Contest! Help us Name this Newsletter!
Our Slow Travel newsletter needs a name! Can you help us? Post your entries for a name in this discussion. Enter often – we welcome all suggestions! The winner will be selected by the Moderators and announced in next month’s newsletter. The prize is a free Gold Star membership for one year (or a one year continuation of an existing membership).
Watch for information on next month’s contest: selecting a new photo for the Slow Travel newsletter and home page header.
Congratulations to Our New Slow Travel Heroes
On Valentine's Day three Slow Travelers were designated as “heroes” to recognize their going above and beyond the call of duty and enriching our community through their kindness and generosity. Read more about their contributions here. Congratulations and thanks to Americana in Parigi, Andrew and Kevin Widrow!
We’re on a PhotoHunt!
Jonathan's Lunch
Photohunts are one of Slow Travel’s most popular features. Every week or so moderators post different themes on various forums. Slow Travelers hunt through their digital photo files and post photos that interpret that theme in some way. Here are the results of a few recent PhotoHunts. Join the fun!
- Pink on the Everything About Travel forum.
- Lunchtime on the Italy forum.
- Window on the France forum.
Slow Travelers Talk!
Here are a few of the most interesting discussions on the Slow Talk forums this past month. Feel free to participate in the conversations!
Who’s Traveling
Lots of Slow Travelers are busy making travel plans. See Who's Traveling to Italy this Spring, and a growing list of Who's Going to the UK or Ireland in 2009? Don’t forget to add your travel plans to our trip calendar too!
General Travel Topics – fun, sometimes provocative travel discussions
- Jet, a student in the Netherlands, asked Why Slow Travel? She came to the right place to get answers!
- Ginny58 asked how do you remember your trip? Slow Travelers have a variety of approaches for preserving their travel memories.
- This thread will really take you back to yesteryear! Tuscanartist asked for stories about the early days of travel and got some very humorous responses.
- kaydee started a discussion on What are the worst travel mistakes you've made? (This is another thread that will have you chuckling).
- WSB wondered why are there so many unfinished buildings in Italy?
- One of the most active discussions on the Italy forum recently started off with a simple request from DonnaW: Pronounce these please.
- sundreen asked people to share their favorite French dish. (Yum!)
- An old thread started by Anastasia was resurrected with some useful information: TIM SIM for Italy recharge?
- TourMama posted a link to an article on 15 US landmarks for kids to see. Slow Travelers had some other suggestions.
- azwaniecki wondered about Driving in Sicily and asked for advice from others.
- patg asked for daytrip ideas in this thread: Towns to Visit by Train from Florence.
- bmellow is planning a first trip to Italy and asked How Claustrophobic is the Scavi Tour?
- Kim is planning a trip to Paris and asked for information about Paris Fashion Shows.
- Several Slow Travelers are planning family trips to Provence. Tricia Moore asked for Kid Friendly Luberon Village recommendations and AlliH asked for ideas for Provence in Spring with three kids.
- It isn’t slow travel, but sometimes a Slow Traveler just needs a hotel for a night. Kaydee asked for suggestions for One night on the Cote d'Azur.
- Shannon asked for advice on Valencia apartments.
- Teaberry is going to Zion and the Grand Canyon this spring and asked for input from other Slow Travelers.
- BJinNM is planning a trip to the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu in 2010 and came to the forums to get ideas from other travelers.
- Felicity posted Planning Bus Journeys in London.
- Ellens found a great fare to Rome: New York to Rome $375!
- Girosoli asked if anyone could help identify the Mystery Bell on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica. (Be the first to answer!).
- Susa needs help on finding a bike touring company in Ireland: Biking Ireland.
Elsewhere on Slow Travel
(reviews, trip reports, photos and blogs)Enjoy a sample of some of the new publications on the Slow Travel website:
Travel Article
Living Slow in Italy: New Year, New Adventure by Valerie Schneider
After two-and-a-half years in Ascoli Piceno, Valerie and Bryan prepare for new adventures in Italy.
Trip Reports
Turkish Caves
Greece - Athens and Islands of the Dodecanese and Turkey - The Turquoise Coast, Cappadocia and Istanbul by Linda Hagstrom
“After spending three weeks walking and sightseeing in the Greek islands, I continued to Turkey and spent a week walking the Turquoise Coast with a group from HF Holidays. After that, I traveled independently to amazing Cappadocia and then to Istanbul.”
Autumn Art Sojourn on the Eastern Shore, or Painting while Wall Street Crumbles by Jeannew
“Oil painting is a source of enjoyment in my life. … I often dreamed of time away to paint, no job, no household duties, no distractions. This year, with no big vacation planned I decided to take an outdoor painting workshop not terribly far from my suburban Philadelphia home. Five days of painting on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay under the tutelage of prominent landscape artist, Gavin Brooks, looked very appealing.”
If it's Tuesday, is this Botswana? by Sharnova
“For five weeks, from late September to the end of October (2008) my husband and I traveled across southern Africa, from Kruger National Park to Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.”
Reviews
On Slow Travel we’re always collecting and publishing reviews. This information is so helpful to travelers when planning their trips, so don’t forget to submit your reviews! Here is a small sample of recent reviews:
Vacation Rentals
SlowTrav Favorites strike again with lgornik's review of Dolce Roma's Colosseum 1 apartment. Dolce Roma has been a long time SlowTrav favorite. Heading to Provence, Perpetual Traveler enjoyed this apartment in central Apt, Apartment Lin.
Hotels
Chachalaca shared a review of the Splendid Hotel in Bandol, France on the Mediterranean Sea and Cindy Ruth enjoyed a stay at the Haydon Street Inn in Healdsburg, California.
Restaurants
Daniel loves good food AND Paris. He provided TEN great restaurant reviews from his trip last year to Paris, including Hidden Kitchen and La Bigarrade.
Photo Albums
- Sharnova posted a great photo album A Too-Rapid Five Weeks in Southern Africa to accompany her trip report.
- Teaberry posted photos from Washington DC in the days before the inauguration, including a Slow Travel GTG at Dino’s.
- Many Slow Travelers contributed to this album of the 2009 Slow Bowl in Paso Robles.
- We also enjoyed TominVB’s slide show thread For Every Evening...
Blogs
We love reading blogs by Slow Travelers!
- Right now this dedicated group of 27 bloggers is blogging every day in the month of February.
- We welcomed new Slow Travel blogs: Nancyhol's A Winelover's Wanderings and Candi's Candi's Corner: Wanderlust and Passions, and Sherri's As The Seasons Change.
- Bcwired has blogged several times about Slow Travel, including this post: How I Found my Peeps.
- Marta (Postcards from the Trail) is blogging while traveling in Malaysia.
Slow Travel’s Concentric Reading Circle
Slowtravel’s Concentric Reading Circle Book Club is our unique book group with readers from all corners of the world stopping by to talk about each month's selection on the CRC Book Discussion Forum in the Gold Star Forum.
The group normally meets in the Gold Star Chat Room on the third Sunday of each month at 2:00 P.M. EST to discuss the book. With a wide variety of reading tastes creating an interesting and lively discussion, it is a fantastic way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday! This month's read is Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston.
You can view our other newsletters: Newsletter Archive.
We hope you will forward this newsletter on to your friends. If you've received a forwarded copy and would like to subscribe, register on our forums: www.slowtalk.com.
Happy Travels!
The Slow Travel Team
www.slowtrav.com - Slow Travel
www.slowtalk.com – Slow Travel Forums
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