Category: Green travel

Things to do in NYC

Post by: Jessica Festa

Need help planning your New York City itinerary? Look no further, as we’ve gathered some top Big Apple experiences featuring both well and lesser-known attractions. The following recommendations are provided by native New Yorker Jessica Festa, who also blogs regularly about NYC and beyond on her websites, Jessie on a Journey and Epicure & Culture. The following experiences will help you have a memorable trip while seeing the city from a local point of view.

1.   Immerse Yourself In Nature

While New York City is technically a concrete jungle, you may be surprised just how many lush parks and gardens you can find in the city. The most famous is Central Park, encompassing 843 acres (3.41 square kilometers) of greenery and outdoor attractions. While you can come here to simply sun and stroll, the park is also home to bird watching at The Ramble, kayaking, theaters, a carousel, a zoo with indoor rainforest and endangered animal breeding programs, sculptures, an inspiring 4-acre Shakespeare Garden with quotes from the author and plants mentioned in his works, a castle, sports fields, free walking tours, bike rentals and loads of free events like concerts, yoga clinics, photo safaris and performances. In Brooklyn, notable greenspaces include Prospect Park — created by the same designers as Central Park and full of flora, fauna and activities — and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with its loads of themed gardens, guided plant walks and educational family events.

2.   Try Something New

There are so ways to do something quirky or novel in NYC. If you want to get active, hone your aerial acrobatics skills at the Trapeze School of New York/ or head to Bryant Park for a free Petanque lesson. If you’re a foodie, sign up for an excursion with Freegan Info to learn more about the culture of dumpster diving and salvaging wasted food. You can learn the art of sultry dance at The New York School of Burlesque, practice rock climbing at Brooklyn Boulders, taking a cooking class at the Institute of Culinary Education and more. You may also want to check sites like CanaryHop and Vayable to see what kinds of unique experiences are being offered by locals.

3.   Explore NYC, For Free!

There are a number of excellent tour companies in New York City offering insider knowledge and memorable experiences; however, for those on a budget FREE Tours By Foot offers complimentary walking, biking and bus excursions, typically lasting about two hours. While this list is by no means exhaustive — there are so many different tours offered — some suggestions include a “Subway Art Tour,” “2014-When We Were Idiots (A Comedy Walking Tour)” and “Ghosts Of Greenwich Village.” Every day of the week they offer about 10+ different excursions, so there’s always something to do. Just remember to tip your guide, as they only make what you give.

4.   Eat Sweets

My favorite neighborhood for sweet treats is the West Village in Manhattan, home to an array of high-quality bakeries and chocolate-focused venues. While Sockerbit sells Swedish candies with unusual textures and flavor combinations, Molly’s Cupcakes allows you to make your own cupcake or purchase one of their freshly-made treats in a whimsical space with swingset chairs and board games. At Sweet Revenge one can opt to pair decadent homemade cupcakes with wine and beer, at Popbar offers artisanal gelato on a stick dunked into gooey dips and coated with toppings, and Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar serves up delicious dessert pizzas and chocolate martinis.

5.   Take In A Beautiful View

Along with popular sites like the Empire State Building and Top of The Rock, there are loads of lesser-known places to take in a beautiful view. Head to Upstairs at the Kimberly for innovative farm-to-fork tapas, craft cocktails and front-row views of the Chrysler Building. For a free view of the Statue of Liberty, nothing beats the Staten Island Ferry. Walking or cycling over the Williamsburg or Brooklyn Bridges offers water-enhanced skyline vistas, while the DSW Designer Show Warehouse in Union Square allows for a unique vantage point of the Empire State Building, Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower and the Fuerza Bruta Theater.

What’s your favorite thing to do in New York City? Please share in the comments below.

Thing to do in NYC

post by: Jessica Festa

Need help planning your New York City itinerary? Look no further, as we’ve gathered some top Big Apple experiences featuring both well and lesser-known attractions. The following recommendations are provided by native New Yorker Jessica Festa, who also blogs regularly about NYC and beyond on her websites, Jessie on a Journey (http://jessieonajourney.com) and Epicure & Culture (http://epicureandculture.com). The following experiences will help you have a memorable trip while seeing the city from a local point of view.

