Jan 17, 2008
Any vegetarians among our readers? Vegans? Here's a travel website just for you
A friend was recently regaling me with tales of a business trip to South America, during which eight members of his group were taken to "an excellent Argentine restaurant." Anyone who knows Argentina knows that it is one of the world's most red meat-obsessed countries, a Mecca for anyone who enjoys a good, hearty steak. The problem was, two members of my friend's group were vegetarians, and a third was a vegan, and spent a morose evening picking at plates of overcooked spaghetti at what turned out to be, indeed, a typical Argentine steakhouse.
If you are a vegetarian or vegan who has become resigned to vacations of endless salads and pasta bowls, take heart. There is a web travel guide called Happy Cow (www.happycow.net) that describes more than 7,700 meatless restaurants, health food stores, and vegetarian B&Bs in more than 55 countries, complete with user reviews. There's also a smattering of everything from organic cooking schools in Tuscany to a vegetarian hot springs resort in Guadalajara.
In one of many thoughtful touches, the page of results for a given country includes a list of topical phrases in that country's language (how to say "Do you have a vegetarian dish?" or "I don't eat butter, cheese, eggs, or honey.") The site also has a primer on air travel for vegetarians, links to vegetarian guidebooks, rates the top 10 for vegetarian-friendly cities, and provides tips for staying healthy on the road.
Other, less well-organized and less complete resources include www.vegetariansabroad.com, www.vegtravel.com, www.vrg.org/travel, www.vegeats.com, and www.vegetarianusa.com (lots of good resources, but only for domestic travel).
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If you are a vegetarian or vegan who has become resigned to vacations of endless salads and pasta bowls, take heart. There is a web travel guide called Happy Cow (www.happycow.net) that describes more than 7,700 meatless restaurants, health food stores, and vegetarian B&Bs in more than 55 countries, complete with user reviews. There's also a smattering of everything from organic cooking schools in Tuscany to a vegetarian hot springs resort in Guadalajara.
In one of many thoughtful touches, the page of results for a given country includes a list of topical phrases in that country's language (how to say "Do you have a vegetarian dish?" or "I don't eat butter, cheese, eggs, or honey.") The site also has a primer on air travel for vegetarians, links to vegetarian guidebooks, rates the top 10 for vegetarian-friendly cities, and provides tips for staying healthy on the road.
Other, less well-organized and less complete resources include www.vegetariansabroad.com, www.vegtravel.com, www.vrg.org/travel, www.vegeats.com, and www.vegetarianusa.com (lots of good resources, but only for domestic travel).
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Sep 5, 2007
Chewers of the world, awake! Inexpensive gooey bars can stave off travel hunger
In a recent post, I briefly wrote that some travelers spend $1.50 for Power Bars to toss into their carry-on luggage for when they're hungry -- like on a train or a long flight. To my surprise, that passing mention attracted a major response, as dozens of readers wrote in to describe a multitude of these portable comfort foods, from small jars of peanut butter to Zone Bars, Jaybars, Quaker Oats Granola Bars, Slim Fast Granola Bars, Banana Balance Bars, and Clif Bars purchased at Trader Joe's. One reader insisted that a bagel thrown into his carry-on is only slightly larger than a bar and serves the same purpose for only 65¢. Like the tobacco chewers in baseball, granola crunchers are apparently dominating the world of travel.
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Labels: diet
Aug 8, 2007
"Power Bars" join peanut butter as essential, "don't leave home without them" items to be stuffed into your checked-on luggage
I'm staring, as I write, at a chocolate-covered "Power Bar" which I just bought for $1.50 at a corner drugstore. I made that purchase out of curiosity provoked by advice from a number of Frommer's readers. They all claim that you should buy several "Power Bars" on the eve of an international trip, and scatter them through your suitcase, just as you should also carry a plastic jar of peanut butter (and hard crackers) to ease you through those travel moments when you're hungry and can't find anything suitable to eat.
