womantraveler

Jazz for the Road

No travel experience is complete without a soundtrack and, for me, it's often jazz. Travel to the kitchen, travel along the freeways, travel by airplane and in my hotel room after a long day of work. With the death of so many jazz radio stations over the past couple of decades, I was heartened to learn of this exceptional new PBS series, Legends of Jazz. The 13-week debut season, the first weekly network TV jazz show in 40 years, is airing nationally on public television stations across America. Anchored by Ramsey Lewis, it features intimate conversations with and performances by some of the world's leading musicians, such as Chris Botti, Marcus Miller and Pat Metheny. And best of all for us womentravelers on the road, it's available on CD and DVD. Check local listings.

Weekly Travel Blog Roundup

This site is a member of the travel blog network at Blogads, a group of the best independent travel blogs on the web. Check out some of this week’s headlines from other travel blogs in the network:

'Broadway Under the Stars' moves to Central Park (NewYorkology)

Snapshots of Stockholm (Shortcut)

Two Mexicos (Travel Blogs)

Video Episode 3 - The Forum in Rome - Mike’s 6th Grade Report (Amateur Traveler Podcast)

Yoga on the Run

The more I travel, the more I miss -- and need -- yoga. Struggling to manage a 50-pound suitcase plus golf clubs and a computer case for a week of East Coast travel resulted in a recent rude reminder that my yoga practice cannot slip on the road. Practically speaking, we have to be strong -- chivalry is practically dead, most bellmen have disappeared with cost-cutting in non-luxury hotels and most men just smirk and stare in "I told you so" scorn when you're using your total body force to wrangle bags onto a rental car shuttle. Waving large dollar bills to potential bag tenders often gets their attention, but in any case, yoga while traveling is essential among our fitness options. Stretching after prolonged sitting and walking, cramped in coach coast to coast, not to mention the physical and psychic energy that yoga provides, enhance the experience of an active womantraveler.

My best new tips:

• As long as I'm schlepping a computer, I include a yoga DVD for my hotel room. My favorite is Baptiste Power of Yoga and Meditation (see more about Sherry below).
• Kimpton Hotels aim to help womentravelers keep their lifestyles while on the road, which includes yoga props and other fitness gear in special rooms as well as a 24-hour yoga TV channel. Knowing that their patrons want to stay fit, other hotels are making fitness an essential part of their service.
• I keep yoga teachers in various cities, just like men keep women (and vice versa nowadays). When in LA, contact Pamela Blackstone, who brings a spiritual artistry and several techniques, including the energy-building Reiki massage. While in San Francisco, check out Sherri Baptiste Freeman, who teaches in various area locations and conducts workshops around the US. The daughter of two California yoga-health-fitness pioneers, she's constantly inventing new twists on the practice, such as her new book in the Dummies series, Yoga With Weights.

Weekly Travel Blog Roundup

This site is a member of the travel blog network at Blogads, a group of the best independent travel blogs on the web. Check out some of this week’s headlines from other travel blogs in the network:

Gramercy Park Hotel to Open in August, with Keys (NewYorkology)

Daslu: no men allowed (Jet Set Lara)

London: On the Movie Trail (Shortcut)

Poptun to San Pedro de Atitlan, Guatemala (Travel Blogs)

Episode 42 - Paris, France - The City of Lights (Amateur Traveler Podcast)

The Perfect Bags and Totes

Apart from the Longchamp "Le Pliage" fashion bag collection, the search for the perfect computer tote, briefcase, and handbag selection for the professional womantraveler reminds me of the Three Bears story -- not to heavy, not too ugly, and, in fact, just right. But what is "just right" in this context? I could hold a profitable yard sale with my closet full of wrong choices. Thankfully women's travel bags have finally become a focal point of the accessories trade and certainly there is no dearth of choices in colors and fabrics this season. Keep in mind these perennial criteria:

• Necks, shoulders, and backs
• Versatility
• Portability with other carry-on bags
• Style

After much digging through options, here are my hot picks:

• Longchamp's "Le Pliage" bags -- in multicolors, multisizes. I put this ingenious discovery in competition for the Eighth Wonder of the World. As you can see above, they fold small and open large. I carry at least two on all trips -- an extra large tote in a color and a small discreet version (in black) for day-to-evening. To get through airport check-in, I put the small as a pocket book inside the large one as a tote, plus everything else I want to carry on. Purchased in Paris but available in fine handbag stores anywhere or online.
• Computer bags -- Dell offers a terrific range of options in black, red, pink, and more. My favorite is the Liberator Executive in black fabric because I can carry it on one shoulder with my computer/office gear and another microfiber tote from Magellans on the other shoulder as my handbag. The combination of the two, plus detachable smaller bags that come with them is unbelievable. I went to Europe and back, plus several US destinations on business, with everything I needed except my checked luggage in these two bags. Alternatively, I use my Tumi wheeled computer cart/overnighter for trips that require carrying more files and papers.
• Briefcases -- My Lodis briefcase-style shoulder bag has been my number one sidekick for several years for a combination portfolio/handbag, and professional daytime to evening conversion. It's big enough to hold a legal pad, a few files, a magazine, and small accessories, yet slim and sleek. Tumi has also gone all out this year with great bags to satisfy the same need.
• Business totes -- The leathers in Levenger's colorful collection coordinate with the smartest range of organizer materials -- this year in peacock blue, citrus yellow, coral red, black and more. What fun and at the same time impeccably business chic.
• Handbags -- With all of the above options, handbags now are delightful jewelry. So I pack handbags into my luggage for after-hours fun. One can only schlepp so much at once.

