Headline — Page 9

Cedar Point Bachelor Party

September 8, 2013 By Danny

Bachelor parties are one of those things that are supposed to be very special but often times, don’t end up that way. A bunch of guys go out for a big night on the town, drink themselves into oblivion, then don’t remember most of what happened. Recent movies have done a lot to cement this stereotype and for that reason, leaving town for a weekend away has become almost the norm it seems. Imagine my surprise when my most recent buddy to get engaged suggested something completely out of left field, going to an amusement park none of us had ever visited: Cedar Point.

The park itself is known for one thing, roller coasters. Big ones, small ones, and everything in between. Here is a listing of some of our favorites for the day.

Millenium Force. We did this one first and planned to do it for our last coaster for the day as well. One of the biggest and fastest in the entire world clocking at over 90mph we didn’t even notice that it didn’t go upside down. The power of this thing was just massive and really incredible.

Top Thrill Dragster. From zero to 120 m.p.h. in about 4 seconds it didn’t matter that the entire ride was only 17 seconds long. You could watch the video but it really doesn’t do the ride justice. The most incredible part, as the day wears on and the equipment heats up, the coaster doesn’t always clear the top and sometimes falls back down from where it came from.

Mean Streak. This was a very massive wooden roller coaster and because it was wooden we chose to do this as an ‘easy’ ride after lunch….bad mistake. This coaster did not disappoint and also claims to be amongst the world’s largest wooden coasters. It is due to be overtaken soon by the new coaster going into Six Flags Great America.

Mantis. This ride will likely hold a special place in our hearts when we think of Cedar Point. After ‘finishing’ our day at Millenium Force we walked past this entrance and saw no line. Not only were we in the front row on the next run of coaster but then we ran to the back row for the run after that. NOT A GOOD IDEA. It was midnight and by that point we were toasted.

There were other rides of the day but overall these were our favorites. Rapter and Maverick were both pretty solid coasters as well but I think we were all a touch disappointed in Gatekeeper which was the new coaster for 2013. It was big but didn’t really differentiate itself from the others we did. Gemini, another wooden coaster, was a bit of a bust for us as well but Blue Streak, originally built in 1964 was surprisingly fun and kid friendly at the same time!

IF YOU GO: Stay at one of the many lodging options on the grounds as you get into the park an hour earlier. We waited for our first 4 roller coasters for less time than any other single line the rest of the day. We enjoyed a nice cabin in lighthouse point which fit all 7 of us but it was UN-surprisingly snug. Best part, flying in and out of Detroit saw us for a detour to a Tigers game (they won) and saved us loads of money on airfare.

3 Insane Hotels You Won’t Believe Are Out There

August 21, 2013 By Danny

According to Jake Bush, a Braun & Steidl hotel architect and developer, anyone who makes it their business to craft a hotel considers the following: “who is the guest, and why are they here”. With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why hotels across the board vary wildly—each one is trying to accommodate a specific kind of traveler.

For the most part, hotels are trying to cater to the business traveler, the luxury vacation traveler, and the budget-friendly traveler. However, there’s still another kind of traveler out there that some very unique and utterly strange hotels try to cater to, which is: the adventurous, experience-seeking, explorer.

These travelers want accommodations that are nearly the polar opposite of all the others—they want intrigue, danger, and a unique experience they can’t get anywhere else in the world—plus, they’re often willing to sacrifice a substantial amount of comfort, just for the experience. For every other kind of traveler, comfort is the last thing to be sacrificed when it comes to hotels. You can find out more at Accor, http://accorhotels.com.au/.

So, what kind of hotels does this kind of traveler frequent? Here’s my top picks for the world’s most insane, strange, and quirky hotels—some, you just won’t believe actually exist!

THE MIRRORCUBE | Location: Harads—Sweden

What is This Place? Well, The Mirrorcube is exactly what it sounds like, actually; it’s an extremely lightweight aluminum box (4x4x4 meters) with one-way mirrors for walls.

Accommodations: At most, it can only accommodate two guests at a time—imagine the waiting list! However, the interior—albeit small—provides a double bed, a living room space, a bathroom, and the exterior roof provides a nice roof-tip terrace.

What the Adventure-Traveler Loves: Per the description thus far, The Mirrorcube might not seem that interesting, but I haven’t mentioned yet that this mirrored box is actually camouflaged within a tree canopy, suspended above ground, around a tree trunk that shoots up through the center.

How the world do you get in?! By way of a rope bridge, connected to a neighboring tree!

Fun Fact: Since The Mirrorcube is located in a tree canopy and is made of mirrors, occupants are provided a 360-degree view of the surroundings. Sounds cool, right? Well, to local wildlife—specifically birds that might fly right into it—it’s not so cool. To handle this concern, all of the reflective glass is embedded with an ultraviolet color that only birds can see.

