Roots Travel – African Ancestry

by Adrienne Wilson on

I can’t imagine anything that could possibly be cooler than traveling to discover ones roots and ancestry. Allow me to get real geeked up on this topic if you will. I’ve been a big fan of genealogy for ages and on a continuous search to learn more and more about my own family’s past. However, as an African-American piecing together information can be extremely difficult. The first step in researching your ancestry is starting with small talk or long conversations with the elders, but if your family is anything like mine and from the South they’d rather leave some stories untold. Sigh…

The next approach is by far one of the best and provides those of us with a serious interest in connecting with our ancestry the opportunity to not only go to Africa, but to go with a purpose and personal connection to the continent. African Ancestry online provides the technology to help trace family history and roots with DNA testing. Once the DNA has been tested they compare yours to that found in a database of lineages from 30 countries and 160 ethnic groups. Details and specifics are a plenty on their site. There is far too much science involved to blog here, but if you have a deep-rooted desire to connect to the Motherland I suggest you look into this. Seriously!!! Pricey, but so worth it.

I plan on having both tests completed by year end.

National Park Woes

by Erik Olsen on

Keeping up on our posts about the National Parks and their current state, I’d like to direct your attention to a piece at the Washington Post about how difficult it may be to experience the parks this summer. Due to budget shortfalls and an (alleged) lack of commitment to keep the parks up to date, our parks system, says a group of retired park employees, will offer fewer park rangers available to respond to emergencies, fewer law enforcement officials patrolling, and fewer rangers giving interpretive walks and answering questions. The article examines a detailed study of 37 of the nation’s parks that was put out by a nonprofit coalition that “found almost without exception that parks are operating well below the established standards for service and for resource and visitor protection.” So take this into consideratin as you plan the week-long excursion to Yellowstone with the family.

WikiTravel

by Erik Olsen on

Most folks have probably spent some time messing around on Wikipedia. I know I have. In fact, the other night I literally spent four hours just browsing through all the pages and links dedicated to Pink Floyd (and yes, I’m going to read the new book out about them…when I can get the reading time).

But if you are a serious traveler and you have not spent some time playing around on WikiTravel, you’re missing out. The guides here are nicely filled out (for certain areas, that is), by people who know these places well or who have been there. It is like have a  Lonely Planet or Rough Guides online and for free.

And sometimes the info is even better than you get from a Rough Guides or Lonely Planet because it’s more nicely fleshed out and there are links to the various sites mentioned. I am adding WikiTravel to my bookmarks, BIG time.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of June 11

by Adrienne Wilson on

Let’s keep this short and sweet. The week is over and it’s time to round up some our five favorites you may have missed, so here they are:

5. Armenia Dispatches List:
For those of you who have been with us for a while you probably noticed how the categories disappeared and reappeared after some site maintenance and in the midst of the shuffle some really cool posts got buried underneath the rubble. Luckily Erik managed to retrieve all the dispatches done while visiting Armenia last year. If you didn’t catch them before then be sure to check them out now. Erik tunes us into the sounds of Bambir, the power of chess and the tales of a fine road trip through the region.

4. Future Tourist Sites that Hope to Remain Hidden:
Neil ponders an interesting subject found in the Los Angeles Times – how to keep future tourists away from sites that contain chemical agents and radioactivity. Apparently a Waste Isolation Plant in New Mexico is facing the challenge of how to warn people of the future that the artifacts found beneath the surface are dangerous, deadly and should not be touched. But how? Something to think about…

3. Indian City, USA:
We never blog enough about Native American travel sites and cool destinations to visit out in lands like Oklahoma. Agree? Well I had the chance to visit Indian City, USA in Anadarko, Oklahoma recently and if you’re in the area or planning to be you may wish to check out my blurb on the area. It’s just about the only thing out there to check out.

2. The Trib on Great Hikes:
Wish there were more people out there doing rather than just saying they’re going to do or telling you what’s really cool to do though they’ve never stepped foot on the land to begin with? Yeah – me too. Thankfully Erik points out a piece done by a guy who is the real deal on providing the 411 on great hikes around the country. If you’re looking for the best in hikes for the summer give this article a glance.

1. Paddle Stuff:
Summer is right around the corner and what could be better than man paddling through the sparkling crystal blue waters of some lake with the cool, light summer breeze brushing across his face? The answer is absolutely nothing. Okay, I’m sure somethings, but not most. If you’re looking to  become a paddle fanatic or tighten up your skills be sure to look at this small Paddle Stuff guide form Erik. It’s basically a list of links, but some fine ones in getting geared up and prepared to hit the water.

Unusual Hotels

by Erik Olsen on

On the heels of my earlier post about the Yotel….here is an off-beat and interesting site about hotels came up this morning when I was StumbleUpon-ing around. The site itself is actually called unusualhotelsoftheworld.com, a mouthful to be sure, but what it lacks in brevity it more than makes up for in some really interesting information.

Take this hotel in Sweden called the Utter Inn. It is a floating, underwater hotel, where you sleep in an underwater aquarium. Look at that picture! The Inn come from the fertile grey matter of a local artist and sculptor named Mikael Genber  who has decided that art should be “for the public”, which presumably means they should be able to sleep in it. This is just one of many cool places to check out at this site, others of which might give rise to some ideas on where to stay on your next vacation.