Trip Quips » On the Road

Cook Your Way Around the World

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:55:21 +0000

If you’re an avid home cook, the idea of jetting off to some farflung place where you can immerse yourself in your favorite ethnic cuisine is probably your idea of paradise. But even non-cooks can have a great time on a cooking school vacation because while a good chunk of time is spent learning how to prepare dishes hands-on, they also include field trips to local markets and restaurants, wine tastings, and lots of shopping.

Plus, it’s just a lot of fun to get together with other food-loving travelers and test out a new cuisine. Here are a few international cooking vacations to get you started.

*Morocco: A jaunt through Morocco with Peggy Markel is much more than just a cooking class; it’s a ten-day crash course in Moroccan cuisine and culture. In addition to classes where you’ll learn how to make perfect couscous, tagine, and kefta, you’ll tour the city and countryside surrounding Marrakech where you’ll learn how to select the best herbs for tea, walk through family walnut groves and gardens and terraces, and view ancient irrigation systems.

*Ireland: Since the Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork sits squarely in the middle of a 100-acre organic farm, the classes run the gamut, from how to cure a pig and churn butter to a course on barbecue called The Thrill of the Grill. Students can stay in one of the school’s self-catering cottages with a small kitchenette, so if you get the urge to practice outside of class, you’ll be all set. Classes range from a few hours to five days; why not pick several for a well-rounded vacation.

*Thailand: The dishes you’ll learn to prepare at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School sound as good as they taste: Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves, Fried Big Noodles with Sweet Soy Sauce, and Basil Spicy Glass Noodle Salad. How can you resist? The school offers five different courses, including how to make curry pastes to shopping for ingredients at the local market. But the poetry doesn’t stop with the food: students stay at the Jasmine Rice Village, near a Thai village where you’ll inevitably hear and experience even more intriguing notes.

*Italy: In Arcidosso, a small medieval town on the slopes of Monte Amiata – the highest mountain in southern Tuscany – sits a twenty-room medieval house named Casa Innocenti, where local cooking celebrity Carlo Innocenti will teach you everything he knows about La Cucina Povera Toscana, a/k/a Tuscan country cooking. In addition to hands-on classes and demonstrations during a weeklong vacation, you’ll visit local wineries and walk over countless cobblestones as you explore several other small Italian villages.

*Spain: If you think Spanish cuisine is just paella, renowned cookbook author Joanne Weir will open up a whole new world for you at her weeklong cooking classes in Seville. You’ll stay at the 17th-century Hacienda de Oran and attend classes in the professional kitchen at this Spanish country hotel. In addition to learning how to prepare authentic gazpacho and shellfish with chorizo, field trips abound. You’ll visit local artisans who make sherry vinegar and the Serrano ham the region is known for, and even tour a Spanish olive mill. Joanne will also show you the local tapas joints, wine bars, and a local ballroom where you can learn the fine art of Flamenco dancing.

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Post tags: arcidosso, ballymaloe cookery school, casa innocenti, chiang mai thai cookery school, Cook, cooking school, cooking vacation, culinary tours, joanne weir, monte amiata, peggy markel

One Hour at JFK

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:54:27 +0000

A flight monitor at JFK shows a flight departing to LGA.

Long-time readers of TripQuips.com know that I’ve recently made my peace with MIA.

Barring any great derailments or ash clouds in the skies over Miami, it looks like the ropa vieja at La Carreta will keep the travel demons of delays and cancellations at bay for the foreseeable future. Besides, as of this weekend, another airport has replaced it as my new least favorite airport: New York’s JFK.

Landing on a Sunday afternoon on a flight from Valencia, Spain, the place was absolute bedlam. The jetbridge lost power just as we were disembarking, the line at customs was a mile long, and security lines were backed up to the ticket counters. Plus, there was nary a flight status monitor anywhere in sight.

Finally, an airline employee told a group of us to follow him to another, hopefully shorter, security area in the airport, and like ducklings tracing after a mama Muscovy we trailed after him through congested corridors, into a stuffed elevator, and steered down yet another hall.

The line didn’t seem any shorter, but at least we were mildly entertained. We placed bets on what kind of meltdown the woman in front of us would have when that lovely $50 bottle of duty-free Sandeman’s port she bought on the plane was confiscated by the TSA.

Once inside, with 20 minutes to spare, I saw three more weird things worth noting.

First, the sparrows that lived inside the terminal divebombed the cafe tables for shreds and scraps.

Next, a man asked to share my table and pulled out a book and sandwich. “Where are you trying to get to?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m already here,” he replied, explaining that he was staying in Manhattan, but wanted to have lunch at the airport before grabbing a cab into town.

