Going Local Travel

Help Londoners find a new name for their bikes

1 Written by Vicky Baker on July 30, 2010 – 4:42 pm

London gets its own bike scheme today. Finally. Hurrah. It’s modelled on the Bixi here in Montreal, and for that reason I wrote a comparative piece for the Guardian today: In Montreal’s tracks.

There’s a lot of cynicism floating around right now, but I have no doubt they will catch on. Londoners are, by nature, a cynical bunch and put us up against an in-your-face corporate sponsorship deal and we see red. Or, worse, Barclays blue. Barclays Blue sprayed all over the Barclays Cycle SuperHighways. Yuck. There is probably truth in the reports that blue was chosen before the sponsorship deal was struck, but, coincidence or not, it’s still stomach turning.

I appreciate that sponsorship money is important, but TFL and Boris struck a lame deal. They should have insisted they were called the Barclay’s XXsomethingXX, ie give them a very strong association, but not let them take over completely. Barclays Cycle Hire is not just unimaginative, it’s devious. No one is going to call the bikes, ‘Cycle Hire’. The word Barclays will always have to be used.

“I am just going to hop on my Barclays bike”, “I’ll be with you in as soon as I’ve jumped on a Barclays.” Sounds rubbish. Will it catch on? Maybe it will have to…

I kind of like the idea of creating a ‘nickname of the people’. We come up with a snappy alternative, circulate it round the net, then get it into common parlance. It’s possible. A bit like we call the London Underground, the Tube. All we need is Twitter and a good hashtag – #newnameforLondonbikes #dontsaybarclays

Someone on a blog somewhere suggested the CyLon. I like that. I could even handle the Barclays CycLon. But that’s a brand name, rather than a nickname.

As for nicknames, so far there is a lot of talk of ‘Boris bikes’. Bet Boris loves that. Bet Ken doesn’t.  (For those who don’t know: Boris is the current mayor, behind this flashy launch. Ken is his arch-rival  and the former major, who really set the wheels rolling on this scheme.)

People are complaining that we don’t have a snazzy name like the Paris Velib, but as I have just learnt: Velib is heavily funded by JC Decaux, the billboard company. They don’t get to brand the bikes in return, instead they get extra ad space all around town.

Above is a picture of me  on my Bixi. It’s not a great quality snap, but I think you will note it is not coloured by sponsorship. It has, instead, a nice tint of rose. Or is that just me? Ah, I love my Bixi. I will miss it when I’m gone.

Buenos Aires is “overhyped” and “annoying”

2 Written by Vicky Baker on July 30, 2010 – 6:55 am

Buenos Aires – overhyped and annoying? So says the New York Post in this recent article, What’s the deal with Buenos Aires?

It’s an interesting take. The author, like many residents, has a love-hate relationship with the city, which is not something that often makes it into the travel press.

So, are we ‘over’ Buenos Aires?

Well, nothing could be more ‘annoying’ than that line of thinking, but at the same time I can’t help thinking a BA backlash was inevitable. I have very rarely found anyone who is disappointed with it, but it is true that it has been massively hyped in recent years.

I first visited the city in 2003. This is hardly pioneering, yet at the time I didn’t know anyone in my personal circle of friends who had been. I was shocked by what I found, partially because I had very few preconceptions. I loved it and, like many, I went on to sing its praises to anyone who would listen.

BA has now been the talk of the travel industry for some years and I have lost count of how many people I know from the UK who have spent time there.

The tone of this New York Post article bugs me (as do a few standout lines that I’ll let you discover for yourself), but it’s got me thinking and I do agree with some points.

Let’s face it, when a lot of Europeans and Americans fell in love with BA in the mid 2000s, the currency was a factor. A few years ago tourists could go wild in its restaurants without even looking at the prices. And that includes the backpackers. This is changing.

