Valentine’s Day is on a weekend! Perfect excuse to travel.
Last year I talked about my favorite romantic city, romantic book and poetry, hotel, restaurant, etc. in this post. Please take a look because I have not changed my mind.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Unfairly, last year, I told you about a hotel experience that you cannot have because it does not exist any more. But you CAN go to the Kimpton Hotel in Boston, Nine Zero.
A toast
Are you ready for this? The package is called “Rub the One You’re With.” It includes a one-night stay, a massage lesson for the two of you by a masseuse, champagne, take-home package of lavender and lemon oils, salts and candles, and for the practical in you–free overnight parking. $414 for a View Room in Boston on the night I checked, but the rates vary by date and city. (If the web site does not show availability when you want to go, call the 800 number.)
Since I stayed at the Nine Zero, I can tell you that if you are not satisfied with the contents of your overnight bag–or you just decide to go on the spur of the moment sans luggage, there are hangers in the closet with sexy little nothings, and lovely robes and slippers–all available for you to buy.
Actually most Kimpton hotels offer these packages, but I have stayed at the Nine Zero and can vouch for the fact it is special. Please check the Kimpton site to see where all the hotels are located and for all the fine print that accompanies the offer.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Like most writers, my mail box gets clogged with promotional pieces around holidays. Here’s a P.R. release that caught my eye, and I just wish I were going to be in New York City on Valentine’s weekend, to take advantage of this good deal. (Are you reading this, Ken?) I’m presenting the press release, pretty much the way it came to me.
Take a Trip on the Love Bus: Gray Line New York’s Valentine’s Day Deal
New York Greyhound Bus Tour
Tired of the same old teddy bears and chocolates as gifts on Valentine’s Day? Treat your special someone to one of the most stunning and romantic treasures you might have overlooked: a star-filled, skyline-topped late night ride throughout New York City – a quintessential New York City moment on a double decker bus.
Gray Line New York is offering a special Valentine’s Day bus tour where customers will receive a $25 Gift Card from Restaurant.com to use at one of NYC’s choice restaurants such as 5 Ninth or Circle Rouge with the purchase of two Gray Line New York’s world famous Night Tours tickets*.
This special Valentine’s Day promotion must be purchased online only.Tickets can be redeemed at the Gray Line Visitors Center located at 777 8th Avenue (between 47th & 48th Streets) prior to the tour.
Night Tour tickets cost $39 per adult; departure times and locations of tours are as follows: 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm from 777 8th Avenue and 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm from Times Square.
*Tours are valid for travel only on Friday, 2/12, Saturday, 2/13 and Sunday, 2/14. The Gift Card has no cash value, and may not be substituted for another item or tour.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
What are you hoping for on Valentine’s Day? Or do you wish it would just go away? Where would you like to go? What would you like to read?
Tags: Boston, Greyhound, Kimpton Hotel, New York, Nine Zero, romance, romantic, tour, Valentine
Today: An adventurous travel photographer, his young daughter–already a travel veteran, a project to spread cultural understanding that needs YOUR help, and three great travel literature suggestions.
A Traveler’s Library has the great good fortune to talk to Peter West Carey who writes The Carey Adventures, about his People, Places, and Patterns Project. He will be traveling to Africa (including Spain and Morocco; and then Kenya and Tanzania) and Nepal, photographing and learning about cultures along the way. And how can YOU be involved? Here goes:
Me: I read your interview at The Mother of All Trips about PPP Project, and you talked about travel with your daughter. How old is your daughter and how will she be involved in this trip?
Peter West Carey: My daughter Sabrina, who is 8, will be joining me on the Africa leg of the trips. Taking her to Africa was really the origin on this trip. While the trip has some certain idyllic aspects (riding camels, going on safari) I also want to expose her to vastly different lifestyles, while showing her some of the commonality we all share. And she finally had enough frequent flyer miles to make the trip less expensive. 
[Ed. Note: That is one Well-traveled little girl!]
Just tonight I started talking to her about doing the presentation at her school. Her eyes lit up. She sounded rather excited about being able to tell all the other kids about what she saw–even before she sees it! While she won’t be with me for the 50 school, 10 library and 20 community group presentations I have planned before the end of 2010, I’d love to have her share the experience from her perspective as well.
Me: You are undertaking three trips, each of which would be life-goals for most people. Why combine all three? Is there any common thread?
PWK: It’s actually three locations but two trips. Africa will be one trip, combining Spain (still not part of Africa, but close) and Morocco as one section and Kenya and Tanzania as the other. Nepal is a separate trip about a month after getting back from Africa. I had previously been to Nepal and the offer to climb a 20,000′ peak was intriguing.
