Archive for January, 2008

Things to do in Japan: #10, visit a temple in Kyoto

Editor’s Note: Cheryn just returned from a trip to Japan, so we asked for her top things to do in Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto and beyond for travelers planning a trip to Japan.

#1 Sleep on the floor

Things to do in Japan: #1, sleep in a ‘ryokan’

Forgo the usual western hotel for a Japanese inn called a ryokan. While ryokans are often more expensive than hotels, and usually come with a few rules (a curfew, for example), they give you an intimate glimpse into Japanese customs: communal baths, peaceful gardens, the ability to wear a robe (yukata) in public any time of the day.

They also offer kaiseki (elaborate and highly traditional) meals and simple rooms with sliding rice-paper doors, shrines, tatami-matted floors, and futons (which are laid out on the floor each night). If sleeping on the floor doesn’t sound comfortable, have no fears: most ryokans provide padded quilting and cushions to soften the experience.

#2 Eat fish for breakfast

Things to do in Japan: #2, eat a traditional breakfast

Food is the most elemental expression of a culture, so while in Japan be sure to try a traditional Japanese breakfast (if you’re staying at a ryokan, it’s often included).

A traditional breakfast is served at a low table with cushioned seating on the floor and includes an assortment of small lacquer-ware bowls filled with grilled fish, a ‘rolled omelet’ called tamagoyaki, salad, rice, miso soup, fermented soy beans called natto, dried seaweed, and tea. Mmmm.

#3 Take a communal bath

Put fears of public nudity aside and dip into a steaming-hot pool at a communal bath. These are known as sento or onsen – the latter uses water from hot springs. Japanese traditionally bathe in the evening, but communal baths are open for several hours in the morning as well.

Things to do in Japan: #3, take a communal bath

Don’t worry about soap and shampoo – these items are always provided, along with moisturizing lotion, cotton swabs, and hair dryers. Just be sure to first wash yourself at a shower surrounding the bath, rinsing all the soap off your body before getting in.

Soaking in steaming hot water is relaxing, meditative, and a great way to immerse yourself in Japanese culture. Communal bathing is a tradition that goes all the way back to AD 700.

#4 Sit on the toilet (go ahead, the seats are warm)

My mother taught me to never sit on a public toilet seat, but in Japan, it’s hard to resist: The seats are warm. And the comforting feeling a warm toilet seat provides is hard to express… all I can offer is that the experience is a lasting and fond memory of my travels in Japan. Being on the cutting edge of technology and electronics as it is, Japan’s toilets plug into the wall, and often offer more services than just a warm seat. Many have something akin to an armrest with buttons that operate bidet-like features and fake flushing sounds for the shy.

#5 Ride a bullet train

Things to do in Japan: #5, ride a bullet train

With 12,400 miles of track, high-speed bullet trains called Shinkansen can take you pretty much anywhere you want in Japan at speeds close to 186 mph (300 km/h). The trip between Kyoto and Tokyo takes a mere 2 hours.

The trains are operated by the Japan Railways Group, who offers 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day rail passes for unlimited travel on all JR lines throughout Japan. It’s a great value if your itinerary includes a lot of destinations.

A pass is also convenient, and does away with the hassle of figuring out how to purchase tickets. Simply show your pass to the station attendant and you’re good to go. This is especially handy as the passes work for JR’s city metro lines as well. The only hitch is you must purchase a rail pass before arriving in Japan, so plan accordingly. Also note that you can organize a Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo by bullet train over on the Viator site, including the popular Mt Fuji & Hakone from Tokyo (return by Bullet Train) trip.

#6 People watch in shopping districts

Things to do in Japan: #6, people watch

No matter what city you happen to be, there will be shopping districts. And that always makes for good people watching, especially in Japan where teenage fashion is so varied and extreme. Find a coffee shop or restaurant with a good view to while away a few hours. This is especially fun on a weekend in Tokyo’s Harajuku district, or any day of the week above Shibuya’s famous Hachiko crossing.

There’s a Starbucks with a great view of the crossing, with hundreds of pedestrians weaving in all directions at once in a mesmerizing stop-go-stop dance timed to the traffic lights. This type of crosswalk is called ‘scramble crossing’ and while there are about 300 in Japan, this one is the busiest, as it’s located right in front of the busiest train station in the world, Shibuya Station.

#7 Shop for toys

Even if your days of throwing tantrums in the toy store are long over, indulge your inner child and spend some time browsing the dense shelves of 6-floor toy stores. They sell everything from Miyazaki movie paraphernalia to scary Goth dolls, radio-controlled cars, and plastic figurines of just about any fictional character ever drawn or imagined. If the shops get too crowded, head over to an arcade and get yourself a cuddly stuffed creature from one of the many ‘claw’ game machines. And keep your eye out for vending machines that sell capsule toys–there’s one outside the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto that dispenses Hello Kitty lunch bags for a couple of bucks.

#8 Check in to a ‘love hotel’

Things to do in Japan: #8, check into a love hotel

Take a ‘rest’ in a love hotel — so named for the activities of lovers that transpire within. Although some look ordinary and unassuming, they’re usually easy to spot.

Look for discreet windowless buildings or tacky structures with bright colors (think Vegas); neon signs that advertise amenities like themed rooms, costume play, and ‘rental goods’; and a backlit picture menu in the lobby.

