Intelligent Travel

We Can't Make this Sh*t Up

Friend of IT Amanda Jack lived in Austin, Texas, for several years, and she recalls her favorite saloon's Sunday afternoon chicken show. (Shouldn't all saloons have a Sunday afternoon chicken show? We think so.)

A true measure of any sustainable establishment is how well it uses its recycled waste. Every Sunday afternoon at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon (North Burnet Rd.) in Austin, Texas, the savvy visitor will find the bar in the throes of a sustainable celebration. Of course, it's not quite in the way one might expect.

At Ginny's, a long time Austin establishment (its motto: No Fussin', No Cussin', No Hasslin', No Wrasslin') far from the frat packs of the popular 6th Street, small monuments of fowl feces (pun intended) are found plopping their way onto a large grid covering a wooden board set on the pool table. Cheering the chicken on as it lays a less celebrated specimen are hoards of regulars and instantly hooked first-timers clutching a number that just may be the lucky square chosen for defecation target practice.

Ginny's Sunday standard, Chicken Shit Bingo, has branded itself into the hearts of a faithful following and is not to be missed if you are in town. Participants hope to turn their $2 into $100 via this popular crap shoot, and the crowd spills out into the parking lot as a surprisingly calm chicken does her dooty for the mid-afternoon onlookers.  Most Sundays, local country legend Dale Watson serenades the winners and consoles the losers with his true country voice that makes you sway even if you've never seen the two-step.

While Sunday afternoons are a special treat, this tiny stalwart of an establishment will please any day of the week. Cowboys of all ages swing their partners in tight circles, expertly navigating tables and bar stools as more sedentary patrons stomp a foot in time while chugging down longnecks of $2 Lone Star beer. Once the Poultry Queen has expelled the last of her marker-pellets, continue the adventure by walking down Burnet Road to a smattering of thrift stores. And if the fecund fecal display hasn't turned you off it, grab some grub at the nearby Austin Diner, where the only chicken around is served as dinner.

Amanda Jack likes traveling and cheese, but not necessarily the cheese she finds while traveling.

Photo: Bingo at Ginny's, by Casey Moore via Flickr

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Amy Tan's Hidden China

Photo of Dimen Village by Lynn Johnson

In May's all-China issue of National Geographic, novelist Amy Tan explores life in a minority ethnic village deep in the green mountains of Guizhou in southern China. The village might as well be in another millennium, as the Dong people who live there follow the same lifestyle as their ancestors did 1,200 years ago. Their language has no written form, so they preserve their heritage through songs that have been passed down through generations. Here's an excerpt from Tan's story about the village Dimen:

In Dimen people sing nearly every day. In classrooms students sit with perfect posture at their desks. They repeat in perfect a cappella pitch what their teacher has just sung. On weekends a troupe of older girls dressed in jeans and pink tops stand before the Singing Teacher and practice fast-paced songs, each taking a solo. Two gravelly voiced elderly women, respectfully called za by all, guide the younger children in reciting simpler chorals.

One of the za has blue-tinged eyes. At first I thought this was a genetic remnant of outsiders who had come through the region—perhaps foreign traders diverted from the Silk Road. Dimen has had many invaders, the blue-eyed za told me. "In 1920 a Chinese warlord kidnapped my mother's 16-year-old aunt to make her his ninth concubine. No one heard from her again." In those days, the blue-eyed za said, people who came stole our things and killed people. Each time, she and her family put sticky rice in their baskets and ran into the mountains to hide.

When the za asked me for eyedrops, complaining that her eyes were cloudy, I realized the blue in her eyes was cataracts. Several people had already told me she was the only one who knew all 120 verses of the epic song of Dimen's history, hours of a bluesy repetitive melody. According to this anthem, the original Dong ancestors of Dimen began as a people who wore no clothes. Invaders had driven their descendants to Dimen. "That old song is boring," two teenage girls later told me. "We're too busy to learn something we don't like."

You can hear a sampling of the songs of this village here, and see more amazing images from Lynn Johnson online at National Geographic magazine's website.

