GadlingTV’s Travel Talk – Vatican, Vespas & Rome’s Nightlife

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk, episode 25 – Click above to watch video after the jump

For the final installment in our series on Rome, we’ve saved the best for last & are satisfying our thirst for adventure. Watch as we tour the Vatican, rent Vespas, and check out Rome’s impromptu night life.

On the couch, we’ll dissect the differences between the Vatican & the Holy See, and show you the one place in Rome to peer through a keyhole and view 3 separate countries. Tune in to see just how crazy Roman driving actually is, what the best place public place to go after hours is, and what else the Vatican has to offer beyond the Sistine Chapel.


If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

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Links
Want to find the ‘magic keyhole’ of the Piazza del Cavalieri di Malta? Look no further.
Rent your own Vespa in Rome! Check out Eco Move Rentals.
Read more about the Holy See right here.

Hosts: Aaron Murphy-Crews, Stephen Greenwood

Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea

Long time in port? Rent a Car! – Cruise tip

When you’re in a port for an extended period of time, rent a car.

When you have a car of your own, you can not only see the port of call at your own pace, but you can experience the local culture as well.

Additionally, this a less expensive way for everyone in your party to be together. Even the smallest island in the Caribbean has a rental car agency. If you can’t find an car rental agency on the Internet, contact the port of call’s Chamber of Commerce.

Missing your pet when you travel? Just borrow one

I love my two cats and I miss them dearly them when I travel for extended periods of time. Though there are more and more options for traveling with a pet, I’m still not about to bring them with me. It’s just too expensive, too much of a hassle, and too much stress on the pet to fly them with me for a two-week jaunt. So they stay home and I snuggle-attack any furry friends I happen to make along my travels.

For dog lovers, there’s another option available. As Peter Greenberg showcases in a video posted on his site, several hotels around the country are now offering special pet “rental” programs. At select Fairmont hotels, guests can borrow a dog for a day to take it out on a walk around town.

At the Fairmont Tremblant in Quebec, Gracie the canine ambassador is available for walks. At the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston, Catie the former guide-dog fills the role. Other hotels offer similar programs, like the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch in Beaver Creek. Greenberg also highlights a program run by a shelter near Aspen. The shelter “rents” out dogs up for adoption for play dates. Many local hotels like the St. Regis and The Little Nell even allow the dogs to stay overnight. Of course, as Greenberg points out, the hope is that the temporary owner will then become a permanent one.

So next time you are traveling and missing your pets at home, you may not be out of luck. Just look for a hotel that offers one of these innovative pet-lover-friendly programs.

[via Peter Greenberg]

NYC duo gets tapped for Orlando smile assignment

Orlando has spoken! A pair of New Yorkers rose above hundreds of applicants to become Orlando’s Smile Ambassadors. For 67 days, they will experience more than 100 attractions offered … which includes a hell of a lot more than just a dance with the Mouse. Alligators will be involved, for example. Along the way, they’ll blog and their experiences, giving the rest of the world an “in the trenches” view of what Orlando has to offer.

The final test for Kyle Post, a Broadway performer and Stacey Doornbos, a childcare worker in Harlem, was a 67-hour “boot camp” that ended on July 29, 2009. The candidates went hang gliding, did some indoor skydiving and checked out downtown Orlando, blogging and tweeting as though it were the real deal.

“Every member of the selection committee agrees that selecting one pair from our ten finalists was one of the toughest career decisions we have each faced,” said Gary C. Sain, president and CEO of the Orlando CVB. “Each pair demonstrated tremendous creativity, desire and commitment. We thank all of the finalists for making us smile and ultimately look forward to Kyle and Stacey bringing the complete Orlando experience to life for a worldwide audience starting Aug. 27.”

Kyle and Stacey have been frends since childhood, growing up together in Holland, Michigan. They have taken more than 30 amusement park trips together and say they’ve been on 618 rides. Kyle moved to New York and was cast in RENT, and Stacey wound up in the city after experiencing seven countries in three months.

The duo took a “friendship honeymoon” (how it pains me to use that expression … it’s worse than “staycation”) to Orlando shortly after they finished college, so it’s easy to see why Kyle says, “We feel like everything we have done in our lives so far has led to this moment.” He continues that they “chose to apply for this position because Orlando embodies everything we are – passionate, charismatic and adventurous. We can’t wait to start our 67 days in Orlando to share everything we learn about what this amazing destination has to offer.”

Forgot your tent? Rent a yurt

Want to find the biggest collection of yurts outside of Mongolia? Head to Oregon’s state parks. Since the early 1990s, the state park system has installed 190 yurts in its campgrounds. 170 of those are in coastal areas where the weather can get nasty, especially during the winter. The sturdy, circular, canvas-covered structures provide a more comfortable experience than the average tent. Rental costs run about $30 per night.

Yurts remain an extremely popular option long after the novelty should have worn off. More than 15 years in state parks and still in high demand. In fact, the main problem with the Mongolian tents: they are usually booked months in advance, meaning that a spur-of-the-moment yurt excursion is out of the question. Oregon has been building cabins at some coastal state parks in an effort to draw more campers who don’t want to pack a tent. However, the wooden structures cannot compete with the canvas ones in terms of popularity.

[Via Seattle Times]