Hot new travel destination lists... don't you love them? Well, don't you?

We all love a good list, don't we? The travel media have been busy publishing their 'places to go in 2009' lists, the hot 'new' destinations that guidebook publishers and travel publications think you should visit this year, 'it' places they want everyone talking about. Last year I posted a list based on places I'd been that I believed more travellers should visit and it included: Syria, Buenos Aires, Morocco (by road), Western Australia, Antwerp & Brussels, Thailand (road trip rather than beach holiday), Istanbul, Baltic Cities (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius), Dubai, and Oman. I chose destinations I felt were emerging (the Baltic Cities), often overlooked (Syria, Oman), underrated (Western Australia, Antwerp), misunderstood (Brussels, Dubai), too hot to ignore (Buenos Aires, Istanbul), and places I felt people should experience differently to how they ordinarily might (Thailand and Morocco, which I encouraged people to drive). I'm still mulling over my list for 2009, which I'll share with you tomorrow. For now, here's a taste of the travel media's 2009 lists:
* CONDE NAST TRAVELER/CONCIERGE: Tel Aviv, Bolivia, Utah, Acapulco,Vilnius, Central Philippines, New York City, Rajasthan, Toronto, and Beirut.
* DK TRAVEL GUIDES: Vilnius, Buenos Aires, Gdansk, Seattle, Bristol, Fez, Washington DC, Copenhagen, Cape Town, and Vienna.
* LONELY PLANET: top 10 countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, Georgia, Greenland, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Peru, Rwanda and Sierra Leone; and top 10 cities: Antwerp, Beirut, Chicago, Glasgow, Lisbon, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Warsaw, and Zurich.
* FROMMER'S: Cartagena; Cape Town; Saqqara, Egypt; Washington DC; Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada; Civil Rights Trail, Alabama, USA; Lassen Volcano National Park, USA; Berlin; Belfast; Istanbul; Cambodia (But Not Angkor Wat); and Waiheke Island, New Zealand.

It's interesting to see the same places popping up, such as Vilnius, Beirut, Istanbul, and Oman. I've long been bewitched by Beirut myself (Terry and I wrote two editions of Lonely Planet's Syria and Lebanon guide, and wrote the Lebanon chapter for the first edition some 5 years ago), but the city hasn't yet stabilized and I can't see it having wide appeal. Ditto Georgia, where heavy fighting with Russia occurred in July this year, and Sierra Leone, where UN peace-keepers pulled out just eight years ago. But part of the point of these lists is to provoke discussion, get us excited about traveling, and influence us into buying books and magazines, isn't it? So, what do you think of the various hot lists floating around?

Pictured? That's the Corniche in Muscat, Oman.

Life of a travel writer: VIP openings, acrobatic waiters and private parties

Will you forgive me the silence? Perhaps when I tell you where I've been. If you followed the Lonely Planet author scandal you'd get the impression from Thomas Kohnstamm that fees are so low and travel writers so poor they have to deal drugs and scam meals to survive. Or if you read the blogs, comments and stories in response from other writers you'd think we all work 16 hour days, seven days a week (which we do), but that miserable fees force us to sleep on friends' couches when we travel and the closest we get to Michelin-starred restaurants is watching customers dine through the window while we make menu notes outside (which we certainly don't do!). If you work hard, network well, and line up a number of commissions for a trip, you can sleep in design hotels, dine of fine meals, and live a rather luxe life if you choose. Last Monday we flew to Istanbul to cover the opening of the new W hotel and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Spice Market for two in-flights and two travel magazines, and write a guide to Istanbul for another travel mag. What followed was a whirlwind four days of work - and play! The W generously hosted us in a stunning room and fed us Jean-Georges' superb cuisine for two days. We went to an exclusive press dinner at Spice Market with a dozen other writers and W's fantastic global PR team. We sipped bubbly poured by an acrobat for a waiter who hung upside down from a chandelier of champagne bottles! And we boogied the night away (with Jean-Georges himself!) at the hotel's spectacular launch party, attended by Istanbul's jet set and hundreds of W VIPs around the globe. And it was fun. Especially being invited by Jean-Georges to his private after-party in the hotel's presidential suite with magical views of Istanbul!