These days the average European traveller can still consider an occasional ‘blowout’ in the best restaurants in town (whereas in London or New York these places wouldn’t even be on the radar), but overpriced, midrange Palermo Soho is fast catching up with overpriced, midrange London Soho. And as prices continue to rise, BA is not the bargain-basement holiday destination it once was.

Secondly, following all the hype, new visitors to BA expect to be bowled over instantly. But as the writer says, BA is less about the sights, more about the people, the barrios, the vibe and the nightlife. The Time Out BA City Guide has a nice take on this in its intro.

It’s also true that the Palermo scene has indeed become increasingly formulaic over the last few years, with every new bar becoming a stereotypical Wallpaper wannabe. But every city follows this same pattern. As the cool parts of town get increasingly expensive and well-trodden, they get inversely less ‘cool’. Fortunately, like in all cities, there are always up-and-coming places, putting the excitement back in. I think we’re going to see more and more of that in BA. Barracas, Colegiales, Chacarita, Villa Crespo: watch these spaces.

Reading the NY Post piece also reminded me of two things I have come across recently:
1) Firstly, a blog post by The Man who Fell Asleep. Half English and half Argentine, he’s been coming to BA since he was a kid and confesses he can’t help having a bit of resentment for everyone suddenly jumping on the BA bandwagon.
2) Secondly, the  song Puerto Madero by half American, half Argentinian singer Kevin Johansen. It includes some great lines about how “All the people that come to visit want to stay. And all the people who live here want to go away”.

So, is Buenos Aires annoying at times? Of course it is. Especially  if you were to step in dog shit while running for the bus only to find you have no monedas to pay the fare. But London is also annoying, when you slip on a tossed-away, free newspaper and find every bloody Tube line is down for engineering works. What big city isn’t annoying?

I like the idea of more warts and all travel pieces, but the warts are by nature very personal growths and can also be deceiving in their own way.

For the record, I am definitely not ‘over’ Buenos Aires. And neither, it turns out, is the writer from the NY Post.

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons by Phillipe Taringo

NYC cracks down on sublets and ‘no-tels’

1 Written by Vicky Baker on July 23, 2010 – 11:53 pm

If you like the idea of renting an apartment during a short break in New York, you could be facing some problems if new legislation is pushed through. The controversial proposal could make it illegal to rent an apartment in the city for any period under 30 days.

The “subletting” bill – which has been passed by senators and is currently awaiting final approval from the state governor – has been designed to crack down on illegal hotels that cause problems for permanent residents by depleting the local housing pool and creating noise and security issues. However, it is feared the ban will affect growing online networks, such as AirBnB, Craigslist, Crashpadder and Homeaway, which allow travellers to find short-term accommodation in privately owned properties.

This is an extract from a piece I wrote on the New York ‘no-tel’ crackdown that was published today on Guardian.co.uk.

The proposed new law is complicated and the surrounding issues even more so. I spent yesterday poring over the wording of the bill itself, consulting lawyers and talking to the owners whose websites likely to be affected. (Of course, I was still accused by a typical troll of ‘lazy journalism’ but that is par for the course.)

Personally, I can definitely see some benefit in cracking down on dodgy operators, but this plan seems very poorly thought out.

When I spoke to Joe Gebbia of AirBnB, he made another very interesting point: if you can only rent for over 30 days, what happens in February?

Splitting hairs? Maybe. But there are so many things here that are impractical. They can’t possibly enforce it as it stands.

Laywer Michael T Sillerman also added: “Zoning and building codes used to try and have black and white rules: a hotel is for short-term use, an apartment is for long-term use. Soho used to be a manufacturing area but now everyone wants to live, shop and eat in Soho. We are in an era of mixed use. Past models have been exploding.” Black and white doesn’t work anymore. And as overlooking B&Bs, all sites like AirBnB and general trends of how people live their lives these days, well, that is one huge bit of grey that they seek to erase.

I don’t think the authorities are really out to get these people, but why create a law that makes criminals out of decent, responsible citizens and tourists?

