Travel Trends :: Minis

If at all possible, packing fewer, smaller items simplifies travel. I'm not suggesting you jet-off avec the clothes on your back and a bikini/speedo in your pocket---although that does sound great---but packing fewer and more thoughtful double-use items saves time and money in baggage fees while you vagabond.

Thankfully, beauty companies have responded to the packing lighter trend minifying their essentials so they can be easily slipped into a ziplock bag for a swift and non-confrontational encounter with airport security. <relief> For our second Travel Beauty Month post, we're featuring beauty minis.

Beauty Minis Skin Skoah's Holiday Travel Kit provides everything you need for glowing skin (kleanser, tonik, face skrub, face kream and face mask), and you'll love its cucumber-infused scent. Just toss the items into your clear ziplock and you're good to glow---I mean go.

Fragrance Unless you've got an ultra mini perfume tube that you're sure won't leak, I suggest going with two practical travel options: a) a roll-on perfume, like this one from DKNY (bonus, it comes with two scents!) b) a solid fragrance, like this natural gardenia-scented one from Pacifica

Make-up Don't let travel win over your face. Drinking water can only do so much. That's where Benefit's travel-friendly Realness of Concealness kit comes in, packed with their bestsellers to enhance, plump, brighten and erase the effects of travel.

Hair Say goodbye to watered-down versions of hotel shampoo & conditioner-induced bad hair days, and bring along Alterna's travels-sized Caviar minis instead. PS - this product was our first Travel Beauty giveaway and we just noticed it was mentioned on Sephora's Am to Pm Beauty email yesterday!  Our lucky winner got a hot product.

Mini Beauty Resources 3floz.com Love mini toiletries? You'll never have to worry about your beauty products being too large for the plane, but rather which ones to choose! Check out this online boutique carrying luxury name-brand beauty & grooming products all 3 fl oz or less.

Sephora My fave destination for everything beauty has an entire section devoted to plane-friendly travel called Beauty Minis.

Your local Drugstore Stock up on your mini travel essentials like toothpaste, etc...

Related Content Travel Beauty Month :: Dry Shampoos

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Travel Trends :: City Bike Programs

[trip style = active + urban]

A Pink and Purple Bike (maybe with glittery streamers) Ever since I learned to ride a 2-wheeler bike I've loved the idea of biking, and over my lifetime have indulged semi-regularly. Other than riding to and fro friends' houses in my younger years, or recently resurrecting my bike for use while weekending at Whistler, I'm not a hard-core biker. Sure, there was the time I biked up to West Van's Cypress Mountain, then down a series of trails on my purple with pink splashes high-school special, or the time I biked down a long a dirt road in Peru--which I thought would be a breeze until I learned this in the middle of nowhere road was actually a highway and trucks were passing at 70km/hour. All this is to say, I like biking, but prefer a hybrid between mountain and road biking, nothing too extreme please.

Getting from A to B Regardless of my fair-weather riding, I've always had a fascination with bikes as a means of getting from A to B, and have recently warmed up to the idea of adding biking to my transport repertoire. Seeing a gazillion people storm the streets on their two-wheels in China was really inspiring, and hey, if London can have a bike program with Quebec-made bikes, why can't Vancouver--a city known worldwide for its lifestyle-driven culture?

Vancouver's Bike-Share Rental Program After taking part in Montreal's bike program during a recent visit (pictured above), I once again became enamoured with the idea of bikes.  Montreal's Bixi (bike + taxi = bixi) program made biking easy, accessible and cost-effective, which is why I was ELATED to find out Vancouver's getting a bike program in 2011.

The Details I can already see program prep taking shape all over the city with the expansion of the already extensive bike lanes and routes extending over 400 km. If Vancouver wants to be a green example to the world, becoming more bike-friendly is a significant step in the right direction.

Cost $78/year + fees for trips lasting longer than half an hour. I also suspect there will be a +/-$5 day-use fee like they have in other cities with bike programs.

Bikes There are 2000 bikes planned. If the city's program borrows any wisdom from London's bike-hire planning, the bikes will be customized and outfitted for Vancouver's geography, climate and ridership trends.

Stations 200 stations are planned all over the city in neighborhoods like: Mt. Pleasant, Kits, Fairview and Downtown with likely stations in Commercial Drive and at UBC.

