Ten Destinations Under $1,000

by Erik Olsen on

I don’t know if we can call these “cash-strapped times”. I suppose it depends on your station in life and whether you are a CEO of a major corporation who just got a $250 million bonus even though your company’s stock is down. But for most of us, the idea of taking a trip and not having to take out a second mortgage is rather savory.

I have been doing some shopping around for plane tickets to Europe this summer and — whoa — it is hard to find ANYTHING for under $1,000. And that’s JUST FOR AIRFARE! So what are we middle-class folks to do? Well, you’ll have to get your own fact-checkers on board to look into the deals here, but its coming from good ol USA Today, so you can probably be sure the stuff is accurate.

Here in this article they offer a solid list of rather impressive adventures for under $1000. Per person that is. What kind of stuff do they suggest? A road trip to the next state? Nope. Better than that. There are trips here to Chile and the Torres del Paine (a favorite of mine), Utah (for biking), Belize (for diving) and Tuscany (for eating and shooting photos). Could you really imagine that you could get to for under a grand? Me neither. That’s why it’s important to note that many of these trips don’t include airfare. And more, many of them (like the excursion) are timed for winter, which right now seems way too far off, especially for those of us trying to make up our razadooks what to do this summer.

GADLING'S TAKE FIVE: Week of May 1

by Neil Woodburn on

Time for a quick look back at some of our favorite posts for the week, just in case you missed
them!

5. To Travel or Not to
Travel: That Is The Question
This post by Karen tackles the tough question on whether high school graduates
should take a year off before college and travel the world.  There are, of course, pros and cons to this question,
but at the end of the day, aren’t we all better off having traveled?

4. GapYear.com
Karen follows up with some responses from
readers who mostly agreed about taking time off to travel before college.  With this in mind, she directs us to a
wonderful website that specializes in the so-called Gap Year. 

3. Jack Bauer Gets Tracked
Jack Bauer
fans can now follow Jack’s progress through Los Angeles thanks to a Google Earth map that tracks his whereabouts
and provides waypoints for key locations featured in the series.

2. Are Most American Kids Stupid?
Erik addresses the quintessential question I hear so often while traveling; why are Americans so bad at
geography?  He refers to a study that reveals that three out of four American high school students couldn’t
find Iraq on a map.  Statistics like these have been circulating around this world for ages.  I can’t
tell you the number of times I’ve been told by foreigners that American college students can’t even find
America on a map. 

1. Albee does Easter Island
It’s not so often that a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright delves into travel writing, but when one does, in
this case Edward Albee, it is something that should definitely be read no matter what the location being written
about.  In this case, however, the location is fascinating Easter Island—a place I’d read about even
if written by the village idiot. 

Albee does Easter Island

by Neil Woodburn on

When
Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Edward Albee writes a travel
article, I’m going to read it.  When he writes one about accomplishing his lifelong goal of visiting Easter Island, I’m
definitely going to read it.

As was the case with myself, and probably every other adolescent boy who happened across photographs of the giant,
mysterious statues erected upon Easter Island, Albee longed to journey there one day and witnesses them
himself—although it took until his 78th birthday to do so.

The wait was well worth it, he tells us. The dramatist writes fondly of visiting many of the island’s more
than 800 statues and the lake filled quarries from which they came.  He marvels over the island’s
otherworldly, volcanic landscape and its rugged beauty and isolation. 

I was a little disappointed, however, to learn that there is actually a small town on the island—I had always romantically imagined it
deserted.  I was also unhappy to discover the presence of 12
hotels within the town and, according to Albee, possible plans to construct a casino there.  Visit now, Albee
warns, before the unsavoriness so often associated with casinos pollutes the magic of Easter Island. 

Ski Chile This Summer

by Erik Olsen on

When I lived in Chile the winter was ski
time. We’d pack our bags, hop into rental cars and speed down south to places like Thermas de Chillan, or straight into
the mountains to hit Portillo., To be honest, the year I was there, the snow was not fantastic. They’d had a bit of a
drought and things were thin. Not so this year. The Andes are supposed to get nicely dumped on. And not just that but
several of the ski areas in Chile have upgraded their facilities, making the thin little country a great place to head
for skiing this summer. The idea was sparked in my brain when I read this piece in the San Jose Mercury News, and I thought
to myself, what can I do this summer that’s unusual…ski the Andes! Sure, why not. Anyway, perhaps add it to your list
of potential trips.

Casas Rapa Nui on Easter Island

by Erik Olsen on

It seems to me the whole luxury hotel in exotic
places thing has taken a turn for the weird. Not that I haven’t always wanted to visit Easter Island, which lies
waaaaay off the coast of Chile, but it just seems kind of lame to put some luxury accommodations there. I mean, I
thought the whole point of Easter Island is its remoteness and simplicity. But maybe I’m just a reactionary. Off course
they’re going to build luxury hotels in a place like that. People will pay for it, and when people pay, they build.

And so we have Casas Rapa Nui, on Easter Island, probably the most remote speck of land on the
globe. Run by the company Explora, who also has lodges in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, the hotel offers nine
spacious rooms and an ornate dining room and bar that cooks up fresh fish caught that very day from the seas around you.
And yet there’s more. By the end of next year Explora will finish a 30-room lodge with a swimming pool and sprawling
terrace restaurant with gaping views.

So if you’re interested, and I confess I am, despite my grumpiness
about bulding the place, you can check out LAN Airlines and book three to seven nights
at Casas Rapa Nui from around $1,200 per person.