Views from the Slow Lane http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/ Travel planning and travel journals en Copyright 2009 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:12:37 -0700 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Views from the Slow Lane moves to a new location! Views from the Slow Lane.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/004126.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/004126.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:12:37 -0700 Sometimes dealing with vacation rental agencies ... Great Slow Travel Gathering! We booked an apartment a year ago, when the Gathering was being arranged, with Luxury Living Savannah. Recently I had a few questions about parking and transport from the airport, so I emailed them. No reply. I email again. Then a very curt reply. A week before the rental I email again requesting some "fragrance-free" things - no air freshener, scented candles or scented soaps on the sheets. Again, no reply. I phoned today and they had received my email and passed it on to the housekeeper, but just had not replied to me. The listing says there is a phone in the apartment. My confirmation email from a few weeks ago gives me the phone number even. Brenda, another Slow Traveler, emailed me to say there is no phone in her apartment, so I asked about that. They told me they took all the phones out of the apartments because no one uses them. I can understand that - but why did my confirmation have the phone number still? Maybe I had planned to use the phone. They did not care about that - just repeated that none of the apartments have phones. I have always been a big supporter of vacation rental agencies - companies that understand travelers needs, can give advice and extra support. Some do, some don't. I hope the apartment is nice!

Gathering Webcam

We are going to have a live webcam for some of the Gathering events, starting Thursday evening. Tune in here! I am looking forward to seeing all the Slow Travelers at the Gathering!]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/003864.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/003864.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:03:23 -0700 Special Price for the Vacation Home Expo >> Saturday and Sunday: 3:00pm – 3:45pm Meet directly with exhibitors representing vacation rental properties and resorts from around the world. - Take advantage of Show-only deals and special discounts - Attend educational seminars featuring vacation rental “insider tips” on emerging consumer travel trends and hot new destinations - Plus, enter to win exclusive trip giveaways, prizes, and more! Saturday April 12 / 10AM – 6PM Sunday April 13 / 10AM - 5PM Cobb Galleria / Atlanta, GA

Special Discounted Ticket Price

Admission - $ 5 Adult Discounted Rate (Under 18 Free) CLICK HERE For Your Special Discount Ticket - ENTER PROMO CODE VHEDEAL

Lots of Interesting Exhibitors

Here is the list of exhibitors at the travel show. Many vacation rental agencies will have booths there.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/003822.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/003822.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:04:39 -0700 Vacation Home Expo, Atlanta, April 12 - 13 Vacation Home Expo, the weekend of April 12 - 13, in Atlanta, at the Cobb Galleria Centre! Vacation Home Expo Pauline Kenny, founder of Slow Travel, and Kathy Wood, from The Luberon Experience, present "Slow Travel ... We’re moving too fast". Find out about this emerging vacation rental lifestyle that's spreading throughout Europe and worldwide. Gail Hecko of Gail's Great Escapes will join Pauline and Kathy at the Slow Travel booth for the weekend. Drop by and say hello! The Vacation Home Expo is happening side by side with the Atlanta Travel Expo. Two great travel shows for the price of one, both presented by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All Slow Travel members receive $5 discount off the Show admission fee of $10 (print your Slow Travel Forums profile to show you are a Slow Traveler). ]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/003094.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/003094.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:37:32 -0700 National Geographic Traveler Mentions Slow Travel! ngtraveler-2008-01.jpg National Geographic Traveler, January 2008 This is the Academy Awards of mentions for me. National Geographic Traveler is one of the top three travel magazines and I am very proud to have them write about the Slow Travel community! What a nice way to start the new year!]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/002747.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/002747.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:49:09 -0700 Poipu (Kauai) Under Construction Slow Travel Forums, but wanted to repeat it here so anyone thinking about going to Poipu, Kauai in the next few years knows about the construction. We had a lovely vacation, but the major construction projects have just started. They are digging now, but the building has not started. We won't be going back to Poipu for a few years - until these projects are done. Monk Seal coming up on the beach to sleep for the day Monk Seal coming up on the beach to sleep for the day]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/002540.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/002540.html Hawaii Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:14:30 -0700 SlowTrav moved to a new server We moved to a new server (for slowtrav.com and slowphotos.com) a couple of weeks ago, but there have been a few residual problems. Slowphotos.com is running slow, we had some problems with the blogs and the blog control panels are slow and slowtrav.com was down most of today. Moving to a new server ain't easy! Slowtrav and slowphotos are big sites and the move was not easy. Things will get worked out over the next week and we will be back to normal. http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/002406.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/002406.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:08:19 -0700 Test Driving the Talk Abroad Phone Talk Abroad" phones that they sell/rent in conjunction with National Geographic. I needed a phone that I could use from several countries - Switzerland, Italy, France, and England - and thought this would be a good opportunity to test drive their new phone.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001747.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001747.html Travel Information Sun, 01 Jul 2007 08:16:20 -0700 International Roaming with a Cell Phone in Europe If you are traveling to ONE country in Europe, get a SIM card for that country If you are traveling to one country in Europe, the answer to the cell phone question is simple. * If you have an unlocked World Phone, buy a SIM card for the country ahead of time from Cellular Abroad or Telestial, or when you get to the country you are traveling to. * If you don't have an unlocked World Phone, buy a phone you can use in Europe from Cellular Abroad or Telestial or when you get to the country you are traveling to (or get your World Phone unlocked). Buying the SIM card ahead of time costs more, but you know your phone number before you leave and you don't have to spend vacation time in a cell phone store.

