Postcard stories: share your passion here

I was delighted to discover that Budget Travel asked readers on their forum the other day: Do you still send postcards? To which they received a whopping 300+ comments! Way back in February, starting on Valentines Day to be precise, I began writing a series of posts on postcards, inspired by seeing racks of faded cards during our travels in Crete, starting with Postcards: does anyone still send them? Then I wrote Postcards: our processes of selection and identity formation (about how we choose postcards that say something about who we are, or perhaps the person we want people to think we are); Postcards: to my Mum (about the cards I sent daily to my mother in 2006 while she was in a coma in Australia and I was finishing a job researching a book in Greece, and thinking about her on those long daily drives); Postcards: sending secrets (about Frank Warren's wonderful PostSecret community art project that has become a global phenomenon); and then Postcard stories, where, due to the positive response from my readers (of course I didn't get 300 responses like Budget Travel, but it was enough for my modest little blog!), I decided to write a feature story for publication on the resurgence in popularity of sending postcards. In Postcard stories I put out a call for comments and asked a number of questions that I hoped would inspire you to think about how you feel about postcards, why you send them, whether you keep them, and so on. I'm still developing that article and incorporating the many comments that I've already received (and quoting you, so please let me know if you don't want me to use your name), however, I would still love to hear from more of you, as I don't really think we've really got to the heart of it yet. Not even in the many comments over at Budget Travel. I'd really love people to think a bit more deeply about it. So if you love postcards as much as I do, please take a look at the Postcard stories post again, and leave comments at the end of that post or here. Or email me privately if you prefer to remain anonymous.

Oh, and Pam over at Nerd's Eye View also has a fun Postcard Revival Project underway, which you can read about here.

Pology: presenting the beauty in travel normally lost in the routine of the mundane

The latest issue of Pology is out. Do you know it? It's a wonderful web magazine on travel and world culture that showcases travel stories and photos that editor Neil Schwartz calls "impassioned vignettes of cultural exploration" which he hopes will inspire people to get out and see the world. Neil writes of Pology's aim: "In a time where representations of the world are fed to us through polarized lenses, traveling has become of supreme importance. Traveling can remind us that in any situation there are multiple and often conflicting truths. Traveling can humble us, and remind us of how little we know. Immersion in a new culture can force us to see a beauty in the world that all too easily gets lost in the routine of the mundane." I couldn't agree more. And this issue's articles, on places like Uruguay, Benin, India and Peru, do just that. (There's also a wonderful Portraits of Thailand photo series, which is why I've posted one of my own portraits taken near Chiang Mai on our trip last October.) What I like about Pology's style of article is that they read like short stories rather than travel features. Their length and form provides enough space for 'characters' to reveal themselves, enabling us to more closely identify with the storytellers and their situations, and allows sufficient time for the narratives to develop so we can better engage with them. Neil writes: "Too much of today's travel writing focuses on where to stay, eat and shop, but I'm convinced that there is a breed of traveler out there that knows getting lost and having the details unfold spontaneously is what leads to the stories that can be fondly retold for the rest of your life." While I get paid to write about those places to stay, eat and shop, I'm with Neil on this one. I do believe there are travellers out there who want more - savvy travellers who know how to get off the beaten track and who have the skills to seek out the best local spots to eat and interesting places to sleep, but who still want to read inspiring travel writing that motivates them to move in the first place, stories that they can relate to, which ring true, and which remind them of their own travels. Travellers like me and you.

Travel and the fragility of life

I was devastated to read about the tragic news of the Madrid air crash, which killed 153 people. You can read about the tragedy here at BBC news and at the International Herald Tribune. I don't deal with bad news well at the best of times. And it should go without saying at the worst of times. I'm one of those people who cries when I watch TV and see somebody else crying, who feels the pain of another's injury or loss, especially the loss of a life. But it's not only the loss of life that moves me. But the loss of life when it's least expected. Like when people are going on holidays for godsake, when touching down on the runway should be one of the happiest times of their life, the start of an amazing trip, when they should be feeling a sense of anticipation. Not of dread. And of course I can't help but think of ourselves. I know there's a greater chance of being hit by a car crossing the road than there is dying in a plane accident, but it always sends a chill down my spine when I read about air crashes because we fly so often. We get on and off planes as most people do buses. I've lost count of the number of flights we've caught this year, let alone in the 2.5 years we've been on the road this last 'stint'. I hate to think. But let's just say we've flown a lot more planes than we've caught buses. Although I've been flying since I was four, I did go through a period when I got nervous flying. It was mainly the times I flew by myself. (I never get anxious when flying with Terry.) When I flew back to Australia when my Dad was dying of cancer and Terry had to stay in Dubai and work. And when I'd flown on my own to film festivals and conferences elsewhere in the Middle East and Europe. It only took a bit of turbulence and I'd be running a list through my head of all the things I hadn't done, the things I hadn't said, and how I hadn't prepared for... for... well... let's just say, for the fragility of life. Just as I imagine most of those people on the plane hadn't either.

10 things that annoy us about hotels #10 Check in and check out times and never the twain shall meet…

We’re used to the 2pm or 3pm check-in time and noon check-out, although we’ve never been happy with them. But it appears the time you actually have in the hotel room is shrinking further. We’ve recently had 10am and 10.30am check-out times – which is fine for a roadside motel, but not so cool for a design or boutique hotel. This says to us that the hotel wants the customers there for as short a time as possible, and wants to get rid of their paying customers as soon as possible, to make the lives of their housekeepers as easy as possible. But the customer should come first, right? And what constitutes a ‘night’ in a hotel? Do we need 24 hours? Or are we just paying for a roof over our heads and a bed for whatever period the hotel deems acceptable? Here are our thoughts: if it’s a roadside motel travellers who are on the road check in late and leave early anyway, so 10am check-out is fine by us. But a business hotel or airport hotel should be as flexible as possible - and go as far as to offer 24 hour check-in to accommodate their guests who could be flying in at all sorts of unusual hours. But the luxury or resort hotel? Well, they should give guests a full 24 hours, because after all, you're there to relax, to pamper yourself, and to enjoy the hotel experience.

