Today on Live at 9 in Memphis, I talked about what travelers can expect this summer and how to stay on budget amid rising fuel costs and added fees. Travelers can expect two things for sure: higher airfare and crowded planes. The high cost of fuel is one of the main factors driving up summer airfares, so to stay on budget, travelers are going to have to be smart and find other ways to save.

One way to find a great deal is to try booking at the last minute. Since last minute travel inventory is unpredictable, this option is ideal for people who know they want to get away for a long weekend, but who don’t have their hearts set on a particular destination.

Also, try to be flexible with both your dates and your destination. If you know you want a beach vacation, set a budget and search various destinations to see where you can go for your money.

Simple mistakes in planning your travels can be detrimental to your budget, which is why it’s so important to be an educated consumer. You really can save hundreds if you plan smart. We’ve found that booking your flight and hotel together can save an average of $240, so you’re going to want to comparison shop to figure out if it’s better to book your flight and hotel together or separately.

Also, you need to pack light or you will pay! This may be difficult for the ladies who want to bring 10 pair of shoes, but if your bags weigh too much or you have to check a second piece of luggage, the airline is going to charge you extra. The new baggage policies regarding a second bag go into effect in May, so you will be charged $25 each way to bring a second bag.

Higher airfare and budget aside, the second thing that travelers can count on is that planes will again be full this summer. If you remember last year, capacity on planes was at a high and so were delays. We’re expecting another crowded season at the airports, and travelers need to plan for it -- that means getting to the airport in plenty of time to make it through the security line (two hours for domestic and three for international) and allowing enough connection time in between flights; I recommend two hours to be safe. And don’t forget to pack something to read and plenty of snacks in your carry-on!

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Posted in Air Travel, Budget Travel, Last-Minute Travel
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This week, I’m visiting local TV stations to raise awareness of a looming generational crisis: nature-deficit disorder. A term coined by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, this “disorder” isn’t a medical diagnosis, but a description of the “human costs of alienation from nature,” he writes. In his book, he recalls fond memories of being outdoors: hiking deep into the woods where he climbed trees and felt the exhilaration of nature swarm around him. In one powerful statement he divulged that “nature was my Ritalin.”

While obesity, attention deficit disorder and impaired social skills have all been linked back to the sedentary lifestyles of today’s children, environmental advocates fear that “the retreat indoors for many American children” will lead to a generation of adults for whom “conserving the environment isn’t a priority.” (The National Health, October 2007)

To combat nature-deficit disorder, we’re challenging families to get outside and play this summer – no matter where you happen to be. Check out our family road trips, created by the gurus at Road Trip Wizard, and Richard Louv’s tips on discovering nature.

If you happened to catch today’s Your Carolina with Jack & Kimberly, you heard me talk about outdoor vacation options for families: The Great Smoky Mountains, a road trip that will allow you to explore the highlights of this National Park; Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, an outdoor playground that stretches across British Columbia; and the Bahamian Reef Expedition, an Earthwatch trip that lets teenagers be scientists for a week.

Photo Courtesy of Cariboo Chilcotin Coast.

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Posted in Family & Kids, Nature & Outdoors, Road Trips
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It started with US Airways, and quickly snowballed into an industry-wide trend. Beginning in May, no longer will you be able to check two pieces of luggage free of charge. Six major airlines – American Airlines, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways – will all charge $25 for passengers to check a second bag. Several smaller carriers – Air Canada, Alaska Air, Air Tran, and JetBlue among them – have enacted similar policies.

Travelocity’s FAQ page is constantly updated with the details of each policy.

Keep in mind that this fee does not apply to all people on all flights. While policies vary, the charge is generally limited to passengers sitting in economy-class seats on flights in North America, excludes any elite members of frequent flier programs, and does not apply to anyone flying in business or first class. Trouble is, it’s not these frequent fliers that generally check lots of bags anyway – it’s the infrequent flier – also the traveler least likely to be aware of these new fees.

And don’t even think about trying to stuff everything into one bag to get around the rule. Several carriers have increased their overweight / oversized baggage surcharges, and we’ve seen in recent years the airlines have become very stringent on enforcing these rules.

Other new fees to be aware of: -
- Delta Airlines raised fees for booking over the phone, bringing along your pet, and unaccompanied minors on direct flights
- United Airlines recently upped the change fee from $100 to $150 and reinstated the Saturday-night-stay requirement on some routes
- JetBlue has begun charging for seats with the most legroom

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Posted in Air Travel, Packing & Baggage, Travel News
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Let’s say you get the flu as soon as you step out onto the beach. Or, your romantic hotel room is right next to a family with screaming toddlers. Often, you can find hidden opportunities in these small tragedies. Maybe the flu that keeps you inside also keeps you from getting sunburned like the rest of your family. Or, the screaming toddlers later befriend you in the hotel pool and you spend a giggle-filled afternoon seeing the world through their eyes.

