I Coulda' Had a V8!

Unless you're the sort of person who enjoys disorganized chaos, the most essential element of any good trip may lie in the planning. It makes the execution a lot easier when you've got a solid itinerary in place. I'm not talking about overplaying everything down to the minute by minute activities, but having a general schedule and reservations can mean the difference between doing and seeing everything you want to and see, or kicking yourself later for having missed something essential. There's walkways room to change things once you're there and can assess the scene, but without that all-important "outline", you may miss some important opportunities.

Outside the box

So, as I said, you don't have to overdo it. Your plan may be as simple as "Going to Cancun. Tanning." It's basic, but it certainly tells you what you are expecting to get out of the trip. Bronzed may be the only thing you want to accomplish. The rest of the time is up in the air and minute by minute -- and there's nothing wrong with this approach is that's your goal. Some people find this to be the true relaxation -- no stress, no plans, no running. And it works for them.

But if you're like me, you like to not only indulge in the realization but also want to get a taste of the local culture, see the local sights (sites?) and make certain you leave any destination with a sense that you've truly been there, not just passed through. Is there a food in the local cuisine you've always wanted to try? An historic site you really want to see for yourself? An activity which is beckoning you off that beach and maybe into the water? Leaving it all to chance timing might cause you to miss something essential. 

That in mind, here are a few of the ways I check out the local scene before arriving. Some of them are tour companies. Even if you elect not to take a tour, their itineraries may give you a heads' up as to something you hadn't considered.

VIATOR, Cruise-booked Activities - While I don't take package tours, guided day trip are a terrific way to get out and see something not contained in the walk between your hotel and the beach. We've used Viator repeatedly and been very pleased with the results. They check out many of the local tours and allow you to look at the activity, previous passenger comments and (usually) photographs of the proceedings. Having booked trips through their site ranging from my recent sunrise trip to the summit of Mount Haleakala to day long journeys around Italy and the South of France, each has gone smoothly with easy coordination once you're in the local area. If you're taking a cruise, even though the cost of some of the in-port activities might seem expensive and you're tempted to try to do it yourself, there's real value in booking through the cruise line. They do the research, they do the coordination. All you (generally) need to do it show up and board the bus…or boat…or whatever. I use Viator whenever our trip in land-based, and the cruise line for whenever we're on the water (a strategic point of the latter is that the ship will no leave port if a tour with a cruise-booked operator is late. If you DO book your own and suffer a flat tire, you're pretty well at the mercy of the tides and may return to the dock only to see your accommodations sailing out of the harbor without you.)

BLOGS, local papers - Okay, this may seem a bit self-serving, but hear me out. Local blogs can often tell you things you'd never know reading some of the online travel sites. TRIPADVISOR, for instance, might give you ratings for hotels and a bunch of pictures, but it won't tell you the best places in town for a real home-cooked meal. Even their list of restaurants are going to be biased. I've found that hotel concierges, by and large, are good sources of information, but in many cases they simply refer what they've referred a hundred times -- or worse, hand you a pamphlet of things without much in the way of personal comment. This is where local blogs come in. You can find quite a few of them by locating the online presence of the local newspaper, and going to their blogs section. Most papers have both travel and local pages you can check out, and restaurant reviews. If you go to your favorite search engine, try searching for your destination and "blog" to see what comes up. If you're feeling particularly cheeky, try a particular subject. If you're a fan of the ale and are heading for Los Angeles, try "Southern California brewpub blog". Chances are you'll find something like tappedinsocal.blogspot.com, where you can get local notes on what is good and where to find it.

