Country Roads: Further Afield

Rhubarb Regrets

2008-07-02T12:58:00.002-05:00

Note to Farmers' Market vendors: Could I get that rhubarb jam in a three ounce jar?

While I was in Iowa for a family visit I did a round of some area Farmers' Markets. And as you might imagine in the heart of agrarian America, there were many to choose from. I restrained my bring-home purchases to one kohlrabi, a root vegetable I haven't enjoyed since my childhood, and the iconic midwestern fruit stalk, rendered into jam by an Amish farmer.

But then along came airport security. I'd carefully put my tiny bottles of mouthwash, toothpaste and contact lenses solution into my one quart zip lock bag...but had totally forgotten about the jam. There were lots of sympathetic smiles from the TSA folk, but ultimately a rule is a rule, and it went into the trash. I wonder how many other culinary delights have met that fate? I comfort myself with the fact that even unconsumed, my purchase had supported a local farmer. And the act of finding it was in itself an adventure.

A Favorite Airline Perk and $25 Off

2008-05-09T11:06:00.004-05:00

AirTran now offers its passengers one of those small perks that I find makes a huge difference in how fast the time passes on a flight. Every seat is now wired for something like a hundred channels of satellite radio, which means that sometimes the wheels are down and I'm still channel surfing finding cool stuff.

And now they'll give you $25 off your next flight if you sign up for their email updates by May 11. Get details here: http://www.net-escapes.com/net_escapes_sign_up.aspx.

Find out how you can save $50 on Jet Blue Airlines in this week's Milepost at www.countryroadsmagazine.com.

Hope for a Hop Across the Pond

2008-05-05T16:35:00.005-05:00

Just when I was beginning to despair about ever going to Europe again, as the dollar continues to plummet against the Euro, this little item from Arthur Frommer's website reminded me that there are Eastern European countries that are beautiful and not yet using the Euro...

Constanta, Romania (Source: Romania Tourism; www.romaniatourism.com)

Movie ticket: $6
Bus fare: $1.10
Cup of regular coffee: $1.75
Bottle of local beer in a bar: Ursus, $1.75
Moderate, three-star hotel room for two: $55-$110
Moderate, three-course meal for one, without alcohol or tip: $18
$1= 2.36 Romania Lei

Exquisite Convergence

2008-02-01T09:32:00.000-06:00

I’ve always loved the name for Andrei Codrescu’s literary website Exquisite Corpse. So I jumped on the chance to use Exquisite with one of my other favorite words, Convergence.

And what better description for the happy intersection of a great airfare and the return of a favorite spring migratory rite, as the snowbirds return to the north from wintering in Florida, and the rental car companies must find a way for their vehicles to follow suit.

And so once again, those of you willing to do so, can rent a car from Hertz for as little as $1 a day in various Florida locations, providing you’re willing to drop it off somewhere outside of Florida.

It happens that one of those designated drop off points is New Orleans. And now for the convergence part, it also just happens that there are excellent one-way fares from New Orleans to various Florida cities, most notably Ft. Lauderdale. Driving roundtrip that deep into Florida gets a bit tiresome, but it becomes a whole lot more appealing when you can cover half the trip in a plane.

Continental (www.continental.com) currently offers one-way flights for $69 midweek, and that includes the taxes and fees. If you’d rather fly nonstop, Southwest (www.southwest.com) has flights starting at just a few bucks more and allows travel on select weekend flights.

You’re allowed to keep the car for up to fourteen days. For reasons I can’t explain, at $9.99 the weekly rate is slightly higher, but I’m not going to raise a whole lot of hell about the extra $2.99.

That means for twenty bucks you can take two weeks toodling around South Florida, maybe cross the Everglades and up through those tony west coast resorts, perhaps a stop at Wakulla Springs in the panhandle, or a little respite at Seaside.

