Published May 28, 2015 on Fodors.com || Skip the hot dogs and forget about peanuts and Cracker Jack—these days, America’s best ballparks serve tacos, Korean fried chicken, Dungeness crab sandwiches, and so much more. Now more than ever, a day in the bleachers is a great way to sample a city’s favorite flavors: cans of Budweiser have been replaced with local craft brews, while star chefs and local restaurants have opened up shop to serve fans looking to catch the next home run. Here’s the scouting report on what to eat and drink this season at Major League Baseball stadiums across the nation, from Queens to San Diego. Read more…
Published May 26, 2015 on Fodors.com || With gas prices predicted to remain at travel-tempting lows, 2015 is destined to be the summer of the road trip. Around the country, new additions are spicing up classic routes, and important anniversaries are being celebrated along dedicated drives. Add in a few itineraries inspired by summer blockbusters, and you’ve got ten exciting and affordable options for a memorable summer road trip vacation. Pack up the trunk, prep your music playlists, and get ready to explore America. Read more…
What to do on a long layover in Paris? It can be tricky to leave the airport, even if you have 5 hours. But if you have a really long layover — like my 12-hour gap between flights this August — you can actually squeeze in a lot.
In 12 hours I was able to hop around to seven of Paris’s top sights, plus scarf down some French food (and vin, of course!), while making it back to CDG with plenty of time to check in for my flight. Here’s how I did it:
First, travel light. I checked my bags at CDG (about 28 euros for 12 hours) near the train depot. Then I bought a 1-day transport pass for RER trains (including the airport) and hopped on the train into the city.
Stop 1: Sacre Coeur
I got to this hilltop church around sunrise. It was freezing and the church itself wasn’t open yet, but there were very few people around and it was very peaceful. A wonderful view of the city here. I then wandered around the Montmartre streets surrounding the church — most were empty, but some were starting to show signs of life at cafes. Then walked down to stop 2: Moulin Rouge.
#parislayover stop 1: sunrise at Sacre Coeur (though it was cloudy)
Stop 2: Moulin Rouge
This was a total fan-nut stop, as I saw the Baz Luhrmann movie like seven times in the theater. It was still super early, nothing was open, but I stood across the street and pretended Ewan McGregor was serenading me.
This was my third trip to Paris, but the first time I’d actually gone to the top of the Arc. That was a mistake. The views from Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower are awesome. But the 360-degree view from the Arc, with 12 streets radiating from its base like spokes, feels more connected to the city and is now my favorite Parisian panorama.
#parislayover stop 3: top of l’Arc. I’d never been up here but it’s now my fave view of the city #travelpics
Stop 4: Bastille
I metroed from the Arc to the Bastille stop and parked myself at one of the standard cafes around the square.
#parislayover stop 4: lunch at the Bastille – I got cheese, meats, wine and a bit of attitude for sucking at French
Stop 5: Canal St-Martin
After gorging on cheese I walked through Bastille up to Canal St-Martin. I had heard Canal St-Martin was the hip “new” Paris hood to visit. It was quiet along the canal; shady trees and bridges crossing over the green water. People were taking walks, but it was early afternoon on a Monday, so things were relatively quiet. I stopped in a supermarket and bought a 5-euro bottle of (not chilled) rose to drink along the water. It wasn’t worth the 5 euros…
#parislayover stop 5: rose along Canal St-Martin. The canal was awesome. The wine was not. #travelpics
Stop 6: Notre Dame
This is my favorite spot in Paris; it just feels like the center of the world. I didn’t think I’d have time to make it down here from Canal St-Martin on my way back to the airport, but I actually had plenty of time to metro down to the cathedral and wander around Ile de la Cite.
#parislayover stop 6: I never can miss Notre Dame, even with only a few hrs in Paris #travelpics
Stop 7: Seine
Before taking the RER back to CDG, I took a walk along the Seine and watched the boats. Hopped on a 3:30 train back to the airport, picked up my bags, and had plenty of time to check in for my 6:50 pm flight.
You can’t go to Iceland without seeing the Blue Lagoon. Partially because it’s one of the country’s biggest must-dos, and partially because it’s so close to the airport that it’s just silly how easy it is to squeeze in before or after your flight.
