Traveling with the Jones

Here’s a quick list of travel discoveries we made this weekend from around the web:

1. Our airline experiences do not mesh with the 2014 Rankings of the Best U.S. Airlines compiled by the Airfarewatchdog team. The top eight U.S. carriers were ranked based on their performance in canceled flights, on-time arrivals, mishandled bags, denied boardings, and customer satisfaction – and our favorite two airlines – Southwest and United came in sixth and eight (or last place) in the rankings.

Taking advantage of my A-List Preferred status and Companion Pass, we find Southwest generally a great airline to get us around the country with no fee to check two bags and no fees to change or cancel tickets.  Aided by Mr. Jones 1K status with United, we’ve enjoyed some fantastic travels through United’s Star Alliance partners. Hopefully, Southwest will get its merger issues resolved and United will improve it’s overall customer satisfaction. 

2. As we move toward the end of summer, we wouldn’t mind a visit to any of these 11 Rooftop Hotel Bars for Hot Summer Nights rounded up by Joy Pecknold in the Huffington Post.

3. We often rely on Yelp to help us locate good, local places to eat or drink when we are in a new destination. We are not, however, thrilled to learn from Dennis Schaal’s article in Skift that an update to the Yelp iPhone app now enables users to add 3-12 second videos of their favorite or out-of-favor restaurants, attractions, and other businesses. Shooting videos while dining in restaurants or enjoying a relaxing cocktail in an elegant bar – eek!

4. Since one of our most memorable meals from our summer in Europe was a long, late lunch on the beach at Positano, Italy, we loved this article from Lonely Planet on How to eat like a local on Italy’s Amalfi Coast.

5. While we may not travel in the same style as Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, we have to agree with his comments on why traveling with family is the ultimate luxury, from the Wall Street Journal article: Francis Ford Coppola Talks Travel.

“The ultimate luxury is: traveling with family. My family is spread around in different places, and travel means we can get together with the kids and see the grandkids and have time with them. At a certain point in your life, you get the idea that if you buy a new car, it’s a thrill for about a week. After a while it no longer continues to give you that pleasure. Material objects are very short lived, but a memory with your family lives forever.”

Do you have a different opinion? Please share in comments below.

May you have a great week of travels!

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When I was going on my choir trip to Hungary, Austria, and Germany it was highly advisable to stay in a group and pay attention to the tours. We also had the option to leave the tour and visit stores of the local areas. I found that the tours were useful in summing up the general idea of the city, but I was always more curious about what the local people were doing.

Sticking to the tours or a large group never allowed me to dig down closer to the cultural epicenter. To my surprise, once I got to talking to local people, I learned they often have the same desires and complaints in their country as we do in our own country. Unappreciative kids, snooty customers, and water bills, to name a few.

My takeaway: visiting places beyond mainstream tour sites may help visitors gain a more authentic experience.

Here are seven steps to making your experience more authentic.

Step #1.  Learn the language

Learning the language, as in the previous post How Learning the Language of the Country You Are Visiting Can Give You A More Fulfilling Experience, gets you connected to your surroundings more easily. It also tells the locals that you speak with that you respect their culture. You will also  be more likely to find local restaurants that aren’t overwhelmed with hundreds of people.

Step #2. Talk with as many local people as possible, and make friends

I understand that some of us aren’t outgoing sorts, but it’s worth the effort to reach out.  While in Austria, we visited with a man who owned a tiny cheese shop. By talking to the man in the cheese shop we discovered a variety of European cheeses, heard the story of the man’s life, and where he has traveled. When you make friends with locals, you are more likely to learn the places where they go regularly, or places that are hidden beyond the popular tourist sites.

Step #3. Deviate from the group

It may be scary. But if you are old enough, have a map, and are brave enough to rough it on your own, then you may gain the benefits of looking at what you want to look at and going where you want to go.  Because I deviated away from the group a bit, I got to see many more things.

