Intelligent Travel Blog

Too Authentic For You?

2009-11-20T21:30:00Z

Transplanted Englishman Paul Rogers writes about music and lifestyle for LAWeekly, and reports for us from the Characters of Egypt Festival:

"Does he have to keep using that bright pink cell phone?" groaned the lady atop the camel in front of mine as she pointed her camera down at the little lad leading the lanky beast. My fellow tourist was lamenting the otherwise exotic, trapped-in-time image in her viewfinder--the boy's hungry eyes and tousled hair emerging from a traditional earth-toned robe--being tainted by a disappointingly familiar, decidedly 21st-century fuchsia Motorola.

That happened in Tunisia a few years back, but I was reminded of it while perusing the Characters of Egypt Festival in that country's Eastern Desert last weekend. The event returned for its second year to a sandy valley within sight of the Red Sea, about 30 miles south of the rapidly developing resort town of Marsa Alam. An enthralling coming-together of numerous tribal "teams" representing indigenous peoples from all over Egypt, it was a chance to witness their poetry, dancing, jewelry, music, and racing (camel/running/hopping) in and around an array of outsized tents. Organized by the Wadi Environmental Science Centre (WESC) and the Egyptian Desert Pioneers Society (EDPS), Characters of Egypt gathered around 160 of the country's estimated 300,000 tribespeople.

With fewer than 500 tourists attending on each of its three days and a charmingly loose "desert time" schedule (and despite the presence of sponsors like Infiniti and EgyptAir), Characters of Egypt offered illuminating peeps into numerous threatened cultures in an unusually informal setting. But it was also a place where I found myself, like the lady in Tunisia, trying to influence (rather than truly experience) my surroundings.

See, Egypt is rich in those clichéd yet tempting "juxtaposition of old and new/poor and rich/simple and complex" photo ops. From my 15th-floor room in the Conrad Cairo, I could see chickens, geese, and goats foraging amidst satellite dishes on apartment rooftops; from bus windows I noticed rudimentary desert shacks sprouting incongruous Coca-Cola signs; in Luxor, a gaudy knock-off Real Madrid soccer shirt jumped out amidst the monochrome galabiyya robes of Muslims' prayer. Yet I found myself, camera in hand, trying to orchestrate still more such contrasts at Characters of Egypt: "Excuse me, Mister Bedouin Tribesman--could you put that cigarette back in your mouth for ironic effect?"; "I say, passerby in traditional Egyptian outfit, can you hold that laptop a little higher so it's in-frame?"

My attempts at staging these situations were just as distasteful as the woman in Tunisia trying to artificially avoid them. In addition to the cringe-inducing, patronizing/arrogant overtones of such behavior, it's also self-defeating, as with it we contaminate the very reality we trekked thousands of miles to witness (yes, even poor folks in remote places use cell phones--or would we prefer that they stay in the Stone Age for the benefit of our holiday snaps?). By trying to control what we witness on our travels, we only create fake memories that are more "us" than "them," and which conform to our comfort zones rather than challenge them. In so doing, we neuter the very mind-expanding, authentic adventure we (presumably) left home for in the first place.

Photos: Paul Rogers

Egypt - Africa - Tunisia - Paul Rogers - Society and Culture

Andrew Tweets Miami: Five Day Countdown

2009-11-20T20:40:50Z

Our intrepid writer Andrew Nelson is just five days away from his trip to Miami, where he'll be relying on the Twitterverse to show him around. So far, he's already found a great rate at the Essex House hotel, but now he's looking for restaurant recommendations and weighing his options (should he check out Red Steakhouse? El Pub? Versailles?). Be sure to follow him at @andrewnelson to help him with the planning, and then help to show him around town when he arrives.

Andrew will be in Miami from Thursday, November 26th through Monday, November 30th. Tweet him your insider tips on where to eat, play, and soak up the city's culture, using the hashtag #ngtmiami. Follow him now, and read his story about his experience in an upcoming issue of Traveler. And you can follow @NatGeoTraveler for all the latest news from our magazine staff.