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Tour Guide: Carb-Free Costa Rica

Beloved Traveler senior researcher Meg is in the midst of planning her honeymoon—she's thinking warm, English- or Spanish-speaking (her fiancé is Salvadorian), and on a budget. She thought Costa Rica would be nice, but found that hotels were either super-luxe (and out of her budget), or very rustic. "I'd like to have hot water," she confesses. "And I want to see the sloths in the trees, but not be in the trees with the sloths." It is her honeymoon, after all.

So the Traveler research team was put to the test, and we think we might have found something that works. Travel company NatureVacations has created a 100% carbon-neutral Costa Rica vacation. That means every pound of carbon emissions their customers use on their seven-day/six-night journey is offset in some way. And travelers like Meg won't have to worry about hot water—the accommodations are definitely eco-chic.

How exactly does this carbon-neutral vacation work? Upon arriving in San Jose, all vehicle transfers from the airport to Finca Rosa Blanca for the first night's stay are carbon-neutral certified and use bio-diesel fuel. The next day, travelers are again transported by the same eco-friendly vehicles to Tobias Bolanos Airport where they will fly (on carbon-neutral airline NatureAir, pictured right) to Lapa Rios Ecolodge (above), located on 1,000 acres of private nature reserve. During the next five days at Lapa Rios, visitors will get to: plant a tree, take a sustainability tour of the lodge, learn about traditional Indian medicines of the rain forest, go on an environmental walking tours of the reserve, and eat organic, sustainable cuisine.

Of course, I couldn't find any information on how the flight from the States to Costa Rica is offset... it looks like that is up to the traveler's own prerogative.

For other eco-conscious tour operators, don't miss our Tours of a Lifetime in the May/June issue of Traveler.

Photos: Lapa Rios Ecolodge (above) NatureVacations (above right)

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Indiana Jones DVD Giveaway Contest

So it seems like all of America is abuzz about Harrison Ford's triumphant return as Indiana Jones in this summer's sure-to-be-blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And the travel industry is more than willing to satiate the public's appetite for adventure. Expedia is now running a whole series of experiences that celebrate the films (Swanky Shanghai nightclubs? Check. Exploring ancient Incan ruins in Peru? Check.) And Spanish travel company Vacations with Imaginations is now offering a smattering of Indy-inspired tours that add an element of danger to the itinerary: staged robberies, kidnappings, and visits from otherworldly spirits (we have to agree with Gadling that this creeps us out).

But we're not going to lie, as the preeminent arbiter of adventure travel, Indy has set our imaginations aflame more than once with his acts of derring-do (see our tribute to "Indy-pendence" in The Source in our current issue). So we're pretty darn excited to announce that our very first Intelligent Travel Contest is in the spirit of his heroic, dangerous, and exotic excursions.

Here's the deal: We have a whole mess of Indiana Jones DVD box sets, and we're giving them away to those of you who can best evoke Indy's spirit of adventure with your photographs or prose. There are two ways to enter:

For the writers – Send us 300 words or less about your most ridiculous Indiana Jones moment; the time when you couldn't help hearing the notes of Dun-dun-dun-daaah swell up as your adrenaline kicked into gear. Whether you were whitewater rafting or just rushing for your flight, we know that travel can be complicated, and it's those complications that often make the best stories. We want to hear them.

For the photographers – In the spirit of our Global Eye series, we want to know the back story to your most adventurous pics. Did a pack of mad dogs come running at you as you clicked the shutter? Or were you still huffing from a treacherous hike as you snapped an amazing view? Send us your photo along with the tale.

Send entries to intelligenttravel@ngs.org with "Contest" in the subject line. We'll pick the best from the bunch and will feature the winners all next week.

Photo: Courtesy Paramount Pictures

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Make the Most of Getting Bumped

As you may have already heard, a few weeks ago the U.S. Department of Transportation revised its passenger compensation rules.

Beginning later this month, passengers who are involuntarily bumped could be compensated up to double what they would have gotten before—a $400 maximum for getting moved to a flight that gets them to their final destination within two hours of their originally scheduled flight (four hours for international flights), and up to $800 for a flight that doesn't arrive within that timeframe.

