Eat Like A Chef

[trip style = foodie]

Food is central to travel. We must eat, so why not eat well? Plus, discovering a decadent dish on the road is akin to travel euphoria, no? {If you don't agree, I implore you to try pear and asiago ravioli in Italy, this dish will change your world}.

Introducing Chefs Feed, a professional palate-powered app dishing the meals celebrated chefs love in their own city! Featuring 500+ chefs and 18,000+ dishes, this 2013 webby award winner gives new meaning to curated cuisine. Think of it like Yelp, version 2.0.

If you live in or are visiting one of the 23 cities currently supported in the app {London, Vancouver, Seattle, NYC, Vegas, SF, etc...}, search chefs' recommendations near or afar for sure-thing eats. For example, in Vancouver, L'Abattoir's Lee Cooper digs the moules frites at Chambar; in Vegas, the Border Grill's Mary Sue Milliken, indulges in the whole fish at Estiatoria Milos. The icing on the cake? The more each chef eats {which is a given}, the more they update the app.

Travel {or your Friday night date}, just got a little more tasty. And, this virtual feast is free.

PS - I'm adding this to my essential travel app toolkit.

How It Works - sign in {you have to sign in because chefs are always updating their fav dishes} - select a home city - once you select your home city, browse any city - search chef-by-chef and dish-by-dish - see each chef's restaurant picks on a map - available for iPhone and Android

More Travel Apps magicJack - a free calling app Instagram - as a travel tool TomTom - navigate abroad without using data

[photos via chefs feed app]

Vancouver Summer Sizzlers

[trip style =  sightseeing + spa + staycation] I don't want to jinx it, BUT, we've had a dreamy summer in Vancouver: warm and sunny seasoned with sea breeze. While Sun-couver is hot to trot, I spend a lot of time at home. I mean, who would want to leave one of the world's most gorgeous cities when it's like California outside?!?

Aside from "Vancouvering" by way of hiking the Grouse Grind, riding the Aquabus or lounging at the beach, here are a few more reasons to give the City of Glass a big hug while school's out:

Pop-Up Pianos Coined the keys to the streets, four pop-up pianos are gracing the streets of Vancouver from July 1 - Aug 24. Painted in polka dots and rainbows {literally}, these music makers are giving dabblers and concert pianists a casual, alfresco stage for their craft. There are two installations near my running/walking route, and somebody is tickling the ivories every single time I pass by. Aside from the occasional heart and soul medley, I've witnessed some serious tunes about town, many times with an audience that grows by the note. Visit; it's worth it for the photo opp alone. Beethoven-level music is a bonus.

Food Cart Fest Hanging out in an uber-urban, concrete lot near The {Olympic} Village, Food Cart Fest is making its second annual summer appearance from June 23 - Sept 22. Forming a circle of cuisine around a concrete box, aka the DJ's digs, 20 trucks set up camp from noon - 5pm every Sunday. It's a tasty way to sample Van's street food without roaming the city in search of each truck, like Holy Perogy, The Juice Truck, Mom's Grilled Cheese, Yolk's or Roaming Dragon. There's also a flea market for browsing between bites, and a bouncy castle for kids {bounce first, eat second}. Cost of admission is $2 {VanCity members and children under 13 are free}.

The Spa CHI, Shangri-La's spa has just launched an uber-Vancouver spa package, perfect for recharging your sun-drenched batteries for fall. To date, it is the most exquisite spa I've visited in Vancouver, from the cashmere robes and sheets {so luxurious you want to rip them off the bed and wear them as a scarf} to the spa suites sporting infinity soaker tubs with embedded light therapy. The discreet service is also on another level. The four-hour West Coast Lifestyles package starts with a private yoga class {so Vancouver!}, and is followed by sea kelp soak, body wrap with mud flown in from China and a seaweed facial {or massage}. From $355 for the 'lite' version and $485 for the full version. Bonus, this runs into Spring 2014. {See my Instagram snaps for recent photos of the experience.}

Vancouver Chinatown Night Market Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6pm - 11pm, Chinatown's Keefer street shuts down to perform a quick-change into a standing room-only market. Vancouver has the largest Chinatown in Canada, so it's only fitting! Think of it like a summer vacation to the Far East, plus, most of Vancouver's hottest restaurants are a stone's throw away {if you're still hungry, which is unlikely}. You've got until Sept 8th to pick up dumplings, deep-fried snakes {ok, they're just sugar-topped pieces of dough shaped like a snake}, orchids or cellphone cases.