Just over three weeks ago, my friend Brooke and I set out from Denver for a Vail vacation. Brooke and I have known each other since college at U of M, and we spent much of the nighttime Rocky Mountain drive catching up with one another. One minute, we were laughing and reminiscing, and the next minute we hit a spot of black ice, lost control of the car, smashed into the left guardrail, spun across the interstate in circles, got hit by two other cars, and finally landed front impact in a snow bank. We were stunned, terrified, badly banged up and bruised, and very lucky to be alive.

Obviously, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

We were supposed to arrive in Vail that night around 9pm, and check into a posh three-bedroom condo where our friends would be meeting us. Then, the next morning, the plan was to get up early and hit the slopes—I was choosing between skiing and snowboarding—and my friends were bringing up a bunch of sleds, too, which I was particularly excited about.

Instead, Brooke and I were taken from the accident scene in separate ambulances, and spent much of that first night in the hospital. When we finally were released to our rented condo, it was the wee hours of the morning, and we were shaken up, bone tired, clutching ice packs, and chomping advils to calm our pain.

There would be no frolicking through a winter wonderland. The able-bodied among our group really rose to the occasion, deputizing themselves as nurses and never once complaining about their vacation being ruined. Later on, they spent hours cooking Brooke and me a magnificent feast, even grilling vegetables on a barbecue outside in the falling snow, in a touching attempt to lift our spirits.

We dined that night by candlelight, Brooke and I both propped up on ice and recounting the accident. We all wondered at the circumstances that had brought us together, and at the very thin veil between things going as planned and that great unknown, the unexpected. We sat and talked long past we were done eating, and I don’t think I’ve ever before been part of a group speaking so starkly and openly about life and death and our hopes and fears and what really, truly matters to us all.

It wasn’t the vacation we intended and it certainly wasn’t the vacation any of us wanted. But it was a journey, and--if it’s not too trite--a jarring reminder to be thankful for the here and now, even if it’s not quite how you planned it to be.

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Posted in Car Travel, Group & Companion, Guides & Planning, Spiritual & Religious
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Every city has its characters. They’re the eccentric local fixtures whom everyone knows by name; they’re the self-appointed representatives of their cities’ imaginations; they amuse and sometimes frighten tourists; to encounter them anywhere outside their cities would be difficult, if not impossible, to imagine. In my eyes, they’re the lifeblood of a city’s local color—encountering them, knowing them, and occasionally spotting them around town make me feel more at home in a city than anything else.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member alex_nyc

My first such encounter took place in Austin about 5 years ago; I had moved there a few days before and was heading to my first day of work. I’d taken the free downtown trolley from my parking lot to the intersection of 6th Street and Congress, the epicenter of downtown Austin and just a short walk from my office. As I disembarked, I stopped to marvel at the scene before me. On the corner, just outside Starbucks, a man stood preaching loudly from the Bible as another man—probably around 60 years old, thin, and bearded—strutted back and forth in a hot pink one-piece women’s swimsuit, 3-inch heels, and a cowboy hat, occasionally shouting back at the street preacher. I don’t even remember what they were saying; I was just thrilled to be given such a fantastically weird welcome to Austin.

Later that day, I told a woman in my office about the encounter, and she beamed at me and said, “That’s Leslie!” Turns out my welcome committee was even more special than I’d thought; Leslie is a local legend—an Austin eccentric-slash-cross-dressing-homeless-man who’s known and loved by all. A popular local bookstore, Book People, makes Leslie refrigerator magnets; he even ran for mayor once, to great fanfare, and came in second in the popular vote. You can’t quite call yourself an Austinite without having encountered him, and the real jackpot of any visit to Austin is a Leslie sighting. Needless to say, I was a proud Austin resident that day.

I’ve since moved to New York, and New York, of course, has characters to spare. After four years here, however, my hands-down favorite is the famous Bird Man. I first saw him—or heard him, rather—in Chinatown one day, ca-cawing his heart out as he walked down Canal Street. As any New Yorker can attest, weird encounters like this aren’t exactly unusual, and I didn’t think much of this one. Until I ran into him again in Soho a few days later, then again on the 1 train another day (where I heard a variety of other bird calls in his repertoire), and then again uptown a few weeks later. Once I mentioned it to friends, I found out that they, too, had encountered the Bird Man on multiple occasions. We did a little investigating and found that he’s a veritable local character: a package courier named Stanley who just really enjoys doing bird calls around the city on his routes. I’ve spotted him many more times since those initial few encounters, and I still feel like I’ve won the lottery every time—he never fails to brighten my day and make me love New York just a little more.

At a recent work gathering, a fellow Window Seat writers Holly, Alison, and Rachel told me about their favorite local character: the Bush Man, a guy who disguises himself as shrubbery and lies in wait on a busy street in Fisherman’s Wharf, waiting to jump out and scare unsuspecting tourists (I'll admit to giving him an inner high-five). I’m betting your city has one too. Who is it?