Surely the governor can’t pass it without going back to the drawing board? That’s what I’d like to think anyway. Let’s wait and see. There may well be some developments over the weekend…

Photo: Flickr Creative Commons by Echiner1

Learning French in Quebec

2 Written by Vicky Baker on July 22, 2010 – 4:49 am

So here I am at summer school in Montreal. I’m into my third week of French refresher classes at UQAM (L’Université du Québec à Montréal). Keeping up the location independent way of life, I have signed up for the intensive morning course, which leaves me with the afternoons/evenings to earn a living and pay the cheap rent in a houseshare I found on Craigslist. However, others students in my class have also signed up for the afternoon sessions that include trips around town. There is even a ‘French with Jazz’ program to tie in with the city’s famous summer Jazz Festival.

Montreal is a wonderful place to live, but learning French here presents some hurdles. First, it is all to easy to get lazy and take advantage of the local bilingualism. If you really want to improve, it’s on your shoulders to make the effort and I don’t have a great track record at this. Last time I lived in Montreal (aged 19), I ended up working in an Irish pub.

There is also the accent to contend with. The Québécois way of speaking is known as joual. This sees simple words like ‘moi’ being turned into ‘moé’ (sounding more like the Spanish way of saying ‘muy’). Famously, when Québécois films are showing in France, they often come with subtitles.

That said I’m going to try and give some local films a go, starting with the highly acclaimed J’ai Tué Ma Mere (above), which many said should have received an Oscar nomination. Looking at the trailer and the speed they talk at, I may need to keep a finger close to the rewind button.

Personally, I am a fan of the drawling Quebec accent and it’s much easier slotting into the French of Quebec than doing something as silly as trying to learn totally-non-standard Spanish in Argentina.

Actually, my exposure to Québécois French on this trip has, so far, been minimal. Aside from day to day contact in shops and cafes, my main contact comes from my teacher (from France), my fellow students (from all over) and my housemates (three out of four from France). I guess I should follow my own advice and get to know more locals. Fortunately, I still have time. Five weeks to go…

Jump on da Bixi bikes in Montreal

4 Written by Vicky Baker on July 20, 2010 – 4:13 am

To my great excitement my Bixi key arrived in the post last week. Bixi is the name of the public bike system here in Montreal. (Bike + taxi = Bixi.)

Having paid $28, I can now grab a Bixi from any of the main pick-up points over town and ride for 30 minutes without charge. It’s then an extra $1.50 if I go over that. Or I can dock the bike for five minutes and after that it’s mine again for free.

Having heard so much about these systems, especially the Paris Velib, I am very pleased to finally have the chance to try it out for myself.

To say I am impressed would be an understatement. I have become slightly obsessed. I now refuse to walk or take the bus or metro anywhere. It’s Bixi all the way. When on Saturday night I stopped off for takeaway (a poutine, naturally), just two blocks for my house, I insisted on picking up a Bixi to take me to my door. This probably worked off 0.0001% of the poutine grease.

I am sure the novelty will wear off, but Bixis have certainly helped me re-find my bearings and make me feel very settled.

Bikes are the local choice for get around Montreal’s compact city centre. The authorities have recently ploughed $134 million into improving the cycleways and there are now 2,400 miles of trails. 70% of residents don’t own cars and there is very little traffic on most of the residential streets.

In winter, they have to find other means. The Bixis are only outed for half the year. Cycling on ice is much less fun.

Although using them only in summer means the docking stations can be solar powered, which is admirable.

Of course, nothing is perfect and there are a few drawbacks. Sometimes you come to a stand and found all the bikes are taken, or all the rows are full so you can’t drop it back. On my way to the Toi Moi Cafe in Mile End (where I am right now – great terrace, huge selection of coffee), I got stumped twice by having nowhere to park. Luckily, there are a lot more stations in the city this year so I got luck on the third try and I only had to walk a couple of blocks back.