GOOGLE Maps - For me, this one's invaluable. If you've ever gone to a city and wandered about in a bit of a daze trying to get your bearings, Google Maps' Street View is an essential tool for familiarizing yourself with a place before you set foot on the ground. Just a short time spent there can show you the neighborhood around a hotel you're considering booking, or how close that might be to a museum you want to see. Are taxis readily available? Is it too urban/suburban for your tastes. Is your boutique hotel difficult to find, deliberately eschewing signage for "cool". (This happened to us in New York. A hotel, name withheld, lacked any major outdoor signs indicating it was there, right behind the smoked glass double door. Our initial reaction when the taxi dumped us, fresh from the train station, in the middle of what looked like a busy but hotel-less street, caused concern for a moment or two until we peeked behind the door. Nice, but not great hotel, but not so cool we forgave the angst of that first minute. A simple checking of Street View first would have shown us what to expect.)

    TRAVELER SITES - There are several very solid travel sites on the web who find their primary value in sharing what others think, but ensuring a degree of professional reporting in addition to forums and other modes of exchange. AFAR and Cruise Critic are two such sites. AFAR caters to a bit more of the adventurous crowd, while Cruise Critic, as the name suggests, is for cruise enthusiasts. Both contain a solid visual element to their information, and offer comments and articles written expressly for their target audience. In particular, they have great ideas but also let you know what others have experienced under circumstances you're likely to be encountering. A caveat for any of these websites is to make sure you're checking the dates of the entries. No sense in worrying about the street closures in London during the Olympics since they're gone and done with -- but some of the entries regarding the traffic might have related to construction or security, and have since gone away. (Well, perhaps using London for the example was a bad idea. Traffic there is absurd unsure any circumstances, and I'm from LA!) Travel sites can give you the inside skinny on any number of things you want to do, and things to avoid at all costs.

DREAMING - Lastly, don't be afraid to dream. Part of the fun of travel is exploring new places and having new adventures. There's a real value in spending some time just daydreaming about a specific destination you may "some day" get a chance to visit. I have commented several times regarding Phil Keoghan's No Opportunity Wasted philosophy, and at its core is the taking of actions to fulfill those daydreams. Despite all of the traveling we've been fortunate enough to do, there are other, much more exotic destinations and trips we want to take. Antarctica; The Amazon; cruising the Danube; an African Safari. Each of these are currently in the realm of dreams for us, but we do intend to accomplish them at some point. To keep my engines revved and keep the focus on some day taking those trips I frequent sites such as G Adventures, Lindblad Expeditions and Viking River Cruises. Not only are these companies excellent places to plan a trip, they're also not bad for letting you spend a few minutes dreaming.

Planning a trip out in advance can often be part of the fun, and lets you begin your vacation before you even start to pack your bags. It's a way to get a sneak peek and build the excitement, while at the same time ensuring that once you're there, you won't forget that one little something, that little extra thing, that you'll regret later on. Something that, with that extra step, you "cooda' had a V8"!

I'm BORED!

ROAD TRIP: LONG BEACH

As promised, way too many days ago, my Road Trip report about my hometown, Long Beach, California. But first, a little history....

Wedged between Los Angeles and Orange County, the city of Long Beach tended to be overlooked by many as a way-station to getting somewhere else. At least that's how it used to be. In a very good example of bootstrapping, the former Navy town, abandoned by the military in the mid-nineties, set about remaking itself into a shipping, tourist and travel hub set in an ideal location along the Pacific Coast. It hasn't been easy and there have been missteps along the way, but most people now recognize Long Beach as a destination in and of itself.

The story begins in the mid-Eighties. Long Beach, heavily dependent upon the presence of the Navy, had little to shout about. In the early half of the 20th Century it had been a tourist hub, a place for Angelenos to escape and enjoy the southmost facing beach in the LA metro area. The unique positioning of the city allowed for long hours of daylight, and is one of the few in the entire state well situated for viewing both sunrise and sunset. Then, during the sixties the city began a long decline into seediness. A massive, enclosed shopping mall was built downtown and allots immediately became a white elephant. The Queen Mary was purchased and among much fanfare was brought to the harbor, rechristened Queensway Bay. It too struggled for decades. The airport was caught in a mosaic of lawsuits designed to restrict the number of flights in and out, handcuffing any attempt to bring major airlines to the city. The 1975 start of the Long Beach Grand Prix, one of the premiere automotive sporting events in the US today, was  a rocky start and took a few years to find its footing.

