“It is a time to reconnect with my spirit, nourish my soul, take care of my overall health and live freely.” That is how Despina Meris describes her latest travels as the hummingbird who’s favorite color is blue. She also admits to falling down stairs – something hummingbirds rarely experience… Regardless, her site is lyrical and rich with non-stair-related narratives.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2011. | bluehummingbird | One comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: couples, cultural experiences, Europe, Greece, Italy

It was just about family when Craig Cisero made his way to Italy on a six month pilgrimage. Little did he know what would really transpire… From harvesting grapes to teaching English, Craigorio Does Italia tells Craig’s tale of tracing his roots and finding much more along the way. (The story isn’t over yet.)

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. | Craigorio Does Italia | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: cultural experiences, Europe, family heritage, Italy, United States, working on the road

Join Mario Scalzi as he explains the inner workings of Italy and how to traverse the country – be it food, transportation or the perfect un caffè ristretto. Access Italy contains a wealth of information, personal insight and a touch of humor. A “must read” for for anyone planning to visit or even just thinking about it.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. | Access Italy | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: cultural experiences, Italy, living abroad, tips & tricks

For a great mix of travel experiences, recipes, photographs and good advice, “Travel with Julie” by Julie Gilley is a wonderful site to visit. She will take you on a tour of Italy that you were not expecting. Have your wine glass ready… Oh, and your fork.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. | Travel With Julie | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: cuisine, Europe, Italy, photography, tips and tricks

Travel for this multi-talented writer is an absolute passion. A passion richly steeped in family history and one Linda Dini Jenkins has shared within her Travel the Write Way entries. She also shares her thoughts about being a writer and how to travel with others relatively stress-free.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. | Travel the Write Way | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: cultural experiences, Europe, Italy, personal experiences, travel with friends, travel writing

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | Miss Travel Girl | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Greece, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, Usher Syndrome

If places we expect much of sometimes disappoint, the inverse is also true. Today, travellers share about places they visited that turned out to be hidden gems.

From the very obscure to the well-known, each of these travel tales attests to the fact that the best moments in travel catch you by surprise.

Cambodia. (Nomadic Matt)

Cambodia. I didn’t really have any expectations about the country. I knew it would be poor, rugged, and undeveloped. But other than that all I knew was that it had Angkor Wat.  Coming out of Vietnam, a country I hated, I thought anything would be better than there. Cambodia was all the things I said but it was much more- the people were so upbeat, the atmosphere chaotic but relaxed at the same time, everyone was friendly, and happy you were there. Cambodia was the opposite of Vietnam. Though the country wasn’t pretty, the people made up for it. I ended up extending my stay, spending extra time on the coast and in the capital. I can’t wait to go back.

Tasmania, Australia. (Ant Stone from Trail of Ants)

When my girlfriend, Reb decided we were heading to Tasmania I smiled and nodded. Inside I was imagining a timid island doused in dank forests and eerie village folk nibbling on dried salmon. Then I began some light-hearted research and got snowballed by what must be the world’s most intense tourism campaign, and it almost all rang true.

Tasmania is underpinned by some unreal rock formations; from proud cliffs and classic peninsulas to the underworld realms of caves and boastful mountains. Couple this with the world’s most sublime beaches, the world’s cleanest air and a history so epic that it’s rivalled only by its future.

While parts of Tasmania remain undiscovered those that have been are deservedly promoted as regional trophies. Such a stage doesn’t just cater for the endless convoys of caravans and campervans, but also plays home to some of the most untormented populations of wildlife in Australia. From possums and platypus to kookaburras and quolls; add the infamously savage Tasmanian Devil and the absent Tasmanian Tiger (thylacine) and you have a quintessentially furry cast. Timid Tasmania turned and socked me with an unforgettable, unexpected yet truly monumental punch and I’m still unable to stop staggering.

For more information on Australia’s island state check out Discover Tasmania or follow my blog over the coming weeks.

Lake District, England. (Angelina Hart from The Little Travelers)

A place for us that was an “oh, we’re in the neighborhood, so maybe we should check it out” was the Lake District of northern England. We just happened upon the world of Beatrix Potter, which turned out to one of our kids favorite things of our entire trip. It was truly adorable for children ages 2-10. I’ve never read or heard anything about it so it was a wonderfully delightful day that wowed all of us.

