World Cup: other things to do in South Africa

by Kraig Becker on

While the World Cup is currently taking center stage in South Africa, the country has plenty of other things to offer travelers who venture away from the stadiums to take in some of the amazing culture and adventure there. Here are five other suggestions for things to do while your favorite team isn’t taking the pitch.

Go on Safari
If you’re going to visit Africa, you simply have to go on safari of course, and South Africa has some of the best game preserves on the continent. Chief among them is Kruger National Park, which is home to lions, elephants, zebras, and the famous cape buffalo. If you’re lucky, you’ll also catch a glimpse of the rare black rhino and the elusive cheetah. The park has a variety of lodging options as well, including everything from staying in a tent to a fancy, upscale lodge.

Go Surfing
South Africa sits on the far southern tip of the African continent, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans come together at Cape Agulhas and the Cape of Good Hope. This unique confluence of two oceans generates gigantic waves, and world class surfers from around the globe converge on Cape Town, and other South African cities, to ride the supertubes the region is famous for. Whether you’re an expert or beginner surfer, you’ll find plenty of great surf along South Africa’s spectacular beaches.

Go Scuba Diving
Scuba divers will find plenty to love in South Africa as well. The country’s ample coastlines offer some very diverse dive options for those who prefer to play beneath the ocean. For example, in Sodwana Bay you’ll find a beautiful array of coral reefs and bright tropical fish, but if you head further south to Protea Banks, you’ll get a dive of a completely different kind, complete with sharks and ship wrecks that are sure to get the adrenaline going.Go for a Hike
South Africa has amazingly diverse wilderness areas to explore some of which are best seen on foot. If you get the urge to take a walk, the Drakensberg Mountains offer up spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and trails even pass by primitive cave art that has been around for thousands of years. For an equally challenging hike closer to civilization, stay in Cape Town and make the trek to the top of Table Mountain, the 3550 foot tall, flat-topped mountain offers some great views of the city below and the ocean beyond

Go to the Winelands
When you’re done exploring the adventure travel aspects of South Africa, it’s time to relax and savor some of the other things that country is famous for. SA has become famous for its fine wines, which are exported around the globe, as much as its fantastic natural resources. There are multiple routes through the South African wine country, which is located east of Cape Town, and the region is famous for its breathtaking views and fine dining, as well as the amazing wine that is produced there. Whether you go for a day or for a week, you’ll be enchanted with region, that is a bit of a hidden gem in a country that is known for adventure.

Of course, at the moment South Africa is engulfed in a football frenzy, with travelers arriving from around the globe to watch the World Cup matches. But when those visitors are looking for a little escape from the craziness, they’ll certainly have plenty of options to choose from.

Food & Wine Classic in Aspen offers day passes to debauchery

by Laurel Miller on

It’s almost time for the 28th annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, and day passes are back by popular demand. The June 18-20 festival features seminars, cooking demos, grand tastings, and book signings by featured chefs like Thomas Keller, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. All of this goodness in an alpine wonderland doesn’t come cheap, which is why the $295 Grand Tasting pass is such a steal.

The price includes attendance at two Grand Tastings in a single day, on Friday, June 18 or Saturday, June 19. Highlights include tastings from over 200 vineyards, breweries, and distilleries, as well as food samplings of meats, cheeses, olive oils, and chocolate. There’s also a Spanish pavilion dedicated to wines, spirits and foods of Spain.

Full consumer passes are $1,185, which include access to all Grand Tastings, wine seminars, and cooking demonstrations. If you really want to splurge (read: schedule follow-up appointment with your cardiologist), spring for some of the special events, such as the Food & Wine magazine Best New Chefs 2010 Dinner, or Reserve Wine Tastings. New this year is the Grand Cochon finale, featuring ten chefs, ten heritage breed pigs, and ten wines. Sounds like food porn just got really kinky.

Wine or golf? Either works on Rocky Mountaineer

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Why not make it a foursome? While most travel deals these days tack on extra nights, the latest from Rocky Mountaineer lets you add people! To celebrate it twentieth anniversary, the luxury rail service in Canada, is offering a unique program for its GoldLeaf trips. Whether you take the golf or winery tour excursion, you can pay for three and get one free. So, you’ll have eight days to hit the links or sip some wine, effectively at a 25 percent discount.

The golf and wine trips will take you between Banff, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia. Wine-paired meals are the norm for both excursions. Golfers will enjoy the Predator Ridge Golf Resort, Harvest Golf Club and Fairmont Springs Golf Club. Winery guests will visit Gray Monk Estate Winery, Sumac Ridge Estate Winery and Nk’Mip Winery.

“Rocky Mountaineer is committed to providing the most unforgettable travel experiences in the world,” says Hubert Wat, Vice President, Marketing of Rocky Mountaineer. “We are excited to offer our guests an opportunity to take advantage of a first-class experience that highlights some of the most beautiful and recognized areas of Canada, known for their superb wineries and golf courses.”

Rates start at $7,499 a person, with the wine trips leaving on June 17, 2010 and September 9, 2010. The golf trip departs on June 24, 2010.

