For a long multi-day backpacking trip, you need a highly portable sleeping mat, like the new ultra-lightweight Klymit Inertia X-Frame.
When a guest sleeps at your home, a full inflatable mattress works well.
But what if you are looking for a middle ground sleeping mattress? Pakmat beckons as your answer.
There may be no country in the world as into hiking and mountaineering as Switzerland. The Alpine nation is criss-crossed by trekking trails and dotted with remote hiking shelters.
Most of those shelters are basic—a roof, a few beds, an outhouse, perhaps a wood burning stove. But one Swiss shelter is very much not basic: the Monte Rosa Hütte. It’s been nicknamed the Bergkristall (mountain crystal) and those who have visited are calling it “the mountain hut of the future.”
Spot Cool Stuff has reviewed several transparent products in our time, not all of which have been optimally practical:
A transparent bathtub? Interesting, though perhaps kind of creepy in a voyeuristic way.
A transparent cell phone? Great looking but it’s transparency doesn’t serve any useful function.
A transparent airplane? Not so economically viable. And it makes for terrifying landings.
But a transparent canoe? That’s not only cool but advantageous as well.
Facebook has inspired family reunions, renewed friendships, much Scrabble playing—and now a restaurant. Or, a restaurant of sorts.
Almost immediately after Kellogg launched a Facebook fan page dedicated to Pop-Tarts—those thin, frosting-topped, super-sweet, preservative-filled, pasty-like concoctions sold in grocery stores since 1964—company executives became amazed at Pop-Tart Facebook popularity (currently two million fans and counting). So, they decided to open a store dedicated to said pastry-like concoctions.
And where else in the world has enough dignity and class to accommodate the Pop-Tarts brand? New York’s Time Square, of course.
The Swiss Family Robinson meets Cocoon on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.
There, on the island’s western coast, is a a gem of an eco-resort where guests sleep in round pods suspended by ropes in the trees: the Free Spirit Spheres.
Chances are that you have never visited an auto dealership purely for an afternoon of fun. That may change once construction is complete on a new car showroom megaplex.
Said new car showroom megaplex is not located in the United States, China or Germany, as you might expect. Instead, the Autopia Europia is being built in a suburb of Istanbul, Turkey. The massive building will be the world’s largest car dealership. Though we’d argue it will be much more than that.
The Inca Trail is probably the most renowned trek in the world. It sits alongside Everest Base Camp, The Annapurna Circuit and Kilimanjaro a must do for traveller bragging rights. But with spaces limited and busy trails, what are the alternatives for the growing band of anti-populist travellers who don’t like to follow the crowds? How can you get to Machu Picchu through the back-door?
Back in 2008 entry to the epic Inca Trail became controlled by a limited permit system. These permits tend to sell out at least three months in advance and the problem is exacerbated in the peak summer months. Even if permits are available not everyone relishes the prospect of trekking such a well-worn path in the company of so many others.
Luckily Machu Picchu is surrounded by fantastic trekking and the Inca Trail isn’t the only option on the table, there are now an ever growing number of alternatives for your dose of Incan culture and mountains. And although none of them can serve up the wonder of crossing through the Sun Gate for that first glimpse of the majestic ruins, they are all worthy alternatives.
Trying to categorize the lodgings offered by the Acido Dorado, located on the edge of California’s Joshua Tree National Park, is like trying to solve a Zen koan.
Acido Dorado isn’t a house—it is too open to the elements for that. It isn’t a glamping (glamorous camping) experience and certainly isn’t a cabin—the setup is way too luxurious. The accommodations here aren’t indoors, though nor are they outdoors; rather, it is some ingenious melding of the two.
