Starling Travel

Yesterday’s article from Fodor’s suggested that you write up a list to make sure you remember everything. I created a list of my own using MS Word that has worked for me over the years. Each thing that’s on the list was something that I have forgotten on some trip, wishing I had it with me.

Click Here To Print Up Packing List Using MS Word

Here is an abbreviated version of the list:

• Prescriptions
• Cell Phone Chargers
• Battery charger for the camera
• Camera
• Computer
• Hair Dryer, Curling Iron, etc.
• Makeup
• Glasses
• Extra Contacts
• Our toothbrushes/flossers
• Makeup remover
• Shaving Supplies
• Perfume
• Swimming Suits, Beach Towels, Hat, Sunscreen
• Bathrobe
• Pillows
• Maps of the City & Tourist Info

After checking off each box on this list, I feel much more at ease when we get into the car to leave on the trip. I KNOW that we have the essentials (or not-so-essentials, as the case may be).

But what about camping? It’s a much more complicated process. Tune in tomorrow to see the list we use for camping.

I have fantasies of travelling with only a backpack on my shoulder, but I always end up with a car full of “necessities.” Here is a helpful list to keep your packing lighter.

• Fodor’s Travel Wire | 11 Tips for Smarter Packing

Here is a condensed version of their tips:

• Think it Through
• Make a List
• Know Local Customs
• Heed the Comfort Factor
• Keep Transit Plans in Mind
• Do the Wash-and-Wear Math
• Make Your Clothes Work Hard
• Watch Your Colors
• Practicality Rules
• Follow the Weather

I rarely take a LONG trip in which I have to worry about more than a couple days’ worth of clothing, but I DO have a list that I tend to follow when I’m packing so that I don’t forget the important things. I’ll share that with you tomorrow.

The following is a list of web resources where you can find unique hotels and inns. I’ve found that a hotel can be a destination all by itself. When we stayed at the Washington School Inn in Park City, the hotel was a relaxing place to rest and the hope for the ghosts of school teachers kept us alert.

• Historic Hotels of America

• I Love Inns.com: Bed And Breakfasts

• Bed and Breakfast Inns of America – The national database of Bed and Breakfast and Country Inns

• Great Lodges | PBS

Of course, sometimes, you just need a hotel as a place to crash at the end of a busy day. Both views of lodging are valid, it just depends on what you’re looking for. I can tell you that the food at Washington School Inn was enough to make me want to stay there every time we go to Park City, but there have been times when all we needed was a place to rest our weary heads. In those cases, Econolodge was the best for us.

Via: The Seattle Times: Travel: How to find hotels and inns with character, history

The vision of the Pope getting off an airplane and kissing the ground is a strong one in my mind. I’m not Catholic, so the Pope seemed like a strange mythical creature to me. One that could bestow blessings on a land just by kissing it. My childlike mind was imprinted with that view of the Pope so strongly that it remains to this day.

When we travel, however, what is to stop us from kissing the earth when we arrive. Whether it is by train, plane or automobile, why do we not bestow our own blessings on the ground when we visit a new destination? Why is it only the Pope that gets down on his knees and embraces the earth?

We travel to see new lands and new people and new buildings. We spend a lot of money to do it, yet I rarely see gratitude of this in such a vivid act as kissing the earth. Sure, frazzled fliers kiss the tarmac after a grissly flight, but other than that, I have only seen the Pope be that grateful for the lands he visits.

Next time you get off the airplane and step into a different land, be mindful of the great opportunity that has been alloted you. Smell the air. Let the sun blind you. Listen for native birds and local industry. Taste the exotic food.

And kiss the earth.

South By Southwest (SXSW) is a festival for interactive computing, film and music. The Interactive conference has workshops and panels for people like me, who write or design websites. They have a group of web awards and it’s a chance for me to geek out with people who do what I do.

• south by southwest festivals + conferences – March 10-19, 2006

We’ll be at SXSW and quite busy during the conference, so we thought we would take this time to focus on all the cool touristy things to do in the hosting city, Austin, Texas.

The Georgia Aquarium opened its doors last November and it has already welcomed its one millionth visitor.

• CNN.com – No fish story: Aquarium draws million in 3 months – Mar 1, 2006

The microcosm environments that they have set up are already acting like they should:

“I’m very pleased with the natural behavior I’m seeing,” Executive Director Jeff Swanagan said of the aquarium’s live-in residents. He said shrimp in the Tropical Diver exhibit have set up “cleaning stations,” and that fish “line up like they’re at a car wash” to get cleaned, just like they do in the wild.

I love going to an aquarium because I’m from a land-locked state that has no ocean nearby to enjoy. I find it odd that the best aquariums are located in areas that line the oceans. Local residents can just take an inexpensive snorkel and see fish in their local waterways, whereas, there is nothing like that in the states that are trapped by land.

