Five things to know when planning a Washington, D.C. vacation

by McLean Robbins on

Chances are that a lot of the visitors to the Nation’s Capital this week are visiting town for the Rally for Sanity, March Against Fear or the Marine Corps Marathon. Combine this with Halloween, which already draws record crowds to places like Georgetown’s M Street for annual parties, and you can assume that D.C. will be experiencing significantly higher-than-average traffic this weekend.

Here are five things you need to know to blend in – or at least assimilate – during your stay:

1. Learn how to ride the Metro. Properly.
Nothing annoys locals more than tourists who don’t know how to ride the metro. Make everyone’s lives easier by putting enough money on your fare card (or investing in a plastic SmarTrip card if you’re planning on using Metro parking) and by familiarizing yourself with a Metro map before visiting. When using the escalators, follow the cardinal rule: walk on the LEFT and stand on the RIGHT.

2. The Mall is not a shopping destination.
The National Mall, where, if you’re visiting for the Rally or March, is where you’ll spend most of your time, is not a shopping plaza. Do not expect a visit to Nordstrom or the Gap to be on your itinerary. Bounded by the Capitol on one side and the Washington Monument at the other, this grassy stretch features many Smithsonian museums, but very few shops (unless you really like gift shops, in which case we’d suggest the one at the National Gallery of Art — it’s quite good).

3. Pay attention to traffic rules.
One way streets, traffic circles, and strange parking restrictions? We have lots of those. Pay attention when driving, and by all means stay off your cell phone. Not only is talking whilst driving illegal, but attempting to snap a photo on your iPhone while navigating Dupont Circle is likely to get you or that innocent bicyclist into an accident.

4. Dress … appropriately.
Yes, D.C. gets a lot of flack for its lack of fashion sense. But that doesn’t give you an excuse, dear tourist, to trudge along in your “I heart DC” hoodie and Obama-emblazoned fanny pack. Nor should you sport six-inch hooker heels. We are not New York – runway models will not be discovered on the street. We are not Seattle – grunge is not cool. Think classic with a touch of prep and you’ll blend right in.

5. Leave the politics at home.
This one may seem strange, particularly with midterm elections fast approaching and a Rally or March to attend. But please, don’t engage the locals with your opinion of how Obama is amazing, or how you wish Sarah Palin would be our next President. We live and breathe this stuff daily, and chances are … we know more than you. Unless you’d like to listen to a 15-minute diatribe of statistics, quotes, and overtly partisan speeches … keep your opinions to yourself. Or at least among your fellow tourist bretheren.

Mexico limits U.S. dollar purchases in bid to beat drug lords

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Worried that your money isn’t green enough? Well, in Mexico, the contrary may be true. If you’re headed to Mexico this year, you’ll want to bite the bullet and exchange some greenbacks for pesos. New currency laws came into effect in parts of the country last month that limit U.S. dollar-purchases to $100 per cash transaction (the most a business can accept). And, some businesses won’t be able to take even your Washingtons and Lincolns, let alone your Benjies.

The effort is related to anti-money laundering efforts, particularly as they relate to the drug trade. Even at banks you’ll feel currency-related constraints, reports USA Today, where “the amount of dollars foreigners can trade for pesos at banks and money exchangers to no more than $1,500 per month.” This doesn’t compare to the limits out on the street, though:

In addition, the tourism board says, several Mexico states – most notably Quintana Roo, home to the major resort destinations of Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen – have imposed a $100 limit on cash purchases. And regardless of location, airlines at Mexican airports can no longer accept U.S. cash for checked bag fees or other charges, says Tim Smith at American Airlines.

But, you’re still good when you pay with plastic – the sky’s the limit (along with whatever your bank has imposed on you.

[photo by redjar via Flickr]

Marriott San Juan gives guests the option to go green

by Melanie Nayer on

More hotels are getting into the green travel craze, and it’s paying off for travelers. The San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino recently introduced a new conserve and win initiative for its guests – go green and earn points toward Marriott nights.

The concept is simple: forgo housekeeping services and the hotel will award you 500 Marriott Reward points for each night. Housekeeping will continue to replenish amenities including shampoos, conditioners, soap and towels, as needed. However, a full cleaning including linen changes is the guest’s responsibility under this new program.