We asked hotel manager Guido J van den Elshout (AKA The Happy Hotelier) who owns the luxurious Haagsche Suites (pictured) to respond: "This is my take, and I'm not referring to airport hotels that have separate rules (and 100% occupancy); Yotel for instance has 4, 8 and 12-hour stays with rates accordingly. Consider the hotelier who has to organize housekeeping. Between 11am check out and 3pm check in (our practice) he has 4 hours to clean all the rooms. Usually housekeeping has an 8 hour shift. The smaller the time window between check out and check in is, the more people the hotelier needs to get the cleaning done. What does the hotelier do with those people for the other 4 hours of their shift? Probably general housekeeping or gardening, but not every housekeeper is a gardener. So hoteliers try to keep that window as wide as possible. It's not realistic to believe 4 hour shifts are possible. People need to earn a living. If you give them 4 or 5 hour shifts, they'll most likely also work for other employers. The result will most likely be those people will do a lesser job at your hotel... There's an industry rule that says cleaning a room should take between 8-15 minutes, but I can tell you that if a hotelier keeps to that your room won't be properly cleaned. As in every industry there are rules created by people who have a desk job and have never experienced housekeeping. In our property we need at least one hour per room, depending on the state the guests leave the room in. It can easily take 1.5 hours. There are occasions where we've had guests checking out at 1pm and new guests checking in between 1-3pm. Ideally you put extra housekeeping on call then, but that's hardly realistic. So you end up trying to pinpoint your peaks and hire accordingly..."

"I'd say a guest has more or less a 'right' to stay approximately 16 out of 24 hours in a hotel. My advice for the traveler? It is my experience that when you advise a hotel well in advance of your (ideal) anticipated arrival and departure times, they will try to do their utmost to accommodate your wishes. At least the smaller properties. The bigger chains have rules rules and rules and have hardly any flexibility."

So what's your take on check-in/check-out times?

A literary guide to the world

While researching Italian literature for the guidebooks we're writing at the moment, I came across Salon.com's Literary Guide to the World. It's by no means exhaustive but it's excellent all the same. It doesn't cover every literary land on the planet, and being a US-based site it's obviously US-centric, with a disproportionate number of American states represented, a lot of prolific European countries missing, and - most astonishing of all - not a single Middle Eastern country listed. And yet, the Mid-East is where some of the most exciting world literature has come from over the last decade or so, especially by women. What were they thinking?! Obviously they weren't at all. But I'll half-forgive them because the project as a whole is superb (have you seen anything similar?) and their lists (once again, by no means comprehensive) give a taste of what wonderful writing different countries and region's of the globe offer. If you're planning a trip, it's definitely a great place to go to start to compile that holiday reading list. And as soon as I get a chance, I'll compile some similar overviews for you for Middle Eastern countries. Pictured? Verona, Italy. Or rather, 'Shakespeare's Verona'.

The Happy Hotelier interviews a travel writer who is perfectly happy to chat away about herself... woops, that's me!

The Happy Hotelier (you know, The Hague-based luxury hotel owner who we all love who blogs away about hotels, travel and tonnes of other stuff) has just started a series of weekly interviews with hotel and travel bloggers called '10 Questions For...'. The interviews give an opportunity for the bloggers to introduce themselves and their blogs before being grilled on their best and worst destination, hotel and dining experiences. First up was Jennifer Knoepfle who blogs about (what else?) travel on from Better Living Through Travel and second cab off the rank was yours truly. (I'll take any excuse for a break during a book write-up!) You can read my interview here. And you'll hear from the Happy Hotelier here again tomorrow - he's kindly agreed to comment on the last post in our '10 things that annoy us about hotels' series. Pictured? Another photo from our recent stay at one of my favorite hotels (which I also featured earlier today, and which I rave about in my interview over at the Happy Hotelier), the sublime Villa Crespi at Lake Orta. And I'm sorry, it won't be the last you'll hear about it because we haven't even told you about the food there yet!

10 things that annoy us about hotels #9 Switches, buttons, knobs and other anomalies

Lately we’ve been checking into some gorgeous grand old piles – with varying states of upkeep. While we love those old radios that they sometimes have above the headboard, the other anonymous switches that old hotels have drive us crazy. If these butler buttons haven’t worked since 1965, it might be time to rip them out of the walls, unless a butler from 1965 turned up every time you pressed it. At least a butler from 1965 would agree with you that the button is stupid, it should be ripped out of the wall, and he’d have the contacts to make it happen on a Sunday afternoon. But don’t get us started on modern hotels that overdo the gadgetry. Those PDA-style touch screens that close the drapes, change the TV channel, adjust the air-conditioning, turn on the Jacuzzi, and could probably make you an espresso, generally turn out to be useless. I’m sure that Apple’s Steve Jobs has probably hurtled a few across a hotel suite out of sheer frustration. Here’s a tip to hoteliers thinking of implementing these systems. When it takes the guy or gal who shows you to the room fifteen minutes to explain how the interface works on the stupid thing, that’s a sign of technology making life harder rather than easier. And it’s wasting your staff’s time and making your guests aggravated.
Last month we experienced Villa Crespi (pictured) a magical old Moorish-style hotel on Italy's Lake Orta that puts the history and grandeur of the hotel first and keeps things simple for guests, so we asked Francesca Blench, Marketing Manager for Villa Crespi to respond: “Technology seems to be a godsend to many hotel guests, especially those staying in city hotels for business reasons. They are habitual travellers who need certain things and usually get them, Internet connection in particular. As an old hotel that offers hospitality to both business and leisure travellers we try to strike a happy balance between services and amenities for both types of travellers. We provide electricity at all times (!) and offer satellite TV, but that is pretty much it really, even Internet access is only available at reception. We feel that the environment needs looking after as much as our guests, so we adhere to many means of saving energy. We don’t even have key card activation for the doors and electricity. And there’s no need for our receptionists to make long explanations to guests checking in, because all they really wish for is good solid rest and a fine meal. We welcome our guests to a restful, experiential stay, far from the frustration of electromagnetic smog fears! And we always trust our guests will return a second time."
Well, we certainly intend returning, but next time it will be for a holiday rather than work.

I've Travelled. Now What?

I'm not a fan of Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree community, but I'll tell you why another day. Today, I stumbled across the LP website and noticed something that I simply wanted to share with you, the Lonely Planet Community 'Thread of the Day'. Posted by 'geekgal', which makes me wonder if it isn't one of Lonely Planet's own '"web kids" (their name, not mine), it's titled: "I've travelled. Now What?" and then ponders: "Travel can be a rush, but what happens when the magic dies? When you're too exhausted, or occupied with other things in life?"
Some of the responses are:
"Then you stay home :-)"
"Then you start earning money to travel again."
"Travel again (repeat until death)."
"If someone does know what comes next... Please let me know!"
"You look at yourself and what you've learned on your travels and try to integrate these into your life so you become more of an aware person." "No such thing as 'I've travelled'. We are always travelling, if not physically, then mentally."
"Go again. I've only been back for 2 months, and I've already booked to go travelling for another 3 months next summer."
"Go where your spirit guides you."
"You'll go again, trust me."

