When I was at the Outdoor Retailer Show a couple of weeks ago in Salt Lake City, I spent quite a bit of time just walking the floor of this enormous trade show to see what's new on the market.

I was actually on the hunt for a pair of shoes with a travel theme - you know, little globes or airplanes on them. I was drawn into the Acorn booth where I discovered, no, not little globe or airplane shoes, but walls of vegan shoes. Yup, you read that right. For me, a vegetarian and a vegan-wanna-be-with-not-enough-will-power, this was super cool.

I began chatting with Charlie, one of the reps in the booth, only to discover that he's based in Bellevue, so we immediately connected. I told him what I was looking for, globes and airplanes, and he showed me something nearly as cool.

Vegan travel slippers!

The Tech Travel Mocs have a microfleece lining, soft shell uppers and textured faux suede outsole. These all combine to make it a super comfie shoe that wicks away moisture if you're going to be in a warm climate.

They're also flexible enough to fold in half and tuck into the handy mesh bag that comes with them. I can completely envision wearing these on a long plane flight where I take my shoes off to give my dogs some breathing room but never walk the aisles without something on my feet. Perfect for a long Indian train ride, too.

They're actually so comfortable that perhaps I won't just relegate them to my carry-on bag. No reason I can't wear them around the house :-)

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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Internationally renowned photojournalist Alison Wright was in a serious bus accident in Laos in 2000. She was nearly killed in that accident but was miraculously rescued by a British aid worker.

Alison will be speaking at Elliott Bay Books and Third Place Books reading from her new book, Learning to Breathe: One Woman's Journey of Spirit & Survival.

Thursday, August 21 at 7:30 p.m. Elliott Bay
Friday, August 22 at 7 p.m. Third Place Books

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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Malian guitar master, Habib Koite is opening a four-night run at Jazz Alley tonight. He'll be performing with his band, Bamada, at 7:30 and 9:30 through Saturday and at 7:30 on Sunday.

His latest release, Afriki, was released on the Cumbancha label last fall. It's a beautiful blend of traditional music from Mali and western rock and folk sounds.

Habib has performed on the David Letterman show and recorded with Bonnie Raitt on her 2002 release, Silver Lining. The guy's getting around and you don't want to miss this performance.

Tickets are $26.50.

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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Don't miss out on these author readings this week in the Seattle area!

Local women authors will be reading from How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel which includes hilarious stories about traveling with kids. They'll be speaking at Richard Hugo House on Tuesday, August 12th at 7 p.m. and at Queen Anne Books on Wednesday, August 13th at 6:30 p.m.

And, though she'll be reading from her first fiction book, Kira Salak is best known for her travel writing, including Four Corners and The Cruelest Journey. Join her at Elliott Bay Books on Saturday, August 16th at 2 p.m.

Have fun and...

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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I'm in Salt Lake City this week for the Outdoor Retailer Show which starts today.

I began my trip on Wednesday in Park City, about 30 minutes outside of SLC. I wanted to check out this great little town and experience some of their activities.

I just received this photo from the Olympic Park folks. This is just after I rode the bobsled down (at close to 70mph at 4 G's or so). Wowwie - this was the most bone-jarring thing I've EVER done. And I've ridden my motorcycle through Central America!

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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(For a motorcyclist, this isn't exactly a one tank trip, but for those of you driving your car, it will be.)

Normally when Jon and I head to the coast, we go to Cannon Beach. This weekend, however, we headed south on our Beamers to a friend's house near Nedonna Beach, about 45 minutes south of Cannon Beach. Not only was the destination new for us, but so was the route we took on the way down.

Riding south on I-5, we made a right at Portland and rode 26 west. After having been through some sprinkles and one pretty heavy rain squall, the sky opened up and the sun shone on the wheat fields and mountains along this route.

Feeling a bit hungry after a long day of riding (for us, it always takes longer to get to our destination on our bikes because we stop frequently to give out butts a break), we popped into the Beaverton McMenamins and enjoyed a light lunch before pushing onwards. Jon had checked the route on his iPhone for a suggested route through Google Maps and it showed what looked like a shortcut.

What a shortcut! We road south on 53 off of 26 and discovered one of the best motorcycle roads I've come across in a very long time. Motorcyclists love "twisties" and this one was filled with them. About 10 miles in all. Even though I was eager to make good time and arrive before dinner, I was fine with gently cruising along this road at about 20 mph.

There was lots of cooking going on as Meredith, Brad and their friend, Sarah, are brilliant in the kitchen. Brad is a fisherman and came home with crab and halibut for a feast on Saturday night and provided the salmon he had previously caught in Alaska. I had to fast on Sunday after all the amazing food on Friday night and ALL day Saturday.

