Matador Network's Blog, page 1262

US wineries with accommodations

As the US wine industry grows, more and more people are looking to book wine-country getaways in California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as burgeoning wine destinations like Virginia and Texas. Rather than staying at some boring hotel in town, or stressing over transportation issues between wineries and your accommodation, get the complete wine-country experience by staying right at the vineyards themselves. Immerse yourself in green acres of vinifera at these eight beautiful vineyards in the US where you can stay the night.

1. The Villas at Chaumette Vineyards & Winery — Ste. Genevieve, Missouri

Photo: The Villas at Chaumette Vineyards & Winery

Wineries with lodging are hard to find in Missouri, so these folks went all out and built their own. Seventy miles south of St. Louis, the Villas at Chaumette are surrounded by 310 acres of land, 30 acres of which are vineyards. In addition to tasteful construction, Egyptian cotton linens, oversized marble and glass showers, and covered porches, amenities here abound. Guests have full access to a fitness center, hiking trails, a swimming pool with private cabanas, and a restaurant. Larger parties can rent the Haney Hill House, a secluded five-bedroom house within walking distance of the winery. If you really love spending time in the vineyards, you can even purchase one of the villas. Each is independently owned, so if you’ve got the resources, you could get yourself a permanent spot in wine heaven.

From $210/night

2. Estate House at Gustafson Family Vineyards — Geyserville, California

Photo: Estate House at Gustafson Family Vineyards

Sitting atop the highest elevation vineyard in Sonoma County, this beautiful three-bedroom, 4,000-square-foot home has expansive views that stretch 30 miles over Dry Creek Valley, Alexander Valley, and Mount St. Helena. The home is surrounded by 20 acres of vineyard blocks, a pool, spa, gardens, and picnic areas. Guests are encouraged to cook in the home’s well-appointed chef’s kitchen and can schedule tastings at the tasting room next door. A major plus: If you run out of wine, the home has an honor bar packed with Gustafson Family Vineyard wines.

From $1,000/night

3. The Inn at Abeja — Walla Walla, Washington

Photo: Abeja Winery and Inn/Facebook

The landmark grey and white barn of this turn-of-the-century farmhouse’s winery operation is one of Washington state’s most respected wineries. The farm’s other outbuildings have been converted into The Inn at Abeja, offering luxurious lodging for those looking to retreat into the green of Walla Walla’s famous vines. The 10 outbuilding suites include a converted chicken coop — you’d never guess that’s what it once was — and larger parties can rent the five-bedroom main farmhouse. Guests of the Inn have access to 38 lush acres of gardens and vineyards planted with Syrah, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Viognier. Gourmet breakfast can be enjoyed with other guests or packed up, so you can greet the day picnicking amongst the vines. Another treat is access to Abeja’s tasting room, where guests can reserve a private tasting of wines normally reserved only for wine club members.

From $329/night

4. Beacon Cabin at Beacon Hill Winery — Gaston, Oregon

Photo: Beacon Cabin at Beacon Hill Winery

Oregon wine country is perhaps one of the easiest spots to stay amongst the vines, with plenty of full-service B&Bs, quirky cottages, and refurbished farmhouses. One memorable option is Beacon Hill Winery’s Beacon cabin, a two-story “cabin” reminiscent of an iconic Pacific Northwest fire lookout cabin mixed with a coastal cottage. The Beacon cabin overlooks the Willamette Valley and sits atop more than 40 acres of 20-year-old Pinot Noir vines. Guests can enjoy a coffee overlooking the vines before heading to one of the many other wineries within just a few miles. If you’ve got a larger party to house, Beacon Hill Winery also has a Pacific Northwest-style farmhouse that sleeps six.

From $200/night

5. Vineyard Cottages at Afton Mountain Vineyards — Charlottesville, Virginia

Photo: Vineyard Cottages at Afton Mountain Vineyards

A two-bedroom guest house and four one-bedroom cottages overlook the vineyards of award-winning winery Afton Mountain Vineyards. And when we say “overlook,” we mean you can see vineyards from just about every window — even from the bathroom. One of Virginia‘s first farm wineries, the original vines here were planted in 1978 and are still in production today. Eleven varietals are represented by the 26-acre vineyard, so for those who love wandering among the vines, you’ll have plenty to see. The tasting room is open year-round and guests are welcome to cook up a picnic to enjoy on the lawn or even just crack open a bottle and revel in the shadowy beauty of the ever-changing Blue Ridge Mountains.

From $165/night

6. Rancho Loma Vineyards — Coleman, Texas

Photo: Rancho Loma House

Located in the rolling hills of west Texas, Rancho Loma is a dream escape for those who revel in the aesthetics of style, wine, wilderness, and fine dining. Rancho Loma’s five-room modern inn and restaurant are set amid the estate vineyards of RLV winery and 300 acres of wild West Texas land. Guests are welcome to wander the grounds — meandering through vines of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre — to make their way to the pool or on-site restaurant where co-owner Laurie Williamson composes meals of legend. Just seven miles away, in the town of Coleman, RLV’s tasting room and production facilities are featured in a renovated 1920’s Ford automobile showroom. Across the street, RANCHO pizzeria serves up wood-fired pizza and what Austin Monthly calls the “best burrata” in the state.

From $200/night

7. Vineyard Villas — Burdett, New York

Photo: Vineyard Villas, Burdett

The great thing about the Finger Lakes region of New York is the variety of things to do beyond just wineries, and these villas are right in the thick of it. The line of six two-story, A-frame cabins sits amid a vineyard of Concorde grapes and looks out over the vineyards of neighboring wineries, as well as the sparkling waters of Seneca Lake. Not only are these villas within spitting distance of wineries, breweries, distilleries, and fromageries, they’re also just a short jaunt from Finger Lakes National Forest. You can spend the day collecting wine, artisanal cheese, and farm-fresh goodies, then come back to your cabin to cook it all up and enjoy al fresco. For those who need a break from all the rich food and wine, it’s a short drive from the cabins to Watkins Glen State Park, which is famous for its waterfalls, as well as the majestic 215-foot Taughannock Falls at Taughannock Falls State Park.

