Ha! Now this is funny. As you surely know, I love to whine and complain about things I don’t like, including banal, regurgitative, one-upsman, and/or... »
Restaurants & Hotels & Tours
A Vegan Tourist’s Guide to Portland, Oregon
Our cheese-loving selves have a hard time thinking about ever going vegan. But we do appreciate and admire our friends who jump on the Soy Train Express. One challenge that many vegan travelers share is knowing where to get good grub when in a new place. The great thing about eating vegan (and also vegetarian) is that... »
Playa del Carmen’s Alternative Alltournative
While Cancun is more associated with the spring break, beer-swigging crowd (a Ft. Lauderdale south of the border, if you will), its neighboring city of Playa del Carmen is more low-key and offers some unexpected ecotourism and socially conscious tourism experiences. When we went to Playa in 2000, the company Alltournative was only a year... »
Eating Local in D.C.
Sixteen million tourists descend upon the nation’s capital each year. Most of them go for the monuments, museums, history, and government buildings. But they have to eat, right? We happen to be quite familiar with DC and its many restaurants and encourage you, The DC Tourist, to go beyond Starbucks, McDonalds, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, and... »
How to Own Your Own Costa Rican Cabin Retreat
“Name ten things you would like to do if money and time were no object? Ask your partner the same question, write down your answers separately and compare your lists.” According to Steve and Debbie Legg, this is how the volcano cabin retreat of Leaves and Lizards was born. They write about their experience in... »
Resort, Shmesort: Oasis Hamaca, Take 2
As you know, we like Budget Travel magazine. But not even BT can protect you from nasty resorts. In every issue, BT publishes a long list of what they call Real Deals – good package deals on destinations all over the world. Well, remember the Oasis Hamaca, our first Resort Schmesort – and therefore quite dear... »
Mindful Tourist’s Favorite B&Bs
Staying at a Bed & Breakfast is a nice way to meet the locals, get to know interesting areas of town, and feel a little more like part of the community. However, with that feeling, you also leave more to chance. Will your B&B look like your great grandmother’s couch threw up all over... »
Resort Shmesort: Colmar Tropicale
Let’s check out the Colmar Tropicale, a self-styled “French-themed resort” in Bentung, Malaysia, voted one of TripAdvisor’s Dirtiest Hotels of 2009. Here’s what guests have to say about it: “So-called attractions like the ‘rabbit park’ (a large cage filled with probably 20 or so rabbits and kids tormenting them).” and “When I opened the bathroom there was... »
Resort, Shmesort: Princess Port de Plaisance
This week’s edition of Resort, Shmesort is brought to you by the Princess Port de Plaisance Resort and Casino in Philipsburg, St. Maarten/St. Martin. According to its website, this hotel is the “most luxurious, full-featured resort” on the island, a “five-star classification.” Here’s what TripAdvisor members have to say about it: But the icing on the... »
Socially Conscious Tourism by Sea in Positano
Sometimes you can insert socially conscious tourism into your trips when you least expect it. Case in point, Positano, Italy is not necessarily known for its socially conscious tourism. Once a quaint fishing village, it now supports itself through the tens of thousands of tourists that flow through it each year. It’s a “vertical”... »
El Sol Nuestro
The La Fortuna rain was killing us. My group of seven (ages 4 to 63) had been hostage in cabins in the middle of nowhere for four days with rain falling hard every day. The humidity doesn’t allow for anything to completely dry and we wanted (needed) some new surroundings. So, we took off... »
