Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations

The Travel Relationship Test

I got quoted in an article from Time magazine about the impact travel can have on a relationship: The True Couple’s Travel Test. It’s a great piece that runs down a lot of different couples’ experiences on how getting away together affected their relationship.

I’ve been married 12 years now and our first round-the-world trip is a big part of our foundation story. We had been living together for over a year before we took off, but that was nothing compared to the challenges posed by being together 24/7 on the road for a year solid. We learned more than we probably wanted to know about each other and discovered that there are at least 20 decisions a day that are a potential point of dissent: which hotel, when to leave, where to eat dinner, bus or train, left or right at the next block, which attraction deserves a budget bust, how much to haggle with the tuk-tuk driver, and on and on. When India frayed our nerves even worse, we split up for a few days to give it a rest. It all worked out in the end though and we took two more year-long+ trips together around the world after getting married.

Others are not so fortunate. Travel is truly the great test and more than a few couples have called it quits after a vacation or long journey. A friend of a friend split up with her brand new husband right after they returned from a honeymoon to Africa. (Did they return the wedding gifts I wonder?)

I’ve spoken to two couples recently though that had a blissful time together, with no major fights. One of them was on a year-long honeymoon and it worked out fine.

The funny thing is, the people who are vacationing often seem to have a harder time then those on a trip around the world. As the Time article notes, many couples have completely different ideas of what a perfect vacation should be, so they fight about it or they don’t get away very much. That’s too bad. Now that my wife and I are vacationers rather than vagabonds, we too have very different ideas about the ideal. But we compromise and make it work. For a while she’ll indulge my desire to go hiking or white water rafting. For a while I’ll indulge her desire to sit on a beach reading a book or visit every museum and site listed in the Buenos Aires guidebook, map in hand. In the end, a relationship survives through working out the differences, whether traveling or not.

So go travel and really kick the tires.

[photo from our second trip, post-wedding, somewhere on the Red Sea I think. Things got a little hazy around Dahab...]

Three serious parties, street food, and branding Shangri-la

A headline like that can only mean one thing: a fascinating collection of new stories from Perceptive Travel.

This time it’s quite appropriate that I bring it up on this blog because four of the five stories take place in some of the world’s cheapest places to travel.

Nicaragua - Subdued by Street Vendors, Darrin Duford

Guatemala - Journey through the Land of the Maya, Michael Shapiro

Mexico - Officially a Woman, Stephanie Elizondo Griest

Thailand - The Backpacker’s Pilgrimage: Ko Phangan, Joel Carillet

China - Hijacking the Shangri-la Brand, Michael Buckley

I take on the job of critic this round, reviewing a batch of interesting world music and reviewing travel books by the likes of Rolf Potts, Tony Perottet, and Rory MacLean. Yes, I really did read four books in about two months. Man, I haven’t done that since I was a backpacker with loads of time on my hands.

As usual, we’re giving away some cool gear to subscribers, so check your in-box if you’re on the list for a chance to score a Pacsafe laptop backpack or a Nomad travel journal. If you’re not on the list, go sign up on the home page of Perceptive Travel. At most you’ll get an e-mail once a month, but usually less often than that.

You can stop pretending you’re Canadian now…

At the Oscars Jon Stewart said, “If we elect a black president, how will we know it’s the future in a movie?”

The future is here. Big global hug. Lets put on our sunglasses and stumble back into the light.

Two Weeks in Peru for Me, for You?

I am heading back down to Peru in December on assignment, but if you can fire up a great travel essay, you may be heading there yourself. Beth Whitman runs the Wanderlust and Lipstick blog and has a book out by the same name. (She also wrote a story about Hampi for Perceptive Travel.) She is running a writing contest now and I’m one of the judges.

First prize is a 15-day full-blown Peru tour with Intrepid. There are a million tour companies running trips in Peru, but Intrepid is one of the good ones for people that don’t normally like group tours. Small numbers and responsible travel practices mean trips that are more about experience and interaction than checking off boxes from a bus seat.

The runner-up prizes are nice too, like five bags from Timbuk2 and three of my favorite green travel item: the SteriPen.

Get the full scoop on the contest.

Two for the Kids

Want a definitive guide to U.S. zoos? Or want to get your kid or kids into learning about world geography without them yawning in the process?

I’m in the midst of writing up the book reviews for Perceptive Travel’s upcoming new issue (out Monday), but I also tend to get some books showing up on my doorstep that don’t quite fit that format. Here are two family travel books that really deserve a shout-out.

America’s Best Zoos, by Allen W. Nyhuis and Jon Wassner
Subtitled A travel guide for fans and families, this is an impressive and useful guide to dozens of the best zoos across the United States, as well as some “honorable mention” descriptions of smaller ones that didn’t make the cut. There are 60 profiles in all. The essential info is here of course: admission prices, hours, parking fees, driving directions, author’s tips, and more. The real value though comes in the detailed descriptions of the parks themselves, both the good and the bad. Making it all as close to timeless as possible, there’s also a section on what’s planned for future development.

The authors seem to go in with a fresh eye, noting that my hometown one in Nashville may be “one of the most beautiful zoos in the country.” They note that many of their favorite individual exhibits are in zoos that don’t get much hype, like those in Omaha, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Portland. But the well-known ones get their due too, like the St. Louis Zoo—seen by over 3 million visitors a year. (Maybe because it’s free?) Speaking of visitors, the nation’s zoos attract more visitors annually than all spectator sports combined. If you regularly vacation with kids, this is a good guide to have on your shelf. Click on the cover photo to see more on Amazon.

3-D World Atlas & Tour, by Marie Javins
My buddy Marie Javins wrote the great Bragging Rights story about Antarctica a while back in Perceptive Travel. She’s seen more than her share of the world and has lived abroad a few places in her job as a comic book editor and colorist. Her love of world geography and the amazing places she has seen around the globe show through in this fun and eye-popping guide. This is clearly not a desk job put out by a group of editors that rarely leave their home state. Some of my own favorite spots are featured here, highlights on any world tour: Chichen Itza, Banff National Park, Niagara Falls, Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, and the Colosseum of Rome for a start.

What makes this book unique though is the set of 3-D glasses in the front, to go with the 50 3-D maps and photos within. The glasses make the waterfalls seems closer, the polar bear head pop out, and the mighty Andes Mountains rise up. It’s a nice overview of the continents and their highlights, without overwhelming the tykes with a lot of dry information. It’s long enough to be educational, but short enough to go through in one sitting on a plane ride or a snowy afternoon. Click on the cover photo to see more on Amazon.