Archive for December, 2007

What’s hot in the Caribbean? What are the up-and-coming destinations, the most popular things to see and do? If you’re asking yourselves these questions, you have come to the right place.

See yourself in the Caribbean in 2008?

As part of Viator’s annual “Top Things To Do” lists, we are pleased to announce the Top 25 Things to Do in the Caribbean for 2007.

The results are based on the actual travel choices made by thousands of Viator.com travelers to the Caribbean in 2007. And before we crown this year’s winners in the Caribbean, we wanted to draw your attention to our list of “Top 25 Things to Do in the Caribbean in 2006″, which we’ve included at the bottom of this post in case you’re feeling nostalgic about our 2006 winners.

Otherwise it’s time to crown the 2007 winners: the top 25 activities, tours and things to do in the Caribbean. Congratulations to all our winners.

Top 25 Things To Do in The Caribbean: 2007

We hear you asking, so Viator what were the big trends and surprises for the Caribbean in 2007?

Montego Bay in Jamaica: A top destination in 2007

The main trend is a big jump in travel to both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. There’s been a lot of press recently about the Dominican Republic, and it’s safe to say that the Dominican Republic is now firmly on the radar of many travelers to the Caribbean.

Puerto Rico has seen a similar bump in popularity this year, no doubt driven by the new USA passport requirements (which do not include Puerto Rico, as it’s a U.S. Territory).

The other big trend? The ongoing popularity of Jamaica (especially Ocho Rios) and the Bahamas (especially Nassau). We’re also pleased to see Aruba, St Lucia and St Maarten make the list again this year.

Now, without further ado, Viator’s Top 25 Things to Do in the Caribbean for 2007:

25. Saona Island by Catamaran, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

24. Sailing and Horseback Riding, Negril, Jamaica

23. Santo Domingo City Tour, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana and Bayahibe, Dominican Republic

22. Majestic Lady Dinner Cruise, Nassau, Bahamas

21. ATV Safari in Negril, Negril, Jamaica

20. Negril Irie Adventure, Negril, Jamaica

19. Monster 8 Wheel Truck Excursion, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

18. SUB Bahamas Adventure, Nassau, Bahamas

17. Catamaran Day Sail, St Lucia

16. Atlantis Submarine Expedition, Oranjestad, Aruba

15. Snorkel Bahamas Adventure, Nassau, Bahamas

14. Aruba ATV Mania Half Day, Oranjestad, Aruba

13. Dunns River Falls and Shopping Tour, Montego Bay, Jamaica

12. St Maarten Golden Eagle Friday Farewell Party, Philipsburg, St Maarten

11. Rum Distillery and Old San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico

10. Negril Canopy Tour, Negril, Jamaica

9. Ocho Rios Canopy Tour, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

8. Robinson Crusoe Cruise, Nassau, Bahamas

#1 in 2007: Dominican Republic dolphin swim

7. Dolphin Encounter Program in Ocho Rios, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

6. Rio Camuy Cave Park and Arecibo Observatory, San Juan, Puerto Rico

5. El Yunque Rainforest, San Juan, Puerto Rico

4. Fantastic Exuma Powerboat Adventures, Nassau, Bahamas

3. Swim with Dolphins Program, Ocho Rios, Jamaica

2. The Different Day - Snorkel, Picnic and Sail, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1. Dolphin Swim at Ocean World, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

There you have it. Viator’s list of the Top 25 tours and things to do in the Caribbean in 2007.

Stay tuned for more lists in the coming days, to help you plan your next trip across the globe. In the meantime, if your curious about the top things to do last year, in 2006, keep on reading…

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Editor’s Note: If you’re looking for a new idea in gift giving this year, we have a few ideas for you. First off a Viator Travel Gift Certificate helps you put the focus on ‘doing’ instead of ‘having’, and will assist couch potatoes in your life to do something a little different on their next trip or holiday. Alternatively have a look at the Viator Charity Page, which highlights worthy causes around the globe, all of which have gifting programs for those hard-to-please or noble do-gooding people on your list. Finally you could give a helping hand to Help of Southern Nevada along with Viator’s Las Vegas team…

Viator’s Las Vegas team at the KLUC 98.5 Toy Drive

Viator’s Las Vegas office recently participated in the annual KLUC 98.5 Toy Drive. If you’re not familiar with the toy drive, each year Chet Buchanan of KLUC’s Morning Zoo camps (as in, sleeps!) on top of a 30-foot scaffolding for the entire 12 days of the toy drive. So yeah, we felt obligated to help his cause. Sporting 4 dozen hula hoops plus boxes filled to the brim with toys donated by our office staff, we were transported by the Las Vegas Double Decker Bus Of The Stars to the toy drive’s drop-off location.

