Archive for July, 2011

July29

Here’s a Question for You: Week 30

By: JoAnna

One of the things I most enjoy about traveling is talking about it. In this new weekly series, I’d like to pose some of the questions I’ve discussed with friends, family and fellow travelers over the years. I invite you to pull up your backpack, grab a handful of the local snack food and chime in with your comments and thoughts. Feel free to respond to others, but remember to play nice!

Here’s a Question for You:

Who inspires you to travel?

I feel extremely fortunate for having grown up in a family that value travels experiences. My dad, in particular, always encouraged us to travel. Rarely a summer went by that we didn’t take some sort of road trip, always to a different part of the United States. We camped, went horseback riding, visited museums, took tours and just let one day blend into the next. When I graduated from high school, I’d visited more than half the states in the country. Now retired, my dad continues to inspire me to travel by suggesting new places to visit (he was my travel partner to Costa Rica) and getting out on his own to traverse the country.

One other person who definitely planted the travel bug for me was Rick Steves. I went to college in Eastern Washington, but I trudged across the state to Edmonds, the headquarters for Rick Steves’ Through the Back Door, on more than one occasion to attend his free travel classes and seminars. There might be hundreds of people combing the world as seasoned travelers, by Rick Steves is still my go-to guy for Europe.

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July27

Atiu Homestay Bed & Breakfast: A Truly Authentic Experience

By: JoAnna

Atiu Homestay Bed & Breakfast: A Truly Authentic Experience

This bedroom had two twin-sized beds. I slept in the one by the window.

When I travel, I am often treated to stays at luxurious, over-the-top resorts that I’d never be able to afford on my own. For the most part, I love these resorts; they’re comfortable and lavish, and I feel like a princess when I sleep under sheets with a higher thread count than my SAT score.

Though these accommodations are certainly nice, they tend to push visitors back even further from connecting with the local people. So it’s above and beyond any of these fancy schmancy accommodation experiences — in the most simplistic manner — that I’ve found the most meaningful places to stay. While traveling in the Cook Islands I stayed in one particular accommodation that was as real and authentic as they come: The Atiu Homestay Bed & Breakfast.

My experience began when I was met at the airport by Marshall Humphreys, who picked me up in his pick-up trunk and drove me to the home he shares with his wife, Jéanne. It’s a simple, single family home with four bedrooms, three of which are available to visitors who visit Atiu. Marshall and Jéanne sleep in the fourth one.

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Posted in: Stay2 comments

July25

Exploring Monteverde, Costa Rica

By: JoAnna

During our one single week of traveling in Costa Rica we didn’t cover much ground, but that was a conscious decision. We knew that trying to do to much in seven days would be frustrating, especially given the road conditions in the country. With that in mind, one of the places we decided to focus on was Monteverde, where we spent the better part of three days.

Located on the southeastern side of Lake Arenal, Monteverde tends to be a place that travelers pass through on their way to and from La Fortuna, a more touristy town to the east. Though we visited both Monteverde and La Fortuna, we much preferred Monteverde for a few reasons:

> We’re outdoorsy people, and there were many more opportunities to hike in Monteverde.
> People didn’t seem nearly as pushy in Monteverde. In La Fortuna, it felt like everyone was trying to push their tours.
> People were much more genuine and interested in chatting with us about themselves and their lives.
> The pace of life in Monteverde felt slower. We were encouraged to explore and ask questions.
> The quality of our experiences were much better, and it felt like the money we spent on activities was a much better investment.

When we arrived in Monteverde, one of the first things we did was stop at the Monteverde Welcome Information Center (the website and the blog), which is located on the dirt road going into Monteverde coming from San Jose. It’s not actually in the city proper, where you’ll find lots of other people hawking tours and cheap rooms. Instead, the Monteverde Welcome Info Center is run by Carlos, a local entrepreneur who speaks exceptional English.

We are eternally grateful that we happened upon Carlos on our first day in the area as he was an exceptional resource and extremely knowledgeable about everything in Monteverde. He asked us about our interests and helped us plan an itinerary that best fit our needs. Carlos is clearly excited about promoting the Monteverde area, and though he was able to answer most of our questions, he openly admitted when he didn’t know the answer to one of our questions.

My very first suggestion to anyone heading into Monteverde would be to stop by the Monteverde Welcome Information Center and find Carlos. He was absolutely instrumental in our awesome visit to this part of Costa Rica. In addition to helping us choose activities, he took care of all of the payment details in one transaction, and all we had to do was turn in vouchers for the rest of our Monteverde stay.

