LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Part of living the Travelers' lifestyle involves getting to know your own part of the world pretty well. A solid understanding and appreciation of the place you live is fundamental to setting a base-line for when you're visiting other places (how does this new place differ from your own) but also gives you the opportunity to show off where YOU live with visitors.

When family or friends visit from out of town are you able to highlight some of the places they should visit while in the area? What places appeal to you? Where would YOU go if only visiting for a few days. Is there a special sight which most people don't know? A point of interest? A restaurant which "only the locals" know? A cool little shop that's just a little bit different?

These are the things your visitors might want to see, do and experience. What best represents the area and why you choose to live there?

It can help get you a new perspective and appreciation for your own locale. For how others would see it. The good, the bad and the tourist-trappy. (Remember, Rick Steves' advice is to embrace the tourist spots for what they are, and get a good mix between diving into the local scene and spending the time at the touristy places.)

Knowing your own neck of the woods and being able to show it off to visitors is a basic skill for most Travelers. After all, if we don't know where we're from, how will we appreciate what we're seeing when we're somewhere else?

WEEKEND QUOTE

PHILIPSBURG, SINT MAARTEN - ALONG VOORSTRAAT

Today's image is from the shops along Voorstraat, the main tourism street in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of an island shared with France.  Despite the fact my wife has a devil of a time getting me to do any kind of shopping (other than grocery) while we're at home, I LOVE shopping districts, no matter how touristy they may get -- and some of them get frighteningly touristy. I have t-shirts and shot glasses to prove my point.

Both Sint Maarten and Saint Martin (the French side) thrive on the tourist dollars -- in about an hour Voorstraat will be teeming with tourists slipped from their cruise ships to head into town to make contributions to the local economy.

Because it is a divided island, featuring both Dutch and French cultures to their best, Saint Martin is one of our favorite destinations in the Caribbean. Whether you enjoy all-inclusive resorts or prefer small-town beach places, a quiet escape or the vibrance of a casino, a high-end dining experience or grabbing a snack at a local lolo, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin is a small island with a lot of options. 

Try the Ma Doudou flavored rhum, it's spectacular (and usually very cheap) almost everywhere on the island.

ROAD TRIP: Antigua, Guatemala

Guatemala

Breakfast in the Rotterdam dining room aboard Holland America's Veendam. We elect to eat there given the later departure of our tour (11am) as well as the overall quality of the food served there.

Palacio del Ayuntamiento

Departure from ship promptly at 11 on one of some six busses headed up over the foothills to the inland UNESCO Heritage city of Antigua, one of the most historic cities in Central America. The scene is chaotic until we're actually aboard our bus. The rest of our party is told to load onto a separate one, and we rendezvous again once we reach Antigua. 

Driver is Alex. Guide is Ferrrrnando, with a deliberate (and tongue in cheek) trilling of the Rs. His commentary on the way is interesting and informative, relating both the ancient MesoAmerican importance of Guatemala, as well as more recent history including the causes and impact of the country's relatively recent civil war. He assures us as we made our way inland, that Guatemalans are moving on and looking towards the future.

It's a beautiful drive, first through the flat lowlands abutting the Pacific then low hills and up into the Sierra Madre proper. Unfortunately the day is hazy with low lying clouds preventing us from seeing the summits of any of the volcanoes surrounding the historic cities of Viejo Ciudad and Antigua. 

Volcan de Agua

(We find out later, a good portion of the haze was what is called "vog". Common on Hawaii's Big Island, vog is short for volcanic fog, a combination of natural cloud cover/fog and the smoke from an active volcano...in this case Volcan de Fuego: Volcano of Fire. It was dense, obscuring the tops of the three volcanos surrounding Antigua, though the sharply rising bases of the mountains gave a sense of scale and power.)

As we arrive in town, I am astounded at Alex's skill in maneuvering the full-sized tourist bus through the tight streets and intersections of old town Antigua. He deftly passes signs and other vehicles with at-times only inches to spare. I worry at one point when he comes nose to nose with an aggressive three wheel taxi, but Alex backs off and allows the taxi to pass rather than squashing it like a bug on the bus' front grill.

We disembark at the Jade Museum and store just after 12:30. Fernando tells us we need to be back at the same spot by 4pm for the return to the ship, which gives us roughly three and a half hours to explore the town. With six people in our group we do the customary milling about for a few moments before deciding on a direction. We turn right on Calle Quartero (4th Street) and head west for the Plaza Central.

Two things will immediately catch your attention in your first few minutes in Antigua. One is the architecture, a beautiful and old worldly classicism which evokes the city's history in a real and tactile fashion. 

