Photo of the day (07/01/08)

by Grant Martin on

Today’s photo of the day is dedicated to my friend Jarod, who I was supposed to visit in Shanghai this weekend. Unfortunately, I got tied up in a junket for work, so now Jarod has no drinking buddy for his first few weeks in China.

Submitter Willy Volk (why does that name sound familiar?) took this shot of stones engraved with the symbols for Destiny, Peace, Faith and Accomplishment in San Francisco’s Chinatown. I wish Jarod all of the above in the real Shanghai.

Are you a Flickr user who’d like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to Gadling’s Flickr group right now! We just might use it for our Photo of the Day!

The birthplace of kung fu kicking off online store

by Iva Skoch on

If you are planning a trip to China, cancel it.

You can do it all on-line now. Yes, that’s right, the birthplace of kung fu, the famous Shaolin Temple, is going on-line.

And, karate (oops, kung fu) fans, they’ll have it all: performances, video, and a reality-TV-style search for the next “Grasshopper.”

Named “Shaolin, The Stage of Joy,” a Web page has been set up by a unit of the temple on the popular Chinese e-commerce site www.taobao.com, and the gift shop is open, including shoes, tea, T-shirts, and slippers.

Ancient secrets revealed…in the kung fu instruction manual for 9,999 yuan ($1,456). Or just buy your “environmentally friendly” chopsticks for 29 yuan.

The temple came under fire in 2006 after a monk got a luxury car for helping out the local tourism industry, which forms a bulk of the city’s revenues…Oops.

(For those of you who are easily offended, I am just kidding. You should still go and see China. Especially since you know how savvy those monks are nowadays!)

Talking travel with Patricia Schultz, author of “1000 Places to See” (plus book giveaway)

by Jerry Guo on

Patricia Schultz is a well-traveled woman. She single-handedly launched the mini-industry of travel list books with her 2003 #1 New York Times bestseller, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List (Workman), which has sold more than 2.8 million copies and translated into 28 languages. Since then, she’s written a sequel, 1,000 Places to see in the USA and Canada Before You Die, produced a Travel Channel show based on the concept, and was named (as of this week) by Forbes as one of the 25 most influential women in travel.

She was recently a panel member for ABC’s Good Morning America, a judge in selecting the 7 New Wonders of America, and a seasoned writer for Frommer’s, BusinessWeek, “O”prah, Islands and Real Simple. Her next book of the series is in the works.

BONUS

Her publisher, Workman, has kindly offered to give away five book copies and two calendars of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die to Gadling readers (shipping included). See the end of this interview for details on how you can win.

What was life like before your eight-year odyssey in writing your first 1000 places book?

I have had a great life – a wonderful, though travel-limited childhood (unless the Jersey Shore counts), followed by high school near my home town in the mid-Hudson Valley when friendships with the Latina students opened my eyes and ears to their exhuberant language, music and customs. Then 4 extremely impressionable years at Georgetown University, whose international climate and student population opened up my world – for the first time I understood something of the exciting possibilities that awaited anyone armed with curiosity and conviction. I would have majored in “Travel” – but they didn’t quite offer that. I needed to be creative in mapping out the future I wanted, and took a gap year (well, many) to see something beyond academia.
Fast forward to my mid-30s, and I was writing for magazines and travel guides such as Frommer’s, Access and Berlitz (despite needing a trust fund to supplement paltry pay checks) and dividing my time between Europe and NYC.

Have you always had an itch for travel?

Yes, in a modest although real way. My earliest memory ever is from the summer when I was four, and we took off in the family clunker of an old station wagon for Atlantic City. I wandered off the family beach blanket to explore a world of sun and sand – it was pretty intoxicating to feel so untethered and as if the world was mine! It felt to me (and probably to my mother who had mobilized every life guard on duty) that I was gone for hours, though they tell me it was just a few minutes. (The following summer, we never made it past the end of our driveway because the gas tank fell off. I cried for a week.)

How many countries would you say you’ve visited?

I have always found this a curious question, as I – unlike legions of travelers who like to collect countries and tick them off – have never really counted. I mean – what do you count? Early this spring when we were driving down Croatia’s gorgeous Dalmatian Coast and passed through a snippet of Bosnia Herzegovina for a few kilometers? Do I get to check off Bosnia Herzegovina? When we walked across the bridge to spend a few hours in Zimbabwe when visiting Victoria Falls in Zambia? A 3-hour layover for refueling in Cape Verde when en route to South Africa?

I suppose I have always given more thought to the countries I haven’t visited. Of those I have visited, I never really feel like I’ve had the luxury of saying I’ve “done” it – never having the time to give it the attention it deserves. Should someone really check off China after a 10-day, 3-city tour? Or say they’ve visited Australia if all they’ve seen is Sydney? Imagine the foreigners who feel they’ve experienced the US after a long weekend in Disneyworld!

What is your travel style?

I like to mix it up – car, train, plane, it’s all good. I always travel light, but if it is an easy and direct-flight trip where extra clothes will come in handy, I bring stuff I know will never get worn (this was in the era before the airlines started charging for every piece you lugged behind).