Miami - Jumeirah Essex House - Essex House - Hotel - England

A Top Hat for Gandhi

2009-11-20T18:00:53Z

I always stop to admire the beautiful designs of foreign bills as soon as I get them from the currency exchange counter, but I'd never thought of fashioning hats for the world leaders depicted on them...until now. BoingBoing and Make magazine haven't yet confirmed with the creator of these origami chapeaus (one commenter suggested they might be from artist Yosuke Hasegawa, who has a collection of them here) but I'd encourage anyone to craft a top hat for Gandhi any day.

Photo via Make Magazine

Foreign exchange market - Boing Boing - Travel - Recreation - Preparation

Festive Budapest

2009-11-20T16:00:00Z

Two weeks ago, Budapest's Winter Festival--a massive four-month event--kicked off. The festival includes a variety of activities, but its five-week Christmas Festival is by far the most popular. This year, the 10th annual Christmas Festival takes place today through December 29th. Attended by 600,000 people annually, it is considered one of the largest Christmas fairs in Europe.

But this isn't your average tourist trap full of kitschy trinkets. Every one of the baskets, leather goods, hand-blown glass, and other crafts sold at the over 100 craft pavilions must be judged and approved by the Association of Hungarian Folk Artists. Such high standards have given Budapest's Christmas Festival a reputation of being one of the most authentic Christmas festivals in the world. Some highlights of the festival include:

Daily Advent Presentation
As a child, I loved hanging a new advent ornament on the tree every day leading up to Christmas, but Budapest's Christmas festival has a tradition that would have blown my 6-year-old mind. Every evening at 5 p.m. from December 1st through the 24th, a different piece of contemporary art is revealed from behind a massive window of the Gerbeaud Confectionery (left). The event is accompanied by a light show and music.

Handmade Gifts
Because the gifts are so authentic and beautiful, the Christmas Festival is a popular shopping destination for locals and visitors alike. Peruse the selection of hand-made jewelry, leather goods, and traditional wooden toys.
Food
One of the best parts of traveling is experiencing the flavors of another culture--it's where you truly get a feel of the soul of a people--and the flavors of Hungary abound at this festival. Try a töki pompos, Hungarian bread dough baked in a clay oven; palinka, grilled meat with onions; or kürtőskalács, a traditional hollow, cylinder-shaped pastry. Wash it all down with some mulled wine (below)--you can take home the mug it's served in as a keepsake.

Kids Programs
The festival includes events for children, as well. Every weekend, there's a puppet show and during the weekend of December 6-7, kids can tell Santa how good they've been this year. There's also a playhouse where youngsters can learn the craft of puppeteering and the techniques used to make puppets and gingerbread.

For more on Budapest, check out our On Foot Map, a Budapest photo gallery, and an I Heart My City post from a local.

Photos courtesy of budapestinfo.hu; Video via YouTube.

Christmas - Festival - Budapest - Winter Festival - Hungary

Daily Radar: 11.20.09

2009-11-20T13:00:00Z

Have you always wanted to see the famous Christmastime Macy's window displays? A new exhibit at the National Museum of American History features the art and business of commercial holiday displays, according to USA Today. The exhibit also details the history of the creation of Macy's Day Parade floats. [USA Today]
This November and December, Saguaro National Park (just outside Tuscon, Arizona) is offering a variety of guided sunset and moonlight hikes. Due to popularity, reservations are recommended. [National Parks Traveler]

Photo: wallyg via Flickr

United States - Business - Government - Agencies - Philadelphia

Saturday Night Out in Madrid

2009-11-19T21:00:38Z

I arrived in Madrid a few weeks ago with only a handful of hours on a Saturday to show my fiancé around town, so I wanted a way to pack in as much culture as we could, and if possible, do it on the cheap. Enter my colleague Meg Weaver's excellent Free City Guide to Madrid, where I found a slew of cost-efficient ways to wander the city. With her list and a few of our own discoveries along the way, we were able to make our limited stay a memorable one, and save a few euros in the process.

Our first stop was the CaixaForum Madrid gallery, a former electric power station that's now a funky art space situated along the Paseo del Prado, tucked among some of the city's best museums. We wandered the current exhibit, took a break at the thoroughly modern cafe upstairs, then marveled at the living wall of plant life that's overtaken the exterior of the building next door. The admission is always free, so it should certainly join the must-see list for those visiting the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and Museo del Prado, which is where we were headed next.