We were greeted by truckloads of bikes and toys ready to make some special child of southern Nevada very happy! As we carried our share to the awaiting semi-trucks, people from all over Las Vegas stopped in to drop-off gift cards, more toys and even more bikes.

Although we were not able to show off our hula-hooping skills, we were happy to give to a needy child’s Christmas, and we were grateful to have such wonderful people in our community, including the operators of our Grand Canyon All American Helicopter Flight and Self Drive Hummer to Grand Canyon West Rim tours, joining in on our revelry.

All toys were donated to Help of Southern Nevada, assisting individuals and families in becoming self sufficient.

–Melissa Llanes Brownlee

Largo do Senado, Macau

I was poking through the travel news this past week and ran across an article on some tourists who were none too happy with their tour of Macau. And I admit, it does sound kind of sucky, more than 100 tourists were mad that their tour guide took them to a bunch of shops instead of the historic sites they thought would be part of the tour. They got mad, one thing led to another, and the riot cops stepped in. On paper, a really great historical tour of Macau and a crappy shopping tour could look much the same, it all depends on how the tour is described and who is operating it. So how do you avoid ending up in a riot and get a great tour?

At Viator this is one of the main concerns we have with our tours and activities - how do we make sure they are all great experiences with great operators, and that any person coming to our site and thinking about a tour can easily get an understanding if its right for them. I am thinking of changing our tag line to “Riot free tours since 1995″, but there are other ways I think we embody that sentiment. Even if you aren’t considering a Viator experience, here’s some questions you should ask and things to think about to make sure you pick a tour or activity that will make your vacation memorable in a good way (not in a I-have-a-funny-story-about-finding-bail-money-in-Hong-Kong-Dollars kind of way).

1. Get as much information as you can about the tour operator and the tour you are considering. How long have they been in business and have been running this tour? Are they accredited in some way? Have they won any awards?

At Viator, we already do all this for our customers. We review every tour operator’s standing with the local visitors bureau, the Better Business Bureau, and relevant travel associations. We evaluate the operator’s customer-service procedures to make sure they meet our high standards, and verify their safety records and insurance coverage. Also Viator requires operators to adhere to the Federation of Tour Operator’s Preferred Code of Practice.

2. In general, avoid a tour with 100+ people. More people is usually, but not always, less fun. Sometimes a crowd is great - who wants to watch football alone in a stadium? But if you want a nice historical tour, think intimate. Odds are you will have more input into what you see and do.

Viator offers a lot of private or small tour options, we know that a big group is often less fun. A personalized tour is even better.

3. Get a detailed description of the tour, and if you are particularly interested in seeing something, ask if its part of the itinerary.

Viator spends a lot of time on on gathering detailed information about our tours and activities and succinctly providing that information to help customers make an educated decision about their experience. Check out Viator’s Macau tour description:

“The island of Macau is located 60 kilometres (37 miles) southwest of Hong Kong and 145 kilometres (90 miles) from Guangzhou. A 60-minute Jetfoil or Catamaran journey from Hong Kong will take you to the former Portuguese colony where you will explore the Historic Centre of Macau, which has now been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, making it the 31st designated UNESCO World Heritage site in China. Visit the Old Fort, Penha Hill, the Bishop’s Home along the Praia Grande, The Ruins of the Historic Church of St Paul and the Macau Grand Prix Race Course.”

“You will also stop at the Border Gate for a glimpse of the Chinese Border Guards before proceeding to the Casino to possibly try your luck. Depart Macau in the mid-afternoon and arrive back in Hong Kong and your pick-up point at approximately 5:00pm.”

That’s a great description of what you will see and do. Don’t settle for something like, it’s a day tour of Macau’s historical sites. Get the details.

4. Get recommendations from people who have been on the tour. This is a tough one when you’re already on vacation. You might run into someone at the hotel who happens to have done what you’re considering, but odds are you won’t. Do you want to trust the concierge, who in all likelihood won’t have actually gone on any of the tours (or worse, is getting a kickback)?

This is why Viator traveler reviews are great. There are 19 reviews of the Macau tour. You can read the honest feedback of travelers from four different continents; what they liked, what they didn’t like, and the overall star rating they gave the tour (incidentally this one gets 3 1/2 out of 4 stars). Why would we publish negative comments about a tour? Because we want you to have all the information possible. And we use it to make sure our operators are meeting our expectations - if they aren’t, they aren’t our operator anymore.

Pssst! We’re also announcing traveler photos to go with the reviews soon, but not quite yet. You’ll actually be able to see what its like to be on the tour through other travelers photos. Don’t say I told you. Scott will be mad.

5. To thine own self be true. Do things you like, don’t do things you think you have to do. Just because you are in Paris does not mean you need to see the Louvre if you hate museums. Skip it. Opt for tours and activities you will enjoy, you’re not obligated to do anything on vacation but have fun. There’s a thousand ways to experience Paris that don’t involve a museum if that’s not your bag. This can be a radical paradigm shift for some travelers, but make the leap, you’ll be much happier.

