Meet Our Team: Jacob Young

Posted on October 12, 2015 - 9:30 pm by keith_ritter

“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll give this a shot for a year or two, then I’ll get a real job.’ I’m coming into my 14th year, having guided in amazing places all over the world, and couldn’t be happier.”

Meet Trek Travel cycling guide Jacob Young

Tell us your story. How did you end up at Trek Travel?
At a dinner party one night, a friend mentioned this new company—a new branch of Trek Bicycle that was taking people on super nice bikes to super nice places. I thought, “That’s way too good to be true.” As I was job hunting in the post 9/11 mayhem, I wasn’t having much luck. I had guided a few friends up Mount Rainier, and it felt life changing to show someone a new place, to see them achieve something they didn’t know they could: I was hooked. Somehow, Tania saw something in me through the reality-TV-style hiring process and gave me and 13 other lucky guides a job. I thought, “Well, I’ll give this a shot for a year or two, then I’ll get a real job.” I’m coming into my 14th year, having guided in amazing places all over the world, and I couldn’t be happier.

How did you get into cycling?
Fifteen bucks at a yard sale in New Hampshire scored the 12-year-old version of me a grey Peugeot and my first taste of freedom. Granted, I was riding in cut off jean shorts at the time, and mountain biking quickly became my passion, but that was my humble beginning. I had never worn a chamois until two weeks before my interview with Trek Travel! Track & Field and Cross Country are the sports that put me through university, and it was there that a passion for endurance sports was born. Trek Travel was really the transition from running to cycling for me.

How has your guiding experience impacted your life?
Beyond meeting incredible people, and the travel, I’ve become really good at eating out. This skill only becomes apparent when I eat out with my non-guiding friends (and could be its own future blog post). Also, being able to read people is one of the finest skills a guide can hone, and I like to think that my temperature gauge of people is finely tuned.

How do you spend your off-season?
I am fortunate enough to wear a few different hats. I currently toggle between working as Transportation Director for some of the biggest bicycle races in North America, as well as helping lead yoga trips in sunny, tropical destinations. Through the years, I’ve bartended, worked retail, edited manuscripts, taught yoga, coached high school track, tutored English, lived in Italy, became a Carmichael Training Systems coach, landscaped, and briefly held the title of Global Logistics Manager for a hand-warmer company.

Do you have a favorite vacation spot?
My current favorite place to travel is the Veneto region of Italy, known as the foothills of the Dolomites. The food and wine are amazing, the terrain is varied, and the tourists are few.

Tell us about a highlight during your time guiding.
Some years back, I was guiding in New Zealand with my good friend Jon Vick (currently rocking as the Event Manager for Trek Bicycles). We had some guests who wanted to go skydiving. Near Lake Wanaka, I made a couple calls and learned that the local establishment would not only give us guides a commission if guests signed up to skydive, they would also comp our skydive. JV and I “jumped” at this opportunity, and the fist bump at 15,000 feet before the adrenaline rush confirmed that this would remain a highlight for the rest of my life.

What advice would your give our readers when planning a vacation?
Prepare to make new friends. Also, spend multiple days in a row on your saddle. (Speaking of saddles, they are very personal things, so I recommend you bring one that works for you.) Most importantly, come with an open mind. “Trip of a lifetime” is quite the moniker to live up to. I feel lucky when guests tell me we have exceeded their expectations, and can’t wait for the next time to do it again.

Where the Silk Road Begins

Posted on October 5, 2015 - 7:55 pm by keith_ritter

“The Lesic Dimitri Palace was not only one of the most memorable hotels I have ever stayed in, but also one of the most luxurious. With each residence having a different theme based on Marco Polo’s journey along the Silk Road, we had a blast showing each other our meticulously-designed spaces.”