Cochamó, Chile. (Eileen Smith from Bearshapedsphere)

Cochamó promised to be just another town standing in the way of home, and I was convinced to go there by a man who was retracing his own history, having been a Peace Corps volunteer in the early years in the skinny republic of Chile. I was not optimistic but willing to give this southern town on the Reloncaví estuary a try.  The water rises and falls with the tides, flooding the front yards of the hastily-built stilted homes constructed at its edge. I ate a slowfood lunch of fish and salad and the sun hung stable in the sky for hours after it seemed it should have set. I was offered and took five-hour horseback ride, ducking among the trees, eating astringent caqui fruits and hearing the white blossomed ulmos (trees) buzzing with nectar-collecting bees before I even saw them. Giant, climbable granite boulders and cliffsides dwarfed me, my horse and my ever-slipping saddle. Sunset over the estuary was stripey, perfect, and I had aromatic leaves in my pocket given to me by my guide, which I found when I arrived back to the urban sprawl of Santiago.

Nepal. (Dave from The Longest Way Home)

Like a sledgehammer on the side of my head Nepal was my unexpected gem. I’d arrived a few days before Christmas, and was expecting a place crawling with tourists, tours and soulless commercialism.

Instead I found myself walking down a near deserted road in Pokhara breathing in the winters chill air, yet still warm from the high sun. Before me a vivid blue skyline background magnified by the magnificent Annapurna ice capped mountain range. Beside me, the quite, gentle chanting of “Omadi Padi Hum”  flowed out of store fronts as a cow ambled across the road without concern. A local man passed by and pressed his hands together and greeted me with a smile and humble “Nameste” before moving on.

I looked up and felt a lifetime of emotion overcome me. It said quite simply, “this is home”. This is what it feels like.

After near 4 years of searching I finally felt something many had  ridiculed me over, and something I was desperately certain of that existed.

Nepal, is  not my home. But it did, quite unexpectedly, one winters morning give to me the gift of a feeling for something I am searching for; and now know exists.

Dominican Republic. (Rosalind Cummings-Yeates from Farsighted Fly Girl)

Because I tend to over-research like a maniac, I haven’t experienced many destination surprises. The only place that has managed to catch me off guard was the Dominican Republic. I had consciously avoided the island because the country has been charged with many human rights violations, not to mention forced slavery of Haitians working on plantations. That just doesn’t inspire many high expectations. I had been searching for an ecomomical place for a family Spring break trip last April and the Dominican Republic kept coming up. I checked the latest Amnesty International reports and the findings appeared to be a bit better, if only because of the huge push to build resorts and a subway system to increase tourism and raise living standards. But I was still skeptical. We traveled to La Romana, which is a fishing village at the southern tip of the island, hours away from the capitol of Santiago. I was intrigued by the bustling communities whizzing by on motor bikes. Mango trees seemed to dot every street and kids playing baseball were everywhere. We stayed in a hotel with mostly German and French tourists so I was pleased that we had to rely on our Spanish to communicate. From that point, we were embraced like long lost relatives everywhere we went. The warmth of the people was genuine and unexpected. The natural beauty, from caves we discovered horsback-riding, to the nature preserve on Sanoa Island, was unforgettable. Devouring the spicy local cusine of boca chica fish and mangu plantain stew, I got to talk to Haitians who informed me of the political situation. It’s not good, the Haitian border is patrolled and many Haitian workers are afraid to go home because they won’t be allowed back. But they acknowledged that there were more jobs for them and they could send money home.  I learned a lot from my Dominican excursion, mainly that you can’t truly judge a place until you’ve experienced it. 

Midwest USA. (Greg from Greg Wesson’s Esoteric Globe)

The Midwest of the USA has some great places, and most tourists probably would never think of going there.  Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha (even, a stretch to call mid-west, but Denver). There is something about the air in Midwestern cities. It’s so clean and fresh.  Omaha was quite a shock, as most Americans would probably never suggest a tourist stop in Omaha.   The downtown area is nice, they have a beautiful old market area, there are some nice lakes, and you can get excellent steak dinners for not much money.  The area is also home to many German immigrants, and thus home to some great German food.   I had an excellent meal of potato pancakes and a selection of wurst sausages at a little German restaurant in Bellevue called Edelweiss, which I would highly recommend.  Good thing the air is so clean and fresh in the Midwest, because after all that wurst, a night-time stroll to work off some calories was definitely needed.

The jungles of Laos. Photo by Derek Turner.

Lightning Ridge, Australia. (Nora Dunn from The Professional Hobo)

When I rolled into Lightning Ridge – a tiny outback opal-mining town in Australia, I had high hopes but low expectations. And my expectations were perfectly met, when I (initially) saw the faded billboards and weather-beaten look of a town trying too hard to be attractive to tourists.

So after driving more than a little bit out of my way to get there, I was prepared to drive away the following morning.

Lucky for me, I had one evening; one chance for Lightning Ridge to redeem itself. And so it did. In fact, I met such a warm and friendly group of people at a Rotary meeting that night, who introduced me to more fabulous people over the next few days, that I stayed a week in this place I had only intended on passing through. I now have friends there who will surely be so for many years to come.

