The (EMPTY) Seventh Wonder of the World You Need to See NOW

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Pfro

The problem with the Seven Wonders of the World is… they are usually packed with tourists. They are on almost everyone’s bucket list, they are insanely beautiful, and oftentimes, despite being inanimate objects, they have their own public relations and marketing teams. Which makes for huge crowds (think the Colosseum in Rome) and, if you’re like me, panic attacks.

Go Now: The New Seventh Wonder of the World — That’s Empty.

Normally, Petra would be packed with tourists. I basically had my own private tour of the place — something only people like Prince Charles or Cher get.

While most people think of Petra as being the Treasury — the huge, imposing facade that was featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — it is so much more.

According to my friend Abdullah Al Wahsh, “Petra is 50 square kilometers. Even if you spent eight hours a day for three days straight, you still wouldn’t see it all.”

Established by the Nabataeans in 312 B.C., near the biblical Mount Hor in Wadi Araba, the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba, it was the crux of an ancient trading route — and perfectly hidden.

You have to go through miles of paths like this to get into the city.

“Because it’s in a canyon — and you had to go through the canyon to get there, from far away, no one could see it. For a long time, people thought it was mythical,” Abdullah said. “They picked this site for protection — and access to water. The site has an intricate system of canals and irrigation.”

Related: How to Go Full Local in Jordan

Inside one of the homes, looking out at the mountains and at Andrew, my cameraman.

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I Love Me Some Bedouin Hospitality – And Their Goats

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Pfro

Hundreds of years ago, nomadic tribes roamed the Arabian and Syrian deserts. Living in tents and traveling on camels, they were the merchants of the desert — operating trade routes and bartering livestock. Over the years, they converted to Islam, and some settled down into villages, and nowadays most carry cellphones; but in one corner of the Dana Nature Reserve in the southern Jordanian desert, not much else has changed except the transportation.

Travel Back In Time With the Bedouin of Jordan

Little has changed for the Jordanian Bedouin in centuries.

Suleiman Hassasseen, 26, helps run the the Feynan Eco Lodge, a fully sustainable hotel in the Dana Reserve that uses solar power, solar heating, and composting to reduce its environmental impact. While he and his family cater to foreigners who come for the nearby 12,000-year-old archaeology sites or the nature hikes, Suleiman still lives much as his ancestors did at the turn of the last century.

Related: How to Go Full Local in Jordan

Hanging with Suleiman.

About a mile from the lodge is Suleiman’s (main) family tent, woven by his mother and composed of woolen blankets and plastic sheeting, and another smaller tent, which houses his father’s second wife. Surrounding the tents are pens for the goats and sheep, which Suleiman and his family herd into the nearby mountains daily, and two pickup trucks — the only concession to modernism.

“We move twice a year with the seasons,” Suleiman said. “In the summer we go to the shade of the mountains, and in the winter we move out of the wind.”

Related: Ladies’ Night in Amman, Jordan

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Freedom, Rights, Rape and ISIS: Graffiti Art Expresses Frustration in the Middle East

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Pfro

On the road from the airport in Amman to the city’s center — one thing becomes obvious: not only does the city have a lot of graffiti everywhere… but it seems to be celebrated.

And when you look a little closer, you start to realize it’s not just haphazard graffiti. It‘s art — and there’s a message.

WATCH: Women’s Rights, ISIS, and Freedom: Jordanian Street Art Expresses Its Frustration

I met up with Laila Ajjawi, a budding graffiti star. Her mural is part of the Women On Walls project behind the Ras Al Ain Gallery in Amman, Jordan’s capital. The wall that features the project is the longest graffiti wall in the Middle East and the artwork is all created by female artists.

Laila’s mural, “Look at my Mind”

“My mural is about what’s in my mind. What people can’t — or won’t — see,” Laila said. She is a Palestinian refugee who has a Jordanian passport. Laila grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of Jordan. She had taken a four-hour bus ride from there to meet with me.

“it’s about expression, and I try to use my art to tell a story and help others express themselves.” Laila’s main medium is oil paint and this was her first graffiti project.

“I want to do more and art can be a conduit for change,” she told me. “There are so many issues facing women in the Middle East: women’s rights — how we are treated, for example. Right now, if you are a woman and a Jordanian and have a child with a Palestinian, your child will not have Jordanian citizenship. Citizenship is passed down only through men.” Laila has done a lot of work in the refugee camps — Palestinian, Iraqi, and Syrian — helping women confront their fears and their situations through art.