Viator knows that everyone likes to do different things. In Paris, yes, we have a great guided tour of the Louvre, but we also have 149 other things to do in Paris in 15 different categories, many of which do not involve a single painting. If you can’t find something you’d like to do, I’ll eat my chapeau.

Hopefully this advice is helpful when you plan things to do on your next trip. Not to sound like a broken record, but at Viator, we take the quality of our tours and activities to heart, our goal is for everyone to have a great travel experience.

Riot free since 1995….

– Kelly G

Editor’s Note: This is the 6th in a series of posts from John “traveler, father & wit” Ryan. He’s taking the family from Melbourne up along Australia’s eastern coast. Have kid, will travel is John’s motto. Read John’s previous post here.

Unbelievable. The pool in the backyard is out of bounds! Broken filter; broken dreams! For my wife, it represents one of life’s most crushing moments. I’m slightly disappointed. Seamus, who isn’t yet two years old, doesn’t seem to mind at all.

Still, the weather in Brisbane is great; on the border of spring and summer this really is one of the most perfect places to be. And the local Newmarket Pool is absolutely fabulous (and makes the missus a bit happier too!). It’s like an aquatic version of Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory with lots of water slides, giant colourful mushroom-shaped fountains, shaded wading pools and clear, cool water.

Seamus at the Duporth

We spent the afternoon with Elissa’s sister at the pool after a morning of relaxing and a trip to the park. Seamus is loving his holiday. He’s totally relaxed, and – by the look on his face as he slid off the pool into the water – today was his holiday highlight.

Oh, but I’ve missed a few days. Yesterday we arrived back in Brisbane after a couple of days in Maroochydore, just over an hour north up the coast. Having stayed with friends and at budget locations so far on our trip up Australia’s east coast, we splurged a bit here and shacked up at the lush Duporth apartments, perched over the point where the river hits the Pacific Ocean. Stunning.

Maroochydore is a popular holiday town, with beautiful beaches, a busy highway and malls aplenty. We filled our days with trips to the shops and playing on the beach. I took young Seamus to Underwater World - a massive oceanarium replete with sharks, seals, tropical fish, frogs and crocs – while his mum had a coffee and indulged in some chintzy window shopping in Mooloolaba. We saw the corny-but-fun seal show and fought through crowds of school-holiday kids look at the lame t-shirts in the giftshop. It was a bit crowded and a touch expensive; but Seamus looooved the seals!

On the way back to Brisbane this morning we took a slight detour to visit the Big Pineapple (see my previous post where we saw the Big Prawn and the Big Banana; marvel at the curious Australian psyche). I’d been there when I was seven, and remembered a really big pineapple.

John & Seamus at the Big Pineapple

The reality is slightly smaller (unless it has withered in the baking sun), but as a faded old tourist attraction, it’s surprisingly interesting and worth stopping by.

There’s a train ride through orchards of fruit trees, a petting zoo, a gift shop and – of course – the eponymous fibreglass yellow fruit. We picked up a pineapple (a real one – it’s an operational plantation) to eat later tonight and a strange little pineapple-peeling device as a present for my father-in-law (who likes these sorts of implements) and we headed back to Bris-Vegas.

After success at the pool today, we’re planning on a return visit tomorrow – our last full day before flying home to Melboure. The weather forecast is for another warm day, so we’re committed to making the most of it.

The pineapple, by the way, was the sweetest, juiciest specimen we’ve ever had.

–John Ryan

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s things to do in Australia, Gold Coast activities, things to do in Brisbane, and a complete list of kid-friendly and family-friendly tours in Australia.

As 2007 winds to a close, it’s time to start thinking about my own personal travel wishlist for 2008. I’ve been keeping tabs on what the big media outlets are forecasting, from the New York Times’ list of 53 Places to Go in 2008 to National Geographic’s Best of Adventure in 2008.

Both of these list are good. Yet like so many ‘top in travel’ lists that proliferate this time of year, the mainstream lists err on the side of long-haul backpacker destinations. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with long-haul backpacker destinations. There was a time when the NY Times’ top destinations would have inspired me to pack my bags and catch the next flight to Laos (#1), Lisbon (#2), Tunisia (#3), Mauritius (#4) and Miami (#5 — yes, even to Miami!).

What’s changed?

Emmett doesn’t own a backpack… yet!

His name is Emmett. He is nearly 2 years old. And he doesn’t own a backpack.

Having a toddler definitely puts a different emphasis on your travel plans. Not in a bad way, but in a way that clearly says “Scott you cannot take your 2-year-old son to India for a month… Scott your 2-year-old son cannot sleep rough in a European train station… Scott your 2-year-old son must be in bed by 7pm each and every night.”