After making these general plans… I knew I was going to take my camera gear… But then the question came: why? Sure, I have plans to sell some photos and write some stories to help pay the rent. I don’t believe all travel needs to have lofty reason (I very much enjoy sitting on a beach for a week at a time) but I wanted this trip to have a bit more life to it. That’s when I came up with the concept of a slideshow/presentation.
I had previously noted on my blog that I’d be concentrating on people photography in future travels. So that was one. Places seemed obvious as I wanted to give [conext to their lives]. And patterns have been a facination of mine for the past year, but I’ve never concentrated on them in a meaningful way. Natural, man-made, symmetric…they all catch my eye… Combining all three, I’d like to show how life, .. is the same in these distant locations as well as how it differs from life back home. I hope exposure to those threads and how they weave through vastly different cultures can bring about some understanding and tolerance in the view. [and some curiosity leading to travel].
Me: At A Traveler’s Library, we always would like to know–are there good travel books (or movies) that inspired you to travel?
PWK: I loved Voyage of a Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia River
[also loved] Endurance,Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
Right now I’m reading Farthest North
Me: Please just capsulize what help you need with this trip and why.
PWK: There are three things I need help with for this trip:
1. Make a pledge to the People, Places and Patterns Project. The funding for this project[through kickstarter.com] works on the principle that a project must receive pledges for the entire goal or no funds are dispersed. [Peter is over 27% of the way to his goal of raising $10,000 by February 16.] Any help is appreciated and pledges start as low as $1.
2. [Suggest]… connections at schools and community groups, starting in my local Puget Sound region and then expanding out from there. I already have invites from schools in Utah, Oregon and California and I’d love to make the presentations as widely available as possible.
3. Spread the word! This project is backed by no large corporation or media outlet (yet!) so word of mouth is key to its success. As the date gets closer I’ve had some amazing response from complete strangers offering to help… It’s a wonderful use of the internet and interviews like this are greatly appreciated!!
Thanks so much for dropping by, Peter. We’ll try out your books, and perhaps you will come back with more complete reviews of a favorite of yours once this project is complete. And readers, do take a look at Peter’s web site and consider supporting his trip in one of the three ways he suggests. After all, we can’t have too much mutual understanding in this world. [If you make a purchase at Amazon by following the link from one of the books suggested here, I'll donate the income to Peter.]
Tags: Africa, Jon Krakauer, Kenya, Morocco, Nepal, Patterns Project, People, Peter Carey, places, Shackleford, Tanzania
Great American Road Trip: Massachusetts
Dogtown, the book
Destination: Cape Ann, Massachusetts
Book: Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town (2009) by Elyssa East
Here we are in a wild, wooded 3,000 acre area next door to Gloucester MA. It may come as a surprise that we are not visiting Gloucester, a tourist mecca and authentic fishing town, or Cape Cod, or the historic and charming city of Boston.
I picked this new book because when I read it I was hooked from the very start. And it makes a good first step on our Great American Road Trip, because it reminds us of the great variety to be found in any state. You want to know about the whole state? Buy a guidebook. Here, we look for good reads that will also give you a sense of place.
Elyssa East, the author of Dogtown 
In this extensively researched literary non-fiction, East weaves together her many different tales in the way that underbrush tangles around the base of those glacier-tossed dolmens that dominate her thoughts and the landscape.
Does it make the reader want to go there? Depends. I am willing to state that the next time I go to Boston, I’ll head north to Cape Ann and explore not only the usual tourists destinations of beach and quaint fishing village of Glouchester, but also hike into the woods of Dogtown.
The only fault I can find with the book is that I longed to see the paintings that inspired Elyssa East’s journey. They probably are restricted by copyright so that they could not be reproduced. And heaven knows we can see plenty of them on Google images. In addition to his painting, Hartley wrote poetry, and here is what he had to say about Dogtown and its rocks.
Hartley, whose story gets buried (excuse the term) by the murder and subsequent trial, has words of wisdom that all travelers might well ponder. East says, “when he found a place he wanted to paint, he said that he ‘did as I always have to do about a place–look at it–see–it–and think of nothing else.’” He also quote T.S. Eliot:
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks.
Those words strike me as more inspiring than those preachy ones Roger Babson, economist and philosopher, had carved on the boulders. “When work stops, values decay,” “Keep out of debt, “Help Mother.” …Well, on second thought, I might carve that last one on a rock outside my door.
East does a good job of recreating this sometimes scary, sometimes peaceful landscape, but she also knows that you cannot comprehend a place without understanding its people. She talks with and introduces us to a fascinating parade of personalities. All in all, it makes wonderful travel literature for a road trip to New England.