Suhaib Attar is another local graffiti artist in Amman.

Suhaib Attar with his oceanic creation in Amman

“My parents were worried [about art as a career choice] at first, but they are okay with it now,” Suhaib said.

“People will call me to come in and do projects — it’s great. A few years ago the street art scene was almost non existent, but it’s flourishing now,” he continued. “I also do a lot of work with Syrian refugees and the children in those camps, getting them to try to open up about how they feel and what is going on. What they’ve been through is just awful. It’s horrific — and they are not allowed to leave the camps.”

Suhaib works with AptArt, an organization that uses art to inspire children in conflict zones to breed positivity instead of hate.

“ISIS and the civil war has robbed them of their childhood,” Suhaib said.

Surfing: Not as Easy as it Looks (Read: I Almost Died)

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Pfro

About two months ago — right in the middle of Snowmageddon 2015 — my pal Eric Ripert called me up and said, “We are filming an episode of my show [Avec Eric] in Puerto Rico — want to come learn how to surf with me?”

I took one look out the window and about half a nanosecond later said, “HELL YEAH!”

In hindsight, I don’t know why I thought surfing was such a great idea.

1. I get seasick at the drop of a rudder.

2. I have a healthy respect for the ocean and all living things within it. [Read: I am petrified of sharks. So what if there hasn’t been a fatal attack there since 1924.]

3. I’ve never been known for my balance.

But I’ve always liked the idea of surfing. It just looks so cool — you know? My friends do it and say it’s like meditating on the water — and I love meditating … you just sit there! I’m GREAT at sitting!

So off I went.

WATCH: Wipeout! Surfing With Famed Chef Eric Ripert in Puerto Rico. Not as Easy as It Looks

I met Eric at Rincon Beach — the surf capital of Puerto Rico — and our instructor, Jen, from the Rincon Surf School all duded up in my new wetsuit (which of course I bought, as I knew I was going to be SO GOOD at this I’d need this wetsuit forever).

“I cannot swim very well,” Eric said. He was already starting to sweat. “I am nervous.”

“It’ll be fine,” I said. So confident. So cool. So… wrong.

A storm was blowing in — so even getting the 12 foot surfboard to the water was challenging … and then there were the 6-foot swells.

An hour later, Eric and I were clutching the sand on shore for dear life — he with a minor back injury, me with bits of rocks embedded in my shoulder and heaving my lunch out on the sand. (Remember my seasickness issue?)

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The Broad Did It! She Schooled Foodie King Eric Ripert on the BEST Fish Taco. Ever.

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Pfro

It’s not easy to introduce the king of restaurants, chef Eric Ripert, to a Puerto Rico seafood shack he’s never heard of. The restauranteur and host of the Cooking Channel show “Avec Eric” is married to a Puerto Rican (my pal Sondra) and has visited the island at least three times a year for the past 20 years. But I did it. (!!)

Eric was shooting his show in Puerto Rico and called to see if I wanted to come down and learn to surf. Obviously, I said (HECK) yes.

WATCH: Schooling The Food King, Eric Ripert, In Puerto Rico

We met up at his hotel, the Condado Vanderbilt (as opposed to my hotel — the Courtyard Marriott), and when I found out he hadn’t been to my favorite food shack, Tresbe, I was shocked. Floored, even.

“But it has the best fish tacos ever,” I said.

“OK, we go then!” Eric said.

A half hour later we were digging into the dream tacos, ceviche, empanadas and … pretty much everything on the menu.

“Oh, this is gooood,” Eric said. “So light, so fresh!”

And somewhere, I felt like I won the food gods’ approval.

Go now and school your friends and family. It’s that good.

*Weird editor’s note: There are times in traveling when you think no one is around. Someone asks you to do something like, say, sing on top of a piano in a bar and you think, “Why not? I’ll never see any of these people again?” And then you… do. I hadn’t seen Eric in a while — but he’d seen me. A few years back, while in Hanoi, Vietnam, I’d been invited out by a couple communist officials who wanted to play a joke on the American — by taking me to lunch where only hard alcohol was served and instead of water there was beer. Little did they know I was raised on and below the Mason Dixon Line. Six hours later, not unlike that scene in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” they were on the floor and I was at the bar of the Sofiftel Metropole Hotel belting out show tunes. Apparently, Eric was shooting a show there at the time, was walking through and …

“Hey, I saw you!” he said. “I was so dirty — I had been out in the fields all day so I thought, ‘I will go change and come down, but then I fell asleep. You were having so much fun and entertaining the room.’”