If the numbers at the Georgia Aquarium are typical, it looks like there may be support for aquariums in other states. I hope more of them take notice of the runaway success that Georgia is having and fund aquariums elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the Georgia Aquarium hasn’t set up any view cams or online exhibits for those of us trapped far from Atlanta, but their website shows you what can be expected on a trip.

• Georgia Aquarium

Take a few moments and explore their website. Suddenly, the former home of the Olympics has another feather in its hat.

Here is a review of the aquarium from a local:

• hula seventy: WORLD’S LARGEST AQUARIUM

Via: World Hum | Travel | Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium Reaches 1 Million Visitors Milestone

Where: Georgia Aquarium 225 Baker St, Atlanta, GA 30313 Google Map Phone: (404) 581-4000

There is no question that the camera and photography changed the art world. Suddenly anyone with a camera could achieve what only the best portrait painters of the world were able to do before. If painting was an inefficient method of capturing reality, what is painting for?

Impressionism, Surrealism, Dada, and Cubism have all been blamed on Photography, but what about photography that tries to look like an impressionist painting?

• Saint Louis Art Museum: Impressionist Camera

This exhibit’s only stop in the United States is in Saint Louis, home of the 1904 World’s Fair, which is the last time these photos were exhibited in the United States. One hundred years before I would be able to easily achieve these effects using Adobe Photoshop, these artists were layering elements from different photos, creating different color schemes and altering their photos in such a way as to create beautiful art.

There is no online tour for this exhibit, but you can purchase the book that is meant to accompany this exhibit:

• Saint Louis Art Museum: The Impressionist Camera Catalogue

If you have already planned a trip to Saint Louis or live nearby, make sure you take the time to see this exhibit.

Via: Happy News – Exhibit shows pictorial photography – by Cheryl Wittenauer with Associated Press

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is hosting an exhibit of Edvard Munch’s artwork from February 19 to May 8, 2006.

• MoMA.org | Exhibitions | 2006 | Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul

Best known for his work, “The Scream”, Edvard Munch was accused of creating “degenerate art” by the Nazi party. He has later become known as an Existential Superstar. I think I drew a copy of this painting more than a hundred times during my teenaged angst years. The image just resonated with me and based on its popularity, it resonates with all humans at some point in their lives.

The universal feeling of grief was something that Edvard was aptly able to portray. Take this painting, “Death in a Sickroom”, which portrays the death of his sister. I have always been haunted by this painting because of the man leaning on the wall on the left side. The whole family is grieving and he is using the wall to support himself. He has to hold it in for the family, but the sadness is overtaking his body. It’s that figure, shoddily painted in the background that brings the utter despair to the room.

If you happen to be traveling to New York, you can see the 87 paintings on display at the Museum of Modern Art. If you are stuck at home, you can see their online exhibit here:

• MoMA.org | Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul | Click On The Audio Tour Full Program

Via: Happy News – Edvard Munch retrospective opens at MoMA – by Deepti Hajela with Associated Press

I thought six and a half minutes would be too long for my short attention span, but this travel video is expertly cut and beautifully filmed. The movie follows a couple that are so in love that it spills out of my computer screen and all over my desk in front of me. I am smiling and imagining myself in Bangkok and on the island of Koh Samui with someone I love.

She offers me a dead grasshopper and I want to reach into the computer screen and take it from her hand. Thank you for this glimpse into your trip! It was beautiful!

The folks at Houseplant Picture Studios found a few books of family photos at a swap meet in Huntington Beach, California. They feature pictures from a family that probably owned a liquor store.

• Houseplant Picture Studio presents…PHOTOS OF AN UNKNOWN FAMILY WHO PROBABLY OWNED A LIQUOR STORE

The people at Houseplant described their find:

“We purchased two hefty photo albums filled-to-the-brim with family photos of a hitherto unknown family. We haven’t yet taken the time to look at the back of every photo to try to figure out the family’s name. We have noticed that a lot of the photos feature family members standing in or in front of a nice-looking, fully-stocked liquor store. It’s quite obvious that the family pictured in the photo albums owned the liquor store.”

The best thing that I like about the Liquor Store Family are the photos that they took traveling.

I love looking through these photos, imagining stories about these people. They traveled with their children. They traveled with another couple. I imagine that the men are brothers and they took many trips together. His lovely, red-headed wife always had her little handbag with her and her hair is always perfectly coifed. It seems like he loved her very much because he took so many pictures of her. She’s always there smiling.

Next time you’re taking photographs on your vacation, look at them through the eyes of a stranger and imagine someone years from now seeing you in front of the Eiffel Tower posing for an eternity.