May-June 2022: Jasmine Avdagic Carpenter
Green awareness is a rapidly expanding part of travel and many are looking to visit and support the countries that are devoting resources towards combating climate change. But which places are doing best in that regard? There are many different factors to consider when coming to that answer. For certain people, some measures may be more important than others. Many smaller places have a natural advantage as they have more forests to capture carbon, but what about big cities? Bionic, a UK company, just looked at the 40 most populated cities in the world and ranked them by their speed to green transformation. They looked at air quality, percentage of renewable energy, meat consumption, plastic waste, sustainable jobs and a variety of other categories.
The winner was Auckland, New Zealand. Numbers 2-9 of the top ten were all in Europe with Stockholm, Sweden as number two followed by Lyon, France then Copenhagen, Dublin, Cologne, Brussels, Warsaw and Milan. Rounding out the top 10 at #10 was Montreal, Canada. The full list and metrics are here:
https://bionic.co.uk/blog/how-quickly-is-your-city-going-green/
Auckland, New Zealand
Stockholm, Sweden
Lyon, France
Copenhagen, Denmark
I'd like to see similar statistics on smaller cities worldwide and also a comparison of typical travel hotspots which might make it easier for people to chose among them.
I'm going to try to fit these top 10 cities into my next several trips. It shouldn't be too hard with so many are on one continent!
©Christina Bolton
(c)Christina Bolton
This video is funny! Filmed primarily on the streets in Western Europe, no one the interviewer asks seems to know where Vilnius is, though they offer ideas as far away as South America! The short video also highlights some of Vilnius' sights and wide panoramas.
This film won as the world’s best in the category of 'Tourism Destinations Cities' at CIFFT (the International Committee of Tourism Film Festivals) Circuit. Most promotional type video's are a bore, but not this one! Check it out here:
You can also have your own stab at picking Vilnius out on a map here, good luck!:
This video won by a wide margin over the other's:
https://www.cifft.com/ranking_list/?rank_list=1
Go Vilnius was the producer of the video if you'd like more info:
https://www.govilnius.lt/homepage
Macedonia Travel Photography by the following photographers:
Antonio Janeski
Slavcho Malezanov
Kate Talim
Elion Jashari
Boban Simonovski
Polina Rytova
Pavol Svantner
Slavcho Malezanov
Antonio Janeski
Robert Bahn
Blagoja Koleski
Stefan Katrandjiski
Stefan Petrushevski
Kristijan Arsov
Antonio Janeski
Adib Harith Fadzilah
Toa Heftiba
Ljupco Dzambazovski
Gorjan Ivanovski
Endri Killo
Tomica S.
Antonio Janeski
Milana Jovanov
Mark de Jong
Slavcho Malezanov
Endri Killo
Nikola Mihajloski
Boban Simonovski
i
Elion Jashari
Stefan Katrandjiski
Boban Simonovski
Slavcho Malezanov
Stefan Katrandjiski
Stiv
Slavcho Malezanov
Ali Nuredini
Nikola Mihajloski
Ervo Rocks
Antonio Janeski
Thanks to all the photographers!
(c) Christina Bolton
(c)Christina Bolton
(c)Christina Bolton
The CBD Living travel set offers a total of 500 mg of CBD over 6 products – a salve, lotion, tincture spray, roll on 'freeze' and two lip balms. All the products use nanotechnology which they say increases absorption of the CBD so there's no waiting. It does seem to take effect quickly – especially the freeze.
The products are made with natural ingredients for the most part and are THC free so you should be able to travel to many countries with the items. Though if you're going to Africa or Asia, especially, double check the legality before heading off as even though this is made only with hemp and doesn't have THC - its still not legal everywhere. At this time the only place in Europe you can't travel to with it is Slovakia.
The salve was my favorite product with its rich consistency (using shea butter among other things) and pleasant coconut scent. These will all easily fit into your carry on as they are all one ounce or less.
(c) Christina Bolton
Order at: www.CBDLiving.com
Virgin Limited Edition is hosting virtual yoga live from its luxury resort on Necker Island, a private island owned by Sir Richard Branson in the iconic British Virgin Islands.
The yoga sessions will be for all levels of fitness and will start on Thursday 18th June and run weekly for four weeks.
When: Every Thursday at 17:00 BST (12pm EST), starting 18th June 2020 for four weeks
Where: Instagram @VirginLimitedEdition
Other events they are putting on that you may want to join are two weekly virtual safari's:
Live game drive from the magic of the bush at Ulusaba Private Game Reserve
When: Every Monday at 3:00pm BST
Where: Instagram - @VirginLimitedEdition
Live game drive from the majesty of the Maasai Mara at Mahali Mzuri
When: Every Wednesday at 3:00pm BST
Where: Facebook - @VirginLimitedEdition
Other Virtual Yoga Options:
If the yoga schedule doesn't work for you, a number of studio's are offering virtual classes, check with your local studio, or try one of these:
Kripalu Center, one of the US's biggest yoga center's is closed until the end of the year but they are offering a 7 day free trial for online classes:
Soul Yoga, a Baptiste studio has Zoom classes for a donation:
https://www.soulyogasr.com/schedule
Kundalini Yoga School, they have an 11 day course for free:
https://kundaliniyogaschool.org/
Yoga Vastu, online Iyengar yoga studio, free for 14 days:
There are so many chefs doing cook at home classes on youtube or their own websites that there’s not enough time, even in quarantine, to participate in all of them. You probably get emails offering these sessions or at least recipes from your favorite local restaurants, but if not I’ll point out a few to check out.
Naya Traveler has a Recipe Book online where they give the iconic recipes from many countries. Mango salad from Cambodia, Gazpacho from Spain, Masala Chai from India:
https://www.nayatraveler.com/journal-archive/2020/4/13/naya-recipe-book
A small chain of vegetarian restaurants in the Boston area that I like, Clover Food Lab, has been hosting an afternoon cooking show that I’ve participated in several times since the stay at home advisory has started. The sessions are recorded as well so you can watch them anytime. This could come in especially handy now that it looks like there will be meat and poultry shortages - lots of great vegetarian and vegan comfort food! From New England favorites like Popovers and Boston Baked Beans to newer items like Homemade Fluff with local honey and eggs. He also covers one of the things which is all the rage now - how to make sourdough bread. Its called In Ayr’s Kitchen, check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIRI4Hfmtyr3RH5hI-qyb6w/videos
Chefsfeed has a large list of interactive streamed cooking classes to support chefs while restaurants are closed here:
https://experiences.chefsfeed.com/browse/
B&B’s have been sending recipes to their clients to stay in touch. Here’s a list of 43 with apple pie and similar recipes:
https://stillinnbusiness.com/wish-you-were-here
John Ash & Co in Sonoma shares their recipes here:
https://www.vintnersresort.com/dining/john-ash-co/recipes-2/
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