This new rule also extends the regulation to flights with 30 seats or more (previously, it only applied to flights with more than 60 seats) and allows passengers to opt for cash instead of ticket vouchers.

The DOT's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report keeps records of how many passengers are involuntarily bumped on which airlines—see the October-December 2007 Oversales report (Download bumping_report PDF)—as well as how many passengers voluntarily give up their seat, as MSN reports. For example, during the first quarter of 2007, American Airlines had 22,133 voluntary bumps and 2,213 involuntary bumps. JetBlue (pictured above), by contrast, had zero voluntary bumps and only 19 involuntary bumps during that time.

I happen to be one of the seemingly few lucky travelers (knock on wood) who has never been bumped involuntarily, although whenever the opportunity arises for volunteers I am the first one to give up my seat. The last time I volunteered to get bumped I got $250 and food vouchers to wait 90 minutes for the next flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Baltimore-Washington. A few weeks later, my mom volunteered to get bumped on a St. Louis-Seattle flight—for $400, food vouchers, and a first-class ticket on a non-stop flight. If passengers get bumped to a flight the following day, many airlines will also offer them a night in a local hotel, transportation to and from the airport included.

The Key to Recycling

A printing company has come up with an alternative to those ubiquitous plastic hotel keys: biodegradable, paperboard keys that guests can recycle after their stay. Green Key bills itself as economical, eco-friendly, and sanitary (you're not getting the same grimy key that's been used by umpteen guests). So far, parent company The Whitehall Group has sold more than a quarter of a million keys to some 50 hotels.

Those plastic keycards we're all used to are made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which releases a very toxic chemical called dioxin, and PVC is difficult to recycle, according to Greenpeace. Studies have linked dioxin to health problems and more and more reports are surfacing about its harmful effects. Keep your eyes peeled for the year-old invention, it may just be the key to a greener hotel stay.

Photo: courtesy of Cadmus/The Whitehall Group

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The Amazing Adventures of a Nobody

Leon Logothetis, the host of the reality show “Amazing Adventures of a Nobody,” which airs internationally on the National Geographic Channel, and on Fox Reality in the States, is at it again. After traipsing through England and the U.S. for less than five dollars a day in his first two seasons, the "Urban Survival Guide" has now set off from Paris to begin his third season, where he will attempt to cross Europe and arrive in Moscow using only his limited resources and the help of strangers. Leon will be sending us dispatches from his travels as he films the season, and IT editor Janelle Nanos spoke with him as he prepared for his journey.

Hi Leon, it sounds like you’ve got a big trip planned. Can you tell us a bit more about how the show works?

It's pretty simple: I will receive five euros a day – that’s for food accommodation and travel. I cannot be given money – people can buy me food, a hotel room, or let me stay with them – they can show generosity. The crew are not allowed to help me, they stay in luxury hotels, drive a Volvo, and they eat whenever they want. There are five lifelines that are held by the director: 20 euros, a train ticket, free food, a tent, and a mystery envelope.

What made you decide that you wanted to embark on such a journey?

I used to work in the city of London in the shipping business, but that wasn’t my scene. Then I watched The Motorcycle Diaries and something clicked inside. I was inspired by what these two guys did. It’s made me want to connect with people. I never wanted to be behind the desk. I wanted to rely on the kindness of strangers and put myself on the same situations these two guys were in.

I can only imagine some of the situations you’ve found yourself in. How did your first trip through England work out?

One of the most memorable moments was when I was in North Wales. I arrived in a town called Banger at 8 p.m., and it was empty. I didn’t have anywhere to spend the night, so I went to the police station and told them, “I don’t have anywhere to stay. Can I sleep in a cell?” They said no [to a cell]. I ended up staying the night on the floor without a bed – no chair, no heating, just the floor. They gave me some old police jackets to lie on. It was one of my lowest moments. I remember asking myself, “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

When in Hawaii, Drink the Local Brew

As any good traveler knows, there's no better way to get a taste of a place than by sampling the local cuisine. In Hawaii's case, there is of course anything with macadamia nuts (from macadamia-nut honey to wasabi macadamia nuts—those'll clear your sinuses anyday). When I think of Hawaii, beer isn't the first thing to come to mind. But the Maui Brewing Company deserves a second look, not only for its uniquely Hawaiian-flavored beers but also for its sustainable practices.