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They say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and I’m sure that’s true in more ways than I’d ever dare to imagine. But with the Strip’s increasingly luxurious resort hotels, intoxicating nightlife, and fanfare-worthy entertainment, Las Vegas is becoming the vacation destination that you can’t help but tell everyone about. Why have the time of your life in one of the most daydreamed-about places on earth, and not boast about it to your buddies?

Case in point: Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of staying at The Palazzo, a brand-new, all-suite resort hotel and casino nestled between The Venetian and Wynn Las Vegas. Now, I’m not the most ardent Vegas vacationer out there--I generally just tag along for the odd bridal shower or birthday. But I soaked up every second of this trip, and left yearning to return as soon as possible.

When I stepped off the plane at the Las Vegas airport, I was slightly frazzled from a rather bumpy flight. Much to my delight, a long, sleek limousine was waiting to convey me to the airport. I learned that The Palazzo has its own limousines, as well as a private airport shuttle. (Its own limousines? I was already in heaven. What else would there be in store for me?)

Fast-forward several hours, during which I settled into my lavishly furnished suite, complete with sunken living room, work area, marble-appointed bathroom, three giant plasma TVs, and king-sized bed with plush Anichini linens. I tried to imagine the range of accommodations this 50-story hotel provides: Its 3,066 suites range from 650-square-foot rooms like mine to 10,000-square-foot poolside mansions. The Palazzo is also the largest “green” building in the world, holding a Silver LEED® Certificate from the U.S. Green Building Council. Pools are heated by solar panels, and even room temperature deregulates automatically when you leave your suite. Who knew luxury could be so eco-friendly?

Difficult as it was to extract myself from my room, I ambled out for cocktails and dinner at CUT, a gourmet steakhouse with a modern twist by Wolfgang Puck. Being a vegan, I was expecting anything but the royal treatment at this carnivore’s haven. You can imagine my surprise, then, when the head chef came out, respectfully inquired about my dietary preferences, and offered to prepare whatever I desired. He ended up concocting a medley of delicious, custom-made dishes that included garlic mashed potatoes, seared spinach, and delicately seasoned cauliflower.

Happily, I was to encounter this same treatment at the other restaurants I visited: Jade Noodles Dim Sum Restaurant, Dos Caminos, and Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 each sent out chefs for dietary consultations. Joy of joys--I had unknowingly stumbled into some secret vegan foodie heaven! No wonder they call it The Palazzo, I kept thinking. After all, it is Italian for “The Palace.”

I spent the next day devoted to an in-depth discovery of the hotel premises. Some Las Vegas hotels are impossible mazes of slot machines and poker tables; at The Palazzo, everything is centrally located and easy to find. Directly below the lobby is hip-hop mogul Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club, an ultra-chic sports bar complete with a 24-karat gold- and platinum-tiled dance floor, 85 plasma TVs, and mouthwatering Latin-soul cuisine. At lobby level, you’ll find an array of restaurants grouped around the 105,000-square-foot casino. Hang a left past the lobby, and you can watch a performance of Jersey Boys, the Tony Award-winning story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

The Palazzo’s third floor is definitely the place to go if you’re looking to unwind, as I was on my third day there. Its 134,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch SpaClub®, the largest to date, offers comforting massages, stylish manicures, and soothing thermal baths. It also harbors a large fitness center complete with 40-foot-high rock climbing wall (although you do have to maneuver through a series of corridors to get there). Adjacent to the spa is The Palazzo Pool Deck, a primo spot to catch some rays and enjoy a great view of the Strip.

Since no trip to Vegas is complete without a day of shopping, I also checked out The Shoppes at The Palazzo, 60 luxury boutiques situated between the hotel and its neighbor The Venetian, and connected to the latter by a series of waterways and walkways. The eye-catching displays of indulgent, high-end products immediately floored me. In addition to the 85,000-square-foot Barneys New York, the first in Vegas, there are also a variety of fine jewelry boutiques, posh clothing shops, and my personal favorite, the palate-pleasing Double Helix Bar and Boutique. What other bar or restaurant lets you enjoy a vast array of hard-to-find fine wines by the glass--then purchase your favorites by the bottle? It was the icing on an already heavenly cake. I was in love.

So while I know that they call Las Vegas “Sin City,” and that what happens there stays there, I’m throwing in the comfortable, oversized bath towel on the secret keeping, and taking my friends and family back to The Palazzo as soon as I can. After all the boasting I’ve been doing, they don’t really have much choice. Viva the New Las Vegas!

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Posted in Bars & Nightlife, Entertainment, Green Travel, Hotel Travel, Las Vegas, Shopping, Spas
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Yesterday while loading my upcoming trips into my calendar I realized a scary, scary trend: all of them involve red-eye flights. Living in California is brilliant most of the time, but it stinks for globetrotting. Sure, I probably could have avoided the red-eye to Atlanta, but the red-eyes to Paris and Thailand could not be helped. In fact, when I go to Paris, I will lose almost an entire day. Oh la la!

In short, I'm panicking. Growing up on the East Coast, I got spoiled by being so close to the rest of the world. The longest flight I've ever taken was a measly six hours, and even that was no walk in the park (skies?) thanks to my hyperactive tendencies and tiny bladder.