From $220/night

8. Chateau Chantal Winery & Inn — Traverse City, Michigan

Photo: Chateau Chantal Winery & Inn

This labor of love sprung from the passions of a former priest and nun who shared a dream of building a European-style chateau winery. The 11 guest rooms and suites — inspired by classic artists such as Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir — are decorated in an opulent, old world-style. All of the rooms have outdoor seating, so guests can drink in the views of the 65-acre estate, vineyard, and Grand Traverse Bay. Guests can walk through the vineyards filled with Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cab Franc, and more before retiring to their comfy bed or whirlpool tub. The property also features trails to the beach and is well-situated for exploring neighboring restaurants, wineries, and farms.

From $200/night


More like this: The 9 best places to go wine tasting around the US that aren’t in California

The post 8 stunning vineyards in the US you can actually stay at overnight appeared first on Matador Network.

Why you should visit Chattanooga

It’s not every day you get to hold a million-dollar guitar. Much less play one.

Of course, I don’t actually play guitar, so the experience was a little wasted. But standing in a back vault at Chattanooga’s Songbirds Guitars museum, holding a piece of Rock and Roll history, I was really wishing I did.

“That’s the third electric guitar Gibson ever made,” Johnny Smith, the executive director of the most impressive guitar museum ever created tells me. “Go ahead, you want a picture?”

Usually in a museum, touching the exhibits gets you thrown out, banned for life, and possibly arrested. At Songbirds, if you see a Stratocaster Buddy Holly once used and think you could do better, you’re welcome to get it off the shelf and try.

Photo: Songbirds/Facebook

The museum has been open since last year on the second floor of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. The Choo Choo — named after the famous Glenn Miller song — is the city’s historic train station, which reopened last year as an entertainment venue. Songbirds is its anchor, but it also has a live-music venue, a comedy club, a beer bar in an old rail car at American Draft, and a modern restaurant at STIR. It’s the sort of diversity of dining, drinking, and entertainment developers in large cities strive to emulate, and it’s symbolic of what a first-class destination Chattanooga has become.

Photo: Chattanooga Whiskey/Facebook

The craft booze scene is taking off.

Though it’s always been a popular place for nature lovers, Chattanooga has complemented its natural beauty with great food, fun bars, and fascinating museums to round out a weekend. For a city of under 200,000, it feels bigger, boasting everything you’d find in more populous locales at a fraction the price and with smaller crowds.

The Choo Choo is a good spot to begin exploring the new Chattanooga, continuing across the street at the city’s first legal distillery to open in over 100 years. Chattanooga Whiskey’s experimental distillery has taken liberties with traditional Tennessee whiskey to create small batch bottlings, from high-rye bourbons to wheated American whiskeys — with plenty of new blends on the way.

Chattanooga isn’t content to rest on its whiskey-soaked laurels, either. It’s also home to a surprisingly large number of breweries, many concentrated in the MLK neighborhood near downtown. The breweries have anchored the rehabilitation of this once dilapidated area, where cocktail bars and nightclubs dot the streets that used to be off-limits after dark.

Photo: OddStory Brewing Company/Facebook

On a Friday night, the indoor beer garden at ODDstory Brewing is packed, where 16 taps pour beers while kids play on the furniture. Pretzels and flatbreads made with the beer’s spent grain pass by, leaving the aroma of the brewery’s signature Belgian Blonde lingering in both my nose and mouth.

After a couple of beers here, it’s a short walk down to Hutton and Smith Brewing, a local hole-in-the-wall bar with a couple of fermenting tanks crammed against a side wall. Inside, service industry types who all seem to know each other knock back the geology-themed brewery’s Tectonic Session IPA and Vadose Zone Vanilla Stout in between cigarette breaks. The local feel makes one realize that while this city has boomed with tourists in the past few years, it’s still the locals that keep creative places like this alive.

Photo: Kevin Ruck/Shutterstock

It’s still one of the best outdoor adventure cities in America.

Of course, it’s not all eating, drinking, and choo choos in Chattanooga. What brought visitors here long before craft beer and vintage guitars were the spectacular outdoor adventures.

Even for novices, rafting on the Ocoee River is a must. The site of the whitewater slalom races during the 1996 Olympics, the Ocoee is a dam-controlled stretch of whitewater running through a towering gorge in the Cherokee National Forest. It’s simple enough that a whitewater rookie can get through a guided raft trip without much trouble but offers the drops, holes, and hydraulics that can make it thrilling even for those who’ve rafted extensively.

Photo: Outdoor Adventure Rafting/Facebook

Though the river runs mostly Class III-IV rapids, our guide from Outdoor Adventure Rafting decided to have some fun since most of us were experienced rafters. He’d keep us stuck in hydraulics, so water rushed in waves over the front of the raft cooling and soaking the people in front. He’d purposefully pin the raft against boulders, then once it was set vertically against the rock, we’d climb to the top side of the raft, have a seat, and enjoy the views of the gorge. Beginners were entertained, experienced rafters were thrilled, and the experience alone was worth traveling to Tennessee.

Photo: Karen Culp/Shutterstock

Beyond whitewater, Chattanooga takes full advantage of its mountainous landscape for outdoor fun. It’s become one of the premier rock climbing destinations in America, with the Cumberland Plateau and its Tennessee Wall literally drawing climbers from around the world. Ditto for the bouldering at Stone Fort.

Towering over the city is Lookout Mountain, perhaps Chattanooga’s most noticeable geographic feature with sweeping views over the Tennessee River, the skyline, and the valley beyond. It’s best viewed from the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, where a small museum teaches the mountain’s significance in the Civil War. It brings to life the horror one must have faced when standing atop the mountain looking down on waves of invading soldiers.