  1.  Immerse Yourself In Nature

While New York City is technically a concrete jungle, you may be surprised just how many lush parks and gardens you can find in the city. The most famous is Central Park, encompassing 843 acres (3.41 square kilometers) of greenery and outdoor attractions. While you can come here to simply sun and stroll, the park is also home to bird watching at The Ramble, kayaking, theaters, a carousel, a zoo with indoor rainforest and endangered animal breeding programs, sculptures, an inspiring 4-acre Shakespeare Garden with quotes from the author and plants mentioned in his works, a castle, sports fields, free walking tours, bike rentals and loads of free events like concerts, yoga clinics, photo safaris and performances. In Brooklyn, notable greenspaces include Prospect Park — created by the same designers as Central Park and full of flora, fauna and activities — and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden with its loads of themed gardens, guided plant walks and educational family events.

  1. Try Something New

There are so ways to do something quirky or novel in NYC. If you want to get active, hone your aerial acrobatics skills at the Trapeze School of New York (http://newyork.trapezeschool.com/) or head to Bryant Park for a free Petanque (http://www.bryantpark.org/things-to-do/petanque.html) lesson. If you’re a foodie, sign up for an excursion with Freegan Info (http://freegan.info/what-is-a-freegan/freegan-events-in-new-york/) to learn more about the culture of dumpster diving and salvaging wasted food. You can learn the art of sultry dance at The New York School of Burlesque (http://www.schoolofburlesque.com/), practice rock climbing at Brooklyn Boulders (http://www.brooklynboulders.com/), taking a cooking class at the Institute of Culinary Education (http://www.ice.edu/) and more. You may also want to check sites like CanaryHop (http://canaryhop.com/) and Vayable (https://www.vayable.com/) to see what kinds of unique experiences are being offered by locals.

  1. Explore NYC, For Free!

There are a number of excellent tour companies in New York City offering insider knowledge and memorable experiences; however, for those on a budget FREE Tours By Foot (http://freetoursbyfoot.com/) offers complimentary walking, biking and bus excursions, typically lasting about two hours. While this list is by no means exhaustive — there are so many different tours offered — some suggestions include a “Subway Art Tour,” “2014-When We Were Idiots (A Comedy Walking Tour)” and “Ghosts Of Greenwich Village.” Every day of the week they offer about 10+ different excursions, so there’s always something to do. Just remember to tip your guide, as they only make what you give.

4. Eat Sweets

My favorite neighborhood for sweet treats is the West Village in Manhattan, home to an array of high-quality bakeries and chocolate-focused venues. While Sockerbit (http://sockerbit.com/) sells Swedish candies with unusual textures and flavor combinations, Molly’s Cupcakes (www.mollyscupcakes.com/) allows you to make your own cupcake or purchase one of their freshly-made treats in a whimsical space with swingset chairs and board games. At Sweet Revenge (http://www.sweetrevengenyc.com/) one can opt to pair decadent homemade cupcakes with wine and beer, at Popbar (http://www.pop-bar.com/) offers artisanal gelato on a stick dunked into gooey dips and coated with toppings, and Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar (http://www.ayzanyc.com/) serves up delicious dessert pizzas and chocolate martinis.

  1. Take In A Beautiful View

Along with popular sites like the Empire State Building and Top of The Rock, there are loads of lesser-known places to take in a beautiful view. Head to Upstairs at the Kimberly (http://upstairsnyc.com/) for innovative farm-to-fork tapas, craft cocktails and front-row views of the Chrysler Building. For a free view of the Statue of Liberty, nothing beats the Staten Island Ferry. Walking or cycling over the Williamsburg or Brooklyn Bridges offers water-enhanced skyline vistas, while the DSW Designer Show Warehouse in Union Square allows for a unique vantage point of the Empire State Building, Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower and the Fuerza Bruta Theater.

What’s your favorite thing to do in New York City? Please share in the comments below.

Eco Travel: Not Just For Hippies Anymore

Guess what? You don’t need to be a Patchouli-wearing, tree-hugging, dread-infested hippie to embrace eco-tourism anymore. Eco-tourism basically involves visiting relatively undisturbed natural areas. It’s a small scale alternative to commercial tourism but you don’t necessarily have to hook up with businesses like Organic Explorer or Eco Travels to get involved. You’re smart enough to know that how you travel will impact the environment. So Bigfoot, how do you make your footprint smaller? Here are some no-brainers!