Does anyone have actual experience in the consumption of "Power Bars" on a trip? Do they really stave off hunger? Do they fill you to a state of contentment? Do they endow you with energy?
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Does anyone have actual experience in the consumption of "Power Bars" on a trip? Do they really stave off hunger? Do they fill you to a state of contentment? Do they endow you with energy?
Write and read comments about this post.
Jul 30, 2007
Several odds-and-ends of travel may be of importance to your next trip
An airline check-in attendant recently warned a passenger that she might be denied entrance to Ireland because her passport had only two months left of validity. And the advice was correct: several countries, including Ireland, insist that travelers hold passports valid for at least six months from the day of arrival. The idea is that if you are delayed in returning home -- perhaps by illness or accident -- an expiring passport might complicate matters. Though you may be one of the lucky 24% of all Americans to possess a passport, take a look at its expiration date -- and get it reissued if less than six months are left.
Where can a penniless student find affordable lodgings in Washington, D.C.? That was a recent question posed to me. The answer: at the facility in every major city that should always spring to mind, namely (and in this case), the 270-bed hostel of Hosteling International (tel. 202/737-2333; www.hiwashingtondc.org), at 1009 11th Street in the heart of the capital. A bunk is $35 a night, and you can prepare pasta meals in the communal kitchen.
Elderly Americans have recently been told that a bite-a-day of dark chocolate will lower their blood pressure. Younger Americans who travel should always take some protein bars or Power Bars with them. They provide a cheap (about $1.50 each) snack full of nutrients, and fit easily into luggage or a backpack.
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Where can a penniless student find affordable lodgings in Washington, D.C.? That was a recent question posed to me. The answer: at the facility in every major city that should always spring to mind, namely (and in this case), the 270-bed hostel of Hosteling International (tel. 202/737-2333; www.hiwashingtondc.org), at 1009 11th Street in the heart of the capital. A bunk is $35 a night, and you can prepare pasta meals in the communal kitchen.
Elderly Americans have recently been told that a bite-a-day of dark chocolate will lower their blood pressure. Younger Americans who travel should always take some protein bars or Power Bars with them. They provide a cheap (about $1.50 each) snack full of nutrients, and fit easily into luggage or a backpack.
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Labels: accommodations, diet, passports, tips, washington dc
Jun 29, 2007
A week at the cheapest spa on earth: Tennessee's Fitness Center, near Waynesboro
I returned some time ago from a healthy week at the world's cheapest spa (as little as $750 to $865 a person per week for room, meals, exercises and all else), the increasingly-popular Tennessee Fitness Center near Waynesboro (tel. 800/235-8365 or 931/722-5589; www.tfspa.com). Picked up by a spa van at the Nashville Airport on Sunday afternoon, as everyone is, I was driven for two hours into the scenic, sparsely-populated, rolling hills of central Tennessee, passing emaciated mules and decrepit barns along the way. We arrived at a complex of woodsy, rustic, Alpine-style lodges overlooking a pool and jacuzzi, a large and well-equipped gym, and deserted country dirt roads used for hiking three-to-six miles each daybreak before breakfast. The meals? How good or bad can 1200 calories a day be? (A tub of apples, always nearby, staves off hunger pangs). For a third to a quarter of the price at America's posher health centers, I enjoyed the very same aerobics, stretching, yoga and circuit weight machines -- and I lost four pounds. Why pay a penny more for an experience whose success depends on your own discipline and efforts, and not of the elegance of accommodations or gyms?Write and read comments about this post.
May 23, 2007
Three things you may not have heard about travel
New travel tools, or old ones that haven't received much public attention in the past, are constantly emerging in travel -- and can often be of great value. For instance:
1) Wikitravel: Just as Wikipedia tries to create a universal encyclopedia written by its readers, www.wikitravel.com tries to create a universal travel guide written by its readers, a storehouse of information on every travel destination however minor. So far, this free-of-charge electronic travel guide doesn't come close to competing with the infinitely-better Frommer's guidebooks or website ("wiki" suffers from skimpy hotel selections, deadly writing style, and major pricing errors), but it occasionally contains historical or geographical information that might assist the planning of your trip. It's something to watch.
