Gadlinks for Friday 9.25.09

by Brenda Yun on


Talk about good luck! I arrived home on Wednesday and promptly hit the water for a surf with my buddies. Then yesterday a decent southern swell came through and, more importantly, the first significant swell of the season also made its way to the North Shore. My excitement alone has me thinking and dreaming of waves. In honor of the great sport of surfing, here are some pretty sweet surf travel reads for you this Friday.

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend!

More Gadlinks HERE.

Gadling Take FIVE — March 14-March 20

by Jamie Rhein on

Happy first day of spring! This week we’re having a book give-a-way. Pico Iyer’s book The Open Road: Global Travels of the 14th Dalai Lama can be yours. All you have to do is leave a comment about a place that captured your attention at the end Iyer’s Talking Travel interview. Two winners will be picked in a random drawing.

Mike just came back from his awesome trip to New Zealand and Australia. He’s promised to give us the highlights of his travels. Here’s his first missive. Then there’s Kent who is racing about Europe with his wife. They’re in the Competitours Race competition, an Amazing Race style contest that is keeping them hopping and us entertained.

Here are five other posts on subjects that range from eats to hikes and worldwide events.

  • Did you know that tomorrow is World Water Day? Brenda’s post gives the scoop about the occasion and a link to events.
  • Karen’s post on the top 20 list of the most bizarre holiday grievances includes something having to do with the size of an elephant.
  • Annie is continuing to taste test jerky. This week she dove into buffalo jerky and presented her take in a flavorful post.
  • Because we have friends who are moving to El Salvador, Tom’s post on green travel in El Salvador caught my eye.
  • This week, one of Kraig’s posts gave the rundown on ten great unknown treks.

Go Green in El Salvador

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Latin America is becoming a hot spot for green travel, but most adventure-seekers look to Honduras and Nicaragua … rather than El Salvador, with which they share a border. With the country’s civil war in the past, a destination marketing campaign has been launched, and a new web portal can give prospective travelers a place to start.

Art and anthropology museums and other cultural venues dot the country’s capital, San Salvador. If you want to get off the map, check out Izalco, which has the largest indigenous community in the area. Also stop by the ruins of Joya de Ceren, considered to be the Pompeii of the Maya world, where village remains include a fully preserved Shaman’s hut.

This is your chance to truly get off the tourist grid. Scrap your conventional plans this year and try El Salvador. Different is definitely better.

Knitting public art

by Jamie Rhein on

I don’t knit. I’ve tried, but even when I’ve attempted a scarf, it ends up weird shaped. Anna knits. She’s waxed poetic about it in a post about the pleasures of knitting and travel. Here’s another reason to grab some knitting needles and yarn.

While leafing through a back copy of Reader’s Digest at my in-laws this weekend, I saw a snippet on women in Houston, Texas who are turning their scraps of unfinished scarves and other knitted items into public art. They are wrapping park benches, fire hydrants, bike racks–anything that can use a bit of color and dressing up. The group is called Knitta and has been doing their thing since 2005.

They aren’t the only ones. Knitters in the Midwest are also prettying up the world with their craft. There’s a woman in Yellow Springs, Ohio, one of those incredibly artsy, literary towns that I adore, who has dressed a tree with help from others. With as gloomy as Ohio can look in the winter, what a great idea for making folks smile.

If you happen to pass by some knitted art, and you might–the women in Houston have knitted art in El Salvador, Paris and at the Great Wall of China– maybe you’ll get some inspiration to knit some art yourself.

Any of you East or West Coasters want to go to El Salvador?

by Grant Martin on

Delta just launched a fare sale from Washington, New York and San Francisco to the Central American capitol of El Salvador, San Salvador. For just over two hundred bucks, you can get away from the torrential rains of the early spring for a long weekend on the Pacific.

Sounds great huh? The best part is that El Salvador hasn’t really gotten up to speed on the whole tourist thing yet. With the whole civil war back in the eighties and a perennially slow economy, you’re going to find a fair amount of peace and quiet, free from the spring break crowd and throngs of cruise-bound tourists. It could be that perfect long weekend away from the office and your statistical analysis software that you’ve been fighting with.

Use a flex search on Kayak or Delta.com to find availability. Minimum stay is three days (so you’ll have to take off Monday) and availability only seems to go through late May early June. Be patient an flexible and you’ll find something — I just brought up several dates in sample bookings. Your total price should be about 231$.

Check out the Lonely Planet guide to the country if you want some inspiration, although take it with a grain of salt. LP could make Somalia look rustic, off the beaten path and hip.