Renting a room for a ‘rest’ will get you a few hours, whereas renting a room for a ‘stay’ is usually overnight, and only available in the late evening.

While the whole idea may sound kinky, a romp in a Love Hotel is apparently quite normal to the Japanese, who often have little privacy at home.

#9 Gaze upon Tokyo from the 52nd floor

If you’ve seen the film Lost in Translation, you’ll know the view from the “New York Bar” in the Park Hyatt Hotel. It’s spectacular, and well worth shelling out the 20-odd dollars for a cocktail. From 750 feet in the sky, the immensity of Tokyo is a sight to behold, especially when the city is lit up a night, full of red blinking lights that make it seem as if the city was breathing. And from here, you can actually see the curvature of the Earth.

Things to do in Japan: #9, check out the view over Tokyo

If you’re only interested in the view, it’s best to get here in the late afternoon/early evening to avoid the nightly $20 cover charge for live music (the cover charge starts at 8 pm). The bar also offers a casual dining menu, and includes a $60 hamburger.

#10 Zen out

A visit to Japan is not complete without visiting a temple. Kyoto alone has several thousand of them. Built with wood and simple in design, Japanese temples are quietly beautiful, usually set in the peaceful grounds of a garden. Kyoto is the place to go.

Spared destruction during WWII for its historical importance, today the city is home to countless temples and shrines considered national treasures. The nearby temple-laden city of Nara makes a great day trip from Kyoto, if only to visit the famous Todaiji Temple, the world’s largest wooden building.

–Cheryn Flanagan

Planning a trip? Research tours & things to do in Japan over on the Viator site, not to mention Tokyo tours, Mt Fuji day trips, and things to see & do in Kyoto. Also check out the complete set of photos from Cheryn’s trip to Japan.

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day (or in dread of, depending on your romantic perspective), I’ve been pondering the notion of love and travel. Not as in ‘the love of travel’ or ‘love to travel’. But rather love and travel as in expressing your love through travel.

Do you follow me? Let me try explaining that again. The pairing of travel and love (often travel and sex) are commonplace in film, music, art, literature, popular culture. You’ve seen it a million times: a fling in Paris, a romance in Thailand, a chance encounter on 42nd Street. But that’s not what I mean.

What I’m after is how the people who love travel (and who love to travel) might express a token / totem / trinket / knickknack / ticket stub of their love, on Valentine’s Day, to like-minded lovers of travel.

I love travel, you love travel, I love you, ka-boom, let’s go travel together. That’s what I am after, the ‘ka-boom, let’s go travel together’ moment. So I made a list.

My list is for people who are tired of the same old Valentine’s Day gift options. Dinner for two. A bouquet of roses. A box of chocolates. There’s nothing wrong with showing your love with these things. But for those of you who travel blindly for love, or travel for love blindly, there’s got to be a better way to say “I love you”. Share your obvious and overwhelming passion for travel this Valentine’s Day with one of the following:

Write a love song about your travels

Playing the guitar is not easy. Writing a song is not easy. Skip ahead to the next bullet point if either of these sounds too intimidating. How to start? Make a list of places that rhyme with “I love you” (…Timbuktu, Kalamazoo, San Diego Zoo…). Or get inspired by musicians who know a thing or two about travel and love (Eddie Money, Berlin, Duran Duran, Edith Piaf, The Cure, Danzig). Shortcut: Buy the album 69 Love Songs and pretend your the original songwriter.

Write a book / blog / Myspace page about your romance

If you’re old school try the NaNoWriMo approach and give yourself 30 days to write An Important Novel About Love and Travel for your sweetheart. Or start a blog about love and travel, because honestly, I spent an hour searching the web for blogs about love and travel and there are none I can recommend in good conscience. If you’re under age 25 then you’ll need to create a Myspace profile about love and travel. Trust me, you’ll hit pay dirt.

Make a short video about your love

There are literally thousands of excellent role models to chose from, if you’re prepared to spend research time on Youtube. I did a search on travel love and got an excellent set of results. My personal favorite is here. It helps if you have video of yourself on the road, but it’s not required. Just remember one thing: don’t be like Tommy Lee.

Pop the question on the road

It’s possibly the most romantic way to express your travel-loving self to another person with a travel-loving mindset. Of course it’s not without pitfalls and risks. Choose the wrong venue and you’re toast. Don’t plan a helicopter wedding if your loved one is afraid of heights. It all sounds obvious, but hey, never underestimate the obvious. Your role models here? We have a few favorites from Viator.com, all from actual travelers who were engaged on one of our tours.

• “If I book a package to Medieval Times… will I be permitted to, at a reasonable fee, ask to have my fiancee Marry Me sometime during the performance/intermission??” --Barry W.
• “Our tour started with the Trevi Fountain, at which I asked my girlfriend if she would marry me. She said yes. We then saw the outside of St Peter’s Basilica and the Colosseum. We were then taken to dinner. Due to this night being the finals of the World Cup Soccer Championship the restaurant was empty. This was great. The owner and his wife both sang to us during our dinner. Very romantic. After dinner we were taken as close to our hotel as traffic would allow. The streets were full of thousands of people on their way to the Circus Maximus to see the Italy win on the big screen. We joined in the celebration. We absolutely loved the tour and would like to take it again next time we are in Rome.” –Kent B.
• “This was the best day of my life as I got engaged on the Canadian side of the falls!!! For any of you that aren’t taking this plunge I still definitely recommend this tour, as it really is one of the wonders of the world and is spectacular to see in real life. No photos ever do it justice!!” –Published anonymously

Say ‘I do’ on the road

For those of you ready to tie the knot and commit to a life of love, travel and romance, we have a few suggestions. Top of the list? That’s easy. The Loving You or Can’t Help Falling in Love Elvis wedding packages. That’s right, get married by the King himself in fabulous Las Vegas, where else? Or kick it up a notch with a Grand Canyon helicopter wedding for a cool three grand and change (it’s Vegas, baby!).