Yes, these are the voices I hear in my head as I start planning our family’s 2008 travel wishlist.

With that in mind, here is my personal “Top 10 in Travel” for 2008. I’m hoping to crack everything in the Top 5, despite those voices in my head urging caution.

Scott’s Top 10 in Kid-Friendly Travel for 2008

1. Istanbul. This is one of my favorite cities on the planet. It has everything: good food, amazing architecture, friendly people, beautiful scenery. And it is safe. I think the family can handle a trip to Istanbul, so that’s my #1 travel ambition this year.
2. New York City. Emmett is old enough now to appreciate the sights, sounds and energy of New York City. I’d love to take him wandering the streets of Lower Manhattan, the East Village and Brooklyn, maybe even take in a kid-friendly show or two. Emmett is a people watcher, and you can’t do better than NYC for that.
3. New Orleans. I have not been back to New Orleans since Katrina; I am hoping to return this year. My wife and I were married in New Orleans and it’s certainly among my top 3 favorite U.S. cities, Katrina or no Katrina. Normally I wouldn’t take Emmett on a swamp tour or a cemetery tour. He’s too young. But I know the economy in New Orleans could use our patronage. So off we’ll all go on a few New Orleans tours.
4. Dublin. No I am not planning to introduce Emmett to Guinness just yet. Rather, Ireland in general (and Dublin in particular) is a great place to relax, have some fun, enjoy the countryside, and not worry too much. Dublin is an incredibly easy place to visit, the people are great, and in a funny kind of way it’s a perfect destination for kids.
5. San Diego. I’m cheating just a little with this selection. San Diego is a great family destination (think: Sea World and the Wild Animal Park). It’s also the home to Emmett’s grandmother, so a visit to San Diego in 2008 is inevitable.
6. Hong Kong. Bowl of hot noodles and a harbour cruise. Enough said.
7. Rome. This is the one place Emmett has already been! Rome is such a great city for kids, which isn’t something I would have guessed at before having a kid myself. So if you’re looking for a good family destination, I can certainly give Rome a huge thumbs up. So much so I’m hoping to go back this year. (Also check out the Rome with Kids travel tips on the Viator blog.)
8. Tokyo. I’m not sure what the appeal is here. Part of me worries that Tokyo is too busy, too crowded, too exotic for Emmett to cope with. But then again, maybe not. And I’ve been wanting to visit Tokyo, check out the things to do, main attractions and the like that Tokyo has to offer. So it sneaks onto the list at number 8.
9. Sydney & Melbourne (tie!). Don’t you hate it when a top 10 list ends at number 9!! Normally I do. In this case, it’s unavoidable because — let’s be honest — if I pack the family onto an airplane for 14 hours to visit Australia, we’re going to make the most if it! Given the huge pain of getting there, once we’re actually there we’ll cover Sydney and Melbourne, maybe Ayers Rock and Cairns, we’re obliged to cover all the highlights. Heck why not throw in New Zealand and Tahiti while we’re at it…

–Scott McNeely

#1 in 2007: Rio de Janeiro

Friends, travelers, countrymen, lend me your ear: It is time to crown the Top 25 Things to Do in Central & South America in 2007.

Last year the staff here at Viator.com compiled lists of the top-rated tours and activities in each of the regions we cover. Our list of “Top 25 Things to Do in Central & South America in 2006″ was a big hit, so if you’re feeling nostalgic jump to the bottom of this post and relive the glory of our 2006 winners in Central & South America.

Otherwise it’s time to crown the 2007 winners, the top 25 things to do in Central & South America based on the actual travel choices made by thousands of travelers over on Viator.com.

Stay tuned, because this list is just the first of many top 25 lists (no kidding: we’re going list crazy this year!) we are publishing as 2007 comes to a close. Stay tuned in the coming days for the Top 25 in Europe, the Caribbean, Asia, Australia-Pacific, USA & North America and the Middle East & Africa. As always, we’ll end the year with our “Top 50 Travel Destinations” list.

Top 25 Things to Do in Central & South America in 2007

We hear you asking, so Viator what were the big trends and surprises for Central & South America in 2007? Well the main trend we’ve spotted is a big jump in the popularity of outdoor activities in Central & South America. Fishing, canopy tours, 4×4 safaris, hot springs treks– Viator travelers were hitting the outdoors in record numbers in 2007.

There’s also one thing that did not change between 2006 and 2007 — and that’s the continued popularity of both Argentina and Brazil. These two countries remain the most popular places to visit in Central & South America, among Viator’s travelers.

We should also take a moment to say “hola!” to Panama; this was a new country for Viator in 2007, and it instantly grabbed a few spots in our Top 25 list. On a sad note (at least to Scott, who’s written more than one blog post about his love of Belize) is the fact that Belize has dropped out of the Top 25. Here’s hoping to a resurgence for Belize in 2008!

