newelty

travel, novelty, and a pinch of snark

welcome to newelty. image (c) Genna Campton

Doe Bay Resort & Retreat on Orcas Island. Kinda, not really, a resort.

July 21st, 2010 · Blog posts by Betty, Novelty, Recommended sights

I won’t lie. Deciding not to get on a plane during my job transition was hard for me. With Lia in Amsterdam and other friends jaunting off to the South of France for a month, it’s hard not to feel a tad jealous.

But I was trying to be prudent and wanted to take advantage of the Pacific Northwest’s gorgeous weather this time of year. So I ultimately decided on a four-day trip to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands.

I really can’t stress enough the beauty of these islands. They are only a 90-minute drive north from Seattle, and then an hour or so ferry ride. But they might as well be 20 hours from the nearest big city, because they are so unspoiled, and once you are there, it feels like you are practically alone.

Orcas Island

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Circumventing TSA Irritations

July 12th, 2010 · Blog posts by Betty, Fail 'o' the Day

Over the holidays I was going through security in Madison, Wisconsin on my way back to Seattle. My hometown is certainly not a hotbed of terrorism, but the way TSA went through my luggage I might as well have been in Tel Aviv.

I was carrying powdered soap and a scented candle someone had given me as a gift, and that just about threw the Midwest TSA guys into a complete tizzy.

“We’ve got a live one here.”

Yes. That’s what they said. About my scented candle and powdered cleanser. In Madison, Wisconsin. Before I knew it, SIX of them were staring at the x-ray machine determining whether or not I was carrying materials for some sort of explosive device. They tore apart my entire bag. I was beyond annoyed.

I seriously hate checking my luggage, but my biggest challenge with carrying on is the liquid conundrum. The whole must-be-under-3 ounces thing really drives me nuts, and fitting everything in the small ziplock bag thing is beyond stupid. I find myself ripping apart my bathroom before every trip searching for my travel-sized bottles while I stand there maniacally squeezing my various cleansers, shampoos, etc. into these containers.

So lately I’ve been obsessed with circumventing this issue à la powdered soap. And I recently came across this product by Flight 001 that bills itself as paper shampoo. I bet a zillion dollars it doesn’t work well, but I’m intrigued.

Who knows, though, it might just make the Madison TSA dudes have a total mind meltdown.

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Dutch World Cup Fun

July 10th, 2010 · Blog posts by Lia

It has been a blast to be in the Netherlands for the World Cup. The entire country is enjoying a riot of orange–the traditional color of the royal family and of their winning “footballer” team. I’ll post more pics when I get back, but here are a couple of favorites:

Dutch tile vuvuzelas

Evidently, according to this tile, the Dutch had vuvuzelas back in the time of Vermeer.

Hup Holland auto

Photo above taken in Amsterdam earlier this week. You’ve got to admire the dedication.

And speaking of which, the shops have been selling “2010 World Cup champion” t-shirts for weeks. Fingers crossed for them!

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School’s Out for Summer!

July 6th, 2010 · Blog posts by Betty, Novelty

I can be somewhat nostalgic at times, particularly when I think about summer vacations. I loved the final weeks of school, when glorious and infinite summer days, and unbridled adventure stretched in front of me.

I’m experiencing a grown-up version of that now, as this Friday will be my final day at my job. After that, I will have two free weeks before I launch into my next gig.

Photo credit: Todd KlassyPhoto credit: Todd Klassy

What to do? Where to go?

It’s kind of fun when you have zilcho time to plan for a holiday. While Lia has been working on her Dutch Princess School excursion for months now, I basically have a week or so to figure out if…and where…I’ll go.

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Next Stop: Amsterdam

July 2nd, 2010 · Blog posts by Lia, Obsessed with the Dutch, Urban archipelagos

Tomorrow, at long last, I head out for a trip to the Netherlands (generally) and to the Dutch Princess School (specifically), the immersive language school I have been talking on and on about for the last three years.

Regular newelty readers might recall what would possess me to want to become fluent in Dutch, of all things, so they’ll know how thrilled I am to be on my way to Holland. But mostly, because it’s more immediate, I’m also excited to be in the Netherlands for the next round of the World Cup finals. Various Dutch tweeters I like mentioned how all the parks in the city were filled to the brim with crowds viewing the Brazil semifinal game today. How cool is that?

Betty will be holding down the fort while I’m on the road, but I will be tweeting when I can. Why not follow us on Twitter? (Don’t you kind of want to see how the Citizen M adventure turns out?) I’ll also be saving up fun tidbits of all the lovely, interesting, novel stuff I come across to report back on once I’m back at home. Until then, I’ll be happily wandering the back streets like this one:

Until later, tot ziens!

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Five Reasons to Include a Beach Day on Your Next Euro Trip (Like You Need Them)

June 29th, 2010 · Blog posts by Lia, Novelty, Recommended sights, The point of travel

Lately, I’ve been helping a lot of friends with their itinerary planning for trips to Europe this summer. It’s fun, and I enjoy doing it. There’s one recommendation, though, that never really seems to take off: Include time at the beach.