Garrett Marrero (originally from San Diego) and his wife Melanie bought the brewing business three and a half years ago. It is the only brewery on Maui and has won several awards for its unique beers. Their Coconut Porter, which is spiced with natural toasted coconut, won a gold medal in the 2008 World Beer Championships. Maui Brewing also takes environmental matters into their own hands. Their beer comes in cans (thus eliminating the risk of broken glass littering the islands), and the owners even reuse their  brewpub's vegetable oil to power their vehicles.

You can't find the beer on the U.S. mainland quite yet, but it is available in many locations throughout Hawaii. Yard House, located in Waikiki, just began offering Maui Brewing Co. beer on tap, and is the first restaurant in Oahu to do so.

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Photo: Garrett W. Marrero

On the Ground in Myanmar

National Geographic Traveler is always looking to highlight the work of tour companies with strong ties to to their communities. So we were glad to hear that one such company is using its business infrastructure to support disaster relief efforts. Lindsay Thompson, U.S. director of Journeys Within Our Community, sends us a report on aid to cyclone victims in Myanmar:

A week after the devastating cyclone in Myanmar, supplies and relief workers are still being delayed into the country to provide help, support and supplies. Fortunately, organizations like Journeys Within Our Community (JWOC), a non-profit based in the region, are already in the disaster areas, doing targeted, on-the-ground response with its local staff in Yangon. Coordination is underway to aid in providing shelter and provisions for the thousands of families and children in urgent need of help.

With an estimated 100,000 people dead, 41,000 missing, millions homeless, widespread flooding and destruction of homes, the race is on to prevent further death and the spread of disease in southern Myanmar. Critical resources such as food, clean water, basic medicines and mosquito nets are desperately needed as people seek refuge from the floods.    

Because of JWOC's already-standing relationship with communities who have been affected by cyclone Negris, our relief workers are dedicating their efforts to finding solutions for local problems, such as at orphanages, schools, shelters, etc., that aren't getting direct help from larger relief efforts.

Donations are being accepted immediately at www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org, all of which (as in 100%) will go to helping those in need on the ground in Myanmar.

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Paperless Phrasebooks, Anywhere

Useful phrasebooks can be found in the back of any decent guidebook, but for foreign-language phobes like me, roman spellings and pronunciation guides can only get a traveler so far. Rosetta Stone is great, except it requires a computer and selling my right arm. I don't usually carry my laptop when traveling abroad, and generally, I like my four limbs where they are.

Fortunately, I found an (affordable!) alternative for even the most cheapo travelers. Collins just came out with iPod phrasebooks. They've taken the phrasebooks from the back of their Collins Gem dictionaries (about 500 different phrases) in French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish. The phrasebooks are split up into sections (food, accomodation, emergencies, etc.), and iPod users can both listen to how the phrase is pronounced and see its spelling on the screen.

The best part? Each phrasebook is only about $10 (£4.99), which means you can afford to both say "Uma caipirinha, por favor" ("I'd like a caipirinha, please") and sip Brazil's national drink. The software is only available for iPod Classics and iPod Nanos, but are not compatible with iPod Touch or iPhones.

Photo: Courtesy of Apple

Cinematic Road Trip: Arkansas

For the past few weeks John Ur has been heading on a course due south through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. This week he takes a sharp left turn and heads into Arkansas before turning another ninety degrees and heading back north through the remainder of the Midwestern states.