Sometimes looking beyond the façade of a place and allowing its true colours to seep in can result in the most beautiful of experiences.

Venice, Italy. (Debby Lee Jagerman from Debby’s Departures)

Venice, Italy. Well, yes, I guess I had some expectations, as Venice is obviously quite famous. But, I was not anticipating that I would feel that Venice would be awesome enough to visit at least five times during my five-month solo travels in Europe.

Thinking that I would only travel to Venice once, the first time I went, I explored the tourist sites. But from that experience, I was drawn to Venice, and felt that there was so much more to discover. So I went back again…and again. I visited the islands of Murano and Burano on my next trip. Another time, I just walked up and down the busy main streets, filled with tourists and stores to people-watch and window-shop. My favorite trip was strolling off the beaten path, exploring the quiet side streets, and experiencing the local life. I saw locals use boats as most of us do cars, children playing, and women preparing fresh greens for the evening meal.

Finally, I took my mother and sister to Venice so that they could experience the magic of this city, and so that we could take a sunset Gondola ride together.

And yes, I would even go back again!

Grand Canyon, USA. (Tammie Dooley from Solo Road Trip)

My son and I set out for the Grand Canyon to celebrate his graduation from HS. Seventeen hours later a parking lot filled with buses, crawling with fellow travelers, greeted us. Both had envisioned the Grand Canyon with its sweeping vistas of color, water, sky – not this. We’d projected ourselves into a pristine environment, feet dangling over the side of a steep drop-off, wind ruffling our hair. Struggling to a point that provided a glimpse of the canyon, we returned to the car dejected by our disillusions. At the exit a Ranger asked how we’d enjoyed the Grand Canyon. “We were hoping for something, uhhh, quieter with better views.” The Ranger said, “I don’t know how much time you have, but if you travel to the North Rim of the canyon you’ll get what you came for. Only 10% of the people seeing the Grand Canyon see the North Rim. There’s only one drawback, it’s a 5 hour drive from here.” We thought “exclusivity, feet dangling over the sides, wind ruffling our hair – we’re there!” Wildlife, sunshine, and the slightest of breezes met us this time. Giddy with seeing the panorama before us, we frolicked on the unprotected edges of the pristine North Rim until dark. It was better than anything we’d dreamed.

Po Lin Monastery, Hong Kong. (Nikolas Tjhin from Unearthing Asia)

On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I visited the Lantau Island and went over to the Giant Buddha Statue at the Po Lin Monastery. I wasn’t expecting much, judging from what my local friends said. But as you may as well know by now, travelers would often be intrigued by the small little things that locals find unamusing. This was definitely a good example of that!

The journey towards Po Lin Monastery started with a 20-minutes cable car ride called the Ngong Ping 360, towards Lantau Island from Tung Chung MTR Station. This was an experience in and of itself, with the amazing view to be enjoyed throughout the ride. I can see a walking pathway down below the cable car, which turns out to be this adventurous hiking trail around the island. The ride stopped at Ngong Ping cultural village in which tourists can shop and unwind, but I was more interested with the Giant Buddha Statue and immediately made my way towards Po Lin Monastery.

The walk was steep and the wind cooling (it was winter time in HK), but it was worth the effort – the Giant Buddha Statue was truly a sight to behold. Over 34 metres of bronze atop 268 steps of stairs! There are relics of Sidartha Gautama himself, and various carvings, scriptures and statues. Nearby, I also visited the Monastery which featured a grandiose hall with colorful carvings and paintings. All in all, definitely worth a day trip visit!

Laos. (Derek Turner from The World By Sea)

To be shamefully honest, I couldn’t have even told you where Laos was when I first arrived to Asia. But every time I’d meet a person who’d experienced Asia and the country was mentioned, their eyes would go distant and with a slight smile, they’d murmur something like, “Ahh… Laos…”

Two months later I learned why. My Loatian adventure began with a ½ day drive and a 7-hour hike into a remote village. Oxen stood with goats, stood with chickens and dogs. Children stood barren amongst grass-covered huts. All watching as I walked muddy paths through their village. Corn grew tall, next to fields of rice, next to thick jungles. It felt pure, untouched.

I zip-lined into tree houses, slept atop trees, under nets to the symphonic sounds of nature, and woke to howling gibbons. I rode my bike through villages to waterfalls, and traveled by boat and tube down the Mekong. The people were poor, but no one seemed to notice. I’m not sure in all my travels that I’ve ever a people more genuine-quick to smile and say hello, with nothing at all to sell. It was beautiful.