Enter the face palm.

Petra, Jordan: Go. NOW. It’s Beautiful. It’s Safe. And Right Now, it’s Empty

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Pfro

Normally, Petra would be packed with tourists. I basically had my own private tour of the place — something only people like Prince Charles or Cher get.

While most people think of Petra as being the Treasury — the huge, imposing facade that was featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — it is so much more.

According to my friend Abdullah Al Wahsh, “Petra is 50 square kilometers. Even if you spent eight hours a day for three days straight, you still wouldn’t see it all.”

You have to go through miles of paths like this to get into the city.

Related: How to Go Full Local in Jordan

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5 Reasons to Hit Puerto Rico – RIGHT NOW

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Pfro

I’ll admit it: I was a little late to the Puerto Rico game. Thankfully, due to Snowmageddon this year, I finally cottoned on to our cousin in the Caribbean. Now that I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, I’m bound and determined to get everyone there — if only so that when people ask me, “Where should I go for a quick, easy, cheap getaway?” (this happens all the time) I can point them to this article.

Here are five reasons you really should go now.

1. It’s cheap and easy.

WATCH: Top 5 Reasons to Go to Puerto Rico Now

Most major airlines fly there, including JetBlue, and the price of a ticket can be up to $200 cheaper than a flight to Miami. Bonus: If you live on the East Coast, it’s quick. From JFK airport, for example, it’s only three and a half hours to San Juan, which is just slightly longer than a flight to Miami.

2. You can vacation like J.Lo at half the price.

The hotels in San Juan are some of the chicest I’ve ever seen. Jennifer Lopez stayed at Hotel El Convento — the Chateau Marmont of the Caribbean, located in the heart of the Old City — which has weekend rates starting at less than $500 a night. If you want to bump up the price a bit, check out theCondado Vanderbilt. The recently refurbished hotel was built in 1912 by Frederick William Vanderbilt in a Spanish revival style, and has been the height of luxury ever since. Rates start at around $300 a night — expensive, but still a fraction of the cost of a luxury hotel in Miami.

3. History, history, history!

While the beach is nice, it’s even nicer that if you need a break, there’s actually something else to do. Puerto Rico’s forts and cathedrals date back to the 16th century, when Spain ruled the island.

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I love San Juan, But Damn, Pigeons Freak Me Out

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Pfro

Just a few hours away from New York City is a history lover’s dream: Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Founded by the Spanish over 500 years ago, it’s a perfectly preserved time portal. Walk around Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the ancient Spanish fort that surrounds the old city. Inside the walls, ramble through narrow cobblestone streets and past the cathedral (where Jennifer Lopez married Marc Anthony) and pick up a piragua — a Puerto Rican snow cone that comes in flavors like passion fruit, mango, and tangerine.

Half the price of Miami and without the club music booming through the streets, Old San Juan is the perfect place to get away from it all — no passport required.

Just watch out for the pigeons. One of the most popular spots in the old city is Plaza de Armas, located up the hill from where the cruise ships park, it is the main point of entry to the old city for many tourists. It is also a pigeon mecca. Thousands of the birds flock there and, despite Puerto Rico having a large cat population, they waddle, sit, and roost unmolested. This would be fine if they also hadn’t gotten into the habit of hanging out, sitting and roosting on people. On any given day, tourists will throw breadcrumbs and turn into living pigeon trees. This is problematic for so, so many reasons, least of which is THEY ARE BASICALLY FLYING RATS! Do you know how many diseased pigeons carry? (answer: LOTS!). That and they have no sphincter muscles so the poop just flies at will. Enter that park at your own risk.

WATCH: Old San Juan — the Best Quick (and Cheap!) Weekend Getaway

Old San Juan has absolutely everything you need for the perfect getaway. (Photo: ABA Staff)

Here’s everything you need to know to do the city properly.

Warning: From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the cruise ships hit and certain areas of the old city are packed with cruisers. Hit the shops before or after this time to avoid a massive headache.

Stay: Hotel El Convento, the Chateau Marmont of the Caribbean. Housed in a former convent, the rooms surround an inner terrace with huge trees. The rooftop pool offers some of the best views in the city, and the restaurant is legendary.