Admission is free for visitors to the Reina Sofia after 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and until 2:30 p.m. on Sundays, so we ducked in there first, taking the very-cool elevators up to see Picasso's Guérnica, which is always captivating. We spent awhile wandering the halls of modern art before heading over to the historic stuff at the Prado, whose immense galleries filled with works by Goya, Reubens, and Velásques constituted an entire semester's worth of study for one of my college roommates when she studied abroad in the city. But we only had two hours, as the Prado offers free admission from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday (and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday). Thankfully, that was more than enough time to take in some of the museum's more famous works like Las Meninas and The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid.

Of course, after all of our museum visits, my fiancé insisted we visit one more, the Museo del Jamón (above), which he claimed was his favorite museum of all. The name is a bit beguiling, as they're not really a museum, but rather a chain of food counters spread across the city offering up a selection of amazing jamón serrano slices and bocadillos (sandwiches). As the sun set in the city, people flocked to these deli counters to grab a plate of meat freshly sawed off one of the many ham legs dangling from the ceiling, all while smoking and sipping beers as if in any other bar. With their cheap prices, it wasn't hard to see why the crowds kept coming.

For a slightly more upscale eating experience, we visited the Mercado de San Miguel next, which is only a stone's throw from Plaza Mayor. The glass-enclosed market has about two dozen food stalls, each offering something different, like fresh meats, breads, cheese, oysters, pastries, olives, etc. It was another hotspot that evening, packed with 30-somethings who made a urban picnic of the offerings on hand, all of which was washed down with ample glasses of wine. I really can't recommend it enough, and wish that we had something like it here in D.C. We bought two glasses of vino for about six euros and felt deliciously hip.

Of course, before we could go to bed with enough time to catch our morning flight, I needed dessert, so I insisted we find one of Madrid's finest offerings - the churro. We ended our evening at Chocolatería San Gines, dipping toasted dough strips into some of the richest melted cocoa around.

Check out Meg's complete list for more cheap ideas for exploring Madrid. Have your own suggestions? Let us know.

Photos: Janelle Nanos

Culture - Spain - Autonomous Communities - Travel and Tourism - Barcelona

I Heart My City: Arun's Bangalore

2009-11-19T18:30:00Z

Namaste, city-lovers! Arun Bhat writes to us from Bangalore, India, and tells us why his city is the best.

Want to see your city on IT? Copy and paste our list of fill-in-the-blank questions into an e-mail, fill in your answers, and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org. And if you're still waiting for us to feature yours, fear not! We're going to keep posting as long as we keep getting them (please include photos and links!).

Bangalore is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is for a walk through Cubbon Park. It is a quiet place in the center of the city and it's surrounded by beautiful buildings that are more than one hundred years old. Pink and yellow Tabebuia trees loaded with flowers add colour to the park in winter.

When I crave ice cream, I always go to Corner House.

To escape the city, I head to Nandi Hills.

If I want to watch a play I go to Rangashankara. They have plays running six days a week.

For complete quiet, I can hide away Lalbagh. The park is big enough to provide solitude for everyone.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken at Vidhana Soudha (left). It is the most well-known landmark in the city.

Landmark Book Store is my one-stop shop for great collection of books, music, and videos.

When I'm feeling cash-strapped I go and eat in a Darshini, the quick-eat places you can see everywhere in the city.

For a huge splurge I go to Mynt restaurant in Hotel Taj West End and take a garden side table. Not to miss are the excellent Tortellini and Chocolate pudding.

Photo ops in my city include the Cubbon Park area and the Gandhi Bazaar (below). The best vantage point is Ebony Restaurant.

The most random thing about my city is the rain. Unlike the rest of India where it rains just three months, rain in Bangalore is completely unpredictable and arrives at any time of the year.

My city has the most geeky men.

In my city, an active day outdoors involves cycling to Nandi Hills (right).

My favorite jogging/walking route is around Lalbagh Lake.

Empire in Church Street is the spot for late-night eats.

To find out what's going on at night and on the weekends, read TimeOut Bangalore.

You can tell a lot about my city from the way its people take to new technologies.

