Kango Suz Travels

Go Kango Go!!! Great Travel Search Engine

Kango Suz — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:32:14 +0000

One of the companies I work for, Kango.com, is about to go beta! Ok, so this might not be particularly exciting for you, but it is for me and for all of the team in the Palo Alto offices. Lucky buggers, out there in the beautiful Northern California weather. I stomp my snow-covered boots lovingly at them.

Ok, so back to the big announcement, Kango is going beta. Which is very, very, very exciting. Why? Because it is going to change the way you think about searching for your next trip. Kango is like a cross between Mahalo (the human-powered search engine), TripAdvisor (the travel review site), and StumbleUpon (the social networking tool). Actually, it isn’t ‘like’ that cross, it IS that cross. Their enormous database has pulled information from the far corners of the net to create a huge conglomeration of travel information and reviews. Then, like a big Sunday for us travel geeks, they top it off with the cherry of unusual search terms! Instead of having to search for what you want by location, you can search by ‘feeling.’

What does this mean for you and me? Ok, well for me it means my company is going live, which is very rewarding and exciting. For you though dear reader (and for me as well) it means you can now search for ‘family vacations or ‘romantic things to do in Los Angeles’ and come up with more than just Disney travel and The Rumba Room. No longer do you have to know what exactly it is that you want to do before you begin to search, you can search to get ideas of what to do.

It’s not beta yet but as the song goes “soon and very soon” it will be. In the meantime you can still use it! You just have to sign up for the pre-beta release. Tell ‘em Kango Suz sent you, they’ll be happy to have your feed back on their new site. See you round!

Read the full press release here.

Artistic Night in Palm Springs

Kango Suz — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:22:51 +0000

Once the wintertime escape destination for Hollywood’s most famous movie stars, Palm Springs has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Both in population and in tourism, this desert community is one of the hippest and exciting places to be inland in Southern California. Always a destination of artistic types, in recent years Palm Springs has grown into a true art-based community. For a taste of local art scene, as well as some of the great masters of all time, I spent an evening exploring art in downtown.

I stayed at the Spa Resort & Casino, which is located in the heart of downtown. From the hotel, which is one of the oldest resorts in the area and an experience in and of itself, I walked due west for about ½ a mile to the beautiful Palm Springs Art Museum. Every Thursday night they have live music at their outdoor café and admission is free (although donations are strongly encouraged). While the museum itself is rather small compared with some of the great museums of the world that I’ve had the privilege of haunting, it’s collection is right up my alleyway. My favorite artists include Picasso, Degal, Rodin, Pollock and anyone who does cool glass. It’s not often that I can find awesome selections of each within a minor museum, but the permanent collection at Palm Springs has some wonderful examples. I had expected lots of baskets and other indigenous artwork, which is great but not my favorite, and was pleased to find Cahuilla Indian basket weaving alongside some wider-known names.

I love very large artwork. Just love it. Hence my corresponding love of architecture. I was pleased and thrilled to experience the Patrick Dougherty, Second Sight installation while I was there. Dougherty, a contemporary artist whose work is from found objects and does massive nests, etc, had created huge, beautiful tumble-weed type structures in the center of the main gallery’s three floors. Did I mention that these are HUGE? Awesome – in all senses of the word.

After I had absorbed as much as I could handle of the museum, I migrated back to the main drag of Palm Springs, where their Village Fest Craft Fair happens every Thursday night. Local artisans and great street food (my favorite kind of food) line about a mile of Palm Canyon Drive and it’s THE place to be. I love street fairs, mostly because of my street food addiction, but this one’s booths are truly good art, which is rare at these sorts of things. I was completely exhausted by the time I crawled back into my bed.

Pub Crawl in Bath

Kango Suz — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:55:52 +0000

In which Suz learns a key truth about the traveling community…
“Pub Crawl Tonight to celebrate Bob’s leaving– 6:30”
The sign was tempting to my soaking wet self as I stood at the check in desk of the Bath Backpacker’s Hostel. More than I could say I wanted to go. It was just this type of thing that I was looking for, the camaraderie of fellow travelers and backpackers, hanging out, having a pint. From all the travelogues and books I had read before I left I had imagined how it would be once I got on the road. Meeting tons of people, making friends, laughing, enjoying culture and art and architecture together. Getting the ‘feel’ of traveling.
And yet it wasn’t. I’d been traveling alone during my first 5 days wandering around Great Britain’s rail system. Since I’d been checking into hostels late at night after days of rampant sightseeing I’d not had much of a chance to meet people. The time change had also thrown me off, resulting in a strange Suz that I didn’t know- a person who was up, showered, dressed and checked out by 7am. Frequently I had spent the past 5 days waiting in the mornings for things to open up, something I could never remember doing in my life but which had become quite ordinary to me. Strangely, I found I liked it. Unfortunately my fellow travelers were still snoring when I left the hostel rooms in the mornings.
So I wanted to go on this pub crawl more than anything. But I was scared. Just 20 years old, I had never had alcohol or been into a bar since the official drinking age in the U.S. is 21. Not that that had stopped my comrades in undergraduate, but it had stopped the ever-law abiding me. And I was scared about not fitting in, not being welcome. I imagined that all the people who would go would already know each other, and Bob, who it turned out was one of the hostel workers. I wouldn’t fit in, or be welcome. No, better to be safe. Spend the afternoon and evening exploring by myself.
“Here’s your pass code,” said the nice guy behind the desk, handing me a slip of paper with the door punch code on it. He directed me to the upstairs rooms and the downstairs kitchen and invited me to make myself at home. “You should come to the Pub Crawl Tonight.” He said. I looked at him, had I been that obvious in my yearning looks at the little placard? “I don’t know, I won’t know anyone…” I dissembled. He stuck his hand across the desk and shaking my hand said, “I’m Bob, nice to meet you. There you go, now you know me. And since it’s my party, you should come.”
I did go, and I learned several deep truths about travel that evening. First of all, if you’re introverted at all, find yourself some Kiwis and attach yourself to them – you’ll be guaranteed to have a crazy fun time. Second, and I don’t know why I couldn’t figure out the logic of this beforehand, of course I fit in, no one knew each other already because they were all traveling! Whether you’re in Athens, Kathmandu, San Francisco or Bath, everyone’s a stranger here. And then, over a pint, suddenly not. I know, duh, but somehow it took this chance to teach me how to be more outgoing with my fellow lonely travelers.