Now, without further ado, Viator’s Top 25 Things to Do in Central & South America for 2007:

25. Sightseeing Tour to Corcovado Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

24. Lapa Star House with Dinner, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

23. Cousino Macul Winery and Concha y Toro Winer, Santiago, Chile

22. Penguin Sanctuary and Otway Sound, Punta Arenas, Chile

21. Four in One - Best of Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica

20. Poas Volcano and Doka Coffee Bike Ride, San Jose, Costa Rica

#13: Buena Vista Hot Springs, Costa Rica

19. City and Canal Tour, Panama City, Panama

18. Arenal Volcano and Hot Springs, San Jose, Costa Rica

17. Soccer Match at Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

16. Jeep Tour, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

15. Buenos Aires City Tour, Buenos Aires, Argentina

14. Arenal Volcano / Ecotermales and Rainforest Adventure, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

13. Buena Vista Hot Springs / Canopy Tour and Water Slide, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

12. Panama Canal Transit - Ocean to Ocean, Panama City, Panama

11. Vina Del Mar and Valparaiso, Santiago, Chile

10. Tigre Delta with Bus and Coast Train, Buenos Aires, Argentina

9. Chilean Folklore Show and Dinner, Santiago, Chile

8. Santiago City Tour, Santiago, Chile

7. Argentinean Fiesta Gaucha, Buenos Aires, Argentina

#3: Balloon ride in Argentina

6. Argentina’s Opera Pampa, Buenos Aires, Argentina

5. Buenos Aires by Night - Tango Show, Buenos Aires, Argentina

4. Helicopter Tour, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

3. Hot Air Balloon Flight, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2. Plataforma Show, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1. Corcovado and Sugar Loaf Mountain Tour, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

There you have it. Viator’s list of the Top 25 tours and things to do in Central & South America in 2007.

Stay tuned for more lists in the coming days, to help you plan your next trip across the globe. In the meantime, if your curious about the top things to do last year, in 2006, keep on reading…

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Last Saturday — a cold, dark, late-autumn afternoon here in Dublin — Katie Lincoln (who doesn’t have enough interest in Premier League soccer to actually hate it) suddenly nudged me on the sofa. Mid-game of course.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

Five words usually guaranteed to bring out the childish bugbear in old Disillusioned. But I suddenly remembered that when it comes to worthwhile adventures, Katie Lincoln has this unfathomable habit of always being right. Anyway, I had a blog to write and needed something else to complain about in dear, dirty Dublin.

“We’ll walk the South Wall,” she suggested nonchalantly, as I wrapped myself up and mumbled about a missing hat. Walk the what??

She must have spotted the bemused look on my face. “Don’t tell me you haven’t walked the South Wall before? Out to the Lighthouse? How long have you been living in Dubln?” Katie Lincoln is a Culchie meaning – in delightfully derogatory terms – she’s from the country. I am Dublin born. I don’t like the notion of her having one up on me when it comes to the Capital City. But ‘The South Wall Walk?’ No. Never heard of it. Meant nothing to me.

“Of course I’ve walked The South Wall. Good idea. You drive,” I said.

Beyond here, there be monsters

The drive from the City Centre to the Dublin Docks is a short journey through the heart of the Celtic tiger. On both sides of the quays below the elegant Georgian Custom’s House, the glass and concrete towers of the new Financial Services Centre have replaced most of the old warehouses in this post-industrial wonderland. Add in the scores of apartment blocks built to house the workers for the banks and finance houses, and the docklands has become a city within a city, a city of suits, a city of eerily empty and neurotically clean streets, city of cash.

Anto on the South Wall

Disillusioned asked Katie Lincoln to put the boot down and worried for a moment that the sea itlesf might have been concreted over. But then, as we approached the mouth of the River Liffey, an old-school, rusty, industrial landscape rose up to reminds all us white-collar Tigeristas that Dublin is, first and foremost, a port. The giant cranes, the cathedral of perfectly balanced containers, the colossal oil storage tanks; Disillusioned found it refreshing to think that at least some people in Dublin do real work, you know, make things, move things, not bytes, things.

Dublin port itself sits in the protective embrace of two man-made walls. The South Wall begins just after the impressive twin towers of Poolbeg Powerstation. No, not an art gallery that was a power station, but an actual working electric power station here in the heart of the city. (”You can even arrange a tour,” Katie Lincoln informs me. Culchie strike two.) We have travelled back in time, I suddenly realise, to Ireland before the boom. Beyond here, there be monsters.

My trust in poets, rewarded

The South Wall itself was built in 1716 to stop sandbars obstructing the entrance to the port. From the harbour at Ringsend to its end it runs for 3 miles, but only the last half a mile or so is good for walking.