I’m going to keep on Bixi-ing until the end of August, so I’m sure I’ll find plenty more pros and cons.

On Friday night, I was singing its praises over dinner at this good-value, family-run Portuguese restaurant (Chez Doval) in front of some friends, when one alerted me to a video a friend of theirs had made: an unofficial Bixi anthem performed in a reggaeton style while wearing vintage Montreal Expo tracksuits. What’s not to love? I think I just found my soundtrack to the summer.

And on that fine mock-reggaeton note, I have finished my coffee and I am now going to Bixi home…

Offline networking: tips on travelling solo

5 Written by Vicky Baker on July 9, 2010 – 9:27 pm

During my recent stay in Miami I decided to take my travel networking offline. How? With the oldest trick in the book. It goes a little something like this…

1) Go to bar
2) Sit at the bar
3) Order a drink
4) Get out a notebook
5) Wait

In my experience, sooner or later, someone will come up and ask what you are writing about.

In Miami, I was also blessed with some good luck. On my first night, I went to Haitian restaurant Tap Tap and I didn’t even have chance to get to step 4. I asked the barmaid who owned the bar and she said ‘You’re sitting right next to him’. Before long, we were engaged in deep conversation, broken only when he disappeared to fetch props (and people) to illustrate his point – a Haitian DVD here, a map there, until finally he brought me to meet Manno Charlemagne, a revolutionary musician who also served as mayor of Port-au-Prince and who now plays in the bar every week.

Luck plays a big part, but open-mindness and an ability to go with the flow is even more crucial. Also, I should point out that there are a few sub-rules to the above plan:

a) A notebook works better than a laptop. Hiding behind a screen makes you look unapproachable.

b) Go easy on the alcohol. No one wants to talk to the strange drunkard. As a solo female traveller, you definitely don’t want to be this person.

c) Mid-afternoon to early evening during midweek is the best moment. Not at 10pm on a Saturday. In the latter scenario, you’ll lose the aura of an enigmatic stranger who just happens to have popped in for a little refreshment between other plans and instead you’ll look more like a loser with no one to hang out with on a Saturday night.

d) Note that this technique doesn’t always work. Sometimes you have to be prepared to make the first move yourself. Or sometimes you don’t meet anyone at all. If you’re comfortable with your own company for half an hour or so and not completely starved of company, this shouldn’t be a problem.

e) Sit at the bar, not at a table hidden away in the far corner. Similarly, don’t go and bother the person already sitting at the table hidden away in the far corner. They picked that for a reason. People sitting at the bar are the ones more open to spontaneous chat with strangers.

f) Have a good opening gambit. When someone asks me what I am writing and I say ‘notes for an article about this city’, 99% of people have an opinion they want to share. However, if you’re not a journalist, a dose of genuine interest does the job just fine. “I’m jotting down some of my favourite spots in town” will often do it. “Really? What have you got?” they’ll ask, before no doubt telling you what you’ve missed.

g) Don’t expect to instantly make life-long friends. Just look at it as a nice, little interlude and the potential chance to get a few local tips. Anything else is a bonus. (Like the time on the same Miami trip when I got talking to the Argentinian barmaid and realised we had a mutual friend from Buenos Aires, and we then proceeded to hangout for two days straight.)

h) On the flipside of the coin, if you’re the local, note that not everyone writing in a bar wants to be interrupted. Body language is key.

For most of us, it takes a bit of courage to walk into a bar or restaurant alone. I remember the first time I did it I was on on assignment in Girona. I didn’t really enjoy it. I made the mistake of picking a cute little pizza place, best suited to groups of friends and couples, and I went a peak time. It wasn’t awful but I was convinced everyone was staring at me.

I think the first time you do this is always going to be awkward. These days, I don’t care. In fact, sometimes I relish the moment of being alone and I deliberately hide behind my laptop. When I am feeling more sociable, I find that the best stories and encounters often happen when you are travelling alone.