Photo: Lookout Mountain Hang Gliding/Facebook

A short drive from the park, you’ll find the Lookout Mountain Flight Park, a sprawling field that’s become a hotbed of southern hang gliding. I took off from the ground as a tiny airplane towed the glider until it released me any my guide at about 1,500 feet. Once we released, the air instantly became silent, and for a brief moment I wondered about the peace birds must feel when they realize they can go anywhere in sight. It’s a place without disturbance from engines, animals, or other people, and — if you’re not afraid of heights — it’s almost meditative.

Photo: Main Street Meats/Facebook

You can fuel up on fresh meats and creative food.

Chattanooga knows that after a hard day on the rivers and rock faces, people will be hungry. And if there’s one thing that makes this small city seem bigger, it’s the food.

To fill back up on protein, look no further than Main Street Meats. The butcher shop and restaurant uses meats from farms in the Tennessee Valley to craft its own salami, sausage, and pate. Because nearly every table has a steaming plate of glistening meat, the place has the thick, savory aroma of cooking meat, a smell that stays on your clothes after you leave. It’s the South, so it’ll be a good base layer of cologne for the rest of the night. But you might want to leave any vegans in your group behind.

Photo: The Bitter Alibi/Facebook

In the MLK neighborhood, Bitter Alibi is a multi-story restaurant and craft-cocktail den that’s about the only thing in Chattanooga that feels mildly like New York. The narrow spaces and extensive drink menu give it the atmosphere of a smash-hit bar in a huge city. Though, while enjoying a plate of bang bang coconut curry on the balcony overlooking MLK, you appreciate that you can still see the sky from the busy street.

The food menu at Bitter Alibi is the sort of varied gastro-pub fare one would expect to find at a horribly overpriced bar in a giant city. But like everything in Chattanooga, the food here is fantastic and far cheaper. Stuff like the Poblano Escobar Burger with a 50-50 chorizo-beef blend and poblano pimento cheese is only $10. Pork belly ramen is $12. The bang bang curry I had on the patio was only $9.50. Add in drinks, and two people can have a meal on par with anything in Atlanta or Nashville for under $40.

Photo: The Dwell Hotel/Facebook

The hotels are anything but boring.

If Elvis, the Golden Girls, and Mad Men all built a house together, it would look like the Dwell Hotel. Owner Seija Ojanpera hand-selected the quirky décor, which includes banana wallpaper, astroturf, framed vintage B-movie posters, wicker chairs, starburst chandeliers, and a gold swan. The place has the feel of a mid-century furniture museum with ‘70s shag and ‘50s deco sitting side by side, filled in with banana plants and tribal art. If you can’t snag one of the 16 suites, settle for dining at the health-minded Solarium Cafe, which is just as zanily designed and looks like it took heavy inspiration from Blanche Devereaux’s bedroom.

Dwell Hotel is far from the only stellar hotel in town; if you find yourself at the downtown Westin, grab a drink at the rooftop’s Alchemy Sky Bar. This was where I found myself on my last night in town, watching the sun set over Lookout Mountain and watching the lights at nearby AT&T Field come on for the Lookouts’ baseball game. Soft country music filled the air, and a warm, slightly humid breeze blew through the semi-outdoor patio. It was a well-deserved drink at the end of an action-packed weekend.

Photo: Kenneth Sponsler/Shutterstock

Whether it was messing around on a priceless guitar, rafting, hang gliding, or eating until I had to undo a pants button, Chattanooga filled up my weekend better than a lot of cities 10 times its size. It may not have as many options as some bigger Southern capitals, but what it lacks in endless choices, it makes up for in guaranteed quality. It’s a city that’ll make you realize that sometimes small, unsung cities are even better to visit than the big ones.


More like this: These 7 US cities are over. Here’s where to go instead.

The post How Chattanooga became the coolest weekend getaway in America appeared first on Matador Network.

Japanese onsens you have to visit

Onsens are natural hot springs and a major part of Japanese culture. The word can be used to reference individual hot springs, a group of them, or a resort town dedicated solely to hot springs. Some onsens come as part of a ryokan (a Japanese inn) in which visitors can only use the onsen if they’re staying for at least a night, but there are some ryokans that allow daytime visits. But whatever the kind of onsen, Japan’s got them all in spades.

The mineral-rich waters have a variety of benefits, including softening skin, relieving fatigue, alleviating aches and pains, and aiding bodily functions. Before entering a hot spring, you’ll have to clean yourself with water and soap that the staff will have set up beforehand, and then you’ll enter the waters completely nude — but worry not: the areas are separated by gender. You’ll be able to find an onsen or onsen town in every region of Japan, but here are seven of the coolest ones that you should definitely seek out.

1. Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan — Hayakawa, Yamanashi Prefecture

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @lunchushoku on Sep 6, 2017 at 8:00am PDT

With over 1,300 years of history, the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the oldest hotel in the world. It was founded in 705 AD by Fujiwara Mahito and has been owned and operated by the same family for over 50 generations ever since. It’s catered to famed figures in Japanese history, including samurai and shogun. The tranquil hot-spring hotel is located at the base of the Akaishi Mountains, and its waters are sourced from four different hot springs around the Fossa Magna, whose properties of sodium, calcium nitrates, and chloride are said to have the effects of relief on gastrointestinal disorders, muscle pain, constipation, and healthy skin.

There are a total of six baths, four are open-air baths and two are indoors (and two of those are private in case you want some alone time). All have incredible views of the surrounding nature and waters that are sure to heal your body from the day’s exertion. There are over 30 rooms for guests all designed in traditional Japanese fashion, but some of the more luxurious rooms come with larger balconies and private baths. A stay will also grant you a few prepared meals per day, called “Mountain Kaiseki Banquet,” where you’ll have hot and cold dishes made with fresh, high-quality ingredients. Rooms start at 37,000 yen ($300) a night, but picture yourself soaking in the hot spring, and you’ll be pulling out your wallet before you know it.