So, what would your answer be?

Don't judge a guidebook by its cover: but should you judge it by its brand?

Yesterday I provided some tips on how to choose a guidebook, my advice being don't judge a guidebook by its cover, judge it by its author, just as you would any other book. The way I see it, if you're buying a novel (compelling story aside) you're buying the book based on the author's talent, skills, reputation and body of work. You're not buying the book based on the publisher. You don't think: "Ooohhh, HarperCollins published that book, I just have to read it!" Because HarperCollins or Picador or Random House or whatever probably publish an equal amount of successes as they do flops (by the way, that's a random statement to prove a point. I haven't checked that, so don't quote me on it). So when I was answering Eric Daams' excellent question about identifying good guidebooks, in response to our Brilliant Minds post, it never occurred to me to mention the brand. And yet the brand plays a role in your purchasing decisions. Right? Mark of Travel Wonders of the World wrote: "If you want to decide on a travel guide book, go down to the local library and select a few... Decide which matches your views/tastes/ideas/values and you have a good chance of choosing a brand which most suits your travelling style. As Lara points out, guidebooks do vary a little in quality by author, but in general they write in a similar style and are typically targetted to a specific audience (backpackers, well-heeled, adventurous, inexperienced, etc). I have my couple of favourite brands like most people that most suit my approach to travel."

But let's say I suggested that you decide on your guidebook 'brand' first (then the author), you need to decide which brand you identify with. Are you a Lonely Planet, DK, Rough Guides or Footprint reader? And what does that mean? The way I used to look at it when I was younger, Lonely Planet was for 20-something backpackers on frugal budgets; Rough Guides were for slightly older (30-something), more educated (explained by the 'Contexts' chapter) independent travellers; DK was for more discerning travellers with more money; and Footprint were for more adventurous and more intrepid folk. But is that really how things are? The more I travelled and the more involved I became in guidebook publishing, the more complex I realized things were. Older travellers also carried Lonely Planets. Younger travellers also carried DK. And once we started working for publishers, another layer of complexity was added. Our Lonely Planet editors made it clear their audience was much wider than we'd thought. My DK editors said their readers were interested in quality budget places as much as top end options. So if the audiences for these books was wide in terms of age and spending power, how was a brand's readers' classified? Was it, as Mark suggests, more to do with views, tastes, ideas and values? Well, views and tastes were never a topic of conversation with our editors. Yet ideas and values were. Lonely Planet sees its readers, just for starters, as humanists, as environmentally conscious, and politically aware. But then so do Rough Guides. (Just take a look at their Contexts chapters). And DK? Well, they're owned by the same company as Rough Guides. And Footprints? I'd say they're the same. So if the audiences for these books have similar values and ideas - according to each of their publishers - what about their tastes? But hang on a minute, taste is reflected in the choices made as to what to include in the book. Which restaurants and hotels to put in and which to leave out, which shops to add and which should stay out. These decisions are made by the author, not by the editors or company staff. So, what does taste have to do with the brand? Once again, it boils down to the content of the book. And the producer of the content is the author. Not the brand. What do you think? I think it's time for a poll.

Don't judge a guidebook by its cover: judge it by its author (or, How to choose a guidebook)

Last week we wrote the posts Brilliant minds think alike, or, Why so many guidebooks share the same listings: part 1 and part 2, in which Terry and I tried to explain why guidebook reviews don't always resemble the places they're written about, and why reviews of a certain place across a number of books might be similar. As if they're written from the same press release or website, perhaps? We think so. Eric Daams from Travel Blogs asked: "If buying a guidebook is such a lottery, how can the average consumer, who has never been somewhere before, pick up a book that is actually based in reality, not press release fantasy?" Well, here's our advice:
1) Never and we mean NEVER judge a guidebook by the cover: just because the photo is fantastic doesn't mean the contents are. Think about it. The authors, who have everything to do with the content, have nothing to do with cover. The quality of the cover is no reflection of what's inside. No matter how cute that baby gorilla looks.
2) DO judge a book by its author: do as much research as you can online about the author before going to the bookstore. Seriously. You're about to put this person in charge of showing you a good time. You need to make sure they're qualified, but also make sure you share the same tastes, opinions, likes and dislikes. Read the author's bio on the publisher's website or the author's own website/blog and consider a few things:
* the author's qualifications: does the author have a degree in journalism, communications, writing, media studies, international studies, history, politics and economics, archaeology, social sciences, tourism and hospitality, food and wine, or any other field that has allowed them to develop a) research, writing and analytical skills, and b) relevant knowledge to what they're writing about?
* the author's local knowledge and connection to the destination: does the author live in the destination, has s/he travelled there frequently, or do they have some special connection to the place? Why? Because the more intimately the author knows the destination - and the destination knows the author! - the less likely they are to be 'inspired' by press releases or website blurbs. If they live in the destination they're going to possess an immense knowledge of the place. But their book is also going be judged by their family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, local travel, tourism and hospitality industry, and the local media, in addition to their publishers and readers, so there's a high chance their book about their hometown is going to be their best.
* the author's body of work: has the author written on this destination before for the same publisher or others? Look for this info in the author's bios or google the person. Look not only other books on that destination by the author, but also magazine and newspaper articles. If the author has written a book on Paris, a book on France, and a handful of stories on the place, chances are she/he knows it well. Their book bio might not list work they've written for other publishers, so cast your net wide. The more an author has published on a particular place, the less likely they are to resort to press releases and other propaganda: their credibility (and further work opportunities) depend on this destination expertise: getting it right is everything.
* the author's lack of local knowledge: was the author's guidebook research trip the first trip they ever did to the place? Most authors would never admit this but very occasionally they do. NEVER buy a book written by an author who had never been to the place before researching the book. Think about it. Would you invite your blogger pal from (Insert country) to (insert your hometown), a place they'd never been, and ask them to show you around and give you hotel, shopping, restaurant, and bar recommendations?
3) DO judge the book by its content: spend 10 minutes reading the book. Start with the introduction, skim a bit of the politics and culture sections, consider the book/music/film lists, read a few hotel and restaurant reviews. So, what are you looking for? Is the writing intelligent, honest, critical, and opinionated? Does the author express a high level of competence in their understanding and knowledge of the place? Are there small insights, details, and observations that could only have been written by someone who'd been to that destination and experienced those places? Or is the writing bland, boring, overly-objective, and banal? OR, is it superficial, silly, gushy, and always super-positive? If it's the latter two then you have every reason to be suspicious. Lastly,
4) If you have been to the destination before, look for a review of a hotel or restaurant you know. Is it in there? Good. Does the review make it sound remotely like the place you know? Even better. If it doesn’t list it or it describes it in a way you don't recognize, leave the book on the shelf and take a look at another.

