Passports from the Heart

Thursday Traveler: Andrew Tolentino from Dish Our Town

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A New Yorker at heart and a former fashion professional, Andrew Tolentino shifted gears and has become a food and travel writer. Along with his wife, Brenda, they conceived and created, Dish Our Town, a food and travel blog. Dish Our Town is a storytelling vehicle sharing their love for food, travel, and the culture that goes with it. Andrew serves as Co-Founder and Head Writer of Dish Our Town.

One great thing about this job is being able to meet my colleagues from around the world. I had the opportunity to meet Andrew and Brenda about a year and a half ago at a travel conference. I love reading about their travels and thrilled to see they are just as lovely in person as they are online. One thing I admire most about this family is how much they encourage their daughter to travel the world, which gives her the opportunity to open her mind to so many things. Material things go away. Life experiences through travel will remain in the heart and mind of a child forever.

You currently live in one of the greatest places on Earth, New York City. How has this inspired you and your desires to travel the world? New York has always and continues to inspire our family to travel, simply due to its cultural diversity. Every street corner we will come across something, a restaurant per se, and it will remind us of a country in which we love, or inspire us to go to a place we have never been.

How has your travel influenced your daughter? Travel has influenced her in so many ways, but most importantly it has made her to be more appreciative of things that may be foreign to her, and want to understand. It has helped her to be tolerant and inclusive. Most of all, it has made her open-minded. No Social Studies textbook can ever compete with real experiences.

What has been your favorite travel destination? It’s truly hard to narrow it down to just one. But if we had to choose, it would have to be a place in which we can’t help but visit if we are in striking distance; and that would have to be Rome. It simply has everything we love about travel. Most importantly, the food.

What is your #1 Travel Bucket List Destination? Japan. That will be crossed off next year!

As travel professionals, what has been your greatest success? On a professional level, we believe our greatest success to be having been validated by others as mavens of what we do by getting their support and funding.

Who is your greatest travel inspiration? Rather than one person, it’s an amalgam of people that  inspire us, and that group is symbolized by our City of New York. It’s a city made up of many different people and cultures of many different backgrounds. Their stories continue to inspire us to travel, whether it be Montana or Morocco.

Where will your travels take you next? Our next travels is taking us to Mexico. A country, a cuisine, and most importantly, a people we love.

I love sharing inspirational quotes with my readers. What quote would you share with someone inspiring and motivating them to not only ‘Be the Change’ but to also see the world? “We are not only defined from where we came, but where we are going”. These are my words, but I’m sure it’s a paraphrase of a greater work.

Join Andrew and his family and travel one dish at a time at Dish Our Town. Also, find them at Facebook, and Instagram.

 

7 Ways to Be a More Responsible Traveler

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  • My biggest tip would be that sustainability is a lifestyle – and you can start at home. The more you start to implement day-to-day actions, the easier it will become to make conscious decisions while abroad (and outside of your comfort zone).
  • Far too often, I think we get bogged down by the rules – what we can and can’t do. But at its core, traveling sustainably is empowering. I love thinking about conscious tourism just in terms of being mindful of how you’re spending your money. If you’re always seeking out the best story behind something, chances are that you’ll be able to find a beautiful example of sustainable tourism, whether that be in the souvenir you buy, the food you eat or the place you lay your head at night.
  • If you want to travel sustainably, do as the locals do. Ride the public transport, eat the local cuisine, venture off of the tourist track. By immersing yourself in the intricacies of what makes a city unique, you’ll naturally start to find experiences that are more sustainable.
  • It’s exciting to think of sustainable tourism as being the key to improving our world. It can also be a bit overwhelming when you start to learn about all of the intricacies. I always remind travelers that sustainability is all about progress not perfection. The more you learn, the more empowered you’ll be. When in doubt, look to the basics of sustainable tourism: it’s travel that has a positive impact on the culture, environment and economy of a destination. If a booking experience can’t check off the basics for those three categories, then it’s not sustainable.