– Lindsay Juley, Travel Coordinator at Trek Travel

The Lešić Dimitri Palace stands within the heart of the old town of Korčula, with a refined elegance that represents the rich history and culture of its destination. Celebrating the marriage between old and new, this boutique property has just five unique and spacious suites. They were designed by an Asian-Croatian team of architects and interior designers and inspired by Korčula’s famous resident, Marco Polo, and his travels along the Silk Road. Now restored and adapted as a first-class hotel, the buildings of the Lešić-Dimitri Palace originally evolved as part of Korčula’s medieval urban matrix.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the aristocratic Lešić family, local landowners prominent in trade and commerce in Korčula, began to acquire a number of contiguous properties in town in order to create a prestigious urban residence. By systematically merging six buildings that lay in two back-to-back rows, the basis for a prestigious urban palace was obtained. The separate properties date back to the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and three more floor levels were later added to accommodate the family’s needs and reflect its significant social position. While the simple forms of these late medieval cottages have substantially survived to the present, the Palace itself displays the more sophisticated revisions and decorative detail characteristic of the later eighteenth century.

By the time of Napoleonic rule in the early nineteenth century, the buildings were suffering neglect. Ill-suited to the needs of more modest family living, the buildings were put to public use. For a period, part of the property was leased as a school, while part was given over to occupation by a large number of tenants. Finally, the Palace stood empty. It’s future was unsure. Soundly constructed and secure, the buildings’ structural masonry did not suffer from this abandonment. Timber elements were less fortunate and without proper maintenance roofing spars, floor and ceiling beams, windows and doors were all considerably damaged. The old cottage properties were left roofless and the space within their walls was used for a long time as a garden.

From this depressing and uncertain state the Lešić-Dimitri Palace was rescued in 2000 when the complex was purchased by a new owner. By 2008, following a necessarily prolonged period of painstaking survey work, archival research, architectural intervention and high quality craftsmanship, the restoration and adaptation of the Palace was largely complete. Not only do the buildings now provide tourist accommodation of the highest category, but an important part of Korčula’s unique urban fabric has been secured to be enjoyed by Korčulani and visitors alike. In developing this new residential accommodation, the existing spatial organization of the Palace has been stringently respected. Each floor is a single large apartment, lavishly appointed with everything needed for relaxed modern living. The cottages are being adapted to house a restaurant, bar and health spa.

The restoration of the Palace maintains the building’s historical detail. Existing structural masonry and ornamental stonework are harmonious with more contemporary elements. And while the historic townscape scale continues to be respected, smooth rendered walls subtly but clearly differentiate the old from the new.

STAY AT LESIC-DIMITRI PALACE ON TREK TRAVEL’S CROATIA BIKE TOUR»

Remote. Rugged. Refuge.

Posted on September 24, 2015 - 8:11 pm by keith_ritter

The people who choose to call this place home are of a tribe that stretches back thousands of years and although not all related by blood, their spirit thrives here with the same reverence and passion. Their brilliance is mirrored by daily rhythm of the desert; it begins cool and refreshing and becomes warn and welcoming.

“I know what they tell you about the desert but you mustn’t believe them. This is no deathbed. Dig down, the earth is moist. You can hear a man breathe at a distance of twenty yards. You can see out there to the edge where the desert stops and the mountains begin. You think it is perhaps ten miles. It is more than a hundred. Just before the sun sets all the colors will changes. Green will turn to blue, red to gold…” – Barry Lopez, Desert Notes

Nearly 1000 years ago, Ancestral Puebloan people were the first to be captivated by this ancient and rugged landscape and its allure stretches to today. Boulder, Utah is a town so spectacularly remote, its residents still received their mail by mule-train until the late 1940’s. In Boulder, I find a bit of refuge. I find it in a pastoral familiarity amongst a sea of sandstone. I find it in the sounds of migrating waterfowl emanating from a tiny wetland. I find it in the first taste of a cold craft beer and the spicy kick of a warm bowl of Posole. Most of all, I find it in the people there.