Let me be frank: The film industry in Arkansas is not exactly booming. The state’s largest city and capital, Little Rock, does not hold many famous landmarks except its capitol building. However, because of its resemblance to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC, the Arkansas capitol has served as the stunt double for its more famous counterpart in several films, most notably in the television movie Under Siege (1986), when a group of suicide bombers attacked. John Grisham, one of Arkansas' most famous sons, has had several of his stories converted into movies, and his first hit book, The Firm, was directed by Sydney Pollack with scenes shot in West Memphis, Arkansas (as well as Memphis, Tennessee and Washington DC).

But the state also has a few stars-of-screen natives, including Joey Lauren Adams, Wes Bentley, Mary Steenburgen and Billy Bob Thornton. Early in his career, Thornton was able to pull off an Orson Welles trifecta – to write, direct and star in a film (see Welles in Citizen Kane) using Arkansas as his setting. Thornton wrote Sling Blade, a story of a mentally handicapped man who was released from a psychiatric hospital after serving 25 years for the murder of his mother and her lover at the age of 12. This man, Karl Childers (played by Thornton), became an iconic character in popular culture – his gruff bass voice and rudimentary language oft-repeated in satire for comedic effect: Mmhmm, I reckon. Alright then. I used a Kaiser blade. Some folks call it a sling blade, I call it a Kaiser blade.

Global Eye: Alberta

"My Shadow on the River"

Photographer: Sarah M. Ligon of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Getting the Shot: I took this photo on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River on Leap Year Day 2008 using my Leica C-LUX 1 point-and-shoot camera. Although the scene looks like it could be in one of Alberta's more remote regions, it is actually in the heart of downtown Edmonton, a city of more than a million people. A fluke of geography, the river's steep banks made it impossible for developers to build along the river, and so the whole river valley was turned into an elaborate park system, nearly 16 miles (25 kilometers) long. This particular spot is on a popular off-leash dog park.

The Details:  I'm a Southern girl, originally from Arkansas, and this was my first winter in Canada. Needless to say, after months of dark days and -40-degree temperatures, I came down with a bit of cabin fever. But on this particular day, the sun was radiant, and so I stole the opportunity to head out-of-doors. I shot for hours along the river, taking advantage of the long sunsets we have in the North this time of the year, and it really raised my spirits. In particular, I was tickled to discover the strange split-beam house perched on the bluff. I saw so many houses like this one when I lived in Bavaria last year, but I never expected to find one in Edmonton. It was a pleasant reminder of my happy time in another beautiful corner of the world.

Now that spring has officially sprung here in D.C., we're fully aware our pleasant afternoons of mid-70s and 80s will soon make way for the sticky heat of our infamously sweltering summers. In an act of repression and denial, we offer this quiet scene of winter reflection.

Think your own picture is good enough for Global Eye? Add your photos to our Flickr pool.

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Utah's Prehistoric Rock Art Threatened

Just a few miles from the town of Price in central Utah lies Nine Mile Canyon, home to the greatest concentration of rock art in the United States, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Though there are few facilities, adventurous visitors can drive the 78-mile Nine Mile Canyon Back Country Byway to see the roughly 10,000 petroglyphs and pictographs carved by the Ute and Fremont Indians.

But the images, created at least one thousand years ago, have been endangered in the last several years by dust kicked up by industrial traffic related to the development of natural gas nearby. Recently, a proposal to add 800 more natural gas wells to the project would increase the traffic fourfold and was met with concern by the National Trust, the Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, and other groups. The area has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places, and the trust created this YouTube video to spread the word about the rock art's plight:

While pursuing natural gas (the cleanest-burning fossil fuel) is a worthy cause, it shouldn't come at the expense of a priceless collection of rock art. Canyon advocates hope that an alternate route can be agreed upon so that the integrity of this beautiful natural monument will be maintained.

Have you visited Nine Mile Canyon? What do you think?

Beyond the City Limits

Mid-April, I decided to visit my hometown of Seattle. Seeing as the Emerald City is in the peak of its rainy season at that time (believe it or not, the rain does stop eventually), my mom wondered why I'd ever want to visit for a week of gray drizzle. Well, I found round-trip airfare for $178 (which I ended up paying for in the end, when my MD-80 flight was canceled and I spent an extra six hours in BWI—I'm not bitter), and I knew visiting in April would allow me to see my favorite parts of the Pacific Northwest sans camera-toting tourists. Fortunately, I ended up bringing with me about 36 hours of sunshine, so my mom and I ventured out of the city.