Hopefully by now you’re catching on to the fact that, come Valentine’s Day, there are dozens and dozens of ways to do something special, and different, with an emphasis on travel.

We wish you love, romance and travel this coming Valentine’s Day.

–Scott McNeely

You can say “I love you, let’s travel” with a new Valentine’s Day-themed Viator.com gift certificate, available in US and Aussie dollars, British pounds and euros. And if you love to travel, read Viator’s complete list of Valentine’s Day gifts for travelers or go the whole nine yards and book a destination wedding package.

Someone said the great thing about travel is the journey, not the destination. At Viator we take issue with that for about 5,000 different reasons — as in the 5,000 tours and things to do you can book in hundreds of destinations worldwide at viator.com. For us travel is all about the destination, and certainly not about the journey.

But that’s not to say we don’t think getting there can be a lot of fun. With that in mind I accepted an invitation to fly with our new partner, Silverjet, who operate one of the new all-business-class services between London and New York. OK, it wasn’t a difficult decision, given I had to fly from London back to San Francisco anyway. Why not see what all the fuss is about, and pick up a commuter flight from NYC to SF the next day?

Silverjet: Big comfy seats, less stress all round…

The Silverjet difference starts at the check-in terminal. Based at one of London’s smaller airports, Luton, Silverjet have their own separate building and a process that looks nothing like a regular check-in. Walk in and you’re met by one of their staff who relieves you of your burden; you take a seat, grab a drink, a snack, have a shower or generally just chill out in luxury. A staff member will appear at some stage to check your passport and hand you a boarding pass, but you never have to wait in line or anything déclassé like that.

The Silverjet departure lounge at Luton

Boarding is similarly low-key: the security is tight but friendly, everything flows smoothly, and things happen on time. The planes are nice big Boeing 767s, lots of room, all one class and all comfortable sleeper seats. Personal video and all that stuff goes without saying. Service on board is attentive without being overpowering and the food is exactly as it should be for an up-market carrier.

But the thing I liked best about Silverjet is not something you can see or even describe very easily: it’s the lack of pressure, the total absence of having to worry about the mundane elements of travel like checking in, lining up, getting a good seat, whether the meal will be edible, who you’ll be sitting next to, and so on. Put simply, flying with Silverjet is a relaxing experience, and sort of fun. This is probably what air travel was like on those early trans-Atlantic flights, when everyone dressed up and it was a social event.

Anyway, I’m happy to add my voice to the many reviews I’ve read in praise of this new class of airline. If you’re planning to fly across the pond anytime soon, do yourself a favour* and try Silverjet.

–Rod Cuthbert

* Apologies to my countryman Ian “Molly” Meldrum for use of his trademark line. And click here to read a previous Viator Blog post about Silverjet.

Why we travel: The View from Viator (click here)

Editor’s Note: At Viator we are big fans of Vagabondish: The Travelzine for Today’s Vagabond. So much so that we’ve agreed to swap posts on the critical question of “why we travel.” The following is by Amanda K, an Australian travel addict, writer and English teacher who’s visited more than 30 countries. Also check out her personal blog - Not A Ballerina.To read the Viator reply to Amanda & Vagabondish, click here.

Not everyone who travels becomes a travel addict. There are those people who are happy to take the odd vacation now and again, do a little sightseeing, perhaps tentatively try a new food, but are happier at home in their living room, attending to their garden or catching up with their friends on a regular Friday night at the pub.

I am not one of those people. And if you’re reading this, the chances are that you’re not one of those people, either.

Remind me: Why do we travel?

So why do we travel? And why do we just have to keep traveling? Traveling is an expensive, time-consuming hobby. I don’t dare to try to calculate how much money I’ve spent on my travels over the years. And what do I have to show for it? A few insights, some pretty photos, friends dotted around the globe who I send occasional emails to… is that a good return on investment?

I guess what I’m saying is that there is some almost inexplicable force that keeps travelers getting on planes, booking vacations and daydreaming about their next destination. It’s a strong force that’s pretty much impossible to fight.

Here’s my own personal philosophical take on why we travel: we’re trying to improve ourselves. It sounds all very noble, although perhaps it’s not what any of us are actually thinking as we rattle across Russia in a train or swallow fried cockroaches in Thailand, but I think that might be the basis of it all.

Why we travel: Expanding our comfort zone

One aspect of this is expanding our comfort zones. That’s what makes travelers different from the people who prefer to stay home – you really only test the barriers of your comfort zone when you’re in foreign countries, faced with complicated decisions and multitudes of new impressions. While confronting yourself with new challenges might partly be an adrenalin issue (if you can compare trying to find the bus station in Sousse, Tunisia with bungee jumping), I think it’s also part of an inner desire to push yourself to somehow be better, more capable of meeting challenges, to have an “I can do anything” attitude.