Trip Styler Tip :: If you want to venture just beyond Vancouver's borders, check the Richmond Night Market, open every weekend and holiday night until Oct 14. Admission is $2.

Grand Hotel I wrote about Grand Hotel at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the Spring, but it's worth mentioning again since it's only on until Sept 15, and the exhibition was nearly SEVEN years in the making. To say I liked GH is an epic understatement, in fact, it left me on a hotel high—higher than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. Chronicling game-changers like the 1887-built Raffles hotel to the 2010-built Marina Bay Sands {where people book a room for the sole purpose of perching atop the surfboard-shaped SkyPark’s 150-meter infinity pool}, the multimedia show acts as a lab into hotel life. An adult ticket is $21, but admission is by donation every Tuesday after 5pm.

[photos by @tripstyler, except for CHI where I was a guest of the spa]

Spotlight :: San Diego

[trip style = weekend away + beach + urban]

San Diego's sea breeze and surf life has been calling my name since high school, the last time I visited. I remember very few details from the trip other than one vivid moment: seeing A.C. Slater {of Saved by the Bell fame} walking down the street. I was so embarrassed---for who I'm not sure---I looked the other way.

MORE PHOTOS BELOW.

Prior to my brush with Mr. Mullet, my only interaction with this Southern Cali city was a quintessential kid-trip to Sea World. My sister and I sat in the splash zone for Shamu's show. We left with soggy bums and ice creams to forget the wet.

Mr. Trip Styler and I have been talking about strutting down to Ron Burgundy's stomping grounds forever, so this June we finally flew to the coastal cosmo and tried the adult version on for size. It fit just right. Because people surf before work. Because there's 100+ kms of coastline. Because everyone rides cruiser bikes. Because the temperature is just right---not too hot, not too cold. Because there's a brood of restaurants and shops and neighborhoods outside of tourist areas with a laser-focus on their food, their craft, their brew, their goods, and differentiating from the crowd.

Trip Styler Tip :: Find more San Diego deets in two articles I wrote for Expedia in the Expedia Viewfinder Blog: 48 Hours in San Diego and Beach 101.

Like modern explorers we sailed {read: drove} around town in search of a motley crew of cool; this makeshift map documents our tried, tested and trip styled recommendations. If I take the winter off, you'll know where to find me.

{To make things clear as ice, I've loaded each hotel, restaurant and lounge mentioned above into Google Maps, as well as tagged my San Diego snaps on Instagram as #TSsanDiego so you can search them easily.}

Photos {Tower 23 Hotel. San Diego's it shore-front sleepover.}

{Pacific Beach.}

{Sessions Public. Pictured here: part of our happy hour feast!}

{Lifeguard station. I had to.}

{Coronado Beach.}

{Monello Italian restaurant. Cool trivia: they serve Cicchetti at happy hour, aka you order a drink and the chef prepares you a petite appy.}

{Pigment. A shop. My muse avec air plants, beach wood furniture, handmade leather goods, etc... }

{Great Maple, a gorgeous diner-turned-restau dishing out chic comfort food.}

Related Roam+Board :: The Pearl Hotel {Where to stay in San Diego}

[photos by @tripstyler]

When A Weekend Away Goes AWOL

[trip style = any]

Last weekend I got stranded roadside with Mr. Trip Styler, Ms. Fashion Friday, and Mr. Nacho King {my pup}. In the process, we were picked up {and pulled} by a tractor, and rescued by way of an animal shelter and a do-gooder named Randy.

For the first time in nine years, our SUV shut itself down {while driving!} due to an electrical issue in the engine. To make matters worse, it was a Sunday so n-o-t-h-i-n-g was open, and we were in another country {the USA, aka, using our Canadian cell phones was uber-expensive}.

Sometimes weekends away {and all travel} go belly up. You come home stressed rather than relaxed. You're down and out due to something in your travel plans going awry---a feeling exaggerated by being away from home and out of your comfort zone. But here's the good part: it also forces you to reach deeper into your soul, use your intuition, trust strangers and rely on the help of good Samaritans. Strangely, the situation refreshed me.

While talking travel troubles isn't TS's normal flight path, our situation is a good reminder to keep cool, even in the face of travel challenges. In the moment it feels insurmountable; in retrospect there's always a silver lining, or some life lesson or truth we can glean!