For another view of Dogtown, you can read Anita Diamant’s (author of The Red Tent) novel The Last Days of Dogtown (2008)
You can always strike up a conversation with Elyssa East, author of Dogtown, on Twitter where she is @elyssaeast.
MUSIC FOR THE ROAD
Get the music to go with a road trip visit to Cape Ann over at Music Road, where Kerry Dexter has some fisherman’s chanties and maybe more waiting for us.
And, if you want more of Massachusetts, see our post on Jaws at Martha’s Vinyard, Wellsfleet, Transcendental New England, France in Boston, Spenser’s Boston and the Pilgrims. See, didn’t I tell you? A lot of variety in one small state.
And thanks to Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster for providing me with a review copy.
Did you know about Dogtown? Have you visited it? Or is this all new to you?
Tags: American road trip, BlogSherpa, Cape Ann, Dogtown, Elyssa East, Gloucester, Massachusetts, New England, road trip, USA
Please see the original Great Big Travel Literature Giveaway for the complete list of winners of all books and the Grand Prizes.
Grand Prize #1: What to Do When Book:
SUSAN REINERS
Grand Prize #2: Periscope Book Light
BETHANY BLUE
Grand Prize #3: USA Book
RICHARD WRIGHT
Grand Prize #4: YakPak Tote Bag
LAURA BARAN
I would just like to point out that all four winners are subscribers.One of th rewards of following A TRAVELER’S LIBRARY. Just sayin’.
Also note that most have been frequent commenters.
Thanks to everyone who entered. Don’t go away… More fun to come.
Travel Tuesday: NYC
Warwick Night View
Destination: Manhattan
Hotel: The Warwick
William Randolph Hearst, the Donald Trump of his day, made money in the early twentieth century as a media king and a property developer. He collected glamorous friends and stirred up equal parts of envy and admiration. In 1927, Hearst spotted property on the Upper West Side of New York that had not been touched by the building spree that had transformed the Upper East Side. He bought several lots a few blocks south of Central Park where he and Florence Ziegfield built a Ziegfield theater. Across the street he constructed a luxurious apartment hotel to accommodate his Hollywood pals and business partners who needed a convenient pied a terre in the city. His hotel, the Warwick, boasted unobstructed views of Central Park and the Hudson River. One whole floor was reserved for his mistress/sweetheart Marion Davies.
Sax in the Park
You can’t rent a whole floor, but if you are lucky, you may snag one of the suites with a balcony hanging over 54th Street or 6th Avenue at the Warwick. For twelve years Cary Grant’s movie studio reserved an apartment for his trips to New York. A balcony wrapping around his corner living room on a high floor could have starred in a movie itself. To get a look at his suite, and other features, go to their virtual tour feature.
Over 78 years the Warwick Hotel has seen plenty of brash newcomers come along, blocking its views and dwarfing its 36 stories. But the location still can’t be beat.
Most New York hotel rooms tend to favor thin people who can squeeze between a bed and a TV set. Not so at the Warwick. High ceilings and tall windows make even the smallest double-bed rooms light and airy as well as extraordinarily large. On the other hand, the lobby is small but posh. The Beatles liked the Warwick for just that reason—mobs of fans could not lay in wait for them at the bottom of the elevator.
Sir Walter Raleigh Landing at Virginia
Across the lobby from the bar, a restaurant lined with murals pays tribute to Sir Walter Raleigh. Although museums would like to acquire the murals, the owners believe they belong right where they are. Pre-eminent American illustrator Dean Cornwell painted them in 1937 and 1938. At some point a tiff developed over the amount of money being paid for the paintings, and the artist got even in a novel way. He added a number of obscenities to the paintings that would have insulted even Hearst’s freewheeling friends. Hence for forty years draperies hid the worst of the artist’s revenge (note the Indian mooning the viewer in the inset picture).
Uncovered and unburdened of layers of cigar smoke, the murals now shine in the Murals on 54 restaurant. Diners can amuse themselves by trying to spot how many ways the artist had the last word—or in this case brush stroke—in the argument. A Native American bends over with his very bare bottom pointed at the viewer. These small obscenities are woven into the complex and well done painting in such a way that it takes a moment for the reality to sink in. But never fear, the waiters at Murals will be delighted to point out the details.
In a world of gimmicks and plain vanilla chains, the historic Warwick provides a grown-up’s hotel and restaurant art with a sense of humor. Thank you Mr. Hearst and Warwick International.
*This originally was written about five years ago, so please forgive anything that may have changed. The hotel did give me a slight reduction in price and upgraded me to a suite at that time. But I have to be honest– I totally loved that hotel and heartily recommend it, even at full price.