We took our first steps onto the wall and the wind slapped us awake. And like any good adventure we met fellow travellers on the wall: A smiling man with his young and clearly bored young son. The man had a pair of binoculars and told us that this is one of the best spots in the city for bird watching. He pointed down to the water line and we spotted a number of different species feeding on the shore. Gulls of course, the size of rottweilers, and some oystercatchers. And then one loan bird among a hundred others, a curlew – according to our guide, a rare treat.

He gave me the binoculars and I looked down at a small light brown bird with a ridiculously long, ice-pick of beak. A curlew! You can’t imagine my excitement. You see as a schoolboy the curlew seemed to appear in just about every poem – in Irish and English – I was forced to read in school. Irish poets seemed to know no other bird. An example to illustrate, from Seamus Heaney’s Republic of Conscience:

‘I When I landed in the republic of conscience it was so noiseless when the engines stopped I could hear a curlew high above the runway.’

And yet I’d never seen one. No one I knew had ever seen one. I suspected a conspiracy of poets. “I always thought they were bog birds,” I said. “At least in the poems.”

Yes, my bird guru agreed, but they have to come east to the sea to feed in the cold winter. The long beak helped them feed at different depths than the other birds on the same stretch of shore. A curlew, at last. I can trust the bards again.

No, it won’t last

Walk on. From the wall we looked across to the north of Dublin bay and spotted a kite surfer off Dollymount strand. We headed on into the wind and towards little Poolbeg Lighthouse at the end of the wall.

Poolbeg Lighthouse, South Wall, Dublin

But the real joy and wonder of this brisk little walk comes when you turn at the lighthouse to head back. Then you are shocked with what has to be the very best view of Dublin on the planet, especially at this winter early twilight. Here I could see that Dublin is a great, arcing, bay city like Naples and San Francisco. The Wicklow Mountains to the south, the beaches of Killiney and Sandymount, below them the twinkling lights of the city spread for miles in the lowlands, the wild lump jutting into the sea that is Howth Head to the north. And, at the centre of it all, I saw the port, open to the world. The boats, small cargo craft and giant Ferries, moved silently past us back out to the unfriendly sea.

So there it is, old Disillusioned impressed by something in Dublin. Won’t last.

–Anto Howard

Planning a trip to Ireland? See all the things to do in Dublin that don’t require being too disillusioned.

In my non-stop quest to make Viator the one-stop source of information for travel to Egypt…

My husband and I are not what we would call ‘cruise’ people. We have never done an extended cruise and have never been inclined to do so. When planning our trip to Egypt it became apparent early on that unless we were prepared to endure hours of car travel on bumpy, deserted roads with no speed limits - that would be NO - our best option for seeing the curiously named Upper Egypt, is by boat. I say curiously named because when you look at a map of Egypt, Upper Egypt (Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, etc) appears to the South of Lower Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria, etc). I equate North with up and South with down, maybe it’s just me. In this case Upper refers to height with Upper Egypt further above sea level than Lower Egypt…it took me a while to grasp this concept!

Anyway, getting back on track, we decided to do the 8 Day Nile River Cruise on the lovely M/Y Mirage (M/Y being yacht shaped, M/S being ship shaped - it looked like most other boats to me?!) cruising both directions between Luxor and Aswan. Each day there was a stop and our own personal guide would disembark with us to show us the ancient wonders that make Egypt so famous. At either end in Aswan and Luxor, all our sightseeing was included before leaving the cruise, so it really was an all-inclusive tour package. Now not that the fabulous temples and bazaars of Egypt weren’t absolutely incredible, but the real highlight of the trip was being on the cruise itself.

The staff were beautiful people, happy to help anyway they could to make the cruise as memorable as possible, and they genuinely love talking to visitors to their country. Egypt is not a poor country, however money is not shared fairly and while the rich are very rich, the majority of the population earn appalling wages and don’t have an easy life. Most will never leave Egypt in their lifetime and they know this, so curiosity of foreign visitors is high, and they are keen to practice their language skills with you. The cynic inside may be telling you ‘they want a big tip’, but this is not their incentive. Of course they want a tip, their livelihood depends on it, but they are genuinely interested in the world outside of Egypt. They want a tip, but they don’t expect a tip, which differentiates them from a large proportion of the Western world.

Whether it was the housekeeping staff who arranged our towels in different shapes each day (my favorite was the crocodile), or the restaurant staff who knew what Eamonn was going to ask for before he opened his mouth, everyone on the boat was there to make our cruise as relaxing and easy as possible. Add to this the service of a private guide for all your tours and sightseeing, and you are looking at a well-organized, value-for money cruising experience.