2. Hotel Mifujien — Lake Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dreammy Sweetdreammy (@sweet_dreammy) on May 16, 2018 at 4:19pm PDT

The only thing better than a room with a view is one with an onsen. Hotel Mifujien is located along Lake Kawaguchiko in the Fuji Five Lake region, and Kawaguchiko is known for its awe-inspiring views of revered Mount Fuji. In addition to having an onsen, with both an open-air and indoor bath, Mifujien is also a ryokan, and while most ryokans require visitors to have a reservation to stay at least one night before they’re able to use any of the facilities, Mifujien is one of the only ones in the area that accepts day visitors. A day visit will cost around 1200 yen (about $10). But if you’re planning on staying the night, there are 46 Japanese-style rooms and three western-style rooms. Costs start at 14,000 yen ($125). Whatever you decide, every room will grant you a perfect shot of Fuji.

3. Notoya Ryokan — Ginzan Onsen, Yamagata Prefecture

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by hitoshi shibuya (@fm42870) on Jan 6, 2017 at 4:29am PST

Ginzan Onsen is a hot-spring town, and its name translates to “silver mountain hot spring.” The town is made up of mostly onsens and ryokans that line its streets, making for a nostalgic scene or something straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. Most of the buildings are three or four stories, with exposed woodwork and white walls, and the Ginza Kawa River runs right through it with bridges linking each side of the pedestrian-only streets. It’s hard to pick just one place, but we recommend Notoya Ryokan. Located in the middle of Ginzan, it’s the focal point where all eyes will be drawn. Tall and strikingly beautiful, Notoya is designed in the Taishō-era style, and the building itself has a history that goes back over 500 years to the days when Ginzan was just a silver mine. The vintage inn has an open-air onsen, a public bath, cave bath, private bath, and 15 guest rooms each equipped with a private bathroom. Rooms start at 15,000 yen ($134) a night.

4. Dai-ichi Takimotokan — Noboribetsu, Hokkaido

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Qlip JAPAN travel concierge (@qlipjapan) on Aug 25, 2017 at 1:04am PDT

All the way up on Hokkaido, Noboribetsu is the northernmost island’s most famous hot-spring resort town. Hokkaido is known for its gorgeous scenery, so you really can’t go wrong with any time you choose to visit. That said, visiting during winter when everything’s touched by layers of snow or autumn to see colorful fall foliage can’t hurt. Just above Noboribetsu is Jigokudani, otherwise known as “Hell Valley,” a valley with volcanic activity, hot steam vents, and streams with sulfur. Most of the onsens get their water from Jigokudani, so the sulfur and hydrogen sulfide in the hot springs have properties that will soften skin, and their iron content will do wonders for any fatigue.

Dai-ichi Takimotokan, which has been in business for more than 150 years, is one of the more well-known onsens in town, and the interior is a mix of both traditional and modern styles. The spacious inn has 35 baths alone, sourced from seven different hot springs. Entertainment activities include karaoke; a video arcade; and strategy board games like Go, Shogi, and Mahjong. Overnight rates start at 11,000 yen ($98) per person per night, but there’s daytime admission here, as well, for around 2,000 yen ($17) and 1,500 ($13) after 4:00 PM.

5. Takegawara Spa — Beppu, Ōita Prefecture

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ince Meliana (@incemeliana) on May 4, 2015 at 6:35am PDT

Beppu is another city famous for its hot springs, and it’s divided up into eight different springs. Altogether, they produce more volumes of water than any other onsen areas in Japan. Takegawara is the top onsen in Beppu and was built in 1879. Besides baths whose waters are rich in minerals like sodium hydrogen, calcium, and magnesium chloride, it also offers sand baths where attendants will, essentially, bury you in sand. You’ll be wearing a yukata (a summer Japanese robe) when you lay down in a hole that’s been dug out for you, and then hot black sand is poured on top to cover you completely. For 10 minutes, you get the feeling of being buried alive, but the relaxing qualities of the hot sand should melt away any anxieties you might have about that. No overnight stays here, and daytime visit prices depend on what kind of bath you’d want. A regular soak in a hot spring is 100 yen ($0.90) while a sand bath is 1,030 yen ($9).

6. Tosen Goshobo — Arima Onsen, Hyōgo Prefecture

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hiroshi Komata (@matakichi1216) on Feb 20, 2018 at 2:20pm PST

Arima Onsen is known as one of Japan’s Three Ancient Springs, a group of the most ancient and famous hot springs in the country. According to the Chronicles of Japan, the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history, Arima goes back over 1,300 years to the time of the gods when two Shinto deities saw injured cows being cured of their ailments after they soaked in the waters. There are three types of hot springs in Arima, and the kinsen (“golden hot spring) is the most famous. The waters are a golden clay color and are at a controlled temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (though it’s originally double that number).

Tosen Goshobo is one of the oldest ryokans in the area, built around the 12th century, and has since been frequented by famous Japanese literary figures, such as Junichiro Tanizaki and Akiko Yosano, who have also written about the inn in their works. The history is obvious through the wooden architecture and antique design, and while each room is decorated with similar themes, they’re all unique in their own way. Each guest room has tatami mats, shoji screens, and futons, but there are modern amenities like minibars and flat-screen TVs. Goshobo boasts an aromatherapy salon where visitors can treat themselves to massages, facials, and oil treatments, but what you’ll really want to head straight toward is the half open-air hot spring with the mythical golden waters. The wall separating genders even lowers down in one part of the area, allowing people to converse if they want to. Staying the night starts at 20,000 yen ($179) per person, but a daytime visit is only 1,650 yen ($14). It’s closed on weekends and holidays, so be sure to visit during the week.

