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Rundown for the week of August 15, 1998
The Savvy Traveler is one year old! Today we celebrate our first
anniversary by traveling back in time, over the past year of shows.
Places we've stayed ...
Here's the problem: in the course of a year, we've traveled all over
the world, from Philadelphia to Peru...California to Cambodia. And as
The Savvy Traveler staff gathered together to review all the places
we've been, we got stuck wondering how we would ever cram a year's
worth of journeys into one tiny hour. After a lot of thought we
decided to start with some of the places we've actually stayed. Why
not begin at the beginning?
- Airstream Trailer Park
The very first place we
went...Deborah Clark drove 600 miles into the Arizona desert to the
Shady Dell RV Park in Bisbee, Arizona to check out the vintage
accommodations.
- Silent Retreat
Judie Fein decided she
needed a little R&R -- Rest and Reflection. She packed her
belongings, took a vow of silence, and traveled to a nunnery.
- Borscht Belt
The Catskills are where Jewish performers
such as Sid Caesar and Jackie Mason started, but as reporter Marty
Goldensohn discovered, the times are changing up in those mountains.
- Jules Undersea Lodge
The Savvy Traveler's Tanya Ott dove
deep into the ocean and came up with a report from an underwater
hotel.
- Brazil Tree House Hotel
The intrepid Martin Stott
aimed a bit higher -- high up in the trees, to be exact, where he took
in the view from the Ariau Towers Tree House Hotel and made the
acquaintance of a few monkeys and piranhas.
- Reluctant Costa Rica Eco-tourist
Mary-Lou Weisman's first
vacation in the jungle taught her a few things about the `great'
outdoors.
- Airport Lounges
Tom Verde has definitely sought
out the high life while reporting for The Savvy Traveler, and this
time he saw how the other half flies in a few airlines' first-class,
luxury lounges.
- Airline Historical Society
Tanya Ott saw a
different side of the airlines when she talked to the members of this
club. They collect all kinds of things related to the airline
industry...ALL kinds...including the barf bags.
Q & A I -- Listeners' Stories
Listeners have had quite a few interesting things to say during the
past year. Every week we ask you to call in about a different
subject: your most memorable seat mate, the strangest thing you've
eaten while traveling, your dream vacation, stories about traveling
with your pets. In our most creative moments we couldn't have made
these up.
People we've met ...
Some fascinating guests have dropped by to visit this past year. Some
wrote books, some shared stories, some gave advice, and some offered a
quirky perspective on travel. We remember talking to ...
- William Langewiesche
The author of Sahara Unveiled
told us what we should know if we ever get to that great desert
ourselves.
- Carl Hiaasen
This mystery writer lives in a
place where people often go to disappear. He dwells at the "end of
the road" with some "not-very successful criminals" in Key West,
Florida.
- Robert Reich
The former Secretary of Labor talked
about traveling like regular folks after years of hitting the road
presidential style as "a high-maintenance muckety-muck."
- Peter Mayle
He was able to tear himself away from his
adopted home of Provence in France long enough to read from his
latest book, Chasing Cezanne.
- And then there were the nudists...
We've heard a lot about
specialty travel, but there's no end to the variety, as Susan Weaver
explained. She's the secretary and spokesperson for the American
Association of Nude Recreation.
Cambodia
There is one journey we took a few months ago about which we're
still receiving letters. It wasn't an easy trip; as a matter
of fact at times it was terribly graphic, forcing us to cease whatever
it was we were doing and think about some of the unspeakable horrors
human beings continue to inflict upon one another. So, even though
it's hard to hear, we'll take a moment to join The Savvy Traveler's
Scott Carrier and revisit Cambodia.
Deal of the Week:
Getting older has its benefits for travelers...including:
United's
Silver Wings Plus 800-720- 1765
American's AActive American
Traveler Club 800-421-5600
Delta's Skywise Program 800-325-3750
Q & A II -- General Questions
Every show Rudy takes travel questions. We've heard queries on
everything, from finding a cheap hotel in Paris to tips on redeeming
frequent flier miles to traveling along the coast of Norway by postal
boat! We've collected a few of the past year's calls for a sampling
of the endless variety of travel inquiries.
So many places to go, so little time...
We've relived some of our funnier, thoughtful and more tragic moments
on The Savvy Traveler. There are just a few more stops to make...
- White Nights Postcard
Our own Fritz Faerber sent in this
description of his romantic, fleeting moments walking through St.
Petersburg.
- Marrakesh
Sometimes you can be transported
back to a place by immersing yourself in its sounds, like the time Jim
Metzner brought us to the Djemaa el Fna, a central gathering place in
Marrakesh, Morocco.
- The Grand Canyon
In this last stop, we encounter some
storytellers of our own in a place that's close to many of us, if not
by proximity, then in spirit. We rejoin Hal Cannon and his wife
Teresa Jordan as they take us along the Colorado river on their
rafting trip, thundering through the Grand Canyon.
For tapes of the show...
If you want your very own copy of The Savvy Traveler, order an audio
cassette. It's easy. Just call 303-823-8000. The price is $15. As Rudy
says, it's a steal.
Next Week on The Savvy Traveler
We'll look at the city of Baltimore from a vantage point you might not
always consider when traveling: the water.
"Baltimore is almost in
a way like canyons, and you've entered this odd world because you're
in a boat, but you're in a city, but you're on the water, and the
water is a street -- but it's not."
Cruising the Chesapeake, in next week's journey. And then we'll head
south to find out why there's so much damage to Florida's coral
reefs...
"There's no question about it that much of the coastal
environment has a definite carrying capacity; certainly the amount of
use we're making of the oceans and coast has increased substantially
in the last couple of decades."
Plus, we'll ask the question, "Is a vacation with your in-laws really
a vacation?" All that, plus your calls about your missed photo
opportunities in next week's journey with The Savvy Traveler.
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