It became so bad that when, in the mid-eighties then mayor Ernie Kell declared a long term master plan to renovate the town as a self-declared -- worthy of its self-imposed nickname -- to put it on a par with such destinations as San Diego and Palm Springs he was met with open derision. Few saw the potential in a city often dismissed as "Iowa by the Sea".

Sunrise

But with that original spark, changes began. The election of Beverly O'Neill allowed one of the city's most potent advocates to take the helm of Kell's original vision and run with it. Then , when base closures deprived the city of three major employers, and a fourth, Boeing, announced the closure of its commercial operations at Long Beach Airport, the situation looked grim. The mayor, the city council and many other of the city's institutions assembled a plan to renovate downtown, investing millions of city and investor dollars in a waterfront rebuild, based on the same concepts as were successfully employed in Baltimore. In 1998 the Aquarium of the Pacific joined the Queen Mary and also newly opened The Museum of Latin American Art as world class attractions. The Port of Long Beach redeveloped the massive acreage it inherited when the Navy left, creating what is now the second busiest container port in the US, and, along with the adjacent Port of Los Angeles, comprises one of the ten largest port complexes in the world.

Sunset

Okay, so that's the PR stuff the Convention and Visitors Bureau would want you to know. And it's all true.

I have called Long Beach home for nearly thirty years and seen a lot of the transitions described above up close and personally. I choose, out of all cities in the world, to live here because of a handful of important things. First, it's ideally situated between Los Angeles and Orange County. But it very clearly has a personality of its own. The downtown district is often used to film depicting Miami and other tropical resorts. The Arts District has an ban bohemian vide not too dissimilar to the East Village in New York (though far smaller). 

Belmont Short, and handful of miles east of downtown, is the quintessential beach town. My neighborhood would not be out of place as the setting for Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best -- very much the suburban ideal of 1950's television.

Long Beach Airport has grown up. The lawsuits are all done, and it's moving forward with a new terminal design that promises to retain the spirit of the old, while being a model for future air travel -- and JetBlue Airways has brought many new destinations and competition. For many travelers LGB has become the favored point of departure and arrival to the LA metro area. Carnival Cruise Lines opened a new terminal next to the Queen Mary and features two weekly departures year round.

There is still a small remnant of the old "Iowa by the Sea" -- I often liken it to a big city thinking like a small town -- but rather than the disdain it once represented, it indicates a bit of charm and history. In fact, the city has also been named the most cosmopolitan on the West Coast. Its neighborhoods are the most diverse in America, and it's clearly a city with its eye on the future.

So why bother to mention Long Beach? Why sound a bit like a press release from the city's PR department? Because, frankly I;m proud of the city and its achievements. Bootstrapping is never easy, and we have a ways to go -- but if you're coming to the LA metropolitan area and find yourself with a day not ensconced in Disneyland or Universal Studios, take a look at our little town and give us a visit. 

I'm certain you'll enjoy yourself.

 

The Hometown Blues

You know the old saying that the "Cobbler's son always goes barefoot"? Or maybe you have heard it as "The shoemaker's kids have no shoes". Or something to that effect. (I tried finding the original phrase on the internet, which only confused the issues further. )

Regardless, the meaning behind the sentiment is that the person in question -- the cobbler -- is so wrapped up in making shoes for other people that he neglects his own kids. And I have to admit that I have been remiss in mentioning one of my very favorite places in the world: Long Beach. My hometown.

Land's End

Two things this last weekend rammed this message home. First, on Saturday I was fortunate to take a full day photographer's bootcamp with Ralph Velasco, one of the top travel photographers in the country. If you're unfamiliar with his work I'll add a link below*. Truly terrific stuff.