Big Island Hawaii: A budget travel guide

by Katie Hammel on

Adrift in the Pacific, Hawaii is expensive. It costs more to get there, it costs more to ship goods there. It just costs more. Looking at the websites of the many luxury hotels on the Big Island, you might think you can’t afford it. But you can visit the Big Island of Hawaii on a smaller budget. Here are a few tips to help you do it.

Forget the luxury hotels.
At $300, $500, or even more per night, staying in a luxury hotel will add up quickly. Try VRBO or Home Away to score a rental home on the cheap, or Couchsurf and stay with a local for free. For cheap accommodations, try a backpacker’s lodge like Arnott’s where private double rooms are $70 and dorm bunks are $25. You can even camp at ten locations around the island for a permit fee of $5 per adult per night.

If you still want some degree of luxury without the accompanying price tag, stay at a hotel off the beach. A one bedroom cottage with kitchen at Nancy’s Hideaway near Volcanoes National Park will run you just over $100 per night. If you want to be closer to the action, check out the Kona Tiki Hotel, a mile outside of town. It’s definitely “no-frills” but costs only $72 per night and is a short taxi ride from the beach. Across the island in Hilo, the Hilo Bay Hostel offers dorm beds for $25 and private doubles for $65, one block away from the ocean.

Use the public beach.
Your hotel will be the biggest cost of your trip to the Big Island. Save money here and you can spend more on activities, experiences and meals.

Of course nothing sounds more luxurious than walking from your private lanai just a few feet to the beach. But the ocean is the same whether it fronts a hotel beach or not. In fact, many luxury hotels share the beach with public parks. Hapuna Beach State Park, for example, is considered one of the Big Island’s best, and you don’t need to stay at the Hapuna Prince Beach Resort to enjoy it. On many of Hawaii’ public beaches, you’ll find food vendors, picnic areas, restrooms and showers. In both Hilo and Kona, there are several beaches you can easily access even without a rental car.

Drive yourself. . .
There are countless tour operators offering tours all over the island – to Volcanoes National Park, through the Waipi’o Valley, and up to the heights of Mauna Kea. But you don’t need a tour guide to see any of these sights. And you don’t need a fancy 4-wheel drive vehicle either (except for visiting the top of Mauna Kea). Sure, tooling around the island in a convertible or open-topped Jeep would be fun, but really the cheapest, most basic compact car will do.

If you plan wisely, you can actually drive around the entire island, making several pit stops for sightseeing, in one day. If you are leaving from Kona, stop at the Waimea Farmer’s Market to fuel up and buy snacks for the road, then spend the morning at Parker Ranch, the island’s oldest cattle farm. From there you’ll pass through the verdant forests and rolling hills of the Hamakua coast to Hilo. Stop for a view of ‘Akaka Falls and the continue on the two hour drive to Volcanoes National Park. Just past Hilo, you can also stop for a tour of the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory, Monday through Saturday from 8:30am to 5pm.

It’s easy to drive yourself through Volcanoes National Park without a guide. Just stop off at the visitor’s center first to get a lay of the land and a map and to learn about the day’s conditions and any road closings. The cost for the park is $10 per vehicle for seven days, but really you can see most of the Park in a few hours. Driving down to Puna, where the hot lava hits the ocean, will add a few more hours to the journey.

From Volcanoes National Park, you can head back the way you came or continue around the island. If you do, be sure to stop at Volcano Winery for some free samples (from 10am to 5:30pm every day) of sweet, fruity wine made from ingredients like guava and macadamia nut. Venture down to South Point, the southernmost spot in the US, and then on to Green Sand Beach. As you come back around the southern end of Kona, you’ll find yourself in coffee country, where signs every few miles beg you to stop off for a coffee plantation tour and tasting.

Be sure to bring a few CDs with you if you plan on making the drive all the way around the island. From Volcanoes National Park to south Kona, you’ll be lucky to find a single radio station. Be careful driving at night on the island – you may be surprised how dark it is in areas with no streetlights – and don’t drink and drive.

As you make your way back to Kona, detour to Mauna Kea just in time for sunset. Once it’s dark, you’ll find that you are in one of the best spots in the world for stargazing. The mountain’s elevation, plus the lack of light pollution on the island, make for an exceptionally clear sky.



. . . and then ditch the car for a few days.
If you are staying in the towns of Hilo or Kona, you really won’t need a car every day. Most shops and restaurants will be within walking distance and while you do need a car to get out and explore the island on your own, you really won’t need one to get around in town, so save money by renting a car only for the days you will need it. Get a little exercise while you get around by renting a bike from Kona Bike Rentals, where rentals start at $15 a day for adult bikes.



Stock up at the farmer’s markets and eat on the cheap.
In Hilo, the Farmer’s Market is located on Mamo Street and Kamehameha Avenue and is open all year round, every Wednesday and Saturday, “from dawn ’til it’s gone.” In Waimea, the market is located in the center of town, along highway 19, and is open most of the day on Saturdays. In addition to sweet Portuguese Bread, creamy macadamia nut pesto goat cheese, and gigantic breadfruit, lemons, and avocados, you can get freshly prepared treats like spicy huevos rancheros, gooey sweet Nutella crepes, and sinfully rich glazed cinnamon rolls.

