Posted January 15, 2011 at 3:12 pm
by THE NEW YORK TIMES:
From the beaches of Mexico to the wilds of Kurdistan, the places on this year’s list take you to the end of the world and back.
1. Santiago, Chile
Undaunted by an earthquake, a city embraces modern culture.
Less than a year after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc in Chile, its capital, Santiago, has largely recovered, the economy continues to grow, and tourism is in an upswing.
Though the quake, which caused hundreds of casualties, was centered more than 200 miles away, many of Santiago’s older buildings were damaged, including the Museum of Fine Arts.
But the earthquake last year — and another in Chile last week that caused more panic than damage — seems to have only briefly paused a cultural shift that had begun to take hold in the city. Known as a buttoned-up place, Santiago has in recent years added modern museums, smartly designed hotels and sophisticated restaurants. The city has become decidedly more vibrant.
This year, it has even been chosen as the first foreign city to host a rather unbuttoned event: Lollapalooza. The 20-year-old American music festival picked Santiago for its first overseas outing because of its open space and the variety of cultural offerings, and because locals have a passion for contemporary music, said Lollapalooza’s founder, the musician Perry Farrell. The festival takes place in April in O’Higgins Park.
This musical awakening owes much to the government’s investment in the arts. The new Centro Gabriela Mistral, for example, a 200,000-square-foot center made of glass and weathering steel, has a varied calendar of concerts, dance performances, plays and art exhibits.
Perhaps the most remarkable cultural space to open in the last few years is the Museo de la Moda, a privately financed fashion museum inside a revamped 1960s Modernist mansion. It has a permanent collection of nearly 10,000 pieces of couture and memorabilia (of which 800 are typically on display), including a light-blue jacket worn in 1966 by John Lennon and a black strapless gown worn in 1981 by Diana, Princess of Wales.
Luxury hotels are not new to Santiago, but when the W opened in 2009, it was the first to feature truly modern design. The recently opened Aubrey is equally chic and much more intimate. With an attractive mix of vintage and new furniture (Tom Dixon lamps, 19th-century Parisian rugs, tufted leather sofas), the 15-room property raised the bar for boutique lodgings in the city. It occupies two renovated residences in the Bellavista neighborhood, a creative district where Lollapalooza’s fans would feel right at home. — PAOLA SINGER
2. San Juan Islands, Wash.
Bold-face restaurateurs vie with unspoiled nature. Nature wins.
The big draw for the San Juan Islands this year just might be its dining scene. Blaine Wetzel, a former chef at the wildly acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant Noma, took the reins at Willows Inn on Lummi Island (due to reopen on Feb. 10), while Lisa Nakamura, who has trained with big-name chefs like Thomas Keller, opened Allium on Orcas Island.
But the eternal lure of the San Juans — what brings chefs out as well as tourists — are the landscapes. On islands from Shaw to Decatur, pastoral hills give way to broody forests and scrappy escarpments that overlook fjordlike inlets. Thanks to an…
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Posted December 30, 2010 at 2:33 pm
If the above video doesn’t work, watch it here instead…
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Posted December 27, 2010 at 2:35 pm
by Barry Goss:
This is just simply a post, with a very good link to keep handy, about Traveling around Switzerland.
Not so much a post about how the Swiss have a grasp for integrating common sense, self-accountability, and restrained (but elegant) style in everything they do.
But, before I give you the url to one of the best “all about Switzerland travel sites,” here’s a quick excerpt from Bill Bonner talking about Zurick during Christmas:
“I just got back from Zurich, where I paid a visit on our Swiss bankers, Rolf and Patrik. Switzerland is an expensive place to bank. But it seems like a fairly safe place to keep money. Besides, Zurich is a beautiful city to visit around Christmastime. The shops sparkle. The lake glistens. Snowflakes fall. Every man looks rich. And every woman looks beautiful. Everything is just as it should be, in other words.
