Not Your Average Tour

Just last weekend, my parents, uncle and his girlfriend, came to visit me in Chicago. For my parents, it was an opportunity to see their daughter and spend some quality family time together. While it was also that for my uncle and his girlfriend, it was also a chance to see a new city, since neither had been here before. Of course, they asked me what they should see and do, and I ran off the usual list of attractions. They decided to do the Architecture Tour along the river, which I think is one of the better tours offered in Chicago. Not only is it a great way to see a lot of the downtown area, but it provides great backround on Chicago's history.

While I will always recommend this tour to first time visitors, I cannot guarantee that everyone will appreciate it, since each person has different tastes, opinions, and interests that could be fulfilled through other options. There's walking tours, bus tours, mob tours, ghost tours, museum tours, the list goes on and on. But even with all these, some people may still be looking for something different, unusual, off-kilter.

Enter the internet and its vast array of travel-sharing websites touting specialty tours, unique experiences and some pretty odd activities not generally listed on a tourism site. I learned about these through a New York Times article, which discusses a few of the platforms.

Tequila Adventure Rapel

What makes these sites work is the artists, chefs, students, writers, hobbyists, and musicians, who offer their services to those looking for a truly novel experience. Some websites are better than others about making sure guides can deliver on their promises, while other rely on peer reviews.

CanaryHop.com was co-founded by "Saturday Night Live" star Andy Samberg and launched in March. It is a searchable list of about 2,500 guides and service providers, which are referred to on the site as "canaries," while travelers are called "hoppers." Some examples of experiences are a circus training in Las Vegas; a fire engine tour in San Francisco; camping in the Mojave Desert with a botanist; New York City makeup and accessories tour; and home cooking and eating with a family in Delhi.

Gidsy.com is another option that has grown popular in the last year. With the tagline "do something different," the website certainly lives up to that mentality with its options. It features offerings in nine cities, with activities like a chocolate and grappa tasting in Hasselt, Belgium; a tango lesson in London; a street photography workshop with a professional photographer in Istanbul; and a challah braiding and baking class in New York.

East London Street Food Tour

The idea behind Vayable.com is to give travelers a deeper look into at a local culture through experts. The site has 1,500 guides on almost every continent--it hasn't quite made it to Antartica. Travelers can search ac tivities by city and then book their own experience or join a pre-arranged tour. Some of the options include a hookah and tea tour in Istanbul, fly fishing in Alaska with the may of Kenai, a tour of East London street food, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle tour of Versailles and Rambouillet.

Another option if you are just looking for unique experiences in New York is SideTour. The founder, Vipin Goyal, said there are plans to expand, but New York certainly offers a plethora of exciting and intriguing opportunities. Most of the listings are updated weekly and sell out weeks in advance, so book early! Popular offerings include a street art tour and graffiti demonstration, urban beekeeping in Brooklyn, and creaft beer brewing.

As someone who is often looking for something different to do in my own city, perhaps I should see if there are any special activities/tours in Chicago. That way the next time someone asks me about what they should do here, I can offer something that's a little bit off the beaten path. And for my future travels, I will certainly give these sites a quick run through to see if there is anything I would like to take part in during my visit. Because what could be better than finding a hidden art gallery that isn't featured in every travel guide? Or tasting street food from the vendor that doesn't have a line around the block but is just as good--if not better--as that guy that was featured on the food network? Or having an in depth conversation with a local author while sipping regionally-made wine at an underground jazz club? It's these kinds of odd experiences and locations that make a city what it is, so why not take the opportunity to peel back the artificial layers and see the roots.

Sorry For the Absense

I realize I have been absent over the last couple weeks, and I apologize for that. Things have been pretty crazy in my life, lots of freelance work--which, lets be honest, is never a bad thing--and also a lot going on at my full time job. And while I would usually use my weekends to work on blogging, I have found the last few have been unbelievably busy. But I am making a promise right now to get back into my blogging swing and get some post up before the end of the month...though the days seem to be ticking by at an insanely fast rate.

To keep you somewhat satisfied until I get a full fledged post up here, I will provide a couple fun websites and articles I found recently.

If you want to find all your travel essentials in the proper carry-on size, check out this website: minimus.biz.

In honor of my fast-approaching trip to Vegas, here is an interesting article about what you can get from room service in Sin City. 

There is a new hotel opening in Chicago that's right in my neighborhood, and there will soon be a rooftop bar opening...and I always love a good rooftop in summer.

What's a popular attraction or activity for people visiting cities? Hitting a brewery or distillery for a tour and tastings.


I know it's not much, but I will definitely be putting up some more elaborate and lengthy posts in the coming week. Stay tuned!!

New Travel Sites I Love

As I was browsing through my Twitter feed this morning, I came across a tweet from Budget Travel talking about some of their favorite new travel websites of 2010. Among the sites featured, I came across two that really interested me.

The first one is called TripAlertz, a groupon-style website for travel deals. Everyday they feature a great hotel deal listed at an amazing price. The more people that purchase it, the lower the price gets. By the time the deal closes, the cost of the hotel can be half of the normal price. The great part is that membership is free. And after joining, you can earn trip cash--which can be applied to any deal you purchase--by inviting your friends and family to join. TripAlertz also offers the chance to win a trip by creating your own itinerary for a dream vacation. The more "likes" your trip gets, the better your chances of winning. I just submitted a trip today, so if you happen to be a member or plan on joining, go ahead and vote for me!

