Official report encourages drunken British traveler stereotype

by Anna Brones on

While staying with a friend’s family in Barcelona last year I was shocked when they told me about the stereotypical British traveler often talked about in Spanish media.

“They [British travelers] come down on cheap flights and they don’t even make hotel reservations,” said my friend’s father.
“You mean they sleep on the street?”
“No, they just stay out drinking all night and once morning comes they just take a nap on a bench. No need to pay for a hotel I guess.”

He pointed out that obviously not every British traveler behaved in this manner, yet it was unfortunate, because it gave all of them — even those with hotel reservations — a bad name. But apparently he wasn’t all that wrong. According to the annual “British Behaviour Abroad” report by the Foreign Office, excessive drinking has led to the increase in arrests of Brits traveling abroad. In Spain for example, arrests have gone up by 32% to 2,032 in the period reported.

With a powerful British pound, drinking in other countries doesn’t make a huge impact on the average Brit’s wallet, so holidays can easily turn into drinking days. In response to the report, the British tabloid the Daily Mail pointed out that “drunken and loutish holidaymakers have sent Britain’s reputation abroad plunging to new depths.” Again, we should not stereotype — I have met many Brits while traveling that don’t behave in such a manner — but maybe it’s time to consider whether or not to down that last pint. You don’t want to get arrested…

Bring Chinese cooking to your kitchen after your travels

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are traveling from China and want to replicate some of the tastes at home, Jen Lin Liu, author of Serve the People: A Stir-fried Journey through China, has some tips.

She presented them in a very speedy cooking lesson segment on The Today Show that I caught yesterday morning. Lin-Liu is a Chinese American living in China who moved there to learn more about Chinese cooking.

Here’s what Liu said. For spices, the staples are salt, pepper and sugar. Sugar is an important ingredient because it balances out the salt and pepper. Liu said it’s a yin and yang kind of thing.

Also there are two kinds of soy sauces that she uses: light and dark. The dark is actually a lighter flavor than the light, but both are used-from what I gathered, in the same dish.

Her main utensil is a meat cleaver which she uses for everything-even paring apples. As Liu demonstrated, the cleaver is handy for picking up food and dumping it into the wok for stir-frying. She also uses it to smash vegetables, a technique that releases some of the flavor. A spatula is used for turning whatever is cooking.

The corn starch that is used to thicken the sauce was put into the meat marinade.

One question that came up was the way Chinese food tastes different in the United States, than in China. One reason she gave was that the ingredients were fresher in China. People go to the fresh market every day and buy only what they will cook that day.

My husband’s greatest pleasure when we lived in Singapore was going to the market in the morning on Saturdays or Sundays. He would come back, arms full. Unlike me, he loves to cook.

One thing I enjoyed about this segment and Jen Lin Liu’s brand of cooking is that it looks easy to replicate. The cook book just came out just last month. I’m tempted to buy it. After all, I think we already have a clever tucked back in a kitchen drawer somewhere. I’ll recognize it when I see it.

Here’s a link to the video where Liu demonstrates her techniques.

Check out 15 of the world’s strangest theme restaurants

by Jeffrey White on


I admit, I’ve never been the biggest fan of theme restaurants.

This is an opinion no doubt hardened by a few visits to medieval theme restaurants in Boston and Prague over the years, punctuated as they were with ridiculous performances and barely edible food. Theme restaurants always have seemed to me long on kitsch and short on that most basic of restaurant foundations: good food.

But I’d easily make an exception for any of these 15 wacky theme restaurants that the good people over at WebUrbanist have put together. Clearly, my thinking of how far such a place can go to deliver something truly unusual has been pretty lame.

Sure, there are a few Gothic places on the list, including one in Tokyo decked out completely in red, to resemble, one assumes, the inside of an artery (complete with red blood cells painted on the walls and floor).

But there are others that seem really worth a visit, if only to see (A.) whether such a place really exists or (B.) the strange juxtaposition of the restaurant’s theme and the reality outside its walls. Consider, for example, Buns & Guns in Beirut, a restaurant born out of the 2006 war with Israel, with such menu items as “M16 Carbine meat sandwiches” and “mortar burgers.”

Faithful readers of Matthew Firestone’s Big in Japan dispatches know just how strange a place Japan can be, so it’s not surprising that four of these odd theme restaurants are in Tokyo. There’s a restaurant with a vampire theme, a chain of restaurants fashioned to resemble Catholic churches and one restaurant in which diners can order an edible human body, delivered whole to their table whereby they cut into it like surgeons (scalpels are provided) and fish out edible organs.

In Beijing you can dine in total darkness in the Stygian-themed Pitch Black (wait staff wear night goggles). In Truskavets, Ukraine, you can dine in a large coffin. In Manila, you can patronize the Hobbit House, where the staff are all little people.

Some on the list have since closed or changed their names, their themes having proved, well, a tad unworkable. Case in point: An ill-conceived restaurant in Mumbai meant to pay homage to Adolf Hitler.