At the tail end of a five-hour drive, you crest a ridgeline high above Calf Creek. Below, deep gouges split ancient petrified sand dunes forming massive canyons. Not a powerline, building or person in sight. Other than the road you’re on, it’s a landscape devoid of human impact. At the top of the hill, look out the right side windows of the van to the distance and get your first glimpse of Boulder. Pivot irrigation in the middle of a green hayfield. A red barn. Cattle and a few solitary horses. These things look out of place. Anomalies on this naked stretch of earth.

We begin this trip here–maybe six or seven times a year and regardless of what’s required to get things rolling, I always make an effort to spend at least a few short moments with the folks that bring my Boulder to life. Maybe I’ll sneak away for two minutes between lunch and our Day 1 bike fitting session to say hello to Jen Castle while she roasts fresh chilies behind Hell’s Backbone kitchen or hang around after dinner for a glass of wine and farm happenings update with restaurant owner Blake Spalding. Sometimes, I’ll crawl out of bed a few minutes before my co-guide to watch the fist shooting light of the sun bounce across the cliffs along the Burr Trail. Maybe attempt to give Jezebel, resident queen kitty of the Boulder Mountain Lodge, a good morning head-scratch (when she lets me get close enough). My community is in Lander, Wyoming but when I’m here, this place sure feels like home. There is a special energy that is manifested in this community. It’s magnetic and unique. You’ll see it first in their easy smiles. Then their wholesome gratitude. Soon, you’ll become friends. It’s a given.

The people who choose to call this place home are of a tribe that stretches back 1000 years and although not all related by blood, their spirit thrives here with the same reverence and passion. Their brilliance is mirrored by daily rhythm of the desert; it begins cool and refreshing and comes warm and welcoming. Tucked away in this magical landscape of pinion and juniper, dark canyons and crystalline creeks, towering rock spires and golden sandstone domes, lives a community bound by a dynamic love of these things. They’re ready to share them with those who choose to travel here. They’re ready to share these things with those who can pause and surrender to the raw and uncompromising power of this beautiful desert. Far beyond the world-class cycling to be had on these lonely desert highways, the spirit of the community here shows its undeniable and unwavering character. We might only get brief glimpses of life in Boulder, Utah (a short 18 hours over the span of six days), but those snapshots will call you back.

EXPERIENCE BOULDER ON TREK TRAVEL’S BRYCE AND ZION VACATION»

FAQs: Global Entry

Posted on September 22, 2015 - 9:09 pm by keith_ritter

Have you ever been stuck in a full maze at security and wished you could skip the line? Or maybe you’ve missed a connection because it took too long to get through customs. Global Entry is the solution to these travel woes, but the process can be intimidating for some and perceived as futile by others. Here’s what you need to know before you start the process:

Overview:
The Global Entry program allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers expedited entry into the U.S. through automatic kiosks. No need to fill out blue customs forms on the plane or wait in line after a long international flight. Additionally, Global Entry members are eligible for TSA PreCheck, which expedites traveler screening through security checkpoints on domestic flights. No need to remove shoes, laptops, liquids, belts or jackets. Ultimately, Global Entry will minimize the amount of time you spend standing in line or stressing about time on both domestic and international vacations.
Pro Tip: You can apply for TSA PreCheck on its own, but at the cost of $85 per traveler, you might as well spend $100 for Global Entry.

Application:
In order to apply for Global Entry, you must be a U.S. citizens or lawful permanent resident. You also cannot have been convicted of any criminal offense or been found in violation of any customs or immigration laws. (See full eligibility requirements here.) Once you’ve deemed yourself as eligible, the application process is easy:
1. Create a Global Online Enrollment System (GOES) account.
2. Log in to your GOES account and complete the application. The application includes a series of straightforward questions, including your employment history and a list of every country you’ve visited in the last five years.
3. Pay the $100 non-refundable fee.
4. Schedule an interview at a Global Entry Enrollment Center. Be sure to bring a valid passport or permanent resident card, and one other form on identification (such as a drivers license).
5. Complete your 15-minute interview. Most international airports have a Global Entry office, so for convenience you could schedule the interview during a long layover or get to the airport early before your next vacation. Be sure to leave yourself enough time, however, as the appointments often run behind schedule.