Helmets Unlike Montreal, Vancouver has a helmet law, so according to The Vancouver Sun, the soon-to-be bike-friendlier city will borrow some Bixi intel from Melbourne's bike-share network and offer helmets with the yearly memberships, as well as provide helmets to hotels and local businesses near the docking stations. My friend who bikes to work in a suit doesn't wear a helmet and often rides by the police without issue. He figures he's never been ticketed because he looks professional and responsible in his work digs...

One question: As a Vancouverite, I don't think it rains here that much---others may disagree---but will the upcoming Bixi bike system have built-in bike umbrellas or ponchos?  Now that would be cool.

[photos by tlml78, pdbreen & @mikepick ]

Travel Trends :: Street Food

When most people hear the term street food, it conjures up images of greasy street meat or roasted chestnuts. Times are a changing! Different grades of street food are mainstream in Asia, Mexico, LA and Portland, but aside from nut and hotdog vendors, street food has never been approved in Vancouver. Until now...

Following in the footsteps of a successful, 500-strong food-cart program in Portland WA, Vancouver BC is launching a street food trial program on July 31st.  According to The Vancouver Sun, the city's 800 applicants were more than expected, so a lottery was held crowning 17 winners.  With options ranging from freshly-squeezed lemonade, to Dim Sum, to central European food, each vendor will be assigned a location to park their mobile kitchens.  As the program matures, more gastronomic entrepreneurs will be permitted and approved to populate the streets of Vancouver.

Map of Vancouver Street Food Vendors View Vancouver's food cart vendors in a larger map

In the past, Vancouver's food safety regulations are what's held back food sold on the street, limiting the offering to Costco-like options, sans the good stuff.  Even the famed Japadog was closed down just before the Olympics due to health violations, but has since re-opened its street meat phenomenons, as well as a retail outlet.  Vancouver's pilot program aims to raise the level of street-cart food safety, and in turn increase street-level epicurean delights.

I wonder if Vancouver's street food will live up to its well-known culinary scene?  Time will tell.

PS - If you're planning to hit-up street food vendors in Portland or LA, it helps to have a penchant for social media. Because the US's street-cart programs are mobile, vendors have to adjust their location with parking regulations, so they tweet their new parking space every few hours.

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[photo by b.new.man]

Travel Trends :: The Bees Knees

[Don't miss the sweet recipes below provided by Fairmont]

Making honey is so hot right now, and not just because it's summer.

In a concerted effort to organi-fy, greeni-fy and sustaina-fy themselves, hotels are going back to basics and harvesting some of the ingredients they serve. The current obsession other than herb gardens? On-site honeybee hives. But don't worry, these sweet initiatives are happening far enough away from the hotels' play areas that you needn't worry about being stung by the queen.

Next time you're at these hotels and happen to sweeten your tea with a dollop of honey, it may be freshly made by the queen herself.

Marriott The Chicago Marriott's roof-top garden is home to 200,000 bees that pollinate the on-site garden supplying herbs and vegetables for the property's restaurant.

Four Seasons The Four Seasons Atlanta’s fifth-floor terrace produces honey used in the hotel spa's scrub and massage treatments as well as the restaurant, but not in that order...

Ritz-Carlton The Charlotte Ritz recently added two fully-contained bee hives to the 18th story of its vegetated roof. Lucky guests will be able to satisfy their sweet tooth with the hotel's very own organic honey.

Fairmont The Fairmont Waterfront, Vancouver This local property shares its 2,100-square-foot herb garden with six honeybee hives on the hotel’s third-floor terrace. Summer 2010 adds two additional hives, bringing the apiary to just over 390,000 honeybees producing an anticipated 500 lbs of honey. Guests of the hotel can even take part in weekly garden and hive tours conducted by Director of Housekeeping and resident Beekeeper, Graeme Evans.

The Fairmont Royal York, Toronto The Toronto Fairmont is home to 300,000 bees in peak season. Since June 2008, the hotel's award-winning honey has been harvested from the 14th story apiary, with much of it going into the hotel’s cocktails and cuisine.

The Fairmont Washington, D.C. The Italians are good at everything, and now the Fairmont DC is importing their stylish honeybees to occupy 3 hives on the property's roof.

Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, Kenya Partnering with local beekeeper Stephen Macharia, the Fairmont Mount Kenya hosts 8 hives, each with approximately 4000 bees.  Producing 66 lbs of high quality honey, guests of the resort can sample the honey as well as learn about bees and honey production.

Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, Quebec Each of the Chateau Frontenac's 4 hives contains about 70,000 bees expected to produce enough honey for the entire hotel, with the extra being sold in the Fairmont Store. The honey is harvested three times a year (spring, summer and fall) and used in special honey-based menus (for banquets) and select dishes in the fine dining restaurant, Le Champlain.

The Fairmont Algonquin, New Brunswick Apparently I missed the memo when I was recently at the Algonquin, because if I'd known about this program at the hotel, I would have talked about it earlier!  Either way, the hotel is said to have a resident queen bee pollinating the hotel's garden as well as nearby Kingsbrae gardens.  The honey is on sale for guests, as well as used for afternoon tea and in dishes at the hotel's restaurants.

The Fairmont Yangcheng Lake, Kunshan China In spring, the hotel's resident bees produce up to 88 lbs of honey used to sweeten the deal for guests.

Fairmont San Francisco, California Earlier this summer, The Fairmont San Fran installed four beehives in its 1,000-square-foot onsite culinary garden. The bees come from a nearby farm and dine on the hotel’s lavender and herbs to create delicious honey, with each hive boasting 50,000 bees when fully mature. Executive Chef jW Foster will use the harvested honey at afternoon tea service and in cocktails, entrees and desserts at the hotel’s three restaurants.

Honey Recipes The Fairmont was kind enough to send these bevvie recipes.  I think the Royal York's festival buzz is my fave.  Enjoy!

The Fairmont Washington, DC Honey Rum Swizzle Bacardi Rum 8 Years, Angostura Bitters, Clover Honey and Fresh Lime Juice

Flight of the Bumble Bee Cutty Sark Whisky, Clover Honey and Half and Half served on the rocks

Bee-tini Belvedere Pomrancza Vodka and Clover Honey, mixed with Fresh Grapefruit Juice, Mint and Grenadine

The Fairmont Royal York Festival Buzz 1oz White Peach Puree, 1/4oz Royal York Honey, 4oz Moet Chandon, served in a flute, serve with sugar-powdered mint.

The Fairmont Algonquin Grapefruit Mojitos Fresh mint leaves, Grapefruit Juice, Honey Muddle mint leaves in the bottom of a tumbler glass and then fill two thirds of it with crushed ice. Stir 2 tablespoons of grapefruit juice with the honey until the honey is entirely dissolved. Transfer dissolved honey/grapefruit juice to a cocktail shaker with the remaining juice and shake with ice. Strain into a tumbler glass and serve

Honey Rum Swizzle 1oz Rum, 3 drops Bitters, 1.5 teaspoons Honey, 1 teaspoon Sugar, 1/2oz Lime Juice Half fill glass with crushed ice. Shake ingredients together in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into the glass. Mix in the glass with a muddling spoon until the glass frosts. Garnish with a lime wheel.

[photo by david.nikonvscanon]

Travel Trend :: Visual Flight Search

Need visual inspiration for your next trip?  Want to browse flights leaving from your home airport within a specific price-range? The geniuses at Kayak have done it again. I already love and use their meta travel search engine, and recently they've come out with a new feature called Kayak Explore that visual learners will l-o-v-e.

Using Kayak's travel search technology superimposed on google maps, means finding a flight to your next destination just got easier. But it's the travel web application's suggestive nature that I love.  It's like a web-based version of going to the airport with no destination in mind and asking a check-in agent to show you options for the next flight out.

How it Works The level of customization offered in Kayak Explore is nuts (see a full list below). When you enter your preferences, Kayak advises what areas match your request. One nice feature I call show me the money intuitively indicates how far you can fly from your home airport based on your budget preference.  It helps to keep the budget in-check.

Customizations The level of granularity offered in Kayak's Explore is impressive. I suggest starting your visual flight search with fewer customizations, then narrowing your search from there. If you try to over-customize at the get-go, you may find the results too specific. The available customizations are: - Home airport - Budget range - Where you want to fly - When you want to fly - Activities of interest - Temperature range - Preferred language spoken - Flight duration and stops

Kayak Explore is already a game-changer, but it could be even more amazing if search parameters like vacations and cruises could be added.  We'll wait and see!