danapop

In less than eight months, the world will know what I know – Vancouver is simply, spectacular. After visiting, I’m not all that surprised that it won the bid to host the 2010 winter Olympics. But, I am however, happy that I discovered it before the rest of the world is introduced, courtesy of NBC.

There’s a lot to adore about VC, BC. First off, it’s clean. Like tap water pouring straight in the glass clean and recycling bins sitting next to almost every trash can in the city clean. And just overall clean living – people running, hiking, kayaking, biking all around town, a nice welcome change from the hours of television and video gaming Americans rationalize as hobbies.

Second, you couldn’t meet nicer folks (bar the staff at Honey, more later). Vancouver’s hospitality held it’s own next to my personal barometer – the hospitality I experienced in Ireland – a country long known for its friendly faces and stories easily and readily shared over pints.

This week’s travel, the pop on Vancouver, British Columbia – my, how I love you! And my, how I could move to you!
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The one-day wander. That quick stopover, scheduled or unscheduled, en route to another destination – a small, often highly rewarding detour from the longer journey ahead. This week’s wander is through the Northwest’s nicknamed Emerald City.

I recently found myself headed to Vancouver by way of Seattle with less than 24 hours to spend in the emo-capitol of the world. My thoughts on Seattle prior to arriving were this – Kurt Cobain, Bill Gates, Starbucks, and the famed space needle. Not stereotypical at all.

Everything about Seattle, I found, is intelligently done (including the aforementioned musician, computer genius, coffee corporation, and that futuristic structure punctuating the sky). From architecture to food, Seattleites sure seem to be doing their part to make the world a bit better. So, it comes as no huge surprise that data matches the observation with The United States Census Bureau noting that Seattle (in 2008) was the most educated city in the U.S.

This week’s travel, the one-day pop on Seattle with my favorite smarty-pants traveling partners in crime – my twin sister, her boyfriend, and my husband.
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Ernest Hemmingway – peripatetic traveler and a man who had a brilliant way with words once said – “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.”

I just love that line. And like Hemmingway, I do believe who you choose to spend a journey with is just as critical to your travel experience as where you go.

But no matter if it’s with someone you love or even just sorta like, right now I think that people are afraid to travel – not enough in the budget, Swine Flu, pirate attacks – it can be anxiety producing and it has left many perfectly content to let Dhani Jones tackle the globe or Bridget Marquardt saunter around the best beaches.

Life is too short to spend it at a desk dreaming of trips you want to take when the timing fits in a little better with life. I have never regretted taking trips; saving for them, knowing it’s a memorable investment. And with the summer travel season quickly approaching, I can’t help you pick your partner in travel crime, but I can give you some creative ideas for choosing a destination worth emerging from your cubicle for.

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We here at dp hq take our journalism and reporting duties quite seriously. Because of this, I have reporters dispatched in various bureaus throughout the world. Ahem… truth be told, my best friend is in Lecce, Italy, at The Awaiting Table Cookery School, so this week’s travel posting contains snippets of what she’s soaking in.

And in today’s tech age the physical postcard has now been altered to text messaging, here’s the abbreviated text with photos…

Gustate! (English translation – everyone, enjoy!)
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Spring break is here and I’m off to the beach later this week. It puts me in mind of the Spring breaks of my college years (at least the parts I can sorta fuzzily piece together) where my girlfriends and I would load our massive suitcases with platform sandals, satin dresses and tube tops – not to put too fine a point on it, we’d slut it up. Hilarious when you consider that we truly believed our sartorial choices were classy; even when I ate it big, tumbling down an entire flight of stairs in a denim mini skirt (eek!) I managed to not spill a drop from my yard glass! That’s class, folks. Sadly, I’ve never really grown out of my tripping habit.

But these days, my suitcase is filled with kinder fabrics like cotton and jersey and I’ve traded my dolled up ways for a simpler approach. So, here are a few of my beach essentials for the perfect warm getaway…

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One of my good friends is a flight attendant for a low budget carrier. I feel in another life that’d be the job I’d want to have. I’m positive I have a ridiculously glamorized vision of the profession because I picture jetting off somewhere fabulous and having the most interesting conversations with passengers. In one Q&A session, she dispelled that myth and provided me with a laundry list of flying tips.

So, listen up all you flying drunks…here’s her wisdom on how to land in the good graces with flight attendants – a free bit of advice, maybe don’t ask for that pillow they’ve got stashed in the overhead bin (it’s gross).

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Photo by Donn Young - Courtesy of the New Orleans CVB

Listen close (whisper) this town is filled with secrets. And stories. Bursting with writers, artists, musicians, chefs, and a culture of fusion so rich that it cannot be replicated anywhere else. Creole, Cajun, Southern, French, traditional and modern American influences are all here, along with a healthy dose of grit.

But don’t let the whisper be drowned out by feather boas, beads, boob flashing, cigarette-littered streets, and revelers reenacting college spring break behavior all most certainly chalked up to heavy handed drinking.

This city’s party was forever tarnished on August 29, 2005. The day the levees broke. The world watched in horror as the “city beneath the sea” became part of it for a time (how eerie that NOLA native Harry Connick Jr. should pen a song of the same name almost ten years earlier?).

