Travel Maven blog

The world's top 10 train rides

From the Rocky Mountaineer in Canada and the Glacier Express in Switzerland to Norway's Flam Railway (pictured above), travel journalists select the World's 10 Best Rides.

Read about the Top 10 Train Rides at TheTravelMavens.com

“Train travel is romantic, scenic, a wonderful way to meet and mix with locals and equally important today, a very green way to experience a country.” says Bea Broda, president of the 

Society of American Travel Writers (SATW). Writers and photographers chose the 10 best train rides.

Tips from SATW travel journalists:

How to lighten your luggage.

How to save money on your trip

World's best ferry boat rides

Dining in High Cotton in Charleston

My table was in High Cotton.

That's a southern phrase that means the best of times, which these are not. But on a vacation night in Charleston, South Carolina, High Cotton, the restaurant, was standing tall.

Charleston has become a foody city, a vacation destination for folks who like to eat.

At High cotton, my meal was lettuce wedge (my first iceberg in a while) and blue cheese; broiled grouper on a bed of sauteed spinich; and key lime tort. Entrees start at about $20 for hearty, southern style meals in an atmosphere of brick walls, wood floors, a stack of wine glasses on the table -- and a sign that says: Livin' Large and Steppin' High.

Nice image.

President Obama preps for Disney World

Wonder if President Barack Obama cares about his image, soon to grace the Hall of Presidents exhibit at Disney World's Magic Kingdom near Orlando? 

Yes he does. Check out this report from the New York Times.

The Hall of Presidents is set to reopen July 4. Disney folks call the Animatronic figure of the current president "Robobama."

The wax version

The likeness business is busy with President Obama. On a recent visit to Washington D.C., I got close to the Madam Tussauds image of the president. And he listened to me.

Michelle Obama also is on display at Madam Tussauds in Washington.  

Seeking dental floss in Shanghai

On a Sunday afternoon in Shanghai, I began a search for dental floss.

It turns out that my roll of floss ran out in a country that doesn’t seem to use it.    

My exploration reached a climax at Shanghai's largest pharmacy, or so the sign reported in front of a building of several stories on famed Nanjing Danglu, a shopping street of renoun that leads to the Bund, the city's commercial and financial center.

You can buy and replace almost anything you want on Nanjing Danglu, but not a roll of dental floss.

Exploring Shanghai's Old Town

A few blocks from Shanghai's upscale shops and commercial zone, on the sidewalks of Old Town, street lights are dimmer and life is more Chinese.

You will see bicycles instead of cars, goods for sale from bins and wooden display carts, as well as laundry hung to dry from every available line and tree branch.

English can be elusive. 

Walking Shanghai, dodging pretty women

Shanghai, China's bustling world center of finance, is an easy city for walking downtown, shopping and sightseeing and gazing at throngs of passersby.

Pay attention to the army of men in khaki uniforms, with hats that read in English: "Traffic Assistant" -- perhaps from a stash of baseball caps, made of course in China, that never found their way to heads in the United States.

The aforementioned traffic is on foot, and the stern hat wearers bark their instructions at intersections they guard with zeal, waiting for a change in traffic light so they can amplify such simple English words as "Walk" and "Don't Walk."

Based on their tone, I interpreted the Chinese orders from these hat men to mean: "GET BACK, YOU STUPID PEDESTRIAN."  

And: "DO NOT STEP ONTO THE STREET, YOU BRAZEN CRIMINAL."

These instructions, directed at anyone who moved even an inch or two from the curb, did not seem to rattle any of the Chinese pedestrians.