This Photo of the Day, titled “Mount Revelstoke National Park View,” comes from one of my favorite Gadling Flickr pool members James Wheeler. I like James’ work for more than its visual appeal too. Rather than simply posting a photo (like I do), James adds detail about the gear he used and more. For example, James captions the image:
“Mount Revelstoke national park is one of the few places you can drive all the way to an alpine summit. Lets you get the great view of a hike up a mountain without the work. The is the view from the top, pretty impressive.”
Known “as a place of contrasts,” Canada’s Mount Revelstoke National Park hosts a variety of geographical zones ranging from dense, old-growth rainforest to alpine meadows and tundra, as depicted in this photo.
James captured the image using a Tokina 12-24mm f/4 lens with a Nikon Polarizing Filter mounted on his Nikon D5000 atop a steady Sirui T-2005X Tripod with K-10x Tripod Head. Processing the image, James used Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Nik Color Efex Pro and Topaz Adjust.
Sound complicated? I thought so too. Check Gadling’s library of timeless Photo Tips by creative photographer Dana Murph who breaks down what all those things are and more.
Tips for being featured: add a caption describing the image and (better yet) your personal experience when capturing it, details of the photography gear used and any tips you might have for others wanting to emulate your work.
A new basketball trick-shot video shows what might happen if Aquaman went on Spring Break. The clip comes from a group of guys from Alabama who call their YouTube channel the Legendary Shots, and they have racked up 21 million hits by sinking outrageous bombs from roller coasters and hot-air balloons. This time, the hot-handed kids took their talents to Destin, Florida, and nailed one while hovering around 15 feet in the air.
The group, which was once tapped by Hampton Inn for an ad campaign (tagline: “Want an easier way to score points?”), spent only one day practicing on a new contraption called a Flyboard before nailing the overwater bucket. Released last summer, Flyboard is like a jet pack attached to a wakeboard, letting riders soar up to 45 feet in the air – as long as they can keep their balance and their nerve.
If this dude can sink a highlight-reel shot from two stories in the air after one day of practice, it bodes well for the average Spring Breaker who wants to try Flyboard but not wind up on a blooper reel.
In Destin, a 20-minute lesson and session costs $100 at Power Up Watersports, the area’s only Flyboard dealer and a partner in crime in the video. Customers don’t get to shoot hoops in the air, but there’s a silver lining – two, actually. The fun happens in the emerald-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico, not in the ugly, brackish root-beer stuff seen in the Legendary Shots video (it was filmed next to one of Destin’s bridges, not where vacationers dip their toes). And riders can use arm attachments that are AWOL in the clip – attachments that basically turn them into Iron Man.
The thought of going on safari generally conjures up mental images of driving across the African savannah dressed in khaki and wearing a pith helmet while spotting elephants and lions. But did you know that it is possible to get a true safari experience in North America, without having to endure a very long trans-Atlantic flight?
Luxury travel company The Clear Creek Group is now offering the Wolf and Bear Expedition, which promises to take adventurous travelers into Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in search of the two legendary predators. The three-day trip pairs visitors with a wildlife biologist who then guides them into the the famous Lamar and Hayden Valleys, which are often referred to as “the Serengeti of North America.” Those two destinations feature an incredible amount of wildlife, including bison, moose, elk and more, set against a dramatic backdrop of sprawling and beautiful landscapes.
The Wolf and Bear Expedition begins and ends in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but while on safari, travelers will stay in the wonderfully quirky Montana town of Cooke City. Accommodations are included as part of the package, as are side visits to Old Faithful, the spectacular Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs.
Of course, the real highlight of the trip is the wildlife, which will take center stage thanks to the expert guides on these trips. They’ll know how to locate the predators in the wild and they’ll give travelers an opportunity to observe them in their natural settings.
Having visited Lamar Valley myself, I can tell you that it truly is a magical setting. I’ve seen the wildlife there and it is quite the experience. While I was there, I spotted a large moose, a pack of wolves and numerous elk and bison. Sadly, I didn’t get the chance to see a bear, although on this excursion it sounds like that is more likely to happen.
The four-night itinerary for the Wolf and Bear Expedition is packed top-to-bottom with activities for a very busy few days. Prices start at $3675 with bookings available in May, June, September and October.
Carnival Cruise Lines fleet of FunShips have plied the oceans of the world for over 40 years, enabling travelers to sample a variety of destinations and cultures. Many of those travelers might not have ventured out of their own back yards without the affordable, normally safe and secure travel option largely pioneered by Carnival. Reporting this week from Cruise Shipping Miami, the South By Southwest of the cruise industry, Gadling was on the scene when the story broke: another Carnival ship in trouble.
Just days before reports of Carnival Dream, her passengers and crew stuck at the dock in St Maarten, Carnival’s President and CEO Gerry Cahill participated with other cruise industry leaders in a keynote panel discussion.