What do you think? Have I left anything out? How do you go about choosing your travel guidebooks?

Microsoft ‘innovates’ at the Sheraton

By Terry Carter*
From our series of posts 10 things that annoy us about hotels, you might think we have a love-hate relationship with technology. We don’t. It’s just the misuse or poor implementation of technology in hotels that drives us crazy. We couldn’t do what we do without technology. Technology allows us to work from anywhere in the world and we love it! For instance, we’ve gone from researching on the road in Europe in the summer to settling down to write from quaint Eaglehawk, Australia, with a raging fire going, a good Aussie red wine breathing, cats purring, the Olympics on, and lashings of powder snow at the ski fields a tempting couple of hours away. From here we’ll be writing the European books, editing thousands of photos (20,000 from Italy alone), and sending off stories and photos to publishers around the world, all on our beloved Apple laptops. We’ll be getting paid via funds electronically transferred into our accounts and we’ll communicate with publishers and editors we work with around the planet via email and Skype. There are Wi-Fi routers, Ethernet cables and hard drives everywhere, so we’re certainly not techno-phobic. But we hate technology applied for technology’s sake, or so a hotel sales manager can add a bullet point to their power point presentation on what makes their hotel ‘cool’. Which brings me to Microsoft’s Surface tabletops being installed at a Sheraton lobby near you. Take a look at this story and its hilarious accompanying video. The best bit? There’s nothing here that couldn’t be done better on an iPhone – except annoy everyone in the lobby!

The first ‘application’ demonstrated is basically a bunch of photos of Sheraton properties you can ‘toss’ around the screen. These ‘Sheraton Snapshots’ appear impressive in that you can resize them and place them around the table. Until the Microsoft Surface Group Marketing Manager calls it a “simultaneous collaborative social experience” and the interviewer asks: “Is it just pictures or are there more details about the properties?” The sheepish reply: “Right now, it’s just pictures…”. You can’t even book a hotel from this thing, let alone see info about the properties!

The second ‘application’ is an iTunes-style music jukebox. The fact that most people sitting in a Sheraton lobby probably own an iTunes music jukebox in the form of an iPod (no, not a Microsoft Zune), appears to have escaped the great minds at Microsoft. The guy demonstrating the tool puts on Johnny Cash’s Walk The Line and the interviewer asks incredulously: “So is that playing over the general PA system in the lobby?” It turns out it isn’t - it’s coming out of the table speakers - but there are actually three of these things in the lobby. So much for the hotel foyer setting the ambiance for the property! Can you imagine the aural chaos that will ensue once a few bored teenagers start fooling with these things?

The last ‘application’ is a virtual ‘concierge’ featuring restaurants, bars and clubs in the area. Great idea, but nothing you can’t get on an iPhone that fits in your pocket. The guy demonstrates that you can zoom in on a map of your chosen restaurant and get directions to it. Great. Does it make a booking? No. Okay, but at least it enables you to transfer the restaurant directions from ‘Surface’ onto another device so you can actually use the directions to get to the restaurant? No. They can at least be printed off, right? “You can write them down,” says the Microsoft genius. Seriously. From Microsoft I was at least expecting a dot-matrix printer hidden under the table.

I’m sure there’ll be some decent applications developed for this table-sized paperweight sometime in the future, but at the moment it would be more useful if they turned it into a Microsoft Ouija Board. At least you could ask: ‘Is there a table free at this restaurant tonight?’ and enjoy a “simultaneous collaborative social experience” when it spells out ‘YES’, before you pull out your iPhone to Google Map the address…

*Terry Carter is my husband, co-author and occasional blogger for Cool Travel Guide

10 things that annoy us about hotels # 8 The bane of our existence, bain-marie breakfasts

Often we have trouble facing the hotel breakfast buffet. After a month on the road we’re avoiding the bain-marie and its barely edible scrambled eggs and burnt-to-bits bacon. While some hotels really do take the trouble to do fresh eggs, often the cook doing the eggs is there as punishment for assorted kitchen crimes and it shows in the food. One of the problems is that the hotel is generally cooking for the expectations of foreign tourists and businesspeople-in-a-hurry, rather than locals and adventurous leisure travellers looking to try local food. Hence the generic bland scrambled eggs and burnt bacon, rather than a well-thought-out breakfast based on what's eaten locally. If you’re in Italy, why not just have an espresso and a coronet (croissant) and skip the stodge? In Germany, have some wonderful rye breads, cheese, and cold meats? In Greece? Then honey and yoghurt is the way to go. If everyone starts leaving the bain-marie alone, the hotels can put the resources to better use… and give travellers a better experience of local culture and a better start to the day.
The InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City does some of the best five-star hotel breakfasts we’ve ever experienced (including a delicious Arabic breakfast with piping hot flat bread made to order, as well as a range of breakfast treats from around the globe), so we asked the hotel's Executive Chef Geoff Haviland to respond: “Today’s world travelers are much more savvy and demanding than those of years past. A hotel’s breakfast experience can be a deciding factor in whether a guest returns to that hotel or not. We try to give our guests an 'In The Know' experience, which means they can sample cuisines from around the globe, and have them prepared live in front of them. Absolutely no stodgy scramblies to be found on our buffet! The concept of a live interactive buffet shows the guest we care about their needs, and want them to start their day with a WOW. The challenge in Dubai is that we have guests from every conceivable culture, so our kitchens really need to keep a close eye on our in-house guests and their tastes and preferences, to ensure our buffet features items they would find appealing.”
Unfortunately we were much too busy enjoying the InterCont’s breakfast last time we stayed to remember to take a photo! Pictured? The deliciously fresh fruit served for breakfast at Villa Rosmarino, Camogli, Italy.

