AdventureAdvice.com

So there are LOTS of great travel apps out there, like Tripit (to tame all those wild, travel-related emails and cage them in a single itinerary) and Kayak (to research alternatives to that canceled flight!), but my current favorite is WhatsApp.

photo credit: WhatsApp.com

One of my pet peeves is being hit up for international texting charges, both when I’m traveling, and when I’m home and just want to exchange a quick text with a friend or relative overseas. And even more frustrating than the 50c per text charge, is the fact that I often don’t even receive the texts I’m sent. So I send a text, wait for a response, and wait… and wait… Grrr!

Yes, it’s not even a ‘rea’l travel app, but WhatsApp allows me to exchange texts for free with friends on non US networks, at no charge, with no delivery issues.  And when I’m traveling I can use it over WiFi and not incur any data roaming charges. And I can even attach photos… What’s not to love?

Found a travel app you just love? Do tell…

Occasionally you hear a phrase that just resonates! For me “Nature Deficit Disorder” sums up in 3 words a key issue we face in our 24/7 wired, digital age. An article in today’s New York Times discusses America’s fight with obesity, states that surgery and diets may not be the answer, and suggests that “there is an obvious solution — just outside the window.”

East Ridge Trail, Redwood Park

Of course, getting outside and into nature does more than exercise the body. It takes us out of our digital environment, away from the stress of work, school and society, and helps us relax and unwind. When I feel abnormally stressed, there is a particular trail I like to hike in nearby Redwood Regional Park. As I walk beneath the redwoods that tower above Stream Trail, I can’t help but feel that my troubles are pretty insignificant. I reflect on how long those redwoods have been growing along the banks of the stream, and how long they will be there after I am gone. As I breathe in the clean air and hear only the murmur of water tumbling along the streambed, my stress just evaporates. For me, this helps provide the balance I need to offset the stress of my wired world.

Stream Trail, Redwood Park

Even though I had no words to describe it at that time, I first discovered the therapeutic effects of nature as a young boy exploring the woods and fields of my native Ireland. Writer Timothy Egan credits Richard Louv with coining the phrase “Nature Deficit Disorder” in his 2005 book, Last Child in the Woods. According to Egan, Louv finds that “Kids who do play outside are less likely to get sick, to be stressed or become aggressive, and are more adaptable to life’s unpredictable turns”. That certainly makes sense to me!

Hiking along Stream Trail, Redwood Park

I’ve added Last Child in the Woods to my ‘need to read’ list. But before I check to see if I can find a Kindle edition, I just need to grab the kids, turn off the smartphones and laptops, and head for Stream Trail!

Vientiane may be the capital of Laos, but it is still pretty off the beaten path. So, wandering around the hot and fairly empty streets, the last thing I expected to see was truly creative recycling. But, wandering into a store that sold everything from wooden bowls to brightly colored cloth, there it was… an old TV with live fish swimming around inside the “screen”! Now that’s thoughtful recycling!

TV reborn as Fish Tank, Vientiane, Laos

OK, so I don’t collect actual doors… But when I travel to a new city or country, one of the things I love to do is to get well away from the main thoroughfares, to explore interesting smaller side streets and alleyways in older neighborhoods. People are friendlier, and often take time to stop to chat. And the older houses are often mysterious and inaccessible behind carved wooden doors and intricate entryways.

Maybe my fascination with doors is a literal interpretation of my desire to see what lies beyond, a manifestation of a “portal to another world” fantasy?

Sometimes we are so busy with our daily lives, that we forget how much fun it can be to slow down, and explore the world at our own doorstep.

Yesterday I got to do just that for a few hours. My colleagues and I took an afternoon off work to go bond in the city! We took a BART train from Oakland, traveled under the bay to San Francisco, and met Lily, an Urban Adventures tour guide, at the Ferry Building to embark on the Embarcadero, Ferry Building and Fortunes Tour.

We first took some time to look across the bay to Treasure Island as Lily explained its 1939 World Fair origins. Then we explored the Ferry Building, indulging our lunchtime appetites with some of the great fare on offer – personally I recommend the Turkey Pot Pies offered by the Golden Gate Meat Company, very tasty!

Striking out from the Ferry Building, we navigated some of the elevated walkways of the Embarcadero Towers. With their giant pots of bamboo and quiet corners, it’s easy to forget you are in the middle of the Financial district – even more so when you arrive at the half acre Redwood Grove at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid! Transplanted from the Santa Cruz mountains, the redwoods bring a tranquility and natural beauty to this corner of the city that I was previously unaware of!

From there it was just a few blocks to Vesuvio Cafe. At the intersection of North Beach, Chinatown and the Financial district, Vesuvio and the neighboring City Lights bookstore are filled with mementos of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlingheti and the beat generation. So of course we had to stop for liquid refreshment, and some appropriately contemplative conversation, at this historic shrine!

We then strolled the colorful streets of Chinatown, and stopped briefly at the old Bank of Italy to marvel at the workmanship of the impressively over-engineered vault door. At the Wells Fargo Museum (another previously unknown ‘gem’ for me!) I left my colleagues to explore the stagecoaches and look at nuggets of gold, as I cut short the tour to catch a train back to the East Bay, happy to have discovered some new treasures at my doorstep…

So I know I can’t complain about living in the San Francisco bay area! But even though we don’t get snow, and rarely even need to scrape ice off our windshields, winter can still be wet and (for us at least!) relatively cold!

And yes, I know we need the rain, but when it’s coming down as hard as it was today, my mind tends to turn to travel… Somehow an afternoon downpour, viewed from the porch of a jungle lodge in Costa Rica, is SO much easier to take than from behind the wheel on a slick four lane highway.