After a walk on the beach on Saturday, we visited the local little towns just north of Nedonna including Manzanita and Nehalem. And we couldn't resist picking up a pie from the local pie shop for Saturday night's dinner.

Unfortunately, we hit a ton of traffic on the way on I-5 - I can't remember ever having hit so much traffic in south Washington near Chehalis and then again in Olympia and Tacoma. I thought people were avoiding driving - what happened?

I'm now back home for a couple of days before I head off to Park City for a little fun and then Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer Show this weekend.

Wherever you are headed to this summer...

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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I was wandering around in the International District yesterday with my Little Sister, Thao (she's Vietnamese - we've been connected through Big Brothers/Big Sisters for nearly eight years), and we stumbled upon a tai chi performance at Hing Hay Park. We were initially lured by the drumming. Thao thought it was a Lion Dance - the kind that's performed for Chinese New Year - but it was a small group of drummers and tai chi performers giving what appeared to be an impromptu performance. What a treat!

If you're not so lucky as to stumble upon such a performance in this diverse neighborhood, there are plenty of other things to enjoy in the ID.

We spent about an hour browsing the Kinokuniya Bookstore. Thao perused the manga comics and I pored over the cookbooks. Though I resisted making a purchase (I have enough international cookbooks to keep me busy for years!), I did find some really yummy ideas from books by Indian chef Madhur Jaffrey. Can't wait for cooler weather so I can pull out my hot spices. Of course I swung by the travel guides and was pleased to see that they even had a couple copies of my book!

Thao and I usually have dinner together once a week but neither of us was very hungry so we simply walked up and down the aisles of Uwajimaya. I made a mental note of all the items I wanted to try to create myself (notably California rolls and fried tofu) and other items that I'll add to my grocery list for cooking up later.

The streets were filled with the smells of Asian cooking flowing out of the restaurants. It reminded me so much of the markets in Vietnam and the streets of Bangkok, where food is prepared outside and everyone gets to enjoy the smells. Of course, it made me hungry, too!

Oh, and speaking of hunger, this would be a great place to mention the sandwich shop in Fremont where I ate with my friend, Val, last week. I've been meaning to try the Baguette Box for ages and finally had a chance to stop in there. Amazing.

I believe the owner is Vietnamese (thus I feel justified in tying this into my ID post :-). The bread was fresh and tasted nearly as good as the street vendors in Vietnam selling baguettes for, oh, .18 each. Though this wasn't that cheap, my crispy tofu sandwich was still under $5.

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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Me with traveling companions in Bhutan

I got together with some fabulous travel loving friends for brunch on Sunday at Cafe Campagne, where their brunch is amazing.

Deb mentioned that she was interested in spending a month in the Dolomites hiking hut-to-hut for a month and that she would probably go solo since she didn't know anyone interested in doing something similar. She lamented, "There really needs to be a website that matches up people based on their travel and athletic interests."

I mentioned Connecting: Travel Solo Network which has been going for years and is a great place to connect with like-minded people interested in travel. I then remembered a couple of websites that were mentioned to me just last week when I was being interviewed for Budget Travel Magazine. The interviewer asked my opinion about two sites that I hadn't ever heard of but they sounded like a great idea.

They are Travel Chums and Travel Acquaintance. Travel Chums is free and Travel Acquaintance is just $9.95 a year. CTSN is $50 for a lifetime membership.

Personally, I wouldn't ever let the fact that I don't have anyone to travel with stop me from going anywhere (and it wasn't going to stop Deb, either), but if you do feel like you'd like a little company on that next journey, start with one of these sites.

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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A Qantas jet with 345 people on board made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after a loud explosion was heard. The flight, from London to Melbourne, had just departed Hong Kong and meals served when the incident occurred.

Oxygen masks were deployed and the pilot immediately descended to 10,000 feet. The passengers reported that debris was flung through the plane. Amazingly, no passengers were hurt.

It was discovered that the fuselage had exploded, leaving a 9-foot hole in the side of the plane and damaging one of the wings.

Can you imagine?

The scariest flight I was ever on was one from Bentonville, Arkansas (don't ask why) when one of the engines went out. We had to make an emergency landing in Memphis. All was well and it wasn't until afterwards (when people were quick to tell me) just how serious a missing engine is.

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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It pains me to watch this only because I'm SO jealous that it's not me making this video.

Otherwise this is brilliant - simply brilliant. You must remember the first version of Matt Harding dancing around the world (including Fremont), so here he is... part II.

Travel Well!

Please read about my travels on my Wanderlust and Lipstick blog.

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