Okaay…I don’t mind airports, but once I land, I’m like a shot out of a cannon to get out of there.

Then, perhaps the strangest thing appeared on the flight monitor. There — see above — I saw not one but two flights leaving JFK for LaGuardia, a 30-minute cab away.

Um, why? Esteemed Canadian travel journalist Stephen Pickford provided the following explanation when I posted a query on Facebook:

“It is a computer error simply because Delta Connection is using the same flight number for a JFK-CMH-LGA routing. DL 6062 leaves JFK at 1550 for CMH…arrives 1743, departs 1845 to arrive LGA 2031….thus, IF you left JFK at 1550, it would take you 4hrs 41min to get to LGA. This flight should also show on the departures board as a 1550 dept for Columbus….”

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Music in Airports

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:28:27 +0000

I knew that the Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta tends to play pop standards from the 70s on its PA system, but still, last week when I was in the ladies’ room, it was a bit unnerving to hear Barry Gibbs crooning “Nights on Broadway” before I left the stall.

So I put out feelers about other kinds of music at airports, and here’s what I found:

*In Austin, Texas, the airport plays a soundtrack of music by local musicians, that is, when a live band doesn’t happen to be performing, which is often.

*During the holiday season at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, one frequent traveller said that the live blues band playing in her terminal was so great that she didn’t want to get on the plane.

*At the Buffalo, New York, airport, the sound system plays the Goo Goo Dolls over and over. Why? The group is from Buffalo.

*Indianapolis International Airport is increasing the number of performances by live bands and musicians, including holiday tunes as Santa arrives at the airport in the next holiday season.

*The Nashville has taken their “Music City U.S.A.” brand to heart, as the Nashville airport has a program with a variety of musicians playing everywhere in the airport, including baggage claim, etc. Even though the city is naturally known for country music, the airport bands play a wide variety of music. They’ve even built a special stage in the middle of the new food court that showcases live musical performers and bands.

What’s your favorite musical airport memory, either live or Memorex? Leave a comment below!

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A Layover in San Juan

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:26:03 +0000

I just got back from my first trip to the British Virgin Islands, which included a layover at SJU, a/k/a the San Juan Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, a new-to-me airport.

I’d heard horror stories from other travelers about SJU, including a propensity for cancelled flights, lost luggage, and other maladies; it’s not the largest of airports, and sit-down food choices are extremely limited, which is how I tend to rate any airport.

There is, however, a hotel and casino right inside the airport, though of questionable pedigree. The Best Western San Juan Airport Hotel is a two-star facility that boasts a sushi bar in addition to the casino — which basically consists of several rooms containing slot machines — though a quick look at the TripAdvisor comments seems to bear out that the only reason to stay here is if your American Airlines flight gets cancelled and you’re rescheduled with an early morning flight.

There’s a beauty salon right outside the American Airline ticket counters. Unisex, it declares in neon script, no less.

But best of all, scattered all throughout the airport are a number of old, freestanding video machines. Ms Pac Man. Donkey Kong. Mario Brothers. I didn’t count them, but I saw at least one parked at every gate. And people were actually using them. I couldn’t find a delay/cancellation rate for American Airlines specific to SJU, but given its reputation, the airline probably bought up a truckload with passenger distraction in mind.

If anyone can trace the history of the machines, please leave a comment below.

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Post tags: American Airlines, donkey kong, Puerto Rico, San Juan

Walking with Friends

Jason Sarracini — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:15:41 +0000

We are on the magical island of Folegandros in the Cycladic islands of Greece. As a traveller or visitor, one is amazed by the sea, the terrain, the people, the smells…

But, daily life in Folegandros brings surprises – such as the one we had this morning:

Folegandros Herd from Jason Sarracini on Vimeo.

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Post tags: athens, Cyclades, Folegandros, Goats, Greece

I HATE MIA!!!

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:07:57 +0000

Well, no, not Miami the place, Miami the airport. Frequent travelers love to compare notes about the airports they hate the most, and aside from ATL and LGA, the one they love to hate is Miami, a/k/a MIA. The looooong walks between terminals, the even looooonger lines at security, and the fact that some employees won’t reply to a question if you speak English are only a few.

So I put out feelers on how best to cope with Miami, and here’s what came back:

*Marcia Miller of You Go Girls! has been in the travel industry for over 25 years and her best advice for dealing with MIA is to get a room. “The Miami Airport Hotel is located at the departure level in Concourse E, and for about $150 you have have a bed, shower, TV, telephone and wifi for a fee,” she says. “It’s well worth it, and if you are traveling with others, you can split the cost which makes it an even better deal.’