I've started researching red-eye flight survival guides, but so far none of them contains an "aha!" tip that seems like it will make all the difference. And some of the advice is just plain impractical. It might be nice to sleep leaning against the window, but there's no way I'm asking the person next to me to move every time I need to use the restroom or stretch my legs for fifteen hours straight.

Then there's the question of: to drug or not to drug? Few travel articles suggest this, but my informal water cooler polls and at least this Yahoo Answers thread definitely recommends dealing with the problem with a little Benadryl-induced shut-eye. Being that I have a tough time sleeping in my own bed on a regular Tuesday night if my fridge is humming too loudly, Tylenol PM may be my only ticket to the Land of Nod.

Plus, I need good strategies to keep me busy. Should I finally page-turn a little Proust, or is this the perfect time to rent a DVD player and discover a new TV show? The box collection of all 18 seasons of Law & Order comes to mind.

In my opinion, advice from real travelers is better than a million how-to articles and so I pose the question to you: How do you survive the dreaded red-eye? I'm looking for ways to stay sane, maybe catch a little sleep, and be comfortable without wearing my reindeer-print pajamas.

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Posted in Air Travel, Guides & Planning, International Travel
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We’ve said it before and we’ve even said it again, but yet another one is biting the dust as Continental is now instituting a second-bag fee, making it the fourth airline to do so after United, US Airways, and Delta have all taken the plunge. But is it really so terrible?

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member dinkime

To be honest, unless you’re traveling far and wide for a long period of time, this fee shouldn’t affect you. If it is does, then you are a profligate over-packer and need to rethink your travel wardrobe. However, I can understand the plight of business travelers who need to transport goods in a second bag. The fare could be—particularly when compounded by round-trip or multiple-stop flights—a royal pain in the narrow seat width. According to the Times, some businesses will reimburse the fee, though that’s no consolation for the self-employed traveling salesperson.

Carriers are perhaps rolling the dice a bit, encouraging travelers to spend money with carriers that don’t charge for the second piece of luggage. However, I have a hard time sympathizing with travelers who are being charged for a second bag that isn’t of the utmost necessity (and, no, neither multiple pairs of heels nor a foam dome are considered such) though it’s tough to be constantly stuck with fees when you’ve already paid for a flight that will probably be delayed. That said, I recently shelled out an additional $20 each way for exit row seats on JetBlue so that my considerably lanky legs would not be subjected to the death-knell-for-knees that is a reclining seatback. Worth every penny…

As yesterday was Earth Day, perhaps we can look at the baggage fee as an ecologically-sound encouragement. If people travel with less, the planes would weigh less and, thus, use less fuel and, voila, you’ve decreased your carbon footprint by a toenail’s width. In fact, perhaps the fee will get people to take alternate means of transportation, like the train! Perhaps that’s a pipe-dream in such a vast country, but you never know. If anything, it will help to do away with people pulling too-large wheelie-bags behind them. I hate those things. Convenient or not, they turn the average aimless wanderer into a staggering stegosaur whose weighted tail is just waiting to clip you. Forgive my mini-rant, but I’ve leaped over enough of those things to try out for the 110-meter high hurdles.

When I travel for any length of time up to a week or so, I’m confident that I can fit my necessities into duffel bag that will fit in the overhead bins. The soft sides of the duffel bag make it easy for it—and other bags around it—to fit into the compartments, and also save the knee or ankle of some passerby from bruising due to careless walking. Along with a small carry-on for my minimal in-flight necessities: sunglasses, iPod, some water, and a book, I’m relatively self-contained. When bemoaning the loss of your second free bag, a good philosophy to remember is “there are two kinds of luggage, carry-on or lost.”

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Posted in Air Travel, Packing & Baggage, Travel News
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In honor of earth day I thought I would introduce you to my friends the eco-bunnies, that is if you don't know them already.

These guys are charming, fun, and easy to get along with...most of the time anyway. Check out their earth day video. If you like what you see spread the word and become part of the eco-bunnies fan club.

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This past weekend, I stole away to Long Island for some seaside biking with my family. I spent the first hour-and-a-half jaywalking my bike across parkways, a quarter-mile behind my father (who, incidentally, was alternating between illegal sidewalk-riding and erratic wrong-way riding), because it turned out that a bicycle trailhead was nowhere to be found.

From the time we found the path, though, the ride was gorgeous: winding over sailboats and sea, with marsh grass blowing alongside, the route was well-maintained and not too crowded. I enjoyed the foray beyond my usual Brooklyn bike route so much that I’m determined to take this show even further afield. And what better time to plot a path around the world than today, Earth Day? I can’t think of a more enjoyable, healthy, and eco-friendly way to explore a new town than on bicycle, and I’m not the only one: W Hotels are offering free PUMA bike rentals to guests to mark Earth Day.