The second is he constant assault of street merchants who aggressively want to sell you tchotchkes, toys, fake jade, fabrics or jewelry, often in combinations of all the above. It's an unavoidable aspect of your visit, and you become accustomed to the constant need to firmly say no, though that deters only about half of the people who are mostly women and who will continue to offer you their wares, tailing you down the streets as they do so.

But the true character of Antigua is found, as in many Latin American cities, behind the walls of the buildings. Entering shops, restaurants or exhibits you find beautiful courtyards, serene retreats from the maddening din of the street. Here you can pause, wander about and shop, eat or drink coffee in a quiet and friendly environment.

We found such courtyards at the Antigua Gallery of Art, The Museo Choco, and several other spots along our walk.

The Central Plaza is, plainly speaking, a madhouse -- or at least was on the day we visited the town. We were there on a Saturday, which might explain the chaos, and found the park at the middle of the plaza was chock full of tourists, local visitors, the omnipresent street hawkers, and children playing. The only real reason to visit the Plaza is to see some of the astounding and historic architecture of the buildings lining the outer edge, and we found that it is best to spend your time on the side streets instead of in the main square.

Arco de Santa Catalina

Inside the Mercado

One of the necessary viewings in the city is the famous Arco de Santa Catalina which nicely frames the street and surrounding buildings, a bit of history kept in good repair by the five star hotel which now occupies the facilities. A walk up Calle del Arco is a pleasant and representative experience, and if you have limited time in the city it's the one thing I'd most strongly recommend. We shopped at one of the little mercados, buying several items -- table runner, large fabric bag and other things -- at reasonable prices.

Mime's the word

Dodging the street hawkers and a very popular street mime (who attracted a sizable crowd), we ducked into the Bistrot Bourbon for a quick lunch of paninis, beer, and what is my official Guatemalan Martini. Intriguingly enough the martini was a mixture of Stoli vodka with Cinzano vermouth -- a combination I'm certainly going to investigate further upon my return home.

Antigua strikes me as an historic adventure worthy of a visit, but the traveler needs to be aware of the continual assault from the hawkers, some very aggressive, and the crowded nature of weekends in the city. Otherwise it's a place with a lot to offer, and any student of Guatemalan history will certainly want to have a look at one very important center.

Must sees: 

Ruins of La Iglesia Concepcion Convento 

Catedral de San Jose

Choco Museo 

Jade Museum

Walk up Calle del Arco

Iglesia de La Merced 

Lake Atitlan

Guatemala is a beautiful country, and the people warm and inviting. We were unable to get to several areas which merit discovery (Tikal, Lake Atitlan, the Caribbean coast), and are saving them for a future visit. 

As we return to the ship, Guide Fernando conveys the heartfelt belief that Guatemala's message to the world is "Yes, we know we had problems, but we're better now. Please come back, we have a lot to share."

It would seem to be a good idea.

Catedral de San Jose

Along the Way

 

"I have dedicated my life to travel and am a strong believer in its benefits, both for the traveller and the local community that they are visiting. Travel broadens the mind by sharing cultures, language and traditions."  - Tony Wheeler, founder of LONELY PLANET

Looking for Adventure

I am in the midst of reading Unlikely Destinations by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the founders of the well-known and well-respected Lonely Planet travel company. It's an excellent book and is full of interesting stories and anecdotes detailing their own times on the road as well as the construction of their global empire. (You might say I want to be them when I grow up.)

But it occurred to me as I was reading one particular passage early in the book which went into some detail on their first trip around the world. In this section they were discussing the trek down from India, through Southeast Asia to a boat which would take them to Australia. It was a challenging trip because of both weather-related and economic factors. 

The "road" less traveled

As I have grown older, my sense of adventure hasn't decreased, but have to admit that my desire to "backpack across Europe" or hike the jungles of the Amazon has decreased to the point of disinterest. This doesn't mean that I'm above roughing it, it's that roughing it has become my second choice when visiting new places and things. There is, no question, an amazing attraction of sitting in a tent somewhere in the rainforest. listening to the sounds of the wild. On my N.O.W. list is a clear intention to go on a safari as well as a trip down to the coast of Antarctica. I don't need luxury accommodations as much as a degree of security in which events are not left purely to chance and risking the stranding of me in some exotic spot where my survival might itself be very well in question. (I love watching Dangerous Grounds with Todd Carmichael, but am certainly not looking for that kind of adventure in my life. At most, I'm more of a Michael Palin sort who has a plan and is along for an adventure.)

Lap of Luxury...