I spent the morning at the Blue Lagoon before flying home from Reykjavik. I booked transportation through Reykjavik Excursions (the company could work on its customer service but it’s the easiest when it comes to booking online/planning ahead). I left Kex Hostel in downtown Reykjavik at 9:30 am, took a transfer van to the main bus terminal. From there I boarded a coach and set off on the drive to the Blue Lagoon – about 50 minutes from the city. The bus promised free WiFi, but it didn’t work.
Upon arrival at the Lagoon (you don’t see much except black volcanic rocks at first) there’s a place to drop off luggage. Costs about 500 ISK per bag. There are lockers inside, so check your bags here, but keep a smaller bag with you.
After checking your bags, continue into the Lagoon complex — you’ll get a glimpse of the electric blue water but not the lagoon itself.
This is important: buy tickets in advance!! You’ll skip the big line. It’s easy online and there are a lot of different combos. I bought the standard package (35euro) a few weeks in advance, then added on a robe (10 euro) when I checked in — so don’t worry if you want to upgrade once there. I also booked an in-lagoon massage and transportation in advance, all via the Blue Lagoon website.
Blue Lagoon panorama
When you check in you’ll get a digital wristband, then you go inside and get a locker. The wristband is used to lock your stuff in said locker. I recommend bringing your own flip flops, hair brush, and a small plastic bag to carry a camera out to the lagoon with you. (There were no pockets in the robe and I needed to get my Instagramming in, so I got creative and tied my iPhone in my robe sleeve using the robe’s sash to hide it there while I was actually in the water. A bag would’ve been much easier!)
After you find a locker, you continue to the locker room’s showers. You’re supposed to shower without your swim suit on, though a few people kept theirs on. Ladies — it’s recommended that you load up your hair with conditioner before getting in the lagoon, as there are a whole lot of minerals in there that don’t play nice with hair. I did that, but it still took 4 days of deep conditioning after my swim to smooth the kinky curls out of my normally straight hair, so I say go skip the cond and go with a shower cap to just save your hair the trouble.
Head out to lagoon area — the ground can be chilly and slippery, which is why flip flops are ideal. Hang your robe on the racks of hooks (it reminded me of a ski chalet where everyone parks their skis), then… get in! It’s very warm. To the right there’s a bar (don’t worry about money, you just use your wristband to charge stuff and pay when you check out). There are a few small bridges you can swim under. Along the sides to the left/back are silica mud pots — slather it on the give yourself a facial. It’s free. (Some packages also offer an algae mask, but most people just were using the free stuff.)
Free silica mud mask
To the left there are steam rooms, a warm waterfall you can stand under, some nooks, and a water massage area.
Near the bar a Lagoon employee makes the rounds taking pictures (for free). He emails them to you so you don’t have to bring your camera in the water. (I brought in my waterproof GoPro but was surprised how many stupid people had their pricey DSLRs in there with no protection.)
I swam around and got a beer at the bar, then put the gray-blue mud on my face. After about a half hour in the water, I moved over to the spa section and got a massage. It was simultaneously wonderful and weird. You float on a soft foam pool raft and are covered with a blanket. The masseuse occasionally dips you under water to keep you warm. It feels like you’re getting a massage in a giant warm bath, but since there’s no resistance from the water and the raft makes back access difficult, it can feel awkward when the masseuse reaches back there.
The steam rooms near the massage pool are small but weren’t very crowded. There’s also an upstairs relaxation room, which is quiet — actually for a major tourist site/bar/place with kids the whole lagoon was surprisingly quiet.
At 1 pm I went back inside, showered, dumped the robe, and put on my clothes. Checked out and paid balance (I had paid about $192 up front for the bus, entry, and massage, so the remaining $20 or so covered the beer and robe). There can be a line to get out of the locker area, but I lucked out and had extra time, so checked my email using the hotspot in the cafe. You can also walk up to second level where there’s an outdoor photo viewpoint.
On the way out, I walked through the very pricey gift shop and went to pick up my luggage. Got to the luggage check about half hour before the bus was supposed to leave so had some time to check email and charge my phone in the one wall outlet while I waited.
My flight was leaving Reykjavik at 4:50 pm so I took a 2:30 pm bus from the Blue Lagoon to KEF. The ride took about 20 minutes.