1. Plastic Bags: Don’t use’em. Bring along a reusable bag for your laundry or grocery needs. When shopping, don’t accept a bag, just put it in your purse or backpack. You don’t want to add to the litter bombs scattered across the globe.

2. Bottled Water: We’ve all been there. You’re in a place like Thailand and you forget about the water so you brush your teeth in the shower. Then it’s a barf party. Treating your own water on the road is easier than you may think. Just bring along a reusable water bottle and a purifier filter or iodine tablets. You’ll be safe from water-borne illnesses while doing your part for Mama Earth. Go you!

3. Watch Your Step: When hiking avoid taking shortcuts on sections of trail as your footsteps will be followed by many others, you sneaky trail blazer, you! It may not seem like much  compared to, you know, landslides, but when several thousand trekkers each year come a walkin’, damage will be done. And it’ll totally be your fault.

4. Biodegradable Soap: Bring an environmentally friendly soap that’s gentle on the local water system as in rural areas, the water will most likely drain right back into main local water sources. Bringing hand sanitizer works well too.

6. Buy local: Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend but the best gifts are made by hand (so gimme your diamonds…but not your Blood Diamonds.) Contribute to the local economy by splurging on artisanal products. Nothing says I love you better than a hand-carved penis in Balinese wood. Or maybe a hand-carved necklace would be more appropriate. Your call!

7. WOOF: One of the best ways to see the world in an eco-friendly manner is to go WOOFING. That’s when you travel with your dogs. No, silly, it’s when you work on small, local organic farms for room and board. It’s a great way to meet the locals and really experience how people live. There are plenty of organisations that can help put you in contact with participating farms. Or you can just contact the farms directly.

When it comes to eco-tourism, die-hards tend to shun cars. But Transfer Car leaves a smaller carbon footprint than other companies. Through using our customers to move cars for us, we’re able to reduce the amount of emissions produced. Get in touch with us to see what else we’re doing to be responsible business operators in this Brave New World. You’ll be pleasantly surprised…

The conscious traveller

Coastal pollutionTravelling with consciousness may seem a simple and obvious behavioral choice for seasoned global trotters. However it only takes a trip to the highly popular Thai islands to see the effects of global and local pollution, a fair amount due to international tourists I am sure.

According to The United Nations Environment Program “Negative impacts from tourism occur when the level of visitor use is greater than the environment’s ability to cope with this use within the acceptable limits of change. Uncontrolled conventional tourism poses potential threats to many natural areas around the world. It can put enormous pressure on an area and lead to impacts such as soil erosion, increased pollution, discharges into the sea, natural habitat loss, increased pressure on endangered species and heightened vulnerability to forest fires. It often puts a strain on water resources, and it can force local populations to compete for the use of critical resources.”

An often toted (and highly annoying) phrase used by many is “But what can one person do? Or “It’s too late, I can’t make a difference.” This is an outdated and irresponsible stance and to be honest, if this is your mind set, stay at home please, you are part of the problem.

So what can one wayward traveller do? Here are a few tips to get you started: Continue reading The conscious traveller

AAA picks 10 best new vehicle technologies, thinks green

Green TravelGreen Auto Blog…..

It’s no secret that automobiles get more technologically advanced every passing year. A good deal of these vehicular innovations have a lot to do with saving gas, reducing emissions, and, more recently, teaching the driver to pilot the vehicle in a more efficient manner. If you feel like you need help in choosing which bits of techno-geekery are the best, AAA has just created a list specifically for you.

Included in AAA’s top 10 tech picks are solar roof panels and “green” driving assistance aids. Rooftop solar panels are pretty self-explanatory and can help keep an vehicle’s battery charged up or help keep the cabin cool in the hot sun. The 2010 Toyota Prius is probably the best-known example of this technology. So, what’s a green driving aid?

Honda’s new 2010 Insight hybrid uses what the automaker calls an Eco Assist dashboard that changes colors from green to blue to teach the driver to be more efficient. Ford uses something similar in the 2010 Fusion Hybrid called the SmartGauge cluster, which uses dual 4.3-inch LCDs and a graphic that shows leaves growing on a tree when you are driving efficiently. We tend to like them, but whether or not these are desirable features is definitely up to each individual driver.

Read the full article thanks to greenautoblog.com

For a free car or campervan, check out transfercar.co.nz for New Zealand or transfercar.com.au for Australia!