Utilization:
If you are approved for Global Entry, you will receive a physical card in the mail roughly two weeks later. This card is not actually required while flying, but you will need your Known Traveler Number (found on the back of the card in the upper left-hand corner). To take advantage of TSA PreCheck, you will need to enter your Known Traveler Number when making airline reservations so that your boarding pass is marked appropriately. To take advantage of Global Entry, head directly toward signs for Global Entry kiosks upon landing in the U.S. after an international flight. At the kiosk, you will scan your passport, answer the customs questions, take your photo, and scan your fingerprints. You will receive a receipt that you hand to the customs agent on your way out. It is important to know that travel companions (even children or your spouse) cannot come through the Global Entry kiosk with you.
Pro Tip: Add your Known Traveler Number to your frequent flyer profile to make it easier for future reservations.

Top 5 European Spas

Posted on September 15, 2015 - 9:59 pm by keith_ritter

For the lovers of luxury who want to sip wine off the Mediterranean coast or lounge in Europe’s finest hotels, we’ve got great news. In addition to posh lodging and choice amenities, these five hotels also offer world-class spas perfect for treating yourself or your loved one to the ultimate relaxation experience. They’re so indulgent, you may feel guilty. But don’t. We both know you deserve it.

1. Les Sources de Caudalie: Bordeaux

In perfect harmony with the surrounding vineyards, Caudalie’s distinctive style blends wood and stone materials inside an old tobacco kiln to create a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. The exclusive wellbeing treatments at this Vinothérapie Spa are based on vine and grape-based extracts and natural hot spring water rich in minerals.

Signature Treatment: Crushed Cabernet Scrub
The most popular treatment from the Vinothérapie Spa, this scrub is developed with a base of grape-seed, honey, brown sugar and essential oils, and designed to regain your skin’s radiance and softness.

2. Jumeriah Port Soller Hotel and Spa: Mallorca Luxury

With its abundant sun, sea, nature and culture, Mallorca is an ideal place to escape to for a rejuvenating break. Offering a new generation of spa treatments, the Talise Spa uses natural ingredients such as citrus, almonds and olive oil that will transport you to a serene state of mind and body.

Signature Treatment: Talise Signature Massage
This exclusive therapeutic massage uses a variety of techniques from the best treatments in the world. A unique combination of pressure points and a massage sequence using healing oils enhance this unforgettable experience.

3. Lešić Dimitri Palace: Croatia and Dalmatian Coast

Set in the midst of an ancient city, an exotic experience awaits you at the Lešić Dimitri Spa. Blending cultures and techniques from along the Silk Road, indulge in the therapeutic benefits of spa therapies offered by the palace’s Thai therapists who are trained to world-class standards in a country with centuries’ worth of spa tradition.

Signature Treatment: Thai Traditional Massage
A therapeutic treatment developed to promote energy, stimulate the nervous system and support the development of the body, mind and spirit. The stimulating hand massage combines with stretching to improve circulation and energy.

4. La Coquillade: Provence Luxury

Located in the heart of Luberon Natural Park, the Coquillade Spa is the ideal space to fully recharge, increase your energy levels and restore your equilibrium. The comprehensive treatment program–including an indoor pool, sauna, steam bath, relaxation room, fitness area, and salon–allows you to find something that suits your needs.

Signature Treatment: Signature Face and Body Care
This all-inclusive treatment allows you to personalize your experience with a bath, scrub or wrap of your choice. Embark on a comprehensive wellness experience unlike any other, including a massage and facial treatment.

5. Alentejo Marmòris Hotel And Spa: Portugal

Implanted in an ancient olive oil mill and dug in a quarry, entering in the Stone Spa is an unforgettable experience. The beauty of the marble that adorns its original walls transport you to another place as your enjoy the amenities and genuine hospitality offered at this Small Luxury Hotel of the World.

Signature Treatment: Marble Stone Massage
Developed by the Stone Spa team, this deep tissue massage was designed for lovers of vigorous massage. It is the fusion of Eastern wisdom and contemporary therapies combining various massage techniques, stretches and digit pressure.