You can tell if someone is from my city if they use multiple languages in just one sentence.

In the summer you should travel to the hills in Chikmagalur and Coorg.

In the fall you should head to the beaches in Goa.

In the winter you should go bird watching near the city's lakes around its green areas.

A hidden gem in my city is the green campus of Indian Institute of Science.

For a great breakfast joint try MTR (left).

Don't miss the Ram Navami music festival in Kote High School.

Just outside my city, you can visit the hills of Skandagiri.

The best way to see my city is by taking a tour with Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporatin Ltd. (KSTDC).

If my city were a pet it would be a kangaroo. The city keeps hopping forward and keeping pace with change.

If I didn't live in a city, I'd live in the green and beautiful hills of Chikmagalur.

If you have kids, you won't want to miss Wonder La.

People meeting up for coffee to chat about geeky tech stuff could only happen in my city.

My city should be featured on your cover or website because it showcases the vibrant spirit of the emerging world.

Photos by Zolivier (Cubbon Park), vandan desai (Vidhana Soudha), pcsjith (Gandhi Bazaar), rajeshvj (Nandi Hills), nozomiiqel (MTR), Powru (city scape), peevee@ds (flower seller) via Flickr

India - Asia - Karnataka - Bangalore - Recreation and Sports

Following Monarchs to Mexico

2009-11-19T16:00:00Z

Biologist Lincoln Brower of Virginia's Sweet Briar University has been studying monarch butterflies and their astonishing annual migration to the central Mexican highlands for 45 years. He helped us square away the facts in Melina Bellow's feature on the monarchs, "In Search of Magic," in our November/December issue. We caught up with him to find out more about his work and gather some suggestions for traveling to Mexico to witness the magic yourself.Why do the monarchs make this journey?

Monarchs are similar in their migratory behavior to many songbirds that invade our temperate zone in the summer, but cannot survive during the winter and so they migrate back into their tropical habitats in the fall. In the U.S. and Canada, milkweeds and nectar sources become superabundant in the spring and summer but completely freeze back in the winter. The big difference between birds and monarchs is that the monarchs return to Mexico, to the same trees in successive winters although they themselves have never been there before. They are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the monarchs that were there the previous year. The entire migration is an inherited behavior pattern and we are just beginning to understand this incredible behavior.

What are some of the most interesting aspects of the migration you've discovered?

We have shown how critical the intact oyamel fir canopy is in providing a very tight microclimate that allows the monarchs to avoid freezing during winter storms. The fir trees serves both as a blanket and umbrella for the monarchs.
You've been studying monarchs for 45 years. How did you come to focus your work on the monarch?

I began with an interest in whether or not the monarch was truly an unpalatable butterfly, as was assumed in the 19th- and 20th-century scientific literature. The historical hypothesis held that the monarch derives its unpalatable qualities from bitter substances in its larval foodplant (milkweed). When I tasted the "milk" of the Florida sandhill milkweed, I almost threw up.

Then, while a grad student at Yale University, the late Professor G. Evelyn Hutchinson asked me to present a lecture on monarch migration. I soon combined the two research thrusts and eventually determined that monarchs are indeed toxic to birds because of heart poisons that they sequester as larvae from the milkweeds.

I gained some notoriety, summed up on a T-shirt emblazoned "Brower's Barfing Blue Jays." My colleagues and I then determined that some milkweeds had no cardiac glycosides in them, and produced monarchs that were palatable to the jays. When Fred and Norah Urquhart published their 1976 article in National Geographic, they mentioned that birds were apparently eating many monarchs.

This set off a lightbulb in my brain and provided an opportunity to test our hypothesis in the natural environment. A post-doc colleague and I visited the Sierra Chincua colony in January 1977. We confirmed that grosbeaks and orioles were eating up to a million monarchs over the course of the winter. My students and I then determined that some monarchs are very toxic, others are of intermediate palatability, and others are completely palatable.

When I first visited the Sierra Chincua Sanctuary in Michoacan, my first sight of the vast numbers of monarchs festooning the oyamel firs on that magical mountain changed my life. I instantly recognized the fragility of the whole migratory phenomenon and have spent the rest of my career providing scientific justification for the conservation of these magnificent mountain hideouts for the millions of monarchs that migrate there each winter. The aesthetics and biology of the monarch phenomenon are as unique and wonderous as anything I have could possible imagined.