To be frank, I consider myself a pretty cowardly person. I won’t ride a rollercoaster if it loops upside-down, I’ll shriek if I see a small spider and I get scared before making a speech in front of my colleagues. But others see me differently, because they watched me give up a good job to travel the world with no particular plan, they know that I traveled across Russia without meeting more than two or three other foreigners, and they even think I’m brave for eating some of the more unusual Japanese foods.

Why we travel: Understanding the world

Another side of the self-improvement idea is that travelers might have an innate sense of wanting to understand the world better. The more I travel and the more foreign people I meet, the more I realize that they’re not foreign at all, and people are really the same the whole world over. Because I teach English as a second language, I get a double dose of that – in my classroom I’ll have Colombians sitting next to Koreans, Russians next to Taiwanese, and they inevitably become firm friends.

Is it too big an idea to say that if everyone was able to travel extensively we’d be able to achieve world peace? Sure, it’s a big call, but maybe there’s something in it: if everybody got to experience more of those special friendships with people from all different countries, races, religions and beliefs, perhaps a whole lot more barriers would be broken down and we could achieve a bit more harmony. Or at least we could shed a lot of the negative stereotypes we hold about other nationalities.

Why we travel: Avoiding materialism

I’m not sure whether this is a cause or effect of the force that makes us travel, but it seems to be bound up in it somehow: travel addicts are mostly people who are trying to avoid getting caught up in the materialist traps that our society sets for us. Yes, it’s lovely to have a lot of nice belongings, but we all know the research that suggests people from developing countries who basically have nothing are intrinsically happier than we are.

Unfortunately, I’ve always been a bit of a hoarder. Not of expensive material goods (I’ve never owned a brand new car, for example) but of sentimental belongings like books, clothes, souvenirs and old letters. Of course, I had to live without all of this stuff during my time abroad. I learned that I really don’t need it all. And I especially don’t need a wardrobe full of new clothes, the latest and best computer or stereo equipment, or an expensive leather sofa.

So why do we keep traveling?

The result of all this is that once we get the travel bug, we can’t give it up. And that’s because all of these goals that we’re either consciously or subconsciously trying to achieve are almost unattainable.

Once you expand your comfort zone, the new, the exciting and the dangerous become comfortable. So then you have to start all over again and find other ways to stretch yourself outside of your (now enlarged) comfort zone.

You will never fully understand the world. There are too many people in too many different places, and on top of that, the world is constantly changing. You might come to grips with how middle-aged Germans see the reunification of the former East Germany and West Germany, but then there’ll be a new generation of Germans who grew up in a unified country and have a completely different perspective.

Western society in particular revolves almost entirely around materialism and consumerism. Since I moved back to Australia, I’ve been astonished at how many shopping catalogs land in my letter box, how many people are crowded into shops to grab the latest products, and – more scarily – how tempted I’ve been to join them. Perhaps I need some more traveling to remind myself how little stuff you really need to be happy.

A Caveat: It’s OK to stay home, too

Just in case you’re a non-traveler and you’re reading this too: I’m not saying that those who stay at home aren’t trying to improve themselves too. I bet they do in a million ways that travel addicts like me would never understand. They might even end up with a much healthier bank balance than me, and a bunch of multi-cultural friends in their own city. Part of me wishes I could be like you, and then I wouldn’t feel unsettled every time I stay home for any extended time. But I’m a travel addict, and I don’t think there’s any program to cure it.

–Amanda K.

What is the travel world buzzing about this week?

The New York Times travel section focuses in on ‘Hawaii on a Dime’. (Which is a good example of synchronicity in action: over on the Viator site we’ve just completed a review of our entire collection of Hawaii tours and things to do, including dozens of Oahu and Honolulu tours and sightseeing options that will not break your travel budget.) The NY Times also shines its spotlight on Vienna (no Strauss, please) and Cape Town, South Africa.

Somebody at the Sydney Morning Herald obviously won the lottery last week; features on Brunei (home to the world’s richest person, Bill Gates eat your heart out) and around-the-world private jet tours leave me feeling economically challenged in the travel department. Luckily the Herald keeps it real with tips on visiting NYC museums for less moolah. They also do a nice job profiling the Tokyo fish market (also check out Rod Cuthbert’s tips for visiting the Tokyo fish market).

Over at the LA Times travel section, they were having a wee technical problem when I visited, but a quick check of the print edition and the story that caught my eye was about Dubai. Dubai has been everywhere in the travel press recently, and it’s been on my own personal travel wishlist for a few years now. Why? Not least because you can snow ski in 120-degree heat or sandboard at sunset on the sweeping desert dunes. Very cool whichever you choose. The LA Times Travel Blog has eye-catching stories about sleeping in a Phoenix monastery during the Superbowl; and what to do if you have reservations at the Monte Carlo hotel in Las Vegas, which caught some bad publicity on Friday when it was damaged in a fire.

The San Francisco Chronicle travel section does a deep-dive into Oaxaca, Mexico; announces a new ‘Family Travel’ column; and opens the Pandora’s box that is ‘things to see before you die‘ (uh oh, here we go again…).