A Womantraveler's Food Delights in Little Rock

What's a womantraveler to do, especially a business woman traveler in a place like Little Rock, Arkansas, when she's seeking a good meal after a long day, and all that's available are local bars and saloons? This happens most frequently in small- to medium-size cities in the South and Heartland America, where the economy does not support the vast urban mix of the Coasts. So I tested my requirements while on a business trip to Little Rock, home of a remarkable library of former President Bill Clinton. What I found here, surprisingly, and one finds in many places that may not have the food snob cache, is a tightly knit sophisticated local clientele and excellent food -- if you know where to go. Our choices -- Flying Fish downtown and Brave New Restaurant.

Trouble is, when you venture in from the outside, great cuisine, a dining location that is nearby your hotel and on your schedule and a relatively tame/mellow environment are not likely to be found in complete combination in places like Little Rock and much of Middle America. Not that these communities don't appreciate the sentiment, but local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce may not have the economic options to focus simply on us womentravelers -- business and solo. In a few trips to Little Rock, I navigated through the scene to develop a working template that applies anywhere.

Girlfriends in North Beach

Nothing in the annals of Mother's Day requires that we sit home, wait for phone calls or expect to be brunched, lunched and dined. We girlfriends spent the weekend in San Francisco shopping. With so many neighborhoods with their own style, we picked Upper Grant Avenue in North Beach, an extension of Chinatown renowned for its Italian identity. This three-to-four block area, which spills onto Green Street and Union Street a block each direction, is a mix of hip urban clothing, colloquial galleries, baby chic, leather, jewelry and vintage. It's the type of mixture that does best when you walk into a shop, as we did at Paparazzi (1421 Grant Ave., 415.399.1117) and the sales woman starts bringing us clothing from her shelves that fit our style. Otherwise, who would know where to begin in these very idiosyncratic boutiques? Anchoring one corner is the famous Caffe Trieste, home of the original espresso and hangout of the famous Beat writers in the 1950s and 1960s, while the hot lunch and dinner resto is The House, a tiny pan-Asian/California cafe at 1230 Grant Avenue, with inventive noodle dishes, entrees and ample-sized appetizers. Be prepared to stand in line, but service is fast and attentive.

Weekly Travel Blog Roundup

This site is a member of the travel blog network at Blogads, a group of the best independent travel blogs on the web. Check out some of this week’s headlines from other travel blogs in the network:

Giving Alms to the Monks in Luang Prabang, Laos (Travel Blogs)

Travel Tales: Berlin in the 1980s (Shortcut)

Episode 41 - Marrakesh, Morocco (Amateur Traveler Podcast)

A bird's eye view of São Paulo (Jet Set Lara)

The views from Brooklyn's tallest building (NewYorkology)

Watch that Maggot Cheese! (Escape Blog)

College Town Graduations: Charlottesville VA

Moms and graduations -- the season is upon is and we greet it with mixed feelings. After four years of making Charlottesville, Virginia, home of the University of Virginia, and my home away from home, it's time to pass on her special delights to the next generation of womentravelers who trek to college towns to visit their students. Wherever your college town, it can be a terrific place to visit as a destination in itself, while checking in with your kid. Returning as a womantraveler from time to time, you can experience why students and faculty love these places. The restaurants are varied and top-notch, reaching out for a worldly clientele, the entertainment options are dynamic and contemporary and the shopping is much more fun, idiosyncratic and cheeky, catering to students who are on the cusp and faculty and parents who are reliving their youth.

Quintessential college towns -- the ones in which the institutions inspire the overall personality of the community -- are precious little secrets. I particularly like Charlottesville, which lies at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in summer when the student population is way down. Unless you plan way ahead, it can be really difficult (and extra expensive) to get hotel reservations because these towns double and triple in size on popular college weekends.

My optimal destination choice is the Boar's Head Inn, where I wake to the misty cooling moisture of a Virginia summer morning. The low blanket of fog will deliver rain or break away for sunshine later in the day. In defiance of air conditioning, I open my to hear breezes rustling across the rolling hillsides, crossing the lake, and landing on my veranda like a breaking wave on the shore. The birds and ducks entertain, trusting as they have become to visitors.

Reminiscent of a vintage Virginia country club, the inn lies on more than 500 acres at the edge of town, fashioned from a grist mill before the Civil War, but with today's amenities -- a city-size sports club, spa, tennis courts, and golf course. It's a perfect base for a visit to the Albemarle County area in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Virginia wine country (more on Virginia wines coming in another post). For elegant dining and attentive service, I return for dinner in The Old Mill Room, the 2002 Virginia Wine Restaurant of the Year and its original interpretations of regional cuisine (434.972.2230). The other more convenient hotel accommodations are Omni, which sits at the foot of the Downtown Mall -- an historic walking street of shops, eateries and galleries, and two Marriott Courtyard (the preferred of two locations is on West Main near the campus, which UVA calls "grounds"). However, many womentravelers prefer to take advantage of local guest houses that offer gracious spaces from single rooms to apartments.

Weekly Travel Blog Roundup

This site is a member of the travel blog network at Blogads, a group of the best independent travel blogs on the web. Check out some of this week’s headlines from other travel blogs in the network, including our newest member, the Escape Blog:

Ads on your next flight? (Jet Set Lara)

The Cost of Being Poor: Costa Rica vs. the USA (Travel Blogs)

The Mistaken Massage (TravelBlogger.net)

Episode 40 - Berlin, Germany (Amateur Traveler Podcast)

Johnny Rotten podcasts for Met Museum (NewYorkology)

Notes from Spain podcast no. 37 - Lavapies (Notes from Spain)

Strange food from Korea (Escape Blog)