Category Archives:Body and Mind

When most people think of American wines, their thoughts gravitate toward California–specifically Napa and Sonoma. Nothing wrong with that; California turns out an excellent product. On the opposite coast, however, is Virginia. While not as prolific as California, Virginia’s wineries turn out several complex and tasty varieties amid scenic surroundings that are just as lovely as anything found in California. Try these three the next time you find yourself in the mid-Atlantic.

Vineyard, photo by deannanmc

Set on a 475 acre farm by Shadow Lake, Tarara Winery has a sunny patio for socializing and a delightfully extensive tasting menu. Tastings are $10 per person but well worth the money; the wines themselves are very affordable and your biggest problem will be choosing which one you want to enjoy outside and which ones you want to take home. If you like white wines, you’ll want to try their Charval. It’s a blend of chardonnay, pinot gris, vigonier, and sauvignon blanc that is crisp and sunny. The chardonnay itself comes from five different regions of the farm which lends a lot of complexity and interest to the flavor. Personally, I’m happy with anything Tarara sells as long as I can pair it with some of the local cheeses, charcuterie, and chocolates on sale just next to the tasting floor.

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Launched yesterday, WildJunket is a brand new travel magazine…for the digital age. Released only in digital format, WildJunket can be downloaded on iPad or other tablet devices, or just to your computer.

Courtesy image

The brainchild of fantastic travel writer and generally awesome person, Nellie Huang, WildJunket covers adventure travel and exotic locales with the aim of:

“Inspiring readers to travel light and travel far.  As an advocate of active travel and environmental awareness, we encourage readers to travel beyond the conventional trail and seek out extraordinary experiences – while keeping our environmental impact to a minimum. “

A worthy goal to be sure, and one that – if Issue #1 is to be any indication – WildJunket achieves very well. Read More »

If you’ve been following travel news in the past couple of days, you might have heard about an awful incident that occurred during a motorbike experience through Peru. Organized by an adventure travel company based in Bristol, England, the idea was for teams of two or three to drive a mototaxi through Peru for charity, crossing the Andes Mountains and ending up along the country’s north coast.

Photo by Flickr user winkyintheuk

I have a special interest in this particular journey because two people very close to me were participating as a team, and the last time I saw them before they left, there were jokes-a-plenty flying around (only half-kidding) about not getting themselves killed.

Unfortunately, someone (from another team, not my friends) did suffer an accident that left one team member dead and another seriously injured.  Read More »

In its heyday, the Roman Colosseum seated up to 50,000 people and, in modern times, receives millions of visitors each year. Yet, when I recently visited the Roman monument with a disabled friend, I asked several of the staff members how many visitors in wheelchairs arrived each day. They couldn’t tell me. “Not many,” said one. “It’s very rare.”

Photo by Andres Sandoval

I may never have been all that great at Math, but “very rare” out of “millions” seems to be a rather low figure, if not altogether surprising. After all, ancient cities and monuments aren’t known for being especially wheelchair-friendly, what with their cobblestone-paved streets and crumbling steps. But the Colosseum in Rome has taken steps to welcome all visitors, and is actually quite accessible to tourists with limited movement.

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I was never a particularly Christmasy person. Sure, when I was a kid, we loved Christmas. Who wouldn’t love getting a bunch of presents? But as the years have gone by, I somehow became a bit of a grinch. It wasn’t until I found myself alone in a tiny town in eastern China for Christmas one year that I began to understand what the Christmas spirit is all about. It wasn’t until I was deprived of all that force-fed Christmas cheer that I began to miss it. So, I downloaded a few Christmas songs (only the classics, yo!) and made one of my ESL classes host a Christmas English corner party, complete with fake tree, homemade ornaments and Santa hats. I frequented the local KFC, which was the only joint in town that had up any sort of Christmas decor. It worked. Suddenly, I had Christmas in my life again.

Christmas with my Chinese students. Photo: Megan Eaves

By now, I’ve spent Christmas in some far flung corners of the world, often with only Skype to connect with family and friends back home. I have had my share of homesick holidays and it has all led me to the discovery of my roots. You see, I come from a magical land called New Mexico. If you’ve never been there, you might think of cowboys and indians and tequila, and while all of those things are associated with my home state, what really makes it stand out is Christmas. Read More »

Are you a traveler or are you a tourist?: the tired old eternal debate rages on.

Be a tourist: Take a little time away from work; turn your brain off; relax; be yourself; enjoy the view; speak your native language without fear; bond with other tourists; forge unbreakable bonds with your travel companions; come home armed with fantastic pictures and humorous yet wildly inaccurate judgments about the culture you just experienced.