Our first stop: Whidbey Island. About 30 miles north of Seattle is the ferry from Mukilteo (its small port has no more than a lighthouse, small market, and Ivar's restaurant—their smoked salmon chowder is to die for) to Whidbey Island.  There's not much on Whidbey, either, but that's the beauty of it. We stopped by Greenbank Farm, a 1930s berry farm on the south-central part of the island. In 1972 Greenbank was considered the largest grower of loganberries, a cross between a raspberry and blackberry, for which the farm is now famous (stop by in July for their Loganberry Festival). Unfortunately, we arrived before the farm actually opened for the day, so instead of testing some delicious loganberry products, we were instead greeted by some of the farm's furry friends (pictured left).

We continued north through Deception Pass, a 4,134-acre marine and camping park with great views and wildlife-watching opportunities. Stop your car before Deception Pass Bridge and take a walk along one of the short trails, or check out the view from the lookout on the other side (for more information, the visitor center is located about one mile south of the bridge). After leaving Whidbey Island, we continued east on Route 20 and north on 237, on a mission to make it to Edison, Washington, for lunch.

Promise and Peril: Baja, Mexico

In the Destination Watch column in our May/June issue, "Promise and Peril," Traveler's Geotourism editor Jonathan Tourtellot's tells us that travelers should put a value on authenticity, and make "intelligent choices" when you visit a place. "When you seek authenticity, and pay for it, you're not only sending a message, you're helping protect a local asset," he writes. He mentions IT editor Janelle Nanos's recent trip to Cabo San Lucas as an example of a place on the cusp of tourism overload. Nanos offers her full story here.

Yachts crowd the harbor in downtown Cabo San Lucas

Settling into my flight home from Cabo San Lucas, I struck up a conversation with my sunburnt seatmate. Our trips, we both agreed, were tremendous, but we quickly realized they were also very different. He'd spent much of his time sipping margaritas at his all-inclusive resort, and spoke of tallying up a $500 tab at the bars following an afternoon booze cruise. I too swilled a few margaritas, but I also wandered up to the artist community of Todos Santos, explored Pacific coast beaches, and stumbled upon a local semi-pro soccer game. He’d gone to relax and get away. I went to experience the place, but had to wander outside its tourist precincts to find a true sense of local culture.

It’s been a long time since Cabo San Lucas resembled the Baja of Steinbeck’s novels. Now it’s most commonly referred to as the “next Cancun.” Timeshare hucksters shill “beautiful” condos that have yet to be built, and driving the corridor from Cabo San Lucas to San Jose del Cabo is like watching time-lapse photography of construction.  Grabbing my ocean kayak from JT Water Sports, on the tip of Playa el Médano, I gawked at the eight-million-dollar Hacienda condos rising from the shoreline like monstrous sand castles. None of the hotels and bars that lined the beach were there 15 years ago.

Tour Guide: Hike and Feel Good About It

Mount Rainier National Park

If there's anything I miss the most about living on the West Coast, it's the mountains. Sure, D.C.'s got the nearby Appalachians (I visit Shenandoah National Park as often as possible in summer), but there's nothing like looking out your Pacific Northwest window and seeing snow-capped peaks in every direction (Seattle is blessed with the Olympics to the west and the Cascades to the east).

The American Hiking Society has a solution for folks like me who live in a city where the mountains aren't quite at your doorstep. The AHS offers weeklong Volunteer Vacations in 25 states (and even the Virgin Islands) from February through November every year, for hiking gurus, beginners, and everyone in between who are capable of doing trail maintenance. Best of all, their website allows you to search for the volunteer tour that might work best for you. Just select your state, difficulty level, what kind of accommodation you prefer (even the avid backpacker likes a comfortable cabin every once in a while), and age range (from family friendly to 21+).