Jessica Hansen from Kiva.org 

  • As much as possible, keep your money in the local economy. Do some research to find out if your hotel is locally owned and operated. Do your best to avoid foreign-owned chain hotels and restaurants. If your souvenirs say ‘Made in China’ on the bottom and you’re anywhere but China, their neither as authentic nor as economically supportive of the local economy as they likely could be.
  • Think critically about the activities you do. Most of us love animals and nature. As we encounter those things, we should think about if what we’re doing is in the best interest of the animal or the environment.
  • In terms of assessing charities to give to or volunteer projects to work with, think about: 1) am I the priority or are the beneficiaries? For example, is it an orphanage that is letting you, a total stranger, walk in and interact with young children? Those you don’t know and will likely never see again? Or, are you building a local library or school, when you have little to no experience? Instead, the project could be employing skilled local workers and creating jobs.  2) is this project sustainable? Does it create a long-term solution that provides local people with a new resource, which they can also repair, sustain and maintain themselves. For example, there are thousands of broken down wells across Africa. Foreign groups came in to build them with foreign materials and labor. Local communities did not have access to the knowledge, skills or materials needed to repair or maintain them.

Becoming a more responsible traveler isn’t a difficult path but it does require you to be mindful of your surroundings. Do your research and remember as Kelley said, “sustainability is a lifestyle”. You don’t have to travel to become more responsible within your community. It all starts at home.

What are some ways you support sustainable and empowerment tourism?

New Caledonia – A Perfect Holiday Destination for Mindful Families

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Guest Post by Marie Nieves

Mass tourism is becoming increasingly popular in the modern world, but luckily, so is mindful travel. While there is no way to defeat the corporate monster that is the hotel industry, there are numerous ways conscious parents can instill positive habits in their children and create a healthy little microcosm of mindfulness.

Yes, families can enjoy conscious travel in a myriad of ways, especially in those faraway destinations such as New Caledonia. Here is why the exotic French colony is a perfect holiday destination for mindful families.

The people of New Caledonia

Experiencing different cultures and meeting the people that inhabit faraway lands is one of the best ways to broaden your horizons, teach your children tolerance and compassion, and delve into a completely new way of life that will enrich your own. Being a country of many tribes, New Caledonia and its surrounding archipelago is the perfect place to meet interesting people.

The colony is inhabited by the Kanak people (the indigenous inhabitants of the land), the people of European descent, Polynesian people, and of course, Southeast Asian people. This breadth of cultural differences creates an enthralling setting permeated by sights, aromas, and tastes that hail from the home countries of every tribe.

The rich cultural heritage

Every country is unique in its customs and cultural heritage – every nation a book of events and notable people that shaped history itself. New Caledonia is no different, as the fascinating blend of French and Polynesian influences has created an enchanting palette of sights and sounds that will spark every child’s imagination.

While the French have preserved their well-known cultural heritage, the Kanak culture is experiencing a revival after years of sitting in the shadow of the French flag. Needless to say, now is the time to experience the indigenous sights, sounds, and rituals that shaped this ancient culture, as there are numerous events, festivals, and cultural institutions that carry this heritage.

The beaten path and how to avoid it

Depending on how you look at it, New Caledonia can be a tourist hotspot, but it can also be a safe haven for all mindful travelers. You simply need to decide whether you’d rather feed the corporate machinery or venture out on your own to support the local communities and their way of life. Not only can you take part in the local lifestyle, but you can also escape the crowds to reconnect with Mother Nature wherever you go.

One such magical place is the Isle of Pines. Out of all the things to do on Isle of Pines, simply taking your family for an exploration tour into its numerous natural wonders is by far one most healthful and empowering things you can do. The unmatched serenity of the setting will allow you to wash away the stress of modern-day life, and teach your kids how to respect and take care of the only home we have. And all of that by taking mindful walks across the Isle’s idyllic landscape.

A wealth of family activities

Naturally, a family vacation cannot be complete without giving the kids the chance to blow off all of that built-up steam. While they’re doing it, why don’t you join in on the fun? Yes, there are plenty of tourist hotspots you can visit, all which are worth it by the way, but there are also numerous things you can do in and around the island to spark imagination and creativity.

So be sure to go on an exploration tour of Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, and don’t forget to partake in snorkeling and even diving in order to experience the vibrant and mesmerizing marine life that permeates the surrounding seas.

New Caledonia, like every other country in the modern, consumer-oriented world, is a place of endless beauty and rich cultural heritage, and as such it can be experienced in a myriad of ways. As a conscious family though, you are bound to have the time of your life in the warm embrace of this little slice of heaven in the Pacific.

About the author

Marie Nieves is a lifestyle blogger who loves unusual trips, gadgets and creative ideas. On her travels she likes to read poetry and prose and surf the Internet. Her favourite writer is Tracy Chevalier and she always carries one of her books in her bag. She spends most of her free time at home walking her Labrador Retriever named Max. She is an avid lover of photography and a regular author at High Style Life. You can find Marie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter and Pinterest.

*Images by Sébastien Jermer and Marie Nieves*

 

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