“We also like the Swiss attitude to money. They never say “easy come, easy go” without shaking their heads in disapproval. Zurich is a rich city because each generation has added to it. The buildings are handsome and solid. The public services are clean and run with precision. And per unit of paper currency, the Swiss have more gold than anyone else.
“You can’t trust any of the world’s paper currencies; still, the Swiss franc is one of the best. In 1970, just before Nixon cut the dollar’s last link to gold, each buck would buy more than four Swiss francs. When we were there yesterday, the exchange rate was barely one for one.”
Okay, now, about that url:
Bookmark it. If you ever want to go to Switzerland, it will come in handy.
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Posted December 13, 2010 at 7:08 pm
We all have our dream destinations, the places we that are must be visited in our life. 
I’ve often stumbled across posts like this and decided to make my own list of interesting places to visit. These are my dream places, the places that attract me very much.
I think our world has lot’s of wonderful places, worth of visiting, but if I could choose 10, I’d make this list of places to visit before you die.
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Posted July 23, 2010 at 1:50 pm
One may have travelled far and wide, but even the seasoned traveller is always in search of undiscovered, pristine shores that have never known crowds.
Paradizo.com, which is claimed to be the premiere resource for luxury vacations, specialising in all memorable holiday experiences, from ski trips to luxury beach vacations, suggests the following top Undiscovered Beaches for 2010:
Koh Lanta is the southernmost island of Thailand’s Krabi Province, far from the tourism boom of neighbouring Phuket and Koh Samui. As a laid-back escape, Koh Lanta is an unspoiled paradise. One may head out to the area’s secluded Pimalai Resort hideaway offering luxurious beachfront villas .
Anse Cocos on La Digue is far from the well-trodden shores of Anse Source d’Argent in Seychelles. Only accessible by foot, you may have to scramble over some boulders but know that the rocky shores keep out intruders in your own private cove.
Santa Teresa Beach in Costa Rica is getting noticed – now’s the time to go to experience the solitude, alone with the rainforest and crashing waves. A surfing heaven from April to November, Playa Santa Teresa is also a honeymoon dream, with luxury beach villas.
Fiji’s Yasawa Island offers cobalt-blue sea lapping over coral sandy beaches. The Eight Month Beach can be reached only by private yacht and is Yasawa Island’s best kept secret. It’s best to visit Fiji in September-November.
Maha’ulepu Beach is the last undiscovered beach in Kauai on the Hawaiian Island’s southern shore. Maha’ulepu offers up cinnamon sand hugged by mountaintops and fertile valleys. Luxury villas with pools overlook this quiet beach.
The Mozambique Private Island Medjumbe in the Quirimbas Archipaelago is a secluded private island that gives you the feeling that you’ve found your own hidden corner of the world. Abundant gardens, teeming wildlife and discrete beach villas abound in the ultimate private island hideaway.
Whitehaven on Whitsunday Island off the coast of Australia gets its name from the pristine white sand. Arrive to the island by your private yacht and discover the pure, unspoiled Whitehaven Beach. The bone-white beach is the perfect spot to relax after a fun day of sailing.
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Posted July 17, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Every morning, Warren Hill wakes up to sunshine and a view of the mountains. Since retiring from the National Park Service in 1997, a job that took him to many of America’s most beautiful places, he chose to settle in Colorado Springs, Colo. “I hiked 5 miles this morning and I got home by noon,” says Hill. “It’s 15 minutes to get downtown but it’s also 15 minutes to the mountains.” After 13 years of weekly hikes, he has seldom needed to repeat a trail unless he especially enjoyed it.
This idyllic lifestyle hasn’t busted Hill’s retirement budget. “In other places we looked at, the cost of living was pretty high compared to here,” says Hill. The median home in Colorado Springs sold for just $175,000 in 2010 and the cost of living is well below the national average. Instead of pricey entertainment, Hill volunteers one day a week at Garden of the Gods park and works part-time leading tours of Colorado parks for several of Elderhostel’s Road Scholar programs.
To find this and other low-cost mountain towns, U.S. News fired up our Best Places to Retire search tool. We looked for places that offer access to plenty of skiing, trails, and wildlife, while still providing affordable housing and a reasonable cost of living.