#Vagabonds

Posted on September 9, 2015 - 9:15 pm by keith_ritter

We finish our seasons late in the calendar year, and that’s when it’s time to reflect on the days spent riding the bike with guests in the evening light, in gluttonous enjoyment of a coastline picnic, or in the nights spent working behind the scenes, sweating, preparing every last detail.

Being a guide is a dream. Just like a dream, though, there are moments of surreal beauty, where I pinch myself because I’m so lucky, and moments where I feel like nothing more than a vagabond, wandering from road to road, without a home to speak of.

A season of nights can be remembered in two ways. Long nights linger throughout a guide’s season, presenting sleep debt that appears every morning like the crust in your eye: it’s a gross, immovable feature of guiding that invites itself into your morning routine. Late night hours accumulate on dark, drizzling drives across the French Alps, or in bike repair sessions that endure until a new feature of bicycle mechanics is finally mastered. These nights of bleary eyes and greasy fingers hit in the morning like a middle-aged hangover. They metastasize over weeks upon weeks through the summer rush. For the rest of the season you can point to them as the reason you need just 30 more minutes of sleep. I awake each morning with the simple joy to have a job that is perpetual adventure: that fortuity is laced into the first minutes of my day, but it cannot always soothe the need for a long night of rest, or a slow morning with too much coffee and a sojourn through the news to nullify my accrued fatigue.

There are other nights, however, that are not pernicious. With co-guides as my partners in crime, we spent last season’s nights in 12th-century castle ruins perched atop the bluffs looming over the Danube, and watched the moon drift across the valley; we wended our way through herds of Prague’s revelers until the early morning and devoured fried-cheese sandwiches to bridge dinner and breakfast. Every guide cobbles together nights of extemporaneous adventure: In the evenings they become impromptu wedding guests, and dinner dates for the stars, or might just end the wee hours vaulting over fences or hailing the relics of rock and roll’s saints. These nocturnal voyages stoke the engine driving us through our season. They are filled with electricity, are stolen moments from a history and a place that never expected us, and remind us that rapture can be found in the time between the days filled with purpose, agendas and goals.

These evening escapades are archived in the Trek Travel legacy at the end of the season when guides float back to the guide house to eddy-out. We all come with the excuse to catch a night of rest and reclaim cached belongings, but the real purpose is to relish the scuttlebutt from everyone’s season.

I feasted my first night back at the Tuscany guide house last season with a table full of guides, tortellini, and gas-station wine. What started as dinner became a jam session for raconteurs who had repressed the parts of the job that percolate when the season ends: too many missed weddings, too few evening chats with a spouse, wearing the same pair of trousers packed and unpacked in countless hotel rooms, and the claustrophobia from sharing long days in the same van, hotel room, bathroom, bedroom, bike path, breakfast table and dining room with somebody else every day of the season.

The ineffable beauty of this job is the family of companions that emerges from the chaos and stress of life on the road. Within that family is a cast of saviors that cart other drained and reeking guides from Megeve to Geneva to arrive in time for a date, conjure gourmet dinners from melons and mint to serve starving colleagues, or otherwise provide the lost features of “normal life” to professional vagabonds.

At the end of a full season, after leaving the various guide houses to return home, we are supposed to resume something that feels more permanent. But we are visitors here for only a few months. The season begins again when the days get longer in Spain, and heats up to a full thrust when the sun warms the rest of Europe. Until then home feels idle, like an indictment of “normal”, and easily defined as just a “time in-between.” It is a purgatory released by the memory of seized moments that incite us to new adventures. Is it time to get back yet? Is it time to start adventuring again?

Written by Sam Clark, Trek Travel Guide

DO YOU WANT TO BIKE AROUND THE WORLD WHILE GETTING PAID? APPLY TODAY»

Bike and Barge Experience

Posted on September 8, 2015 - 9:55 pm by keith_ritter

When Mac Tichenor, a close friend of Trek Travel, wanted to celebrate his birthday in style, he put together the guest list and we took care of the rest. What followed was a floating party, an unforgettable bike-n-barge vacation from Paris to Champagne. Together, Mac and nine of his closest friends cruised the Marne River and set a new bar for the ultimate birthday celebration.

