Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Bizarre Foods
By Linda Tancs
In Hokitika, New Zealand, they don’t call it the Wildfoods Festival for nothing. On 13 March you’ll find various and sundry kiwis sampling such delights as worm sushi, pickled grubs, anyway-you-like beetles and crickets, and insect larvae. Top it off with some udderly divine desserts and wine made with flower petals to wash it all down. If you’ve got an iron will, you might need an iron stomach to match.
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Tourists Help Fund Travel Promotions
By Linda Tancs
As reported previously on this blog, a movement has been afoot in Congress to fund U.S. travel promotion with, among other things, fees from foreign tourists. This week President Obama signed into law the Travel Promotion Act. The multimillion dollar national marketing program administered by the Corporation for Travel Promotion will assess a $10 fee every two years on tourists from visa waiver countries . With a decades-long slip in international tourism dollars from 16% of the market to 12%, the added bump in PR revenue might not be all that significant. Good thing the private sector is allowed to contribute as much as $100 million to the cause.
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Free Ride for Women
By Linda Tancs
It’s International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate women’s strides in equality, peace and development. In Greece, it’s an opportunity to ride public transport for free, particularly in Athens. Check with your local transport authority for benefits. Happy travels!
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Arts and Crafts By the River
By Linda Tancs
The 37th season of Oregon’s Portland Saturday Market,the largest outdoor craft market in the U.S., begins on 6 March. The event, located at SW Ankeny St and Naito Parkway in historic Old Town, gives 250 or more artists the opportunity to showcase their handicrafts. While there you’ll enjoy live music and exotic foods. The kickoff includes a children’s parade at 2pm. Are you a master crafter? Maybe you should think about joining.
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Flower Power in Philly
By Linda Tancs
Winter white will mix with “Rainbows in Flight” at this year’s flower show in Philadelphia. Now through 7 March at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the largest and oldest indoor show of its kind has amended its moniker to the “Philadelphia International Flower Show” in recognition of its past exhibitions of landscapes and plants from Asia, Europe, Africa, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. This year’s “Passport to the World” theme builds on previous celebrations of the world’s flowers and gardens. Among the many offerings, visitors can experience the Amazon, trek through an Indian wedding, peek into Zulu culture, enjoy a tribute to the orchid and giant Victoria water lilies and witness exotic displays from New Zealand’s Maori tribe among the popular Casablanca and calla lilies. All the world’s a stage here, and you don’t have to trot around the globe to see it.
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The Ice Man Cometh
By Linda Tancs
The bogeyman may make sad the heart of childhood, but the Ice Cream Man makes glad the palate when he delivers personalized sundaes to kids before bedtime at Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel. For that you’ll need to book the VIK (Very Important Kids) package. What child wouldn’t love their own bathrobe and slippers, complimentary gift from the toy wagon, toy boat filled with treats and a scavenger hunt! Childhood is a short season, as actress Helen Hayes observed. The Four Seasons makes it a little sweeter.
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The Bird’s Eye View
By Linda Tancs
Looking for a high-end eco adventure? You can enjoy the bird’s eye view of Curaçao’s azure blue waters from the treetop mansion at Lodge Kura Hulanda Beach Club. Set on wooden stilts amidst the island foliage, the “mansion” has two beds and two baths in over 1300 square feet of living space decorated safari-style for that out-of-Africa feel. The experience will only set you back $1000 a night–for starters. The more price conscious might settle for a Swiss Family Robinson experience for $100 a night. For that you’ll climb a ladder, then make your way through a trap door to a platform housing a zippered tent with limited utilities (lights, refrigerator and television), a bed and a nightstand. Bathroom facilities are below the platform. Not quite as luxe but hey, happiness isn’t a place–it’s a state of mind.
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Something Old, Something New
By Linda Tancs
There’s nothing borrowed or blue about St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, but there is something old and new about it. What’s new is the 60-plus million dollar renovation, timed to conclude (in substantial part) with the church’s 300-year anniversary. Today’s cathedral, built over three decades, was completed in 1710. Among the many recent improvements, the diocesan seat has been cleaned, repaired and restored both inside and out, the lighting and sound systems have been upgraded and the Grand Organ has had a facelift. What’s old is the battered slab of stone left untouched at the west entrance, a memorial of sorts to a storied past begun three cathedrals ago in A.D. 604 that has since triumphed over the ravages of fire and war and celebrated weddings, funerals, birthdays, jubilees and a number of other remembrances, both imperial and ordinary.
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Mojo for Your Moto
By Linda Tancs
Nothing says sexy like a 1966 Fiat 1600 S or a 1974 Lancia Flavia. Ready to add some mojo to your moto? Then head to Italy where you can tool around in one of these and other well-kept beauties on a vintage car tour around Rome, Milan, Tuscany, Abruzzo or your own custom itinerary. You won’t find a lemon in the bunch.
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Age Is Just a Number
By Linda Tancs
Age limits are arbitrary. Just ask the folks at Exploritas. Formerly known as Elderhostel (sounds a bit hostile to elders, don’t you think?), they removed their travel barriers limiting tours to those aged 60 or over. That change, of course, does not magically transform the composition of a group. So why would a millenial explore the wilds of Iceland with grandpa? Therein lies an answer: family. As it was so wisely put in the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, family is the most precious gift we are given. Looks like Exploritas figured that out, too.
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The author has not received any compensation for writing this content and has no material connection to the brands, topics, products and/or services that are mentioned herein.
Travelrific® Travel Journal 