Category: Travel

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Travel

Faux Travel

It seems that I’ve gotten to that age where travel has become more of a hassle than an enjoyment. I think this is one of those diseases of the mind that builds up on you over time – sort of like type 2 diabetes. If you overindulge – particularly on business travel – you reach some saturation point where it’s just not much fun anymore. Today’s airlines add to those frustrations, especially for big folks like me.

That being said, one of my favorite pastimes has become reading travel writing. I suppose it’s just the physical replacement of all of those hassles of travel with the distilled essence of a place as seen through a talented writer’s eyes. Anyway, it’s satisfying – even if it doesn’t stimulate me to run off and pack my bags to head for the place.

Maybe another factor is living in the San Francisco Bay Area where there’s simply less need to get away. Today’s New York Times Travel section has one of their weekly features about a place – this week it’s a nice summary of what to see and do in San Francisco – a gentle reminder of how much we have right here only 30 minutes away.

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Apple Food and Drink Travel

Aloha

Today’s new header graphic gives it away — aloha from the western beaches of the Wailea district on the island of Maui.

Turns out it was time for a bit of rest and relaxation on the beach to clear the mind and refresh body and soul. Nothing quite like a few days of heavy lifting to ease the mind — such as deciding whether to spend the morning at the beach or the pool, putting on the suntan lotion, where to have lunch, have lunch, whether to spend the afternoon at the pool or the beach or touring, whether to work out or not, showering off the suntan lotion, where to have dinner, have dinner, read, check the emails, sleep, and do it all over again. Best part: ignoring the phone.

Best dinner *by far* this trip: Sansei in Kihei last night. First time there — they’ve got a madhouse out front waiting for the doors to open at 5:30. What did I know – other than a friend’s recommendation for the “best sushi on the planet”? Turns out Sansei offers early bird discounts for diners arriving between 5:30 and 6 PM — the level of discount varies based upon the day. Monday’s a 50% discount day, Tuesday’s are 25% discounts. And this is for seafood and sushi you’d be willing to pay a premium for just to go to the head of the line! If you go, be sure to say hi to Chad – he’s the best!

Another recommendation: I’ve been carrying an Apple Airport Express with me the last several trips — and there’s nothing better than being able to turn your tethered high-speed Internet access into tetherless wireless access letting you browse in bed, on the deck, wherever! Highly recommended — just don’t leave it behind (either at home or at the hotel!).

Categories
Travel

Road Scholar

Elderhostel has introduced a great new series of programs called Road Scholar. Oh to have the time (make the time?) to take a few of these trips!

[Tnx: Nancy Fernandez Mills]

Categories
Payments Travel

Philadelphia: ING Direct Cafe

Love Park - PhiladelphiaI’m in Philadelphia for a couple of days and happened across an ING Direct Cafe while out for my morning walk this morning.

This was the first I’d heard about ING Direct having cafes! I’ve been a big fan of the big Orange’s marketing efforts — so, naturally, I had to check it out. “Sip, Surf, Save” is the motto — Peet’s coffee, free Internet, and help (if you want it) in opening an ING Direct Orange Savings or Mortgage account.

Very cool…with yuppies hanging out — while 1/2 block away the local McDonald’s “quick service restaurant” had the morning downtown homeless crowd counting their coins.

This afternoon I took the Phlash trolley bus around downtown — a nice way to see the city center in an hour, the Phlash runs between Penn’s Landing (awfully quiet at the Landing this afternoon) to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (where the Dali special exhibition was sold out for the day).

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Travel

A Sign of the Times

One of my colleagues sent along the following:

Flying on American Airlines the other night, I was watching as the flight attendants came down the aisle selling snacks and sandwiches. I heard a guy behind me ask whether they had receipts for the meals we were purchasing (obviously a business traveler).

The flight attendant called across the plane to her colleague working the other aisle, “Sally, do we have receipts?” Sally earnestly replied, “The receipts are in with the mayonnaise.”

This is the world we now live in. Your Platinum Amex card does you no good, but your receipt is in with the mayonnaise.

Categories
Books Travel

A Sense of Place

I’ve recently started reading Michael Shapiro’s great book about travel writers, A Sense of Place.

I’ve come to really enjoy reading travel writers — as they use their writing to bring you into the place they’re writing about. Shapiro spent a couple of years interviewing many of the best travel writers — trying to get inside their heads. It’s a great read — with Shapiro’s own bookends as his father struggles to stay alive in a bout with cancer while encouraging his son to finish his work. This book is a great read!

Categories
San Francisco/California Travel

Coasting

After an intense period at work, nothing’s better than a quick escape to get mind and body recalibrated as to what’s important. And, for me, one of those quick escapes is a weekend in Mendocino. For several reasons, Mendocino has seemed to fit like a glove — and that’s in spite of the intense traffic always experienced on US 101 through Petaluma and Santa Rosa in the struggle to get to Mendocino by car!

Early last summer, we’d found the perfect place to stay in Mendocino: the Stanford Inn by the Sea. The Inn’s just about as good a fit to our needs as we’ve ever come across. The rooms are great, the indoor pool and hot tub are delightful — regardless of the Mendocino weather — and the Inn’s restaurant pleases even me with its gourmet vegetarian fare. Plus, there’s the Massage in the Forest — there’s no better place to get mind and body relaxed and adjusted. Perhaps most importantly, the Inn is uniquely friendly to both humans and pets — and that’s a wonderful difference when you’re trying to get away for some relaxation with your whole clan in tow!

On this trip we discovered yet another reason in Mendocino’s favor: the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. While browsing through the Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino Saturday morning, we discovered a great local book titled “Mendocino Outdoors” by local B&B owner Dennis Freeze that included mention of the botanical gardens. The gardens are about 7 miles north of Mendocino on Highway One — and take you into a whole ‘nother world as they meander out to the stunning views from the headlands above the Pacific Ocean. Wow! I’ve uploaded a photo album with a few pictures from the Garden. Today’s new header graphic is also from the there.

Categories
Travel

Road Trip

Hawaii-based freelancer James Dannenberg writes for the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine about his 48 state road trip.

It’s intoxicating to charge the horizon wearing a car like a comfortable suit of clothes. Some deride being sealed in a highway-bound projectile, but to me it brings the near-hypnotic hum of the tires, the splendid sense of isolation, removal from the mundane and routine, insulation from responsibility and time for reflection, not to mention an excuse to eat bad food.

Categories
China Film Travel

China

My photo album from my recent trip to Shanghai and Beijing is now available.

Categories
China Travel

Shanghai Sky

Just came across an article in the Los Angeles Times from two weeks ago by Christopher Hawthorne about Shanghai.

There is no view in the world quite like it. The skylines of Hong Kong and Rio may be perched on the edge of more dramatic natural locations. European capitals may have deeper collections of architectural masterpieces. But only in Shanghai can you see unfettered 21st century ambition facing off as dramatically against the early 20th century version.

Hawthorne goes on to describe having dinner at a private club called the Yong Foo Elite — coincidentally, it’s where we had dinner in Shanghai on March 1st.

The club fills an entire compound, really, centered on a 1930s villa that once held the British Consulate. The interior has been impeccably restored, its cracked, dark-stained wood now gleaming and the central garden beautifully landscaped. But what makes it pitch perfect is the effortless way it mixes elements of Western and Eastern design: Chinese lanterns, for example, hanging from a magnolia tree and illuminating the neoclassical details of the villa’s facade.

The club is a wonderful setting for a traditional Shanghai dinner — but watch out for the maotai!