Travel with kids in Denmark: AAA virtual trade show tidbit

by Jamie Rhein on

One of my forays at cyberspace trade show through AAA was to email a travel agent about traveling with kids in Europe. In particular, I asked about Denmark since this is one place we’ve thought about going the summer of 2009.

I picked Bernadine Kenny from the travel agent icons in the lounge and she emailed me back immediately with a few more questions, promising to get back to me today which she did.

As it turns out, Bernadine’s office is with AAA Auto Club and located in Worthington, Ohio not far from where I live. From our e-mail conversations , I found out that if one is traveling with kids in Denmark, if you’re staying in a hotel, it’s cheaper to get two rooms with two beds than one room that will sleep three or four. Bernadine found that a centrally located three-star hotel with two twin beds in Copenhagen is $178 per night, on average. The cost includes taxes and breakfast. A room for four people is $467. With two rooms you’re spending a total of $356. I haven’t checked out hostel prices, but I do know that Denmark is probably one of the more expensive places to go in Europe. Luckily, we have friends who will probably let us stay with them. If not, there’s a villa in Italy that looks pretty spiffy.

Asking Bernadine for information was a good move. I never would have thought about splitting up a family to save some bucks.

Genitalia restaurant in China

by Abha Malpani on

If you think that eating water-buffalo penis, a yaks knob with a hunk of foreskin, a dog’s penis, bull’s penis tip, bull’s perineum, or deer-penis juice is gross (excuse me one minute while I go to throw up), think again. Apparently they’re delicious delicacies, with energetic and virility benefits that rich Chinese people (mainly male members of the Communist Party) pay up to £250 for.

Guo-li-Zuang restaurant in Beijing specializes in serving such dishes of animal penises and testicles. China has a history of poverty and famine, which is why they are used to eating any animal and every morsel of it, so eating penises and testicles is nothing out of the ordinary. The stuff is mainly boiled, roasted or steamed, and served with a variety of items like lemon, soy, chili, honey and sesame-seed paste.

According to the author of the article on this restaurant: “All the knobs have intriguing, delicate and bizarre textures, although the flavor is mainly of pork braised in hot stock.” The restaurant is sexist though as it doesn’t serve female genitalia — but oh what the heck.

Now that I think about it a bit more, it doesn’t seem all that gross. They are really just body parts like anything else. I would have to say though, I’d probably enjoy it more if I didn’t know what I was eating.

Exclusive interview with world traveler 2.0 David Horvitz

by Jerry Guo on

I recently talked with serial blogger and traveler David Horvitz, whom I wrote about last month. He’s the guy who came up with the ingenious idea of getting people to pay for his exotic trips all over the world. Here’s what he has to say:

Who are you? What do you do during the day?

I’m 25 years old and live in New York City. I moved here from Los Angeles in September. As you can see tell, I like to wander around–just drift around and discover new places. I try to do this at least once a day. Ideally I’d like it to take up my whole day… But recently I’ve had some art shows come up, so I’d have to get images ready, do stuff online at my place in Brooklyn, get all stressed out, and then jump on a bike or train (or foot) and just go somewhere.

How’d you come up with this idea?

I just did it one night. It was completely spontaneous. I’ve been to Okinawa and have given people star sand. I have traveled afar and mailed people photographs of what I saw from there (my own personal postcards). So, it’s like something I’ve always done for my friends – and I thought I should offer it to anyone if the funded the trip. A thing for you from where I go.
What kind of response have you gotten from the blogosphere, travelers, etc?

I have Google Alerts, and I get like 20 hits a day. It’s crazy. I get a lot of positive responses, lots of “you are so creative.” I’ve got contacted for art shows, interviews with magazines, even a potential TV show, which is really insane. My favorite is when people say I’m inspiring, so then what I’m doing isn’t just for passive speculation– people are actually moved by it. So, ideally, people can see what I do, and then decide for themselves that they might find their lives a little boring and take off around the globe somewhere after saving up some money. And, doing it in a non-selfish manner, always thinking about people who you are leaving, and sending them little treasures.

What’s the adventure you most want to go on (but haven’t)?

I want to go to Perth, Australia just for conceptual reasons. I don’t know what it’s like there, but I like the idea of going as faraway as possible. I looked it up online, and I used Google Earth, so I am hoping it is actually the farthest place possible from NY.

What’s the best adventure you’ve gone on (through this project)?

I am hanging out in an abandoned part of Roosevelt Island reading all of Anna Karenina. The project was that I would go to a desolate location by train, and read the entire book, and keep returning each day until the book was read. This was as if the book was my “job.” I used to always get in trouble for reading at work. I got $400 to do this.

Any juicy hate-mail?