The top two photographs were taken by Vera Marie Badertscher, all rights reserved. The Sir Walter Raleigh Picture is from a Warwick site, and you can click on the image to see more pictures of the Raleigh murals.
Do you have a favorite hotel in NYC? Share. Tell us why you love it.
Tags: BlogSherpa, Cary Grant, Central Park, Donald Trump, Hearst, Manhattan, New York City, USA, warwick hotel
No Report for January
Because of unusual traffic and numbers of comments due to the contest, I will not be counting the number of comments in January. Sorry, but I could not think of a way to make that fair to those who were leaving comments on posts rather than just entering the contest.
Likewise, popular posts was a little skewed, both because of the contest and because of the traffic brought in by the Bloggies, so favorite posts don’t mean a lot.
So, instead, I will take this look -back time to:
MY BEST READING OF 2009
Remind you to look at my list of the best literature to inspire travel that I read in 2009. Those are over at Wandering Educators.
And share what some other people have had to say recently.
A TRAVEL RESOLUTION
I loved this from Antonia Malchik at the Perceptive Travel Blog, posted January 1, 2010:
The more connections we make between peoples and cultures, the more attempts we make to understand one another — our problems, our loves, our fears, our strengths — the better chance we have of creating a planet that truly sustains life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone.
..So for 2010, I will for once cease longing to see the planet from space, and will instead hope that we will all see the planet at ground level, standing on our own two feet, from someone else’s point of view.
(I apologize, although I’ve linked to the excellent Perceptive Travel Blog, I could not find the link for this quote from Antonia Malchik. Maybe she’ll see this and come to my rescue.)
TRAVEL READING
The Dolman Award for Travel Books (Britain) 2009
Alice Albinia has won the Dolman Best Travel Book Award for 2009 for her book Empires Of The Indus.
The award, Britain’s only prize for travel books, is organised by the Authors’ Club. The £2,500 cash prize for the winner is donated by the Reverend Dr William Dolman.
Empires Of The Indus charts the history of the Indus river as Albinia travels along its 2,000-mile course. Albinia had the idea for the book during a two and a half year stint as a journalist in India.
The other shortlisted books this year were:
The Island That Dared by Dervla Murphy – the pioneering travel writer takes her daughter and grandchildren on a whirlwind tour of Cuba
Bandit Roads by Richard Grant – an exploration of Mexico’s macho Sierra Madre
Fishing In Utopia by Andrew Brown – Brown revisits Sweden twenty years after he lived there as a child
Street Without A Name by Kapka Kassabova – Bulgarian author Kassabova examines her relationship with her homeland as she revisits the places of her youth and the country’s tourist sites
Travels On The Dance Floor by Grevel Lindop – writer takes up salsa dancing and becomes so entranced he journeys to its roots in the Americas.
(These come courtesy of British Webzine, Wanderlust.)
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Here’s yet another travel reading list--this one from New Zealand.
An off-the-beaten-path book store.
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If you missed it, you might find interesting this LA Times article about books that might make a philanthropist out of a traveler.
Tags: best travel books, Bloggies, L-A-times, Wandering Educators
Its OVER…All OVER. FINI. COMPLETE. WINNERS ANNOUNCED SOON SO STAY TUNED.
The Final Prize in the Great Big Travel Literature Giveaway: A Travel Tote with a World Traveler Pedigree.
This Yak Pak Tote will carry all those books you have been buying (or winning) and your maps for the Great American Road Trip.
You are going to love this brightly colored, tough as nails bag that slings comfortably over your shoulder and holds lots of stuff (helping you to avoid the checked-luggage fees). The pattern swirls in multi colors with a psychedelic look that means you will never misplace it.
It’s zippered at the top–a feature I love in totes. There’s a roomy pocket on the outside and two on the inside–one zippered. And did I mention STURDY? Definitely unisex, by the way.
Yak Paks were developed by Stephen Hold after trekking in Tibet. It started with backpacks and the line now includes a myriad of products, including “Billboard Bags” made from recycled billboards! Most are made in El Salvador in a fair labor practices plant with an eye on conservation practices. You can see at their web site, or buy from outfitters worldwide. including backpacks like this from Amazon
If you want to win the last Grand Prize, you have one last chance to leave a comment, tweet a tweet or subscribe by e-mail to A Traveler’s Library. The drawing will take place after midnight January 29 MST, and winners will be announced next week.