I’d start my two-wheeled tour in Manhattan, which boasts tons of bike-friendly acres in Central Park and along the rivers—even more on the first Sunday in May during the Five Boro Bike Tour. I’d urge visitors to rent a bike and see New York aboveground—and I can attest to the fact that even if you transport your bicycle on the subway, a friendly (maybe even cute) New Yorker will help you lug it up and down the stairs.

After NYC, I’d check off each of the 11 cities deemed “most bike friendly” by Virgin Vacations, plus one more: Paris. I haven’t been there in 5 years, and I’ve been wanting to bike Paris, Versailles, and Giverny ever since I discovered the area’s biking subculture when a friend worked as a tour leader there. Only now I want to take advantage of Paris’ several thousand free Vélib’ bikes. I love it when being environmentally conscious comes free. And safe—Portland also tops my wish list with its new bike boxes (and duuude, you have to watch the video explaining them).

What other places are prime territory for sightseeing by bike, and where have you had your favorite bike ride?

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Posted in Green Travel, Nature & Outdoors, Ski & Sport
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Join us in welcoming to The Window Seat the lovely Clotilde Dusoulier, author and celebrated Parisian blogger behind Chocolate & Zucchini. Her delicious guest blog will tempt you with an insider's look at Paris.

I’ve lived in Montmartre for over five years, and if I’d been paid one centime for every time I’ve directed visitors to the Sacré-Coeur or the Moulin Rouge, I could afford to stay in bed eating chocolate for the rest of my life.

But I worry: once they reach those landmarks, if they get hungry, will they know where to go? Tourist traps lie in wait all over the hill, but Montmartre is a very residential area and locals eat there, too, so there is plenty of good food to be found if you know where to look. Here are a few favorites.

Coquelicot
This bakery makes what I think is the best baguette in Paris, a free-form beauty called “la piccola,” and their chouquettes (sugar puffs) are first-rate. You can sit inside or outside to enjoy a breakfast of café au lait and buttered tartines, or a light lunch of salads and omelets.

24 rue des Abbesses in the 18th, +33 (0)1 46 06 18 77. Métro: Abbesses.

Rue des Abbesses + Rue Lepic
While in Montmartre, take a stroll along those two rues commerçantes, i.e. market streets that offer a high concentration of food shops – bakeries, butcher shops, fish markets, cheese shops, wine shops, charcuteries, tea and spice shops – as well as cafés with terraces, where you can sit and relax before or after running your errands.

Start from Place des Abbesses, walk up Rue des Abbesses, and turn left into the lower part of Rue Lepic. Don’t miss La Cave des Abbesses (a wine shop at 43 rue des Abbesses), Chicken Family (a rotisserie at 57 rue des Abbesses), or La Fromagerie Lepic (a cheese shop at 20 rue Lepic).

Chéri Bibi
Located at the foot of the Sacré Cœur, this restaurant serves a mix of French comfort food and travel-inspired dishes to a hip local crowd. The dining room is furnished with flea market finds, and the wine list focuses on artisan vintners.

