Ever stumbled upon the perfect café, sequestered deep in the quietest corner of a buzzing city, and just had to share the secret? Ever wanted to be part of that secret? Travelistas Lynn Lau and Abby Bender combine their journalism and travel experiences to bring readers Notes From A Café: Travel stories from the deep end, a refreshing cure to the usual stodgy travel resources. Notes From A Café revolves around the love of travel, with articles covering countries from Belgium to Norway to Malaysia, along with tips and resources to fellow travelers interested in the non-touristy side of exploring the world.
Celebrating the joie de vivre of traipsing the globe, Lynn and Abby feature their stories and secrets under headings such as "Voyage Vignettes" (focusing on the thick and thin of personal travel accounts), "Foreign Foibles" (cultural gaffes and taboos), "Travel Tips" (a grab-bag of information and suggestions for travelers), and "Roaming Reviews" (frank guides on true must-see's and definite stay-away-from's).
A random selection of our articles:
“I don’t have to do anything, do I?” Tonje wrote. We were going to Brussels for a week, and one couldn’t miss the note of trepidation in her e-mail.
“Nope,” I replied, inserting a little wink, “I’ll take care of it.” The consequent relief on her end was unmistakable.
Traveling to a new destination is exciting and all, but the thought of having to actually plan what to do and when is enough to dissuade most people from forming an itinerary. “We’re just there to have fun,” they protest with an airy wave of the hand. “We don’t want to have schedules.“
True, it doesn’t do to have constricting deadlines — you don’t want to feel you’re on an organized tour bus, after all. However, having even a skeleton-frame outline will save you headache on your trip, be that headache a small twinge (endless back-and-forths on “so what do you want to do?” “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”) or a whopper (winding up on the other side of the city after the last train has left).
You don’t have to make a huge “divide and conquer” battle plan. One quick, easy way that I use to rough out my itinerary is to divide a small piece of paper into two columns: Must See on the left and Good to See on the right. The left column is for places and things that get you excited and you simply can’t miss out on (ergo the title, “Must See”). The right column is for things that sound interesting or places that strike your fancy, but not so high on the priority list.
When you’re reading guidebooks or websites on your intended destination, and happen to come across a description of a sight or location that sparks your interest, note it down in either of the two columns. Obviously, you leave out anything you don’t care about or ranks too low on your priority list.
How do you tell the difference between a Must See and a Good to See? A Must See gets you excited and telling people, “I can’t miss out on that!” A Good to See sets off the mental thought, “That’ll be good to see,” i.e., “Wouldn’t mind missing it if we don’t have time, but still, would be lovely to go.”
I’d mentioned before to list these on a small piece of paper. The reason is so that you can be quite discerning in your choices, and won’t be tempted to overburden your travel with excessive things-to-do.
Once you have your lists done, you can start grouping them by location. That way, it can be a simple walk to get from place to place, and your trips by bus, subway, or the metro are vastly reduced. The main focus of each group should be the Must See’s, so don’t have three Good to See’s to one Must See in any group. When I went to Paris, I arranged my places of interest according to arrondissement, and it was a great deal more relaxing and organized knowing that even if one of those places turned out not to be interesting at all, I can just stroll over to the next item on my list and the afternoon wouldn’t be a total bust.
Happy planning!
I’m an overpacker. I freely admit it. It’s been my experience that, whatever I decide not to bring, I will invariably need. If I don’t pack my umbrella because the weather report said it would be crystal-clear-sunny, it’ll pour three out of the five days I’m there. If none of the restaurants specified fancy dress in the Fodor’s listing and I leave my skirt at home, I’ll be invited to the opera. It’s just the way of the world.
I don’t mind lugging around extra items if I know I’ll use them. It’s another thing entirely when I’m lugging around all these items and find out later that I’ve forgotten half of the really important things that one needs on a trip, like shampoo and a toothbrush and such.
This usually happens in some level or another whenever I go on a trip, but on my latest trip to Germany, I took this ludicrousness to a completely new level.
In justification, I was attending a wedding, which required makeup, hair-care detritus, fancy dress and heels, and presents. The space on my carry-on was reserved solely for a pair of crystal candlesticks and the first two books of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. A curling iron and hair dryer take up a lot of space, don’tcha know.
When my connecting flight got delayed, ensuing a flight switch and a day’s layover, and my checked bag became lost in Luggage Hell, a blinding illumination came to me:
I was the quintessential Don’t Bee.
» Read the rest of Don’t Be a Don’t Bee Like Me ...
I could tell you about our getting lost on our first day in Seattle—well, not so much lost as misdirected, because all we did was take the wrong bus and wind up on the other side of town—or about how Pike Place Market was a riot of shops and senses, in a way reminding me of the low-cost shopping complexes back in Malaysia. But you know what the real highlight of the whole trip all was? When I held an absolutely fetching white-chested caique on my fingers and blew on her tongue.
Blowing on Katie’s tongue
Photo by Seow Yin |
Seow Yin and I had emerged from Pike Place, and decided to stroll over to a small park nearby for a breather. The bright sun and hot temperature defied April’s alleged “spring” qualities, and drew people out into the open as if by osmosis. Or like a well-sprung trap, depending on your frame of mind. So, scattered about the park were students, drummers, and casual tourists amidst tubby pigeons looking for a snack.
Seow Yin had finished taking obligatory photos when I noticed there were other kinds of birds in the vicinity, and not of the pigeon variety either.
» Read the rest of Katie the Caique ...
This week, we feature an article by guest writer Sabrina Gaylor, who traveled to Iceland this past summer. Here she shares the mesmerizing sights of her visit.
Lupine by Akureyri |
As amazing as Iceland is, it’s just one of those countries that gets overlooked or bypassed for more traditional vacation spots. I had the good luck of getting a chance to tour the country this summer, which I jumped at because the global warming crisis means that Iceland may not be the same in the future. My tour guide told the group as we passed Vatnajökull, the majestic largest glacier in Europe, that it was receding at a steady rate and soon would be gone.
Even if Iceland is just the white-outlined dot on the map next to Greenland, it turned out to be a much more diverse country than I’d thought. Reykjavik itself was very hip and urban, but close enough to the water and to national parks that it was possible to get away. The rest of the country was filled with bleak, endless, rocky plains and fields of moss-covered lava, volcanoes, eerily blue lakes, small villages nestled in between the mountains, and hillsides covered in waterfalls and lambs. At some points, we drove over unbridged rivers.
But there are perils of traveling through very rural areas.
» Read the rest of A Whirring Tour of Iceland, by Sabrina Gaylor ...
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Java Cat 3918 Monona Drive Madison WI 53716 (608) 223-5553 |
A girl worth her salt would brave the elements for a scoop of truly good ice-cream. For a taste of dreamily divine gelato, however, she would travel the globe. Gelato, far denser than regular ice-cream because it contains less air, can have either a dairy base (milk, cream) or a non-dairy base (soy milk, water). For this reason, it can even be enjoyed by the lactose-intolerant without losing any of its flavor. Hey, try finding soy ice-cream that dances on the tastebuds just as heavenly—it is still very much a hit-or-miss mission.
Abby, in covering Rue de Buci, has already let you in one of the best places to enjoy gelato to your heart’s content. One might not guess, however, that delicious gelato can be found not just in Europe, but even right in the American Midwest, of all places. More specifically, at Java Cat.
Photo from Java Cat
» Read the rest of Java Cat: Enjoying Gelato in the Midwest ...