Posts Tagged ‘travel’

Planners, pandas, and China

Posted March 29, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Pens, Paper & People, Where to Go? | Add your comment »

Chet Chin, whose awesome DIY Habana planner we blogged about back in January, recently traveled to the Bifengxia Panda Base in China’s Sichuan province for an annual volunteer trip. While there, she snapped this picture of her planner from her hotel room in Ya’an City.

“The impressive lighted roof in the background houses a historical looking building that’s actually a shopping mall with quaint little shops selling local stuff, including Chinese tea,” she writes. You can see a photo of the same view in daylight on her blog, and a bunch of great panda pics on Flickr.

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Where to go: Sakatchewan, Myrtle Beach, Virginia

Posted July 16, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Where to Go? | Add your comment »

Thanks to John for our latest “Where to Go” entry… a rich and varied half-year of travel to Canada and within the U.S.

Based out of North Carolina, we have had a fun travel year this year so far. I started with a trip to Lafleche, Saskatchewan at the end of January, where the high temperature was -19 °C, and the low was around -35 °C. Big town, population currently listed as 380. My family homesteaded into Canada in the early 1900’s to a small hamlet located southwest of Lafleche, a much bigger town with current population of around 40.

lafleche

During the Easter school break, we spent some family time at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

myrtle-beach

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Where to go: Win a Clairefontaine “Basics” notebook!

Posted April 9, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Where to Go? | 1 comment »

Basics_Atmosphere

As many of you know, our name, Quo Vadis, means “Where are you going?” in Latin. Well, we want to find out where you’re going these days—tell us, and you could win a free notebook.

I went to Wolfe Island in March. Karen went to Orient Beach. Biffybeans went drumming, and Kate Marshall went to Cook Forest.

So whether it’s a city or a statue, a mountain or a winery, send us a paragraph or three about your favorite spot (with pictures, if possible!) and let us know what’s so cool about it. Then, we’ll put it up on the blog, and at the end of each month, you’ll be entered in a random drawing to win a free Clairefontaine “Basics” notebook in your choice of color (red, green, tan or black) and binding (clothbound, staplebound or spiral). Eventually, we’ll put together a special section in the blog with everybody’s input—a sort of eclectic travel guide.

More details after the jump…

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Backpacker travel trends and culture

Posted March 19, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Cabinet of Curiosities | Add your comment »

coast_project

One of the coolest things about being a part of this blog is the opportunity it gives Karen and me to learn about random, fun, and interesting corners of the internet—and get to know the people involved.

We were thrilled to discover that Izuno Travel’s Jordan Needham likes the look of our journals. We were also thrilled to discover Izuno Travel itself. It sounds like an interesting project, and it’s been great to read old posts and learn about the site’s mission. I particularly like Jordan’s “Long Live Shantytown” photographs, which, if I understand correctly, were inspired by her realization that “Colby Jack cheese, sliced thin, resembles [the] coastline of the earth at around 10,000 ft.”

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Eat my winter words

Posted March 3, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Where to Go? | 1 comment »

By now it’s more than obvious to most of the American East Coast, but in spite of last week’s balmy temperatures, winter is far from over here! After about 12 hours of travel and rerouting and delays, we got back from Canada yesterday to find NYC buried in snow.

There wasn’t much snow up north, but boy, was it cold. That meant plenty of skating if you could stand to be outside, and also plenty of pond hockey that I enjoyed watching from the safety of a nearby bonfire. It was a very impressive operation… there was even a makeshift Zamboni on a tractor to smooth the ice between games.

wolfe-island-zamboni

Other impressive cold weather feats: the SUV parked on ice — I wasn’t there to see it get on or off, alas — and the massive ferry (we were in Wolfe Island, off the coast of Kingston, Ontario) that lumbered through the frozen St. Lawrence river every hour. All in all, a lovely winter weekend!

wolfe-island-suv

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Because winter’s just too short

Posted February 26, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Where to Go? | Add your comment »

greenmountainvalley

It’s been a pretty good winter up here in the mid-Atlantic—cold but not bone-chilling, a couple decent bouts of snow. Whereas in the summer, I often drive out to the Ramapo Mountains on the weekend to go hiking, in winter we just head to the nearest frozen lake (weather permitting) and skate. And now that the day here in Brooklyn is gorgeous and mild (high of 50!)… we’re headed up to Canada for one last truly wintery weekend. We’ll fly into Syracuse this evening, then drive up to Kingston and catch a ferry to Wolfe Island.

Saturday in Brooklyn: high of 44. Saturday in Wolfe Island: high of 22, and hopefully plenty of ice…

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Attention parents… are you ready for summer travel?

Posted June 6, 2008 by Leah Hoffmann
in Planning Tips | Add your comment »

linda-kagan.jpg

Are you going on vacation this summer? Will your kids be traveling solo, or going away to camp? If so, you might want to check out Forms4Parents.com, a website created by New York based lawyer (and mom) Linda Kagan that can help you organize your child’s and your summer travel. Here, Linda talks about what you’ll need to get ready:

Summer is here. Our children will begin to travel with grandparents, on their own or with a teen travel organization, and likely to other countries.

To make the experience better for our children (and those daring enough to travel with them), it’s best to make sure the proper travel and medical forms are in place. That way, you’ll know that you won’t be called on suddenly to sign a medical authorization, and that your children won’t be stopped at the border because a notarized authorization is not in hand.

The key is having comprehensive information about your children’s doctors, allergies, medicines, special needs, insurance, etc. on the forms that will accompany your children as they (or you) travel. In addition, it always helps to have the family rules clearly outlined for your children and their brave caregivers to minimize the endless negotiations about which tv shows, computer games, bedtimes, chores they can watch and must do. You should also provide contact information for each parent.

To make it easier, I created a website that allows parents to create necessary travel, medical and other types of authorizations, as well as a Family Rules form, online in a matter of minutes. It’s called Forms4Parents.com, and it’s dedicated to helping you organize your child’s and your summer travel.

Happy travels!

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