The result of housekeeping staff with too much free time…

The scenery along the Nile is stunning. Outside of the main cities, the water is a deep blue while the banks are lined with lush greenery, dramatically backed against the yellow and orange sands of the desert. From time to time we would pass small villages or isolated houses where local farmers and their families were going about their daily business. The odd water buffalo would appear on the fringe of the banks, chewing lazily on reeds and water plants. The only sounds to be heard were the braying donkeys and the occasional call to prayer from the mosques hidden amongst the palm trees.

My favorite day on the tour was during the leg from Luxor to Aswan. There is a lock that all river traffic must pass through to get between the two great cities, however, there is ALOT of cruise ships servicing the Nile.

Every house needs 2 satellite dishes, even on the Nile!

At many ports of call your boat lines up side by side with 3 or 4 others and you will walk through the lobbies of each ship to get to shore. Because of the number of vessels, on arrival in Esna it is 99% guaranteed you will have to wait your turn to pass. It may only be an hour, it may be several, it all depends on traffic on the day. When it was our turn, we spent almost a whole day waiting on the far side of the lock. This is the side without a town attached, so the boats just line up and park and there is nowhere to go. You may think - how dull! But you would be wrong, this was a great day! Without any time pressures to be on and off the boat for shore visits, we were free to laze around for the whole day. Almost the whole boat headed to the sun deck to claim a lounge and settle in for the day. After breakfast we claimed our spot and settled in, until the inboard massage therapist came around to tempt us. Eamonn was not to be swayed, I on the other hand couldn’t resist a 1 hour massage at the bargain price of $40.

Heading back to the sun deck there was some kind of kerfuffle at the back of the boat. There were about 15 boats docked side by side with a passage between 2 rows. In the passage of water between, around 30 or 40 small wooden row boats lingered, complete with yelling Egyptians throwing plastic wrapped merchandise to the surrounding cruise passengers. T-shirts, scarves, belly dancing outfits and even fake Papyrus was flying through the air, searching for a buyer. If you caught something which you wished to buy, you simply took the merchandise, put your money in the bag and throw it back to the seller. Of course this is after a good 5 minutes of price negotiations! These guys are persistent, but eventually drifted away after about and hour and a half.

Shops come to you on a Nile River Cruise

Back to sunbathing, relaxing by the pool and chatting with other passengers. The sounds of Jamiroquai and Tom Jones drifts from the speakers while we sat back enjoying a glass of Luxor - King of Beers, life’s pretty sweet on a Nile River Cruise…

-Kerrie O’Mahony

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours & things to do in Egypt. Also have a look at traveler photos of Egypt over on the Viator Flickr site.

Editor’s Note: I originally posted this back in April. Since then I’ve received numerous replies and emails about it. Some people have complained I am a snob. Others think I am being too judgmental. Some agree I’ve hit the nail on the head with my rant about the Ulles, the book, the TV show, and the cultural mediocrity it all represents.

Whatever your opinion, I am adding this preface and reposting because I have a question for you. Week in and week out, this post is one of the most searched for on our blog. Hundreds of people Google ‘1,000 places to see before you die’ and they end up here. And thus I am curious: when you type that search term in Google, what are you actually looking for? Are you simply hunting for a pre-packaged marketing concept broadcast over on the Travel Channel? (If so, I assume you haven’t made it even this far into the post…)

Or are you looking for actual, unbiased, honest-to-goodness travel inspiration? If so, let me make a humble suggestion: Skip the ‘1,000 Places to See Before You Die’ book, television show, T-shirt, DVD, podcast or whatever. Just go. That’s always the best advice. Just pick a destination and go. And as always, leave me a comment telling me what a snob I am, how wrong am I, how right I am.

* * * * * * * *

If only we had made it to Timbuktu…

Once upon a time I was excited by the concept of ‘1,000 places to see before I die’. As a lifelong traveler, the idea of visiting a thousand of the world’s most exotic, far-flung and inspiring destinations before — what’s the right word here, perishing? kicking the bucket? fading to black? — felt like something I had to do. Success was not to be judged on actually accomplishing this goal, but in the effort spent trying.

And the effort would be daunting. Assuming you can tackle 1 ‘must-see’ destination per week, you’ll need to set aside nearly 20 years to visit all 1,000 locations. On a budget of $25 per day, those 20 years will cost $182,500. If I adjust for inflation, well, we’re talking some serious cash.

But that’s part and parcel of the concept’s power. To actually visit all 1,000 places requires Commitment (note the capital C). It requires sacrifice. It is not something for weekend warriors or mere armchair travelers.

And then a few years ago I discovered a book called 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. My first reaction was annoyance. I was annoyed that somebody had actually written a book about the concept, thereby sucking the authenticity out of it by transforming the noble idea into a crass commercial project with a bottom line and a marketing plan.