What Happened {Coles Notes Version} Our car stopped in its tracks across the street---a busy street---from the Camano Animal Shelter. In order to get our vehicle to the other side of the highway, it was towed by a tractor that 'happened' to drive by just when we needed it. On the other side, we asked an electrician for a jump, and he said no. {Strange in that he had a Bible verse plastered over his work vehicle (FAIL).} The animal shelter, 100 meters away, empathized with our situation and allowed us to use their wifi and computers to research what to do. While searching for a solution, the lovely worker referred us to her next door neighbor who drove down to the shelter to assess our vehicle.

Long story short, this dynamic duo helped us troubleshoot, drove us back to our weekend abode for the night, gave us extra dog food {because OF COURSE we'd run out} and picked Mr. Trip Styler up the next morning to go and search for a car part. All this because they were nice people. When Mr. TS asked the good Samaritan for his rate, he said he it was nada---he tries to do one good thing a day. In that moment---exhausted from sitting roadside and hatching fix-it plans---I burst out crying. Somehow, we'd met the nicest person on the island!

The next day, the car part came in, worked like a charm and the good Samaritan gave us MORE of himself, aka, a piece of his handmade art. For the record, I will NEVER get rid of his orange-hued artifact, a metal crab made out of two horseshoes. This crab has quickly become one of my most prized travel possessions. In the end, we paid him anyway. He only accepted the money "for his art."

Travel always surprises. Sometimes in the form of delight, sometimes in the form of relaxation; this time in the form of grace.

Dear Randy: I'm not sure if you'll ever read this, but you saved us when we were down and out. It's people like you who make this world a better place. Thank you.

Roam+Board :: The Pearl Hotel

[trip style = budget conscious + sun]

What The Pearl Hotel is a compact throwback recalling its groovy 1959 beginnings. Fashioned around a vintage, oyster-shaped pool, the 23-room hotel is misted in mid-century, whimsy and San Diego's quintessential beach life. It's a place where shag carpets hobnob with driftwood and in-room 'pet' Siamese fighting fish.

I shacked up at The Pearl for a few nights in June, and wish I could have stayed longer. By morn, Mr. Trip Styler and I would take out the complimentary cruiser bikes for a spin around nearby Shelter Island; by aft, we'd lounge at the pool sipping lemon water under a living wall of succulents; by eve, we'd explore our sand and city surroundings. We were in our element.

MORE PHOTOS BELOW

Rooms are efficiently designed with all the amenities you'd expect from a swell stay---wifi, cushy bed, flat-screen TV, etc... The decor is the modern side of mid-century mod, mingling clean lines, whitewashed tile bathrooms and a beach-hued color wheel. I viewed the room as a place to sleep, the rest of the hotel's splashy scene was that inviting.

Sadly, our pearly pause in Ron Burgundy's stomping grounds did not coincide with a Wednesday, the night when summer dive-in movies play. Next time I visit I will coordinate my overnight with a movie night, so I can watch Top Gun or Point Break poolside.

Trip Styler approved.

Where Parked between marinas and a residential neighborhood along a busy street in the Point Loma neighborhood near San Diego Bay, The Pearl is two blocks from the ocean, and an 8-minute drive from the San Diego Airport {SAN}.

When San Diego's surf and sun abounds year-round. Winter temperatures hover around 18 degrees Celsius with a touch of rain, and summer clocks in at a breezy 26C. May and 'June gloom' can be a little grey when morning clouds linger.

Who/Why Vintage updos are your thing, both the hairstyles and the hotel facelifts. It's no surprise, then, you feel at home while on the road in a 1950s motor hotel that's been retro- and reno-fitted to its original glory---with a few mod amenities for good measure.

Cost Rates start around $100 per night and include WiFi, morning coffee from local roaster Cafe Moto, use of the hotel's cruiser bikes, and a fish in your room. Bring earplugs to this adult-only hotel to guard your beauty sleep from street noise or outside  chatter.

Trip Styler Tip: Parking at the hotel is $10, yet there's plenty of free spots in the residential neighborhood surrounding the hotel.

Photos

More Roam+Board The Templar – Toronto Encuentro Guadalupe – Mexico Hotel Havana – San Antonio The Amersand Hotel – London Mount Engadine Lodge – Canadian Rockies Lava Lava Beach Club – Hawaii Island Ace Hotel – Seattle The Wickaninnish Inn – Tofino The Burrard – Vancouver  Hotel de Glace – Quebec Alcazar Palm Springs – California Jumeirah Zabeel Saray – Dubai Makena Resort – Maui Find more R+B hotels featured here, plus our it list of worldwide hotel picks.

[photos taken by @tripstyler]