ICEHOTEL | Location: Jukkasjarvi—Sweden

What is This Place? Again, the name really is what it is—it’s an entire hotel made from snow and ice! Apparently, it’s the largest in the world, which sparked this comment from me: There’s more than one?!

Accommodations: While the beds—as well as the furniture and fixtures—are made of solid ice, they’re covered in the finest, warmest, furs. From what I understand there aren’t individual rooms; guests enjoy a more of a community experience—sharing body heat probably helps!

What the Adventure-Traveler Loves: It’s a hotel made of ice—what wouldn’t an adventure-seeker like about that?! With temperatures never rising above minus 5 degrees Celsius, adventure travelers will have a wonderful time walking around in snow pants and furs, while enjoying the company of other like-minded travelers.

Fun Fact: The ICEHOTEL only exists in the winter months—it melts after that! Every year, in November, the ICEHOTEL architects get together and design a whole new structure. Several hundred tons of ice is used in the process and it provides return guests a different experience every year!

KAROSTAS CIETUMS | Location: Leipaja—Latvia

What is This Place? It’s a prison—no, really, it’s actually a prison. Well, a former one, anyway.

Accommodations: It’s not terribly dressed up from being anything other than a prison. Guests sleep on grungy prison bunks, eat prison food, and even take a substantial amount of abuse from the guards—I’m assuming they limit that to verbal abuse. I think even the adventure-traveler draws the line at paying for physical abuse from the hotel staff.

What the Adventure-Traveler Loves: “A good hotel has got to be safe, clean, and have a good staff,” says our hotel developer Jake Bush, so the adventure-traveler loves that this hotel does all of the opposite. Karostas provides an experience—one that you can’t typically get unless you commit war crimes for a living.

Fun Fact: As a former military prison—constructed in 1905—Karostas imprisoned Stalin-era war criminals, revolutionists, and even KGB operatives.

All photos courtesy of the respective hotels.

Gear For Travel – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

August 16, 2013 By Danny

It is really remarkable how quickly technology has completely changed the face of travel. Our RTW trip lasted nearly two years, 2009-2010. As we embarked, we invested in some of the best technology to get the job done that was possible. We thought of ourselves as flashpackers extraordinaire. That included a brand new netbook, an unlocked cell phone, and a fancy DSLR camera. Now, just a few short years later, when I look back on all of that still functioning gear, it just looks so old and antiquated. That’s the nature of technology.

This old piece of hardware was our PC for two full years.

The Phone – Our mobile phone was nothing but an unlocked GSM flip phone. We were excited when a SIM card we purchased allowed us to make calls home from the Sahara Desert in Sudan for Mother’s day. Now with VOIP calling, a smart phone can make calls around the world for free…and from anywhere. The best part is that there are finally some cutting edge phones (e.g. Galaxy S4 Active) that are water and drop resistant making it even easier to stay connected and travel adventurously.

The Tablet – These did not exist while we were our trip and are a tremendous game changer, at least if you are blogging or sharing pictures while you travel. We shared one netbook as we traveled, weighing and taking up far more room than two tablets would have taken in our packs. Any of these today – iPad, Android or even a Windows tablet – are both lighter and more powerful than our “state of the art” netbook was. Plus there is wifi virtually everywhere now making a tablet a really useful tool for travelers to check in.

The Camera – This area has changed a lot less, mostly these cameras now come with more features and more megapixels than before. However, by and large, they still do the same job. The big add-ons here are the ease by which photos can be geotagged and quickly uploaded. Camera processing has also improved allowing for better low-light photography and much better videos. That would have saved us quite a bit of time geotagging our photos.

This article is NOT about what gear to go out and buy, there are plenty of review sites on the Internet, It is merely a comparison of what has changed in less than 3 years time. In the next three years will Google Glass remove the need for a tour guide? Streaming video and video conferencing might ultimately replace the written word when it comes to blog posts. We might even be able to sterilize our meals on our plates with a UV light and completely make food poisoning a thing of the past! Sounds good to me.

Discovering the Romance of Berlin

August 14, 2013 By Lauren

When I was nine, my fourth grade teacher held up a small velvet pouch.

“Inside this bag is something very important,” she said.

The class was entranced. What was in it? Gold? Money? Chocolate?

She reached into the bag and slowly pulled out…a rock.

Our faces screwed up in disappointed confusion. A rock? Half of us could have turned out our pockets to reveal the very same thing.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Mrs. Trettin said. “What’s so special about a rock?”

Our interest was piqued. That was exactly what we’d been thinking. Mrs. Trettin’s mind-reading capabilities kept our attention where the rock couldn’t.

“This rock came all the way from Germany. It’s a piece of the Berlin Wall.”

She went on to explain how the Berlin Wall had been formed and subsequently destroyed. I was fascinated. It was like the imaginary line I made in the living room that my little sister couldn’t cross, but real.