What inspired you to take a bike and barge vacation?

The inspiration came from the Trek Travel trip designers. I presented them with a nascent idea, and, very creatively, they came up with a spectacular trip. Even after the idea was hatched, we weren’t certain what we were getting into. But our previous experience on a Trek Travel trip made us confident that it would be well done and fun, and our expectations were far surpassed.

Tell us about your favorite day of the trip.

It is really hard to pick a favorite. Each day had its own flavor, with different intensities of riding, different types of scenery, and different kinds of off-the-bike activities, all of which made each day interesting and exciting. But the first full day was probably the most memorable. Our group of 10 was already wowed by the elegance of our accommodations on the barge, the conviviality of its crew, and how our guides were almost giddy about the plans for the week. The excitement of starting off that first morning still sticks with me.

How does a bike and barge trip compare to a classic cycling vacation?

1. A big benefit was that we did not have to pack up and move out of our rooms for the whole week. After we departed the barge each morning on our bikes, it would motor on to the next port of call, where we would meet it at the end of the day. We had the same room but a different view every day.

2. The barge had a great bar, wine cellar, and an extraordinary chef. It was particularly nice to stay aboard after a long day of riding and be treated to a Michelin-quality meal.

3. When someone in our group didn’t want to ride on a given day, they had the option of staying on the barge to read and relax on deck during a pleasant trip down the Marne River.

What made the bike and barge trip a unique travel experience?

I think the true uniqueness of this trip was the melding of two activities, either one of which makes a great trip in itself – a Trek Travel bicycling adventure and a river barge excursion. It led to a confluence of magic ingredients: good friends, engaging and helpful guides, gorgeous scenery, great bikes, the novelty and unexpected luxuriousness of the barge experience, and some of the best food and wine in the world. The excitement and camaraderie generated among our group, our guides, and the crew grew over the week and made it especially enjoyable.

“The barge experience was a perfect complement to biking. The barge crew was exceptionally fun and helpful. The food and wine were fabulous. Our Trek Travel guides were immediate friends, it couldn’t have been better!” – Mac Tichenor

Why did you choose to celebrate your birthday with Trek Travel?

My wife and I had recently been introduced to bike touring on a Trek Travel trip to Vermont, which we loved. Some friends on that trip had been on Trek Travel trips in Europe that they raved about, so we filed away that idea. Somehow the idea of adding in the barge element surfaced, and the Trek Travel trip designers took it and ran with it.

Do you have an especially memorable story from the trip?

On our first full day of riding, our guides told us we would stop at a French country inn for lunch. That sounded fine, but we didn’t really have any idea what we were in for. It turned out to be a charming spot in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by an apple orchard, with a great outdoor dining area. We were fêted with too many courses to count of delicious food (for which we had built up big appetites by riding all morning). The meal lasted almost two hours and, after a brief recovery period (i.e. naps on the grass), we set out to ride it off and be ready for dinner. That day brought us to realize what a highly civilized experience was in store for us.

Designing A Trip to Asheville

Posted on August 27, 2015 - 3:03 pm by Rebecca Falls

Trek Travel trip designer Rebecca Falls knows what it takes to create a one-of-a-kind vacation. So when she crafted a cycling trip in her own backyard, the outcome was extraordinary.

What drew you to live in Asheville, North Carolina?

The first time I ever stepped foot in Asheville was the summer of 1999, when I was working as a raft guide in Bryson City, NC. My friends and I came to town for the Bele Chere Festival. This festival no longer takes place unfortunately, but its name comes from an ancient Scottish dialect and means “beautiful living.” It was a perfect way to meet this beautiful city, at a time when the streets were full of music, art, and the energy of people gathered to celebrate many of the things that make Asheville special. I knew after that first visit that I would love to call this place home.

