London may be a notoriously difficult city to find good food, but don’t despair foodies: an insider’s guide to the best eats in town.

By Michele Giordano

Ah, the good ole English drinking tea, riding the tube and gaining their incredible wit from the awful weather. An English friend of mine once said to me, “You need to always be prepared to experience four seasons in one day.” As an island, the climate is far from tropical, bringing immediate showers, gray skies and fast moving clouds that can capture your gaze. London transportation, weather conditions and the best spots for teas are only part of the traveling experience in London, but finding the truly best places to eat around town is how to really understand the city and the English.

It can be hard for any traveler to find the right places to eat, and this is perhaps no more true than in London, a city that it’s fair to say, does not have the best culinary reputation. Before heading somewhere, I usually end up spending weeks researching, asking friends and skimming food websites to find out where the best places are to eat. For me to really experience a destination, I need to be immersed in the foods, flavors, spices, markets and restaurants of the locals.

This is why I ate my way through London for three months and acquired my own list of favorites. With the free museums, spending extra on a good meal seemed reasonable and proved not to be so difficult. The food of London is defined by some traditional English dishes: bubble and squeak; black pudding; fish and chips; bangers and mash; and salted beef beigels. Yet, if you understand the diversity of London, then you also know that there is a lot more to enjoy on a food tour of London. (more…)

Having just finished rereading “A Moveable Feast,” it’s enticing to think that there’s a place on Earth right now that may have that same spirit that Paris did for the “Lost Generation,” a time when the French capital was cheap, artist-friendly, and ground zero for ex-pats in pursuit of their creative endeavors. (The best chapter is easily the one where Hemingway muses about an early morning spent wandering the uncrowded streets of the 6th arrondissement; hungry, poor, and completely inspired to write.)

Smithsonian magazine’s cover article this month takes a look at the phenomena that is Buenos Aires in this, the early part of the 21st century. A good Friday afternoon read (you know, it’s summer, don’t pretend like you’re getting anything done at work right now), the author explores how cheap rents, favorable exchange rates, an influx of artists, and a creative spirit is helping to transform BA into this century’s “it” city.

This quote from an American ex-pat pretty much wraps up the allure the “Paris of South America” has for foreigners right now:

“Buenos Aires seems to be a place where people come to figure their lives out,” says Kristie Robinson, 30, who moved to the city more than three years ago from London and founded The Argentimes, a biweekly English-language newspaper. “If you come with some money saved up, you can live comfortably for six months, a year. You can pretend you are in Europe here for a quarter of the cost.”

Putumayo has released their newest offering just in time for the summer months: Italia, an ode to the “spirit of la dolce vita with a contemporary flair.”

The above is track number 11 on the disc, Alessandro Mannarino, an Italian singer/songwriter who bears a striking similarity to the trombone from Conan O’Brien’s band, don’t you think? Good stuff, check it out.

Kuna Yala, the coastal area of Panama along some of the most picturesque parts of the Caribbean that you’ll ever see, is home 72,000 Kuna, the native people that call this piece of paradise home. In actuality, most of the Kuna live on one of the 365 islands off shore, a chain of coral atolls where everyday life seems light years away from the hustle and bustle of nearby Panama City, as was experienced in this article in the UK Times.

Travelers here have the opportunity to explore the many islands. Take heart though, you won’t be overrun by tourists in these parts. “Anyone expecting the bland luxury of a Four Seasons-style resort will be disappointed. The few lodges on the islands are made of the local materials, thatched in palm with walls of bamboo and shutters which are simply planks of wood.” Sounds good to me, now if we could only do away with the other Four Seasons . . .

John and Cara, that intrepid couple who’ve been perilously testing the boundaries of their nascent marriage by deciding to spend their honeymoon traveling the world together for two years, headed to Machu Picchu for a glimpse of Incan engineering at its best.

Highlight: 1:57 when the dense layer of clouds lift and the ruins are seen in their full glory. Is there anything more spectacular to see in the world?

I almost forgot to even do this today, forgetting it was Wednesday due to the Monday holiday. For those international visitors to the site, Monday was a holiday here in the U.S. having to do something with women being allowed to wear white pants again, or something of that nature. (Just kidding, it was Memorial Day, honoring troops, past, present, etc . . . no disrespect, please no hate e-mail from Iraqi military bases.)

• Like I mentioned earlier, this new airline, JetAmerica, is enticing the fine folks living in Toledo, Minneapolis, Lansing and South Bend with $9 flights to Newark (basically NYC). They’re going fast; apparently the cheap Melbourne, Florida, tix are already gone.

• Who isn’t going to Spain this summer? Well, I’m not, but I do plan on studying Spanish this summer, something I neglected to do last summer, so maybe in ’10. Too bad, because fares are jaw-droppingly low from NYC: $460 to Madrid, $519 to Barcelona; and only about $100 more for flights from the West Coast (that’s taxes, fees, everything but in-flight bubbly).

• I feel bad because these Wednesday posts seem to be US-centric, but for those of you living in Tonga, this one’s for you: flights out of Nukuʻalofa are only $575 to Los Angeles (and vice-versa). If you’re in LA, you can also head to pretty much all over the Pacific for under $700 as seen in that last link. But remember Tonga, I thought of you first.

A new carrier named JetAmerica (how creative) recently announced its arrival on the scene of low-cost airlines, targeting “B” and “C” markets (Toledo, South Bend, Lansing, and Newark) where airports are quick to subsidize routes servicing their ailing destinations.