15 rue André del Sarte in the 18th, +33 (0)1 42 54 88 96. Métro: Anvers.

~~~
Author Bio
Born and raised in Paris, Clotilde Dusoulier is the 28-year-old Frenchwoman behind the award-winning food blog Chocolate & Zucchini and the author of the same-name cookbook (Broadway Books, 2007). In her new book, CLOTILDE'S EDIBLE ADVENTURES IN PARIS (Broadway Books, 2008), she shares recommendations for her favorite restaurants and food shops, along with delicious tips on how to navigate the City of Light and Good Food.

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Posted in Culinary Travel, France
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Get ready for higher prices. Again. Yep, that's right. If you've been reading here you know that baggage rules are changing and it's going to cost you more to have checked luggage than ever before, but now in the latest spate of policy changes by the airlines in an attempt to grow revenue, United is boosting its change fee from $100 to $150.

The real question is will this become the latest in a trend of ways for all the airlines to get more revenue? This one may not seem so bad...well not until you want to change your ticket. Then you'll cry ouch! The good news is -- this is protecting your ticket fee from going up higher than it already is. ( According to my most recent Travelocity data, summer airfares are looking at least 10% higher than last year.) The bad news is, even if fuel prices come down this fee isn't likely to.

Lets see if the other major players match. That will be the telltale sign of whether or not this fee is here to stay.

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Every so often it's nice to get together with the people you work with...And that's exactly what we did this month. The Window Seat bloggers took to the tarmac and we met inthe mile high city of Denver Colorado. Since you're getting to know us on the blog each week I thought you might enjoy seeing us in our natural state at Red Rocks-visited by many a great performer-and now, visited by us.

It was a gorgeous spring evening at Red Rocks park, we were our own herd, kind of like the group of deer huddled together at the entrance.

In our "herd" pictured here we are holding up Charlie (from left to right): Genevieve, Tasha, Michelle, Cameron, Amy, Rachel, Jenn, Holly and Alison. (Despite what it may look like, I can assure you, no one was hurt in the making of this photograph!)

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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips and volunteer opportunities.

In May of 2007, Mindy Bumgarner from Chatham, Illinois, was the winner of a Change Ambassador grant through Travelocity's TRAVEL FOR GOOD program. She went on her volunteer vacation in November of that year, and traveled to Wamba, Kenya through Earthwatch Institute to work on the Medicinal Plants and Community Water Health project. I wanted to profile Mindy in order to share with our readers her excellent work and to encourage you to get out there and volunteer in nature too.

What sparked your interest in taking a volunteer vacation?
I have done a lot of volunteer work in the past, especially in conservation, and when I found this trip, I knew it was something I really wanted to participate in.

How did you hear about Travelocity’s Change Ambassador program?
I was randomly searching Travelocity for a potential trip one day, when I found the Change Ambassador link and decided to see what it was.

How did you find out you had been awarded the grant?
I received a phone call first asking a few more questions, and at that point, knew I had a good chance because they were able to HEAR my excitement about this possibility. Then, about 2 weeks later, they called to say they had chosen me!

Tell us about the purpose of your trip.
Our group helped with two research projects. The first, Medicinal Plants, was designed to record information from Samburu elders about the medicinal plants they use, and how they use them. We also collected samples so that graduate students working on this project could do chemical analysis to find out what the useful compounds are in the plants. They are then attempting to apply this knowlege to help the Samburu people use their traditional knowledge more effectively for the safety of the whole community. Also, our second project was call Community Water Health. For this, we sampled local water bodies in the region in order to help the people determine water quality and how they may be able to better care for these resources.

What was your most memorable experience on your volunteer vacation?
One day while interviewing several elders for Medicinal Plants, I touched a certain plant (I am a botanist and always want to see the plants up close). Right then, the elder we had been talking to slapped my hand and then held his stick in front of the plant. He explained in Samburu, which was translated to Swahili and then to English, that the plant was poisonous and even touching it could be very harmful. He then made me hold out my hands and he poured water over them. These people were so happy to have us there helping and really cared about our safety and well-being! (the man on the left in the photo is the one that protected me)

Did the vacation change you or your outlook in any way?
Yes, I have always cared for people and for the environment, but seeing how closely these people are still living with their environment was amazing. I really developed a passion for "third" world areas and an understanding of how different our worlds are, and yet that we all still have the same basic needs.

Would you recommend others become Change Ambassadors?
Absolutely, I am so thankful to have been given this opportunity. I could not have afforded this opportunity on my own, yet it was such a different experience from anything else I have ever done. I hope to be involved in similar projects in the future and would recommend a cultural experience like this to anyone. It's very eye-opening!

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Posted in Africa, Green Travel
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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips and volunteer opportunities.

I did Disney World. I was five. I remember the haunted house ride because I went on it with my grandpa and I worried the entire time that he would have a heart attack right there in the cart next to me. I remember being absolutely wrecked after running as fast as I could to chase down Goofy to get my picture taken with him only to have him disappear through an invisible door in some fake wall before my little legs could catch up to him. And that’s pretty much all I remember from the Magical Kingdom.

The truth is, the truly magical moments I remember from my childhood didn’t come from any sort of manufactured fun. My most vivid memory from that trip to Florida is climbing a ladder in an orange grove, picking an orange, and having the farmer squeeze the juice right there in front of me and tasting the best thing I’d tasted up to that point in my life. Later that night we wandered out back behind my Uncle Roger’s house to look for the crocodiles that supposedly lived in his pond. The thought of those crocs lurking in the waters made my heart race with a delightful terror the haunted house could never have. No animated characters or movie theater popcorn necessary to create those memories – just the pure beauty and thrill of nature.