There are always challenges which are to be dealt with, and it's those challenges which determine your worth as a traveler, versus a tourist. A traveler tends to resolve things themselves, while a tourist waits for others to solve things for them. I've been, and will continue to be both a tourist and a traveler -- there are times I want to sit back and look at pretty things, or be part of a small group in a minibus going to look at a particular site (or sight). And other times I want to be off on my own trundling through a back alley looking for interesting things to amuse myself.

But, to be fair, my "off the beaten path" hasn't been really far off the trail, though I'd like it to be a bit more than it is. Far and away the best such trip was the visit to Churchill, Manitoba, six years or so ago. This is genuinely off the beaten path, and is a lesson in getting away from it all. But, again, we had "locals" there to watch over us and make sure we didn't wander into the path of an oncoming polar bear.

(Locals, by the way, are an excellent way of finding the good stuff. Ignore..or at least treat as suspect…the things the tour operators want to throw your way. They may be amazingly valuable, but are driven more by a sense of profit than a true sense of the local experience. Always ask a local for a recommendation, even if you're on a tour. It will help you understand a place a bit better, and also give you a chance to find out what is really, fundamentally good about a place.)

All grown up, and still on the road

The author in Japan

But what I find personally difficult to do is be 100% tourist, 100% of the time. I love cruising on Wind Star Cruises because of their itineraries. You can suffer yourself the illusion that you're not a tourist, you're a visitor. But years ago, when visiting Skagway, Alaska, I saw first hand the wave of tourists as they washed down into the town from four different ships docked in the bay. A virtual tsunami of people who were there for a day, only looking for low-cost shopping and some sort of day trip. I witnessed the same event in Monaco, and was personally part of such a wave in several ports in Mexico. And I found that I want to be in these places before and after the waves have come and receded.

Similarly, a true visit to a particular destination must include a selection of the local culinary scene. Give me beignet in New Orleans, sushi in Tokyo, steaks in Dallas, nicoise foods in the south of France, or seafood in Dubrovnik -- and yes, haggis will be a required food when I finally get myself up to Scotland. It's all part of the adventure, which is sorely lacking in the expansive floating hotel experiences of most cruise lines.

I keep, in my study, a map with push pins denoting where we have been, and whether it's been a day trip or an overnight -- overnight being a true checkmark of a stay, but we define a visit as more than two hours outside the airport as the minimum standard for logging a place as "been there". This is woefully inadequate, of course, but it prevents use of a mid-flight transfer as qualifying for a pin. (If this were allowed I would add three states and a dozen other locations to my world map.)

Not a good view of the country

So adventure comes only if you grant yourself some time to absorb. I am guilty of the counting coup method of touring, and I've found that hill it's a terrific way to see a place if you're on a limited schedule, it's not nearly as satisfying as a stay and play approach -- which is itself a misnomer, since part of these travels can be occupied by a constantly moving road trip from one spot to another. In a week or so we're headed to Santa Fe for a few days. While our friends elected to fly, my wife and I are hitting the road and re-traveling I-40 between LA and Santa Fe. It's a fascinating section of the country and certainly worthy of a few days' transit. Better still, on the way back we're detouring to Monument Valley, an area I have wanted to see -- almost to the point of N.O.W. inclusion -- for my entire lifetime. It's an almost mythic place in both our national consciousness as well as in our collective heritage. It's about time I looked it up. Obviously there will be a future column with shots.

But it's about getting out, and getting away. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a tourist, staying in a massive luxury liner and seeing the world from your stateroom balcony. But in the same way Todd Carmichael's rough and tumble risking it all approach, it just isn't for me. And since travel is keenly driven by a sense of engagement, of accomplishment, we must all find our own way of satisfying that need. That need may even change with our mood or particular need at any given time (though I can't picture Todd ever booking a stateroom on Carnival).

That's kind of the philosophy of The Thumbnail Traveler. Harking back to how I started this column, roughing it…backpacking through Southeast Asia, for example…is certainly the most fundamental method of travel. It's true, it's basic and, frankly, it's not for me. I prefer my roughing it to come in small portions, and knowing that no matter how rough it gets there's an exit. But we each must find our own most-rewarding approach. Mine is somewhere between Todd's scramble through the jungle and a night at the Ritz Carleton. Both have their appeal, it just depends on my spirit and the amount of money I can afford. But the most important aspect, as with any travel, is in what you gain along the way. 

Donald Trump has no doubt "been a lot of places", but I cannot say he is "well-traveled". Sir Richard Branson is well-traveled.

I would much rather be Sir Richard than The Donald any day. 

Get Up and Go!

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