The Guardian keeps the focus on winter with a spotlight on Alaska adventures and Europe’s first “eco park” for snowboarders and skiers.

Finally, Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper has tips for bargain-hunting on the streets of Hong Kong plus a feature on sea, sand and souks in Dubai. There it is again. Dubai. I really must book a ticket.

–Scott McNeely

Viator links referenced in this post: Hawaii tours, things to do in Oahu & Honolulu; Vienna tours, concerts in Vienna; things to do & see in Cape Town; New York City tours & things to do; Tokyo tours & things to do, Tokyo walking tour including Tsukiji Fish Market; Dubai tours & things to do; Las Vegas tours; Phoenix tours & things to do; Mexico tours & things to do; Family Travel Tips on the Viator Blog; 1,000 Places to See Before You Die; Hong Kong tours & things to do.

On the hunt for hot babes & air guitars at Desyniland

When you want to find something online what do you do? You search for it. It should come as no surprise that lots of travelers do a lot of searches for destinations and activities via the search box on Viator.com (see it there in the upper right corner?).

It is surprising that the Viator.com search box had over 1.2 million searches in 2007! We’re no Google (91 million searches per day), but this number was higher than we thought. All of this searching leads to a ton of data, some of it sad, some of it funny, and all of it interesting.

In the spirit of Viator’s List Mania! I bring you the bottom 10 and top 10 searches from Viator.com’s search box for 2007.

Viator Travel Searches: The Bottom 10

We had a ton of searches that only happened once, in effect a big tie for last. I handpicked 10 favorites, your guess on why people searched for these is probably as good as mine.

1. kahn - A misspelled Chaka or Wrath of? I vote for William Shatner yelling “Khaaaaaaan!”.
2. chiquittita - As far as I can tell this is misspelled ABBA song, and not their best one at that.
3. why is the tower of pisa tipping - Good question! Apparently it tips because of some very soft soil (technically called “loose substrate”) and a very poorly built foundation.
4. desyniland - The worst misspelling I have seen in our search logs, and that’s saying something. I’m not even going to tell you the correct spelling. M-I-C-K-E-Y…
5. blackberry - Leave the pda at home! You’re on vacation!
6. finish marriage - I like to think this was supposed to be “finnish marriage” which is much happier than a finished marriage.
7. hot babe -It was only a matter of time before something like this graced the list.
8. traveling tips - Just one search for this? We offer tons of traveling tips! Check out our suggested itineraries, or sign up for our newsletter to get some.
9. air guitar - Rock on!
10. invader spices - I see a great movie concept here. The pitch could be Snakes on a Plane, but with rosemary and paprika. And maybe a soundtrack tie in with the Spice Girls?

Viator Travel Searches: The Top 10

If you’re curious about the Viator search results, you can click on the link to see them.

1. discount -Many people have figured out that this is a really easy way to see everything on sale on Viator.com, hence why its so popular. And also, who doesn’t like a good deal?
2. rome - Why does it not surprise me that Rome, our #1 destination for 2007, gets searched for a lot?
3. buckingham palace - If its good enough for the Queen, its good enough for our search list.
4. vatican - Again, what a surprise that the #1 thing to do in Europe gets a lot of searches?
5. kennedy space center - Out of this world.
6. chichen itza - Actually I am impressed this many people are spelling it correctly. I think the bottom search list skewed my view of spelling competency.
7. versailles - Another home fit for a king, and not surprising given how popular France was as a destination in 2007.
8. paris - Didn’t I just say France was popular?
9. grand canyon - A helicopter flight to the Grand Canyon was the #1 activity for the USA and Canada in 2007.
10. swim dolphin - Every year more and more people love to swim with dolphins.

–Kelly G

Visit Japan for the food? That’s an emphatic yes. Japanese cuisine is a great reason to visit – nevermind the country’s castles, temples, gardens, and geisha. Eating in Japan is like a tour of historical attractions in its own right. And with more than a dozen types of specialty restaurants, my plan was to eat my way from one end of my week-long visit to the other.

Japanese food on display (even the plastic samples look tasty)

What I didn’t realize was that my gastronomic tour of Japan would shatter a few long-held perceptions. Namely, that the food is mostly healthy, often unfamiliar, and unequivocally Japanese. I was surprised to learn that many of the country’s specialties are imports, brought in from the West and refined to the point they’ve become distinctly Japanese, which (by the way) is synonymous with perfection.Whether a highly coordinated meal delivered personally by the chef, or a DIY affair cooked at your own table on a piping-hot grill (mind your elbows), eating in Japan is an experience full of variety, with a side order of history. Following are three of my favorite specialties, both foreign and familiar at the same time, that comprise a mini-timeline of the politics and events that have shaped Japanese cuisine.

Japanese Cuisine: History of Tempura

We have the Portuguese to thank for tempura: seafood and vegetables battered and deep-fried to golden perfection. Portuguese missionaries and traders in the 16th century introduced this method of cooking to the Japanese – historians believe the word tempura comes from four days known as “Ember days”, or Quator Tempora, during Lent when no meat was eaten. The Japanese added their own twist to the name by spelling the word with the character for ‘heaven’.