Once my dad and I went to the park and a Monarch butterfly befriended me. It first landed on my knee, and then my elbow, and then my nose, and didn’t flutter more than two feet away from me for what seemed to six-year-old me like forever, but years later I assumed was only actually a few minutes. Thinking maybe my overactive imagination had made the story up, I asked my dad about it recently. He said the only thing I was wrong about was the amount of time the butterfly spent at my side that day—it was hours, not minutes.

Throughout my childhood, I spent long hours behind my grandma’s barn digging in the dirt, unearthing pieces of pottery and beads, and preparing homemade mud pies for everyone waiting back at the house. Endless summer days were spent racing around my neighborhood on my Big Wheel, darting inside only to steal grape popsicles out of Katie Bringe’s grandma’s freezer. The only time we set foot inside the cabin at our family’s lake place was to escape a particularly vicious waterfight or to ride out a thunderstorm; we usually slept outside in a tent or on the porch, and we ate almost all our meals from the grill and on the picnic table. Nights around the campfire meant shooting-star gazing, ghost stories and roasted marshmallows, days meant wiffleball games and long walks down the beach to hunt for treasures like a dried up rattlesnake, an old shoe which must have belonged to the ghost from the previous night’s campfire tale, and the occasional arrowhead or fossil.

It’s likely that most of you who read this piece will have similar stories to tell. It is not so long ago that playing outside was the modus operandi of every kid in the world. For kids today though, as hard as it is for people of our generation to believe, that’s simply not the case, thanks to the saturation of video games, computers, and TVs in their lives. I could start riffling off stats about how visits to the emergency room for broken bones are way down in kids (they aren’t falling out of trees like they used to because they simply aren’t climbing them), but conversely carpal tunnel syndrome cases for kids under 10 are skyrocketing; or how the radius around a child’s home which he or she is allowed to wander in has shrunk by over half or how the number of kids who ride bikes or walk to school is a fraction of what it was 20 years ago, but no one speaks more eloquently about the issue he termed “nature deficit disorder” in kids than Richard Louv. In his book Last Child in the Woods, he describes the devastating "rapid slide from the real to the virtual, from the mountains to the Matrix.''

Beyond the sense of melancholy that this possibility of a generation without access to or affinity for nature creates for people like me whose outdoor experiences as a child are part of whom they have become as adults, there are concrete and ruinous consequences to it, from the physical and mental (childhood obesity and diabetes rates are up, as are diagnosed cases of depression and ADD in kids) to the environmental and spiritual: How might one convince a child to recycle in order to save a tree if they have never climbed a tree, sat in its shade on a hot day, or crunched through its leaves in the fall? How can a child be expected to value something they have no contact with?

The precarious position our planet is in from an ecological perspective is well-documented. There are actions we all need to take in our daily lives to combat global warming and live in a sustainable way. But I have an easy one for you this Earth Week: take a kid to the park and hope a butterfly happens along. Even if one doesn’t, you can always make mud pies. In doing so you just might be helping to create the newest environmentalist in a generation starving for them.

Photo of annual Christmas hike just outside of Mott, N.D. along the Cannonball River courtesy of The Carvell Family.

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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips and volunteer opportunities.

It’s ironic. Animals like sea turtles, penguins, elephants, and reef fish draw tourists from all over the world, and in so doing, bring in so many well-intended gawkers like me that many of their habitats have been irreversibly changed.

When I was in St. John last year, after I finally figured out how to operate my snorkel breathing tube in a way in which I wasn’t involuntarily gargling salt water, an entire otherworld opened up. With sounds muffled and body buoyant, I wondered at the novelty of sensation with the keen awareness that I was the alien intruder into a bustling, day-glo colored society of gills that thrived completely oblivious of me, yet symbiotic. And I couldn’t help but notice that some of the corals beneath me had gone gray and abandoned.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member adman2u.

Be it through a safari, a snorkel expedition, or a cageless shark dive, exposure to exotic creatures instills in many tourists a new appreciation of nature’s diversity, and engenders a sense of stewardship. Yet, it can’t be denied that repeated baiting of sharks has caused some of them to associate humans with an easy meal. It can’t be denied that the Caribbean’s coral reefs are shrinking and bleaching due to so much wear and tear. And it can’t be denied that environmental degradation is taking place along heavily trodden safari routes.

It’s not like a damselfish or a dorcas gazelle has a carbon footprint. The jungle and forest creatures that we stalk for our photos aren’t responsible for clogging our landfills with so many batteries and flashbulbs. It’s our responsibility to reconcile our longing to commune with the world’s creatures without imposing our human “I came, I saw, I conquered” tendencies upon them.

Some past solutions have been building fences and refuges, instituting hunting and fishing bans, and enforcing strict park entrance quotas. What other ways can you think of to appreciate animals during your travels without doing them more harm than help?

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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips and volunteer opportunities.

Now listen, I like being outdoors as much as the next person. I like filling my lungs with deep breaths of fresh mountain air, I like feeling the burn of a strenuous hike, and I especially like sitting around a flickering campfire with a steaming mug of Bailey's hot chocolate, especially if it's heavier on the Bailey's, lighter on the hot chocolate. So in theory, I should like camping. But in practice, I'm afraid, I prefer fancy hotels.

Though I never actually knew it before, there is---if you can believe it---a technical term for people like me: a "glamper" is someone who wants to commune with Mother Nature, but might just be a little happier if there was, say, a queen-size mattress and indoor plumbing involved. While we glampers see the appeal of spending the night in the great outdoors---honestly, who wouldn't?---we'd rather do it with a down comforter and electricity than a scratchy sleeping bag and a headlamp.