Or... everything old is new again

While in Istanbul last week I picked up the May special 'Europe' issue of US Travel + Leisure with a feature on "Hidden European Neighbourhoods". The author writes: "Beyoglu is now reclaiming its status as Istanbul's favourite playground". Yet Beyoglu has always been Istanbul's commercial heart and its main pedestrianised street is the city's main shopping boulevard. Beyoglu is hardly "hidden" and it has always had a buzz about it, especially in the evening when it seems the whole of Turkey is out shopping, eating and drinking. The neighbourhoods that have experienced a renaissance in recent years are Tunel, Cukurcuma and Cihangir, considered the coolest by locals and the most interesting to explore for travellers with their cutting-edge boutiques, music stores, vintage clothes shops, antique stores, hip cafes and bars. Take a look at 'Istanbul, the Undiscovered Capital of Cool', which we published in April 2007. I'm in Rome this week, so it's amusing to read that Ponte, Parione and Regola are the eternal city's latest hot spots. These neighbourhoods are a hop, skip and a jump from Piazza Navona and their well-trodden cobblestone streets have always been the focus of tourist activity. While they're lovely, again, they're far from "hidden". Monti is much more fascinating, with its music school, funky boutiques, design stores, and laidback trattorias, while gritty San Lorenzo is the city's bohemian heart. But then the residents of Monti and San Lorenzo would probably argue their 'hoods have always been hip.

Our latest travel writing: in print and online

The June-July issue of Jazeera Airways' J magazine features a few of our articles and Terry's fab photography. If you're not flying with the funky no-frills airline this month (or next), then you can read the stories online, although we love the layout and design of the printed magazines more. Check out Cyprus: Beyond the Beach, our guide to the top ten off-the-beaten-track things to see and do on the island (along with my update of the Cyprus destination guide); The Empire Strikes Back, about Istanbul's hip t-shirt brand Ottoman Empire (we did an interview with the lovely Ayse Bali, one of the owners, to be published in various forms in the future, which I'll keep you posted on); and Room with a View: the W Istanbul, which we quite literally wrote in our hotel room there just hours before the glam opening party I told you about. (Terry should have got a credit for writing that story too actually, but somehow his name got left off... these things happen occasionally unfortunately.) The May issue of Gulf Marketing Review featured a Tourism Sector Analysis (sounds dull I know, but it was fascinating. Really.) with my piece 'Low Cost Hospitality Comes to the Gulf', on the explosion of budget and "limited-service" hotels in the Gulf (sounds dull I know, but I tried to make it fascinating. Really.) If you're lucky enough to stay at a Ritz Carlton hotel next month, look out for a wee little piece from me on Doha's Islamic Art Museum as part of their global summer arts coverage; if you're taking a super-swish Seabourn cruise (the only cruise ships you'd ever get me on) you can read my 'Old Dubai, New Dubai' story in their on-board magazine; and if you're checking in to one of the Radisson-Carlson hotels, you can take a look at my guide to Dubai in Voyageur magazine.

Pictured? Not Cyprus, Istanbul, Doha, or Dubai. Instead, I thought I'd share another image from our recent trip to Calabria. I took this from the belvedere at Scilla, overlooking the castle and old town. Sublime, isn't it?