*This from Leigh Shulman, Editor of Matador Life who also blogs at The Future Is Red, says she absolutely can’t stand Miami Airport. She lives in Argentina with her husband and 5-year-old daughter, and frequently visits family in Atlanta. She also travels often for work, and says the cheaper flights always go through Miami. She’s developed a slew of coping strategies:

*Humor. “Everything becomes funny. For instance, after we were forced to leave a secure terminal, go through security again, wait behind a long line of airline employees in order to catch our flight at another terminal, we saw a sign prominently displayed citing MIA as a ‘Top Security Airport.’ It also amuses me that many of the long hallways you have to walk in order to get from place to place have nothing but moving sidewalks, benches for resting and bathrooms. They know!”

*Get to know the airport restaurants. “One in particular, La Carreta, is a favorite,” she says. “The food is good, but mostly I like it because almost everyone who works there comes from a different Spanish-speaking country. Not only do we have a chance to practice our Spanish, but we’ve met some really sweet and wonderful people. One man from Argentina, who has lived in Miami for 30 years, gave us his number and told us we should contact him should we ever need anything.”

*Play games. “I give my daughter Lila ‘missions’ to accomplish,” she continues. “I challenge her to buy a hot chocolate from The Beanery by herself. We watch planes and people and make up stories for them. We draw, paint, read books and Lila takes photos on my Blackberry.”

*Don’t rush. “We move at a pace that is comfortable. Most times, we have plenty of time between flights, so we stop to sit along the way. In some ways, this is a mindset. Once, when we didn’t have much time between flights, we didn’t move any faster. Had we missed the flight, yeah, it would have been a pain, but ultimately, I trust we’ll get where we need to go.”

*Go into Miami for lunch. “This I haven’t done yet. I’m waiting for a time when our layover is long enough. It’s a bit on the expensive side to find transportation into town and back, but when the time comes, it will be worth it to have lunch on the beach before climbing back into an airplane.”

Which airport bugs you the most? Leave a comment below!

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Post tags: Argentina, Miami, Spanish

When In Rome…

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:20:49 +0000

Well, actually, in this case, it’s When in England…

I love quirky festivals and contests. Who knew that the U.K. has a whole slew of them planned for all of 2010? Here are a few, take a look:

April 5: The World Coal Carrying Championships
Can you carry 50kg of coal over an uphill course close to a mile long? Here’s your chance to find out.

April 23 – May 31: The British Asparagus Festival
There’s a Great Asparagus Run, an Asparabus tour, complete with an Asparaguide, and an asparagus family – known as Aspara Gus and baby Gus.

July: The World Toe Wrestling Championship
The Bentley Brook Inn pub in Derbyshire hosts the World Toe Wrestling Championships, which is now going on its 30th year. In 1997, toe aficionatoes rallied to be included in the Olympic Games, but were sadly turned down.

July 17: The World Snail Racing Championships
The motto here: Ready, Steady, Slow! More than 300 snails slug it out for the title of ‘Fastest Snail in the World’ over a 13-inch course.

August 14 and 15: The Isle of Wight Garlic Festival
More than 250 vendors sell garlic ice cream, jelly beans, fudge, beer, bananas, the list goes on. 25,000 people attend this two-day event.

November: The Biggest Liar in the World Competition
This competition has been attracting tall-storytellers from around the world since 1974.

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Post tags: british asparagus festival, England, festivals, isle of wight garlic festival, London, quirky, uk, world col carrying championships, world snail racing, world toe wrestling

Rollaboard or Duffel?

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:35:24 +0000

I stirred up a hornet’s nest recently when I asked an innocent question: “Do you prefer rollaboard or duffel as a carry-on?
I’ve used both, and both have their pros and cons. I wrote about the duffel I use most often — the Dumpling Dynasty — though I stuff it so full that the straps dig into my shoulders, until the next trip when I take the rollaboard and hate having to occasionally gate-check it.

Here’s what others have to say:

*Ryan Carpenter of Seattle prefers a small duffel bag. “It doesn’t get me through security any faster, but the soft-sided bag makes it easy to squish into small or odd-shaped areas left over in the overhead bins on the plane,” he says. “There are times when folks with rollaboards were required to check their bags because there was no room left for them, but I was still able to squeeze my duffel bag in.”

