travel

Eco-Friendly Resort - Wilderness at the Smokies

thegreenconnoisseur — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:25:33 -0400

There's a green business on the block making waves and depending on the guest(s), the establishment promises a fun-filled family excursion or relaxing vacation getaway. Wilderness at the Smokies (located in Sevierville, Tennessee) offers a mixture of upscale amenities and rustic mountain charm nestled in a luxurious setting. As travelers come from near and wide to visit the resort, I'm wondering just how many people know about the waterland's commitment to preserving the environment and providing a more earth-friendly experience. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE www.thegreenconnoisseur.com

Food & Travel in Romania

inchirierimasini — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:41:25 -0400

Dear friends, after 2 weeks in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, i feel really refreshed. Following the friend of a buddy of mine i visited the country and i was a great experience. For all those who have questions, i'm here to provide any advice about the country

" DOM GOSI " Agroturystyka

beskidniski — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:00:37 -0500

Agroturystyczny dom w miejscowosci
Losie w beskidzie niskim.
Zapraszamy serdecznie .
Oferujemy 3 pokoje dwu-trzy osobowe.
Pokoje znajduja sie na pietrze budynku.
Tam tez znajduje sie oddzielny aneks kuchenny oraz pokoj dzienny z telewizorem.
100 m od domu Bar z bardzo dobrym
domowym jedzeniem oraz lowisko pstragow . Zaledwie 2 km od domu jest
zalew Klimkowka- idealne miejsce do kapieli oraz uprawiania sportow wodnych. Przez Losie przeplywa gorska
rzeka Ropa - gdzie mozna lowic ryby.
Dom znajduje sie u podnoza gory w widlach dwoch strumieni. Wymazone miejsce do odpoczynku czy pracy tworczej.
Serdecznie zapraszamy na
wycieczki rowerowe lub piesze po licznych szlakach gorskich. Granica ze Slowacja 20 km.
W okolicy liczne zabytkowe cerkwie.
tel.0183534822 nasza strona :
http://dom-gosi.w.interia.pl
dom-gosi@hotmail.com

Vietnam Travel

nightflower — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:00:05 -0400

Most people think of Vietnam as a war. But the old history has all gone. Now peace and safety resides. It's opening to the world as a friendly and exotic place on earth to be.

So why don't you think of coming. I'll name some of the reasons why you should:

1. She's a new place. It's not touristy like in Thailand and many places you go, people got stunned by your appearance.

2. She's safe and friendly. The majority of people in Vietnam are farmers, pure farmers. Many of them have never learnt of much apart from the village they were born in. Naturally, they're almost all friendly and safe to be around. Moreover, the communist government does a good job in ensuring securities all over the country. Nothing of a crime has happened to tourists for the last decades.

3. She has lots to see: A thin country stretching for thousands of Km from North to South. It has beautiful mountains with colorful and rich culture hill tribes. It has beaches and many of those are considered best in the world but still, they're not touristy. Sound cool enough? Not end yet, she's home to 7 UNESCO World Heritages. Almost anywhere you go, you're stumble on a World Heritage.

4. She's cheap. If you want to, then 1 dollar could buy you a basic lunch or dinner. Wandering around and you want to find somewhere to sit and drink? Mostly you don't have to pay more than one dollar for it. Cheap accommodations and services are everywhere around the Old Quarter in Hanoi and Pham Ngu Lao street or Bui Vien street – Sai Gon (if you're traveling on a tight budget). If not a tight budget? Never mind. You have top hotels and resorts of the world in here.

5. Is travel here convenient? Sure, many companies operate the open bus (good quality in general) and they run almost to every capital cities in the country. Moving around is very easy. If ya want to take it easier? Well, lots of tour companies everywhere you go. You don't have to work on where to go when you wake up tomorrow.

6. After all, traveling is to experience the difference. And Vietnam simply is from any place that you have been.

So, Vietnam? Why not! We wish you a nice time traveling in our charming Vietnam.