Claiming my Blog

Kango Suz — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:55:04 +0000

http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Kango+Suz/
Technorati Profile

Seeking a Good Tour Company

Kango Suz — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:25:46 +0000

I’m looking for a good tour company to take a group of about 40 people on tour to Japan with. I tried several websites, but have not yet found anything satisfying. Viator has all the excellent land trips that I want, but it only does in-country tour bookings. So my search goes on.
If anyone out there knows of a good Japanese tour company that does flights and hotel rooms as well, post me a comment and I’ll check them out!

Bath’s Roman Baths

Kango Suz — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:25:07 +0000

Amidst the bustle of the modern English town of Bath, the Roman Baths sit, surrounded by buildings, a testament to the city’s history. Their murky green waters no longer drain perfectly or play host to the rich and famous of Society come to refresh and renew themselves. The halls that once hosted scholars and soldiers now play host to daily hordes of tourist tramping through them.
And yet the baths still work. Which is an amazing testament to the ingenuity and beautiful architecture of Rome. The skill that Roman builders had without the aid of such modern tools as AutoCad or Vectorworks is truly amazing. They knew more about building because of their hands-on experience than many schooled architects know today. A visit to any Roman building cannot fail to impress even the casual visitor.
Today, the Baths are home to tourists and archeologists and no longer host anyone in a bathing suit. The underground steams still pump water through the systems though, delighting me and other tourists with the ingenuity and heating the rooms with steam so thick it sent all of my hairs a-curling. I came out looking slightly poodle-like and flushed around the edges. Grand parties, though, are NOT a bygone for this once popular establishment. Concert series and private parties still make use of the grand parlor and rooms with almost as much frequency as Jane Austin movies. To be in Bath is truly an experience of old and new worlds colliding.

Stone Un-hinged

Kango Suz — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:21:31 +0000

After the moving and amazing experiences of my morning at Salisbury Cathedral, I was primed for a wonderful afternoon at Stonehenge. I have studied and admired the prehistoric standing stones for almost as long as I’ve dreamed of Loch Ness. My plan was to use the hop-on hop-off tour company I’d used in other English cities to get me out there and back because their price included transportation and entry fees for less than the public bus fare and the entry fee combined. I had had particular success with such things in Sacramento and Edinburgh and so did not question the plan at all. That was a mistake. (more…)

Salisbury Cathedral

Kango Suz — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 21:23:43 +0000

The train to Stonehenge doesn’t drop you right next to the famous upright stones, of course. Instead, you need to get off in the nearby village of Salisbury and get some sort of transportation to the site itself. I arrived in Salisbury on one of those dreary English mornings that promises rain to come and encourages locals and visitors alike to stay safely within their homes or offices or hostels. My time schedule was tight, I was planning on staying in London that evening, so I had no time to waist with warming myself beside the hearth. My feet hit the deserted train platform about five minutes before the tour bus for the hop-on hop-off tour of Stonehenge was due to leave. My pack bounced against my back as I ran, clomping on the wooden slats, down to where the trip was supposed to pick up. Unfortunately, all I found were construction zone signs. (more…)

Loch Ness

Kango Suz — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:29:02 +0000

When I was seven or so, I sent a letter to my aunt in England that said “Dear Aunt Cookie, is the Loch Ness Monster Real?” Recently, she mailed the letter back to me as she thought I would get a kick out of it. I did.
Even though I have long accepted that the Loch Ness monster is a wonderful story and nothing more, my fascination with this long stretch of water in Northern Scotland has continued to be a theme in my life. It wasn’t until more than a decade after my aunt got that letter that I finally made my way to the windy and cold shores of Loch Ness and looked out on the lake for my own chance to glimpse Nessy herself. (more…)

Wild Alcatraz

Kango Suz — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:29:18 +0000

Like the child whose name gets written on the board, Alcatraz sits in the foggy bay of San Francisco, an ever present warning of what happens to you if you truly break the rules. Once home to Indian tribes and later inmates of the high-security prision, the rocky crags of the island now welcome tourists by the hordes.
A wonderfully narrated audio tour is the best way to experience the island, allowing you to move at your own pace from the cell blocks with their automatic doors to the kitchen with it’s knife silhouettes still painted on the walls, lets a tourist revolt. My favorite part of the tour was the brief history of famous inmates, including the Birdman, and the spooky stories that accompanied the historical background provided. To this day, however, I have a deep respect for the punishment that is solitary confinement. “The Hole,” which is now open for visitors to walk in and out of, could not tempt me to cross it’s threshold on the sunniest of days. I just couldn’t do it- claustrophobia previously unknown to me reared it’s head and had me scurrying from the vicinity as fast as I could.
Despite the huge number of tourists and the dozens of boats that come and go from the island daily, there is something wild about the place. Walking around the yard, waiting for the return ferry, you get the sense that were the daily influx of humans to cease, the ocean, birds and seals would quickly make themselves at home and retake what was once only theirs. Of all the desolate places I’ve visited in my life, this is the only one where the sense of desolation and isolation were still able to overcome thousands of people a day.