So where can you get your glamp on? Well, keep reading.

Photo Courtesy of The Clayoquot Wilderness Resort.

In Northern California, eco-resort Costanoa offers twelve cabins that boast Bose stereos, plush bathrobes, and Wi-Fi access. The bathrooms---excuse me, "Comfort Stations"---might be communal, but they're still pretty darn fancy, with heated concrete floors and a 24-hour sauna. Even the more rustic tent bungalows---canvas walls on a wood or metal frame---have electricity, sliding glass doors, and heated mattress pads.

On a fjord off the west coast of Vancouver Island, the luxurious Clayoquot Wilderness Resort boasts tents decked out with Persian carpets and heirloom china. Staying there, you might think you were in a five-star hotel in a cosmopolitan city---until you stepped outside of your tent to partake in a little kayaking, whale-watching, or bear-mapping in the Canadian wilderness, that is.

And across the pond in England, glamping is taking off just as fast (fueled in part, no doubt, by the abundance of muddy multi-day music festivals like Glastonbury and Reading and the propensity for well-heeled celebs like Kate Moss to attend them.) Just buy yourself a rather posh Bell Tent, bundle up your sheepskin rugs, and head off to Ayr Holiday Park in Cornwall, which offers free hairdryers in its bathrooms.

Just one more thing, though: bring me with you?

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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips and volunteer opportunities.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret. You may think you've frolicked on the best beaches of Panama City, Florida, but you haven't. A long time ago my hometown parceled off a portion of our beaches and gave it over to the tourists who come every year with their boom boxes, cans of Natty Light, and coolers.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member wheretogonext.

We try to look the other way as the trash builds up and the wildlife moves out. We attempt to comfort ourselves with the "secret" beaches that are left, where sea turtles still hatch and find their way to the sea, where the view is unblocked by high-rise hotels, and where MTV's Spring Break fears to tread, but it's getting harder.

According to the Clean Beaches Council, last year "pollution at the nation’s 3,500 ocean, lake, and bay beaches resulted in more than 25,000 closing or swimming advisory days the highest number in the 17 years that records have been kept." Grim statistics such as this have begun to raise public awareness about the state of America's beaches today, but who exactly controls their use?

Though the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Coastal Services Center strives to educate and work with state and local coastal resource managers, governance of our nation's shorelines varies state by state and even beach by beach. And so the day-to-day fight for our coasts falls to cash-strapped local governments, big-hearted volunteers, and non-profit organizations.

Among local governments, Fort Lauderdale is the big kahuna of conservation, thanks to its participation in the Blue Wave Campaign. Started in 1999, this campaign is the first national beach certification program in the U.S., which judges all participants on "water quality (based on EPA standards), beach and intertidal conditions, safety, service, habitat conservation, public information/education and erosion management."

Plus, many non-profits are making a big splash in protecting our shores. In addition to starting the Blue Wave program, the Clean Beaches Council is using DNA testing to identify E. coli contamination, and each year the organization releases its Annual List of Clean and Healthy Beaches.

Another coastal champion, Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, aka "Dr. Beach," also publishes an annual America's Best Beaches List and is currently working with the Laboratory for Coastal Research on the National Healthy Beaches Campaign, which aims to find a balance between enjoying our waterfront and protecting it.

As the future of America's beaches remains uncertain, the need for beach lovers to get involved in the local politics of conservation is imperative. Maybe if we all pitch in, join a coastal clean-up or two, we can save our gorgeous shores from destruction and generations to come will enjoy rousing games of beach volleyball, afternoons bobbing in crystal-clear waters, and the adorable march of sea turtle hatchlings to the ocean.

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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips and volunteer opportunities.

On either side of the Golden Gate Bridge, you’ll find elements of the natural world seamlessly coexisting with city life. The Presidio, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, guards the city side of the bridge while Muir Woods National Monument awaits those who want to get away from San Francisco for a day of hiking.

I’ve done my share of exploring these city-side nature retreats, climbing inside a massive Redwood at Muir Woods and leisurely walking along the trails of the Presidio to marvel at the beautiful historic buildings. The Presidio is steeped in a rich culture history; a fact that I was well aware of. Something I didn’t know about the Presidio is that it boasts a rich natural history as well. More than 100 million years in the making, the Presidio is home to rare ecosystems, found in only a few places on the planet. Everything from its unique plant communities to the sand dunes are results of massive geological events, and exploring these are all part of the San Francisco experience. How’s that for a day in the city?

I’ve always thought that San Francisco was a one of a kind city in this sense, happily marrying big city life with outdoor pursuits. Well, it turns out that it’s not all that unique. Even if the family plans to visit a big city destination this summer, chances are, nature awaits beyond the skyscrapers and public transportation.

Earlier this week, Cameron wrote about New York’s Scenic Hudson, a preservation project that she says provides a “much needed escape from the urban jungle.” Other big city destinations offer vacationers an escape from the bustle as well. Capilano Suspension Bridge, just 10 minutes from trendy Vancouver, takes adventurers above the rainforest trees for stunning views of the natural splendor below. Experience the Treetops Adventure to get a “squirrels eye view” of the forest, as you walk from one tree to another on a series of elevated suspension bridges. While you’re there, take a guided nature tour or learn more through the Kid’s Rainforest Explorer program.

Muir Woods Photo Courtesy of IgoUgo Member Normanite.

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Editors’ Note: To celebrate Earth Day on April 22, The Window Seat is devoting this week to exploring some of the world’s natural environments, hereby declaring this Nature Week. Through our Nature Week posts, we hope to inspire all travelers to get outside and interact with nature no matter where they happen to be. For more ideas, visit our collection of Children & Nature road trips a