Step 4# Research your destinations before your trip begins 

It helps to know a little bit of the culture, food, history, and prominent buildings of the area that you are visiting. Doing so allows you to be more familiar with what the tour guides are saying. Advance research can also give you an idea of what you want to taste and see when you do deviate from the group.

Step #5. Explore and don’t be afraid to get lost

Usually the most memorable and cherished experiences happen when you happen upon places that you did not expect to find. Have faith that you will always be able to find your way back through pointing to a map and thanking lots of people on the way.

Step #6. Eat what the locals eat

When you take Step #2 seriously, you can see what the locals commonly love to eat, and how they eat. In Germany, it is considered rude to put your hands below the table. However, when I attended an African wedding recenlty, no one put their hands on the table. Not one single person.

When visiting a foreign place, I would recommend tasting everything. You never know what may be your new favorite meal.

Step #7. Have a list of questions about why the locals do the things they do

Having a list of questions in mind will allow some of those cultural differences be more understandable. “Why do you charge so much for water?” “Why do you keep your hands above the table?” “What is this squishy potato thing?”

The main thing to keep in mind while trying to gain a more authentic experience is to be curious, and seek the opportunities around you as if you lived there yourself and were trying to become more accustomed to the city. Though you may only have a day in a given location, nothing is really stopping you from trying to experience the culture, no matter how brief the visit.

What’s your advice to making travel experiences more authentic?

This post is written by Megan Bryde, a forever student of the world while also finishing up her bachelors in English at Truman State University this semester.

Involved in too many activities, she sings as loud as she can, writes, cooks, bakes, and drinks a lot of coffee. Check out her blog and linkedin page to see more about what she does.

Megan is currently completing an internship with VentureTime Travel and aspires to be teaching English someday.

If you enjoy interesting facts about far-flung destinations, check out these other Fun Facts posts:

• Funchal, Madeira
• Visiting Alaska? 16 Insider Tips to Anchorage
• So Why Do You Travel?
• A Perfect Lunch in Sonoma Wine Country
• Visiting Somewhere New? 7 Tips for “Getting In the Know” Before You Go

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This is a throwback to a very special cruise that we took seven years ago. We sailed on Holland America Line’s ms Prinsendam on the Top of the World cruise to Norway’s North Cape, Spitsbergen and the Polar Ice Cap.We also got to visit Lerwick,a small coastal city of about 7,000 people in the Shetland Islands, which are located in the North Sea significantly north of mainland Scotland.

The Shetland Islands have long but relatively mild winters and short, cool summers. The climate is windy, cloudy and rain falls more than 250 days per year. Lerwick is home to Fort Charlotte, (picture above) which we explored briefly.

Next we headed to The New Shetland Museum and Archives at Hay’s Dock.

The museum was officially opened by HM Queen Sonja of Norway and the Duke & Duchess of Rothesay (Charles & Camilla) on May 31, 2007. It was packed with interesting exhibits about the history of the Shetland Islands.

We couldn’t visit Shetland and not see one of it’s famous ponies. The tourist office advised us of a bus route that would take us to the countryside where we might see a pony.

As we left Lerwick, the views from the windows of the public bus were stunning.

Green pastures, pristine coastline, amazing views.

We had many opportunities to view the Shetland Sheep, a breed that is believed to have originated prior to 1000 AD.  The diminutive Shetland Ponies were tougher to see from the bus or a hike.

It’s a beautiful place for a hike, until it’s time for the next bus.

Have you visited the Shetland Islands? What did you enjoy the most? Please share in comments below. 

Check out these other posts on destinations above the Arctic Circle, all visited by cruise ship…

• Destination Discovery: The Polar Ice Cap
• Destination Discovery: North Cape, Norway
• Destination Discovery: Iceland’s Blue Lagoon
• Destination Discovery: Qaqortoq, Greenland
• Destination Discovery: Torghatten Mountain near Brí¸nní¸ysund, Norway
• Destination Discovery: Bear Island, Norway
• Travels in Norway’s Lofoten Islands
• Destination Discovery: Akureyri, Iceland

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