This image jumps vividly, something that may have to do with how many impressions it casts simultaneously. It speaks immediately to the promise of a road trip and the lure of the open road. Its vibrant, humid greens place it in a tropical region, as does the bright sky, which looks downright mercurial. It may have been (mostly) blue at the moment of capture, but an afternoon rain looks like a safe bet.
Adal-Honduras snapped this beautiful photo in Nicaragua.
Got an image that suggests a thrilling road trip or that plays with tropical colors? Upload it to the Gadling Flickr pool and we might feature it as a Photo of the Day.
Where was your photo taken: On a plane bound for Tokyo from JFK, taken to join the elite ranks of Heather Poole’s laviators.
Where do you live now: Istanbul, Turkey. I arrived here in May to accompany my husband who is consulting on a project with Turkish company. We will eventually return home to Brooklyn, New York, where we can be found sampling the city’s many all-you-can-drink brunch specials and planning our next trip.
Scariest airline flown: Like Alex Robertson Textor, I’d have to go with La Costeña in Nicaragua to the Corn Islands. It feels like you are flying on an unwieldy bicycle, and when a fellow passenger noted that one of the controls was not working, the pilot remarked, “Oh, I don’t use that, it’s turned off!” They do serve cookies and Fanta, so not wholly unpleasant.
Favorite city/country/place: Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. After spending many childhood summers on the lake, I honeymooned there for a glorious week with my husband barbecuing, playing cards, and hiking through the woods with my grandfather.Most remote corner of the globe visited: Pisco Elqui, Chile. The town is named after the country’s favorite liquor, in an effort to reinforce Chile’s claim to Pisco over Peru. A perfect place to stargaze and think about climbing the Andes, maybe after another Pisco Sour.
Favorite guidebook series: I try to go with whatever has been most recently updated, but I like that Frommer’s guides generally have an actual, personal voice and all of their content is online.
Favorite travel author: Hard to choose just one, but I loved the books of Pete McCarthy: great insights to places and almost embarrassingly funny. McCarthy’s Bar is spot-on about travel in Ireland and the sequel, Road to McCarthy, travels everywhere from Morocco to the Caribbean. He sadly passed away a few years ago, but I still think of some passages of his books and laugh out loud.
Dream travel destination: Playing Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? made me intrigued with Sri Lanka. I imagine days full of visits to remote temples and lying in hammocks on the beach, and nights spent in grizzled expat bars being served gin and tonics by a bartender with an eyepatch. And catching an international jewel thief, of course.
Worst place to catch a stomach bug? An airplane. I was once suddenly ill on a London to New York flight and I can’t think of much worse than being on your hands and knees in an airplane bathroom, then returning to a middle seat.
When I’m not writing for Gadling, I’m…working remotely as a publicist for a travel PR agency in New York, handling media relations for several tour operators and hotels, and acting as “social media curator,” finding content for our Facebook page, Twitter, and eventually, blog. In Istanbul, I can be found looking for ways to escape the summer heat, playing tour guide to my visiting friends (six so far, including the inimitable Mike Barish), and bumbling my Turkish all over town.
Cigar manufacturers are eager to host consumers. If you happen to be in Honduras or Nicaragua, your request for a tour of the facilities would probably be met with excitement and a warm welcome. But, you can get more than that. As the manufacturers and retailers struggle to overcome the effects of the global recession, many are arranging cigar-centric trips designed to host you from seed to ash.
Many cigar companies are partnering with tobacconists to arrange cigar tours for their customers. Camacho brings smokers down to Honduras to spend a few days at “Camp Camacho,” where they can tour the fields, see how cigars are rolled and smoke as much as you like. Rocky Patel and Drew Estate (which makes Acids and Javas) host groups as well, in Honduras and Nicaragua, respectively. My recent trip to Pepin Garcia’s factory was a first for the company, but I strongly suspect that many will follow. WhileDrew Estate is open to individual bookings, most of the cigar trips offered by manufacturers need to be arranged by cigar shops.
Your local retailer has the connections to make a cigar trip possible, so that’s where you need to start. Bring the idea up, and make sure there are enough people in the shop who share your interest. You’ll probably need about a dozen to make the trip happen (on my trip, De La Concha and Uptown Cigar, contributing roughly the same number of travelers each).
Since the cigar companies are eager to bring you to their facilities, you’ll generally be responsible for your airfare … and nothing else. Accommodations, meals and transportation are usually included, and you’ll be provided enough cigars to keep you busy – I had one lit pretty much all day every day. The details will vary with the cigar company. Those that have rooms on the premises will put you up inside the walls, and companies that don’t will arrange for you to stay in a local hotel.