10 Reasons to Shop Dubai - a taster

Since you twisted my bangled arm, here's a taste of my 10 Reasons to Shop Dubai or The Ultimate Dubai Shopping Guide. Visit Viator for the full article, which includes fab extras like what to buy where, and a lesson in bargaining.
1.Dubai Shopping Festival - citywide sales, massive discounts, crazy promotions, extravagant raffle prizes, entertainment, street fairs, food stalls, nightly fireworks, and cultural activities, in the cool winter months (Jan-Feb).
2.Dubai Summer Surprises - summer (Jun-Aug) equivalent; hotel prices are slashed but it’s a sweltering 45 degrees Celsius outside. It's as if you’re in a giant sauna or God has placed a blow heater above Dubai. An experience!
3.Dubai’s Shopping Malls - I’m not a fan of malls normally; give me a shopping 'hood like Amsterdam’s Nine Streets any day. But in Dubai, where it’s too hot to stroll the streets for six months, malls make sense. Dubai’s malls boast restaurants, cinemas, theatres, art galleries, child minding centres, mosques, and ski slopes!
4.Mall of the Emirates - my favourite; enormous, opulent, marble floors, spacious ‘avenues’, fab selection of shops, swish Harvey Nichols, Virgin Megastore, superb restaurants (Almaz by Momo) and bars (Apres), chic Kempinski Mall of the Emirates, and indoor ski slopes.
5.Dubai’s Souqs - these bustling bazaars aren't the most attractive (get Marrakesh and Istanbul out of your head) but they’re atmospheric, gritty, ramshackle, and real; they don't exist for tourists, this is where real people shop for everyday stuff.
6.Because in Dubai Bargaining is a Fine Art - part of the fun of shopping Dubai’s souqs is haggling; it’s not a requirement as in Cairo or Istanbul, but if you pay the first price offered, you’re probably paying double the value. See my Viator article for bargaining tips.
7.Dubai’s Best Buys - Dubai’s best buys are carpets, textiles, perfume, spices, and gold. Buy these and other exotic goodies at the Spice Souq, Deira’s Covered Souqs, Gold Souq, Bur Dubai’s Textile Souq, and Karama Souq. (I tell you what to buy where on Viator.)
8. Souq Madinat Jumeirah - this wonderful air-conditioned, contemporary take on a souq is the place to shop when you can’t face the souq chaos, the heat has got to you, you’re not in the mood for bargaining, or you want a chilled glass of white with lunch. Prices are higher but the quality is better.
9. Dubai’s Homegrown Fashion - Dubai’s fashion scene is blooming; watch cheeky young designer Raghda Bukhash, whose fabulous Pink Sushi label playfully appropriated the red and white gutra (Arab men’s headdress) to produce cute skirts, handbags and clutches, well before everyone started wearing gutras in Europe. Available at Amzaan, owned by princess Sheikha Maisa al-Qassimi. Other hip boutiques stocking local fashion include Five Green and S*uce.
10. Dubai’s Shopping Hours - 10am-10pm daily for malls; stores outside malls close afternoons and on Friday (Muslim day of worship). Shopping is most fun in the evening when locals shop. It means nights end late, but what are days for if not dozing by the pool?

Our latest travel writing: in print and online

When I updated you yesterday on our latest writing in print and online, I forgot to mention one new piece you might enjoy, especially those gourmet travellers out there who take your food seriously. Have a read of my partner Terry's article 'Perfect Balance' in Gulf Life, Gulf Air's in-flight magazine. The story is based on an interview we did with Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten during the opening of Jean-Georges' new Spice Market restaurant and Istanbul's W hotel. Terry also took the gorgeous photos. You may remember me telling you about our trip to Istanbul for the opening of the W hotel. It was a hectic few days of interviews and shoots, which, as exhausting as they were, reaffirmed our love for this work - how many jobs allow you to go to such cool places and meet so many cool people? A few stories resulted from that trip, including a review of the W hotel for Jazeera Airline's J Mag. Now, it's not often I post happy snaps on Cool Travel Guide, but I couldn't resist popping up this pic of Terry with Jean-Georges. We meet a lot of chefs - during this last trip to Italy, we got to interview a constellation of Michelin-starred chefs, shoot their dishes and eat their food - and we find chefs to be fascinating people. The best chefs are thoughtful, philosophical and passionate about food, travel and culture. Jean-Georges was all of those things, but he was also an endearing, down-to-earth and considerate guy. He also has his own blog. Very cool indeed.