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How to Find the Cheapest, Greenest Travel Options

khallgeisler — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The sun is out, and beach trips beckon. But guilt at raiding the college fund for gas money or spewing toxins into the air just because we want to feel sand between our toes is keeping us housebound. There is a way to get away this summer, if you do a little research.

DrivePricing.com is a new Google Maps mash-up that calculates the cost to fuel your summer road trip. Just enter your zip code, miles per gallon, starting and ending points, and gasoline grade to get an estimate. (If you don't know your car's mpg, there's a link to trusty FuelEconomy.gov on the site).

This info makes for great travel comparison shopping if you're not locked in to driving this summer. Let's take a real-life example: My brother wants me to visit him in Montana this summer (I know -- no beaches), and I'm trying to find the cheapest way to get there.

Drive Pricing calculated the cost of driving my little red pickup truck from Portland, Ore., to Great Falls, Mont., at $281.93. Whoa, Nelly!

Amtrak can get me close enough to Great Falls for $227 on an overnight train. A little better, but train schedules are unreliable.

Kayak, my favorite flight finder, tells me that I can fly directly into Great Falls for $434. Not cheap, especially if my husband wants to join me on this trip.

The greenest option is the train trip, especially if I end up taking this trip by myself. The Nature Conservancy spells it out and does the math, but the bottom line is that the train has the lowest per-passenger emissions of any form of long-distance transportation. (I know, EVers, that your plug-in cars have zero emissions, but for now they have to stop every 40 miles to recharge.)

Hear that, Ryan? You may have to pick me up at the train station after all.

Freebie of the Week: Caribbean Eco-Vacation

RiverWired.com — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:53:32 -0400

Are you ready for a free eco-vacation? How does five nights on an island next to the US Virgin Islands National Park plus two $500 airfare vouchers sound? (Total Value: $2760.00) Somebody has to go relax in a green way, why not you? Deadline: Enter by July 14, 2008.

http://www.redbookmag.com/sweepstakes/4620

Green Free Stuff: Check out this Freebie of the Week

RiverWired.com — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 01:00:00 -0400

We love to help you save money and energy and resources. And savings don’t get better than free stuff. Who doesn’t love it?

Here’s this week’s green freebie:

A trip for two to Reykjavik, Iceland, (which we are told is actually a greener country than Greenland) courtesy of Amtrak (though last we checked, you cannot get there from the US by train, so go figure). After that Grand Prize, Amtrak is also giving away two roundtrip tickets to anywhere their trains travel.

What Are They Serving Up at Disney?

scleaver — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:18:40 -0400

Apparently Mickey is in on the GM (genetically modified) foods game, and not for the better. Now, no one really goes to DisneyWorld for an education, but Ali, a blogger at The Ethicurean, recently found that the U.S. Farm Bureau exhibit at Epcot Center (the most boring of all Disney’s parks) is more than benign children’s entertainment. The Great American Farm exhibit (once sponsored by Monsanto) is less about how Old MacDonald grows his foods on sustainable rolling acres, and more about biotechnology, something that, according to the exhibit “helps us to make seeds with special qualities. These can include enhanced pest resistance, higher yields and improved nutritional quality.” A narrator tells visitors that “weeds are bad because they block sun, steal nutrients, and choke the corn plant’s growth.” The only way to deal with weeds? Modify the DNA of the corn plant so that it can tolerate herbicides that kill the weeds without killing the corn. The Disney exhibit raises more questions than it answers (how did humans feed themselves before GM corn, when weeds were killing all the real corn plants?). Not the least of which are those about the health risks of eating GM plants or the environmental impact. But, as Ali identifies, the larger question is: why is Disney teaching us about our food at all? Read the April 7 blog post: Postcard from Orlando II: Look Closer ... At the Farm Bureau to learn more about the U.S. Farm Bureau and see photos of the exhibit. Photo credit: http://www.omniluxe.net/wyw/kk.htm a brochure from a 1960s Epcot exhibit about food.