For the best beer on the Big Island, head to Kona Brewing in Kona. Take a brewery tour (daily at 10:30am and 3pm) or just settle in for some good pub grub and tasty beers. Pints aren’t super cheap at $5, but the Pipeline Porter, made with 100% Kona coffee, is worth the price tag. Appetizers are reasonable at $7-12 and delicious and huge large pizzas (which can easily feed three people) are $16-26 and come with toppings like Thai chicken, Andouille sausage, and shrimp. Grab a growler of your favorite beer for $22 to stock in your hotel room. Buy it from 5pm – 7pm and save 20%.

This trip was paid for by the Kohala Coast Resort Association, but the views expressed are my own.

Bourbon, beer, wine, and equines in Kentucky’s Bluegrass region

by Katie Hammel on
My desire to take advantage of flight deals and see new places often takes me to destinations I might not have otherwise considered. An $89 round trip flight from Chicago to Louisville, for example, is how I ended up discovering that there’s a lot more to Kentucky‘s Bluegrass region than horses.
Louisville
The Louisville airport is larger than Lexington and receives more daily flights, which means for most people, it will be cheaper to fly into Louisville than Lexington. The two cities are an hour’s drive away from each other, so you can easily see both over a long weekend, no matter which airport you fly into. Louisville is the larger of the two cities- actually it is the largest in Kentucky. It’s not a major city though, and if you come expecting a Bluegrass Chicago, you may be disappointed.

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of things to do in Louisville though. Boxing fans will want to visit the Muhammad Ali Center and baseball lovers can’t miss the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The West Main area, also known as museum row, is home to several impressive art, history and science museums. Fort Knox and the Belle of Louisville (the oldest Mississippi-style steamboat still in use in the US) are also popular attractions.

In Louisville, I stayed at the 1888 Rocking Horse Manor. A totally restored historic house just south of the downtown area (an easy 15 minute walk), it features its original stained glass, antique furniture, free wi-fi, and a cooked-to-order breakfast included in the rate. The furnishings look a little like they came from your grandma’s house, but the hosts are helpful and friendly, the breakfast (and soft, chewy cookies available all day) is delicious, and the house is full of hidden nooks and crannies where you can escape and relax. Rates start at around $85 per night.

To find Louisville’s trendy scenesters (yes, they do exist), head to Proof on Main, a lounge/restaurant in the 21C Hotel. The menu features artisanal small plates (like bison bone marrow or grilled fennel relish) and eclectic main plates like roasted beet risotto and Amish chicken that start at $15. The drink list emphases the local Bourbon. The $10 Woodland Cider (bourbon, clove and apple cider) was excellent and you can take your drink into the adjoining museum and browse the modern art installations while you sip.

For a more casual meal, check out the pub grub at Bluegrass Brewing. They serve all the standards like burgers, pizzas and salads, plus local specialties like the Hot Brown – a giant sandwich of turkey, tomato, bacon, cheese and Alfredo sauce. After a few Bourbon Barrel Oatmeal Stouts, it’s just the kind of food you may need to avoid a morning hangover.

Lexington
Lexington is pure horse-country. The airport is just outside of Keenland, where you can place your bets and watch athletic Thoroughbred horses speed around the track. True horse enthusiasts (and anyone with kids) should head to the Kentucky Horse Park, a working horse farm, event grounds, and museum dedicated to all things horse. The park is home to over 100 horses (less in winter) and often hosts horse shows and competitions like the Rolex Kentucky 3-Day Event. Admission is $15 for adults and well worth it. Plan on spending at least 3-4 hours onsite. The farm offers horseback and pony rides (as do several other farms in the area). Many racing and breeding farms also offer tours (by appointment) to visitors.

The Bourbon Trail runs between Lexington and Louisville and features eight distilleries producing Bourbon, which is the United States’ only native spirit and is produced only in Kentucky. You can visit one or two (I highly recommend Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark) or head to the Whiskey Heritage Center to try multiple brands in one spot.

If Bourbon isn’t your drink of choice, you can also visit several wineries in the area – there are over a dozen within an hour’s drive of Lexington. At Wildside Vines, about 20 minutes west of the city, you can sample eight of their award-winning wines at no cost. Be sure to try the creative dessert wines like Blueberry and Blackberry.

For a fun night on the town, try the Cheapside Bar and Grill, a local favorite tucked away on a side street in the downtown core. It’s always packed, the daily drink specials are a great deal, they often have live music on weekends, and the Kentucky Bourbon Ale is strong and cheap.

There are many familiar chain hotels in the downtown area and further out of the city, you can stay the night at several working horse farms that offer accommodation. For $55 a night, you can also try the Motel 6. It’s a five minute drive (or $10 taxi) out of the downtown core. It’s basic but clean, and with the money saved, you can afford a few more bottles of Bourbon or Kentucky wine for souvenirs.