GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of July 2

by Adrienne Wilson on

It’s Friday and that means show and tell time here at Gadling. Ultimately we show you what you may have missed and you tell us what you like. Here we go.

5. Unique Hotels:
It wasn’t until last year sometime when it really started to dawn on me how much of an experience a hotel can provide. Before coming across some really cool spots to crash and lounge around I would just sleep, eat, and hit the road. So now, when I go to book hotels, before I grab the best deal, I look for other special qualities and what makes the place unique. In this blurb Neil describes places online that make it easier for travelers seeking similar hotel unique experiences. (I know I sounded a bit like an infomercial, but seriously check it out!)

4. Afghan Wildlife Reserves:
Erik is right – not many folks will bother going to Afghanistan let alone a wildlife reserve there should they every come to reality, but I felt it was a fine post and deserves another looksie. If we can’t go by foot, plane or train we may as well use our minds and travel with our imaginations.

3. Suspect Waters:
Hardcore, summertime, backing packing through the woods has never really been my thing and I can also tell you one other thing that hasn’t been my cup of tea on any trip of any kind. Um, diarrhea. Yeah, it sucks. In this post Neil directs us to the LA Times for a piece on some of the challenges faced by backpackers on their weekend escapes.

2. Mexico By Train… With Money:
Here’s an easy one… Ever been to Mexico by train? Got a little cash to blow this summer on your lavish vaca? Then drop a little money on a Mexican train excursion. Oh, and take me too!

1. Balkan Odyssey Part 1: Getting to Albania:
Did you know there was an airport actually named after Mother Teresa? I didn’t – until now. Neil’s back from his journey with plenty of tales to share. Go take a peek at his first installment to what looks like a very promising trip report to the Balkans.

Suspect Waters

by Neil Woodburn on

Summertime means backpacking season.  That time of year when you pack everything you need to survive on your back and trek with it into the wilderness.  One thing you can never bring enough of, however, is water.  Your body requires far more water than most people are able to carry.  Backpackers therefore rely on the fields, streams, and lakes they camp near to provide them with enough H2O to survive.

The problem is that not all of this water is clean.  An informative article in The LA Times discusses the challenges that backpackers face in their pursuit of diarrhea-free weekend escapes.  Kathleen Doheny’s article reviews recent studies analyzing water samples throughout California’s Sierra Nevadas.  Most were free of intestine-attacking bacteria, but those measured below cattle-grazing grounds were not.  The problem, as Doheny points out, is that no one ever knows if cattle happen to be grazing up river from where you pull your water supply.

Smart backpackers treat their water to be on the safe side; a six hour hike out of the wilderness is no fun with loose bowels. 

Beach Camping

by Adrienne Wilson on

Going down to the Corcovado National Park during my stay in Costa Rica was a complete accident, twist of fate and hours long of bumpy land and sea transportation. By the time me and my travel companion had arrived to our final destination my stomach was as moody as the ocean’s waters, but I was still up for laying out on the beach and relaxing to the sound of its crashing waves. My afternoon didn’t end there though, I crawled up to my beach hut and unzipped my tent and climbed into the small bed placed inside. Before I divulge any further details I’ll go ahead and let it be known that my style of beach camping wasn’t entirely roughing it, but none the less it was still beach camping. So where was I?

Hmm, yes… I was moving towards this piece found in Washington Post on beach camping. Perfect for those who love either worlds or maybe only one, the article details the pluses of camping out on the shore and how to plan your own trip. This includes the few locations found in the U.S. that are semi-remote enough to allow beach campers. The biggest benefit is cost. With a tent and a few extra supplies one night on the beach can be very inexpensive for the budget traveler, where a night one the fancy resort over-looking the water can cost anyone almost triple. If it’s something you’ve never quite done before, let me tell you it is worth the experience. Even if it involves cheating a little by having a small bed in your tent.

Happy 4th of July From Saratoga

by Erik Olsen on

I was thinking about the very best place I could be this Fourth of July to celebrate our country’s birthday. Boston? Sure, but too crowded. Philadelphia? Yeah, but so obvious. Also, I didn’t want to travel very far. I thought Brooklyn was a good idea, especially since David McCullough’s book 1776 talks so much about it. The Battle of Brooklyn was one of those pivotal events in the history of the nation that’s gone largely unheralded.

But what else? How about the place where it all really started? No, not Plymouth Rock. I’m talking about the place where the fight for independence really started. OK, give up? Well, I am in Saratoga Springs this weekend, and I just got back moments ago from the Saratoga Battlefield, the location of one of the most pivotal battles in all of American history.

 I’ll spare you the history lesson and merely point you to the Wikipedia site to get your fix, but suffice it to say that it was because we proved our mettle here on these very fields that the French thought us worthy of their support. We took on the superior British forces of General John Burgoyne and forced him to surrender to a ragtag group of pissed off colonists. And it was that battle that made the French decide to throw a little succor our way, enough help to propel us on our way to nationhood. In fact, many historians say that without that support, we might never have won the war.

So here I am on the very ground where this whole independence thing really took off. Pretty damn cool. And  hey, if you haven’t already noticed by the photos here…it’s kinda pretty.

Escape Work…Head to the Hills

by Erik Olsen on

You know what? I totally understand.

I feel for the case of a Ms. Pratistha Budhathoki, a missing Nepalese exchange student who found herself in the brutal wilderness with but water and a few morsels to gnaw on recently. She merely wanted to escape work, and so headed to the mountains where she slept on rocks in the wilderness for two whole weeks…all because she did not want to work. Because she abhorred the miserable bleat of the fax machine, because she would not stoop to the eviscerating inhumanity that is the 9=5 office space. Nay, good girl. Go not ye into that cold office. Head, thee into the mountains where mother nature, though red in tooth and claw, is no match for the soul destroying doldrums of office work. Yes, Pratistha, I understand. I understand completely.