Life of a travel writer: loving the work

As much as I loved the dinners and parties in Istanbul, I have to admit though that the highlight for us was the work rather than the play. While some of the other press, including writers who'd flown all the way from New York for just a few days, seemed content to sleep in, enjoy the free spa treatments and meals, and kick back at the hotel, for us there were too many other fabulous opportunities in the city to ignore. Every day was jam-packed with interviews and shoots - with chefs, fashion designers and an oud craftsman - and squeezing in time to explore and photograph the less written about areas of Istanbul in between. After the W we shifted to another boutique hotel, Lush, closer to the action around Taksim and Beyoglu, and we pounded the pavement all day every day. It was hard work but we got to meet some incredibly fascinating people and not only got great material for the stories we were commissioned to write, but we were also able to gather content we can continue to use for many months to come. That's the life of a travel writer for me. And I love it!

It's good to be a tourist in... Rome!

Before I tell you about our travels in Calabria, I must share something about our recent visit to Rome (post-Istanbul) where we spent a week gathering content for several travel stories, experiencing walking tours, hotels, restaurants, and museums, doing interviews with fascinating locals, and for my husband and co-writer Terry, shooting photos. Despite the fact that we were working, for the first time in a long time, I felt like a tourist. And, much to my surprise, it felt fantastic. We'd been to Rome a few times before, yet this trip was different. The first time we visited, a decade ago, Terry and I were spending a summer backpacking through Italy, Spain and Portugal. The second trip I took my mother as part of a summer sojourn to places she'd always wanted to go but had never been - Istanbul, the Greek Islands, Paris, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Spain - as a way toward healing and learning to live again following my dad's death from cancer. The third visit was at the end of another long Italian summer for Terry and I that involved writing a book in Milan, followed by (our reward!) travel to some Italian places we'd never been together, a driving trip through Sicily, time kicking back on the Aeolian Islands, a jaunt to the Amalfi Coast and Capri where our days were spent walking and swimming and nights spent eating and drinking, and finally some days in each of Napoli and Roma where we did the design hotels, hot new restaurants, and hip bars. This trip to Rome was altogether different. For the stories we were researching we did a series of guided tours and walks (something we never do), and we stayed in the Vatican City and Via Veneto, where it's impossible to escape the tour groups and hoards of tourists. We were just two of tens of thousands of travellers clutching our guidebooks as we did the sights. Sure I was making lengthy notes and observing the people as much as the places, and Terry was carting around one too many cameras to be a tourist, but still we somehow got caught up in the flow. Like little leaves we floated down Rome's cobblestone streets, centuries of complex history surrounding us, and we loved it. For the first time in a long time I felt so exhilarated by a city, it was as if I was experiencing it for the first time. And it felt great. It felt good to be a tourist in Rome. But I'm not sure how many other cities I could say that about...

