Archive: June 2010

If you’re travelling across the U.S., sooner or later, like it or not, you’re going to end up eating a burger or two. In some cases, it’ll be because nothing else on the menu catches your attention. Picture it: you’re on the road, hunger’s got the best of you and your choice of “eats” is a circular piece of meat on a bun or a couple of slices of pizza. Tough choice, especially if its the fifth day in a row you’re facing it. Sometimes, even when you do have alternatives, your travel mates — native or otherwise — will drive you to some joint that only offers the Terrible Two. Yeah, life can be like that.

Like they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, so the most sensible thing is to find an emporium which serves quality burgers. In a perfect world, this hamburger haven would be located in some quality brewery or someplace a tad more homey where you’d savor the taste of a juicy burger buried under a heaping pile of onions, layers of blue cheese and other culinary delights. Time for a reality check. In all likelihood, the place in question will be some fast-food chain, so why not know for sure which of these are the best.

A couple of years ago, I spent six months in California . Many of my university mates raved with absolute devotion about IN-N-OUT, a fast-food outlet where cheeseburgers, fries and shakes were the only fare. I got so sick of hearing about the friggin place that I finally went and, to my surprise, liked it, though I was left with a disturbing existential dilemma: Can one truly experience something genuinely life-enrichening at a fast-food chain? What’s your opinion? Do you know of eateries, fast-food franchise or otherwise, which could be considered an Experience?

After tallying point totals from jury members, we have the three winners from our latest Trourist experience contest: LO-Month.

Beginning with the category for Best Overall Experience, and winner of a Diana+ Deluxe Pack, our lucky contestant is Cande Abril, who shared with us a most unusual experience to be lived in the Navigli neighborhood of Milan. Cande recommends a rendezvous through an area formerly teemng with canals filled with water but which nowadays is a cluster of assorted establishments. Let her tell you about it.

In the category of Best London Experience, Kate Turner walked away with her hands full. She won a Diani Mini + Flash. Her delectable experience, never better said, consists of a visit to the market in Borough, where “fine eats” from all around the world can be found, with special mention of a section devoted to nothing but sweets. Again, we think it’s better if she speaks to you about it first-hand.

Lastly, in the Best Barcelona Experience category, Laura Hernandez will also be able to enjoy a Diana Mini + Flash of her very own. Laura touts the possibility of getting to know local artists short on fame but long on talent at a marvelous gallery with a marvelous name called Miscelania. She, too, should be the one to fill you in.

Congrats to all our winners and all those who participated, the bar level for experiences was set extremely high. Real travel gems were shared, which I’m sure will have you living to the max your travels wherever you go this summer.

Once more, we encourage you to share with others those places that are oh-so-special in your city or that you’ve come across during one of your recent jaunts. And not to worry, in our next contest we will include all those experiences shared since the conclusion of LO-Month.

Finally, we cannot sign off without thanking again Lomography Spain for sponsoring this contest.

Temperatures which plummeted to 40 below at night. Threatening avalanches capable of uprooting anything in its path. Hardly any food or water. The constant menace of death to family, friends and colleagues, all the while feeling powerless to do something on their behalf. And the cruelest cut of all, hearing over the radio that all rescue attempts from this frigid sentence had been abandoned. Death seemed a macabre certainty that would be delivered by the icy temperatures and shortage of food supplies.

This was the reality faced by a group of Uruguayan students at more than 4000 meteres during 72 days when their Chile-bound plane crashed into the Andes Mountains. For those of you familiar with the story, naturally I am speaking of “Alive”, the moving novel and equally moving feature film. It is one of those stories of superhuman sacrifice and courage that leave you spellbound. A story which I had the privilege of listening to directly from one of the survivors, Nando Parrando. Without a doubt, it is the lecture which has had the greatest impact on me not only because of the events therein but also due to its inspirational message.

Nando Parrado was, along with Roberto Canessa, a survivor of the plane crash, who following two months of being trapped in the Andes, decided to challenge the surrounding peaks in search of liberating themselves and their companions from this overwhelming tragedy. It was a challenging journey they decided to undertake only because they had no choice; the alternative was sure death. It was an odyssey that would require 12 arduous days of non-stop trekking through ice and snow, uphill over steep summits.

What most impressed be about the encounter with Nando Parrado was a photograph he showed us taken the first day he scaled the nearest summit. Picture it: two months of having barely eaten at all, your energy-meter is beyond empty and when you finally muster the courage to do the impossible, i.e. leave this ivory tundra, all that lies before you as far as the eye can see is an endless topographical map of snow-capped peaks with no signs of civilization in sight. A similar photo follows:

Total desolation, is it not? For sure, but life is about having courage and believing. A hero can be the person who remains standing or the person who falls, but never one who abandons the fight. That’s the moral of this tale. One which enabled Nando Parrado to escape from a situation much more complicated that any of us has ever known.

The Trourist community has been quite active the past few days. During the month of May, real pearls of advice have been submitted by travelers, like yourself, who seek genuine and special experiences from the destinations they visit.

In the category of Best Experience, we’ve narrowed it down to 10 finalists, any one of who has a chance of winning the Diana+ Deluxe Pack. Mikel García Nograro, for instance, proposed a unique way to spend a Sunday in Cape Town. Maria Agirre, in turn, invited us down to a bar/gallery right smack in the middle of San Francisco. Gerrit Lamch took us to a very special place in Montreal to have breakfast. Borja Serrano waxed lyrical about embarking on an adventure along an idyllic passage in New Zealand. Nagore Guarretxena discovered a place to photograph geishas in Tokyo. Alba Rosales whisked us away to a mysterious bar in Cracovia. Pablo Adrian Medina suggested a water reservoir in Tulum. Ryan showed us a few places to hit when spending quality time in Galway. Cande Abril opened our eyes to a most interesting rendezvous in Milan. And Kate Turner recommended a lovely spot to have a cocktail with your significant other in Oxford.

In the category of Best Experience in London and Barcelona, and vying for a shot at a Diana Mini +Flash, we’ve selected 3 finalists from each city. In London, Oscar Cervantes told us where to grab dinner on Marylebone High Street, Adam Smith invited us to a cafe in Soho and Kate Turner (yes, Kate again!) called our attention to a great market where you can go whennever you’re ready for a shopping spree. In Barcelona, Isabel Martí suggested a tea house in the Gothic section, Laura Hernandez introduced us to an area overflowing with provocative creations by talented artists, and Jon Santa mailed in a night out eating Japanese cuisine.

Who’s going to win in each category? The various juries will have their verdicts in a few days. For the moment, though, everyone’s a winner because we all have more genuine and special experiences to choose from. Thanks to all those who particpated in this fun event!

And for those of you wondering: we are now 2500 trourists!

The jury is formed by:

Francesc Balagué: http://www.francescbalague.cat/

Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll: http://www.uncorneredmarket.com/

Lara Dunston and Terence Carter: http://grantourismotravels.com/

Lindsay Hogg: http://thetravellerworldguide.com/

Mike Baris: http://www.mikebarish.com/

Pasquale Caprile: www.lomography.es