Happy 1st Birthday Cool Travel Guide

I forget everyone's birthdays. Even my own. So it's not surprising that I forgot (only by a few days) the first birthday of my Cool Travel Guide. It was a year ago that I started this blog, and you can read about my initial motivations on my first post Aleppo: No Practicalities. The blog grew partly out of a sense of frustration with certain aspects of guidebook writing, one being the fact that when we wrote for Lonely Planet we couldn't include a POI (Point of Interest) if it didn't have practicalities, i.e. a phone number and street address. We'd not long finished research in Syria for our recently-released Syria and Lebanon guidebook and I remember being frustrated at not being able to include wonderful places I'd wanted to, such as the cane shop (featured in the first post) and a coffee stand in Aleppo Souq. I wanted (and I still want) to create a new style of guidebook that allows us to write about these places, and write about destinations in a way that hadn't been done before, but in a way that inspires people to travel. And it's still a dream of mine to develop that guidebook one day. But then there were so many other things I wanted to reflect upon and think about, from places my husband and co-author Terry and I had travelled to and loved, to the very nature of travelling itself. I wanted to write about this stuff in a form that was unrestricted, that didn't fit into the format of the books or stories we normally get paid to write. I also found myself wanting to comment on travel writing, the travel media, travel trends, travel publishing, and the travel industry. And to share my feelings, develop my ideas, and vent my frustrations over certain aspects, annoyances, issues and problems related to the profession, such as the Lonely Planet scandal that became known as the 'Thomas Kohnstamm Affair'. From time to time I also felt a need to deconstruct lazy or bad travel writing (and Terry also joins me in this exercise), and then soon after I began to get questions from other writers (established and aspiring) about how we made a decent living out of being travel writers, and so I started sharing tips and advice. But one of my original objectives in starting the Cool Travel Guide was very basic. I wanted simply to write about the things I found cool about travel, the sights that stopped us dead in our tracks, the experiences that made us catch our breath, the things about travel that delighted us so much, and excited us enough to motivate us to travel again, that is the things that inspired us about travel, and the things that inspired us to travel. One year on, I ask myself if I've made any in-roads... but then I have to remind myself that one of the coolest things about travel is the journey itself, not necessarily the destination. And, look, let's face it - everything is cool about travel. I'm still enjoying the ride. Are you?

Making connections: traditions and rituals of love and devotion, or, When you wish upon a heart

I found another photo that's similar to the one I showed you earlier of the ribbons and pieces of cloth tied at an Islamic shrine in Syria. I took this photo in the lovely garden of a gold onion domed Russian Orthodox church in the Bulgarian countryside, where the branches of a tree were tied with hundreds of strings, many bearing tiny trinkets such as hearts. The universal symbol for love, no? So once again I'm reminded of that 1970s song 'Tie a yellow ribbon round the ole Oak tree...' One theory, from the USA, has the tradition of ribbon-tying dating back to the 19th century when women wore yellow ribbons to show their devotion to their 'sweethearts serving in the US Cavalry (yellow being the official Cavalry colour), and then sees it widening throughout society in the 1970s to signify remembrance of a loved one away in the military or in prison. During the ongoing Iraq War, families of US soldiers have been wrapping large yellow ribbons around their porches. The American Folklore Centre researched the origins of the tradition, finding connections to the Civil War, a prison legend cited in a 1959 book, and even to Shakespeare's Othello. Having travelled all over the world, and seen ribbons and strings (like the locks) in many different countries, I find it baffling that a researcher would only look at Western references and that their research didn't cross more borders, cultures and religions. This academic paper I found on 'Religious practices in the Turco-Iranian world: continuity and change' by Martin van Bruinessen, a scholar from Utrecht University, looks at the long list of 'superstitious' (and therefore anti-Islamic) rituals of Muslim pilgrims in Turkey, who treat visits to shrines as cheap family outings and behave like ordinary tourists; they tie pieces of cloth to the gate of the shrine and ribbons and strings to trees, in addition to lighting candles, placing 'wishing stones' on the tombs, and circling the courtyard trees seven times. The Russian (and Greek) Orthodox Christians do the same thing. I remember participating in the act with my Russian grandparents every Easter, walking around the Church at midnight, holding candles. And I expect they do the same thing in Bulgaria.

Making connections: tokens of love and devotion, or, Tie a (yellow) ribbon 'round the...

Looking through some photos from our trip to Syria last year (I was motivated to reminisce after skimming through our just-released Syria and Lebanon guidebook), I came across these ribbons tied to the tomb of an important Islamic figure. If you travel around the Muslim world and visit mosques and shrines, you'll soon start to notice these ribbons tied to the gate that protects the tombs venerated by worshippers. The ribbons are mostly green, which is the colour of Islam, yet, just like in my photo here, you'll see all sorts of colors used, and sometimes you'll even see pieces of headscarves, bandages, and even tissues and toilet paper - whatever people can get their hands on, really. Some believe it's a sign of respect and deference, of devotion and love, and of remembrance. Others leave a ribbon after asking for something, for help, for answers, so they leave a bit of themselves. It seems to be a Shi'a custom, as Sunnis don't believe in shrines, their graves are very simple, they believe in acting as if the deceased person were still alive, so some Sunnis find the act objectionable. One Muslim friend told me the ribbon is a sign of something that comes from within as much as it is a demonstration of an action for others to witness. The photo of the ribbons reminded me of the locks of love we've been seeing all over Europe, and Italy in particular over the past few months, a sign of love and affection. But it also reminded me of a song from the 1970s, which was a huge hit when I was a child, 'Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole Oak tree (if you still love me)'. In this case the ribbon was also a token of remembrance and devotion.