The rental deal starts March 24 for cars returned through June 30, but the very cheapest dollar-a-day rate is only for reservations made in January. Get details HERE: www.hertz.com/rentacar/specialoffers/index.jsp?targetPage=FloridaDriveOut.jsp&Category=D

Unexpected Pleasures

2008-01-14T13:15:00.000-06:00

Free outdoor performances by the Joffrey Ballet, summer workshops by internationally acclaimed writers, jazz concerts by the fountain on a downtown pedestrian mall surrounded by upscale shops and dining choices that that range from French to Ethiopian cuisine. I’ll bet that right now you’re not imagining Iowa.

The Iowa caucuses are over now, that one moment every four years when everybody in the nation actually learns a bit about life in this Midwestern state. But the myriad images of candidates kissing pink piglets and eating loose meat sandwiches in small town diners isn’t quite the whole picture.

I’m just back from a holiday visit to the town in which I grew up, Iowa City. And like many small cities with big universities, it offers the best of two worlds—friendly small town ambience with cultural offerings one associates with much larger places. Last summer the Joffrey Ballet staged a series of outdoor performances there and in nearby communities. Every summer this community that is home to the acclaimed Iowa Writers Workshop where my favorite author Kurt Vonnegut once taught, offers workshops in which anyone can hone their skills. Summer means free jazz concerts as well in Iowa City’s downtown, which boasts a remarkable selection of shops, bookstores, clubs and restaurants. But you’ll need to wander a bit away from downtown to find a loose meat sandwich.

Not far away we had brunch to celebrate my mother’s eightieth birthday in a beautiful restaurant housed in an old converted power station. Its huge windows overlook the Iowa River, where upon hundreds of Canadian geese were taking a breather on their yearly migratory trek. We then drove just a few miles down the road to buy rhubarb preserves at a store in an Amish community that is still illuminated by gas lamps and had horse drawn buggies parked outside. A few miles further along the drive was a brand new casino, complete with a golf course cleared from the cornfields, a day spa and lots of clanging slot machines. Talk about a cultural crossroads.

My point in telling this tale is not really to plug my hometown, but to plant in your minds the seed of an idea for the New Year—that wonderful things to experience are to be found in unexpected places. So I hope this year is one in which you actively seek to break out of the box and find them.

More on the delights of Iowa City at www.iowacitycoralville.org.

USA Today just did a piece on bookstores worth traveling to visit. It appears I'm not the only one who's noticed the fine qualities of my hometown. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2008-01-09-nine-bookstore-destinations_N.htm

Want to Get Off the Beaten Path? Follow the Neon Signs.

2007-12-05T15:34:00.000-06:00

Okay, so we all know that in contemporary usage that expression is all about resisting the herd instinct. You go where others aren’t going, or in this case when they aren’t going. And folks just don’t flock to Las Vegas during the Christmas holidays. Who knows if that’s a bit of the Puritan gene pool poking through, but in any case, it makes for good deals. Several airlines have fares from New Orleans to Vegas starting under $200 on select dates in December, including Southwest, which is once again flying there nonstop. The trick to getting these fares is to leave the week before Christmas and return on Christmas Day.

The somewhat disturbingly named website, www.travelworm.com, has lots of Vegas hotel deals that often include extra perks, like a buffet or show ticket. (Not the Wayne Newton kind of show ticket, but one of the lesser known but very entertaining shows that seem to be everywhere.)

The castle-themed Excalibur hotel on “The Strip” has midweek rooms from $41. Off the strip deals at places like Arizona Charlie’s, include a breakfast buffet with midweek rates of $28.

Then over the weekend, when the rates go up, you hop in your rental car and head over to beautiful Zion National Park, two and a half hours away, and enjoy it without the summertime mobs.

I’ve not been to Vegas at Christmas, but I did attend Easter Mass there once. Yes there are churches, in what is actually quite a pleasant, very normal feeling community once you get a few blocks from The Strip. And since the cantor for the mass we attended was obviously someone who also sang in one of the city’s stage productions, we were treated to a series of particularly interesting showtune style renditions of our favorite hymns.

To find the best dates for cheap airfares, try www.kayak.com using its flexible search feature. Except for Southwest, which you’ll have to research at its site www.southwest.com.