Very few places in the eastern US have access to vast tracts of public land as Asheville does. The nearby Pisgah, Cherokee, and Nantahala National Forests along with the Great Smoky Mountain National Park are unbelievable places that have more to appreciate and explore than you could see in a lifetime. Couple that with a great music, food, and beer scene all in a college town of less than 90,000 people and it sounded just about perfect to me. I’ve lived in western North Carolina on and off since 1999 but have been a full-time Asheville resident for four years and I don’t have any plans to leave anytime soon!

What was it like to design a trip in your hometown? What are you most excited for guests to experience?

Designing a trip in Asheville felt somewhat familiar, as friends from out of town often come to visit and I want to show them around and pack as much into their stay as possible! It was fun to have an opportunity to create a trip in an area I know so well, and to be able to build on those past experiences. It was a lot of pressure too! I always approach trip design with this in mind—most people want to see as much of the world as they can, so they may not travel to the same place twice. So if I have one week to show you what this place is all about, what should we do? I made a list of must-do’s and put the trip together from there.

It’s always fun and exciting to take guests to places they haven’t been before, and even more so when that place is your home. I am looking forward to the little things—playing a game of bean-bag toss at The Wedge before dinner on Monday night, introducing someone to a classic southern dish like fried green tomatoes they may not have tried before….and of course the big things are pretty cool too, like standing on the summit of Mount Mitchell, taking in the 360 degree views and knowing you rode your bike up there.

Did you make any new discoveries about the region while completing the research for this trip?

I had not visited the Highlands area before I started researching this trip. I knew that I wanted to get guests out of downtown Asheville for the second part of the week, and I was looking for a smaller town somewhere that felt more wild. A good friend of mine is from the Highlands area and he suggested I come check it out. I was blown away by the access to low-traffic roads, waterfalls, the walkable/upscale downtown, cool restaurants, and was really excited to find the perfect hotel in 200 Main, which is owned and operated by the well-known Old Edwards Inn. He took me riding and hiking around the area one day and I was sold!

Asheville is well-known for outdoor adventure, local food and craft beer. What are the lesser known qualities that make it great?

Personally, one of my favorite things about this area is the local music. I love old-time music—a style that is played on acoustic instruments and usually involves the fiddle and banjo. It’s widely recognized as a feature of Southern Appalachian culture that has roots in the Welch, English, Irish and Scottish music brought by early immigrants to the region. It is associated with folk dancing as well—square dancing and contra dancing, which is also very popular in Asheville. Every Wednesday and Thursday night you can stop into Jack of the Wood, one of the great downtown bars, and catch an old-time or bluegrass jam session. And in Highlands, every Wednesday night a local string band plays at the Ugly Dog Pub—right down the street from our hotel! It’s awesome to have a style of music that is so strongly connected to a place, and to the history of that place.

Tell us about the brewery scene in Asheville. What is your favorite local beer?

The brewery scene here is going nuts! If I may quote NPR…”With more breweries per capita than any U.S. city, Asheville, North Carolina has become a sort of Napa Valley of beer.”

One of Ashevile’s oldest and best-known local micobreweries is Highland Brewing Company, located really close to my house here in east Asheville. Their Gaelic Ale was one of the first beers I ever really loved, so they will always have a special place in my heart! There are SO MANY great breweries here now though. We have really great water in Asheville, which has helped attract bigger breweries like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Oskar Blues. The smaller breweries, however, are of the greatest interest to me and there are really too many to name. I recently suggested a walking brewery tour in downtown to some friends and was surprised to realize you could walk to 6 breweries in a 1-mile loop on the “South Slope” of downtown. That’s pretty amazing to me. My favorite local beer is the Perfect Day IPA by Asheville Brewing. You can only get it at certain times of the year, which makes it more special, and especially delicious to toast with your friends after a long summer day of adventures.