While in Monteverde, we visited a variety of places and participated in a slew of activities. We packed our days and had a blast. Here are the highlights …

Exploring Monteverde, Costa Rica

The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Park is privately held and belongs to the local high school. The kids there learn about its value and many, like Carlos and our Santa Elena guide, Jose, go on to educate others in order to preserve the park. Though you can walk around the park on your own, I highly recommend you go with a guide. (Here are a few more tips for visiting a Costa Rica rainforest.) Jose pointed out things we never would have seen and explained the biology of the rainforest. The guided hike through Santa Elena Cloud Forest was about two-and-a-half hours, and we spent some time strolling around on our own, though we weren’t nearly as successful as Jose in finding tiny frogs and itty-bitty flowers.

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Posted in: Do, Go, Resources8 comments

July22

Here’s a Question for You: Week 29

By: JoAnna

One of the things I most enjoy about traveling is talking about it. In this new weekly series, I’d like to pose some of the questions I’ve discussed with friends, family and fellow travelers over the years. I invite you to pull up your backpack, grab a handful of the local snack food and chime in with your comments and thoughts. Feel free to respond to others, but remember to play nice!

Here’s a Question for You:

What’s the first thing you do when you get home from a trip?

My husband and I just got home from a 35-day, 7,536-mile road trip, and when we pulled into the garage, I did the same thing I always do after a trip: I grabbed the bag of laundry and dumped it into the washer. I like to unpack completely when I get home, and I always start with dumping laundry into the washer. It’s a quick and easy way to take care of something that needs to be unpacked anyway. The second thing I always do, after dumping the dirty clothes, is get the mail (if it hasn’t been stopped). I love getting the mail on a daily basis, so grabbing a stack of it after traveling is always fun!

Posted in: Here's a Question for You12 comments

July20

An Arts Explosion at The Gladstone Hotel | Toronto, Canada

By: JoAnna

An Arts Explosion at The Gladstone Hotel | Toronto, CanadaI’m a camper and a cheap hostel sleeper, but when I want my hotel stay to be an experience, I look for local, boutique, unique hotels. Knowing I wanted a real crash pad when we reached Toronto on our recent road trip, I asked locals who lived in the city and frequent travelers where they recommended. I also asked the local tourism board, and one property that kept popping up was The Gladstone Hotel.

Just take a look at the website for this place, and you’ll understand immediately why I was drawn to it. It comes off as hip, edgy and artistic, and it hits all of those branding points right on point. There are 37 guest rooms at The Gladstone Hotel, and each one has been designed by a specific artist with a specific theme. From the Red Room, which is saturated in scarlet, to the Parlour of Twilight, which elicits the transfer in time from day to night. We stayed in room 411, called Offset, which was sleek and sharp with horizontal and vertical lines wrapping the room. The bed was incredibly comfortable, and the room was dark and quiet. Admittedly, the bathroom was a bit small, but we don’t require a lot of room, so it wasn’t much of an issue for us. We had fast, reliable and free wireless internet service, and every morning we were treated to a delicious, free cup of Joe, delivered right to our door.

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July18

When a Place is More Than a Place | Walden Pond, Massachusetts

By: JoAnna

When a Place is More Than a Place | Walden Pond, MassachusettsSometimes the meaning of a place is more important than the place itself. The significance applied to such a place far exceeds what might be written on informational placards or brochures. These are places you’ve thought about visiting for years, read up on and talked about with others. They are destinations important to your family, your career, your spirituality. You’ve anticipated the moment of reaching these places, of actually standing there.

In all actuality, Walden Pond is just a body of water. It takes about an hour and a half to take a leisurely stroll along the two-mile footpath that circles the pond. Like most students, I read portions of Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, and I was familiar with the other teacher, writer and lecturer with whom he is often associated: Ralph Waldo Emerson. They were both transcendentalists, which means they advocated individuality and encouraged each person to seek a spiritually fulfilling relationship with the natural world.

I remember liking this idea as a teenager, but I never pursued transcendentalist thought much beyond what my classroom assignments required. Had I been in the Boston area on my own, I probably would have visited Walden Pond, but going to the site was an absolute non-negotiable for my husband who is a high school English teacher and devoted believer in the transcendentalist movement.

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Posted in: Contemplation, Featured, Go10 comments

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