As we say farewell, bon jour adieu, ciao, vaya con dios, to this wonderful month of celebration for the first birthday of A Traveler’s Library, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. You’ve broke all records at A Traveler’s Library this month–more visitors, more page views, more comments, more subscribers, and definitely more prizes. AND you’ve gotten me in the final five for the Bloggies award for best travel blog. (Have you voted? Have you told your friends?)
Now that the old prize bag has been emptied out, ready to be filled again by the never-ending onslaught of great travel literature, I hope that you will keep up the habit of visiting the Library and talking back to the opinionated commentator-in-chief (me).
What do you think about a month-long giveaway? Give me your true opinion. Too long? Fun? Boring? Get in the way of regular content? Let me know so I can plan ahead.
Grand Prize #3 AND
The Great American Road Trip
USA Book
Destination: The American Road
Book: The USA Book: A Journey Through America (2009) from Lonely Planet.
This book weighs a ton. Well not QUITE a ton, but you know what I mean. It is a nice big coffee table book printed on fine, heavy paper to show off the hundreds of photographs.
But after all, it is portraying a great big country. The USA Book: A Journey Through America, published in 2009 by Lonely Planet briefly talks about some categories of interest, and sketches out the country by regions and then it gets down to business. Each state gets four big colorful pages.
For instance, take Ohio. The capsule description reads, “Pay Ohio some respect. It’s the nation’s seventh-most populous state–stocked with roller coasters, rock and roll, Appalachian parks and party islands–and Ohio decides the nation’s fate with its political votes.” Take that, you snoothy northeasterners.
Pictures include the historic Union Terminal in Cincinnati. It is spectacular, by the way. I’ve wandered around gazing at the wonderful art-deco design and paintings. Other pictures show the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, an unidentified roller coaster. When my husband and I honeymooned in a cabin in one of Ohio’s state parks, we ventured out to go down to Cincinnati to write on their roller coaster. And of course there is a corn field.
Did you know that Ohio is home to eight Presidents? And here’s a myth from the book–Ohio births Presidents, but also kills them. “Tecumseh’s Curse” Tecumseh cursed William Henry Harrison who defeated the Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe (surely you remember Tippecanoe and Tyler, too–the most memorable Presidential slogan until “It’s the economy, stupid”). The curse said Harrison would be elected but not serve. And if you remember your history, he caught pneumonia at his inaugural and died shortly afterward. But Tecumseh’s curse went on to apply to every Great White Father elected in a year ending in “0″. And the curse claimed many victims, including Lincoln and Kennedy until Reagan broke the curse.
I think you can see from this tidbit that The USA book, besides being beautiful, will inform you and entertain you as you plan your Great American Road Trip. (But, where, Ken is asking, is the Buckeye tree and THE Ohio State University?)
This post is a triple whammy–my daily post about a book that inspires travel, the Wednesday Great American Road Trip post AND
The USA Book is the Third Giveaway Grand Prize. By the way, that picture looks like the soft cover edition, but I’ll be sending you the HARD COVER edition. When I thought about how much the shipping costs would be, I almost pulled it out of the contest, but all of you who have faithfully posted and tweeted and signed up for subscriptions, deserve a chance at this book. So go ahead, add another comment, tweet another tweet, and if you have not yet subscribed, go do it for 3 more chances. The Grand Prize Drawings will be after midnight MST Friday January 29 and the prizes will be announced next week. Good Luck. Oh, and if you don’t win, you can always click on that square in the sidebar that says Lonely Planet and go right to their site to buy a copy.
Tags: BlogSherpa, Cincinnati, Great American Road Trip, Lonely Planet, Ohio, USA, William Henry Harrison
Periscope Book Cover and Built-in Light
Terrific Grand Prize Today: The Periscope Book Light in a Book Cover
Don’t set out on a trip without this handy paperback book sized leather book cover with a built in light. You can read your travel guide or travel literature in a darkened plane, with your bunkmate sound asleep beside you, or just because it feels better than a paper cover.
This is the slightly smaller version of the Periscope Book Light that was a popular raffle item in the Passports with Purpose fund raiser. That Book Light was won by Rosalind Cummings Yeates who blogs as Far Sighted Flygirl.
You will get one chance for each time you have commented since this contest stated, either on one of the posts or with the special message on Twitter. If you have subscribed by e-mail to A Traveler’s Library, you will get three chances. You can still enter today until midnight for a chance at the Book light and the remaining two prizes to be given away tomorrow and Friday. See rules here. Comment on this post or on the guest post below. Or tweet the message given in the rules, or for THREE chances, subscribe by e-mail to A Traveler’s Library. All Grand Prize drawings will take place after midnight, MST on Friday, January 29. Winners will be announced the following week. Good luck.Good luck.
Tags: contest, Grand Prize, Periscope Book Light
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