2) The Duke Diet & Fitness Center: Among all the weight-reducing spas of the United States, this university-associated weight-loss facility in Durham, North Carolina, is surely the most serious and effective of all. Unlike health spas that promote trendy and exotic diets of the sort that you can't possibly maintain once you've returned home, Duke serves a tasty and familiar assortment of traditional American foods, but in extremely small portions, and participants learn how to conduct life on 1100 calories a day, losing weight and later keeping it off. Don't confuse Duke's Diet and Fitness Center ("DFC") with the more extreme (and totally separate) "Rice House" meant for seriously obese people who need to lose a hundred and more pounds quickly for various medical purposes and therefore go on a diet consisting almost entirely of rice. DFC serves tasty (if miniscule) meals, as I can personally attest (I lost 15 pounds in 10 days there). Go to: www.dukedietcenter.org.
3) Required Visas for St. Petersburg: Because a growing number of cruiseships sail the waters of northern Europe in summer and stop at St. Petersburg, Russia, it's important to reveal that Russia doesn't automatically permit passengers on such ships to disembark in the famous capital of Peter the Great. Rather, they will need a Russian visa (a document requiring at least a month to obtain) unless they have signed on for a group sightseeing excursion organized by the cruiseship -- the only example I know of a mandatory purchase of that sort. For the American who would rather wander around the city on their own (visiting the Hermitage and the Nevsky Prospekt at their leisure, and not as part of a group), it's necessary to take the steps to obtain a Russian visa or else simply pass up that superior method of seeing a great city.
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1) Wikitravel: Just as Wikipedia tries to create a universal encyclopedia written by its readers, www.wikitravel.com tries to create a universal travel guide written by its readers, a storehouse of information on every travel destination however minor. So far, this free-of-charge electronic travel guide doesn't come close to competing with the infinitely-better Frommer's guidebooks or website ("wiki" suffers from skimpy hotel selections, deadly writing style, and major pricing errors), but it occasionally contains historical or geographical information that might assist the planning of your trip. It's something to watch.
2) The Duke Diet & Fitness Center: Among all the weight-reducing spas of the United States, this university-associated weight-loss facility in Durham, North Carolina, is surely the most serious and effective of all. Unlike health spas that promote trendy and exotic diets of the sort that you can't possibly maintain once you've returned home, Duke serves a tasty and familiar assortment of traditional American foods, but in extremely small portions, and participants learn how to conduct life on 1100 calories a day, losing weight and later keeping it off. Don't confuse Duke's Diet and Fitness Center ("DFC") with the more extreme (and totally separate) "Rice House" meant for seriously obese people who need to lose a hundred and more pounds quickly for various medical purposes and therefore go on a diet consisting almost entirely of rice. DFC serves tasty (if miniscule) meals, as I can personally attest (I lost 15 pounds in 10 days there). Go to: www.dukedietcenter.org.
3) Required Visas for St. Petersburg: Because a growing number of cruiseships sail the waters of northern Europe in summer and stop at St. Petersburg, Russia, it's important to reveal that Russia doesn't automatically permit passengers on such ships to disembark in the famous capital of Peter the Great. Rather, they will need a Russian visa (a document requiring at least a month to obtain) unless they have signed on for a group sightseeing excursion organized by the cruiseship -- the only example I know of a mandatory purchase of that sort. For the American who would rather wander around the city on their own (visiting the Hermitage and the Nevsky Prospekt at their leisure, and not as part of a group), it's necessary to take the steps to obtain a Russian visa or else simply pass up that superior method of seeing a great city.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