Addressing February’s Carnival Triumph incident, when an engine room fire knocked out the ship’s propulsion, Cahill updated the crowd on hand for the annual State of the Industry discussion. A signature event of Cruise Shipping Miami, last year’s event was dominated by the aftermath of the Costa Concordia grounding. Costa Cruises, like Carnival Cruise Lines, are sister brands along with others that fall under the Carnival Corporation umbrella.
“I can assure you since this fire has occurred it has been the number one priority for both Carnival Cruise Lines and Carnival Corporation,” said Cahill of a comprehensive safety review in-progress on the entire Carnival fleet.
Bringing in experts in fire safety, naval architects, marine engineers, electrical engineers, experts from shipyards and more, Carnival seemed committed to raising the bar on safety as never before. The U.S. Coast Guard determined the cause of Carnival Triumph’s fire to be a failed fuel return line, one that had been properly maintained at correctly scheduled intervals.
“This review is very comprehensive, it will take us a little bit of time to complete it,” said Cahill “but you can rest assured that it is our highest priority throughout the entire organization.”
Doubling down on safety protocols while the detailed fleet review continues, Carnival is taking nothing for granted.
Carnival Dream‘s six massive diesel-electric engines offered over 84,000 in horsepower and were functioning properly. But before going to sea, all systems on the ship are tested and one of those is backup power.
Carnival Dream’s backup system did not pass the test. So with the Carnival Triumph incident fresh in their minds, the failed generator became a “no sail” issue. That’s the good part of the story. Carnival could have allowed the Dream to sail the over 1,100 nautical miles back to Port Canaveral; the ships propulsion system worked.
But taking a page from recent history, a mechanical issue that might not have caused concern before came under the microscope, much like Carnival Cruise Lines, if not the entire cruise industry.
What if some other unknown, unanticipated mechanical breakdown occurred half way between St Maarten and Florida’s Port Canaveral? Carnival has clearly adopted a laser-focused concentration on safety, looking for any issue that could disrupt what should be a fabulous FunShip cruise.
Dream Event Incomplete, Here Comes Another One
Just a day after Carnival Dream was held at the dock (the cruise line equivalent of being grounded, much like the Boeing Dreamliner recently), Carnival Legend was recalled to the port of Tampa, citing propulsion problems. The engines were working; the ship just did not have the ability to go fast enough.
This issue might sound a bit more familiar to frequent cruise travelers. Reduced propulsion issues happen with a bit more frequency on cruise ships from multiple lines and for a variety of reasons.
Design flaws aside, moving parts wear out and these engines and the propulsion systems they provide power for are moving all the time, every day of the year.
Even docked, ships engines are running, albeit at a reduced speed or with a different fuel, for environmental impact reasons. A handful of ships can “plug in” to a shore side power grid but the amount of reduction in emissions is debatable (the power still comes from somewhere) and plugging in only reduces emissions while in port (there are no extension cords).
In the case of Carnival Legend’s recall to port, that move too might not have happened pre-Triumph. Ships with limited (but reliable) propulsion issues commonly run modified itineraries that do not require the drive system to be quite as vibrant.
Carnival Cruise Lines and its sister cruise lines are not taking any chances. They have brought in experts to look for issues not thought of before and are taking quick action when safety concerns come up.
“It is the thing we are most focused on and we will come up with solutions we will implement across our fleet,” added an obviously committed, apologetic and humble Cahill.
The Big Question
But the ugly elephant question in the room is, fairly: “OK, so maybe these things are freak accidents or an abundance of caution. Why are they all happening to Carnival Cruise Lines?”
Results from third-party sources indicate that Carnival Cruise Lines is operating at a level that meets or exceeds that of regulatory organizations world wide, including the very picky U.S. Coast Guard. Believe that, and the negligence hat does not fit.
Maybe the other cruise lines have higher standards. That dog won’t hunt either. Carnival Cruise Line is just one of the Carnival Corporation family of brands that also includes Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn and Cunard Line, none of which have Triumph-like events in their history.
Still, bad things happen to good travel options and cruise travel is no exception. Like the hotel fires that occurred with some frequency in the first half of the last century, right now is a time when cruise lines are addressing safety concerns as never before.
Cruise expert Stewart Chiron, CEO CruiseGuy.com put it well in a recent Huffington Post article:
“One of the many lessons I’ve learned in the industry over the past 24 years is that policies and procedures are constantly evolving. Nothing is etched in stone and improvements will always be made, especially when safety is concerned.”
When thinking of the post-Truimph era of cruise travel, who better to pioneer raising the bar, creating new protocols regarding the issue of safety than the organization that created the industry in the first place?
While shoddy journalism by a whole bunch of news organizations clearly focus on sensationalizing the story, I’d hate to forget the contribution to the world of travel that cruises have made. Carnival Cruise Line is shaking down their ships, looking for and trying to anticipate anything that can go wrong. We hope their efforts keep that door to the world of travel open to those who might not otherwise have seen it.