A fundamental part of the session involved each of the participants displaying and discussing our own work. Ralph has a great eye for overall composition as well as technical aspects, making this a valuable part of the overall camp. On one of my shots (included to the right) he asked "Rainbow Harbor?" -- from a simple photo he had the reference to catch where it was. Seeing the photo, you can tell that it's not readily identifiable as such, but if you're familiar with the area the outline of Parker's Lighthouse (the restaurant with the minaret) you can see it.

It hit home that I had never really mentioned Long Beach as a destination or over as one of my favorite places. I have not even treated it with the respect of a walkabout photo shoot -- even  though I've done plenty of shooting in and around the city for other purposes.

The second event happened on Sunday. My wife, a professional jazz singer, had a gig playing at the nearby Rancho Los Cerritos. 

(California's history is rife with references to the twelve famous missions which line the state from north to south, but less reference is made to a similar constellation of ranchos, themselves equally fundamental to the state's history.)

As we were setting up, several of the band members commented that they knew the rancho was there, but had never actually visited it. Likewise its fraternal twin across town, the Rancho Los Alamitos. We heard similar comments from guests who themselves had just discovered this little gem of a place.

*Ahem*

Here I've been several times extolled the virtues of a localized "trip" to better learn your own community, and I've neglected it myself.

The cobbler's kids.

*Well*

Bad on me. This next week I will correct this. My next blog entry will be a road trip to my own neighborhood. I've added a few of my stock shots to wet your whistle. As I've noted, it's not that I've never shot here, I've just never treated it with a sense of destination.

See you next week, when the cobbler's kids get shod.

My Hometown, Long Beach 

* To see Ralph's work, please go to:  http://www.ralphvelasco.com

Look, Don't Touch!

One of the great pleasures of visiting some destinations is the ability to, in a way, touch history. Whether that touch is physical, metaphorical or imaginary us really an effect of the destination.

For example, it's possible to touch history, stylized and reasonably rose-colored, at places such as Disneyland. Step into the park and be immediately immersed in late nineteenth and early twentieth century imagination. It's a game of let's pretend, but a good one and fun to do. Inauthentic, perhaps, but did the country ever really exist in that spirited Eden from movies like THE MUSIC MAN? Was Paris truly like VICTOR/VICTORIA? No, but that doesn't mean we cant indulge in a bit of nostalgic legerdemain to make world just a bit more fun.

The D'Orsay

For the physical touch, there are such attractions as Williamsburg in Virginia, the California Missions along the West Coast, or a walk through the Vieux Carre in New Orleans. The buildings are genuine, and the historic atmosphere palpable. In Europe the opportunities are even more profound with such places as Notre Dame in Paris or, ancient of ancients, the Colosseum and Forum in Rome. Standing in what was once the audience's viewing stands, your hands resting upon a section of rock which may have once echoed the cheers of some long-forgotten battle is an astounding experience if you take the moment and pause to listen.

But it is the  metaphorical touch that is, at times, the most impactful to an open mind.

Look, don't touch

What do I mean by the phrase "metaphorical touch"? I mean that feeling you get while gazing at an item of antiquity. The Declaration of Independence, visible only through a climate controlled window, for one example. A Faberge Egg in a glass display case for another. Chances are you're not going to be able to rest your mitts directly on either one of those two priceless items, but in your mind you have a specific representation of them both. You know what they represent, and therefore the tactile element isn't necessary to your appreciation of them.

A sight to behold

Many museums, for good reason, maintain policies regarding our interaction with the more fragile items from our collective past. It was our good fortune, recently, to visit two of the best collections of Impressionist art anywhere in the world: The Musees d'Orsay and l'Orangerie in Paris.

Despite the tight relationship between the two venues, I was struck, and a little disappointed, by the policy differences between the two when it came to photographing the exhibition -- or even the museum itself when it came to the d'Orsay.