Aside from staying in hostels, going on group tours and using online travel-networking websites, does anyone else have any tips for travelling solo? Does the idea freak you out? Any tales from how you got over the fear?

And if you’re not comfortable travelling alone, relax. You don’t have to do this to prove you’re a more worthy traveller. I’ll leave you with this unusual post entitled: I’m a travel writer and I’m terrified of travelling alone by Canadian writer Carlos Alcos. Also see back to this previous post about how travelling with ‘a giant monster tyre‘ has worked for some…

Photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons Marcin Wichary

League of their own: Argentina World Cup ads

Comment Written by Vicky Baker on July 3, 2010 – 5:12 am

“Argentina has already won the 2010 World Cup. It’s just that the rest of the world doesn’t know it yet,” so wrote blogger Gringo Starr recently in great post about Argentinian television.

Their World Cup adverts are certainly something else. Here are a few worth sharing… (Sorry, there are no subtitles.)

First, there’s this particularly dramatic one where god talks directly Argentinian people.

It reminds me of that old joke:
Why do Argentinians go outside during a thunderstorm?
Because they think God is taking their photo.

Then there’s this one that suggests the rest of the world is in awe of Argentina’s love of football:

Meanwhile if the foreigners aren’t already in awe, they can soon be brainwashed:

And feminists turn away before watching this one, entitled Women and the World Cup:

(I admit that last one did make me laugh.)

I have loved watching the Argentinian games in this tournament. The enthusiasm has been thoroughly entertaining (see my footage from Miami) and since England limped out, I’ve been backing them all the way. Here’s hoping they get past Germany today…

Exploring Miami’s Little Buenos Aires

2 Written by Vicky Baker on July 3, 2010 – 4:02 am

I was in Miami on Sunday when Argentina played Mexico. I was told there was only one place for me to go: Normandy Isle, a northern part of Miami Beach known as Little Buenos Aires.

My guidebook noted it was a big area for Argentinian immigrants, yet still nothing prepared me for what I found.

Argentinians are patriotic at the best of times, but take them out of their homeland and it is a locura (madness). Every car had flags waving out the windows. There was celeste and white as far as the eye could see. There was a band beating drums. It was livelier than any world cup street scene I’ve experienced so far in BA.

Want proof? Above is a (very rough) video I took in Manolo’s, an Argentinian fast-food restaurant.

One of my favourite moments of watching the game was when one lone Mexican walked into the restaurant. Two hundred Argentinians turned on him and… sang.

Later, one other particularly bold Mexican (dressed in a giant sombrero) was posing for pictures with Argentinians outside the Buenos Aires Bakery. I spoke to the owner’s daughter, who told me that he was an employee. They aren’t just Argentinians turning out the facturas and alfajores. They have taught Mexicans and Puerto Ricans the trade too.

This is the way of life in Miami. The next day I met a guy from Bangladesh who, having won the Green Card lottery, bought an old Puerto Rican hangout and was learning to cook their local dishes. I also met gringo who has just bought a hole-in-the-wall café that serves a mixed menu of Cuban sandwiches, fried chicken and vegan salads in order to appeal to a clientele comprises of Cuban-American, African-Americans and students.

My week in Miami was fascinating – from Little Buenos Aires to Little Havana to Little Haiti. More to come on Miami’s multiculturalism soon….

Cupcake porn in Buenos Aires

2 Written by Vicky Baker on June 18, 2010 – 10:25 am

Photo: Muma’s Cupcakes via Flickr

Cupcakes are selling like …. well…  like hotcakes here in Buenos Aires. Spongy, little hotcakes.

For proof, head down to Muma’s Cupcakes in Palermo.  I recommend nabbing one of the tables outside this Greenwich-Village-style store and watching the shoppers pass by.  My (unscientific) survey showed that 8 out of ten people can’t walk past the window display without gawping, salivating, and/or coming to a standstill.  It could be the most-entertaining people-watching opportunity in the city.