Make Your Stay Green!

Julia — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:18:40 -0400

When you think of going away on some exotic vacation, you’re first reaction is to book an elite, fancy hotel that will treat you like royalty. But what if you could have all of these luxuries and still stay true to your environmental ethics?

Most hotels accumulate a lot of waste and excess materials for the sake of comfortableness and elitism. The more unnecessaries, the higher the rating, but that is no longer the case. Green hotels are taking the world by storm, and they include all the things you want in a getaway, but without the materialism and excessive factors.

There is no single system for evaluating a hotel’s environmental friendliness, but the easiest way to tell is by whether or not a hotel has a LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which can be issued by the United States Green Building Council. This program evaluates everything from materials to energy use to recycling in the construction and operation of a building. Only five hotels in the United States have this certification, and many more are in the planning stages of also trying to attain the certification.

There are loads of green hospitality sites out there, including this one: www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com, which allows you to search articles about sustainable travel, eco-labels in the hotel industry, and other issues around supporting environmentally friendly hotels. They also provide links to other green hospitality sites.

There is a Green Hotel Association which describes its members as, “environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste--while saving money--to help protect our one and only earth.”

So what can hotels do to try and make themselves a little more green? The possibilities are endless. It’s so simple!

- Start a linen (both towels and sheets) reuse program in all guest rooms

- Install low-flow showerheads and sink aerators.

- Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs in guestrooms, lobbies, and hallways. Use

sensors and/or timers for areas that are infrequently used.

- Whenever possible, buy food and guest amenities in bulk (i.e., use refillable hair and

skin care dispensers).

- Provide guestroom recycle baskets for newspaper, white paper, glass, aluminum, cardboard, and plastic.

- Educate your staff to turn off lights and turn down heating/air conditioning when rooms are unoccupied. Also, during summer months, to close the drapes.

- Buy organic, recycled, fair trade, cruelty-free guest amenity products whenever possible.

These aren’t even half of the possibilities out there. So next time you’re thinking of a romantic getaway, do your research and find the hotels that are doing their part to make a difference. Leave smaller footprints even when you travel!

Spring Break! WHOOO!

akronheim — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:47:15 -0400

This Spring Break, I went home to Philadelphia to hang out with my boyfriend (who normally resides in Los Angeles, CA), my family, and friends in D.C. In the past, I have participated in Habitat for Humanity trips to Georgia where ten or so colleges compete to see who can build a house first in one cul-de-sac, and went to Miami to visit my aunt and friends. I've never done the college Spring Break to Aruba, Cancun, or Daytona and freaked out with every other college student. I went to a ten-day Europe trip with my college friends, and a recent cruise to Mexico with my boyfriend and his grandparents, but those are the craziest trips I've ever taken during college. How lame am I?

Many college students went to those typical places for Spring Break, but others did the Habitat trip to Georgia, some went on an Alternative Spring Break to New Orleans to help rebuild, some went to Seattle and even Hawaii to visit their significant others, and others rented houses in places like North Carolina (kind of cold, but cheap!). These kinds of trips obviously utilizes plenty of plane miles; but college students are really starting to catch on to sustainable Spring Breaks. Environmental Spring Break is offered from the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, and a student from Dartmouth has even decided to forgo a traditional spring break and went to the arctic for an environmental conference. Schools like Michigan State University offer Alternative Spring Breaks focused on environmental building and stewardship in places like Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and the Everglades. The bonus is that these trips aren't just restricted to Michigan students, anyone can participate. These trips have the ability to unite students and create relationships that last throughout the rest of college. So maybe these trips don't really include drunken debauchery, but at least when someone asks you about your spring break, you'll remember what you did.

I know Spring Break plans are already made for this year, and mine is almost done, but college kids should think about these kinds of things for next year instead of an extravagant vacation to Cancun where the point is to get wasted and laid. It would be more valuable to sustainable thinking and action and ultimately themselves. Hey, if students from the University of Texas are doing it, anyone can!