Destinations

The Fun, and Rewards, of Competitive Travel

You are high atop a hill in the Austrian Alps staring down upon a summer tobaggen track that weaves into the distance between pine trees and across green meadows. 3 minutes, 58 seconds—that’s the track time for you and your team mate to beat. You strap yourself in, push off the top of the hill and let ‘er fly.

You are not a participant in some alternative Olympic sport. Nor are you a contestant on the Amazing Race TV reality show. You are taking part in a trip with Competitours—the competitive, rewarding and, most of all, fun way experience Europe.

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The Barry ManiLOVE Store

When it’s time to do a special something for your special some one forget about giving yet another set of shedding flowers and stale chocolates. Spot Cool Stuff recommends a fab new tactic d’amour: skip the Whitman’s sampler and use the cash to get you and your baby to Vegas. Because nothing says love like Barry Manilow, friends.

There’s a little ‘Copacabana’ at the core of every good love story (the passion! the danger! the ostrich feathers!). And thankfully, the Paris Las Vegas Casino & Resort knows it.

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Waiter, There’s a Cold War Airplane in my Soup

Spot Cool Stuff loves when retired aircraft are put to creative (and environmentally friendly) uses. There’s the Boeing 747 that’s now a hotel in Stockholm. The helicopter B&B in Connecticut. And the former Russian aircraft that takes a Swiss bar and restaurant complex to new heights.

Said Swiss bar and restaurant complex is Runway 34, located adjacent to Zurich International Airport.

Said Russian aircraft is a lyushin-14T, used by the Soviet Union’s Air Force for transporting scientists and cosmonauts-in-training between Moscow and a secret military training facility during the Cold War. (It is rumored that the aircraft was personally used by Stalin, which would have been quite the feat for the former Soviet strongmen seeing how he died in 1953 and the lyushin-14T wasn’t built until 1957.)

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The World’s Most Beautiful, Crowded Waterfall

James Cameroon with all the latest CGI special effects could not concoct a waterfall more perfect than the one at Dunn River in Jamaica.

In a lush jungle filled with beautiful birds and red rhododendron, crystal waters cascade along smooth sculpted rocks until finally splashing upon a bone white beach and a stark blue Caribbean Sea. The planet has more dramatic waterfalls (Iguazu and Victoria come immediately to mind) but per square meter none may be more beautiful.

And none is more crowded.

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Spotting Cool Stuff in Jamaica

Spot Cool Stuff is currently reporting live from Jamaica. It’s a tough assignment, we know. But we stand willing to risk horrible sun burns, potent rum drinks and dangerously rhythmic reggae to bring cool Caribbean travel ideas to our readers.

This trip will be the first we’ll make with an i-gotU GPS Data Logger, a surprisingly small and simple gadget that not only tracks the route of one’s travels but also geo-codes photos. See below to see exactly where we are right now!

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Update: Spot Cool Stuff’s trip to Jamaica is over. But our trip reviews live on. Click on the titles, below:

space Spotting Cool Stuff in JamaicaPOST TITLE PUBLICATION DATE
Beach Cottages For Getting Your Groove Back published!
The Dunn River Beautiful, Crowded Waterfall published!
The Jamaica Caves Where Celebrities Hang Out published!
3 Hilltop Hotels with Wonderful Views Upon Jamaica published!
A Comparison of the Sandals Resorts in Jamaica published!

white Spotting Cool Stuff in Jamaica

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Egypt’s Time-Forgotten Eco-Resort

The resort itself feels a little like the casbah in Star Wars (except without the space aliens and bar fights)

We are prepared to stand by this bold statement:

The Adrere Amellal is the single coolest eco-resort on the African continent!

Set within a scenic oasis, at the foot of a dramatic rock-mountain, amidst the desert in Egypt, the Adrere Amellal has the feel of a place time forgot. The local Berbers here still live much like they’ve done for centuries, wearing their traditional clothing, speaking their native Siwi (not Arabic) and harvesting the bountiful dates and olives by hand.

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Spend a Night as a Jungle Castaway in Dominica

The Bamboo Treehouse is not the only place to sleep at the Rosalie Forest Eco-Lodge on the Caribbean island-country of Dominica. Guests can also choose to stay in a self contained cottage or in one of several cabins. There’s a secluded area where campers can pitch a tent. The lodge can arrange a local home stay too.

But of all those accommodations options the Bamboo Treehouse is the coolest.

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Monkey See, Monkey Wait Tables

Each monkey is limited to working a maximum of two hours a day; the Monkey-Waiter Union is powerful like that.

Tweleve-year-old Yat-chan learned how to wait tables by spending time watching the staff at a sushi restaurant.

That would not be an especially noteworthy feat except for this: Yat-chan is a monkey, one of three who tend to customers at the Kayabukiya Tavern in Utsunomiya, Japan.

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