April on the Press Trip Trail

There is a saying, be careful for what you wish for, it might come true. Years ago I wished to see as much of the world as possible and I have been doing a great job of it. This April a marathon of sorts begins, this Thursday I go to the Marche Region of Italy followed with a two day stop in Rome. A couple of days with Lil in NYC is quickly followed up with a trip to Salvador and Recife Brazil. Then a Canadian tourism event back in NYC. Spring always seems to be the busiest travel period for me. Last year it was Kenya, French Alps and Germany in the span of a few weeks. I still keep wishing!

Call in the Travel Channel, Testicle Festival

It might be time to put out the call for Travel Channel’s big guns, Bourdain and Zimmern. The Rotary Club in Oakdale, California is putting on a Testicle Festival to raise money for the Oakdale Cowboy Museum. Four hundred pounds of Bull’s balls will be served ensuring plenty for all. Personally I prefer fillet!

Best to the Gilligan' s Marriage in SF.

It is a wet and dreary day in Ulster County today but I got some news that lifts my spirit to the highest skies, my nephew and close friend Drew Gilligan eloped. His wonderful wife Beth is a gem and I see only happiness for two people I love. They just returned from Bali though we didn’t know it was a honeymoon. How wonderful I keep thinking, marriage is a bond between two people, both were there and that is all that matters.

Love doesn’t need a big buck wedding to cement caring and in fact I opt for simpler displays of love. Daily displays of love are key to marriage. I look forward to personally hugging my new member of family but she has been since I met her. I am so happy for you both and know that the care you show each other is not measured in fancy and big but in love. That is what counts, love you both!

Back to Marche, Italy

This week I am taking a step back in time and heading to the Region Marche, Italy. Years ago I spent time in Ascoli Piceno taking an Italian speaking course; I was a dismal failure but so enjoyed my time there. It was one of my first articles for GoNOMAD and I read it over today in anticipation:

Ascoli's ancient feel does not hold back its development or its desire to offer diversions to history. This morning begins under blue skies and bulbous white clouds at the Piazza del Popolo. A steaming cup of cappuccino at the Lorenz Café is served with gratis sweets and cookies…true decadence and fortification for the day's busy events.

The Ritz Carlton Gets It, I Got to Meet the Reasons Why in NYC

I could talk hotels all day long, love the great ones. I did get to talk Ritz Carlton over a fabulous lunch today in NYC. My hosts were Julia Gajcak the VP for Marketing and Communications and Allison Sitch Senior Corporate Director, Public Relations. Also providing insight was Jim Wells from Attention!. The few other attendees were blogger related or in an online forum of some kind.

In was fitting since I recently read a CNN.com piece by Christopher Elliott titled Pushy Bloggers to Travel Industry: be nice. It was also on MSNBC. It basically is about how the travel industry is beginning to understand the effects of blog comments in today’s world. Our own GoNOMAD Editor Max Hartshorne gave a lot of great quoted advice in the piece, the link to us was amazing.

I salute Ritz Carlton for keeping up on changes in the travel world, Simon F Cooper and his people get it. That’s what keeps them on top. By the way the lunch at BLT Market "Bistro Laurent Tourondel," was great another great Ritz marketing move.

Lunch at BLT in the NYC Ritz Carlton and meeting Allison Sitch

It is a return to NYC today for a lunch meeting with Allison Sitch, the Senior VP Corporate PR Director for Ritz Carlton. I have always been a fan of their properties and a stay in a Ritz is a special event. Lunch will be in the BLT Restaurant in the mid-town hotel. Chef Laurent Tourondel has built quite a reputation, I have heard much about the great food. As a hotel fanatic I look forward to hear what is new in Ritz Carlton's future, great food aside.

Maine Lobster Bake

Travel Writing and Keeping Track of the Seasons

Though cold today thoughts of summer popped up, the crocuses’ pushing through in today’s windy bluster helped. I have ever since leaving the two seasons of Scottsdale had a bad habit of rushing nature back here in the east. I was going through more photos and came across some of Cozy Cove in Maine. I have spent summer and fall there and now spring in my mind. I guess that some of that comes from having a winter bag packed in the summer and a summer bag packed in the winter. It is all a part of the travel writing life I love so much!