We also used the Onboard Informatics data to screen for other retiree-friendly characteristics, such as access to health care and a low crime rate.
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Posted April 16, 2010 at 11:43 am
from Bing.com
In our fast-paced, high-tech world, true escape has increasingly become a luxury.
Places where you can really get away from the cares of the everyday may be hard to find, but fortunately they’re still out there, waiting for you.
Here are our favorite secluded islands for an escape with your beloved, your family or even just yourself.
We promise not to tell anyone you’re there.
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Posted April 9, 2010 at 2:55 pm
by Shayne Heffernan:
Like you, I love fishing. But perhaps ‘love’ is not strong enough, because fishing became a passionate necessity in my life. I gain immense pleasure in the peaceful and calm harmony with nature; in the infinite quest to learn more about the habits of our friends – the fishes; and in the personal challenge of the pursuit of ever bigger specimens.
Every angler has his own philosophy, his own conceptions, his own style , his own skills and his own experiences. Mine led me to discover Thai fish 22 years ago and I had to be aware that much of my European angling knowledge did not always help me. My results were mixed and often unexpected. Being naturally curious and an avid perfectionist, I knew that observation was the best way to learn.
Through fishing trips with local Thai anglers; conversations with them over many long days and nights; listening to lectures and applying all that to personal experimentation, I learned and perfected an entirely different way to fish. A way that I delight in sharing with expatriate residents in Thailand or with visitor to Thailand from a variety of countries. I could not resist proposing the pleasure of a fishing trip. And gradually, more and more friends suggested that I turn my passion into an occupation.
I thought about that – a lot. The Thai fishing press drove the hook in deeper by writing a number of articles about my fishing successes. It was time to take the next step and the result was the formation of ‘Fishing Adventures’ as a tour agency dedicated to fishing.
We are the only guided fishing trip agency offering a menu of program options to meet the desires of the individual angler. Our ultimate goal is to help enthusiasts discover the rich diversity of South East Asian fish species – and to catch as many as possible – while having some truly unforgettable adventures along the way.
The success of any memorable guided fishing trip depends upon the professionalism of the organizers, upon their knowledge of the territory and – most of all – upon the fishing expertise of the guide. Our team of specialists provide all that professionalism, knowledge and expertise.
Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned angler ; whether you look to fish alone, with family, friends or companions; whether your budget is modest or generous; our team will help you forget – in just one day – the constraints and pressures of your hectic working life.
‘Fishing Adventures’ is a truly unique fishing tour agency in Thailand, offering daily or weekly programs that are adventurous but still offer the relaxed spirit of a holiday.”
FISHING ADVENTURES THAILAND Co. Ltd:
34/13-14 City Studio 8/21 Sukhumvit Road Soi 13 Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Mobile Phone: 668 1 846 98 94
E-Mail : info@anglingthailand.com
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Posted March 25, 2010 at 6:20 am
by Janelle Nanos:
Photo: Eliseo Fernandez, Reuters.
Have you ever gone sailing in a pool? It’s possible in Chile, according to our friends at National Geographic’s Blog Central:
Covering 20 acres and stretching half a mile, the swimming hole at Chile’s San Alfonso del Mar resort is a 115-foot-deep, 66-milliongallon monster. (An Olympic-size pool is “only” 164 feet long, 6 feet 7 inches deep, 660,000 gallons.) Built for $3.5 million by the Chilean firm Crystal Lagoons, which aims to open an even vaster version in the Egyptian desert, the pool has delighted resort guests and curiosity seekers since 2007.
Pumped in from the Pacific, the water in this Chilean pool is 16°F warmer than the ocean.
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Posted January 31, 2010 at 1:40 am
Vacations by Rail offers a 10-day package from Vancouver to Calgary from $2,047, including the train fare, hotel accommodations, and meals.
Book by March 12th and get a free one-night stay in Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Centre.
Contact: VacationsbyRail.com
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