If you are traveling to several countries in Europe, there are several options

If you are traveling to more than one country, the question is a bit more complicated because you need a SIM CARD that works well between the countries. These are the options that I considered.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001588.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001588.html Travel Information Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:49:55 -0700 From the People's Republic of Boulder It has not been 24 hours yet, so who knows - but so far we are in love! What a town! Twenty years ago we crossed Boulder off our "places to live" list for reasons that seem stupid today. Too close to a large city, too harsh of a winter. Today we walked along the Boulder River, walked down the Pearl Street Pedestrian area, walked around the Mapleton neighborhood, then did a short hike to the Red Rocks. The town ends right at the hills and there are walking/hiking trails everywhere! The town population is larger than Santa Fe - 100,000 (Santa Fe is 70,000), but almost half that is University of Colorado students and staff. Boulder is part of a 2.8 million population area, but the green belt that surrounds the town to the east and the mountains to the west make it seem separate. Downtown is lively and fun. There is the most amazing non-chain bookstore on Pearl Street. Last night we had a great dinner at Sunshine, a very good vegetarian restaurant. But as I said, it has not been 24 hours yet. I would upload a photo, but I forgot to bring a cable. http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001538.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001538.html North America Travel Fri, 25 May 2007 15:23:53 -0700 The Interview that was not published Packed Magazine, a European magazine for independent travellers. With Pauline Kenny, Santa Fe, NM – founder of Slow Travel, slowtrav.com April 10, 2007 What does “Slow Travel” mean to you? Slow Travel means staying in vacation rentals and exploring the area close by. Instead of sleeping in two or three different towns in a week, or driving around to see every sight within reach, spend a week in one place in a vacation rental. This lets you slow down your trip and immerse yourself in the local culture. How did you come to build the Slow Travel website? In spring 2000, I decided to teach myself web design and figured the best way to learn would be to put up a website, so I needed a topic. We had been traveling in Europe, staying in vacation rentals, since 1988. Back then, finding vacation rentals was not easy, so I kept lots of notes on places we rented and other places that I thought looked good. From this I made a website! And then I made a philosophy to justify the way we travel. What is important to think about when planning a “Slow Travel” trip? Figure out where you want to go and find some good looking vacation rentals (read reviews!). Book the vacation rentals first because the good ones are taken six months to a year ahead.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001489.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001489.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Tue, 08 May 2007 07:31:01 -0700 Traveling with a BlackBerry BlackBerry This photo shows the main menu on the BlackBerry. You have a separate icon for each email address. Use the scrollwheel on the side to move between icons and click to open the icon.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001475.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001475.html Travel Information Fri, 04 May 2007 17:42:56 -0700 Charlottesville and Chapel Hill Monticello near Charlottesville Monticello near Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001454.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001454.html North America Travel Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:43:28 -0700 In my mind I'm going to Carolina “Dark and silent late last night,
I think I might have heard the highway calling.
Geese in flight and dogs that bite.
And signs that might be omens say I’m going, going,
going to Carolina in my mind.”