Marriott’s “Opt Out and Earn” program means guests can help the hotel conserve water and electricity by reducing the cleaning products the housekeeping staff uses daily. The hotel has been working on green initiatives for a while, including adding recycling bins in guest rooms and the new Green Key 1000-5000 Microbial Food Digestor, which converts all solid organic material into grey water.

Seems making your bed has its rewards with Marriott.

We want to hear from you: Would you choose to eliminate daily housekeeping during your hotel stay to help with greener travel initiatives?

Wyndham’s Tryp hotel to debut in New York

by Melanie Nayer on

The New York hotel scene is heating up, again. More hotels continue to open their doors to guests of the Big Apple, which means more options for every price range and personality.

Next up on the New York hotel scene: Wyndham’s newest hotel, the Tryp by Wyndham.

The 173-room Tryp New York City – Times Square South is currently under construction at 345 West 35th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, and is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of 2011. The Wyndham Hotel Group acquired the Tryp hotel brand from Sol Melia in June this year, bringing over 90 “select-service, mid-priced” hotels to cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Montevideo and now, New York.

The Tryp New York City will offer fitness guest rooms, allowing guests to work out in privacy, as well as function space, a business center and a community fitness centre.

While we wait for New York to open, Tryp by Wyndham is already planning the opening of hotels in Berlin, Medellin (Columbia), and Madrid by the end of the year.

Reflections on a round-the-world journey

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Several nights into our journey, as we were speeding along dark roads en route to our guest house on the island of Lifou in New Caledonia, I felt a bolt of irrepressible excitement of the sort familiar, no doubt, to most travel enthusiasts. We’d just spent several nights in big, bold Sydney, a bona fide world city, well-organized and self-evident. Sydney was exciting, but, truth be told, not unlike many places I knew well. The quiet island of Lifou, with its hybrid French-Melanesian culture, provided a novel contrast. There were few people around, and few streetlights. The air smelled sweet. Occasionally a car overtook us during our 40-minute journey, and headlights once or twice revealed women in bright clothing walking along the side of the road.

We had made it to an unknown place. I felt myself caught up with that familiar emotion known to all who love travel: teeming excitement, tied to a lack of knowledge of what was to come.

Taking stock of a five-week trip after the fact is perhaps unavoidable, but it’s also fraught. You don’t want to put too much energy into second-guessing what you did on your journey, perhaps in particular because a specific round-the-world itinerary is unlikely to be repeated. Simultaneously, you also want to learn from the experience.

Here’s what we planned well and what we might have executed differently if we had the trip to do over.Good planning.

• Hotels. Our hotels were well chosen, all in the $95-$175 range. In terms of value, we did especially well by scoring a room through Hotwire at the Hilton London Docklands for just under $100 per night. Most of the hotels we chose are well-located, or close enough to secondary attractions to feel central.

• Open-ended approach. Our general lack of planning as far as activities are concerned was also beneficial. This approach gave us time to relax into each destination and pick up inspiration on the spot. Our approach perfectly fit my neighborhood-based strategy of urban exploration. More tourist sight-oriented travelers might find this approach to be less satisfying.

• Variety of destinations. Another plus was the variety of our itinerary’s destinations. By including big vibrant cities and out-of-the-way insular idylls on our itinerary, we were able to enjoy a range of experiences in a relatively short period.

So-so planning.

• Johannesburg. As I detailed in an earlier post, our brief Johannesburg stay suffered from poor planning. In retrospect, it turns out that I’d simply consulted the wrong sources. Several friends and acquaintances popped out of the woodwork following the publication of this blog post with tips. I’ll be better prepared for my next visit to Johannesburg. Lesson: always get feedback from your trusted contacts and carefully contextualize reports of a city’s security situation.

• Tanna Island. I’m a big fan of picking a base and then fanning out to other places. I wish we’d taken greater advantage of this approach to spend a few nights on Vanuatu’s Tanna island. I read about Tanna, an ecological wonder of nature, in Lonely Planet’s Vanuatu & New Caledonia guidebook. It is fairly easy to visit Vanuatu from New Caledonia.

• Rodrigues Island. Nine nights on Mauritius was perhaps two too many. A jaunt to the country’s far flung Rodrigues Island, 350 miles to the east, would have provided a fascinating cultural and physical contrast with the main island.

This is the final Capricorn Route series installment. Check out other stories in the Capricorn Route series here.