Admittedly, it’s a hard sell for those of us who don’t have a year to spend traveling around the world. A friend I talked to today had an itinerary that involved one day in Paris, two days in London, and two days in Scotland. There’s not a lot of breathing room in that plan for an afternoon spent in a swimsuit.

But here’s why it’s a good idea, and not just if you’re the kind of person who enjoys Hawaii. A trip to the beach in Europe is just as valid a sightseeing day as one spent at a museum. And if you need more rationale, here are five solid reasons:

1. Because if you ever went to the beach as a kid, this beach trip will be nothing like that.

Whenever I’ve visited a European beach, my novelty-meter is completely full by the time I leave. As a kid, I spent time in Ocean City, New Jersey, where boardwalks and hoagies were the big deal of the day.

It’s a little different to spend time on La Grand Plage of Biarritz, France, where elegant striped cabanas line the sidewalk:  

Biarritz's Grand Plage

When I first saw them, I thought: These people know how to live. It just seemed so…James Bond-y, circa 1966.

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The Pastiscake Factory

June 27th, 2010 · Blog posts by Lia, Wary of the advice of others

As someone who can be a total sucker for preciousness (see also: my love letter to the Ace Hotel), I also adore it when other writers stick a pin in it:

“There’s nothing that represents the ongoing degradation of the very soulful soul of New York than the invasion of cookie-cutter-branded theme eateries. ESPN Zone! Hawaiian Tropic Zone! Planet Hollywood! The Goddamned Olive Garden! …

[But] if you want to see a theme restaurant that’s really flourishing, visit Keith McNally’s jam-packed new pizzeria, Pulino’s, on the formerly gritty Bowery. Like all of McNally’s super-successful restaurants—from Pastis to Balthazar to Schiller’s to Morandi—it offers a cozy, charming, carefully curated experience-in-a-box. Now, that experience is undeniably more sophisticated and deft than, say, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. But it’s also undeniably the result of a meticulous formula, one built as much on replicating a particular fantasy experience as is any Rainforest Cafe. The experience here, though, is a “darling, tucked-away bistro you happily discovered”—except that now you can pretty much stumble over one on every other block…

No, these eateries don’t feature giant TV screens, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie memorabilia, grossly inedible food, or animatronic singing animals. We’re much too refined for that. Instead, the theme in these theme restaurants is My, What Good Taste You Have.”

Good lord, that summary just could not be more awesome.

It’s a reminder to me for the next time I want to wax rhapsodic about a precious–and of course, completely unique!–little travel experience I had, that we’re all on the slippery slope that leads to the “authentic Italian” 16-cheese special dish at the Olive Garden.

Cynics Who Liked This Also Liked: “Hidden Tuscany,” a.k.a. Tuscany Is the ‘Twilight’ of Travel Destinations

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Zipcar Reviewed: The Highs and Lows of a Zip Trip

June 25th, 2010 · Blog posts by Lia, Novelty

Good god, I love a road trip. I’ve driven across the entire U.S. a few times, both the northern and southern route, coast to coast. While I know it’s not very eco, I love a car filled with gas (and Pringles, Nibs, and other road snacks).

Which is why I was intrigued by Zipcar. It’s hard to imagine a road trip with more novelty than the ability to drive a different car every time.

I took Zipcar for a test drive for a 300-mile road trip to the Oregon Coast:

The Zip trip reminded me that novelty can sometimes be magical–and sometimes be a little too open to chance.

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Where Won’t You Go?

June 24th, 2010 · Blog posts by Betty, Novelty, The point of travel

I have a friend who is a hard core traveler. She’s been to South Korea and Qatar and Kenya and lived in Hong Kong and, well, you get the picture. Her travel experience, and the fact that she’s hilarious and laid back, is why I chose her to go to South Africa with me. She loves novelty, and is genuinely curious about the world.

We were chatting during our trip, and I asked her, “Is there any place on the planet you don’t want to visit?”

She said, “Antarctica.”

I was surprised. Now, I know that kind of adventure might not be for everyone, but she’s very outdoorsy and likes to push herself physically. But when it came to the South Pole, she told me that it just didn’t interest her.

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Tuscany Is the “Twilight” of Travel Destinations

June 22nd, 2010 · Blog posts by Lia, Wary of the advice of others

I love Siena. When I visited the magnificent Piazza del Campo, I wished we could have something similar in the U.S. When I was there, I fell in love with the little symbols of the contrade hidden all over the city, tucked onto buildings and gleaming out at me from metalwork around the city.

Contrade in Siena

In San Gimignano, I swooned over wine-flavored gelato. At a tiny postcard shop, I watched an old man pack up my five cheap black-and-white postcards with an old-world carefulness that I’ll always remember.

In Florence, I posed in the sun with the Arno behind me, and stared into the eyes of Venus at the Uffizi.

When I got home, people asked me how my trip was. Great, I said.

Then I noticed something. A certain personality type, that when I said I had just come back to Italy, swooned audibly and then broke into a 20-minute monologue about the most amazing meal she had had when she was there. Or the incredible wine I just had to try that she had discovered on her last trip. Or how next time, I have to go to Lucca because all of the tourists go to Siena, and it’s important to experience the real Italy.

I realized that the issue with visiting Italy isn’t with the country itself–it’s with the fans.

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