Certainly the protection of the works must take priority. At no point would it be acceptable -- particularly in this technological world of ours, in which we know precisely what destroys pigment or the physical groundings of a piece -- to allow a practice which is known to damage the art. The majority of museums in the world understand the desire for the viewer to take home a bit of the experience of seeing such great works. In most cases, this means a photograph of the work, taken by cellphone or camera, which can go into a family scrapbook or be shown to friends who would, themselves, salivate at the chance to stand before a van Gogh, or Renoir, or Degas.

Communing with Architecture

Living History (The Vatican)

Unfortunately, as is often the case, the actions of the few dullards among us causes the need for stricter regulations. In this case,the complete prohibition against photography in the d'Orsay. The actions of a handful of patrons -- those who, at some point of their viewing of these great works, decided that the regulation against flash photography did not apply personally but only to others -- have now ruined it for the rest of us. As a photographer...and perhaps even moreso as a fan of great art...I find myself deeply angry with this. My memory of the visit is all I have (unless, of course, I purchase the forty dollar keepsake volume in the museum's store), and those pictures are essentially lost to me for lack of a visual representation.

(I do not, in any way, begrudge the D'Orsay -- or any other museum -- their dime for the book. Art books are excellent investments.)

(As a reasonably honorable photographer, I know I can be relied upon to photograph the works in a non-damaging way. Sadly, based upon experience, I'm in complete agreement that we cannot be trusted as a crowd.)

Art Appreciation Day

But it's our unique ability as a species to want to see these things, to experience them and, yes, to bring a bit of them home with us. To our knowledge, no other animal keeps mementos to help them rediscover, recall something they've experienced. To see a picture, to touch an object, to recall a scent. Things that mean something and somehow comfort us  by reminding us where we've been and where we might want to go next.

This will lead us full circle, the appreciation of history and historic events can be a lot of fun, and it's a way to reconnect with ourselves or our roots or even just our interests. It's that time taken to stop and appreciate that which has gone by that gives us an important perspective. That's the sort of thing that can tell us where we've been...

…and maybe an indication if just how much further we can go.

An actor goes about her character's chores in Colonial Williamsburg

We get around, round, round round...

(Ever have a time when you sit down to write something and come up with a piece entirely foreign to your first intent? This was such a time…)

Just recently, in honor of my 27th anniversary, my sister sent us a card with a photograph of my wife and I during our recent trip to New York. In Times Square. (Thanks, Jude!)

And it once again reminded me of my foundational travel philosophy, which is: don't be afraid of the adventure. In fact, I may adopt that as my official Thumbnail Traveler tagline. It seems to fit in nicely with what I'm trying to build as a brand. And it reinforces a philosophy I've advocated for years, and, in fact, my sister is a relatively recent convert to as well.

Watching Polar Bears in Churchill

I've made mention more than a few times of Phil Keoghan's book NO OPPORTUNITY WASTED. The book, for those of you too lazy to go back and find my comments, is essentially a "how to" for putting together a Life List -- or what has now been co-opted as The Bucket List. In other words, a list of things that not only would you like to do, but actually are going to take steps to accomplish.

My own NOW Life List is constantly changing and being updated -- you can see it here on my official website (http://mysite.verizon.net/res7n0zi/id48.html), or below,  -- but there are a handful of constants when it comes to my travel-related intentions.

The south Sawyer Glacier, Alaska

As I've noted, I tend to treat life outside the walls of my "pay the mortgage" cubicle as an adventure. My work pays for what I do outside the office, as I'm probably overly fond of reminding my boss. Photography and travel are my creative passions, and contribute enough to our income for a couple of nights out every few months. That noted, my long-term goals are set around seeing the large portions of the world I have yet to glimpse. 

Some are simply counting coup -- a term I use here to describe the arrival at, and appreciation of some object or monument, noting its importance and moving on. Examples of this might include the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It's a wonderful treat, and certainly fills you with the awe and significance of our 16th president, as well as the historical events surrounding his life. There is little to compare to standing at the foot of that famous statue, or gazing across the Reflecting Pond from the steps of the memorial towards the Washington Monument.

