t willing to pay for a reserved seat, but our flight was only about half full, so I had no issues with the open seating policy. We boarded and the flight attendants told us we could sit anywhere beyond row 8, as the front of the plane was reserved for those who paid for priority boarding. Since we were traveling with small children, we got priority boarding, which was a nice touch.
You need some smokes? How about lottery tickets or phone cards? The first thing you might notice about Ryanair planes is that there’s no pouch on the seatback. People tend to stuff garbage in them and by eliminating these pouches it helps them turn the flights around quicker. Ryanair boasts the best on-time performance of any European carrier and they need to be efficient in order for their low cost business model to work.
Shortly after our flight took off, on time, the stewardesses started trolling the aisle with things for sale. I expected food and drinks, but the first items they trotted out were packs of cigarettes, lottery tickets and phone cards. What next, I thought, condoms? Or perhaps some Viagra? I thought about getting a chicken tikka plate for €5 but thought better of it. Soon enough, the young ladies were back again, this time with a selection of perfume and cologne. I didn’t need them but considered buying a bottle for a strongly scented gentleman behind me in the boarding line.
Verdict. I’ll fly Ryanair again without hesitation. Once you know the drill and learn how to navigate the booking process, it’s fine. Even with the dodgy exchange rate, the price we got was still better than the competition, and for me, that’s pretty much the bottom line.
[Photo by Alberto P Veiga on Flickr]