7. Kokuya Onsen — Shibu Onsen, Nagano Prefecture

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RAJA SIREGAR (@rajaregar) on Dec 13, 2017 at 2:45am PST

Shibu Onsen is another hot-spring resort town, but its proximity to Jigokudani Yaen-koen (Monkey Park) is what makes it really stand out amongst its competitors. As the name Monkey Park suggests, it’s where wild snow monkeys roam about in the natural environment, and visitors can take tours to learn more about the animals, watch them in their habitat, or even see them bathe in natural pools around the area. The 400-year-old Kokuya Onsen is one of the many ryokans that you can stay in, offering six different hot springs, eight baths, and 10 guest rooms with open-air baths. It’s located on Shibu Onsen’s spa street where it’s not uncommon to find people dressed in kimonos and yukatas walking about. For an interesting treat, try Kokuya’s onsen-tamago, a half-boiled egg that’s cooked in hot-spring water. Use of the facilities are for guests only, and prices start at 17,000 yen ($152).


More like this: Where to find the most epic views of Mount Fuji

The post 7 of the coolest onsens in Japan that you have to visit appeared first on Matador Network.

WWOOFing horror story

The premise of WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is simple. You get to stay on someone’s farm just about anywhere in the world in exchange for four to six hours of work a day — a great way to meet people, have new experiences, and get to check out a new place on the cheap.

And if you look at #wwoof on Instagram, you’d get the idea that WWOOFing is a universally loved experience. The hashtag is filled with pictures of 20-somethings posing in greenhouses, holding sexy-looking tomatoes while sporting cute overalls, and bottle-feeding lambs. All of the photos are vibrant, everyone seems happy and cool, and every scene look like Passion Pit should be playing in the background.

My personal WWOOFing experience was slightly different than what the carefully selected pictures from Insta tell.

***

I first met Sunny* over the phone. She explained the rules of her farm to me. I couldn’t use my car while I was there, so I should bring a bike if possible. I’d have my own room in exchange for four hours of work a day. She would feed me vegetarian food from her garden and other local farms. In my downtime, I could write. It all sounded great to me.

When I arrived, I saw her place was not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. It was a tall, skinny house within walking distance of downtown. It was surrounded by overgrown bushes and weeds. There were all kinds of makeshift structures out back — a bike garage, a greenhouse, and a creepy shed.

Sunny showed me around. She expressed to me her interest in living off the grid. For now, certain regulations wouldn’t allow her to live in a house without power, but that was her desire. She paid $50 a month for thirty minutes of internet a day just to check WWOOFing inquiries — somehow paying way too much for an early ‘90s internet service provider agreement.

For my first task, she had me cut back some vines to clear a path in her yard. As I was doing it, I immediately got the sense this WWOOFing trip was going to be more like helping my crazy, old neighbor do household tasks than the Instagram shots had led me to believe.

After a few hours, she came out and told me I should also pick greens from her garden for dinner. She invited me in and had me cook them over a hot plate. She didn’t have a refrigerator, so she kept perishables in a cooler in the basement. She went down there and brought up some cheese. She proudly said it was homemade as she cut it up over the sauteed greens I was dishing out.

After the meal, she announced it was time to do dishes. I was pretty sure this didn’t mean with a state-of-the-art dishwasher, but up until this point, I hadn’t realized she didn’t even have access to hot water. To do the dishes, I’d need to put a kettle on the hot plate several times and bring it back and forth to the sink. All of the leftover water had to be recycled into a big bucket that would eventually be used to flush the urine-only toilet (this was separate from the bathroom’s humanure collector, which smelled like a well-trafficked porta-potty on a hot day).

To get ready for the next day, she wanted me to grind up some kind of grain into flour using one of those hand-cranked grain mills. As I did this, she told me a little bit more about her life. A few times a week, she worked in the neonatal intensive care unit 40 miles away. Biking there was tough, she told me. It usually took around eight hours. If she ever had to work two days in a row, she would stay overnight with a friend, because otherwise she wouldn’t be able to make it back and forth in time.

Hmm…I thought to myself. Too bad the modern world doesn’t have a really simple solution to this problem.

She peered inside my hand-grind to see I’d made very little progress on the heap of grain. “That’s enough for tonight,” she said mercifully.

I’d done little odd jobs for her for about eight hours since arriving, and I had certainly worked up a sweat, but I was too scared to find out what showering at this place entailed. I sat on her porch trying to write for an hour and eventually went to sleep in my sweaty clothes.

***

The next morning, she went down to the basement cooler to retrieve some homemade yogurt. We ate to the tune of NPR and, for just a moment, things felt normal. We were getting ready to head out to a farm eight miles away, but as we were cleaning up breakfast, she kept staring at her empty yogurt bowl. All sizable globs of yogurt had already been consumed — only residue was left. “I can’t let it go to waste,” she said. She took some cold water from the faucet, swished it around in her bowl, and then drank the yogurt water.

The eight-mile bike ride took a while. This was partly due to the difficulties of navigating her bike with a makeshift trailer through the hilly Pennsylvania terrain and partly due to the fact that she kept stopping to eat plants.

“These are nature’s Skittles!” she said, gesturing to clovers with little yellow flowers. She started popping them in her mouth, and told me I should, too. They did taste sour, but comparing them to a beloved candy was a bit of a stretch.

Later, she had us pull over to try little round violet berries. These were a natural way to caffeinate, she said (and here I thought coffee was already a natural way to caffeinate). I was not a fan of these, but I figured I needed all the energy I could get.

Her plant obsession started to be annoying later that day, when I had about twenty mosquito bites and went to my bag to reach for cortisone. “No!” she urged. “Just chew this grass and spit it out on your bites!”

The farm was probably the closest to traditional WWOOFing I ever got. We weeded onions for a few hours until lunch time when Sunny pulled out a tupperware container of last night’s dinner from her bike trailer. It had been out baking in the late June sun. The greens were mushy and the cheese was off, but I was starving and it was the only food option available. What really unsettled me, though, was the fact that what was left was packed back up so we could eat it again later.

