Based on information supplied by yours truly during a radio interview for Washington, DC's WTOP, Rachel Nania did a write-up. **
Travel Trends for Adventure Seekers: It's About the Experience
WASHINGTON — Gone are the days when windsurfing, parasailing or zip-lining qualified as a unique vacation adventure. Today’s travelers are upping the ante and redefining what it means to live it up.
Laura Powell, travel expert and writer for The Daily Suitcase, says the latest craze doesn’t involve jetting off to the most exotic locations — it’s all about collecting experiences.
Riding around Saigon, Vietnam on a scooter is a hair-raising
experience, even with a helmet on. Only attempt it
as the passenger of an experienced driver.
(Courtesy Laura Powell)
“The world is pretty much open to all, so in order to have that different kind of adventure, you need to have a unique experience, as opposed to solely going to an offbeat place,” she says.**
And throughout that experience, collecting the best photos, composing the best tweets and checking in at the most interesting locations is imperative. “Now that everyone is trying to outdo each other on social media, the more unusual the experience, the better,” Powell says.
Ready to plan your next trip? Here’s how you can make sure your Instagram account gets more likes.
In 2016, AmaWaterways and Backroads will team up for
bicycling-focused cruises to Vietnam and Cambodia, along with
several European destinations.
Above: Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Travel with your taste buds
While some prefer to soak up a city’s culture by visiting museums and historic sites, others prefer to slurp it up with authentic bowls of ramen and heaping servings of pasta. Food tourism is a booming industry, and there are more options available for tourists looking to get a taste — or a sip — of foreign destinations.
“Whereas it used to be you [could go] to a cooking school, now you can do even more,” Powell says.
In Italy, travelers can tour a pasta factory or have Sunday dinner with grandma; Switzerland offers a variety of cheese and chocolate tours; and tourists in Bangkok can ride a boat through a traditional floating market. Plus, there are companies such as Home Food and Bookalokal that make it possible for travelers to attend dinner parties hosted by locals.
Cruise the water by night and bike paths by day
AmaWaterways recently launched a partnership with the adventure company Backroads to create a journey that combines cruising, biking and hiking. (Courtesy Backroads)One cruise company is rocking the boat with its nontraditional tours. AmaWaterways is teaming up with the adventure company Backroads to create a journey combining cruising, biking and hiking.
By night, guests who sign up for the Backroads adventure cruise can dine and sleep on the boat as it travels up river. During the day, they’re led on biking and/or hiking adventures with Backroads tour guides. Powell notes that the bike and cruise adventure is currently limited to the Danube River route. But, the itineraries will expand to other rivers throughout Europe and Asia in 2016.
A new degree of adventure
From Canada to Copenhagen, ice bars and ice hotels were once the rage. “All of the sudden, everywhere that had a cold winter had an ice hotel,” Powell says. But a chilling new destination is taking the excitement over ice structures to a whole new level. In June, travelers will be able to walk into the ice tunnels and caves of Langjökull, Europe’s second largest glacier. “They’ve burrowed out a tunnel within the glacier, so that people can actually go ice tunneling in the middle of a glacier," Powell says.
Peek inside the tunnels of Langjökull:
Experience nothing
In a constantly connected world where it’s hard to escape work, no matter how many miles are between you and the office, it’s no surprise that some travelers are in need of a little peace and quiet on vacation. And the travel industry is taking notice.
“Another thing people are interested in experiencing these days is nothing,” Powell says. She adds: “Silence tourism is kind of the next big thing. There’s growing demand for places where people can get away, walk in nature, and not necessarily have access to Wi-Fi and cell service.”
In fact, “Silence, please,” is the slogan on Finland's official travel site. The slogan is accompanied by recommended escapes to remote lakeside cottages, igloo huts in the middle of the forest and foraging tours through the Finnish forest.
To celebrate the end of the year, I present an updated version of my #2 blog post of the year. As #1 was about summer travel accessories, I am opting to reprise that once the weather gets warmer. Despite the fact that I have traveled to more than 50 countries on six continents(I am missing Antarctica), preparing for a trip to an unknown and faraway destination is still perplexing. As I prepared for my trip to Namibia this fall, I pondered, among other things, logistics, medications, documentation, and fashion. Here's a list of 9 things I had to figure out before going to Africa...and things you should think about as well before taking off to distant lands.
1 Do I need a visa? Official media are supposed to have visas to enter Namibia, but your garden variety American tourist does not. Although I went to Namibia to write about The Jewel of the Desert train, I opted to go visa-less (please, Namibia's version of Mr. E. Snowden, don't tell on me). After all, as a travel writer, my mission is to have the same experience as regular travelers do. So, no visa for me, although I brought a VISA card...and an ATM card to boot.
