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IT—Inside Traveler
By Jessie Johnston and Emily King

August 3, 2006:

Internet Itinerary

IT likes bikes. We don't necessarily ride them all that often (one of us didn't learn how until she was 13 and is still freaked out by sharing the road with cars), but they definitely rank highly in our pantheon of eco-friendly means of transportation. Since we're fond of bikes, we're always excited about helping those who ride them. So, this week, we're excited about Bikely.

This two-month old website is a database of bike routes around the world, posted by members (it's free to join) and available to everyone. Route listings include at the very least a Google map with numbered points, and more detailed ones include annotations about scenic views and other route features. All routes are available for download as .GPX files for use on a GPS device.

Since its launch, the site has already gathered 1,880 routes from a variety of different countries. Australia is currently the best represented by far (almost 800 routes), followed by the U.S. with over 500. Other growing lists include Brazil and Portugal, and there are small lists for the likes of Hungary, Sweden, and Japan. Distances covered range from a whimsical half-mile (765 m) around-the-block jaunt to an 1,868-mile (3,006-kilometer) transcontinental trek across Australia.

There is still much cyclable globe to be covered, though—two-wheeler hotbeds China and the Netherlands are still entirely unrepresented. To remedy the situation, Bikely is actively seeking new submissions. So don't keep the ride to work you took years to perfect a secret. Share it with your neighbor (and the rest of the cycling community). Or at least go look; maybe someone else has already posted a better one…

N.Y.C. à la Intern

A few months into her stint at National Geographic Traveler, editorial intern Husna Haq took a stab at a favorite staff ritual, the Big Apple weekend. Like all good interns, she took notes:

"Hoping to escape a steamy D.C. weekend, I headed to N.Y.C. intern-style—via New Century Travel's $35 round-trip bus. Chinatown buses are a cheap way to go, but I've learned a few lessons the hard way: Book ahead because climbing gas prices = full buses; get there early to get a seat in the front of the bus (back = eau de toilette, literally); and map out pick-up and drop-off locations or arrange for a ride when you arrive to avoid wandering under bridges and alleyways in search of a subway station in dark and chaotic Chinatown near midnight on a Friday night (but that's another blog entry).

"Having avoided those pitfalls this time around and safely heaved my belongings through Chinatown, I settled at my friend's Battery Park studio and we hit the town. In the West Village we enjoyed funky stores and great people-watching, as well as Dragonfly, a Pan-Asian restaurant that serves tasty food at reasonable prices.

"I can't pass a used bookstore without ducking in, and The Strand—which boasts '18 Miles of Books' including everything from $1 bargain books to rare editions of Dickens to eccentric staff picks—was no exception. It passed my test: I lost track of time, and got lost, literally, in its labyrinthine rows of shelves.

"A discovery: Times Square's TKTS booth isn't the only place to get discounted Broadway tickets the day of the performance. Head to the lesser-known South St. Seaport location for significantly shorter lines. The booth opens at 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday; get there earlier for the best choice and the shortest lines. TKTS doesn't accept credit cards, so bring cash or traveler's checks. And have a backup play in mind in case your first choice sells out. Lucky for us, we scored our first choice: 50 percent discounted orchestra tickets to Phantom of the Opera.

"When our lazy Sunday morning in SoHo turned into a steamy afternoon, we slipped into the closest coffee bar (and the closest I'll get to Paris in a while), Le Petit Café (156 Spring St., +1 212 219 9723), for cold gazpacho and iced coffee.

"Another place to beat the heat? The Met. Admission-by-donation, light-dappled courtyards for resting and reading, and great collections of Impressionist, Islamic, and Egyptian art—'nuff said."

