Travel to Cuba legally with New York art museum package

by Katie Hammel on

Travel to Cuba is still illegal for most Americans, but if you don’t want to challenge the law or take your chances sneaking there and back, you can still arrange a visit. The Katonah Museum of Art, in Katonah, New York, has been authorized to lead a tour group to Cuba.

Participants on the trip, which is scheduled for January 17-23 of next year, will visit Havana and learn about Cuban culture through visits to museums, holy sites, and the homes and studios of 14 Cuban artists. The package costs $4,400 per person for double occupancy($4,600 for singles) and participants must also pay a $700 tax-deductible membership fee to the Katonah Art Museum. The price includes airfare from Miami to Havana, five nights at a five-star hotel in Havana, ground transportation, daily breakfasts and lunches, several dinners, all group activities and sightseeing, and insurance, taxes and visa fees.

Reservations for the trip must be made by October 19 and the Museum does expect the tour to sell out.

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[via Matador Pulse]

Utrecht tour guided by the homeless

by Tom Johansmeyer on

If you really want to learn what happens on the streets of a city, you’re best off talking to someone who’s lived there. In the Dutch city of Utrecht, five people are about to become tour guides … five people who used to be homeless. Their training from the tourism bureau will help them with the more formal aspects of their duties, but it’s the time they lived in the streets that will make their perspectives interesting.

The tours, called “Utrecht Underground,” will begin on September 13, 2009. They’ll be 75 minutes long and cost a mere €5. In addition to the usual sights of the city, guests will get to see where their guides “used to sleep or do drugs.”

Tour Detroit’s “good, bad, and hopeful” sides

by Katie Hammel on

Detroit gets a bad rap. So bad, it was voted the “Least Favorite” city in a recent TripAdvisor poll. But one local is trying to help both visitors and residents get a better understanding of the city, to see that maybe it’s not the punch line everyone thinks it is.

Linda Yellin, the creator of Feet on the Street Tours, runs walking, bike, and bus tours of the city for individuals and tour groups. One of the most popular tours is called “The Good, the Bad, and the Hopeful – You Be the Judge”. It’s held the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month and costs $25 per person. Says Yellin, “We created the city sightseeing bus tour . . . because we wanted people to see and decide for themselves – not just assume what they hear or read is correct. We guarantee that people will get a new view of [Detroit].”

As the title of the tour implies, the goal is to show all sides of Detroit. Instead of glossing over the city’s blight, the tour will take you past plenty of crumbling buildings and abandoned lots, and explain the circumstances that led to the city’s current condition. It will also show you the institutions that have stood strong in the city for years and the rich history surrounding them. The tour will take you past the “hopeful” too – the signs of life being breathed into the city in the form of new shops and restaurants and a burgeoning local art scene.

Tours can be customized to focus on Detroit’s history, architecture, music, culture, food, or art, or to concentrate on a certain neighborhood of the city. Learning about the history of Motown Records in Detroit, exploring the festive neighborhood of Greektown, gallery-hopping to see works from the city’s up and coming artists, or sampling fresh produce and local specialties from the vendors at Eastern Market are among a few of the options.

Amtrak Trails & Rails routes offer live commentary from park rangers

by Katie Hammel on

Train travel can be a real snooze-fest. I know I can only watch so many mountains/fields/trees/plains go by before the novelty starts to wear off and I’m headed to the bar car. Sure, the scenery is beautiful, but when you have no idea what you are looking at, it gets old quickly. Unless you are traveling on one of Amtrak’s Trails &Rails routes.

The program isn’t new – actually it’s been around for nearly a decade – but we’ve never heard of it. And it sounds pretty darn cool. On certain routes (of which there are currently 12), volunteers and rangers from the National Park Service board the train and provide a running commentary on the view. They’ll give you the scoop on important historical happenings, interesting anecdotes on the region, and let you know just what you are seeing flash by your window. They also give you advance notice on any upcoming photo ops along the way.

There’s no extra cost for routes that participate in the program. Just book your tickets as usual and check the route details to find out where and when the tour guides begin their presentations. Routes that offer the service run through states like New York, Mississippi, Illinois, California, Texas, Montana, and Washington, so no matter what corner of the country your train travels take you to, you can ride along with your own informative and entertaining tour guide.

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Tour guide traits to avoid

by Catherine Bodry on

We were inspired by Austin-Lehman Adventures’ list of 20 traits to look for in a tour guide (pretty obvious: able to deal with the unexpected; a positive attitude that brings folks out of their shells; passionate and knowledgeable). But what about the things NOT to look for in a tour guide – the traits that might drive you to the brink and have you vowing never to leave your quiet, pristine condo again? Here are a few we came up with:

  • Substance abuse problems: While your first night might seem fun, what with your tour guide all over the karaoke and buying rounds for everyone, by the eighth night it’s a little old. You can count on bleary eyes and Bloody Marys at breakfast, if he or she makes it.
  • Poor bathing habits: Do you really want to follow along in a cloud of body odor and last night’s booze seeping from your guide’s pores?
  • Someone who carries a map and/or a guidebook.
  • A know-it-all who knows nothing (see above) – who wants to listen to a condescending jerk make stuff up?
  • The cheerfulness and smarmy-ness of a cruise director: you’re on a cycling tour of Vietnam, for goodness’ sake – who wants to be woken early in the morning by the type of person who is likely to croon, ‘All-righty, folks! It’s gonna be a great one!”
  • A guide who offers that you “work out the fee later.” Um, no. Work out the fee now.

What other traits should we avoid when selecting a tour guide?