The weirdest on the list? We can debate, but my vote goes to a restaurant called Modern Toilet in Taipei, Taiwan, where diners sit on toilets and eat soups, meat dishes and fecal-looking ice cream out of miniature commodes and drink out of small urinals. Who thinks this stuff up?

No list like this is exhaustive, of course. Know of any other strange theme restaurants? Drop us a line.

Great American Road Trip: Travel books for the road-4 of 4: Are We There Yet?

by Jamie Rhein on

When on a road trip with family–i.e., spouse, kids and possibly in-laws or parents, a travel book that delves into similar situations is a welcome companion. There is an uplifting quality to being able to recognize aspects of the life you are living to what you are reading.

If any of you with children wonder if your best traveling days are over, pick up the 4th travel book I read on my road trip to Montana from Ohio and back. According to this one, your best days are at hand, but only if you grab your family and head out to points beyond the familiar.

#4 Are We There Yet? Perfect Family Vacations and Other Fantasies–Scott Haas

Laura and I knew if we got out and saw the countryside, everything would be fine. The mountains are filled with sanitariums and spas where for at least two centuries the wealthiest, most miserable, worried, and confused people in the world have come to look at the snow-capped Alps and listen to doctors and therapists tell them everything will be fine. Everything will be just fine. I would have liked to hear a doctor say those words to me. But how could we get into the mountains? We couldn’t even see them through the rain and fog.
Scott Haas, the author of this book is a writer commentator for NPR, public radio who I have heard on “The Splendid Table.” He also covers food and restaurants in “Here and Now.” Besides knowing great food and the people who make it, Haas knows how to capture the essence of family vacations in a way that makes you think you are with him where he is, like the Swiss Alps as described in the excerpt.

Of the four books I read, his is one that fits an any one person’s experience. I don’t mean that the book is mundane, but what Haas does is show how people can incorporate lovely travel experiences into their lives with a family. It’s the having a family in the experiences that actually make them grand.

The book starts off with his first vacation with his wife right after their daughter was born. The goal was to head off to Switzerland to stay in a cottage in order to enjoy their new family group. It ends with the children at ages 15 and 12 and the knowledge that life is shifting. The 12-year-old is a son.

Throughout the book, Haas makes observations about himself and his wife, children and the people who periodically join them –and of course the food they eat. This is not a how-to book, but more of a memoir that is engaging and funny. There are travel successes and travel nightmares, such as the time the fog set in in the alps and they had to crawl.

Instead of trotting between many places, the Haas family tends to go to one country and stay put. They stay several nights at once place in order to soak up the scene and blend in. Although, they take in sites, the notion is to not be tourists.

They also repeat places that they’ve been before–not all the time, but the places they like the best. Italy and Switzerland are the most favorite. Greece was not a hit because the food was so bad.

One aspect I really liked about this book is that squabbles are part of the deal when traveling with family, but the Haas family doesn’t let that stop them from heading out. Haas shares his experiences so it feels as if you’re sitting in the room watching and thinking, yep–I’ve been there.

He also illustrates how everyone does not have to be on the same page going at the same speed. One advantage of staying in a place for a length of time is that people can go at their own pace according to their own pattern.

Because Haas also is a psychologist, he has a certain way of making observations that are engaging. As I mentioned, he puts himself into the mix. As a person with a six-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter, I could relate to much of this book, although spending more than $400 at The French Laundry, is not in my realm of travel jaunts. That’s where being a writer for “The Splendid Table” comes in handy.

I read this one through Iowa and Indiana.

Where to go in Denver and Boulder, Colorado. Two suggestions. Intelligent Travel needs more

by Jamie Rhein on

Over at Intelligent Travel, editor, Janelle Nanos is heading to Colorado this weekend, specifically to Denver (for Friday evening) and Boulder (for the rest of the weekend). She’s looking for suggestions for what she might do and where she might eat. Hiking is one of the things Janelle is interested in doing.

As a person who as been both to Denver and Boulder, I have my ideas, although I haven’t done any hiking at either place. I have one suggestion for Boulder for a thing to do, and one idea for a place to eat. I have more, but for now, I’m highlighting two. ,.,Both are worthy of a post on their own, and I’ve gushed about them to friends and relatives.

A friend told me about Banjo Billy ‘s Bus Tour when she heard I was heading to Boulder. This tour was about the best one I’ve ever taken and I am so fond of tours.

The bus is a restructured school bus that looks a bit like a shack. The seats are horse saddles or living room couches and recliners. The tour takes in the lore of Boulder, like who was murdered in which building, and where the ghosts hang out–that sort of thing. As well as teaching much about Boulder lore and history, it’s a hoot–very funny. My daughter and son loved it too.

For a place to eat, Boulder Dushanbe Tea House is exquisite. My daughter and I ate out on the patio. I can’t remember exactly what we ate, but the the food and atmosphere were fabulous. We had the loveliest drinks. Both of them involved hibiscus. Mine was the version with alcohol.

Those are my two ideas. If you have others let us know, but most importantly, let Janelle know by going to Intelligent Travel and posting a comment on her post. Thanks!