From August 1, 2006:

Crazy for Cricket

Ever dedicated to furthering Traveler's quest for an authentic "sense of place," editorial intern Alexis Chema bravely immersed herself in an ancient rite of the Britons during a recent jaunt across the pond:

"A mere four hours after my flight arrived in the U.K., I was off to become an initiate into the most English of sports: cricket. For a (groggy) neophyte like me, a ballgame that requires knowledge of 42 official 'laws,' countless bylaws, a preamble, and multiple appendices seemed a bit off-putting at first, but the opportunity to experience a truly authentic pastime (cricket has been written about by English authors from Anthony Trollope to Charles Dickens, and played by the likes of Oliver Cromwell, P.G. Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle) ended up trumping my apprehension. And, to be fair, even familiar sports have their share of scary scientific blueprints, specialized jargon, and textbook-style diagrams.

"The match that we saw pitted the Middlesex Crusaders against the Sussex Sharks at bucolic Old Deer Park, which backs onto the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to several ethereal Victorian glasshouses that are just far enough from the cricket pitch not to be threatened by masterful batsmen.

"While a single Twenty20 match (a newly introduced version of the game that lasts about three hours—regular cricket matches can last up to five days) might not turn anyone into an expert on the 'glorious manly, British game,' you don't need to know a googly from a yorker to enjoy spending a sunny summer afternoon cheering for sixes (equivalent to home runs), chatting with local fans, and nursing a cold pint of ale."

IT still isn't sure about this sticky wicket business, but we like the sound of that last part…

And Baby Makes Three

Assistant editor Amy Alipio may be on maternity leave, but she's still living the Traveler life. She filled us in on her recent trip to the Outer Banks:

"This was my second stay in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and although I like mini-golf courses and family seafood restaurants as much as anyone, next time I'll be staying elsewhere in the Outer Banks—in Duck, for instance, where my husband and I took turns having spa treatments at the Sanderling Spa, while the other hung out with our two-month-old. While I waited for my facial, baby and I headed across the street to the Lifesaving Station Restaurant (housed in an actual U.S. Coast Guard post from 1899) for a bowl of non-gloppy, stone-ground oatmeal jazzed up with honey, toasted almonds, and dried cranberries.

"Or I might stay in Corolla, where we took my new suburban-mom SUV out on the beach for a spin. To get to this beach, take Rt. 12 all the way until the paved road ends, north of Corolla. It helps if you have your 4WD tires deflated about one-third—a tip we picked up later, on Ocracoke Island, when we went off-roading again, and this time got stuck in the sand. An incredibly helpful local couple who just happened to be driving past on the beach pulled us out of our rut with a tow chain and their vintage '56 army Jeep. They wouldn't accept any money for their efforts, but when my husband insisted on at least buying them a beer, they suggested we make a donation to Ocracoke preservation groups.

"In fact, the next time I'm in the Outer Banks, I'll opt to stay on Ocracoke, where the pace is slow and the vibe bohemian. The easiest way to get there is by a free (yes, free) ferry ride from Hatteras. The ferries take cars and leave about every half hour. We enjoyed iced lattes at the Ocracoke Coffee Company (226 Back Road, +1 252 928 7473), where a hammock-swing out front and comfy chairs inside practically force you to chill. There's also a small, interesting bookstore, Java Books, at the back of the café.

"Traveling with an infant for the first time, my husband and I realized we couldn't eat at just any nice place that caught our eye as we used to. Baby-friendly eateries we liked (i.e., big and busy enough to interest baby, and drown out her fussing once she got bored): the new Five Guys in Kill Devil Hills, an outpost of the Washington, D.C.-area made-to-order burger joint; the Weeping Radish, a boisterous German bierhaus serving authentic house-made ales and wursts, on Roanoke Island; and Pizzazz Pizza in Duck, which has a small outdoor patio with umbrellas—and, most importantly, has its own ice cream shop next door."

E-mail your feedback and tips to InsideTraveler@ngs.org.

Bookmark IT! www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/extras/blog/blog.html

For Emily King, Traveler's assistant to the editor, a waffle cone of coffee ice cream with chocolate fudge chunks is the cool-down method of choice. Researcher Jessie Johnston spends summer days pining for a cup of the sweet chestnut crème glacée she fell in love with one summer in Provence.

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