For the past month or so leading up to Valentine’s Day, I’ve been tracking the number of daily V-day/singles/romance-infused story pitch emails I’ve received from public relations reps and CVBs.
The total count is 193.
Honestly, it felt like it was much higher. And that’s part of the problem.
Even on a “slow” day, like on Friday, Jan. 30, when only two pitches with the word “Valentine” appeared in my inbox, my instinct was to just glance at the subject and immediately trash the messages. V-day fatigue had set in.
Sure, it’s a popular travel day—especially when it falls on the long President’s Day weekend. But the number of ways people tied their product or property to the holiday in hopes I’d be able to cram it into a “Romantic Round-Up” was dizzying. I was told to “fall in love with” everything from hotel specials, indulgent cocktails, and European barge activities to heart-shaped pancakes, beef hearts, and Waze (even though I work for competitor MapQuest).
Meanwhile, I had already assigned our Valentine’s stories (an admittedly uncreative series of “romantic things to do” in the 10 cities we were creating travel guides to) back in early January, before most of these pitches came in.
So in the name of better editor–PR cooperation, here are some ways the nearly 200 people pitching Valentine’s Day stories could have caught my attention:
1. Pitch something else.
Remember that fatigue I mentioned? By early February, if I saw something Valentine’s related in a subject line my interest instantly plummeted. I received 193 Valentine’s emails. Know how many Black History Month pitches I got? One. And given Selma‘s Oscar nominations and the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March next month, there’s a much more interesting—and timely—travel angle there than a singles appreciation package.
2. Consider your subject line.
This tip goes beyond Valentine’s Day—think of your pitch email subject line the same way we think of our headlines: will this make me want to click to read more? Writing in all caps is a no-no; I feel like you’re yelling at me. Putting the full gist of the pitch in the subject is fine, but I will often only read that line. On the other hand, sending a more casual, regular email–style subject, like the one I got that just said “Belize + Tinder” is more likely to make me open it, read it, and give it more than 3 seconds of consideration.
3. Pitch on the weekend.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to kick myself for this one later, but the data doesn’t lie. See the dips in the chart? Those are weekends. Almost no one sends pitches or work emails then, but here’s a secret: most of us don’t stop checking our email on the weekend (thanks, smartphones).
4. Be funny or creative.
I know, I know. You have a lot of clients and are trying to send out news quickly in case it’s a fit somewhere. None of us have time to gussy up every email. But if it’s really something you want to stand out, consider telling the story in a funny way. This isn’t a travel/work pitch (and wasn’t counted in the 193 emails), but look at what Noodles & Company did for Valentine’s Day: they made a video recreation of the classic Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene with their product and real dogs. It’s funny, it’s entertaining, and it associates their product with V-day. I don’t even like dogs and I watched and shared this video a few times.
5. Ask what we’re looking for.
Want to know what I’m working on? Just ask! Travel editors want to work with PR contacts. But as Zach Schonfeld proved in his exhausting attempt to reply to every PR pitch he received, we just get too many emails, and we have to choose what’s most relevant to reply to. For me, those are often sincere (and brief) questions about what I’ve got in the pipeline and what sort of stories I generally cover. For example, last year for Valentine’s Day, I assigned a series of online dating profiles for Caribbean islands and invited readers to “find their perfect match.”A V-day hook, sure, but the info was evergreen and not just directed at people traveling for the holiday. A few hotel reps asked what I was working on, and when I explained the project, they sent more general, useful info about their island properties—not irrelevant Valentine’s packages. So always feel free to ask—but by email, not by phone please!
Published on MapQuest on December 2, 2014 || Already have a favorite between Pat’s and Geno’s? Does “wit” need no explanation? Alright, you’re a Philly cheesesteak pro, and we won’t try to convince you which is the better steak.
But the Pat’s and Geno’s rivalry extends beyond the food, and both resturants have a long history, with differences stark and subtle. Take a look at the photos below to see how well you really know Philadelphia’s most famous cheesesteak stands.