A few… I like criticism, so I like to attack back. But, some of the people who write me hate mail aren’t that articulate, and their messages are kind of dumb, so I get bored with their emails. I’d love for someone to tear me apart and make me rethink what I was doing. My friend actually mentioned Carbon Footprint, and I am re-thinking whether I should raise some prices higher to add in the Carbon Offsetting.

What about ideas for new adventures? How do you get those?

Inspired. I get ideas 24 hours a day. I get ideas when I’m in the shower and have to run out and write them down. Lots of things come from my immediate environment. This could be from where I am or what I am directly exposed to (films, books, music, even memories).

Any weird corners of the world you’re particularly proud of visiting?

I love Okinawa! I’ve been there twice. Their history is really harsh, but their culture is amazing. There is still a US base there and still to this day (even recently) some really sad things happen because of that. I went into Zapatista territory in Chiapas, Mexico once. Chiapas was so beautiful, it was so amazing. I am kind of weary about going to politically heated places because then it seems like I’m only going to somewhere because of a kind of indignation in me, but I don’t know what that means for me to want to physically go there. Make it adventurous? Like, I don’t know if I’d want to go to Iraq or Palestine or something… I went to Israel. I threw eggs in the Dead Sea with my friend because we thought it was funny that eggs represent life, and the Dead Sea implicates death. Other people there didn’t think it was funny.

Nicaragua!

Inland Empire California!

OK, this one is actually weird. So I am walking across from Sweden to Finland, really really north. I don’t know if we were in the Arctic Circle or not… We need to catch a train to Helsinki, so we find the station and decide to sleep there for the night. It’s the summer, so it’s 3am and still bright out. I pull out my dictionary and translate a plaque on the train station. “Lenin arrived here in 1917.” Holy &@#$! We were at the station Lenin arrived at when that part of Finland was part of Russia! He stepped out of a train there and then the revolution happened!

Oh, I also found the writer, John Berger’s house in a small village in the French Alps. I knocked on his door but he wasn’t home. But is wife was really nice and gave me and my (ex) girlfriend coffee. Amazing!

My favorite all time place in the whole world is right near where I grew up. Palos Verdes.

Byzantine style mosaic making: Bring out the artist within

by Jamie Rhein on

Not long ago, I posted about how you could learn how to make your very own Mozart Balls in Salzburg. That was a bring out the cook in you endeavor. Making tile mosaics in Venice is a way to bring out the artist within and enhance an Italian vacation.

The Orsoni Glass Foundry in Venice has been making glass smalti and 24K mosaic tiles since 1880. More than 100 years later the foundry’s great grandson, Maestro Lucio Orsoni is offering three-day, five-day, or ten-day mosaic tile workshops at the studio to teach people this art that has been passed down for generations. You’ll learn to pick out colors, cut the glass and make an art piece in the Byzantine tradition.

Because the class size is limited to six people, you’ll get the attention you need to succeed. The great thing about this workshop is that it can be connected to a stay at the Domus Orsoni, a bed and breakfast decorated with Orsoni mosaic tiles. Here’s to basking in inspiration the entire time. I can see how this would be a terrific thing to do for single folks, couples, or anyone wanting to do something unique with a traveling companion.

From the Web site, I noticed that if you take the longer one to two week classes, you get a certificate of completion and it’s possible to get CEU credits. Anyone who needs credits for teaching certification, this might be another idea. There are still workshop spots left for 2008. The Web site materialicious where I found this photo has reviews by folks who took the course.

Renting a villa in Tuscany: AAA travel show tidbit

by Jamie Rhein on

In the chat room lounge at the AAA travel show, “Europe is Closer than You Think,” questions and answers were batted between participants. Someone would post a question and eventually people responded. It was like listening to several conversations at once, but you could scroll back to see what was missed.

One person asked a question about traveling to Europe with her children ages 2, 4 and 7. She wanted to know if she should wait until they are in grade school. One of the travel agents suggested traveling in Ireland or renting a villa in Tuscany. Another suggested waiting until the kids are a bit older to take a river cruise with short shore excursions. The woman asking the question jumped on the villa in Tuscany idea, though and that sparked my interest as well.

Here is a Web site I found that lists villas to rent in Tuscany. I have never rented a villa in Tuscany. I have toured historic villas before near Padua, but stayed in a friend’s apartment. Friends of mine with small children have rented a villa in Tuscany and the experience actually made them want to buy a villa in Tuscany. They liked it that much.

Here is another villa I found. Advantages of renting a villa is that you could stay in one place, cook meals or eat out and children would have a place to play outside. What a wonderful home away from home. One way to have an even more relaxing, less expensive villa experience is to rent one in the fall. If any of you have a villa in Tuscany experience to share, do tell.