And while you can’t mention the Big Easy any more without acknowledging the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, let’s now, just for a moment, soak up the wonderfulness of what was and is. I’m in the Crescent City, with the pop on New Orleans, just in time for Mardi Gras. (more…)

Photo Credit - Jeffrey Greenberg

The one-day wander. That quick stopover, scheduled or unscheduled, en route to another destination – a small, often highly rewarding detour from the longer journey ahead. This week’s wander – Birmingham ya’ll.

I recently found myself headed to New Orleans by way of Birmingham with less than 24 hours to spend in Alabama’s largest city. Although Birmingham is only two hours (give or take) from my adopted hometown of Atlanta, it feels like a lifetime away. This is TRULY a southern town – that is, it is a study in contrast – sophisticated and modern but with a gritty past that still haunts its streets and alleyways. A town where the supper scene features boys in pastel button-down shirts worn beneath starched blazers punctuated by loafers sans socks, and girls sporting full face makeup, designer handbags and signature scents, moving about in the lurking shadow of the 1960’s Civil Rights movement pathos.
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Are there places you’ve always wanted to visit? Of course there are. I know I have a ton of them. A long, infinite list – a list in constant flux – as one destination is crossed off, another is quickly added.

Dubai has long been near the top of my list – not the new Dubai crisscrossed by American food chains, Vegas-style mega hotels, overtly hip eateries and LA-esque traffic jams. No, give me the Dubai with its once active ports, quaint fishing enclaves and seemingly endless supply of pearls.

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Travel can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be with the things you can actually control (this doesn’t include how fast your cab driver can get you to the airport after you’ve overslept or forgetting to pack your passport). By investing in good quality accessories to accompany well-made luggage, you too can travel with ease.

Here are some must have travel companions…

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Quality luggage can make all the difference in the world when traveling. Just a few key pieces can help for efficient packing and a more enjoyable overall trip.

A few things to remember when selecting luggage:

1.    Pick something with a little bit of style that reflects you, but something you won’t tire of in a few years’ time. I personally avoid busy prints, but if giraffe is your signature pattern, by all means – go for it!

2.    Luggage should be well made (this does not necessarily expensive) but at the same time, it should be somewhat of an investment. It’s kind of like shopping at Old Navy vs. Nordstrom. Sure, items are cute from Old Navy, but do they get nubby and piley after two washes? Same goes for a suitcase – you don’t want your delicates circling the carousel for all the world to see because your poorly made bag’s zipper malfunctioned.

3.    Think about how you use luggage – does your job have you traveling for weeks a time where you just park it in one hotel? Then maybe you need a large suitcase with lots of dimension. Or do your trips involve taking advantage of last minute fares over a few days? You might just need a solid weekender bag (so many cute ones out there).

4.    Sets vs. individual pieces. There are pros and cons to both – sets are cost effective and generally include several key pieces, but can sometimes be very basic or include bags you will never use. Whereas, individual pieces are great because you can customize a set to your liking based on exactly what you need. The drawback, this adds up quick.

Here are some of my luggage favorites…

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Brian P. Miller Photography

A fierce, anything goes city whose residents have included the iconic and unforgettable John Waters, Oprah, Frank Zappa, Billie Holiday, David Simon, and Parker Posey, to name a few. From green markets promoting family farms, to some of the best seafood in the US, to sugar and spice and everything nice (Charm City houses Domino sugar and McCormick spice HQ)…this week, I’m on the Chesapeake Bay with the pop on Baltimore.

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A thriving arts scene, James Beard Award-winning chefs, all in an idyllic Midwestern backdrop surrounded by fountains (it is said to have more fountains than any city except Rome). And don’t forget, all this while you can literally see buffalo roam. This week, I’ll give the pop on Kansas City. (more…)

This year, the idea of travel has been seriously tweaked. With words like staycation added into everyday vernacular, the notion of stepping out and exploring your own city is becoming common practice. I have always thought there’s merit to that, down economy or not, I just love the idea of wandering around your own city streets. When we travel we often do things we wouldn’t normally do in our everyday life, but this doesn’t have to be limited to travel that takes us far from home.

It’s fair to say that I have mixed feelings about B&Bs. On one hand, I’ve seen my share of exquisite looking accommodations; on the other hand, my friend’s anniversary B&B stay replete with an Egyptian-themed room (think pyramid and sphinx wallpaper) sounded so funny it made me NEVER want to book a stay. But more commonly, the average B&B boasts plaid and toile décor, homemade quilts, cedar chests, breakfast casseroles, chatty innkeepers, and liquor you bootlegged in. No thanks.

Enter Stonehurst Place, an eclectic mix of eco-chic meets clean European lines sprinkled with southern charm. It is Atlanta’s only EarthCraft house and my kind of B&B (if we’re being technical, it’s actually called a boutique inn). The original house was built in 1896 by George Hinman for his wife Cara Farnsworth Hinman, then renovated in 2007 when Barb Shadomy purchased it and transformed it in to what it is today.

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