Rishi Sankar: Ah Trini Travelogue / Ah Trini Traveller A Trini trying to defy the odds of full time work while being a traveling hobo

Wandering through Turkey, you’re going to end up seeing fairy chimneys in Cappadocia! It’s absolutely inevitable! You’re also going to head to Goreme – which is a town of cave dwellers (people live in caves … so do tourists), even more fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches adorned with ancient Christian frescoes and underground cities. I’ve seen photos of the famous ‘fairy chimneys’ for years, but nothing quite prepares you for this bizarre almost Martian landscape; not that I’ve been to Mars – it’s what I imagine it to be. These tall stone formations look like they have mushroomed up randomly, some ... Read More »

When you’re in Kandy, along with the cricket ground where Murali grew up and the elephant orphanage, you will visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. This temple complex houses one of the most important Buddhist relics in all of Sri Lanka, an object so sacred it bring throngs of devotees to the temple threshold every year. I’m sure from the name, you can guess what’s housed in the temple – a tooth of Buddha himself in a golden box. According to legend, the tooth was taken from the Buddha as he lay on his funeral pyre. It was ... Read More »

After my experience at TBEX ’13, I took away four things Using Twitter to increase your travel brand is MANDATORY. It’s not possible to succeed in Social Media without Twitter feeds Tourism boards, hotel chains and credit loyalty programs have absolutely come around and see the value of travel bloggers – the ROI is substantive, especially if you’re looking to change or target specific demographics. Trinidadian tourism and TDC are set up for failure because of the lack of recognition of social media’s impact on tourism. TDC social media efforts are basically non-existent (I would love to see if there ... Read More »

For many years, I would come to Buffalo for shopping, drinking and not a little gambling at the Seneca Casino. I would also be amazed by tales of Pizza and Pasta from La Bella Sicilia. This very unassuming joint is something of a local legend in Cheektowaga, Buffalo. Their website advertises both Sicilian and NY style pizza. When you drive up, you definitely know that this isn’t some fancy joint … it’s a working class Buffalonian restaurant. The location and parking were in an awkward place on the street  but you do feel a sense of home as soon as ... Read More »

Before meeting Pam, who’s the PR rep for Visit Nova Scotia, I had no idea what Dulse was. Pam mentioned that I could go out and have a Dulse cooking course at TBEX. I even found out, that in Atlantic Canada, they eat a DLT sandwich (Dulse, Tomato and Lettuce).  This week, I’m in Saint John, New Brunswick and I’m having lunch everyday at the Central Market. I love eating in Markets … whether it’s St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, Mercado de San Miguel in Barcelona, fish shopping and cooking in Boracay, Phillipines, or eating in Mercado de San Lucas, ... Read More »

This morning I was stumbling around the net and I saw this story about the World’s most “dangerous” zoo, where you can ride lions and feed bears with your mouth. I’m not a rabid animal right advocate, but there is something inherently wrong with a person can ride a full grown lion. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time, before someone is hurt badly or worse. Anyway, my memories of Lujan aren’t big lions or crazy people petting bears but rather the town itself. Getting to Lujan from Buenos Aires, is very simple … take the Transporte Atlántica bus ... Read More »

It’s official … TBEX ’13 is finally at a close. I’m glad that I was in Toronto for the last couple days and not at a client’s site in some other city, since I would have missed out on an incredible learning and networking opportunity. After getting home last night and thinking through all my notes and looking at feedback received on my previous post : 7 lessons learned from tbex 13 – I thought I would close the loop and list out what I thought worked and didn’t work at TBEX ’13 in Toronto. By figuring out what worked, ... Read More »

It’s been 4 days of activities, food, drinking and networking at TBEX ’13. It’s been inspiring to say the least – even though there has been a lot of hot air spewed by many a travel blogger this weekend (You can’t help but overhear a lot of side conversations and just roll your eyes). A couple bloggers even took over a Q&A session to basically promote themselves … #dotheythinkpeoplearestupid … they know who they are … I’ll mention no names though. All that being said, it’s still inspiring to go. You don’t feel like a freak, when everyone else around ... Read More »

After my recent trip to Peru and Hiking Inti Punku, I know a couple things … There are way harder ways to make money, but I can’t think of many others than being a porter for hikers on the Inca Trail I would never ever do the Inca Trail … too much time spent with too few showers. Trinis and/or brown people are not cool without showers! Altitude sickness doesn’t affect me, especially if you drink 1 liter of Coca tea per hour Machu Picchu is awesome in the afternoon Lima has some sick ceviche … in fact I would ... Read More »

Last night was a quick and dirty drop in at the TBEX Preparty at Tryst NightClub. I was quickly reminded of why these types of social situations make me awkward – it’s not liming, it’s not true networking and everyone seems to know someone else. Walking up to people who’s blogs you’ve read but never commented on, is difficult. Not having a travel website business card can make you feel lame. Those business cards are like a blogger’s resume. Weird! Eating your tacos and avoiding a conversation about your tacos can make people think you’re rude. The stories you will ... Read More »