Category Archives:Spotlights

Guest post by Miruna Corneanu

Situated in the southeastern Europe, Romania is a small country sliced in half by the Carpathian Mountains and bordered by the Black Sea to its southeast. Including a large variety of unexplored beauties, this fertile, ancient land sits quietly under golden fields, idyllic orchards and countless hectares of forests. Here are my picks for the 5 places you should visit when you travel to Romania:

Danube Delta
Romania is hiding the best preserved river delta in the world, the Danube, with a surface of area of 3446 km, a unique and wild spectacle, and a true paradise for more than 300 species of birds, which come from as far as China or Egypt.  Over 3,400 animal species have their home in this beautiful place.

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In Osaka, Japan, few words strike more terror into the heart of a party-goer than last train. It’s just not fair; a city aswim with brilliant nightlife – boozy izakayas, raucous clubs, cozy-but-gritty shot bars, throbbing karaoke houses – and, yet, the trains shut down from roughly midnight to 6 in the morning. Pay 3000 yen (~36 USD) for a 15-minute cab ride home? For-freaking-get it. If you can’t find a friend to give you a lift, your options become 1) shut the party down at midnight (lame) or 2) stay out until first train.

Luckily, Osaka is also full of establishments that stay open until dawn to get you through those rough wee morning hours. Should you find yourself in need of friendly shelter, tripwolf suggests heading to Kama Sutra; a karaoke bar and shisha joint all in one.

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Sperlonga, best-known for its pristine beaches, spectacular historical centre, and connection to the Roman emperor Tiberius, has become a premier tourist destination in Italy. Water sports, horseback riding, fresh bounty from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and summer nightlife only sweeten the seaside town’s appeal. On your visit to Sperlonga, consider staying at Hotel Aurora; an oasis amid the tourist shuffle.

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So I drive here in Italy. I don’t like it; driving here is like living in game of Frogger on speed, except instead of dune buggies you have Smart Cars and instead of bulldozers you have three-wheeled Piaggio Ape scooters and instead of crocodiles you have stray cats. People parallel parking inches away from you at the speed of light and right of way? Whatever.

But there is one thing I like about car culture in Italy: Fiat 500 hunting.

The Fiat 500 (cinquecento in Italian) is a small car that was produced between 1957 and 1975; a response to the Volkswagen Beetle. In 2007, a “modern” edition was released; itself a thing of great charm. But it’s the original car I can never take my eyes off of; maybe because of its dainty beauty, or because my father often regaled me with tales of his college days in Rome, when he bought a Fiat 500 from a Romanian refugee camp and crammed no less than six friends at a time inside the thing each time they went out on the town.

Despite their advancing age, the Fiat 500 population is actually quite large in this region, so I never feel guilty about taking a shot for my trophy case each time I encounter one of these beasts in the wild. For you, an assortment of my finest captures. Because it’s a jungle out there, my friends. A real jungle.

After two uneventful weeks spent traveling through Sweden and Estonia, I was starting to question the wisdom of my chosen path through Europe.  I set out on this trip to escape from my comfort zone, but the clean, safe and well-maintained cities of northern Europe left me feeling more domesticated than ever.  All of that changed when I arrived in Riga, which is a hypnotic, beautiful city, but not in any conventional sense.  The twentieth century was not kind to the Baltics, and scars from Latvia’s recent brutalization are visible beneath the easygoing way of life here.  Communism’s collapse and the promise of EU membership have revitalized the country, and the general atmosphere seems to be one of hope for a brighter future, but this new optimism has yet to translate into widespread opportunity.

There is a wonderful café in the space beneath my hostel here, and yesterday, me and a crew of my fellow guests spent several hours outside, drinking, eating and talking about life.  During the course of our conversation, we spoke at length about the western world’s preoccupation with wealth and success, and it was agreed that this ethos survives partly because life back home is just too secure and familiar.

“Travel,” one of my companions opined, “is an important element of self-growth because it forces you out of your comfort zone.”

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Sperlonga is a seaside town in the province of Latina in Italy – Western, Central, halfway between Rome and Naples, hugging the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Thousands of years ago, the Romans were here, and then, in the Middle Ages, the pillaging Saracens. Ulysses is rumored to have made his mark as well, if the legends – and Sperlonga’s handsome collection of Odyssey-themed ancient artifacts – can be believed. The town’s name comes from the Latin word speluncae – grotto, as in the famous grotto associated with the villa of Emperor Tiberius, built in Sperlonga in the first century A.D.

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Before leaving for any foreign destination, you know that it’s fundamental to inform yourself about the place where you’ll land (like perhaps on such sites as tripwolf.com ). A reliable, travel savvy friend is always the best adviser – a good find is a friend who has not only passed through, but who lived or studied in that place and therefore has really gotten to know the places that are more interesting as well as the habits of the local residents.

I am lucky to have a good friend who has lived in the wonderfully historic city of Porto, Portugal, and who gladly answered my questions with a detailed list of travel tips without hesitation.

A turn into the neighborhood of Ribeira is best in the evening – it used to be known as the party center of Porto, but now it is a bit more calm and reserved.  The locals go to the area known as Baixa, above all for the bars and wine cellars. The best cellar is at Taylor.  The wine tasting is excellent, and the views are beautiful on a nice day – though it’s a bit on the outskirts of the neighborhood.  Another beautiful day trip is to the seaside neighborhood of Foz, even if not for more than a drink on the beach. My favorite bar is Praia from Luz.

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The tripwolf trip planner has always been a good way to throw your ideas around, begin to plan that dream trip, and even share your trip itinerary with others (Make them jealous? Nooo, of course not.)

Now tripwolf is gathering travel experts from different parts of the globe, with local knowledge, to specifically create trips to help you travel with less worry…worry about missing out on the best things to do!

We’re just entering one of the biggest travel times of the year – and body scanners and frisking aside, we want to help make things easy.  Here are some of our best tripwolf Guides to make this Christmas one to remember!

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If you have ever been to India you know that its diversity brings so much color, culture, art, and well, days off for everyone with so many holidays! Christmas is no exception – Calcutta is still one of the most religious centers of India, and though there is a majority of Hindus, the city embraces the chance to have Christians celebrate in December.  The city is almost obnoxiously green and red, but it’s wonderful because everyone’s so happy about it!

If you’re lucky enough to travel through India at this time of year, here are a few things to expect, and a guide to how to soak it all in…

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A week ago today, tripwolf was in Copenhagen to attend the 2010 TBEX Europe travel bloggers’ conference. The event was helmed by the team at Galavanting Productions and sponsored by a handful of terrific corporations, including Wonderful Copenhagen, Momondo, and MyDenmarkTV. When I say tripwolf, I mean Lea, editor of our German language blog, and myself, blogger for our English site. Two tripwolves in Copenhagen; there’s a modern Danish fairytale for you. It gets better: neither one of us had ever met the other, but we work for the same company and we’d read each other on the Internet. I spent the first day sniffing around, wondering – is that her? Could that be her?! And finally, at the Opening Cocktail Reception, a fellow blogger grabbed my arm: I found your other tripwolf. And then we met. And it was awesome.

We were hardly in poor company; most of the over 100 travel bloggers at TBEX Europe ’10 had spent months or even years networking through the internet, only to meet face-to-face for the first time in Copenhagen. It was that kind of magical weekend. Events and sightseeing galore. Travel bloggers were treated to panels, talks, and workshops given by notable figures in the industry like on topics like Storytelling, Non-Narrative Travel Writing, Branding & Blogging and – everybody’s favorite – SEO.

But there was more – much more.

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