Developing your travel writing career: commissions and content gathering, part 2

This post continues from yesterday's post in response to a reader's request for advice on developing a freelance travel writing career and financing research trips:
11. When you get a guidebook commission, start pitching story ideas on the destination - the fee for a single story could equal a quarter of your guidebook fee. Sell enough stories and you're finally profiting from travel writing. Keep in mind some publishers, such as Lonely Planet, forbid you from writing for their competitors on the same geographical area that you've written on for them, making the job less lucrative and making it difficult for you to develop destination expertise: read your contract so you don't breach it.
12. Can't get a guidebook commission? Consider fact-checking work - while it doesn't pay as much, it's a good way to develop research skills and it develop your contacts, and - if you're willing - can get you to a city or country. A fact-checking fee may only cover your air-fare, but once there you can be developing ideas and gathering content for stories to pitch and write when you get home.
13. Got a magazine commission but no guidebook work? - ask your editor for a letter or email confirming the commission tp forward to airlines, hotels, car rental companies, etc, to secure 'media rates' (established discounted rates, like corporate rates) and complimentary stays. (Check this is okay with your editor first as they may have a policy stipulating their writers can't accept discounts or freebies.)
14. Before jumping into full-time travel writing, ensure you have savings in the bank - even when you get a commission, the contract and cheque/bank transfer can be a long time coming. Sometimes projects are commissioned at the last minute (especially when another writer falls through or schedules change), so you need to be prepared to jump on a plane even if your payment hasn't gone through.
15. Do your guidebook research write-up at the destination - most writers go to a city or country, do their research, then fly home to write up the book. Consider renting an apartment in the destination (cheaper than moving between hotels), staying longer, and thus gathering more and better quality content from which to produce stories later on.
16. Embark on content-gathering trips in between commissions - you have a guidebook to research and write in one destination, then another book four weeks after manuscript submission in a nearby country. Don't waste air-fares flying home, but use the period in between to do some content-gathering; do an overland trip between the destinations or base yourself in a cheap but interesting place in-between to scout stories.
17. Can't get any commissions at all? Be creative - explore other options for getting to a destination that you can write about. Find work as an English teacher, yoga instructor, seasonal worker etc, and develop a story on working holidays focused on your experience. Line up some volunteer work with a charity or aid organization and write about volunteering abroad.
18. If you must self-finance your first research trip, then don't spend more than you'd ordinarily spend on a holiday, in case your investment doesn't pay off later, and seek out destinations and experiences that are unusual or rarely written about so you have a greater chance of getting something published.
19. Once you have been commissioned - develop your relationship with that editor, go the extra mile for them, stay in touch, and keep pitching ideas - especially if this is the only person who has commissioned you so far! If the editor likes what you do and keeps publishing you, then stick with that publication and take the opportunity to build your portfolio. You can branch out later on.
20. Ensure you continue to get commissioned - once you're established as a travel writer, continue to develop your greatest assets: your research and writing abilities, your travel and travel industry knowledge, your understanding of the market, travellers and readers, and your destination expertise. In other words, keep travelling, keep reading and writing, and always keep your readers in mind.

Developing your travel writing career: commissions and content gathering, part 1

An aspiring travel writer who is starting her freelance travel writing career has emailed me: "I've been reading a lot about financing and tips for freelancers on how to save money, but never on how it actually works at the beginning. I know that it's different for every freelancer and also for every travel writer as it depends on what you do, whether you write travel guides or articles for magazines and newspapers, but what I've never found is how you can finance your trips. The beginning will be self-financed, but then press trips? I think an editor will finance someone's trip only if they are really established writers. And here comes the first difficulty for new writers." Well, here are some tips for Angela and other readers who are embarking on travel writing careers, based on what's worked for us:
1. Keep your day job and become a part-time travel writer in the beginning - generate content on your holidays and weekends away. This way you're not spending money you wouldn't ordinarily spend, and the career shift is less risky. Write about the place where you live. Publishers are increasingly finding value in resident-writers for their local knowledge and insider advice. Use this period to develop your research and writing skills and refine your craft.
2. Subscribe to professional websites and organizations such as Media Bistro to learn how to pitch and how to promote yourself and your work. Once published, join Travelwriters.com, International Travel Writers Alliance or Media Kitty to find out about commissions and learn from other travel writers by engaging in the forums.
3. Get prepared and get organized - email magazines and newspapers via their websites to get writer's guidelines and editorial calendars. Find out how the pitching process works and who to pitch to. Create your own database of editors and industry contacts using the resources above, magazine mastheads, and your own networking skills; join LinkedIn.
4. Learn the art of pitching - writing a good pitch can be as hard as writing a good travel story. Media Bistro is fantastic for this information.
5. Start pitching editors - but only when you have confidence in your writing ability and strong story ideas. Respond to editor's requests, on sites such as Travelwriters.com, for content on destinations you've developed expertise in, such as your hometown.
6. Appreciate that getting the first commission is the hardest - be patient, politely persistent and persuasive without being a pain-in-the-butt. Learn self-promotion skills. Start a blog as a creative outlet, to develop your writing skills and as a showcase for your work.
7. Spread your pitching efforts wide - consider all publishers, publications and platforms. Contact editors of all kinds of magazines (don't limit yourself to travel magazines, which are highly competitive) and newspapers (try your local or regional paper first, as big city papers are as competitive as magazines). Consider digital forms, from online versions of magazines and newspapers to travel websites.
8. Contact guidebook publishers - start with guidebooks you relate to as you'll be expected to identify with the audience, make choices with readers in mind, and write in an appropriate style. Find out what their writer approval process is; each publisher operates differently.
9. Focus your efforts on getting a commission - a commission is an assignment where the editor agrees to publish your story based on your pitch (idea). The agreement can be informal (an email) or formal (a legal contract). It will involve money up front if it's a guidebook, but for a magazine or newspaper you'll be paid on acceptance or approval of the story or when the story's published.
10. Why guidebook writing commissions are good - a guidebook commission gets you there! Guidebooks involve a large fee and 40-50% of that fee up front. The fee will be fairly low if you don't have experience, but as your experience increases, the fees increase. While the fee may not seem like much when stretched across an eight to 12 week research and writing period, the fee is what gets you to the destination. While you're there you can be gathering content you can later use to write stories for magazines and newspapers.
And that's just half of it! I have another ten tips for you...

10 things that annoy us about hotels #7 Power to the people!

If we go out to dinner one more time leaving laptops, cameras, phones, and batteries supposedly charging, only to find that the power goes off five seconds after we leave the room, we’re going to collectively scream. We don’t have a problem with the lights and the TV going off, but these days, surely just about everyone has at least a couple of devices that might need charging while they’re out. We’ve discovered recently that many ‘credit card’ style room keys even have microchips in them so that we can’t just insert any card in the slot to keep the power on (we have quite a collection of them, you see). Even getting two cards from reception and leaving one in when we go out has also failed recently because housekeeping has come in and turned down the bed anyway, removing our card on the way out – which didn’t do much for our hard drive backups that were underway! And yes, we did have the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door…
We recently stayed at the Ripa Hotel, Rome, a property boasting a contemporary design and decent amount of technology (and endearing old-fashioned extras such as champagne on ice!), that somehow still gets it right, so we asked General Manager, Arianna Roscioli, to respond: "One of the reasons guests don't have problems with doors and with the power at the Ripa is because we still use normal keys and we have a jack to turn on the power. We are not so hi-tech, yet we still provide guests with the latest technology, in-room internet access, a flat screen television, and a CD player. Personally, I think we should all try not to be so dependent on digital gadgets when travelling. I have three children from 9 to 18 and when we travel now we need a trolley just for all our cameras, laptops, ipod stations and cell phones. I guess that trying to save on utility expenses is important for any hotel in the world as well as being good for the planet, but I understand that some hotels are just a bit too much, and the rooms are more like a golden jail than a nice place to live and stay. I also don't like the electronic key system too much because it's not good for the health. I like to suggest that all travellers travel with a black tourmaline crystal to put near their laptop to neutralize the effects of electromagnetic radiation."