It’s the conversation starter you sometimes hear several times per day when you travel. On this occasion, the question was posed by a friendly, bearded waiter from Barcelona at the Amici Ristorante in the small beach town of Santa Teresa, on Costa Rica’s lovely Nicoya Peninsula. I told him I was from Buffalo and lived in Chicago and he said, “Chicago? You have to meet Giovanni, our pizza maker, he lived in Chicago.”
Giovanni was standing near the wood fire oven, tending to a slew of pizzas and I almost didn’t bother to go over to meet him. At home in Chicago, I probably wouldn’t be curious enough to greet the guy making our pizza, but when I travel I’m almost a different person. I am more outgoing, friendlier, more willing to take chances. And when I’m on the road, I always meet the most interesting people. So I walked over to Giovanni and introduced myself.He was originally from Sardinia but had lived all over. Just prior to moving to Costa Rica to work at Amici – which is owned by one of his friends – he lived in Chicago.
“I’m a gypsy,” he said. “I don’t stay anywhere too long.”
We compared notes about Chicago and it turned out that he lived in Evanston, which is the suburb I live in. I asked him what street he lived on and it was the street right next to mine. I asked what his exact address was and then looked it up on Google maps. He lived in an apartment 2-1/2 blocks from ours. It’s quite possible that our paths had crossed before – maybe we walked past each other on the street but had never stopped to chat.
Giovanni told me that I had to try a restaurant called Trattoria DOC, where he used to work, and it took me a minute to register the absurdity of the conversation. I was getting a recommendation for a restaurant five minutes away from my house from a guy who lived two blocks from me in a remote Costa Rican beach town. Our paths probably never would have crossed in Chicago.
Conventional wisdom dictates that travelers ought to focus on meeting locals when they’re on the road. And I agree that in order to understand the place you’re visiting, you have to get to know some people who live there. But as a traveler, you probably have more in common with your fellow travelers than with the person selling tomatoes in the market, or driving your cab, or many of the other people you will encounter while away from home. It would be a shame to travel to another country and not meet any locals but it’s just as big a mistake to avoid your fellow travelers.
Over the years, I’ve made friends with French people in Mexico, Mexicans in Spain, Dutch in Costa Rica, Scandinavians in Greece, Germans in Italy and just about every other international combination imaginable. The stories and the times I’ve shared with these people are just as memorable as the places where our paths crossed.
On a recent 15-day trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I met some wonderful locals, but the people I met who I am most likely to stay in touch with are from all around the world. While hiking in Rincon de la Vieja National Park, for example, I met a Dutch couple, Marion Bloem and Ivan Wolffers who, as I found out, are both bestselling authors in The Netherlands (see top photo). They regaled me with stories about a six-month trip they took through the Americas and while Marion, who is 60 but looks and hikes like she is 35, blazed a path ahead of us, Ivan told me stories about traditional healers he has studied in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other exotic places.
Costa Rica’s magnificent beaches draw surfers, sun-worshippers and dreamers from around the world and after meeting three North Americans who moved to Santa Teresa and now work at Florblanca, the magnificent eco-resort I stayed in while in town, I couldn’t help but fantasize about moving there myself.
Trish, a native of British Columbia, visited the town 13 years ago when the area around Florblanca didn’t even have electricity and there was little tourism to speak of. She slept in a tent on the beach and fell in love with the place. Five years later she moved to Santa Teresa and hasn’t looked back since. Her colleague Billy, a 40-year-old American with a Peruvian wife, came to surf and started a business that didn’t pan out but still lives in a house on the beach just down the road from the resort. And the general manager of the place, Cody, A Missouri native, studied journalism in Boulder but fell in love with Santa Teresa and decided to put down roots in the community.
In Nicaragua, I met Robert Kruijthoff, a 30-something Dutchman who quit his job as an investment banker to operate a bed and breakfast in Costa Rica; Luis Rolando Casamalhuapa, a Salvadoran singer with an amazing voice; and a Canadian couple that left the rat race in Vancouver to open El Garaje, one of the best restaurants in Granada, among others.
Every time I travel abroad and meet a slew of interesting fellow travelers and expats, it reaffirms my belief that travelers are the most interesting people you can meet.
I love to meet nomads who spent months each year on the road and expats who visit a place, fall in love with it and decide to relocate there. As a compulsive traveler who is miserable when forced to stay put for too long, meeting fellow vagabonds on the road is like joining an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter. There is comfort in getting to know people that are even more adventurous and restless than I am.
So in your zeal to understand the place you are visiting, don’t ignore your fellow wanderers, because you have more in common with them than you might realize. And you never know, the people you meet might actually be neighbors you’d never known unless you traveled far from home.