All of which takes a half hour or so to completely take in the experience. Absolutely worth it, no question. (Some people augment the experience by sitting down on the steps and watching the world go by, which is a worthy approach…and rife with photographic opportunities.) 

Doin' the Beatles walk across Abbey Road

The better goals, at least for my approach to life, are the more complex and immersive. I will build trips around a series of "coup counts" as necessary, so that I really can get that moment in front of Mr. Lincoln while still immersing myself in the overall Washington culture. One monument might be good for a small period of time, but add in the Vietnam Wall, the Jefferson Monument, the Capitol Building, the Smithsonian, Union Station, etc, etc, etc and you get the picture, figuratively (and literally) speaking. The Lincoln Memorial is one aspect of an overall "Washington" adventure. This is why, on my Life List, you see fewer "counting coup" sorts of things -- "See the Lincoln Memorial" -- and more of an overall approach ("Visit Washington, DC for a week").

There are, if you've bothered to take a look, a couple of specific "counting" adventures, largely because they are part of the NOW checklist. Phil's philosophy involves several different approaches to self-fulfilling adventures, some of them don't involve travel at all -- they're more personal challenges and accomplishments rather than sights and sounds. (#8 on my NOW list is "walk the Havasupai glass-bottomed horseshoe over the Grand Canyon". At first this seems like a coup-ish short term event, and it is. But it's also a challenge to my at-times insurmountable acrophobia. The purpose of this particular item is to Face My Fear -- one of the seven elements of the NOW philosophy.)

Swimming with Dolphins in Mexico

This year I've managed to knock three adventures off my "To Do" list, and all three occurred on the same one trip. Visually and spiritually I've always wanted to see the sunrise over Mount Haleakala. Ecologically, my wife and I are very much into seeing native species in their environment and have swum with dolphins, chased Orca in the Puget Sound, encountered polar bears on the Canadian tundra, seen wild bald eagles in Alaska, held turtles in the Cayman Islands, and alligators in the Everglades -- and now scuba dived with Manta Rays as part of the same trip as Mount Haleakala.

All of which is simply my way of convincing you that you need to put together your own list of things you intend to do. Star with eight and move upward as necessary (I'm right around 13). Figure out who you want to involve in your plans. You'd be surprised how many of your friends would want to help, and possibly themselves start their own programs. If your list involves eating at a Michelin three-starred restaurant (number 4 on my list), find yourself a foodie buddy with sufficient monetary pockets and figure it out. (No, I'm not suggesting they pay your way. It's your challenge, not theirs, but you can certainly go dutch.)

My Current List:

1. Take a hot-air balloon ride over Sedona or Napa Valley. 

2. Go on a true African safari 

3. Swim in the Indian Ocean

4. Eat at a three-Michelin rosette restaurant 

5. Stay at every major hotel/casino property on the Las Vegas Strip (Still to go: Bellagio; Excalibur; Flamingo; Cosmopolitan; Aria; Imperial Palace)

6. Drink a glass of wine in every major wine region in the world (So far: Napa, Sonoma, Bordeaux, Loire, Tuscany, Veneto) 

Tanning in St Barth

7. Spend a couple of nights north of Arctic Circle and south of Antarctic

8. Walk the 4000 foot glass-bottomed horseshoe at the Hualapai reservation in Arizona. 

9. Visit Stonehenge at dusk. 

10. Cruise the Amazon

11. Spend the night in an Ice Hotel

12. Attend a performance in the Sydney Opera House 

13. Drive the Great Ocean Rd.

The fun part of this sort of thing is the involvement of others. Gather up your friends, your family, and any other "enabler" you can find and share your list and your plan with them. Solicit their help, their support. It's not a solitary endeavor -- well, not always.

Walking the glass horseshoe 4000 feet over the Grand Canyon is gonna be all me, regardless of who I have in tow.

Hiking through the British Columbia Rain Forest