The best new retro-luxe train journeys

You want to take a luxurious train trip in retro-chic style but don't want to do the long haul down under to ride Great Southern Rail's The Ghan or Indian Pacific? (Although trust me, they're worth it!) Then check out these new and old classic trains offering endearingly old-fashioned rail experiences:
* The Orient Express - this sumptuous 'hotel on wheels' may be known as the grande dame of great trains, but there are in fact two sumptuous trains you can check into, the Eastern and Oriental Express, which travels through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, and the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, which does an array of routes, including the classic trips from Paris via Budapest and Bucharest to Istanbul, and the Venice via Krakow and Vienna to Paris trip.
* The Golden Chariot - this charming Indian 'chariot' is my favorite, running from Bangalore via Mysore and Goa back to Bangalore over 8 days, the beautiful train boasts two elegant restaurants and gorgeous lounges featuring proper dining chairs, as well an on-board gym and spa where guests can enjoy massages and treatments!
* The Danube Express - calling itself the 'Central European Train Hotel' this classic new train service offers a number of nostalgia-imbued journeys that you can join in Brussels, Berlin, Budapest or Istanbul, and enjoy in Classic and Deluxe Sleeping Cars - both look pretty swish.
* The Tangula Luxury Trains - due to start operating in a few months from Beijing to Tibet and Beijing to Yunnan, the only thing old-fashioned about these sleek contemporary-designed trains managed by the Kempinski group is the service and attention to detail - everything from spacious suites equipped with mini-bars and wireless internet access to personal butlers!
Want some more ideas? Check out these Eight Great Rail Escapes from the Man in Seat 61 and Dan Kieran's Slow Trains Through Eastern Europe.
The image? The lounge car on The Ghan.

10 Places You Must Go in 2008: places I have been

These are the 10 places I think you should experience in 2008, based on places I have been myself, and here are some quick reasons why. I'll give you my own wish list of 'it' destinations for 2008, places I have never been but hope to visit, in the new year.
1. SYRIA: colossal history confronts you at every corner, the world's best archaeological sites, crusader castles, sublime Umayyad Mosque, bustling medieval souqs, the Mid East's tastiest food, beautiful Damascene houses, artisans at work, Euphrates River, Dead Cities, Palmyra, Bosra, and the friendliest people in the world.
2. BUENOS AIRES: because it is as buzzy as they say it is, atmospheric barrios, architectural mishmash of architecture, lively markets and parks, fabulous bars and restaurants, great meat and wine, all-night nightlife, traditional peñas, Feria de Mataderos, gritty backstreets.
3. MOROCCO: do a road trip for moonlike landscapes, sublime desert scenery, abandoned mountain palaces, Berber desert citadels set amid date palm oases, then stay with Maryam in Marrakesh.
4. WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Broome for Australia's best beach and sunsets, Monkey Mia for WA's most tranquil beach and best indigenous walk, spectacular Kimberley & Pilbara regions, Margaret River's wild coast and wonderful wineries.
5. ANTWERP & BRUSSELS: because Antwerp is Europe's most underrated, easygoing city and Brussels isn't boring at all, superb dining scenes, laidback bars, pubs and atmospheric brown cafes, multicultural neighborhoods, lively jazz scenes, excellent museums, cutting-edge fashion, and those fantastic mussels!
6. THAILAND: road trip it off the beaten track, through lush green landscapes of limestone mountains and impenetrable jungle, eat tasty food in small town markets, meet the world's sweetest people, and well, okay, squeeze in a spa treatment at beach resort if you must.
7. ISTANBUL: after the umissable historical sights, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, Grand Bazaar, Topkaki Palace, and whirling dervishes, explore modern Istanbul, its lively backstreets, vibrant restaurants, bars and cafes, and get on the water for a cruise up the Bosphorus.
8. BALTIC CITIES: TALLINN: beautiful walled old city with perfectly preserved pastel-colored medieval architecture, kitsch experience of trying medieval food, sublime contemporary cuisine; RIGA: elegant art nouveau architecture, great walks, pretty parks and squares, lively pubs; and VILNIUS: laidback vibe, beautiful baroque churches, hearty food, and wild nightlife.
9. DUBAI: for reasons most travel writers won't tell you: Emirati and Bedouin culture and heritage, the courtyard wind-tower architecture in the Persian Bastakiya neighbourhood, gritty backstreets, Deira 'Creek' views from Bur Dubai, hospitable people, superb restaurants, and a lively contemporary art scene.
10. OMAN: majestic forts that make you feel like a kid again set in lush date palm oases, the Musandam peninsula, the Arabian Norway, the pretty waterfront at Muscat with its stunning harbour, and laidback Muttrah souq.