If you don’t go to Muma’s, you can now also get your cupcake fix from Pop. Or Rosa Pastel. Or Need Cupcakes. Or Che. (Of course, Argentina has to have Che Cupcakes. It wouldn’t be a trend until it did.)

Where does this all stem from? The cupcake phenomenon started in New York in the late 90s and peaked when it was associated with the Sex And the City girls. The fad was soon adopted in London, before it reached  fever pitch and a cupcake backlash started to be felt.

Why do people love them? Because they´re cute, light and pretty. In Buenos Aires they score points for being  so much more glamourous than a bogstandard media luna.  In London they are sexy in a way that none of our other cakes can match. Not that they had much competition. Crumpets? Pikelets? Lardy cakes?  The only “cupcakes” we English had were made by a granddad figure called Kipling and looked like someone sat on them. They definitely weren´t sexy.

As for Muma’s, the only thing I’m not keen on is the packaging. When I ordered a nice jazzy sprinkly number to take away, they tried to put it in a polystyrene cup with a clear plastic lid. Imagine a cupcake dressed as a McFlurry and you get the picture. 

Cupcakes definitely aren’t always taken lightly. As proof that I´ve been oddly fascinated by this trend for a while, I leave you with a link to a piece I wrote about New York cupcake mania in 2007.

Why travelling ‘for free’ doesn’t work

1 Written by Vicky Baker on June 16, 2010 – 12:58 am

Mark Boyle, the freeconomy guy who I’ve written about before, has popped up in the Guardian today talking about how to travel for free. There are no real revelations in his recommendations – Couchsurfing, LiftShare and WWOOFing all get namechecked -  but I’m happy to hear that he is going to be writing more regularly for the environment blog. There’s room for a lot of interesting debate, providing the trolls move over and let him speak.

One of the comments did amuse me though:

“Is this the same individual who the Guardian reported as setting out to walk to India without money and got as far as Calais – and then came back with the revelation that they spoke French in France?”

I clicked on the link and, sure enough, there was some truth it. The story goes that Boyle planned to make a cash-free peace walk to India, relying on the help of strangers, but because he didn’t speak French they assumed he was a vagrant and no one would help him, so he gave up at Calais and got the ferry back to Dover.

Hard not to have a little chuckle, right?

I can’t help thinking it’s a shame to blame a foreign language for this. Shouldn’t he have been more prepared? He knew his first stop was France. He could have at least got someone to write something out for him. And no one in Calais speaks English? Really?

The interesting thing is that he would have got on so much better had he used the websites he advocated today. People respond so much better if you send a quick introduction first rather than just turning up on their doorstep. Take, for example, the success of Twitchhiker.

Even though I’m a big Couchsurfer, if someone knocked on my door right now desperate for a place to stay, the first thing I’d think was ‘scam’. I can’t help it. Classic citydweller mentality.

Perhaps this was Boyle’s point and he was trying to get away from our silly reliance on the internet and our ingrained judgements. Perhaps he was trying to make connections with people that went beyond language and demonstrated innate human kindness.

It didn’t work though.

Supporting yourself in a caravan by growing your own food and making your own toothpaste is one thing, but expecting people to fund your trip to India without spending a single penny? I’m not convinced. As I’ve said before I wouldn’t advise anyone to couchsurf if they are flat broke. And you should always have an emergency fund. Or in Boyle’s case – a 17-year-old you can scab travellers’ cheques off.

I’m kidding. The last word goes to the cash-less man…

“I know people are laughing at me. I don’t mind. … if all I’ve done is give people something to smile about then that’s not so bad. There are worse things going on in the world.”

What do you think? Should ‘free travel’ be encouraged?

Photo: Bilingual signs at Calais… when it started off so well. From Flickr by Pictor 30D