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On your tour, you’ll become intimately familiar with the process of making cigars. From the tobacco fields, where the plants are bursting from the ground, to the factories, where legions of rollers showcase their dexterity, you’ll gain a new appreciation for the process by which your favorite stick reaches store shelves (and ultimately your humidor). At Pepin Garcia’s My Father operation, we saw everything, including the wood shop where the cigar boxes are built and printed. An estimated 70 pairs of hands are necessary to create a cigar, and w saw most of them.
At night, you’ll eat, smoke and hang out with the cigar company hosts and, more important, your fellow travelers. After all, what makes your favorite cigar shop special? It’s the people who smoke with you. This is what will turn your cigar trip into a memorable event.
If you like to light up a stick more than occasionally, it’s time for you to consider a “cigar safari.” This unique experience, offered by Drew Estate, which manufactures both traditional and infused cigars, is available up to 16 times a year at its factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Spend four days and three nights soaking in the pool, sipping cocktails in the on-site lounge and sampling the entire Drew Estate line, from Acid to T52.
Many cigar manufacturers are offering tours for their end-consumers these days. Camacho, Rocky Patel and Pepin Garcia’s My Father are among the companies that have taken this giant marketing leap forward. With Drew Estate, however, there is a touch of a resort feel. The guestrooms, limited number, feel more like a hotel than the barracks style available at some of the factories, and the guest-to-bathroom ratio isn’t bad.
Upstairs is the sort of cigar lounge that makes smokers salivate, with plenty of couches, flat screen televisions, a bar and even a poker table (games are held regularly with guests). The lounge opens onto a balcony (soon to be furnished) that offers stunning views of the Nicaragua countryside. Back on the ground, you can have a drink prepared and sit by the pool – or slip into it to cool off for a while.
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Only a short walk away is the factory, where you’ll become acquainted with the process by which the stuff on which you puff is made. The Drew Estate team will introduce you to the various infused and traditional lines it offers, and you’ll get the chance to see the company’s unique manufacturing process in action, from tobacco just being brought in the door through rolling, packaging and, yes, smoking. The guys on site are quite knowledgeable and will be able to answer all your questions thoroughly … except one.
Drew Estate stays mum on its infusing process and is quite committed to keeping the secret sauce secret. Somebody always asks, and the answer is always the same: NO. You also won’t be taken on a tour of that part of the facility. Fortunately, there’s plenty to experience already, so you’ll hardly miss the chance to eye some trade secrets.
On your visit to Drew Estate, be prepared to smoke. The point of the trips is to acquaint cigar smokers with the brand, sot eh company is always putting it at the center of the experience. Cigars, along with meals and beverages, are included in the nominal fee of $450 (you’re responsible for your own airfare).
Pack your cutter and your lighter (but not if you use a torch), and get ready to relax with a cigar in your hand for four days. Unlike most cigar trips, you can book this one on your own, rather than have it arranged through a smoke shop. Keep in mind that there is only a limited number of trips every year, and they do fill up quickly.
If you’re traveling to Nicaragua and have a city-sculpted Type A personality, you’re probably bracing yourself for meals that can last hours. Occasional glimpses of the restaurant staff offer brief interludes scattered among hours of nothingness. It gets tough after a while, making it hard to resist the urge to dine ‘n’ dash. Tip-Top, Nicaragua’s answer to Popeye’s or KFC, will scratch your fast food itch.
The Tip-Top format is not unfamiliar. If you’ve ever been to a fast-food joint anywhere, you’ll have no trouble figuring out how to order and where to eat. Just step up to the counter, and order the fried delight of your choice (I went with fried chicken and French fries). Pay. Pick up your food. Grab a table, and eat. To get your drink, stop by the fountain drink station, but let the attendant do the work for you (a real perk!).
To call Tip-Top easy would be the grossest of understatements. But, there’s nothing shocking here: it’s fast food.
%Gallery-84836%So, why does it deserve some space on the (not exactly) limited internet? Well, as fast food goes, Tip-Top is pretty damned good. The chicken was juicy, and the fries did have a little bit of character (but could have used some more). The service was relatively fast, so you can eat it off the dashboard when going from one cigar factory to the next.
If you plan to stick around and eat at Tip-Top, the experience is a small pocket of Americana in Spanish. The plastic chairs bolted to the tables are no more comfortable than they are in the United States, and there is a “playland” where kids can bounce off nets and ride the slide at a less than impressive speed.
Skip Tip-Top if you’re looking for an impressive culinary experience: you won’t find it here. But, if you need to fill your stomach quickly, this is definitely worth a few seconds of your time.