Perhaps Lansing may not be your first pick for a getaway, but for $9 each (going to the first 9 to 19 seats sold on each flight), you can bet budget seekers will be rethinking their travel plans (plus, if you didn’t know it already, flying into Newark is just as good, if not better than flying to any of the inner-NYC airports). The upshot? Hopefully success begets expansion.

I can see no better way to deal with the financial crisis than to completely ignore the whole thing and use it as an excuse to go ahead and do what you’ve had in the back of your mind for years: volunteer abroad. Please note, this last statement was intended for most everyone, except for those working in the Obama administration, in which case I strongly urge you to ignore me (as hard as that may seem, I’m sure) and keep doing what you’re doing and help get the world out of this mess.

Anyway, Alix over at Bootsnall lists five reasons why right now is the perfect time to volunteer abroad, including the fact that your minuscule bank account will likely go much further in most parts of the world than your own; you’re not working now anyway, so why not do something to boost your resume; and finally, why not do your part and help out those who have been experiencing their own global recession their entire lives?

Because who else’s advice on where you should stuff your face as you travel the world than that of someone who’s not only a chef, but a celebrity as well? Here’s some interesting and surprising suggestions from the likes of Morimoto, Keller, and Pépin on where to eat in New York, Paris, Italy, India, etc . . .

I have to admit, I’ve been reading/watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain lately (specifically his latest book, The Nasty Bits), and he’s completely opening my eyes to the whole celebrity chef thing, phenomena, whatever you want to call it. Something I apparently missed out on during the last few years. And while I find it interesting, I have to say, I think it’s about time that the celebrity travel blogger thing also takes off too. Don’t you agree?

Uganda, the “pearl of Africa,” is catching the eyes of adventure seekers traveling to Africa in search of hiking, bungee jumping, kayaking, wildlife encounters and, as experienced by this article in the NYT, white-water rafting, some of which is the best in the continent.

Even better, far from the dark days under the rule of Idi Amin, Uganda is actually one of the continent’s most stable and safe countries, and with prices a fraction from what you’d pay in nearby safari-centric nations (Kenya, Tanzania), Uganda should be at the top of the list for those traveling to East Africa.

Though the rafting trip taken in the above article seems to be mostly made up of amateurs, I’d advise anyone thinking of going to at least take a look at this group experiencing the “bad place” of the Nile before electing to take the so-called “wild” rapids over the “mild.” Forget a life jacket, I’d be wearing scuba gear here.

Come trek into northern Thailand to visit the hill tribes that call this remote corner of the world home. But beware, after visiting, you may want to do the same too.

By Justin Calderon

The reflection of me in her metallic bonnet said it all. The red hue of ultraviolet contamination could be seen slowly contrasting into my pale skin. The mirror image projecting from the overlaying pieces of metal upon her head made my lanky body appear double in size as if I was meandering through a carnival fun house.

As she pursed open her lips, black teeth jutted out, bearing more resemblance to sharp obsidian shards than incisors. In the northern Akha hill tribes of Thailand, black teeth are considered as beautiful as white diamonds. The shiny metallic necklaces and hats they adorn themselves with are worn to trap the spirits around them and ward of those who mean harm. Deep in the humid jungle, an hour drive north of the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand near the imaginary Burmese border (there are no roads between Burma and Thailand in this region), I began my trek amongst the two hill tribes that populate the region, the Akha and the Karen. Along with several other backpackers and a Karen translator, we made haste towards the humid rolling hills of the north.

Your quintessential travel package will take you on a three-day, two-night hike around the northern hills. These packages come in various lengths depending on your contacts in Chiang Mai. The area surrounding the Golden Triangle, a border touching Burma, Thailand, and Laos — infamous for trafficking an insurmountable amount of controlled animals, drugs and weapons — is inhabited by various hill tribes that exist far from traveling interlopers and the paved roads of Bangkok. (more…)

Because everyone knows that walking around the city is just so pedestrian (rimshot) — eh, sorry, I’m ready for the holiday weekend. But seriously, what cooler way to explore the 470 square miles that make up the San Francisco Bay than on the actual water itself? The LA Times has this article on several companies that offer all level of sea voyagers the chance to take a kayaking expedition into the sometimes perilous waters of the bay (that’s what makes it fun: the off chance you might capsize during a freak squall).

Trips go anywhere from the marshes of San Leandro Bay (“where you are treated to views of basking harbor seals, wading herons and snowy egrets, a host of shorebirds and occasional flights of sandpipers”), to the shorelines of the city itself (“past McCovey Cove and the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark, the soaring towers of the Bay Bridge and the historic Ferry Building”).

To see birds: California Canoe & Kayak

To see humans and their structures: City Kayak

A stop over at Travel + Leisure’s web site reveals a link to the revamped site design (click here to preview it). The most noticeable difference is the 2.0-esque widening of the site itself, a clear improvement on the narrow, crowded interface of the old design.

The white background has been supplanted by a cool, icy blue motif behind the logo and the navigation bar has been simplified and cleaned up. But most noticeably and perhaps most annoyingly, the feature article section that used to list each article from top to bottom by date, has been replaced with the oh-so-annoying, trendy slideshow graphic. Except for the fact that I’m not a fan of having to wait for the slideshow to cycle through to see what articles I’m being presented, I don’t like the fact that we only see the five articles that they chose to highlight, whereas before they listed over 20 articles.

I, TheExpeditioner.com, give the new site . . . wait for it . . . 2 1/2 stars out of 4.