GADLING TAKE FIVE: Week of October 13-19

by Jamie Rhein on

If you missed that big things happened at Gadling this week, then all I have to say is, “Where have you been?” Gadling has a brand new look and we’re enjoying it. It’s kind of like a shiny new toy. Wow! What does this drop down menu do on the left? The information we used to have is all here, it’s just relocated and gussied up. Also, perhaps you’ve noticed the slight name change. Instead of the heading “Gadling: The traveler’s blog,” we’re “Gadling: go there.”

Here our some of the offerings we’ve dished up this week that hopefully will help you go there where ever that may be. Hey, and if you’re not going off on some huge whirlwind mega trip, that’s fine by us. Sometimes, it’s the close to home treasures that are worth writing home about.

Abha Malpani, who just joined our Gadling forces this week, has some ideas for the best places to hook up with someone if you are so inclined, while Catherine’s got you covered when it comes to avoiding tourist traps. Grant knows just where you can get your hands on some of the best street food in Europe, and if you have a sweet tooth craving, check out Martha’s top places in the U.S. for a sugar fix ideas. To help you gather a bunch of facts that might come in handy at a party, or on a bus, or on an airplane –or just to amuse yourself in the privacy of your own bathroom, pick up a copy of Take Me to Your Leader. Kelly’s always dishing up good finds with her One for the Road Series.

Okay, that’s five and I still haven’t mentioned Matthew’s wealth of Japan know-how this week. Lastly, don’t miss Neil’s post “Visiting an American embassy, Simpson’s style.” Perhaps, you can relate.

Off the beaten foodie path in New York City: Studiofeast

by Grant Martin on

With so many good places to eat in Manhattan, chefs are continuously trying to outdo each other in complexity and presentation of dishes. To that effect, eventually one beings to pay for elegance and setting as much as for the food itself. Is it really worth two hundred dollars a person to eat at Morimoto? Really?

For a different type of dining experience, where you won’t have to worry about what shoulder your Y-3 sweater is hanging from or the appellation of your Côtes du Rhône, try Studiofeast.

Recently slated in the New York Post as a having “code names, mysterious meeting places, a cult following and the intoxicating whiff of illegality,” Studiofeast is one of the numerous underground eating clubs that have popped up in the city over the past few years. It brings a unique, intimate air to dinner, where you can mill about a random Williamsburg or Red Hook studio, converse with the other diners, bring your own bottle of wine and not worry about the pretense of a normal awkward dinner on the LES.

Read the Post’s stub about Studiofeast here or check out their website. I’ll be at the November 3rd feast with my Y-3 cable knit sweater zipped all the way up. I should note that I met the creators a few years ago and have been regularly impressed with their fare and general zeal. My opinion aside, it should still be an excellent meal.

Best places to hook up while traveling

by Abha Malpani on

“It’s 11pm on a Saturday night, I need to leave you guys to find some ass.” I swear to whatever there is above, that’s what a girl said to us recently on the night of Noche en Blanco in Madrid. I wouldn’t announce it so blatantly, but I have to admit that hooking up whilst on the road — whether it’s a holiday, gap year, or extended travel — is one of the glories of traveling whilst you are young and single.

Whether you are are ‘wham-bam-thank-you-maam’ type, or the passionate whirlwind love affair type, all’s pretty easy on the road. Depending on what you are looking for and how open you are about finding it, some places can work for you more than others.

Being a girl who doesn’t have the ‘one-track-mind’ all men are accused of having by default, to think about a piece like this wouldn’t have occurred to me unless I read this great piece on the Sydney Morning Herald’s travel blog.

Of his list of 10 best places to pick-up, I have been to three – Thailand, Portugal and Denmark. I’m not too sure about pick-up prospects in Portugal and Denmark — the language barrier and the Scandinavian chill don’t do much for romance; but Thailand is a sure winner.

In my opinion, other winner cities would be:

  • Negril, Jamaica: Oh my goodness. Sun, beach, wild marijuana, and reggae music — need I say more?
  • Havana, Cuba: Sorry that Americans can’t go here easily, but here both men and women will get together with you anyhow, and anywhere. Other than wanting toothpaste or toilet paper in return (this happened to a guy friend of mine), perhaps it’s the sheer attraction of foreigners that gets them pumping. With the rum, the reggaton and the strong will to feel any sort of temporary liberty, has to make Havana one of the most sexually open and explicit places I have visited.
  • Sydney, Australia: Another sun and beach lure, practically every other Ozzie you see looks like they played a role in Baywatch. Easy shmeezy, and you’ll even feel like you are in Baywatch.
  • Balearic Islands, Spain: Ibiza and Formentera — hardly a surprise huh? The fact that most beaches here are nudist just emphasizes ease of hooking up.

Your winners?

The longest bar in the world: Dusseldorf’s Altstadt

by Grant Martin on

In traveling to Eastern Europe last week, I had a fairly substantial layover in Düsseldorf, Germany. Figuring I could make it into the city and back during those nine hours, I checked a few of my favorite internet resources and discovered that Düsseldorf is home to the self-proclaimed longest bar in the world. Thus being the studious Gadling researcher that I am, I decided to investigate.

Altstadt can be reached with a few train transfers (unless the union is striking) from the airport in about 45 minutes. Once you exit the subway you’ll see a swarm of people walking in one general direction. Follow them — they’re headed towards the beer. “The longest bar in the world” is a series of several blocks of brick pedestrian walkways, connected and curving through the old city. Scattered among them you’ll find your typical food joints, although most of the bars serve standard German fare; I was able to get “barbecued meats” and a huge wheat beer for about 12E (tip: that small fillet of meat that looks like a liver cut in half actually is liver).

Make sure you stop by the Barrique Düsseldorf Altstadt, where you can purchase liquor by the liter out of giant glass globes and peruse the limoncello and grappa collection.

To get to Altstadt from the airport, take a commuter train to the Dusseldorf HBF, then transfer to the Heinrich-Heine-Allee metro stop. You’ll know where to go once you reach the surface.

The Red Garter: A Classic Expat Pick-Up Joint

by Kelly Amabile on

My aunt lived abroad in Florence for many years in the 70’s and 80’s. Although she worked as a nurse for much of her time overseas, she had her fair share of odd jobs too, especially in the early years of her expat experience. Recently she told me about her days working reception at a pensione run by the horrific “La Signora” and another job at a leather shop. And then there was that stint checking coats at The Red Garter. She and an Aussie friend had vowed they would never work at this popular expat hangout swarming with Italian men looking for foreign women. But my aunt did wind up in the coat room there for awhile. She met lots of Italian men, including one that she introduced to her Aussie friend, who wound up marrying the guy. So much for steering clear of The Red Garter!

Literally days after I heard this story, I came upon this post about the best pick up joints around the world. Lo and behold, the very first one mentioned: The Red Garter. It’s the only actual establishment mentioned in the piece — the rest of the pick-up places mentioned are special festivals or cities where the pickin’ is apparently not so slim. So it got me thinking about other joints like The Red Garter (which has been around since the early 1960’s) that have a long-standing tradition of fostering love connections which rise above language barriers — What other classic expat hot spots have been around long enough to be considered institutions of international romance?

(Photo credit: Special_K at Flickr)