10 things that annoy us about hotels #6 When using the bathroom is like undertaking an intelligence test

It shouldn’t be that hard. You have a cold tap? Make the colour on the tap blue. The hot tap? Make it red. Don’t put ‘C’ or ‘H’ on them, as for travellers from countries with Latin-derived languages, ‘C’ is not for cold but for caldo or caliente, which means HOT! Ouch! So why is it that lately we’ve felt like using every hotel bathroom is like being put through an intelligence test? We’ve been scolded, soaked, and clearly failed the exam. We've also failed to clearly grasp the logic of most contemporary bathroom designers, which seems to be to boldly design something that works in a way that defies conventional wisdom. Hotel bathroom designers seem to be going the way of toothpaste makers and razor companies, where there has to be a new gimmick to maintain interest in the product, which - no matter what they think - essentially performs a simple task. And as for the showers, baths and Jacuzzis themselves, nearly all the new designs we've sampled lately have managed to very successfully flood the bathroom - once you can get them running in the first place that is. We’re starting to put the bath towels on the floor to mop up the ensuing flood, and drying ourselves with the bath mats and hand towels. And don’t get us started with those hairdryers stuck to the walls...
As chic boutique hotel Villa Rosmarino at Camogli, Mount of Portofino, Italy, has some of the best-designed bathrooms (pictured) that we've road-tested recently (i.e. easy-to-use, spacious and light-filled with big sinks and big showers that don't flood), we asked owner-managers Fulvio Zendrini and Mario Pietraccetta to respond: "A hotel is a temporary home. It's also a travelling experience. But basically a bathroom is a place where you have to wash yourself and have other intimate experiences, which you are not going to share with everybody else! So, before thinking about candles all around your bathtub, let's have the toilet flush really work and the shower be really warm and the towels be many and clean. That's the basics. Then your hotel bathroom should be (if possible) the bathroom of your dreams: well designed, comfortable, with the right light, and the right ‘atmosphere’, the Italian marble, the hi-tech devices... the bathroom you dream of having at home. But first of all... it should be your comfortable retreat!"

10 oddest travel guides ever published

While we're on the subject of oddities in travel (see yesterday's post on 10 odd jobs in travel and tourism), Slate has published a fabulous reading list by Paul Collins called 'Baboons are simply too small for leopard bait: the 10 oddest travel guides ever published'. The quirky list includes such delights as A Guide through the District of the Lakes in the North of England (1835, 5th edition) by poet William Wordsworth (one of my favorites; you can read my posts on Wordsworth here); Fodor's Indian American (1975) by Jamake Highwater; George Leonard Herter's The Truth About Hunting in Today's Africa and How to Go on Safari for $690 (1963); Travel Guide of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses (1942) published by Afro-American newspapers; A Tramp Trip: How to See Europe on Fifty Cents a Day written by Lee Meriwether in 1886; and, no doubt inspired by Meriwether's way of life a century later, Overland to India and Australia by the BIT Travel and Help Service, published in 1970. You could call that last one a collaborative project. Founding 'editor' Geoff Crowther coordinated 'production', the stapling together of hundreds of letters by hippie travellers, and 'distribution' of the 'guides', little more than sheafs of papers in plastic bags. It was a process "fueled by 'shrooms and wine" that took place at the BIT 'offices', a hippie share house in London that was later "taken over by a bunch of petty crooks, speed freaks, rip-off artists, winos and cider freaks". Apparently, from Geoff's 'production team' "grew much of the colossus that is Lonely Planet." There's a much more entertaining version of the story than that generally reported in the travel media, in the form of Geoff's introduction to the update of the BIT guide in 1980, reprinted as Alternative Society 1970s: the BIT Travel Guide on The Generalist, a blog by writer, poet and musician John May.

10 odd jobs in travel and tourism

By Terry* and Lara
In a hilarious article posted on CNN’s website in association with Career Builders, there's a list of ten 'great' jobs in travel and tourism. Given that we earn our collective livings from the industry, we thought it might be enlightening to deconstruct the article and perhaps set ourselves on a new career path. And so the story begins: "Vacations are one of the best things in the world. You visit new, exotic and beautiful places; you make memories with your vacation companions; you experience different cultures and best of all, you get a break from reality." Hmmm, we’ve always looked at travel as a chance to see how other people live and experience other cultures, but a break from reality? Isn’t travel about seeing other people’s reality and comparing it with your own? "Think about it. There's someone accountable for the mode of transportation you chose to get to your vacation spot; someone responsible for booking your tickets; someone in charge of the activities you embark on; someone taking care of your entertainment in the evening, serving your drinks, showing you the sights. The list goes on." This list could only go on if it included having someone come around at a predetermined time to give you your medication and remind you to take your teeth out before you go to bed. "Though the pay is generally not as high as in other industries, jobs in travel and tourism provide workers with an enjoyable atmosphere, flexible hours and opportunities to meet new people." It’s okay, we’re travel writers who are used to crappy pay, so lets get started...
1. Amusement and recreation attendant
Umm... a what? A golf caddy? A carnival worker? Someone who sets up games? This is number one on the list? This must be a parody.
2. Concierge. Duties: Remember Tim Curry in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York?
No. But comparing the job of a concierge to a character in a crappy Hollywood movie is odd. Besides, having a job where you have to say "Sure!" to someone who wants a sushi restaurant in Milan must grate a little. We’ll pass on the concierge job.
3. Cruise ship director
We guess this means entertainment director. We’re also guessing we can’t swim to shore after the third night straight watching the captain dance to The Girl from Ipanema with a pensioner. We’re still betting this article is satire.
4. Curator
Now this would be awesome, apart from the fact you need just a little more training than the carny (sorry, amusement and recreation attendant) setting up the Ferris wheel in the first job suggestion…
5. Gaming Dealer
What?! Travel and tourism? Right...
6. Lifeguard
Ahh, lifeguard... visions of a hairy-chested Hasselhoff and an inflatable-chested Pamela Anderson. But the job description gets complicated: "…and rescue those in danger of drowning, if necessary…" I guess if you have all those sexy lifeguards around you, you’d want to make sure that someone is really in trouble before interrupting chatting up your workmates to actually save someone…
7. Information clerk
Dear CNN and partners, any job in any industry that includes the title ‘clerk’ is not going to be a great job. Sorry. But we have seen the movie Clerks.
8. Recreation worker
Sounds like fun until you realise you have to run an aquarobics class at 7am, Thai chi at 9am, a children’s workshop (aka babysitting) from 10am until 2pm, sunset stretching on the beach with arthritic 70-somethings before leading the karaoke hours with your rousing rendition of My Way, before setting the alarm for 6am to get ready to do it all over again. We may not have seen Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but we’ve seen Groundhog Day.
9. Taxi driver or chauffeur
Now CNN’s really grasping at straws. And, yes, we’ve seen Taxi Driver.
10. Tour and travel guide
At least this has some merit. Tell us more… "Duties: Think Gary Growbowski in The Break-Up." We hadn't even heard of this film (although obviously we have now we've looked it up), but did we mention we’ve seen Groundhog Day? Now, unless the job involves taking tours such as those run by Context, where you get to share your expertise on a subject (consolidated while getting a PhD on the topic), and don’t have to recite bad jokes and espouse faux ‘insider’ knowledge while holding an umbrella aloft in the optimistic hope that the forty disinterested people shaking off the effects of last night’s drinking session will actually be listening, then we’ll pass again.

