Daily Pampering: October Triathlete Camp in Luxury Hawaii Resort

by Annie Scott on


It can be difficult to find the perfect balance between vigorous work and pleasure, and this is an excellent example of a successful pairing. Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows on the Big Island of Hawaii has a new Iron-Fit package for October 2010 which will have you feeling relaxed and rock solid — triathlon style.

The resort will be hosting Team Mauna Lani, comprised of Ironman champs Tim DeBoom from Colorado, Matt Lieto from Oregon, John Flanagan from Oahu, Belinda Granger from Australia and Luke Bell also from Australia (pictured at right) this October. You can train right alongside them for Hawaii’s most elite endurance events. Beginner and amateur athletes are welcome.

General Manager of Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows, Brian Butterworth, says, “We are inspired by each athlete’s commitment and passion for competing at the elite level and are very excited to be part of their journey. We hope Team Mauna Lani will encourage more people to take up endurance sports and train in one of the best locations in the world.”

The Iron-Fit package at Mauna Lani includes:

  • Daily tri-road bicycle use (the roads nearby are ideal for cycling and altitude training)
  • A daily personal trainer
  • A daily sports massage
  • Access to Mauna Lani’s world-class fitness center and 25 meter lap pool
  • Access to the private secluded beach for ocean swimming
  • All the spoils of this luxury resort, including golf courses, gourmet food and a beautiful spa

Just try not to get amazingly fit when you have a daily trainer and daily massage. And, while you’re training and becoming one with the environment, it’s good to know that Mauna Lani is an eco-friendly hotel. You can read more about their green programs here.

Iron-Fit packages start at $700 for a standard single and rise to $1,350 for an ocean-front double room. If you have a spouse to bring along who thinks you’re crazy, park them by the pool, hand them a cocktail and everyone wins.

Want more? Get your daily dose of pampering right here.

Travel gear: How to pack a pair of shoes without a plastic bag

by Amy Chen on

I’m a germaphobe who cringes at the idea of packing my shoes anywhere near my clothes. But travel requires you to get a little dirty, so I tell myself that a plastic bag has to be enough to keep the germs from contaminating the rest of my stuff.

But a funny thing happened while I was packing for a recent trip to Houston: I actually ran out of plastic bags. (Guess my effort to be green and use eco-friendly totes has finally paid off). I knew there were other packing shortcuts, but it felt wasteful to use a clean gallon-size Ziploc bag for my dirty shoes. Wrapping my shoes in something flimsy like tissue paper just wasn’t going to cut it, and the idea of putting my shoes in a New York Times plastic sleeve (that was just outside on the sidewalk) didn’t help the germaphobia.

Enter the Shoefly ($19.95), a machine-washable tote that protects your purse or suitcase from your dirty shoes. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the streets of New York City aren’t exactly clean. The bag, which has a drawstring closure, is large enough for a pair of sneakers, and it can easily stretch to fit a pair of heels. The bag’s material (a blend of polyester and Lycra) feels like velour, lending a glam touch to an otherwise pretty filthy function.

Granted, it does feel a little indulgent to justify buying a bag for your shoes when a plastic grocery bag is about as budget-friendly as you can get. But when it comes to measuring other things — the environment, perhaps? — I’m happy to run out of plastic bags. Plus, I love the idea of being able to launder the Shoefly bag when it gets dirty (both on the inside and out). If I were at all crafty (and had a sewing machine), this is the kind of thing that I’d love to make by the dozen.

All too often, travel gear is something that I pull out a few times a year but then put away until the next vacation. Luckily, the Shoefly is versatile enough for daily use, such as for changing into work shoes once I get to the office.

Where to Buy: The Shoefly bag is currently only available online at www.shoeflybags.com for $19.95. Add $2.95 for shipping.

Sherpas prepare to clean up Everest

by Kraig Becker on

With the spring climbing season on Mt. Everest in full swing, a special team of 20 Sherpas from Nepal is preparing to mount an expedition of their own. But rather than going to the summit, as most of the other climbers on the mountain are preparing to do, this team hopes to scour the peak, collecting tons of trash and other items from expeditions long past. They even hope to collect the bodies of dead climbers who have been left behind, and them down the mountain at last.

The team, which is led by Namgyal Sherpa, plans to focus on a portion of the mountain above 8000 meters, or 26,242 feet, which is commonly referred to as “The Death Zone.” This section of the mountain is especially dangerous because of the high altitude and extremely thin air, but surprisingly enough, there is still plenty of garbage to be removed, including spent air cylinders, old tents, fuel canisters, ropes, and more.

Namgyal, a seven time Everest summitteer himself, says that the plan is for the team to stay on the South Col for up to a week at a time, making multiple trips into the Death Zone and bringing down as much garbage as they can carry. They expect to collect as much as 6500 pounds of trash in this manner before proceeding down to Base Camp, where they’ll rest up in preparation for another climb. All told, they plan to make three such week-long clean-up missions before the monsoon arrives in early June, marking an end to the climbing season.