So, time to break out the maps and travel brochures, and start planning a trip to more hospitable climes… Any good recommendations for a jungle lodge?

We’ve all had it happen. A flight is canceled or severely delayed, and our “best-laid schemes” are truly shot. I was just on the East Coast, visiting schools with my high school senior daughter. We had a flight canceled due to bad weather, got re-booked on a flight the next morning, only to have it delayed by several hours due to mechanical problems, causing us to miss an appointment at a school in St. Louis. In fact, we ended up missing St. Louis altogether, flying straight back to California.

Airlines do not normally offer any compensation for weather related delays, but if the problem is caused by something the airline has more control over, such as a mechanical problem, then they are much more likely to be responsive to your reasonable requests. Here is a short list of guidelines I use in this situation, including playing the “social media card” to even the odds just a bit…

1. Be clear and concise when describing the problem (“this 3rd delay means that I will miss my meeting / interview / appointment and I will now have to reschedule and make another trip”).

2. Let them know exactly what you would like (“since I will have to buy another ticket because of this delay, I am requesting that you issue me a $200 / $300 / $400 voucher good for future travel”).

3. Be polite but firm, and ask to speak to the person in charge (“I’m requesting a $400 travel credit and you are offering me a $6 meal coupon? Can I please speak with your manager?”).

4. It’s OK to get a little emotional, but don’t make it personal (“this flight cancellation and delay will cost me a lot of money, and you are offering me a $6 coupon? I’m sorry, but that is just insulting! I need to speak with whoever is in charge”).

5. When speaking with a manager empowered to resolve the problem, remind them of the power of social media (“I’m sure you would like to get this issue resolved as much as I would, and then I can tweet / yelp / blog about what a great job you did in resolving my problem”).

6. Be prepared to spend some time negotiating for a satisfactory settlement.

7. When you are offered a satisfactory resolution, be gracious and appreciative, but save the happy dance for later!

In our case, we received upgrades to Business Elite on our flight back to San Francisco, and vouchers that should pay for round trip tickets to St. Louis. Thanks Delta for taking care of us and resolving the problem! And special thanks to Marina V for making it happen!!

Friday I went to the Paramount Theater in Oakland with some friends to see Youssou Ndour and Angelique Kidjo. Wow, what a GREAT show!! Kidjo did an amazing job of warming up the crowd, and (of course!) she encouraged everyone to get up and dance, and to come down to the stage.

Those of you that know the Paramount, a beautifully refurbished Art Deco theater in downtown Oakland, are probably saying, ‘Uh-oh!’ – because you know how ridiculously anal the security staff is there. They were caught off guard by the crowd’s swift reaction to Kidjo’s invitation to come down front and get with the groove. But they made up for it by picking on individual people to verbally harass and physically intimidate back to their seats!

And when is the last time you saw people sitting at a concert, enjoying the vibe, when ushers suddenly start sweeping the rows with flashlights, blinding people? Say, what??

- So, what IS it with the Paramount?

However, Kidjo and Ndour helped us all rise above the hostile treatment by Paramount staff, and Ndour’s final encore, a beautiful interpretation of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song was a fitting end to the evening.

Can’t wait to see Kidjo and Ndour again – just hope they are playing somewhere OTHER than the Paramount!

June is normally a very dry month here in the Bay Area. Even though rain forced the action indoors this past weekend at the Berkeley World Music Festival, it did nothing to dampen the spirits of the performers or the crowds that packed into music stores, cafes and pubs to watch them play.

A dozen or more acts played around Telegraph Ave during the afternoon and early evening, and I managed to catch 3 of them!

Mamadou & Vanessa

Mamadou and Vanessa got me rocking early in the afternoon, skillfully playing traditional Malian ngoni (harp) music, as we packed the aisles of Amoeba Music and swayed to the beat.

Riffat Sultana & Sukhawat Ali Khan

Emerging from Amoeba, we went across the street to check out the crowd outside Raleigh’s Pub, to find Riffat Sultana & Sukhawat Ali Khan playing to a packed house. Riffat’s voice, backed by her brother Sukhawat’s vocal and harmonium skills, mesmerized us with inspirational Sufi music from Pakistan.

Fito Reinoso y su Ritmo y Armonia

And the 3rd band I got to see (making it 3 bands from 3 continents in just 3 blocks!) was Fito Reinoso y su Ritmo y Armonia, playing incredible Cuban Son (a la Buena Vista Social Club) – this was not a band you could sit and watch, everyone was up, dancing to the beat!!

So if you want to travel the world in an afternoon, musically at least, mark your calendar for next year!

For me, planning a trip is fun. Excitement builds as the departure day approaches, and there is always a last minute rush to get everything done before heading to the airport to embark on a new adventure.

Researching authentic places to stay, deciding which interesting towns or villages to include on your itinerary, figuring out which activities to check out when you get there – all fun! Getting shots and visas – not so much!

And now? As part of your initial, pre-trip research, you can check out the Global Peace Index to assist in deciding which countries to visit.  A handy color-coded map let’s you see at a glance that whole areas of the world are “green” (as in go), or “red” (as in maybe not!).

Global Peace Index

The 2011 Global Peace Index Key Findings attest that, for the 3rd straight year, the world is a less safe place. Of course, your reaction to this report may be influenced by where you live. If you live in Iceland or Japan (per the report, the 2 safest nations), then traveling anywhere else can by definition appear a little scary. However, if like me you live in the USA, which ranked 82nd of 153 countries, you can in theory travel to over half the countries in the world, and be safer there than you would be at home. Although, no matter how adventurous you may be feeling, it would still be smart to avoid Iraq and Somalia, at 152 and 153 respectively!