Be a traveler: Quit your secure job; map out a dazzling dream route; learn to live from a suitcase; experience mortifying moments learning a new language; forge unbreakable bonds with locals; make some roots, break them; get used to eating with chopsticks; catch yourself using Arabic hand gestures unconsciously; feel superior to tourists; come home enriched, enlightened, the envy of your friends, dirty, and completely broke.

Photo by Eva Sandoval

Who’s got the better idea – the relaxed vacationer or the dreamy wanderer? Which experience is more valid? Who’s more worthy of calling themselves well-traveled? Before you get out the ol’ boxing gloves, consider this: travel doesn’t have to be black and white.

I tend towards being a traveler myself – nothing gets me going like cracking a new cultural code – but sometimes you simply can’t take the time away to get down and dirty in a new culture. And sometimes, it’s just plain nice to be a tourist. A mental release from the daily pressures of trying to adapt to a culture that isn’t mine, an appreciated opportunity to speak my own language and see beautiful historic buildings from the inside. And as I tramped around city streets, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I could pack a little “authentic” cultural enrichment in my scant 4 day vacation. Who says you have to choose one or the other? Here, my best tips on how to be a traveler while you’re a tourist:

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It was just after we boarded the little rickety train that connects the ultra-scenic seaside town of St. Ives with the mainline rail from Cornwall to the rest of England that the conductor came over to inspect our tickets. Where we headed today, he inquired, squinting at our little orange train tickets. London, is it? Oh, I’ll be back over in a minute to tell you what’s happening.

Three days of fish, sea air and a small blast of sunshine in Cornwall had left us pretty blissed out, but the tone of the conductor’s voice could mean only one thing: some kind of delay. And the fact that workers were striking across Britain yesterday only upped our suspicions, which were confirmed when he returned a few minutes later to inform us that not a single train had passed through the tiny station at St. Erth, where we were meant to connect to our train back to London’s Paddington Station, for the past four hours due to some signaling error. It would be an hour’s wait at St. Erth and then a change of train in Plymouth to get us home.

Photo: Megan Eaves

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It’s Thursday, November 24th, 2011, and apart from being hungry and having some unexpected jet lag issues, I feel this good right about now:

Photo by Eva Sandoval

Why? Because I’m home in the United States for Thanksgiving for the first time in 5 years.

How did this happen? I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to see paper turkeys and canned yams in store windows, to be presented with the glimmering possibility of not one but two potato choices at a big feast where everyone in the room knows exactly why they’re there. My little brother’s having his 30th birthday bash this Friday and my presence has been requested – that’s how it happened. Hooray for nearing our twilight years! I’m dazzled, and not just by the fact that for the first time in years, no one will be asking me Why would you eat all the Native Americans’ food and then kill them? Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday, and even if I’ve put together some terrific expat feasts over the years, there’s just nothing like being home in your native country for the best day of the entire year.

So what [else] am I thankful for this year?

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Pumpkins and goblins and bat wings, oh my! Chances are, if you’re in an English-speaking country, you’re getting ready to celebrate Halloween. Alas, there will be no Halloween for me here in Small Town, Italy. Halloween is still a relatively new concept in this country – inspired by expatriates and Hollywood films but tepidly embraced by Italians as merely another excuse to get drunk. Larger cities with big communities of expats will likely see some proper celebrations, but in small towns like the one where I live, “Halloween” is a merely day where pubs and bars hang plastic skeletons on the walls and throw a “Halloween party” – appetizers and appearances by local DJs. Getting my friends to consider dressing up and heading to Rome for a more authentic Halloween celebration has inspired reactions like these: Halloween? Ugh. It’s too new for us. I don’t like that they brought it over. Why do we have to do everything the Americans do? Whatever. Let’s get drunk.

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qnr/

Oh, well. At least there’s Carnevale, right?

In honor of this wonderful holiday that I will not get to celebrate, read on for a list of nine spooky (hanuted?) places in Italy sure to have you shaking in your boots.

Boot. Italy. Get it?

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Autumn is here, and I love it. It’s easily my favorite time of year. The crispy cool air that blows around orange and brown leaves in one last hurrah of color before the drear of winter takes over. Pumpkins abound on doorsteps (okay, less so in London than other places I’ve lived, but still), the musky aroma of fireplace smoke can be detected faintly on the air and cider and ale are the perfect way to round out an afternoon’s walk through it all, which is exactly what Husby and I did this past Saturday at Knole Park in Kent, England.

Knole Park in autumn. Photo: Megan Eaves

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