I usually regret eating deep-fried foods, but tempura is different: crisp, light, and not so greasy. The secret is in the batter, a purposefully lumpy concoction of egg, ice water and flour that gives the coating on the food (or ‘cloak’ as the Japanese refer to it) a paper-thin, bubbling texture. They say that tempura aficionados can tell the difference between a novice chef of 5 years and a veteran chef of more than 20. Considering that tempura is all about precision in the mix of the batter, the heat of the oil, and cooking time, it’s not surprising that a chef of 5 years is still considered a novice.

Tempura shops usually serve set meals (teishoku) that include rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickles. In Kyoto, I dined at a tempura restaurant with a menu that had only two options: ‘small’ or ‘large’. When your only choice comes down to size, you know it’s got to be good. And it was. I paid $35 for the large portion, about 12 items, each served to me one at a time by the chef himself, straight from the cooking pot. Tempura is best while it’s hot, so try to get a seat at the counter and show the chef your appreciation by eating the tempura immediately.

Japanese Cuisine: Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is a deep-fried pork cutlet (and obviously an import from abroad — what culture would incorporate both raw fish and deep-fried pork into its cuisine?). Tonkatsu falls into a category of food known as Yoshoku, a Japanese interpretations of Western fare. In the late 1800s, when Japan opened up to the West for trade after a long period of isolation, a centuries-old ban on eating meat was overturned and tonkatsu was born (the same trend has also introduced dishes to the Japanese menu like spaghetti with ketchup sauce, hamburger patties without bread, and omelets filled with rice and ketchup).

Tonkatsu. Who doesn’t love a deep-fried pork cutlet???

The origin of tonkatsu is traced back to the French item, veal cotelette and, like all Yoshoku dishes, was modified over time to suit the Japanese palate; veal was replaced by pork, grated cheese was replaced with batter, and the whole thing was deep-fried, like tempura. It’s usually served as a set meal, with rice, miso soup, Japanese pickles, and a side of shredded cabbage (an accompaniment that goes back to WWII, when skilled cooks were few and far between, and food shortages popularized cheap cabbage).

When you visit a tonkatsu restaurant, there may be several choices of set meals depending on the type of dipping sauce, additional sides like croquettes, and the cut of pork. Order Rosu-katsu for a fatter cut of pork loin, or Hire-katsu for pork tenderloin, which is leaner and a tad healthier. Like tempura, I found tonkatsu to be more delicate and less greasy than deep-fried foods of the West, an attribute I assign to the craft involved with specializing in a single item. I spent about $30 on a Hire-katsu set meal in the Ebisu district of Tokyo.

Japanese Cuisine: Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is as fun to eat as it is to say. It has an elusive history that either links this type of food to an ancient import from China, or places it firmly in the yoshoku category (though it’s unclear what type of Western food this would be related to). The latter posits that okonomiyaki was popularized during WWII, during rice shortages, and was called Issen Yoshoku or one-penny Western food.

The Art of Okonomiyaki

Nowadays okonomiyaki means “cook what you like, the way you like” and has been likened to pizza. Though aside from its round shape there really is no comparison. For starters it’s made of a flour-and-yam-based batter mixed with chopped cabbage and then pan-fried with fillings of meat or seafood. Add toppings like cheese, bonito (fish) flakes, a fried egg, or even kimchee, and finish it off with Japanese Worcestershire sauce and a healthy dose of mayonnaise.

Okonomiyaki is a DIY affair at your own table, with a spatula as cooking implement. I can’t help but think of okonomiyaki as working class food — a blue-collar meal to be eaten while consuming beer or, perhaps, as hangover food. Osaka is often cited as the home of okonomiyaki, but there appears to be a fierce rivalry between Osaka and Hiroshima for the title.

Okonomiyaki is probably the least known of all Japanese fare to those of us in the West, but commonly found throughout most of Japan. It’s become so popular, there are chain restaurants that specialize in this unique item, along with a variety that includes noodles, called Modanyaki. Typically priced at about $9 per order, it’s an affordable option in comparison with other types of food. I suggest trying it at a few different places, especially if you first wind up in a restaurant that cooks it for you, which isn’t such a bad thing. Receiving a bowl full of batter, cabbage, and fillings as a first-timer is a little perplexing.

–Cheryn Flanagan

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours & things to do in Tokyo (including a food tour in Tokyo), Kyoto tours & attractions, Osaka tours & things to do, and travel & tour ideas across Japan.

Elephants at Bioparco, Rome

Perhaps you’ve heard that Rome isn’t the most hospitable place for children and families, but don’t be fooled! Families with children of all ages will find no shortage of interesting activities around nearly every corner in Rome.

The trick to having a successful family vacation in Rome and keeping your sanity along the way is all in the pre-planning. If your children are old enough, get them involved by sharing ideas for places to visit and setting up a rough itinerary for your visit before you go. If your children are younger, think about the various ‘equipment’ you’ll need to make for a comfortable stay, whether that means a portable crib, an umbrella stroller, or special layering clothes to adapt to the hot and humid summer temperatures or rainy winters. Keep in mind that Rome means a lot of walking, so plan your itinerary accordingly with various stops along the way, and don’t forget comfortable shoes for the whole family.

Of course, you won’t want to miss some of the ‘biggies’ like the Colosseum and the Pantheon, but the following suggestions are a few crowd-pleasing favorites for children of various ages that you may not have heard about before. Categorized by age groups, you may find you can even mix and match some activities regardless of age, depending on your children’s interests, maturity and energy level.