I love family-owned B&Bs, though pinch-me white-glove hotels that ooze with history and celebrity status feed my fantasy – if only for loitering in the lobby or a stop for high tea or a brandy at the bar. I love cities, but know that the countryside is where you’ll usually grasp a truer sense of place.

I travel a lot solo, though sometimes with my significant other Nick or my best girlfriends or my sister Roz and her family – some destinations lend themselves to different traveling-companion dynamics. I need the freedom of independent travel, though organized trips with small groups can work best for destinations such as my recent and awesome trip to Bhutan with Asia TransPacific Journeys.

I generally hit the ground running, attempting to see the maximum possible – when will I pass this way again? – but know that sometimes just staying put in one place can promise an experience that trumps all others. The simplest moment can be the richest memory. A moment of people watching in the Moscow subway can rival an afternoon at The Hermitage in St Petersburg. Experiencing food can run from extravagant unfasten-your-belt-buckle tasting menus by world-class chefs, to a self-styled picnic with fresh and artisanal ingredients from the day’s local market.

Do you take any guide books with you?

Much of the excitement in making a trip for me is the research I do beforehand and I usually buy 3 or 4 (sometimes twice that) guidebooks and see what the different authors have to say. I’ll bring one with me, never more than two – and I sometimes just pull out the pages or chapters if it is a short trip to one destination only – why schlep the whole book?

Contest details

  • To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us one of your own personal place to see before you die.
  • The comment must be left before Monday, June 30 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • Seven winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  • Five random winners will receive a copy of 1000 Places to See Before You Die, the book (valued at $19.95) and two random winners will receive a copy of 1000 Places to See Before You Die, the calendar (valued at $12.95)
  • Click Here for complete Official Rules.
  • Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.

China renaming menu items to make them less bizarre

by Iva Skoch on

Sometimes not knowing the language of the country you are visiting is a good thing.

How else could you possibly justify ordering a local dish called “Husband and wife’s lung slice” or possibly “Chicken without sexual life” in Mandarin? This way, you simply believe something must have gone awfully wrong with the translation.

Chances are, it is an accurate translation.

China is known for a wide variety of the most bizarre food names. Some of them are so bizarre, in fact, they make foreigners turn elsewhere. So, with the Olympics a few short weeks away, China is not taking any chances and giving its cuisine a linguistic makeover, CNN reports.

It is proposing that restaurants change the names of exotic, but bizarrely named, delicacies to make them more delectable for the estimated 50,000 visitors arriving in August for the Summer Games. The government has put down more than 2,000 proposed names in a 170-page book that it has offered to Beijing hotels.

The appetizer “Husband and wife’s lung slice” is taking on the more appetizing “Beef and ox tripe in chili sauce.” “Chicken without sexual life” has been transformed into “Steamed pullet.”

The Chinese say the names of their dishes focus more on appearance than taste or smell. But Westerners are more accustomed to names that describe the ingredients and how they are cooked — such as pot roast.
OK, I get that. I’m all about appearance. But, honestly, how do you focus on appearance and come out with a name like “Chicken without sexual life,” that’s beyond me.

[Thanks, Noelle, for the tip.]

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Talking Travel with Lisa Schreier: Confessions of a ex time-share hawk

by Jerry Guo on

Want to get the real scoop on time shares? Here to shed some light on what actually goes on inside the industry is Lisa Schreier, author of Timeshare Vacations For Dummies and Surviving A Timeshare Presentation…Confessions From The Sales Table

What is your background in the timeshare industry?

I started in the industry as a total “green-pea” out of necessity in 1998 as the Owner Referral Manager at a timeshare resort in Orlando. I earned my Florida Real Estate License in 1999 and for the next 6 years, I was a salesperson, a sales manager and the manager of the trial program at a few resorts around town before deciding to dedicate myself to educating people about timeshare.

Are timeshares the right choice for seasoned travelers? Do they lock you down to a single destination year after year?

Timeshares can be a wonderful way to vacation for seasoned as well as novice travelers. Seasoned travelers will enjoy the large range of vacation opportunities around the world, while novice travelers will enjoy the security of having a vacation home that they can return to year after year. With more than 5,800 timeshare resorts worldwide, ranging from quaint cottages to high-rise beachfront condos, there truly is something for everyone with timeshare. However, it is important to know what you want ahead of time so that you don’t get stuck with something that is not valuable or useful to you.



What do you think of the new trend of fractional home ownership?

Fractional home ownership is great for some people. For the traditional timeshare owner however, it can be cost prohibitive. Timeshares are generally sold in one-week increments; and while it is true that some owners own several weeks, fractional home ownership is traditionally 4+ weeks a year. If you don’t use all of your fractional home ownership, you may be stuck with having to find renters to offset your costs. Vacations should be fun, not work!

What are some tips to insure you don’t get scammed by a too-good-to-sound-true timeshare offer?

