One disorganized woman’s attempt to organize her travel-lust…one list at a time.

The World Ice Sculpting Championships are held in March in Fairbanks every year. Sculptors from around the world gather to create massive, intricate ice sculptures. The professional entries start with 10 blocks of ice-52,000 pounds worth. Using only snow, water, and their allotted ice, the sculptors create ethereal masterpieces that will melt by June, but in March you can view them in all their glory lit at night with colored lights. [Read more →]

How to mark a Friday the Thirteenth? So many choices…the Vancouver Sun (reporting on Lonely Planet’s Best in 2009) wrote this article on the best top ten final resting places (cemeteries, tombs, and crypts). I’m guessing that Lonely Planet’s list was intended to mean the best resting places to visit, rather than the best places to end your journey.

Then, there is this article on classic horror movie locations —the Friday the Thirteenth campsite (Bergen Council Boy Scouts Camp in Nobebosco, NJ); the Disturbia House in Whittier, CA; the Amityville Horror House in Toms Rock, NJ; the Poltergeist House in Simi Valley, CA (an average looking suburban tract home, now occupied by people who may be frightened of macabre tourists lurking around their home); the Halloween House in Hollywood, CA; the 1408 Beach (the pier in Manhattan Beach, CA);  the Nightmare on Elm Street house in Hollywood;  and the Scream 3 Apartment in West Hollywood, CA. Clearly, the scariest places in the US are California and New Jersey. 

Or, if you want a corndog with your Friday the Thirteenth celebration, try this [Read more →]

Everyone wants to rank eco-resorts (the buzzword of the decade).  But no one listed my most recent favorite–Bosque del Cabo in the Osa Penninsula.  I was sorely tempted to try Corcovado Tent Camp (listed in 1000 Places…) but there were 5 of us, and they would only allow 4 in a tent, even after I promised that we could carry our own air mattress). I just couldn’t justify spending the money to sleep 8 when I only needed 5. Instead, Bosque del Cabo rented us Casa Miramar, an open air house with amazing views and fridge-raiding coatis.

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Fairbanks’ cluttered G.I. Joe Surplus store has one of the last remaining stockpiles of genuine “bunny boots”. These white vapor-barrier boots (which make the wearer’s feet look like gigantic arctic hare feet) were originally made for the U.S. military and are rated for up to -60 degrees Fahrenheit. Fashionable they’re not, but they saved many an enlisted man’s feet from frostbite-or worse. In 1994 the army went to a different supplier, and the army-issue winter boots became more rigid, cheaper, and not nearly as well regarded. The pre-1994 Bata manufactured boots are preferred by Alaskans who have been known to spell out in their will exactly who will receive their bunny boots.

I was going ice-fishing. In Fairbanks. In early March. I wanted those boots. And I wanted them bad. [Read more →]

It’s in our blood. American love road trips. Our restlessness may have something to do with our ancestors getting booted out of their home countries, but whatever the reason, the road trip is iconic. American culture is full of road trips, from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road to Easy Rider to Thelma and Louise to Robin William’s RV.

Rand McNally’s Road Trip Guide describes 40 road trips in delicious detail, though in a kind of clunky PDF format. It doesn’t rehash just the iconic (Hwy 1 up the California Coast or Route 66 through the southwest, for example) and though it’s weighted towards the west, it covers road trips nationwide. My score 11 of 40.

 For something scenic, check out this photo collection of the world’s most spectacular roads.

Here are a few tips for the quintessential road trip: [Read more →]

There’s a fun post at Matador of 15 not-to-miss Australian travel experiences.  Some (like charter a fully crewed luxury yacht) I’m afraid I’ll sadly have to miss, and some (like gambling away my travel budget at the Crown Casino Melbourne) I’ll happily give a pass. Others (watching the sunset over Uluru, braving the waves at Bondi, or wine tasting in the Hunter Valley) I can vouch for. But I lust after Queensland and the Northern territories, Kakadu and the Kimberly. My score: 3 out of 15.

I thought I’d have a lock on this list; I’m more of a town aficionado then a city-girl, and it is my home country, after all, but I only got nine out of twenty. I haven’t explored the eastern seaboard as much as I’d like and this beautiful slideshow makes me want to head east.

The selections: [Read more →]

I have a love/hate relationship with these sorts of  lists…let’s face it, “top visited” translates to touristy, crowded, and littered with souvenier shops. And yet, there is usually a reason people want to visit these places—the reason is often great natural beauty. Sometimes these spots are loved to death, but  you can find your quiet spot, or an off-season moment to discover  just what makes a place so popular.

I’ve seen 19 of the 25 top visited American  tourist spots, and have found something to love about most of them. The  two most appalling misses on my list are  the Smokey Mountains and Niagra Falls. I’ve also missed Busch Gardens in Tampa, but I feel as though I’ve seen more than my share of theme parks, so I feel no pang of regret there.

I love oddball festivals. One of my favorite memories of Belgium was the “Kattenstoet”, a festival held every 3 years in Ypres.

It supposedly commemorates a time in the 15th century when rats got out of hand in the Cloth Tower where woven goods created locally were stored before shipping. The town locked cats in the tower to combat the problem, but then, well, the cats (and their kittens) got out of hand. The answer (I was told) was for someone who drew the short straw to climb the Cloth Tower Belfry and throw the cats off the roof. [Read more →]

I’m the first to admit that Twitter often baffles and overwhelms me. But some traveling Twitter gurus are experimenting with Twitter in interesting ways. Long before the mainstream news media had picked up the US Airways flight 1549 crash into the Hudson, twitter followers of Janis Krum saw a photo of the event, snapped on Krum’s iPhone. Twitterer “2drinksbehind” tweeted a photo and comments when the Continental Airlines flight slid off the runway and burst into flames in Denver. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai were also on twitter before they were reported. 

But besides the rapid dissemination of travel disaster news, there is potential for Twitter to change the way we all travel. Stuck in Newark overnight? (Why does that always happen to me?) Twitter for recommendations of where to stay or what to do. Shoes stink? Gary Arndt twittered for advice when his sandals started to smell on the road, and got plenty of deodorizing advice.

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