Rome for young children (ages 3-7)

At the top of the list of things for kids to do in Rome is Explora, the Rome Children’s Museum (Via Flaminia 82). As the name indicates, this is a hands-on exploratory experience for kids, and is divided into four sections - Me, Society, Environment, and Communication - to help them discover their world. Kids can stage a mock TV broadcast or wander around a transparent, environmentally-friendly house, and the typical ‘do not touch’ signs are nowhere to be found.

The Colosseum in Rome

Villa Borghese is a definite must, with something for everyone. Visit the Cinema dei Piccoli, (Viale della Pineta 15) classified in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smallest cinema. Take a peek at the San Carlino Puppet Theater on Viale dei Bambini (Children’s Way) on the Pincio Hill. There’s a trenino or ‘little train’ that chugs around the park and takes off from Viale Goethe.

Also part of Villa Borghese and a fun stop for families is the Rome Zoo, called the Bioparco, with lots of special areas and exhibits just for children throughout the park.

For the cat lovers in your family, the famous Largo Argentina Cat Shelter is well worth a visit. Here, you’ll find friendly volunteers who run this no-kill shelter for abandoned cats on donations alone, in the marvelous setting of the Largo Argentina ruins. Tell your children the story of how Julius Caesar was assassinated here, and take them downstairs to visit the cat shop and see some of the shelter’s residents. Volunteers give English-language guided tours for free.

Rome with older kids (ages 8-12)

A trip back in time might be just the ticket for this age group, and the Time Elevator (Via dei SS. Apostoli 20) provides exactly this: a sort of interactive movie attraction with special effects that make it seem more like a ride, taking you back through 3,000 years of Roman history.

If you have time for an out-of-town excursion, the Monster Park at Bomarzo is about an hour’s drive north of Rome and is always a favorite with kids. This Renaissance garden has larger-than-life stone sculptures of various animals and ‘monsters’ that your children can climb on and, in the case of the leaning house, in!

No visit to Rome would be complete without two ‘traditions’ that you can teach your children about: the Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth) and the Trevi Fountain. Watch the film Roman Holiday before you leave for your trip, then re-enact the scene at the Mouth of Truth, having each of your children put their hand in the ‘mouth,’ which is most likely an ancient Roman drain cover. If they still have their hands after this experiment, you can be sure they’re telling you the truth - or can you? Then take them over to the Trevi Fountain to throw in some coins, ensuring your return to Rome someday.

Rome with teenagers (ages 13-18)

Ferris wheel at LunEUR

A perennial favorite with Roman teenagers is LunEUR (Via delle Tre Fontane). This is Rome’s only amusement park (known in Italian as a ‘luna park’) and is one of the largest and oldest in Italy. Built in 1953 as part of an agricultural show, it took on its current form in 1962 and now houses over 130 attractions on more than 750,000 square feet.

What teenager doesn’t love shopping? Stroll Rome’s own ‘Rodeo Drive’, Via dei Condotti, then climb the Spanish Steps where Roman teenagers often hang out, mixing with the endless crowds of tourists. For shopping on a more realistic budget, steer your teenagers towards Via del Corso.

Capuchin crypt

For teenagers who aren’t easily scared, venture down into the bone crypt and catacombs at the Santa Maria della Concezione Church (Via Veneto 27). Not for the faint of heart, this church has a permanent basement exhibit of bone sculptures made from - you guessed it - bones. Thousands of them, in fact, collected between 1528 and 1870 from nearly 4,000 Cappuchin friars who were buried here. Creepy enough to surprise even the most ‘know-it-all’ teenagers.

Family dining in Rome

Most places in Rome are fine for families, but a few places are worth a special mention. Taverna de’ Mercanti (Piazza de’ Mercanti) is probably the most authentic place to dine in old Rome. Housed in what was probably a stable from the 1400s, you pass through the medieval square and torch-lit entrance to climb a dark staircase that leads to a spacious, wood-filled, bustling dining room filled with old-fashioned atmosphere. Children of all ages can find something on the menu, from pizza to pasta and meat dishes, with a poster-sized paper menu you can take home.

Della Palma gelateria

Being a kid and eating ice cream go hand in hand, but only the lucky ones get to experience Roman gelato. Take them to Della Palma, just past the Pantheon at Via della Maddalena 20/23, where you’ll find 125 different flavors in the winter and 135 in the summer. Even your pickiest eater will find something to love.

Kid-sized shopping in Rome

Can’t go home without a stop at the toy store? Don’t miss Città del Sole (Via della Scrofa 65), an Italian chain that features a range of educational toys disguised as just plain fun.

You’ll probably see lots of people carrying shopping bags with a wooden Pinocchio on them—that’s because they’ve discovered Bartolucci (Via dei Pastini 98). Crammed full of hand-crafted pine wood toys and clocks with pendulums swinging every which way, the pure sensory overload of this shop makes it hard to keep your wallet in check—you’ll probably end up walking out with a bag of goodies just like everyone else.

Soccer fans in the family? Indulge their adoration of ‘La Roma’ at the AS Roma Store in Piazza Colonna. For fans of local rival team Lazio, the official team shop, Original Fans, is near the Termini train station on Via Farini 34.

–Shelley Ruelle

So get your family packed and ready… Italy is waiting! For more ideas see Viator’s complete list of things to do in Rome, tours in Venice, what to do in Florence, and tours & attractions in Italy.