It’s a place I never planned on visiting, but anytime I pause at the beautiful picture painted by my experience, I can’t help but stare into the distance and smile slightly… Ahh, Laos…

What about you? Have you ever been pleasantly surprised to discover a hidden gem on your travels?

© Gretchen Wilson-Kalav for TravelBlogs, 2009. | 12 Hidden Gems: Great Destinations that Caught Us by Surprise | 18 comments |
Post categories: Panel Discussions
Post tags: Australia, Cambodia, Chile, Cochamó, Dominican Republic, England, Grand Canyon, Hong Kong, Italy, Lake District, Laos, Lightning Ridge, Nepal, off-the-beaten-track, Omaha, Po Lin Monastery, Tasmania, USA, Venice

© Eric Daams for TravelBlogs, 2008. | Le Blog Laura | No comment |
Post categories: Blogs
Post tags: Europe, female travellers, France, Greece, Italy, solo travel, travel writing

At 22, Michael Gyulai graduated from college and moved to Rome with a simple goal: “To really live there. To understand the place like a local.” Midnight in Rome, a memoir about the time he spent in Rome, is an engaging exploration of just how difficult it can be for travellers to immerse themselves in a foreign culture.

The narrative finds Michael in Rome, where dwindling finances are forcing him to look for work, a process made more difficult by Italian bureaucracy. But he does find a job, and that’s when the real cultural immersion begins. Taking up a part-time position at a modern nightclub, Michael struggles through the language barrier to develop relationships with his Italian co-workers. While still hampered by an inability to converse as freely as he’d like, Michael’s co-workers pull him into their world, immersing him in modern-day Rome.

At the same time, Michael’s perspective of Rome changes, from a city of vespas, cobblestone and pizza, to a city of unrequited love, drugs and confusion. The reality of every-day Rome starts to displace its popular imagery.

I enjoyed Midnight in Rome for its first-hand look at how the modern intersects with the ancient in Rome; how a visitor’s notions of what a city should be like are often upturned by the reality of what it is like; and how language creates a barrier for anyone trying to experience a foreign culture from a local perspective. While the book’s narrative is centered in Rome, many of its themes are common for travellers visiting anywhere foreign.

After finishing the book, I exchanged emails with Michael. In this short interview, he talks a little about his decision to write Midnight in Rome and his experiences in Rome.

Why did you decide to write Midnight in Rome?

I was 23, my bank account had all but emptied, my visa long expired, and I had to accept the possibility of deportation every day I went into work—all while transitioning into independent, self-sustaining adulthood.

While living in Rome I would receive book recommendations from my friends back in the US. All the books seemed to be similar: they were comprised of soft, anecdotal essays written by semi-retired expatriates whose biggest concerns seemed to revolve around finding a punctual plumber or getting their villa painted before the August vacation. Meanwhile I was 23, my bank account had all but emptied, my visa long expired, and I had to accept the possibility of deportation every day I went into work—all while transitioning into independent, self-sustaining adulthood. I found so little to be relatable in those books that I felt I had to publish my own story. I had to give a voice to the confused, illegal, struggling young expatriate.

You set off for Rome straight after you finished college. In retrospect, how important do you think your time in Rome was to you?

It was the most potent period of self-actualization I may ever experience. To turn on the television was to expand my vocabulary in Italian. Reading tabloids taught me modern Italian slang. Simply existing another day in Rome after my three-month tourist visa had expired became another battle won—and I lived there two years after that. That’s 730 mornings waking up and feeling conquest. It was absurd—the level of achievement I was feeling. By the time I left Rome I had the key to an upscale lounge in the city center on my keychain and was training incoming Italians in the craft of bartending. The crash coming back to California was immense—it was just an unrealistic atmosphere to maintain.

At the start of the book, you write about a conversation you have with a friend. You tell her that you want to move to Rome “to really live there” and “understand the place like a local”. Do you think you eventually were able to understand it like a local?

Something I did not understand when I had that conversation was that there are many different ways to be “a local.” I had just graduated college, and thus assumed being “local” would entail acquiring a social network of other young Italian professionals. I took my life in California and transposed it onto the Roman landscape, and translated it into the Italian language, and that was my vision. Where I ended up was off the tourist map, in a zone of the city know for high densities of immigrants, socializing with young nightlife employees whose priority was survival, not career building. The Rome I now know is one of taverns and nightclubs, bartenders and promoters, after-hours clubs and winding back alleyways. But do I know them as well as a local? Absolutely.

Midnight in Rome can be purchased through Amazon.com. You can read the first chapter online at MidnightInRome.com.

© Eric Daams for TravelBlogs, 2008. | Midnight In Rome: Book Review and Interview with Michael Gyulai | 9 comments |
Post categories: Book Reviews, Interviews
Post tags: Italy, living abroad, Rome, travel books, travel writing