2. Do I need more pages in my passport?Apparently, the answer is yes. For some reason, Namibia requires everyone to have 4 to 6 blank passport pages. As I am on Year 9 of a ten-year passport, I only have one blank page left. Should I wing it? According to a colleague at Solimar International, a firm that does tourism consulting work in Namibia, the answer is a definite no. Said colleague spent the better part of the day in Windhoek Airport, while one of his co-workers had to zoom over to the local American Embassy for pages. Thankfully, I live in Washington, DC (how often do you hear someone say that these days?), very close to the National Passport Center. So I ran downtown and spent $142 to add passport pages (versus $170 for a new passport).
3. Do I need shots or malaria pills? Shots--no. Malaria pills? It wasn't clear. I opted out and I was fine. Many of my fellow travelers who took the pills got very sick on the train. The train's doctor ascribed their flu-like symptoms to the malaria medication. So, pick your poison.
4. What about money, honey? The Namibian dollar is on par with the South African rand, and the latter is accepted everywhere in Namibia. As the Namibian dollar is not easily convertible on the world market, best to stock up on rand. That way, leftover money can be exchanged back into US dollars.
www.abercrombieandkent.co.uk
v
5. What do I wear? I am oft vexed regarding visitor vestments, particularly when I travel to the Middle East or Africa. When I went to Morocco in 2001 (geographically in Africa; culturally, it could be argued, the westernmost part of the Middle East), I had a two-fer on my hands. I was verklempt, as everything I owned was too tight, too short, or too colorful. I ended up purchasing a bunch of long, oversized schmatas. The Moroccan men, unstereotypically, paid me no mind, but the women there didn't seem to appreciate my valiant efforts to mask my feminine wiles. Methinks hunting for safari clothing will be easier, but I still must find items that will cover me up (mainly to ward off bugs and to protect against the scorching sun).
7. What unusual items do I need? This type of journey requires gear not usually included on my packing list. Bug spray; a flashlight; a water purifier; a beanbag (to serve as a camera stabilizer in jittery jalopies); and the aforementioned electrolyte tablets are some of the extras I will stow. 8. How am I going to survive the 18-hour flight? Try to get an aisle seat in Economy Plus or an emergency row seat. I got both on my outbound flight on South African Airways from Washington, DC to Johannesburg--an 18-hour jaunt. I was able to stretch my legs and do yoga in my seat space. However, on the way home, I was left with a non-emergency aisle, which, for an 18-hour stretch, is uncomfortable any way you slice it. One thing that helped immensely on my 14-hour flight to Beijing in the spring--using my BackJoy Posture +. Sadly, I didn't bring it on my Africa trip, and my lower back paid the price.
9. How many days will it take me to get over jet lag?Fortunately, the time difference is, surprisingly, only 6 hours. Therefore, spending my first night in Africa at the Intercontinental Hotel at the Johannesburg Airport (smart move) and my second night at the Okapuka Ranch near Windhoek left me well-rested when my official exploration began.
For those of you who heard my segment this week on Around the World Radio (August 29 edition), here are nine more things to know about the train route that spans the breadth of Russia.
1. Most people think that there’s one train called the Trans-Siberian Express running along a lengthy railroad between Russia’s eastern port of Vladivostok and Moscow. But contrary to popular belief, there is no such train. The Trans-Siberian is actually made up of a network of domestic and international trains crisscrossing countries and borders. Yes, a Trans-Siberian journey can start in Vladivostok. But it can also start in Beijing or Ulan Bator. These itineraries, sometimes dubbed Trans-Mongolian routes, follow Trans-Siberian track once they hit Russian territory.
Lenin's Giant Head in Ulan-Ude
2. You can opt to rub shoulders with the locals on Russian train or you can travel in a private train. The latter is certainly the easier and more comfortable way to go. But it is also the more expensive option.
3. The Golden Eagle runs the classic 5,772-mile route between Vladivostok and Moscow. In 2014, The Golden Eagle 15-day trek across Siberia starts at $15,495 per person double occupancy in Silver Class to $29,995 for top-of-the-line Imperial Suites. All compartments have bathrooms en suite.
Tsar's Gold by Lake Baikal
4. The 15-day Zarengold or Tsar’s Gold, running between Beijing and Moscow, is less expensive, mainly because it provides a larger selection of compartment types. 2014 prices start at $9200 per person for a Classic compartment (which share toilet and shower facilities). For a compartment with private bath, prices start at $15,820 in Bolshoi and go up to $19,520 per person in Bolshoi Plus.
5. Don't forget to obtain a visa before you hit the road...or the track. Americans need visas for travel in both Russia and China.
6. I recommend traveling East to West. That way, you end up getting more sleep and more daylight along the way, as you go back in time across nine time zones.
I
It may look cold, but I'm quite comfortable in
Kazan wearing long shorts in May.
7. Load your iPad with lengthy tomes good books and epic movies. Good Russian reads include Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier, The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (although you may want to skip the ending, where Anna tosses herself under a train). Appropriate flicks include Dr. Zhivago and the lesser-known Transsiberian, starring Woody Harrelson. Cheers.
8. Most Trans-Siberian private trains run between May and early October. Be forewarned: Siberia can be surprisingly hot. Leave your parkas and your mukluks behind.