What's the effect of habitat endangerment on monarch migration and survival?

There are two major threats to the migration of the monarch, which we have termed "an endangered biological phenomenon." These are 1) the ongoing destruction of the oyamel forests in Mexico due to several kinds of illegal logging and 2) the widespread chemical GMO agriculture in the U.S. and Canada that is eliminating hundreds of thousands of acres of monarch breeding habitat.

Are the governments of the U.S. and Mexico working together to protect this amazing phenomenon?

There are some promising new programs involving the collaboration of Mexico, the U.S., and Canada but unless the logging is stopped, the overwintering habitat is properly protected, and some sort of compromise is reached on sterilizing the North American breeding habitat, I think the monarch migration may become doomed in the near future.

Where do you stay when you're in Mexico to study the monarchs' overwintering?

We stay in the town of Angangueo in the Hotel Don Bruno. Bring your longjohn PJs, nights are cold.

Do you have any travel tips/must sees for those going to Mexico to see the overwintering for themselves?

There are many fascinating sights in this part of Mexico. I recommend spending two or three days with the butterflies, followed by a visit to the culturally rich cities of Morelia and Pátzcuaro (about a two- to three-hour drive west of Angangueo). Both cities offer fabulous opportunities for history, good food, and shopping.

Photos: top, Annie Griffiths Belt; bottom, Perry Conway

Monarch - Mexico - Canada - School Time - Kids and Teens

Daily Radar: 11.19.09

2009-11-19T13:00:00Z

Yahoo! and the Times Square Alliance have teamed up to offer free Wi-Fi in New York's now pedestrian-only area. For the next year (and hopefully after that), just log on to m.yahoo.com to access the free internet. [Gadling]
American Airlines is testing a retail service that would sell items like tickets to a Broadway show or theme park tickets to passengers while they're 30,000 feet in the air. Currently the airline is selling items like Heathrow Express train tickets and items from SkyMall. Brett Proud, executive vice president of GuestLogix (the company providing the technology to do this), described airplanes as "a retail space that is probably the biggest retail opportunity ever uncovered." [NY Times]

Photo: mbshane via Flickr

Time Square - New York City - American Airlines - Wi-Fi - NewYork

The Little Train That Could...Be a World Heritage Site

2009-11-18T21:30:00Z

Friend of IT Melanie Mize Renzulli tells us about the "little engine that could" in Mumbai.

Officials from UNESCO were recently in Matheran, a hill station outside of Mumbai, to consider one of India's latest nominees to the World Heritage list. Operating for over a century, save for yearly pauses during monsoon season, the Matheran Light Railway (MLR) runs only a short distance--approximately 12 miles--but has the kind of history and character to qualify for the UNESCO list.

Known to locals as the "toy train," the MLR seems to be conjured from a child's imagination. The train chugs along on a tiny track only two-feet-wide at speeds between five and 10 miles per hour. On its twice-daily journey up and down the mountain between Neral and Matheran Stations, the train passes by 121 bridges, a tunnel, and 221 curves. One of the curves features signage that says "Ah, what a sharp curve!" the type of blithe statement you could imagine a citizen of the British Raj voicing as he took the train for the first time in 1907.

Matheran sits at the top of a misty, tree-lined mountain in the Western Ghats and provides a cool retreat for visitors wishing to escape the heat and hurry of Mumbai. The resort doesn't have much in the way of activities - save for trekking, horseback riding, and monkey watching - but it does have a few hotels for travelers wanting more than a day trip. The best time to visit Matheran is in the months after monsoon season has ended (October to December) in order to enjoy the lush greenery of the forests and mossy hillsides. The monkeys are a little more relaxed then, too!

The Mountain Railways of India, a group consisting of the rail lines of Darjeeling, Nilgiri, and Kalka Shimla, gained World Heritage Site status in 1999. The MLR, as well as the Kangra Valley Railway (in Himachal Pradesh), is seeking singular status apart from the Railways of India. The World Heritage Committee will make its decision about Matheran's toy train at its 34th session in June/July 2010.