Her refusal to indulge in modern conveniences was extremely time-consuming. Biking to and from the farm, cooking with camping tools, washing dishes with a kettle — none of these things counted toward my four hours of work.

I was so disgustingly dirty and sweaty by the time we returned to her place that I was willing to accept whatever kind of shower was available to me. She was very proud to show me her “gravity shower,” a complex mechanism made of bamboo where water would flow down after being poured from a bucket. The water came from an outdoor barrel of collected rainwater that I would go fetch.

It was on my trip upstairs to the shower when I started to notice the art. In the bathroom, in the stairwell, in the hall — now that I kept an eye out for it, there was bad art everywhere. “I make art so I won’t die” was scrawled across one of the walls in black paint.

When it was time for dinner, she produced the same Tupperware of greens and cheese, this time so sad and watery-looking that part of me wanted to illegally take my car out to the nearest McDonald’s. She also called Al to come in for dinner, who I hadn’t even heard of until this moment.

What I remember most about Al was that he wore a really dirty white T-shirt and that he was a jerk.

“Al makes all of the art in the house,” she said. This made all of the sense in the world. “He lives in the shed out there.” She explained that, per WWOOfing rules, he wasn’t allowed to live on her property full-time, but the shed technically straddled the property line.

Who was Al? Her lover? A man that was homeless? Someone who started WWOOFing one day and got so far down the rabbit hole that he couldn’t figure out a way to reenter society, with its dishwashers and refrigerators?

“So I hear you’re a writer,” Al said. “You know what they say about writers.” He then proceeded to quote every famous negative quote about writers he could think of.

I continued my nightly grain-grinding task as he just sat there mocking me. This much was clear: he wasn’t doing anywhere near four hours of work a day. And property lines be damned, I was a little concerned about how close he was to my unlockable sleeping quarters.

I didn’t sleep that night, constantly worried that if I did, I’d wake up to grimey Al standing over my bed.

***

Ultimately, I went home early and canceled the other WWOOFing trips I had planned for the summer. I felt a little embarrassed about how easily I’d bought into an Instagram ideal without taking into consideration the human element of WWOOFing.

I’d been hopeful that WWOOFing would commit me to a greener life, but if anything, it pointed out to me the absurd.

WWOOFing is kind of like Craigslist. You have to vet the opportunities and go with your instincts. If the words “humanure collector” scare you as much as they scare me, then it’s probably not for you.

*Names have been changed

More like this: 19 experiences every WWOOFer has

The post How WWOOFing can easily turn into a travel nightmare appeared first on Matador Network.

Nootka lupine suffocate native flora

From one angle they look purple, from another they appear to be more blue. For many Icelanders, the debate over the invasive blue Nootka lupine flower goes much deeper than what its true color is. The lupine is an invasive species that has spread far beyond the intent of its original purpose. The flower is native to North America and was originally introduced to the island in the late 1970s in an effort to control increased soil erosion, according to a report in The New York Times. But the soil-stabilizing plant reproduced extremely fast and has since spread uncontrollably across the eastern part of the island. While the blue Nootka lupines’ mid-summer bloom adds speckles of vibrant color to Iceland’s verdant green valleys, it’s also viewed as a pest.

The lupine’s excessive spreading has been fueled in part by climate change. As the atmosphere has continued to warm, the flower is able to survive later into the year than when it was originally introduced. It has also spread to parts of Iceland that were previously too dry or too cold for the lupine to thrive. The Times reported that within three decades, the flower could cover vast swaths of Iceland’s highland interior, threatening local plant life, including the delicate species of moss that covers the lava fields.

Inside Reykjavik’s city limits, the flower is now common in parks and other grassy areas. As fall approaches, the lupine sheds its purplish blue coat in favor of a depressing shade of brown, another source of disdain among locals. Many have taken to combatting the lupine with garden tools and knives, while others continue to point to its success in battling soil erosion.

If you plan to visit the island any time soon, there’s no need to shy away from the photogenic flower — but you might not want to go bragging about your shot to the person sitting next to you at the café.

H/T: The New York Times

More like this: The 9 most touristy places in Iceland -- and where to go instead

The post Icelanders are fighting over whether to cut or keep these gorgeous blue flowers appeared first on Matador Network.

Best cultural festivals to attend

If Burning Man and Coachella are not your thing, know that there are world-class festivals that don’t involve skimpy costumes and do more than just blast loud music. Expedia put together these cool graphics to showcase seven cultural celebrations taking place around the globe, each of which is worth traveling to. Far from the typical music festival, each festival highlights the culture and heritage of the country or city playing host — often in a very bright and vibrant manner.

1. Lee Peng and Loy Krathong festivals — Chiang Mai, Thailand

Yet another reason to include the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on your Southeast Asia itinerary, the Lee Peng and Loy Krathong festivals happen simultaneously each November. Orange lanterns take to the skies while paper lanterns line the lakes and rivers, honoring the goddess of water and illuminating the city.

2. Diwali — India

Taking place each November, Diwali is India’s “Festival of Lights.” Shimmering lanterns appear in cities throughout the country, and kolams, colorful designs made from rice flour and chalk, cover the streets and squares. Fireworks shows light up the skies at night.

3. Hogmanay — Scotland

December may be the best time of year to visit Scotland — at least, if partying in the streets is your thing. Hogmanay is what the Scots call New Year’s Eve and it dates back to the celebration of the Winter Solstice among the Vikings in late December. Live drum ensembles, torchlight processions, fireballs parades, and steak pies ring in the New Year, Scottish style.

4. Lantern Festival — China

This colorful event marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations in early February each year. With over 2,000 years of history behind it, China’s Lantern Festival sends lit paper lanterns into the sky to call for hope in the new year. At ground level, you’ll witness lion dances and the annual exchanging of red envelopes filled with money — a gesture of good luck.