Paraty Brazil

Ethnic Eating in New York

After this recent visit to NYC I bought a book, New York Neighborhoods, a Food Lover's guide to Ethnic Enclaves Throughout New York. I vow to try something new every time I head back down.

Letting my Francophile Flag Fly

Tomorrow night I am letting my Francophile flag fly, by attending La Grande Soiree de La Francophile. At the event I will be hooking up with officials from France, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. The Payne Whitney Mansion will become a piece of art work and done up by a light sculptor, Patrick Rimoux. A reception from 7 to 10 will start my evening in the Big Apple. Tonight I will take out my French phrase book and brush up on the basics, oui and merci will not be enough. Not for any true Francophile.

Masai Faces, Kenya 2008

Dublin's Pubs, Giunness and Job Security

There is a saying in Ireland that two people cannot go out for one drink. The basis for that is that pub etiquette is such that if someone buys you a drink, you must return the favor. The real reason is perhaps that over 10,000 Dubliners make their money from Guinness one way or another.The St Jame's Gate Guinness Brewery can make 2,304,000 pints in one brewing. A kind of job security that will surely be practiced in Dublin on Tuesday, happy St. Paddy's Day.

Titanic Facts

Recently I was in Belfast and went to the dry dock where the Titanic put out to sea from. In the spirit of count down to St Paddy’s Day I decided to post some Titanic facts:

It took 15,000 workers to build the ship, earning an average of $10 a week.
It would have taken 4 months of labor to get a ticket on the ship for the average worker.
It would cost almost $400 million to build the Titanic today.

Travel Therapy, the Book

I get asked constantly where to go next by people I know. I now have the perfect answer, go to Karen Schaler’s new book Travel Therapy. This clever book has the run down on all sorts of trips to suit your needs. Take one of the quizzes and it will match up the destinations that fit the bill. I meant every word in the blurb, congratulations Karen.

Old College Photo

I got a old photo sent via Facebook from my college days. It was strange to see a face from so long ago. I was up in New Hampshire at Franklin Pierce living the wild life. I look a bit moody and sullen and I am sure broke! If I only knew then what I know now.

The Two Sides to Drinking in Ireland

Ireland has a big drinking reputation but the most consumed beverage in Ireland is tea. In fact it has the highest per-capita rate of tea consumption in the world, six cups per day per Irishman. However 457 one-ounce shots are consumed yearly by the average Irishman. In Ireland a drink is anything with alcohol. A beverage is a water, soda, juice or a cup of tea.

Merchant Hotel in Belfast, World's Most Expensive Cocktail

If Bernie Madoff didn’t steal your money and if the stock market fall didn’t sap your strength I got a suggestion for the up- coming St Paddy’s Day, the World’s most expensive cocktail. It can be found in Belfast at the beautiful Merchant Hotel, a perfect setting for living well. Saddle up to the bar and order a mai tai, not just anyone but one made with 17-year old Wray & Nephew rum. There are only twelve bottles still in existence of the elixir. The tab for one drink is a cool $1,450 not counting tip. Bet you even Bernie hasn’t had one, after Thursday it is a guarantee he never will.

Views of Old San Juan

Le Cep, Beaune France

Hiking Minnewaska, the Boys are Home

A visit from my nephew Drew Gilligan is always a highlight to me, visiting from SF. It was great to be dragged around Lake Minnewaska with someone I love spending time with.Tonight my son Chance comes to visit, love to see the boys grow!

Coffee Benefits, Make a Cup of Puerto Rican Joe

Coffee is now said to said to lower your risk of diabetes and colon cancer, cure headaches and reduce cavities. Time to put on another pot of the great Puerto Rican beans brought back, the aroma alone is a treat. An extra bonus will be sitting on the back deck with birds chirping and the sun warming things up. Coffee Article

GoNomad's New Food and Wine Page, Read about Some Food Adventures

Soon I will be headed to Salvador and Recife, Brazil and be indulging in the dishes based on azeite-de-dende (palm oil) and cassava. Food is such a huge part of traveling and taste buds easy to pack. That grilled red snapper served in a low key beach shack in Puerto Rico or a fancy foie gras de canard served in a châteaux in France are both a ten on a scale of ten. Food can define a place, mood or setting, making a travel memory complete. The Travel Channel with top food shows with Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern certainly gets it. At GoNomad we now have a page with links to all of our food and beverage articles, a tasty place to learn or relive food experiences from around the world. Pop a cork and tuck in a napkin and check some food adventures at the GoNomad edible page!