Pictured? Elephant wranglers at the Four Seasons Tented Camp, Golden Triangle, Thailand, one very cool job in travel and tourism that the story neglected to mention. Now, the article was a parody, right?

*Terry is my co-author and husband; as holders of masters degrees in media studies, we both get a kick out of deconstructing the media.

10 things that annoy us about hotels #5 Apples in vases and other silly design 'trends'

We get it. You’re a ‘fresh’ contemporary hotel that has fresh fruit and doesn’t mind wasting it by putting it in vases. All throughout the hotel. Sometimes it looks like they’re there for the guests to enjoy, but most times they just look silly. Apples sitting on pebbles in vases. Apples in marbles in vases. And apples on some glow-in-the-dark jelly-like substance that looks downright dangerous. Frankly, the apple in vases look must go down as one of the silliest and most copied hotel decor trend in the hospitality world. It has been so widespread in hotels we've stayed at in Italy recently, we're beginning to think it's obligatory. Who started the trend anyway? And when did it spread like wildfire? Regardless, it has to stop. Vases are meant for flowers and fruit is meant for eating. Please make it stop.
We asked the director of boutique hotel connoisseurs, Mr and Mrs Smith, Tamara Heber Percy (AKA Mrs Smith) for her take on the subject:
"It’s just another example of trendiness for trendiness’ sake in the hotel industry - to be filed alongside point-folded toilet paper, framed walnuts, and ‘unusual’ modern art that could have come in a triple pack from IKEA. We’ve no idea why apples get highlighted in such a way – why not hardier fruit, such as pomegranates or pineapples? Why vases? Why not go all the way and fill your hotel with apricots in drawers, lychees in shoeboxes, mangosteens in cabinets? The only hotel I know that does the whole ‘ornamental fruit’ thing with anything like sense is Be Manos in Brussels – this hotel has quirky apple ‘racks’ dotted about that guests can help themselves to. The design looks unpretentious and attractive and it serves a practical purpose – but for every hotel getting it right, there are countless others getting it so, so wrong..."

We couldn't have said it better ourselves. It's nice to see Mrs Smith takes hotels as seriously as we do. Take a look at this post on the Mr and Mrs Smith blog about what makes a boutique hotel. The Martini test is one we like to apply ourselves!

Brilliant minds think alike, or, Why so many guidebooks share the same listings: part 2

By Lara & Terry*
If you've just joined us, this continues from the previous post so read this first.
So, why would these three places now get glowing reviews in an updated guidebook? What do they have in common? The answer: all of these places do excellent public relations. And when you read the reviews it’s quite easy to tell that the writer hasn't set foot in any of the places, or if the person did, they were blindfolded. A quick search on Google revealed that many of the reviews of the restaurant we left out of our edition use the same language to describe the chef, the preparation of the food, and the cuisine itself. It’s not a coincidence. It’s simply a recycled press release. And to the writer in a hurry on a tight budget, the 'general consensus' is enough to tick it off for inclusion and write the review from the establishment’s website, a press release, or other lustrous reviews.

In this particular city, we had tried all the restaurants we put in the first edition of that book, as we’d been regular visitors to the city for years. And on subsequent visits we used our local industry contacts (hotel staff, chefs and so on) to identify new places to try. But what we found most interesting from our guidebook test were the other reviewers’ responses to the restaurants we didn’t think were very good. When we discussed this with our informed local contacts in the restaurant or hotel business they almost unanimously said: “I can never understand why foreign writers think that place is so good!” One famous chef we recently interviewed knows exactly what we’re talking about. He told us that one dish that was on his menu for only a couple of months a few years ago keeps appearing in 'reviews' of his restaurant in travel guidebooks and articles. He blames one high-profile magazine article (which has since appeared on the internet) for this and is bemused by diners coming in and asking for the dish! The mention of this dish is his benchmark for judging whether the writer has even looked at his menu.

And this is why buying a guidebook is such a lottery. If you’ve been to a city before and you’re looking to buy a guidebook on it for another trip, look for a review of a hotel or restaurant you know. Is it in there? Good. Does the review make it sound remotely like the place you know? Yes? Excellent. If it doesn’t list it or it describes it in a way that’s not like the place you know, leave the book on the shelf.

Just as an aside, we were relieved to find that our names aren’t mentioned at all in the current incarnation of that first book we originally authored. It’s somewhat petty of the publishers, seeing our content was original, but considering the state of the current edition, we’re actually grateful!

Pictured? One hotel in Northern Italy that in no uncertain terms lives up to its eco-friendly credentials, Vigilius Mountain Resort. This is a photo of our room. We actually stayed there. Do you trust us?