The other website I love is Wanderfly. A site that helps you find affordable trips that match your specific criteria and personality. You can search many different ways. A simple method is just entering your budget, home airport and date when you want to go, and Wanderfly instantly provides recommendations to match, with flight and hotel options, as well as the final budget posted in bold. For instance, I entered:

• Home airport: Chicago
• Budget: $1000/person
• Date: Mid March
• Length of Stay: 5 days
• Place to Explore: Anywhere

I was recommended:

Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. While it contains all the amenities of an urban community with its hotels, theaters, museums and more, it still retains the charms of rurality with its sand dune beaches and famous wineries. Visitors are also always free to indulge in horse-riding, surfing, sunbathing, or simply driving off the beaten path and exploring numerous country roads dotted with farms, wineries and little towns.

It then gave me a reasonable round-trip flight and a hotel for a total of $824 for the whole trip. That's an extremely affordable trip, and it's one I would pick for myself. (Because anything with Northern California and wineries is a winner in my book.) It's also a place that I would have never considered before, and anything that opens me up to new experiences and destinations is certainly worth looking into.

You can also narrow down your search by choosing a theme or interest (i.e. casino, romance, eco, spa, party, etc.). You can select one or many, and results that match your criteria will appear. If you don't like the first selection, simply click the arrow next to "change trip" and the next destination will come up. After putting in "food" and "entertainment" in my search, I was given Saint Charles, Missouri. Since this is not really my scene, I saw what was next and it suggested San Sebastian, Spain. That's more like it.

I will definitely be frequenting these websites in the new year, and hopefully I've opened your eyes to the wonderful benefits they provide. Enjoy!

Travel and Technology

A couple months ago, I was on an anti-technology kick, pushing for people to take relaxing vacations where they left all forms of electronic communication behind. While that is still a great idea, and I encourage at least one trip like that a year, I cannot deny the facts: travel and technology--in this day and age--are practically synonymous. If the numerous travel websites like Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire and Kayak are not evidence enough, check out all the latest travel apps that are available for smart phones. Technology is making travel easier, less stressful and more accessible, and people are loving every micro-second of it.

While technology can be a distraction on vacations, it can certainly help people get there and get around. I'm not sure where any of us would be without the trusty aid of GPS--what street are we on again?--or quick access to airline reservations--can we switch our flight to tomorrow? But there are so many more websites and apps launching nowadays that it's difficult to know everything that's out there.

On my long commute to work this morning, I was reading the feature story in the RedEye, which talked about all the ways that smart phones can ease the stress of travel. There are a number of different applications you can download related to the many facets of travel, some I had heard of, and others were completely foreign to me. As an avid traveler and someone who looks for anyway to simplify vacations, I felt a lot of these would be extremely convenient to have on a trip. I already have the app for Yelp.com downloaded on my phone, which is extremely helpful when hunger strikes as you are wandering around an unfamiliar city. All you have to do is open the app, select what you want to find (cheap eats, hot dogs, fancy restaurant) and your current location and results instantly pop up, showing hundreds of options located just a few feet away. Google Goggles is a useful app when traveling in a country you are very unfamiliar with. The program can translate a menu into English or can tell you the history of a monument in a flash, all you have to do is snap a picture of the item and the app does the rest. The Currency app is convenient when you are unsure about conversion rates--how much would this Fendi purse cost me in dollars? The app displays the current currency rates and even updates automatically with fresh information, since currency exchange can switch on a daily and hourly basis. Similar to Yelp, Happy Hour is an app that can show you all the great drink deals in the area you are visiting; so if it's five o'clock and you're out and about, this app can show you where to find a cheap watering hole close by.

As far as websites go, there is something out there for every possible travel need from tracking flights and navigating airports to managing travel itineraries and selecting optimal seating on planes.That's right, there is a website completely dedicated to finding the best seat on an aircraft. SeatGuru.com shows the layout for over 100 airlines and their featured planes, color-coding the best and worst places to sit. Reviewers back up these claims with comments about whether the seat is located near the bathrooms or if there is a cup holder. (Yeah, it's that specific.) You can also use the site to check for in-flight amenities. The only problem is that you cannot actually reserve your desired seat through the website, but at least you will know which one to select when choosing seat assignments online.

Some other interesting websites that caught my attention: TripIt.com, a website that inputs all your travel information into an online itinerary and sends you check-in reminders and even alerts you to flight delays and gate changes (you can also add restaurants and activities to the itinerary, but this needs to be done manually); Zicasso.com, a simple way to get travel ideas from a number of different sources all at once, all it takes is filling out a short questionnaire about the trip you want to take and voila, price quotes and suggested itineraries are at your fingertips within a couple days (and you don't have to commit to any of the travel companies that submitted suggestions); Livemocha.com is a site that helps you learn, or freshen up on, a language through flash cards, videos and live conversations with native speakers (but make sure you have a webcam, headphones and a microphone so you can fully learn any of the 35 languages featured).

Just as there is an unlimited amount of places to see in the world, there seems to be an endless array of technical options to get you there. So take advantage of these conveniences, utilize their benefits and make booking your next trip simple and worry-free. But be sure to toss that phone or computer aside momentarily and take in the wonderful environment that surrounds you.