5. Carnevale — Venice, Italy

The annual Carnevale is how Venice celebrates before the privations of Lent. While Rio de Janeiro’s version of the celebration is much more famous, Italy more than holds its own.

6. Mardi Gras — New Orleans, Louisiana

The parade, the beads, and especially the parties have come to define the annual “Fat Tuesday” celebration, which brings over one million people to New Orleans each February. Though based around Tuesday, the party lasts all week — and sees the city swell to about three times its normal size.

7. Holi Phagwa — India

Like the Diwali festival, this March event takes place across India and brings bright colors to the forefront. This Hindu festival, which takes place each spring, celebrates both the triumph of good over evil and the arrival of a new, brighter season. At Holi Phagwa, participants cover each other in colorful paint mixed with powder.


More like this: 8 best winter festivals of Europe

The post 7 cultural festivals you need to check out around the world appeared first on Matador Network.

The best country for wildlife travel

Every country offers vastly different experiences based on its geography and ecosystem, but some destinations are undeniably more suitable than others for a wildlife-based trip. Compiled by True Luxury Travel, the new Global Wildlife Travel Index analyzes a variety of factors, including wildlife biodiversity, conservation efforts, and the volume of national parks and protected areas, to determine a definitive list of the best countries for wildlife travel. The highest possible score is 42 points. The index puts a spotlight on the recent popularity of wildlife travel, and can be an incredibly helpful tool in planning your next vacation.

A quick perusal of the list makes it obvious that the Americas dominate wildlife travel. The United States takes the top spot with 37 points, followed closely by Venezuela and Brazil. Colombia, Mexico, and Canada are also in the top ten, along with Thailand, Tanzania, Croatia, and Australia. The United States’ 60 national parks, 757 natural history museums, and impressive conservation efforts were all contributing factors to landing the top spot, as well as its megafauna conservation efforts, which are ranked among the best in the world. Venezuela’s high percentage of nature preserves catapulted it to second place, with 54.14 percent of its total land mass being categorized as a protected area.

While European countries aren’t typically considered prime destinations for wildlife-viewing, Croatia ranked highly due to its abundance of protected natural areas and high biodiversity. Italy performed well thanks to its vast number of natural history museums, and Sweden due to its megafauna conservation efforts.

H/T: Lonely Planet

More like this: The best 8 places to see some of the world’s most majestic animals up close

The post The United States ranks as the top country to visit for wildlife appeared first on Matador Network.

Restaurants Philadelphians eat at

Philadelphia is a food town. Representing different traditions and neighborhoods, these Philly classics listed below have one thing in common: they’re a quintessential part of the Philadelphia experience. Here are some spots you need to hit up in order to call yourself a real Philadelphian.

1. John’s Roast Pork

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by We Love Philadelphia ❤️

11 secrets every RVer knows

Here’s a truth to start us off: RV travel is for everyone. It’s for the solo traveler who embraces the freedom of the open road. It’s for the couple road tripping across the US in a cozy trailer. It’s for the adventure seekers who want to be immersed in nature but don’t want to give up the comforts of home. After all, not much beats campfire ambiance, sleeping in your own bed, and million-dollar-doorstep views. Yep, all at once.

From converted vans to luxurious fifth wheels, from shoestring budgets to champagne-and-caviar lifestyles, there’s an RV (and a camping spot) for everyone. And though there are different types of RVs — and different types of RVers — travel truths are absolute. Here are 11 that this crowd experience firsthand.

Truth #1: There’s a website/app for that.

Photo: Go RVing

Want a campground with wifi, a swimming pool, and a flexible pet policy? Great, because those exist. Websites like GoRVing are encyclopedias of useful information, guiding you toward spots you definitely wouldn’t have known about otherwise.

Pinpoint the closest, cheapest gas station to fill up your tank with Gasbuddy. Find the most scenic route with Roadtrippers. Locate nearby RV dump stations with Sanidumps. There’s an app for nearly everything, so not a single step of the travel process has to be difficult or intimidating.

Truth #2: Adventure awaits beyond the confines of the ordinary.

Photo: Go RVing

There’s more to RV travel than campgrounds and RV resorts. In a pinch, you might even find yourself camping out in a parking lot at a casino or big-box store. Many such spots offer a safe bet for a free night’s sleep before you hit the road again the next morning. Pro tip: Always check with the specific property before staying the night.

If you want to escape the lights and the crowds, head to public lands. You can camp in America’s national forests — there’s 154 of them across the country, which adds up to 193 million acres — and in many areas run by the Bureau of Land Management. You won’t have an electric or water hookup, but the views are free and unlimited.

Adventurous travelers can also stay overnight at wineries, orchards, ranches, and private properties all over the country with Harvest Hosts or Hipcamp. Save some cargo space for all the wine and fresh produce you’ll want to buy!

Truth #3: Eating local is always rewarding (and usually also delicious).

Photo: Go RVing

Foodie RVers can beeline to the nearest farmers markets and stock up their kitchen with whatever’s fresh and in season: Michigan cherries, Alaskan blueberries, Maine lobster, Florida oranges, Vermont maple syrup. No matter where your travels take you, farmers markets are the place to find the best collections of local produce, meat, and baked goods. And it turns out your own mobile kitchen is a great place to store and prepare all your winnings.

Truth #4: Hidden costs are avoidable.

Photo: Go RVing

You know all those extra charges that break your budget: ocean-view rooms, pet fees, baggage fees, parking — the list goes on. They’re a thing of the past with RV travel. Sure, you might wind up buying some extra firewood, but there’s nothing “hidden” about an impromptu campfire party.

Speaking of which, you don’t get dinged for being flexible — no charges for changing a flight or extra nights in a hotel because you decided to extend your trip by a few days. RV travel is infinitely more versatile, which leads to a lot less worry (and a lot less cost).

Truth #5: Travel expands your vocabulary.