EXPERIENCE THE BEST OF ASHEVILLE ON TREK TRAVEL’S CYCLING VACATION»

All Work and No Play Is No Fun At All

Posted on August 20, 2015 - 9:44 pm by keith_ritter

Listen up, Americans. Collectively we’re taking less vacation time than at any point in nearly the last four decades. And by doing so, we’re only hurting ourselves.

According to a study conducted by Oxford Economics for Project: Time Off, American workers lost 169 million days of paid time off in 2013. And in the last 15 years, we’ve lost nearly a full work-week of vacation time–going from an average of 20.3 days to 16.0 days most recently. These days could not be rolled over, paid out, or used for any other benefit.

We’re making a name for ourselves. Our poor time management is turning into headlines. There might be an end game–a raise, a promotion, a retirement–but in the mean time we’re becoming a nation of work martyrs.

You shouldn’t have to feel guilty about leaving the office. You’re not a slacker, you won’t get behind, and the work can wait. In fact, taking earned time off is essential to creating a productive workforce. Furthermore, vacation time creates strong bonds with family and friends, and helps cultivate a fulfilled life.

So instead of providing free labor to your employer, think about what you could do in a week. Learn to salsa dance in Barcelona. See the leaves change in Vermont. Taste the finest wines in Italy. Eat too many pain au chocolat in Provence.

YOU COULD BE HERE:

Project: Time Off was an initiative to prove the personal, business, social, and economic benefits that taking earned time off can deliver. We aim to shift culture so that using personal time off is not considered frivolous, but essential to strengthening families and improving personal health; a business investment with proven returns and an economic necessity. Learn more at ustravel.org.

10 Fun Facts About Our National Parks

Posted on August 19, 2015 - 8:51 pm by keith_ritter

“These are the people’s parks, owned by young and old, by those in the cities and those on the farms. Most of them are ours today because there were Americans many years ago who exercised vision, patience, and unselfish devotion in the battle for conservation.”
– President Harry S. Truman

When you step into one of America’s 423 national parks, there are distinct characteristics that define the wilderness surrounding you. You can breathe deeply. You can see for miles. You can step off the grid. But there is also so much beneath the surface of America’s sacred nature reserves that cannot be described. There is a charm that must be experienced, a mystery that must be felt.

We can’t believe places like these exist, so in honor of National Parks Week, we want to share our top 10 national park facts and learn more about this incredible resource we are lucky enough to share. Every day people across America find their park, and it may be closer than you think. Read about our favorite features of America’s national parks, then get out and find yours.

Fun Facts About National Parks

1. Back In The Day: The U.S. National Park Service, the bureau responsible for protecting our parks, was founded in 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act. However, the first national park was created many years earlier, when Congress passed an act establishing Yellowstone National Park in 1872.

2. Numbers Don’t Lie: Today there are 423 parks covering 84 million acres (roughly the size of Germany). These parks contain at least 247 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals, more than 75,000 archaeological sites and 18,000 miles of trails.

3. The Favorite Child: Great Smoky Mountains is the most visited national park, drawing more than 10 million recreational visits each year.

4. The Deep Blue Sea: Crater Lake National Park is home to America’s deepest lake. It’s 1,943 feet deep, enough to hide 1.5 Empire State Buildings, and holds 4.6 trillion gallons of water.

5. Liar, Liar: Crater Lake was not actually formed by a crater falling from the sky. On the contrary, it lies in a volcanic basin and was formed when Mount Mazama collapsed following a large eruption.

6. Things That Go Boom: North America’s largest supervolcano is located in Yellowstone National Park.

7. Brave the Caves: Mammoth Cave National Park is the longest cave system known to the world, with more than 400 mapped miles of caves.

8. Think Big: Located in Alaska, Wrangell-St. Elias is the largest park in the country. At six times the size of Yellowstone, it is the meeting point of four major mountain ranges and contains three climate zones, everything from giant glaciers to wetlands and volcanoes.

9. The Low Point: The lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, is 282 feet below sea level.

10. End on a High Note: The highest point in North America is Mt. McKinley in Denali National Park, which stands at 20,320 feet tall.

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