While conducting their clean-up duties, the Sherpas intend to bring down several bodies of dead climbers, including those of two rather high profile mountaineers. Namgyal says that they will be removing the body of American mountain guide Scott Fischer, who died on the mountain back in 1996. He also suspects that they’ll find the body of Rob Hall, a Kiwi guide who perished that same year. Fisher and Hall’s stories were made famous with the general public thanks to the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, which told the tale of that tragic day on Everest during which eight people lost their lives. The removal of Fisher and Hall’s bodies will close out a long and painful chapter in Everest history.

In recent years, the Nepali government has enforced strict rules on the climbers requiring them to carry all of their trash off of the mountain when they depart for home. Moving forward, that bodes well for the future of Everest, and thanks to the efforts of these dedicated Sherpa, a lot of old trash is being removed to clean up the mountain for future climbers as well.

Plant a tree, help fight climate change

by Jeremy Kressmann on


We live in a “Golden Age” of travel. Never before in history have so many people traveled so widely, easily, quickly or cheaply. But this convenience comes with a hidden price. All those vehicles that take us there – the planes and cars – play a significant role in the gradual warming of our planet. In honor of Earth Day, the Conservation Fund is offering a way for you to help.

Check out the Conservation Fund’s new video for a campaign called “Go Zero.” The project seeks to raise awareness of the amount of carbon each of us produces from activities like travel, offering a chance to offset our carbon emissions. The group is trying to get 10,000 new trees planted before the end of this year’s Earth Day. It couldn’t be more simple to help – just click the button “plant a tree” on the embedded video above if you’d like to donate. If you want to learn more, make sure to stop by Conservation Fund’s website and try out the Carbon Calculator to see what you can do to fight climate change.

Our lives have all been immeasurably enriched by travel – let’s make sure future generations have a chance to enjoy the same opportunities.

For the bees – Puntacana’s unexpected practice of beekeeping

by Annie Scott on


Last week, I visited Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and was delighted to discover they had a large Ecological Reserve, where they do research into ways the resort can be more environmentally friendly.

The Punta Cana Ecological Foundation has a number of unusual projects including recycling water, using worms to compost their trash and they’ve even enlisted the minds of students from Harvard to help them develop new ideas for greener properties. I toured their facility and was especially impressed (and terrified) when we arrived at the site above: the bees.

No, they didn’t just give the hives cute names; those hives house bees that were taken from the Punta Cana homes of Oscar de la Renta (I understand the bees invaded his wife’s bathroom) and Julio Iglesias (who allegedly discovered honey dripping from his ceiling). Rather than exterminate their unwanted pests, Punta Cana encourages its residents to let their hives be removed by the Ecological Foundation, who keeps them and will even gift donors with fresh honey from their very own hives.

As we wandered the area covered with plants intended just for the bees, I talked with Jake Kheel, the Environmental Director, about how the beekeeping works and why they do it. However, as I mentioned, I was terrified — so I emailed him these questions later when I got my breath back.

Gadling: So, tell us why you’ve created these homes for bees, rather than exterminating them.

%Gallery-91172%Jake Kheel: Bees are important pollinators in nature and if managed properly can be quite profitable by producing honey, pollen, royal jelly and other related products, as well as providing important pollination to local plants, vegetables, etc. We thought managing the bees to our mutual benefit made more sense than exterminating them.

G: How many do you have?

JK: We currently have 140 colonies in 5 different sites around our property. Since each colony can have around 20,000 – 40,000 worker bees alone, conservatively, we have around 2.8 million bees in our apiaries.

G: What are the colonies like? How do you keep the bees there?

JK: The bees will stay in the bee boxes as long as the queen bee is there, they can find enough food, and don’t have too many pests or predators. Our job is to make sure the bees have all their needs covered so they can do their work and produce the products we are interested in. Each colony has at least one box on the bottom level with an entrance and an exit and nine separators with wax sheets where they can make honey combs and deposit eggs and honey inside. The second and third and sometimes fourth level boxes are separated by a thin plastic sheet that the drones and queens can’t pass through. This is to make sure they don’t lay eggs in the honey we want to extract and only consume from the bottom box. We only harvest honey from the boxes that the queen and drone cannot access, to make sure they always have enough food.

G: And you sell the honey, right?

JK: We produced 370 gallons last year and sold all of it. We also have an agreement with another local producer of organic honey that supplements our production. We are currently selling the honey at the airport, at our hotels, at our shop, our Farmer’s Market on Saturdays and soon to a local tour operator.

G: Can we buy Oscar de la Renta honey?

JK: Technically, yes! We have several colonies that came from Oscar de la Renta’s and Julio Iglesias’ houses. When we extract the honey we plan to sell, all the honey is mixed together to make the process more efficient. So, technically speaking, almost all of our honey has some of Oscar’s and Julio’s honey in it!

My trip to Punta Cana was sponsored by PUNTACANA Resort & Club, but the opinions expressed in the article are 100% my own.