I was equally annoyed that it wasn’t me who had the foresight to suck the authenticity out of the concept, by transforming it into a book with a bottom line and a marketing plan…

Clearly I had been scooped. But who was the author? Was she in the model of Tony Wheeler, the legendary founder of Lonely Planet and a man who knows travel? (Pardon this brief detour: Check out Tony’s new book, Bad Lands, an account of his travels in George W. Bush’s so-called ‘axis of evil’, Iraq, North Korea and Iran. Now that’s a travel book!)

The author is Patricia Schultz. I’ve never met Patricia. But I’m certain she is a lovely person. She is a freelance travel and fashion writer based in New York City. And as a one-time freelancer based in New York myself, I can recognize Patricia’s project for what it is: a great idea written by somebody who was at the right place, at the right time.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the concept is 100% compelling. And I think some of Patricia’s recommendations — a hot-air balloon ride over the plains of Kenya, the Pushkar camel fair in India, etc — are spot on.

I just wish the book had been written by a road-weary traveler who has spent — sacrificed, struggled through — 20 years personally tracking down each and every one of these ‘must see’ sites. I suspect that our New York City-based fashion and travel writer has not personally visited more than, say, 50 of the 1,000 places she writes about. I’m happy to be proven wrong. (If she has visited more than 200, I will eat a hat. If she’s ticked off more than 500 on the list I will personally carry her bags and cook her meals on her next trek in Nepal.)

Normally I don’t get this worked up. However a few weeks ago I started seeing television commercials — and billboards and magazine ads — about a new show on the Travel Channel called ‘1,000 Places to See Before You Die‘. The advertisements were omnipresent. They were slick. And they did a good job getting me excited about the show’s USA premiere last month. So I surfed the Travel Channel website and found this:

“Inspired by Patricia Schultz’s best-selling travel book, ‘1,000 Places to See Before You Die’ chronicles the journey of a young couple who put their lives on hold to travel the world for 14 weeks.

Albin and Melanie Ulle, newlyweds from Colorado, experience the vast beauty and diverse cultures of 13 amazing countries and approximately 100 of the 1,000 Places from the book, while unearthing all the local charms and traditions along the way!”

Hang on a second. I was expecting some life-changing description. I was expecting the Travel Channel to throw resources at this idea and to create the definitive television travel experience. Maybe my expectations were unrealistically high. But I can tell you I was not expecting “a young couple who put their lives on hold to travel the world for 14 weeks.”

Fourteen weeks? Are you serious? 14 weeks? That’s barely three months. Was this TV show really about a newly married couple who travel the world for 14 weeks? Because in most parts of the world these are called ‘honeymoons’ and they don’t usually end up on television.

I know of a dozen people out there, on the road right now, who are better qualified to lead armchair travelers on a journey to the world’s top 1,000 sites. How is it that the producers of the show don’t bother to include some authentic travelers into the mix?

The answers — that character-led programming is what drives television ratings, that this couple beat out 900 other couples in the auditions because telegenic good looks are more important than actual travel experience, that nobody really cares if the backstory is coherent as long as the program makes money — are no surprise.

The problem, of course, is that a show about real travelers, going to real places, would not make money. Alas, this is why I am not a television executive. Yet I am a traveler. I have authored a dozen travel books and visited more than 50 countries. I am not bragging. I am just saying I can tell the difference between travelers and tourists.

And on the road leading to the world’s 1,000 must-see places, the Ulles from Colorado are merely tourists. There’s nothing wrong with that. The world needs tourists. But I wish the producers had shown us the real travelers they met along the way. In doing so they would have created a compelling television program that lives up to the promise of its concept. Instead we get ‘travel lite’ with too many commercials.

–Scott McNeely

Sad but true, most days the internet bores me. Too many dull sites, too much spam, too little good writing.

But then sometimes, out of nowhere, the web gives you a one-two knockout punch of happiness. Today is such a day.

The reason? Here’s the long-story-short version. My wife likes to cook as much as possible for our 20-month-old son. And she found a blog dedicated to some very cool food for toddlers, called lunchinabox.

The pictures of homemade bento boxes are little packets of happy-happy food joy to me. Each one makes me feel at peace with the world. Knowing that “Biggie” is home making such carefully crafted lunches for her three-year-old preschooler, well, like I said, it makes me feel at peace with the world, my troubles and problems and deadlines be damned!

The story could end here, but it doesn’t. See, not only are these bento boxes incredibly smart ideas for toddlers, they are also a brilliant idea for TRAVELERS! You heard me, travelers.

The next time I fly, I will follow one of these simple recipes and make myself a DIY in-flight bento box meal. Chicken or fish? No way, give me an English Muffin bento box every time! Or a spinach tamagoyaki bento box. This will revolutionize my in-flight dining experiences.

And my seat-mates are going to be incredibly jealous when they catch a glimpse of my travel bento box. Doubly so if that seat-mate is my 20-month-old son…

–Scott McNeely