"You're going where?!" my father asked when I told him of my plans to go to Colombia. The Colombia he knows of, the one from the 1980's, is filled with cocaine, street violence, and Pablo Escobar's thugs. The country's days as a dangerous destination are gone, but its stigma ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Haiti
Not-so Dangerous Destinations
"You're going where?!" my father asked when I told him of my plans to go to Colombia. The Colombia he knows of, the one from the 1980's, is filled with cocaine, street violence, and Pablo Escobar's thugs. The country's days as a dangerous destination are gone, but its stigma ...Life Nomadic: The Art of Getting Mugged
After a safe return from Haiti, universally advertised as too dangerous to visit, my opinion on danger was stronger than ever. Everyone blows danger way out of proportion, and if you walk around confidently without being flashy, no one is going to rob you. Here in Santo ...Life Nomadic: What Couchsurfing in Haiti is Like
I'd never been to Haiti and I'd never tried couchsurfing, but since Haiti was just a $75 bus ride away ($67 if you have the foresight to pay in Pesos), I felt like I had no choice but to try it.
A search for couches in Port Au Prince yielded a few pages of results, with ...Gadling Take FIVE: Week of October 4 - October 11
Browsing through Gadling's offerings this week are posts about places from the people who have had first hand experience.
Jerry's trip to Pyongyang brought him an unexpected "history lesson on [his] own [Chinese] cultural heritage." His posts are an opportunity to ride ...How bad are things in Haiti?
Haiti is poor; we all know that. But just how bad are things?
Rising food prices have forced some residents of the poorest slums in Port-au-Prince to eat "cookies" made primarily of a dried yellow mud. Traditionally, pregnant women and children have eaten the cookies as an ...Gadling on the Road Archives
Here at Gadling we pride ourselves in putting our money where our mouth is. In other words, we write about travel because we are all travelers. This is our passion, this is our hobby, this is our life. Unfortunately, we can't all travel 100% of the time. But, when we do hit ...Haiti Part 6: A Few Last Words
Writing about my weekend fun and time spent in Haiti has been one of the most difficult dispatches to date. I spent a good number of hours in the country trying to come to terms that this magical western portion of Hispaniola was not living up to all the negative hype too ...Haiti Part 5: Festival Mizik Jakmel Update
Although Festival Mizik Jakmel, with headliners Stephen and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley did not make it into Gadling's Massively Huge 2007 Summer Music Fest Roundup, I mentioned the first-time event not long before I took a trip over to check it out on my own. Actually, at the ...Haiti Part 4: Art & Souvenirs
Art is everywhere in Haiti. Evidence of such can easily be seen long before arriving in the so-called arts epicenter of Jacmel. Within moments of hitting the bustling Port-au-Prince streets I found myself googly-eyed, head turning left and right just trying to zone in on ...Haiti Part 3: Hotel Cyvadier & Other Jacmel Hotels
Before I took off to Haiti I was told of a number of beach towns in south worth hanging around on a weekend getaway, but Jacmel was always the top recommendation. One reason being the wealth of beach-side accommodation and eclectic hideaways found in the magical ...Haiti Part 2: Kreyl Cuisine
One might imagine that food and its preparation between each Caribbean island couldn't possibly vary drastically in taste, but then one would be wrong. I've learned now through an odd handful of islands visited; St. Lucia, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago and now Haiti, that ...Haiti Part 1: A Country with a VERY Bad Reputation
None of my close friends and family was sure why exactly I wanted to visit the western most side of Hispaniola, also known as Haiti. Like most people their minds had been beset by images of rallying city folk advancing the streets with machetes in hand, spirits flying loose ...Festival Mizik Jakmel
World music lovers listen up and get ready to pen this one on your festival calendar if you haven't already. On May 25-27, 2007 a beach not quite as well known to the world as those on the neighboring country will play host to the Haiti's first international music festival. ...Haitian Voodoo Pilgrimage
Here is one that may not tickle the fancy of all on this particular Sunday morning and could have possibly been a topic on the recently past Friday the 13th, but I discovered the news yesterday and found the time to explore it more and pass it on to interested arm-chair ...The World's Most Dangerous Destinations for 2007
Here at Gadling, we usually profile places people WANT to go. However, sometimes it's useful to mention places to avoid. Consequently, here's an interesting (and not altogether surprising) list of the 2007's 12 Most Dangerous Destinations:
Somalia
Iraq
...Word for the Travel Wise (01/29/07)
As I mentioned earlier, I hear a personal vacation to Hispaniola calling. I not only want to go to the Dominican Republic, but I'd also like to venture into Haiti for a few days and see the differences between the two countries on the tiny Caribbean island with two very ...Hispaniola Calling
Sometime in say, the next three months I am planning to escape to the Caribbean and this year's pick happens to be the island in the West Indies comprised by the two countries we know as the Dominican Republic and Haiti. I want to go to both. As much as I like digging my ...Polo's Bastards Top 10 Worst Destinations
With the current conflict going on between Ethiopia and Somalia, my mind immediately began to wonder what the writers at Polo's Bastards had been up to and what dangerous lands they've been exploring. Last time I checked in they'd just posted a piece on Rio's favelas. Since ...Spirit Airlines to Offer Flights to Port-au-Prince
In today's competitive airline industry carriers have to think outside of the box, be sharper than a razor's edge and fly to destinations where many dare not to go. As of recent, the low-cost carrier, Spirit Airlines, has filed an application with the federal government to ...Word for the Travel Wise (12/07/06)
Now here is a word you can surely get away with doing some sign language to get your point across if needed, but things would probably go so much smoother if you knew it off the top of your head. It could save you the extra dizziness you could be experiencing from your achy ...