Shop: Ole Curiosidades. This famous hat store lets you get measured, pick your ribbon color, and walk out with a personally fitted, handmade Panama-style hat for around $70 — three times less than almost anywhere else in the world.

This was not the first hat that Paula tried on.

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The Ancient Oasis Towns of Oman: A Star Wars Geek/Explorer’s Dream

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Pfro

In this day and age, it’s difficult for a traveler to feel like he or she is really truly exploring anymore. With the reach of the Internet and the opening of borders around the world, it can feel as if everything has already been laid bare… which is why Oman is so special. The country has only been “open” for 40 years, and the sultan, while modernizing the country, has insisted that any new construction fit in with the old.

But there is old, and then there is ancient. While driving through the mostly arid country, every once in a while you will hit a wadi — a valley that hides an oasis. Most of the wadis are similar — there are fresh pools and a town nearby.

And then there is Birkat Al-Mawz. It’s a tiny little town with mud houses in the Wadi al-Muaydin, which lies on the edge of Jebel Akhdar. The town is a peek into what life was like more than 500 years ago. You can roam through the ruins and explore at your leisure. (Just be careful, the houses are literally falling down. Two years ago, a block of four came crashing down at the feet of a group of German tourists, sending one to the hospital.)

The houses are built on top of each other — from the living room of one house, you can see into the kitchen of another — with air ducts that acted like air conditioning and construction that reminds one of something out of Star Wars. Inside are painted wooden beams and empty windows where carved shutters used to be.

“Many of the old doors and shutters have been looted,” said Qais, my guide. “No one knew how valuable they were until they were gone.”

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Thanks to Dracula, Whitby Is the Creepiest Town in England (I Hearts It)

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Pfro

Long a vacation spot for Brits, it has also historically given inspiration to writers like Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, and Bram Stoker — who based one of the most famous scenes from Dracula in the town.

I Want to Suck Your Blood (Cocktail) in Whitby, England

It’s creepy and romantic all at once. This is Whitby. (All photos: ABA team)

In the book, Dracula (the name itself taken from a name Stoker found in the Whitby public library) arrives in England on the ship Demeter, which crashes into the port. The captain is strapped to the wheel and no one else is alive. The cargo: coffins full of dirt (from Transylvania). After the crash, a large black dog is seen bounding from the ship and running up the cliff stairs to the ruins of Whitby Abbey — which is as creepy in real life as it is in the book [Editor’s note: Who the heck walks around a graveyard at night — it’s like asking to be bitten].

There’s been an Abbey on this cliff since 664, when it was established by the Celts, and it operated until 1583 when Henry the VIII closed all Roman Catholic places of worship. Alongside the old Roman Catholic ruins is a new(er) protestant abbey — complete with an ancient graveyard and mists that roll in a few times a day, adding to the creep factor.

The town is actually adorable.

The town has embraced the famous literature it has inspired. Twice a year there’s a huge annual goth fest called the Whitby Gothic Weekend, during which thousands of people arrive in their best corsets, fangs, and dark eyeliner to troll the streets.

But the real attraction is Whitby Abbey itself, which looms large over the town. Inside the attached museum you will find historical artifacts, stories, and remnants of the town’s past — before strolling through the Abbey ruins.

I wasn’t sure where I was going to buy a sword for my buddy’s birthday. This gift shop had me covered.

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A Broad Abroad

Tales And Tips From Around The Globe

Category Archives: Where To Go

The (EMPTY) Seventh Wonder of the World You Need to See NOW

I Love Me Some Bedouin Hospitality – And Their Goats

Freedom, Rights, Rape and ISIS: Graffiti Art Expresses Frustration in the Middle East

Surfing: Not as Easy as it Looks (Read: I Almost Died)

The Broad Did It! She Schooled Foodie King Eric Ripert on the BEST Fish Taco. Ever.

Petra, Jordan: Go. NOW. It’s Beautiful. It’s Safe. And Right Now, it’s Empty

5 Reasons to Hit Puerto Rico – RIGHT NOW

I love San Juan, But Damn, Pigeons Freak Me Out

The Ancient Oasis Towns of Oman: A Star Wars Geek/Explorer’s Dream

Thanks to Dracula, Whitby Is the Creepiest Town in England (I Hearts It)