Photo: Go RVing

The RV tribe has its own language. Savvy RVers know how to hook up quickly — and we’re not talking about the dating world — and are comfortable talking about their reefer in public. A seasoned RV traveler can also list the ins and outs of boondocking, yamping, and workcamping. That’s camping without hookups in the boonies, yard camping in a friend or relative’s yard, and working in exchange for a campsite and some compensation, respectively.

And reefer? That’s slang for refrigerator. Basically, RVing comes with a whole new in-group. Welcome to the gang.

Truth #6: Four-legged copilots make any trip better.

Photo: Go RVing

With some advance prep, you can easily take your four-legged companion with you — dog, cat, hamster, or otherwise. And while they can’t help you read a map or park the rig, they’re great company on the road, on trails, and at dinner. Most campgrounds allow pets, but you’ll want to verify ahead of time.

And they might snore, but they won’t change the radio station or complain about your singing.

Truth #7: You never have to truly unplug (unless you want to).

Photo: Go RVing

Let’s face it: Unplugging completely isn’t for everyone. From strengthening a campground’s wifi signal with a booster or extender antenna to investing in RV satellite internet service, there are connection options for all but the most remote areas in the US. Whether you need to stay in contact with family members, update your Instagram stories, or work remotely, there’s a way to make it happen. Worst-case scenario? Find a nearby RVer with a setup and make friends.

By the same token, dry camping — camping without water or electric hookups — often means conserving water, going without air conditioning, and giving up a lot of luxuries we take for granted (assuming you didn’t opt for a generator). But you don’t have to skip the showers, live in darkness, or subsist on dehydrated food like it’s the end of days. Solar power is a game-changer for dry camping — there are solar showers, solar lights, solar panels, and even solar ovens. …You know this is 2018, right?

Truth #8: Budget-friendly travel equals more travel.

Photo: Go RVing

Imagine travel without the cost of hotel rooms, airfare, car rentals, and (if you choose) restaurants. Sure, it depends on how many miles you travel and whether you spend your entire vacation at high-end RV resorts or free dispersed camping spots, but RV travel can cost much, much less, which means you can — and likely will — travel more often. And with the ability to take Fluffy or Spot with you, to work remotely, and to go wherever the good weather does…this could legitimately be your new year-round thing.

Another fee you won’t have to worry about? Equipment rentals. Whether you want to explore trails by mountain bike or get out on the water in a kayak or SUP, when you travel by RV, you can bring your gear with you instead of renting it — over and over again — at your destination. Seriously, how many kayaks could you have bought by now?!

Truth #9: Travel knows no off-season.

Photo: Go RVing

Love the winter months and everything they offer? You can point your RV toward the mountains and hit the slopes or ski trails. Cold-weather camping does require some preparation (think winterizing and extra insulation), but there’s less competition for camping spots, so it’s usually easier to nab one with the best views — and just think about the fresh powder waiting for your skis or snowshoes.

Hate the winter months and everything they offer? Drive a few hours south, and you’re golden all over again.

Truth #10: Traveling well is a skill, and skills require practice.

Photo: Go RVing

Remember when you thought parallel parking would be impossible to learn? It’s the same with backing up and handling your RV: Practice makes perfect. And while many RV parks help you out by offering pull-through spots, it’s good to get comfortable maneuvering your vehicle in reverse. Just remember that side mirrors, spotters, and RV backup cameras are your friends.

Truth #11: It’s about the journey, not the destination.

Photo: Go RVing

RV travel is perhaps the purest manifestation of this old cliche. No more cabin fever from being squeezed into a sedan for hours on end. No more wishing you could’ve fit an extra outfit or piece of gear in the trunk. No more “fast food or nothing” scenarios for lunch (unless you’re into that — we won’t judge). In an RV, the journey is a joy, which makes the journey the real reason you’re out there.

The post 11 travel truths every RVer understands appeared first on Matador Network.

Japanese spa offers ramen soaks

At this point, mineral hot springs and jacuzzi tubs are nothing special. You can find them throughout the United States, Canada, and just about anywhere else that tourists can be willingly conjured into paying exorbitant prices to bathe in natural waters that emanate from the earth below. The Japanese, already masters of serene spa experiences, have upped the ante. Now, you can soak in coffee, wine, green tea, or even ramen broth — all in the name of taking a load off and recharging.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by KUMI (@935ooo) on Mar 29, 2016 at 7:31am PDT

Less than an hour and a half from Tokyo’s central train station, the Hakone Kowakien Yunessun Spa and Resort uses the therapeutic and healing properties of substances more commonly found in a kettle or mug to help you decompress. All you have to do is travel to the town of Hakone, just outside of Tokyo. According to the resort’s descriptions of each, there is ample evidence to prove the benefits of these baths. While the wine and coffee baths are year-round offerings, the ramen bath is part of a series of special events that the resort puts on, which have also included other novelty baths like chocolate, sake, and Champagne.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 箱根小涌園ユネッサン (@yunessun_hakone) on Oct 16, 2017 at 10:59pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 箱根小涌園ユネッサン (@yunessun_hakone) on Sep 29, 2017 at 12:09am PDT

If you’re feeling extra brave, you can even have a school of fish clean the dead skin from your feet in by signing up for a famed fish pedicure. Of course, the resort offers basic spa options, as well, including open-air scenic baths and private tubs for individuals and couples. You can relax over views of the volcanic Hakone crater and the surrounding mountains, surrounded by meditative Japanese-style gardens.

If none of this sounds appealing, take your experience back to the basics by riding the warm-water water slide or going for a swim in the larger pool. Depending on your level of comfort, there are both clothed and disrobed areas (though beware no one with visible tattoos of any size is allowed in the pools). Entrance to the no-clothed area costs 1,900 yen (about $17) while the full spa experience will run you 4,100 yen (about $38).

H/T: Travel and Leisure

More like this: This Instagram account is dedicated solely to Japanese toilets

The post You can soak in ramen broth at this Japanese spa appeared first on Matador Network.