The Future of Air Travel?

In the UK, airline flights account for 7% of that country’s CO2 emissions, but thanks to more and more cheap flights this will probably rise to 25% in the next couple of decades. Worldwide, flights make up about 2% of all emissions, and again the percentage is rising.

The numbers are not good news for travelers who care about the environment. It’s downright annoying spending a year catching public transport to work to make the world a better place, only to discover that your short break to Hawaii emitted more CO2 than you could hope to make up in 10 years of not driving.

For those who travel because they want to see the world’s beautiful places before they’re gone, the irony could blow a blood vessel – taking a plane to see the Great Barrier Reef, whose existence is threatened because people take so many planes…

So what can we do? For most of us staying home is not an option; there’s too much world to see, family and friends to visit, cultures to learn from, foods to taste and mountains to climb. And if it really is going we want to see it before it’s gone. One option is to hope the airlines can come up with a way to make flying more earth-friendly. Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin airlines, is on a mission to do just that. He’s proposed all kind of ideas – his work on using new technology to both reduce circling times and cut down the distance planes need to be towed before they take off is boring but immensely practical– but this last week one of them is off the drawing board and (almost) on the runway.

Virgin Atlantic has announced that in February it will make its first flight using biofuels. The flight – from London to Amsterdam – won’t carry any passengers, and it won’t be entirely powered by biofuel (only 20%, in fact). But Branson thinks it’s a step in the right direction. So do Air New Zealand, who are competing to get their biofuelled plane in the air before Virgin’s.

The two airlines have been working with Boeing and GE Aviation on the project, which will use conventional engines. According to the manufacturers, burning biofuels doesn’t mean modifying the engines, and it won’t affect the plane’s performance. Neither airline is willing to reveal yet what kind of biofuel they’re using. Why not, you may well ask. Does it even matter? Surely any biofuel is better than aviation fuel, right?

Not necessarily. A couple of years ago, biofuels seemed like the solution to all our problems: a clean, green way to keep our cars and trucks on the road and our planes in the air without digging up more oil and churning more CO2 into the air. Europe was particularly quick to embrace biofuels: they set a target for biofuel imports and alternative gas stations began springing up all over the place.

But it’s not all good news. As farming corporations dream of becoming the new oil barons, small-scale farmers are being kicked off their land in South America and Asia, and biofuel crops are replacing much needed food crops (with recent reports suggesting biofuels may lead to widespread famine). In South-East Asia, ancient forests and peat beds are being cleared and burned to make way for palm oil plantations so Europeans can fill up with biofuel – the clearing and burning is releasing more CO2 into the atmosphere than the biofuels could ever hope to make up. (Europe has just this past week declared that it is reviewing its biofuel targets to make sure they don’t cause more problems than they solve.)

The rethink may be the fly in Richard Branson’s green ointment, and the reason why he’s currently keeping mum about the source of his biofuel. Or it may be that he’s discovered a revolutionary fuel that he’s not yet willing to announce.

Let’s hope it’s the latter, and that it won’t be too long before every airline is filling up with sustainable biofuels, letting those of us who worry about such things fly with a clear conscience, even if it is to see the melting glaciers of Greenland.

–Jane Rawson

Editor’s Note: Read the latest on the Optimistic Fools preparation for the 2008 Mongol Rally here. Viator is pleased to be a sponsor of the Optimistic Fools rally team, on their journey to complete the 2008 Mongol Rally from London to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. We’ll be checking in with the team over the next 6 months as they prepare for the 2008 Mongol Rally. The team will also blog for us as they make their way from London to Mongolia.

Do you sit in your car each morning — or on the bus, the train or tram — the sun not yet broken above the horizon and the sleep-dust still in the corners of your eyes, headed for a day in the office thinking, “why do I do this each and every day?”

The Optimistic Fools: Christoph Courth & Oliver Westgarth

If the answer is ‘yes’ then you are not alone. We all do, we all yearn for something else, something new to test ourselves and to make us feel alive again. For this very reason Oliver Westgarth and myself (Christoph Courth) have decided to take leave from the daily grind and take up the challenge of the ‘greatest adventure in the world’. As in, the Mongol Rally. Our team name: the Optimistic Fools.

Mongol Rally, Explained

Whilst sitting in a pub on a dark and dreary Sunday morning, head pounding preparing myself for another week at the office, a few friends including Ollie and I were nostalgically discussing past trips around the world. And our dreamlike adventures for the future, one of which being the Mongol Rally. The following day while downing my first cup of strong black coffee at my desk in my windowless office, I Googled the Mongol Rally website and found that the lottery to sign up for the rally was to open that very afternoon at 2. Come 2 o’clock, I excused myself from a meeting, ducked back into my office and quickly signed up for this awesome challenge. Three weeks later an email arrived in my inbox and the planning began.

Launching on the 18th of July 2008, 200 teams of ramshackle cars and bikes will convene in Hyde Park, London, ready to journey across both Europe and Asia, to meet up again, should luck and providence dictate, at the finishing line of the Mongol Rally in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Now in its 5th year, this rally was founded not only for adventure but to help Mongolian charities such as Mercy Corps Mongolia and the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation through fund-raising and public awareness. Each team is required to raise a minimum of £1,000 which is donated to these designated charities; any extra raised by the te