Published on December 19, 2014 on MapQuest || You are getting very sleepy. Unfortunately, rather than crawling into bed, you’re waiting to board a red-eye flight with a full load. Enter the travel pillow. Sure, they’re a bit goofy looking—okay, sometimes more than a bit…
And some of them seem to be more about making a statement than actually getting some comfortable shuteye while traveling. But the travel pillow is one of the most recognizable symbols of travel—just take a look at any airport news outlet, where you’ll likely see racks of these plush fuzzy U’s positioned invitingly at the front of the store.
In November 2014 I took a 2-day food-centric trip to Philadelphia. The visit was sponsored by Visit Philly, who gave me a budget $400 to eat my way through the city. Here’s what I did:
How I Got There
Philadelphia is an easy Amtrak ride from D.C.; it takes about two hours.
Where I Stayed
Lowes Hotel: A luxurious hotel set in a historic 1930s skyscraper. The building used to be the old PSFS bank, and is centrally located in Center City (right at Reading Terminal Market and a 15-minute walk to Independence Hall).
Friday
Bank and Bourbon: The restaurant in the Lowes Hotel has a farm-focused menu and a lot of bourbon. The decor and theme plays up the building’s past as a bank. Try the Secret Knock cocktail, which is a blend of bourbon and milk.
Reading Terminal Market: Food bazaar full of colorful stalls and vendors. You can get grocery items here, as well as to-go food, like pork and beef sandwiches at Dinic’s. I tried one of the classics: a roast pork with provolone and broccoli rabe sandwich.
Independence National Historic Park: This square is steeped in history. Start at the Visitor Center to get your bearings, then head over to Constitution Hall, which has a fabulous circular exhibit detailing the constitutional and political history of the U.S. From there it’s an easy walk down a central lawn to Independence Hall. Nearby is the Liberty Bell (likely with a line of people waiting to catch a glimpse). Rangers tell stories about the bell, like what’s the difference between the crack and the gap.
McGillin’s Olde Ale House: The oldest operating bar in Philly (since around 1860). Around the holidays it’s decked out in pubby Christmas decor and they have a few house beers on tap.
Percy Street BBQ: A go-to spot for beers and BBQ. It’s a super lively spot (I got a seat at the bar) and claims to have the largest selection of craft beer cans in the country.
Saturday
Philadelphia Museum of Art: On the river, near some of Philly’s other art museums. There’s a solid collection of Impressionist art. But the main attraction may be what’s outside the museum: the Rocky Steps and Rocky Statue. Go ahead and run up the stairs — you won’t be the only one doing it.
Vetri: Namesake restaurant for one of Philly’s top chefs, this place is warm and inviting and churns out food that’s just artful. Try the chef’s table — you’ll feel like you’re hanging out in the chef’s kitchen eating some of the best Italian food in the city.
Magic Garden: A labyrinth of mirrored mosaic walls and reclaimed stuff like bike wheels and bottles. I nominate this spot as the best place to Instagram in the city. Only 7 bucks to get in.
Dirty Franks: A cash-only real Philly dive bar (including a piñata and stuff hanging from the ceiling). Cash only. Pretty sure the bartender only heard alcohol orders; water did not compute.
Kanella: Fantastically accommodating and homey Cypriot restaurant. Everything on the menu was authentic and delicious (my Greek friend and dining companion approved). Best of all, it’s BYOB.
Sunday
Supper: Nothing says brunch like a 3-level burger and red velvet waffles. (Uh oh, looks like this place is now closed. Too bad!)
Cheesesteak wars: Tried Pat’s and Geno’s, the two Philly cheesesteak rivals that sit cady corner to one another. We got a cheesesteak (wit wiz) at each and did a taste test. The verdict? Geno’s for the win, thanks to its better meat and bread.
Published October 29, 2014 on MapQuest || If you buy things online, use a credit card or eat at restaurants, you could be earning points to use towards a flight or hotel.
The problem is, there are so many loyalty programs, credit card reward promotions and mileage mathematics blogs out there, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start.
I recently tried the churning game, but soon learned it takes far more organization, dedication and credit card spending than I was willing to commit. Instead, I focused on trying to optimize the stuff I already do to get points and miles for travel.
There are some really easy ways to earn points on everyday things like buying gas, shopping online or ordering delivery. Sure you’ll get to the free travel prize more slowly, but ignoring these options is like leaving free money on the table. Here’s how to do it. Read more…
