Globe Corner Blogs

Classic Switzerland--photo by Kate

Notes from Zürich:

I have one serious recommendation for visitors to Zürich: eat as much chocolate as you can. Since waking up to a Toblerone on the empty seat next to me on the airplane, to the Swiss chocolate ice cream I just had at the Mövenpick, to the shared café mocha from this afternoon, every taste has been simply amazing. Take every opportunity you have to eat this stuff. They really know what they are doing here in Switzerland.

Also recommended: checking out the Freitag flagship store, located just past the hipster Züri-West neighborhood. Made of stacked shipping containers to create a 7-story building, after browsing their awesome bags, you can climb up to the rooftop. Enjoy a great view of Zürich and an even better glimpse of the Alps through the binoculars provided.

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Sari, Mehndi, & Bangles! -- photo by Nicole

In India, everything is beautiful. Well, okay. Not everything.  But the women are gorgeous. Stunning. In fact, I noticed this even before I got to the subcontinent. While sitting on the plane and waiting to take off, anxiously anticipating the twenty-something hour flight from San Francisco to Bangalore, it was hard not to notice that the airline attendants — all women — could pass for models. It was also hard not to notice my dirty, holey cargo pants and extra baggy, don’t-harass-me shirt in comparison to their sleek pencil skirts and perfectly coiffed hair.

It was a theme that would be repeated during my stay in India. I even heard local women in Bangalore complain about the appearance of backpackers one day. “They come from all these rich countries and they are always dressing the same. They look so dirty and smelly…” Well, I could only assume they weren’t talking about me. But I decided then that I was going to ditch my unisex travel uniform of khaki pants and boring black top. I was going to dress like the beautiful Indian women I saw everyday: like the South Indian housewives who pinned jasmine flowers in their hair and dripped with gold and jewels for only a trip to the neighborhood market; like the professionals who floated through offices in silk salwar kameez; like the college students who sauntered through the high-end shops on MG Road in designer jeans.  In short, I decided to look like a lady instead of another “dirty” backpacker.  I decided to buy a sari.

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Woodcarvings in Oaxaca--photo by Lisa

Of of the major reasons I went to Oaxaca in Southern Mexico was that I had heard so much about the amazing craft markets and the many surrounding villages that are dedicated to the production of handicrafts. Most tourist agencies and hotels offer day tours to visit weavers in Teotitlan del Valle, potters in San Bartolo Coyotepec, and wood carvers in San Martin Tilcajete. It is also possible to go to all of these towns on your own, which would have been preferable so I could have spent more time exploring the shops, but I don’t really drive and I was a bit too lazy to figure out how to do it by myself on public transportation.

Woodcarving in Oaxaca--photo by Lisa

Every village also has a market day, and I happened to go to the Friday Market in Ocotlan. The Friday Market is one of the larger ones in the area and is an endless maze of rows offering anything that you might want to acquire: mountains of chilis, live turkeys (who may have also been shopping as they were wandering around quite a bit), fresh produce, handicrafts for the gringos, medicinal herbs, and tons of household goods.

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Travel Loot -- photo by Nicole

You’ve spent weeks, months, or even years planning your trip.  You’ve fantasized about lazy vacation days on a Caribbean beach, slathered in suntan oil instead of wrapped up in scarves.  You’ve spent long afternoons at work mulling over hotel deals and airfare to that remote South Pacific island where you can throw out your wool socks and throw on a sarong, all the while appearing, of course, to the eyes of prying bosses to be diligently at work.  Maybe you’ve elaborately mapped out a European museum spree, complete with pastry breaks and espresso stops.  Or perhaps you’ve spent your weekends training for a thrilling, perilous trek up a snow-capped Himalayan peak, interviewing sherpas and depriving yourself of oxygen.

But now you’re back.  You’ve taken several hundred pictures, sent off your postcards, lost your passport, gotten ripped off by taxi drivers and rickshaw wallahs, seen some pretty disgusting toilets, found your passport (hopefully not in the disgusting toilet), and managed to make it back home with several extra bags full of hard-earned, hopefully hard-bargained for, travel goodies.

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NYC Wallpaper City Guide

Since Dan decided it was my turn to highlight some of the “hidden treasures” of the store, I decided to point out some of the books that get dwarfed on the shelf.

Wallpaper City Guides are small guidebooks that might be hidden in between the larger guidebooks. They are perfect companion guides for the design-conscious traveler: they include “architours” and information on shopping and urban life. The guidebooks include beautiful photographs, and if you collect them they look really cool and colorful as a stack on your bookshelf.

The Marling Menu-Master is another thin book that not only helps you translate food and menus, but also explains the complexities of the menu: terms, dishes, sauces, and even preparation methods.

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