The travel journalists’ junket: why we don’t do them

By Terry and Lara
When we were in Milan recently we had drinks with some hotel executives we’d met in Istanbul while attending the W opening. The PR person of the Milan hotel where we’d met for aperitivi told us how impressed she was that we’d had several story commissions on the hotel, its restaurant and Chef Jean-Georges, and that those had been published already, and she asked if we wanted to be included the next time she was coordinating a press trip. We very politely declined and she understood exactly why. If we’d been on a journalist’s junket in Istanbul we wouldn’t have had the freedom to pursue the stories that we did. And she agreed. But it was our recent visit to Venice where we got to observe the behaviour of one too many tour groups, and a story we read on spas in Thailand (more on that little gem soon), that brought home one of the reasons why we really don’t like the organised press trip. It’s because of its complete disconnect with the kind of travel that ‘normal’ travellers do. In a nutshell, junket journalists are treated like a cross between pampered pooches, 80-somethings on a shore-leave guided tour from a cruise ship, and package tourists whose last independent thought for the duration of their holiday was figuring out how they managed to get their name tag on upside down at the airport. We write for independent travellers, and by travelling independently ourselves we gain a better understanding of the logistical challenges that independent travellers face. Junket journalists don’t have to worry about finding that carpark in Venice, deciding how best to lug those bags to the hotel (do we walk, pay a porter or take a water taxi?), decide whether the exorbitant cost of the parking and ludicrously expensive Internet access means we should be changing hotels, and so on. These decisions are taken away from the junket journalist, who can just concentrate on gushing about how fabulous it is to be on a junket and to be a travel writer. While publications will sometimes state that the writer stayed courtesy of such and such a hotel or was flown in by a certain airline, and that’s great to see, we also believe that travel journalists should declare whether they were on a junket or not, so the reader can judge for themselves how much salt to sprinkle on the tale. We’ve read so many of these gushy stories, we can usually tell by the end of the second paragraph. But can you? And would knowing that the writer had been on a free package tour to the destination affect your reading of the story? What are your expectations of a writer and their travel experience when reading a travel story?

*Terry Carter is my husband, co-author, and a travel photographer

Travelling: incongruities #1

One of travel's delights for me is discovering wonderful incongruities. Like this coffee-seller in Aleppo Souq. While there's nothing unusual about finding coffee-sellers in Syrian souqs, they're usually armed with a traditional coffeepot or thermos, tiny ceramic or plastic cups, and a container of fresh water to wash them in. What's so incongruous about this image is that this young entrepreneur is operating a shiny Italian espresso machine. It's somehow misplaced in a souq that's almost medieval. But why should it seem out of context? It's 2007 after all. And maybe it's not so incongruous to you? Perhaps it's only me. Because while I've been to souqs and bazaars all across the Middle East, I can't recall seeing one with an espresso stand. (I'm discounting Istanbul's Grand Bazaar where there are several contemporary cafés under its vaulted ceilings and other modernities all around.) So while this scene makes me smile, perhaps it's not of any interest to you. The guy's coffee is great, by the way.

Aleppo's labyrinthine souqs

Aleppo's labyrinthine medieval souq - or rather souqs within a souq - has long been one of our favorites in the Middle East, mainly because it has remained relatively untouched by tourism up until recent years - especially compared to Istanbul's Grand Bazzar and Cairo's Khan el Khalili. It's a place where locals shop for anything from women's underwear to camel meat, as much as backpackers haggle for hookah pipes and harem pants. Great buys include olive soap (buy the soap the locals buy, not the soap packaged for tourists), Syria's famous silk brocades and other textiles, and gutras (men's checked headscarves). These days you'll also find stores and stalls with their eyes on the growing tourist market selling jewellery, carpets, and brass and copperware, and spruikers on corners hustling for sales. But we prefer wandering the back-alleys, where the locals shop for their cheap plastic shoes, spangly fabrics, and children's clothes, offering a far more authentic experience.