Africa Travel: Sao Tome & Principe

by Adrienne Wilson on

Coffee certainly may not be
my beverage of choice, but I can’t deny wanting to spend a day or so in cocoa plantations across various lands that
boast greatness in each cup of the stimulating aromatic drink. Like most processes the process of farming and tending
to the bean-like seed before they ever make it to a humming 6 AM Starbucks machine intrigues me. Perhaps it’s the rural
people who day in and day out devote their lives to making sure the crops are plentiful. Who knows?

In the
event you (or me) never make it to Sao Tome & Principe,
the Portuguese speaking west African islands in the Gulf of Guinea there’s always this excellent IFAD gallery of photos to turn to. The photos take us on a tour
through the cocoa bean process and the lives of the hardworking natives who live off the industry. Very cool way to
check out Sao Tome & Principe before planning travel to the area if it’s anywhere close on your list of
destinations to visit.

One Day in Iceland

by Erik Olsen on

Say you’re on your way across the pond and you
somehow ended up with a full-day’s layover in Iceland.
What do you do? Well, that’s a fine question .And we have an
answer for you. Jump in an expensive cab or a bus and head into the city of Reykjavik. And once you’re there, we
urge you to check out the Blue Lagoon. This geothermal pool is a quick ride from the airport and offers you the
relaxing opportunity to soak in warm, mineral laden waters heated by Mother Earth herself. Then, take a stroll through
the city, checking out the city center and grabbing a quick joe at Mokka Kaffi, one of the city’s famous cafes. Immerse
yourself in some culture at the National Gallery of Art, see some sweet photos at the Museum of Photography, and then
grab a Icelandic meal at Sjavarkjallarinn, which serves traditional fare like salmon and reindeer. All this can be done
easily with the purchase of the Reykjavik Tourist Card
which includes admission to many of the city’s main attractions and costs a mere $15.50. So there you have it. A
day in Iceland.

Oregonians get Glockenspiel

by Erik Olsen on

I’ll confess up front that I had no idea the town of
Mount Angel, Oregon is home to the state’s biggest Oktoberfest celebration. In
fact, If you asked me to put Oregon and Oktoberfest together in the same sentence I would have done so by saying
something like "Oregon and Oktoberfest both begin with O" and that would be about it. But it turns out that
the first sentence above is correct. And not only that, but for Oktoberfest connoisseurs, those who revel in Bavarian
bliss, the Mount Angel Oktoberfest is about to get even more rapturous. Why? How? You ask. Well, the town is investing
in what is said to be the nation’s tallest glockenspiel. (gasp!) No!

Yes, dear people. The 49-foot
glockenspiel (for the initiated…i.e. those who have never been to Munich…a glockenspiel is a clock tower with
animated figures that sing and tell stories…sort of like the Osmonds meets the It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland)
will be the tallest in the United States and a photogenic centerpiece for the town’s famous Oktoberfest.

Of
course, no town would undertake such an expenditure without hoping it will draw crowds…so it’s no surprise that the
city is also building up its Oktoberfest celebration, getting the word out big time and having their PR folks blanket
the media. That’s cool, though, right? I mean, it might be nice for you West Coast folks to have a glockenspiel of your
own. Those flights to Europe can take like, eight hours. Now you just have to go to Oregon, where the Helgas will bring
you beer in fleece and Birkenstocks.

Spanish Protest by Getting Drunk

by Erik Olsen on

Do the Spaniards know how to protest or what?
Forget placards with slogans and squatting in the way of tanks, they just get hammered. Or so went a recent protest in
the city of Grenada where some tens of thousands of Spanish
youth decided they’d had enough with high bar prices, and decided to stage a "drink in"…or as they
called it "macrobotellon" (big bottle party). Gotta love the Spanish. I lived in Madrid for awhile, and I
know how seriously the Spanish take their partying. I spent many an early morning drinking potent red wine and
wondering when the people around me were going to finally hit the sack. We have to work tomorrow, people! No matter,
this is my kind of protest. Let’s take a lesson from the Spanish the next time we’re upset about something, eh?

Montezuma's Revenge

by Neil Woodburn on

I’m
not sure why Montezuma is always so vengeful, and what it is I’ve done to piss him off, but for whatever reason he
has extracted the sweet taste of revenge numerous times upon my travel-weary body.

Montezuma’s Revenge, diarrhea, Hershey’s Squirt; Call it what you will, but nothing short of an airline
crash ruins your vacation as slippery quick as loose bowels.  I’ve actually been rather fortunate considering
the number of hygienicly unsound countries I’ve visited (I would advise, by the way, not to eat street food in
Uzbekistan).

Nonetheless, on those occasions when it hits, it hits hard (I would advise, by the way, not to eat street food in
Uzbekistan and then take a long bus ride on a bumpy dirt road).

I’m usually pretty good at avoiding the traveler’s curse by following simple rules such as no ice cubes
in my drinks, brushing my teeth with bottle water, and no French-kissing the tequila shot girl in Tijuana. 

So, if you’ve made it this far without clicking off this horrible post, you’ve probably suffered as I
have and are hoping for some wise words of advice.  Well, here they are: check out this great LA Times article on how
to deal with this oh-so-nasty ailment.  It will make any future trips to Uzbekistan far superior to what I
experienced.