“Carolina in My Mind”, James Taylor, 1968 Okay, I have a thing for North Carolina which is probably a result of playing that first James Taylor album repeatedly when I was a teenager. I hear the words “North Carolina” and I feel the sunshine, smell the green, see the rolling hills. We flew from Albuquerque to Atlanta on Thursday for a 10 day trip to North Carolina and Virginia. The three and a half hour flight went quickly because we both plugged into my iPod and watched the first three episodes of season two of Weeds. When I planned our flights I thought the Atlanta airport was north of the city - arrive at 4pm, get a rental car, be on the road by 5pm and not dealing with rush hour. However, the airport is south of the city, so we hit rush hour. We took a highway that loops around Atlanta, so we did not have to drive through the center of town, but the traffic was thick. It was a four hour drive to Asheville. They had a big storm this week and we got the tail end of it on the drive. We were booked at the Inn at Biltmore, on the Biltmore Estate on the south side of town. We got to Asheville at 9pm and went straight to a Chinese restaurant that I had found online in listings for vegetarian friendly restaurants. Picked up some takeout food and drove onto the estate (China Palace South on Hendersonville Road – good quality food, good vegetarian options). We do not have good Chinese restaurants in Santa Fe, so when we are somewhere else we head straight for the Chinese restaurants. Walking along a strip mall, while waiting for our food to be made, I thought that maybe what I like about traveling is the emotional upheaval. The excitement – isn’t this great?; look at the moon rising; look at those mountains. The unknown – will we find restaurants we like?; will the hotel be nice?; will I have fun here? The fear – why am I taking a trip and leaving my house that I love where I have all my support systems and my cat? The Biltmore Estate is huge; 8,000 acres I think (but I heard other numbers). We drove in the pitch black on narrow winding roads to the hotel. It is a big hotel with rooms that are nice but not worth the price (over $300/night). What is worth the price is the service (for example, the valet gets you bottles of water for the car when you set out for the day!) and being on the Biltmore Estate. My only complaint is that you hear every door on your floor opening and closing, but even I forgave that because of the location. (Don’t book rooms 273 or 275 – they are right across from the administrative offices and that door opens and closes nonstop.) On Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, then took their shuttle bus to the Biltmore House. You get a good tour of the estate on the shuttle bus and it seems like the house is 10 miles from the hotel, but on Saturday we walked and it is only a 1 ½ hour walk (as the crow walks). Friday was sunny but a bit cool. The big storm that hit the area earlier in the week had finally moved off. Detail from the Biltmore House Detail from the Biltmore House]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001440.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001440.html North America Travel Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:18:22 -0700 Moo Mini Cards - cute, cute, cute!! Moo Mini Cards - these are so cute! Recently, SlowTrav was mentioned in Skirt Magazine, in a fun article called "7 Deadly Sins". We were sin #2 - Take the lazy way. This is a womens' magazine available in the Southeast. Kaydee posted about it in this thread on the message board. Kaydee listed the other sins and #4 was "Take pride in your pictures". Kaydee's note: interesting ... something you can do through flickr to get 100 little personal cards. www.moo.com I like cards, I like photos, I like little - sounded perfect! So I created an account on Flickr (been meaning to do this for ages) and uploaded a bunch of photos of my house and my cat. Moo Mini Cards This photo shows the Moo cards, with a Slow Travel card and another business card to show the size. You see the nice box and the cute cover.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001363.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/pauline/archives/001363.html SlowTrav/SlowTalk Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:52:00 -0700