Around the World Travel Radio, Winner of an IRHA

Doing radio is one of my favorite media outlets, quick and to the point. I did a segment about my trip to San Juan and the Marriott for Around the World Travel Radio today. I cannot believe I have been doing so for around seven years now, time flies by. Around the World Travel Radio has been going since 1998 and we recently won the IRHA, International Restaurant and Hotel Awards beating some big names and tough competition worldwide. The show can be heard online and runs live on KZSB AM 1290, give it a listen.

"The little show that could," Arthur von Wiesenberger's "Around the World" travel radio was named 2008 Best in Dining and Radio Award winner at the International Restaurant & Hotel Awards gala, Nov. 16 in Beverly Hills.

Also in the running: "The Travel Show with Arthur Frommer," WOR 710 HD in New York; "The Food Programme," BBC 4; and "Chef's Challenge," ABC in Sydney, Australia.

Presenter was Anthony Dias Blue, one of the most influential wine, food and lifestyle personalities in the United States. News-Press Co-publisher Mr. von Wiesenberger, host and creator of "Around the World" — heard live 10 a.m. Thursdays on KZSB AM 1290 — accepted the award and acknowledged the global network of correspondents that regularly report on the program as well as his co-host Richard Mineards, producer Graham Brown and the rest of the "Around the World" radio team.

Host for the star-studded affair at the Beverly Hilton was Mark DeCarlo from "Taste of America," on the Travel Channel.

Other honorees include former Monty Python comedian-turned-global traveler Michael Palin (Achievement in Travel), the late Robert Mondavi (Achievement in Wine) and Carlo Petrini of Italy, Founder of the Slow Food Movement (Achievement in Food and Dining

Security Lines and Computers

Things were busy at the San Juan airport yesterday and going through security crowded. The lady in front of me as we went to pick up our stuff grabbed her tray roughly and knocked my computer to the ground. There was silence everywhere and she looked at me in horror and shame. I wanted her taken out and shot, or at least dragged away. In the USA Today cover there was reasons computers get damaged, 34% from spilled food or drink, 13% worker damage,25% not protected while traveling and then 28% by dropping them. Perhaps security check passing might just fit in the equation, slow down lady we all got tp get through security. I would like my computer to join me in one piece.

Traveling is Medicine, A Walk on Condado Beach

After watching Jonathan Tisch on Fox I headed down for my morning walk on Condado Beach from the Marriott. I headed out with thoughts about Tisch's interview about the state of business travel. Soon enough I came across a very pleasent fisherman and watched him throw a handline repeatedly out into the surf. Soon his work was rewarded and as he hung the fish from a tree to keep it sand free we chatted. The world's problems faded from my mind and I realized that traveling is medicine in troubled times.

Streets of Old San Juan

From the Marriott on Condado Beach, take bus 21 it is frequent and cheap. Heading there again today.

The World's Best 10k and the Cheer for a Flash

It was funny we thought the runners were cheering us as press at the World's Best 10k. They actually were cheering my press buddy wearing a dress. She didn't realize it till the boys below started cheering.Red faced she dropped to our platform and had to wait till the runners finally took off.

Its Snow Bodies Fault, San Juan Marriott for Another Night

It wasn’t a tough choice even for a mind tranquilized from just getting done with a fantastic deep tissue massage, a snowy night most likely stuck in CLT or another night in paradise at the San Juan Marriott. Truthfully I love a snow storm but when sitting by the fire at home. The Marriott no doubt saved US Airways staff in CLT the grumbling ranting of a travel editor, I cannot help it. I have a two visit battle going with the casino here; currently we are very close to even. Losing a bit tonight is well worth sitting on the balcony watching the waves roll on shore. Then again if I am lucky enough to be here who knows?