*Robert Reid, US Travel Editor for Lonely Planet and an author of two dozen LP guides, pipes in. “There are times when you just have to admit that, actually, it’s OK to wear socks with sandals. It’s refreshing, your feet don’t get (as) dirty, and rats won’t crawl on your skin if they happen by. Roller suitcases are like that; they are a badge of stuffy dorkiness, but they work wonders if you’re moving about a bit. I’ve done a couple dozen research trips with both backpacks and roller suitcases, each trip lasting at least five weeks, most covering a lot of distance, from hotel to guesthouse from Siberia to the Nebraska Panhandle. By car, train, plane, bus. And I vote for the roller version, as unhip as it may be. A few reasons: It’s easier to move about from a parking lot to your hotel, from the ticket terminal to the train platform. And there’s easier access in traditional suitcase-style luggage than the dip-in-from-top backpack. I’ve only been one place where the roller failed me: Burma. In many towns there are no sidewalks, but bumpy roads and dirt paths. And in most cases trishaw drivers, or mototaxis, are carrying your luggage off the bus for you, whether you want them to or not.”

*Howell Gwin is a frequent flyer with 50,000 miles a year under his belt. “I used to be a ‘backpack man’ with a Kelty 3600 cubic-in pack. Backpacks, being soft sided, are easier to cram into the overhead bins, and also easier to carry. I did not wear suits to work and didn’t have a problem with my trousers being wrinkled: hang them in the shower and steam them out,” he says. “After TSA went to the Ziploc baggie plan, I switched to rollaboards. I never know when I’ll need to check or gate-check luggage, and I’m worried about straps on the backpack being destroyed. Further, the rollaboard I travel with is a lot cheaper than my Kelty, so I almost think of the rollaboard as being disposable.”

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Post tags: Air Miles, Backpack, carryon, duffel, dumpling dynasty, lonely planet, Robert Reid, rollaboard, TSA

Luxury Travel On The Cheap…If You’re Over 55

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:39:44 +0000

A recent New York Times story explored the trend of folks of pre-retirement age who are starting to scout out their next homes.

These communities can be quite lush, and in order to give prospective residents a taste of what the good life would be like there, they’re rolling out the welcome mat and allowing people to stay three nights or so for a rockbottom $40 total in some cases.

At Robson Communities, which has seven adult communities in Texas and Arizona, that price also includes one dinner and a round of golf, while at Foulkeways in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania, it costs a little more $149 for a couple to stay three nights; dinner and breakfast are included along with a host of resort amenities.

The time-tested parallel consists of timeshare programs at Caribbean and Vegas resorts; they lure you in with a free couple of nights and maybe a free breakfast, and in exchange you’re required to meet with a salesperson or sit in on a seminar on buying into the program.

Some think it’s a small price to pay, while others think travelers who go this route with no intention of buying into the program are scam artists. In either case, it’s a an intriguing concept.

What other kinds of travel can you think of that apply to folks who aren’t necessarily on the cusp of AARP membership? Leave a comment below!

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Post tags: boomer, foulkeways, gwynedd, luxury travel, new york times, robson communities, timeshare, zoomer travel

10 Reasons to Go To Aruba RIGHT NOW

Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:39:03 +0000

I visited Aruba for the first time in mid-December, and absolutely loved it. The polyglot of cultures — Dutch, French, British, Spanish, Papiamento, and a slew of others — colliding is my cup of tea. Here are 10 good reasons why you should hop the next plane down:

1) At the Marandi Restaurant, you’ll dine under a giant palapa hut right above the water on the pier in the open air looking at the stars. The food is among the best in the country.

2) The Bucuti Beach Resort, where I stayed, is a romantic European-style 100-room resort right on Eagle Beach, the quieter side of the island. It’s one of the most ecologically-aware resorts in the Caribbean.

3) The Lewis Black commercials for Aruba are brilliant.

4) The snorkel trip with the Tranquillo cruise company is Aruba’s best. You even get lunch on board.

5) Tour the Aruba Aloe Museum and see it go from plant to jar.

6) The license plates say One Happy Island.

7) The flamingos at the private island at the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino are so tame they eat out of your hand.

8 – At the Eet Cafe/The Paddock restaurant near the cruise ship docks in Oranjestad, there’s a cow, a car, and a Godzilla on the roof.

9) Arikok National Park has wild goats, more varieties of cacti than you’ll ever see in one place, and the highest point on the island.

10) Well, maybe not right now, but in a few more months when hurricane season starts back up, you can head to Aruba with full confidence, since it’s outside of the hurricane belt.

** Our intrepid blogger braves feeding the flamingos at the Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino:

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Win Free Travel!

© Lisa Rogak for Trip Quips for Trip Quips, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: arikok national park, Aruba, aruba aloe museum, bucuti, bucuti beach resort, eet cafe, flamingos, lewis black, marandi restaurant, renaissance aruba resort & casino, the paddock restaurant, tranquillo cruise company