Photo: Himanshu Sarpotdar via Flickr

India - Mumbai - Maharashtra - Asia - Recreation

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2009-11-18T21:30:00Z

Plan His Trip: Andrew Tweets Miami

2009-11-18T21:10:20Z

We know social media has changed the way we travel, but can it actually make for a better trip? To test the thesis, Traveler writer Andrew Nelson is trading in turkey and cranberry sauce next week for sunscreen and a BlackBerry. He's headed to Miami Beach to see if the local Twitter community can lead him to on-the-go discoveries in South Florida. If you know Miami, be a bird on his shoulder. Follow him @andrewnelson and help guide him to your favorite bits of South Beach, Coconut Grove, Little Havana and more.

Andrew will be in Miami from Thursday, November 26th through Monday, November 30th. Tweet him your insider tips on where to eat, play, and soak up the city's culture, using the hashtag #ngtmiami. Follow him now, and read his story about his experience in an upcoming issue of Traveler.

Flamingo illustrations: piccerella/istockphoto.com

Travel - Andrew Nelson - Social media - Recreation - United States

I Heart My City: Alexandra's Copenhagen

2009-11-18T19:00:00Z

Hello, city lovers! Today we are heading to Copenhagen, where Alexandra Redisch tells us what not to miss in the Danish capital.

Copenhagen is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is Tivoli Gardens (left), one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.

When I crave cake and hot chocolate in old world-settings, I always go to La Glace; the oldest confectionary in Denmark.

To escape the harsh city-life, I head to the uninhibited town of Christiania, where one makes love, not war.

If I want to be amazed by beautiful marble sculptures and a breathtaking winter garden, I go to the New Carlsberg Glyptotheke, where they also have a lovely tea room.
For complete quiet, I can hide away in the Royal Library; a vast modern building known as the "Black Diamond" (below).

If you come to my city, get your picture taken with the Little Mermaid (right), an iconic statue depicting the heroine from the famous fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen.

If you can only order one thing off the menu from the art-nouveau-style Café Norden, it has to be the famous pancakes.

The Magasin du Nord, located in Kongens Nytorv, is my one-stop shop for great shopping.

When I'm feeling cash-strapped, I go to Rosenborg Castle (below). There is an entrance fee to step into the castle, but the gorgeous 15th-century gardens are accessible to all! For a huge splurge, I go to the main shopping street, Strøget, where they have everything from Topshop to Chanel.

Photo ops in my city include the Wheel of Copenhagen (left); the best vantage points are from the top of the wheel.

If my city were a celebrity it'd be Danish/Australian Crown Princess Mary, because it's stylish, international, and friendly.

The most random thing about my city is the hot dog stands on every corner that sell bright red hot dogs.

My city has the most uncouth men.

My city has the most fashionable women in northern Europe.

In my city, an active day outdoors involves a bike ride. My city's best museum is the National Museum, which has everything from Egyptian mummies to modern-day Danish culture objects.

My favorite jogging/walking route is around the Botanical Gardens, which is located between one of the main metro stations and the university's city campus.

For a night of dancing, go to Koloer Bar, where they have a strict dress code but great surroundings. Or, for live music, check out La Fontaine jazz club, which has concerts and jam sessions during the weekends, and a poetry night once every month.

You can tell a lot about my city from looking at the architecture; Copenhagen is clearly the most beautiful city in Scandinavia. Sit by the fountain in Amalienhave (above), next to the Royal Palace Amalienborg, and gaze across the canal to the new opera house (interior shot, right).

You can tell if someone is from my city if they boast a lot about it. People from Copenhagen cannot stop talking about how beautiful they think their city is!

In the summer you should head to the two main beaches in the city; Amager beach or Islands Brygge.

A hidden gem in my city is Dragør; a small fishing village on the island of Amager.

For a great breakfast joint, try Jensen's Steakhouse, where they serve breakfast steaks until 4.00 p.m!

Don't miss the Roskilde Music Festival (left) in the summertime, the biggest music festival in Scandinavia.

Just outside my city, you can visit the castle of Helsingør (Elsinore), where Shakespeare's Hamlet takes place.