For the next 18 years, Berlin existed in my mind as a city full of rubble, war-torn and grey, host to an atrocious leader and military enemies.

I was wrong.

Berlin holds a special kind of romance. It’s not obvious, like the gondolas of Venice or a sidewalk café in Paris. It’s gritty but beautiful, scarred but alive.

Where I expected blandness and institutionalism, I got elegant architecture, archways, and mint-green rooftops. I wanted to stay longer than three nights; I wanted to rent an apartment and spend the whole summer there. Berlin has layers that can’t be peeled away in a few days.

The history is what made Berlin shine, and I’m not a history nut by any means. But when I stood in front of the remnants of the Berlin wall, I was fully awed. I love that pieces of the wall still stand as a silent acknowledgement of the past, twisted with metal and fractured by time.

Berlin’s romance comes from the way the German people have built towards the future without erasing the past. There are gorgeous old churches and museums to gape at, mysterious sculptures to stumble upon, and colorful murals in unexpected places.

It seems odd to call a place with such a tumultuous history ‘romantic,’ but it is. The city gets in your soul. In the Bebelplatz, formerly known as Opernplatz, the Nazis burned 20,000 books one night in May 1933. I stood there, 75 years later, staring at the memorial embedded in the ground. Unlike coming face-to-face with other pockets of history, like the coliseum or Gettysburg, this felt real. Right there, at my feet, history happened.

I remembered being nine and learning about Berlin for the first time; being introduced by a humble little rock. Mrs. Trettin told us about the burning books, and I was as horrified as a fourth-grader can be; who would have the audacity to burn books? I never imagined that one day, I’d be standing there in Berlin, seeing it for myself.

Berlin invokes feelings of nostalgia, love, and loss, even for someone like me who wasn’t there to experience any of it. The city still stands, vibrant and modern, yet somber and worn, ready to teach us all a thing or two about what it means to be romantic.

I just ran a triathlon

August 12, 2013 By Danny

It may have been a short triathlon, taking place in North Miami Beach, but it was the maximum length allowed to be called a sprint and it was a good stepping stone for me in trying out this new sport. The race was the 25.75 North Miami Triathlon and it felt great to get out there and even better to finish!

First. What is a Triathlon?

A triathlon is three sports; swimming, cycling and running. The three sports are always in that order, it’s pretty logical when you think about it. In this race, the swim was 750 (.46mi) beautiful meters of open water swimming in Miami’s Biscayne Bay followed by a 20k (12.4mi) bike ride and a 5k (3.1mi) run. My job was very simply to do those three events, in that order, as quickly as possible.

But Wait, What about those Adventure Races you used to run?

So yes, the adventure races are far more involved, take a lot longer, and involve lots of alligators. This was NOT that. My best hope for wildlife was a manatee or two but we didn’t see any of those. Last year Jill did an Xterra Triathlon in the same waters and other swimmers did report a manatee in the water, but I digress. In an adventure race, the racer uses a map and compass to navigate the wilderness, sometimes on bike and sometimes on foot or in a boat, in whatever direction he or she chooses. I view adventure races as a more difficult undertaking than a triathlon, simply because of how long it lasts and the mental anguish of poor decision making. But, the events are very different and require a different type of fitness and mental fortitude. An adventure race can last for 6 hours to 6 days, this triathlon took me just over 90 minutes while the longest available – the Iron Man – will take the winner just over 8 hours. Because it is shorter, the triathlon requires a different sort of athleticism and a lot more hustle and no real opportunity to sit down and breathe. Added benefit of the triathlon: finishing in time for brunch!

As I mentioned, I finished in just over 90 minutes, which is fantastic considering my [much too easy] goal was 2 hours. My swim time was tremendously quicker than I had expected, I’d been working on that, while my run, which I did in normal shoes, and bike were right about as good as I could have hoped. Here are my stats:

The setting for the race was absolutely beautiful. Miami’s Biscayne Bay and cycling through Oleta River State Park was a treat as well. What wasn’t a treat was being passed on the bike by more racers than I could count. Basically, if do an image search for the word triathlete, you’ll see what one looks like and the kind of bicycle they have. Sometimes those bikes cost as much as $5,000. My bike, which I use to commute, cost a measly $300 and well, I don’t think I much look like a triathlete. Still, I enjoyed a great morning and have something to build off of. Besides, I had the best looking cheerleaders of the entire race!

IF YOU want to do a triathlon as well the 2575 race series is a great way to start. The races are short, yet still long enough to be a very meaningful distance. Also, the locations are simply phenomenal. Using these races to travel all around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean wouldn’t be such a bad plan.

« Previous Page
1
…
7
8
9
10
11
…
98
Next Page »

Cedar Point Bachelor Party

3 Insane Hotels You Won’t Believe Are Out There

Gear For Travel – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Discovering the Romance of Berlin

I just ran a triathlon

Recent Comments

Banking on the Road

Adventure Guides