Well, first of all, let’s differentiate between a “too good to be true” vacation offer that includes a timeshare presentation, and a “too good to be true” timeshare.” Timeshares are still marketed circa 1975. You get a call, fax, e-mail or direct mail piece, or worse yet, are accosted on the beach or coming out of a restaurant, with offers ranging from discounted hotel stays, free or greatly reduced attraction tickets, dinner show certificates or some other “catch.”

Rest assured every single one of those offers is designed with one goal in mind…to get you to a timeshare resort and in front of a salesperson whose mission it is to sell you a timeshare. Are these “too good to be true?” Yes and no. No, in that they are what they are. After the timeshare sales pitch, you will get what you were promised. Thankfully, the days of being promised a “boat” and getting a 4′ long inflatable 2-person raft have gone by the wayside. You have to ask yourself, though, if sitting through a sometimes high pressure timeshare pitch is worth whatever you are getting when you factor in that in most cases, you’re talking about 4+ hours of your valuable vacation time spent at the resort, listening to a pitch and commuting back and forth.

Now, the timeshares themselves…are they “too good to be true?” Understand that the easiest definition of timeshare is the difference between renting your vacation accommodations and owning them. There are differences of course between fixed weeks, floating weeks and points, seasons, locations, etc. I advise my clients at Timeshare Insights to do their homework ahead of time and to stay away from any salesperson or sales manager who uses one of more of these words, “FREE, PERFECT, ALWAYS and/or NEVER.” Free and perfect don’t exist and always and never are very long times!

How difficult are timeshares to sell?

It’s not so much, “are they difficult to sell?”, it’s “what can you get for them”? In 2007, the average price of a 2-bedroom timeshare worldwide was approximately $18,000. If you were to sell that same timeshare today, you couldn’t expect to get more than half of that.

How well do timeshares fare as real estate investments?

In a word, lousy. Don’t think of timeshares as real estate investments, rather as an investment in your future vacations. Timeshares are not “Donald-Trump-type real estate.”

What are the top 5 secrets timeshare companies don’t want you to know?

  • The average price of a timeshare. Last year, the average price of a 2-bedroom timeshare was around $18,000, but the resorts don’t like to advertise this. I think its imperative for consumers to know the average price in order to make wise choices.
  • “Red Time” is not always “Red Time.” In timeshare, “red time” is the terminology used to designate high demand time. Certain places, such as Orlando, Las Vegas and Hawaii are designated as high demand, year round. While it is true that Orlando may still be busier in January than the Wisconsin Dells are in July, if you own a January week in Orlando, it does not have the same trading power as July week in Orlando.
  • Almost everything is negotiable. When it comes to money, you have to remember to figure in the cost of the timeshare itself, the annual maintanance fees, real estate taxes, closing costs, upgrade fees, membership fees, exchange or trading fees, special assessments and so on and so on. If you’re going to be spending $18,000 at a resort, you better ask what they can throw in. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. You should also ask if the price itself is negotiable. Back in the days when I was a timeshare salesperson, I was stunned at how few people actually asked for a lower price. It’s the same as paying “sticker price” at a car dealership!
  • You don’t have to buy it “today.” Here’s one of the reasons the timeshare industry has such a negative reputation. The salesperson and then the sales manager try to get you to part with your money by insisting that the price will be much higher tomorrow, so you had better buy it today. While it is true that some very legitimate timeshare resorts offer what is called a “First Visit Incentive,” I doubt that any of those resorts would refuse to honor that first visit price if you came in the next day with a credit card. However, with due respect for my old profession, DON’T waste your time or insult the salesperson’s intelligence by lying and saying “I’ll be back tomorrow with the cash” when you both know that you don’t have the cash and have no interest in buying the timeshare. The easiest way out is simply to say “No thanks, I can’t afford it” or “No thanks, I’m not interested.” Don’t lie.
  • You do not have to sit through a timeshare presentation in order to buy a timeshare and you don’t have to buy from the developer. Again, this is where the industry gets a bad name. I can’t think of any other product or service where you have to be bribed with offers and then sit and listen to a salesperson before being “allowed” to purchase the product. You are free to visit any timeshare resort in the world and ask to see the property and get some prices without a sales pitch. If they try to get you to a pitch, WALK OUT. On the other hand, you don’t have to purchase a timeshare from the developer at all. There are ways to purchase a timeshare at significantly less than that $18,000 average. The trick is to know who to deal with. Again, that’s where working with an independent firm such as Timeshare Insights becomes valuable. We don’t financially benefit if you purchase a timeshare or not, but we can guide you through the murky waters.

Is it possible to get a timeshare in some off-the-beaten-road places? Southeast Asia? Eastern Europe? South America? If so, what resources would you recommend?

Yes, there are more than 5,800 timeshares worldwide. You are more likely to find them in places that attract lots of travelers, so you probably won’t find any in Vietnam right now, but may find some there in 10 years as global tourism there increases. For instance, if the current trend continues, Dubai will have more timeshares there in 10 years than Orlando! There are pros and cons of buying timeshare out of the country. The most obvious con is if the contract is written in a language that you are not fluent in. If you don’t understand exactly what you are buying, then don’t!

For more information, check her website: Timeshare Insights.