The best way to see Copenhagen is by going on a canal tour by boat, where you see the city from the waterfront. If my city were a pet it would be a dog; energetic and always happy to see you!

If I didn't live in a city, I'd live in the British countryside, in a cozy Marpelian village.

When I think about my city, the song that comes to mind is "Wonderful Copenhagen" by Danny Kaye.

If you have kids, you won't want to miss the zoo, which turns 150 years old this year and has all kinds of animals.

My city should be featured on your cover or website because in only a few short weeks Copenhagen will be hosting the United Nations Climate Conference '09, which most Danish people are pretty proud of!

For more information on visiting Copenhagen, check out these photo galleries and our 48 Hours guide to the city.

Photos by: bildungsr0man (Tivoli entrance), lenoz (Tivoli), pabhc (Black Diamond), jhuffmanPhotography (Little Mermaid), svanes (Rosenborg), jhuffmanPhotography (Wheel of Copenhagen), bumpytours10 (Amalienhaven), PlanetStar (Opera House), Mads Danquah (Roskilde Festival) via Flickr.

Denmark - Counties - Hans Christian Andersen - Copenhagen City - Little Mermaid

Senators Sketch Their States

2009-11-18T17:00:45Z

We're headlong into Geography Awareness Week, and our pals over at NG Blog Central, inspired by Senator Al Franken's impressive map-drawing abilities at the Minnesota State Fair this summer, have been getting U.S. political leaders involved in the act by asking them to sketch their states. Check out their freehand maps (and comments), then we challenge you to see how well you can draw your state from memory.

AlFranken - Minnesota - United States - Minnesota State Fair - Politician

Are "Lap Children" Safe on Planes?

2009-11-18T16:00:00Z

For our upcoming January/February 2010 issue, we're preparing tips on how to survive a plane crash. Don't despair! The story's not as morbid as it seems as your chance of being in a plane crash is about the same as giving birth to identical quadruplets! (1 in over 11 million). Fact-checking the story got me thinking about so-called "lap children," kids two years of age and younger who sit on their parent's lap while flying.

Is this a safe way for little kids to travel? Apparently the Federal Aviation Administration does not require infants to be belted in during flight though they do recommend parents use child restraint systems (CRSs) during take-off, landing, and turbulence. It strikes me as odd that kids have been required to be buckled up in cars since 1982, but they're still not required to be similarly secured while on planes.

The FAA said in 2005 that it doesn't mandate the use of safety seats on planes because this would require adults to purchase a separate seat for the infant, and that when forced to buy an additional ticket, many families will choose to drive rather than fly. And, as driving is a statistically much more dangerous way to travel, permitting kids to fly as lap children is seen as the lesser of two evils.

Most domestic airlines don't charge for kids to fly as lap children, hence the perpetuation of this dangerous practice. Restraining your child in a CRS requires a separate seat, for which most airlines charge full ticket price. For many parents hoping to travel with their kids, it's often too steep a price to pay, especially in these tough economic times, if flying with Junior as a lap child is free. While I'm not a mom and thus not personally faced with this decision, I'm inclined to agree with Consumer Reports contributing editor and aircraft dispatcher Bill McGee. Last summer he opined in USA Today that "[i]f a trip is too expensive for a child's seat, then that's a trip that shouldn't be taken."

What do you think?

Photo: Bertabetti via Flickr

Aviation accidents and incidents - Transportation - Aviation - Helicopter - Accidents

Daily Radar: 11.18.09

2009-11-18T13:00:00Z

Legos and World Heritage Sites are probably two of my favorite things, so when I found that someone has combined the two, it made my day. Eco-site Environmental Graffiti has an awesome photo gallery of these great Lego creations, like the Red Square, above. Click here for the full gallery. [Gadling]
Plan to be in Scotland next week? St. Andrew's Day is November 30, and the town is celebrating by hosing St. Andrew's Free Weekend on November 28 and 29. Sites like Edinburgh Castle, St. Andrew's Castle, and other popular attractions will waive admission through the weekend. For more on St. Andrew's Day, click here. [Wandering Educators]

Photo: via Environmental Graffiti

Lego - Toys - Environmental Graffiti - Recreation - Collecting