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Chicago Travel / Festival Travel / Food Travel / Booze Travel / Summer Festivals / Summer Travel / → All Tags

Which Chicago Festivals Should You Hit Up This Summer?

The temperatures are warming up and that can only mean one thing for the city of Chicago; it's festival season! We don't know, but it might be that fact that the majority of the year Chicagoans are cooped up indoors to dodge the wintery weather, but very few cities around the world love their street fairs as much as Chi-town does.

Annual events like Taste of Chicago, North Halsted Street Market Days and Blues Fest will be in full effect on their respective weekends, but we've got some festival favorites. Pack some comfy shoes, sunscreen and social skills because it's time to hit the streets.

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Zoo Travel / Zoos / Drinking Travel / Beer Festivals / Animals / Animal Travel / Events / Festival Travel / → All Tags

'Brew At The Zoo' Beer Festivals for May Take on Miami, California and Memphis

The weather is getting warmer, and May has officially arrived on the calendar. That means it’s time to head outdoors and reconnect with nature—or at least just visit the critters over at the neighborhood zoo. Sure we love to see the animals do their thing, but it’s even better with a beverage in one hand. Here’s three brew at the zoo events taking place this May.

Brew at the Zoo – Zoo Miami

It’s already time for Zoo Miami to do their brew at the zoo thing, as the animals and exhibits are waiting for you to swing by on Saturday, May 4 between 7 and 11pm. Despite its location at the zoo, it sounds like this event is one of the biggest beer festivals in the city. Plenty of brewers and breweries will be in attendance, and they’re promising more than 100 different lagers and ales to sip and sample. Unlimited samples are yours to enjoy for just $35—in advance—or $40 at the door. The fun rounds itself out with plenty of live music including an appearance by Naughty by Nature—remember them?

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Coffee Travel / Festival Travel / London Travel / Events / → All Tags

Same Time, Next Year: London's Coffee Festival

Can't wakeup without a double espresso, a cappuccino or a few scoops of Folgers? (Well, maybe not Folgers.) Whether you take it black, foamy or sugary, the londoncoffeefestival.com has you covered.

The flagship of UK Coffee Week™, this annual four-day gathering has been caffeinating 15,000 coffee aficionados and professionals since 2010. This is a very popular event and, even with tickets (which you should buy beforehand if you expect to get in), you'll find yourself queuing outside the venue waiting for your specific entry time to arrive.

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Design Travel / Art Travel / London Travel / Events / Festival Travel / → All Tags

At 'Pick Me Up London,' The Art Festival for the Rest of Us

Let's face it, sometimes we all feel a little out of place at art galleries. Some are stuffy, the free ones are crawling with kids (literally), and others feel more like convenience stores with the gift shops pushing touristy trinkets which have nothing to do with the art hanging on the walls.

While we can all appreciate the masters, sometimes we need to be inspired by fresh, new artists injecting their techniques and talent into vector graphics, sculpture and good old brush and canvas. The best place to see this type of work is at Pick Me Up London.

Pick Me Up London is the UK's original graphic arts festival, held annually at Somerset House in London. The 11-day festival focuses on contemporary graphic art, design and illustration. It consists of two floors of paintings, colorful giclée prints, zines, lectures and demonstrations, and a chance to meet some of the artists behind it all.

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Thailand Travel / Songkran / Festival Travel / Chiang Mai Travel / Air Asia / Bangkok Airways / Video / → All Tags

Totally Soaked in Thailand: the Water Festival of Songkran in Video

Yesterday we talked about the significance of the Thai New Year celebration, Songkran and what it means for cities like Chiang Mai. Now we can show you a little video which is only a few minutes of an entire day of events, but sums up the excitement pretty well.

We've already discussed about preparing to get wet...really wet. The video shows how water is everywhere and on everyone. There are very few spots, if any, that escape the deluge of new year cleansing. This video was shot on Kotchasam Road, flanking the moat of the old city with a major street-incapacitating party at the intersection of Tha Pae Road.

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Thailand Travel / Songkran / Festival Travel / Bangkok Travel / Chiang Mai Travel / → All Tags

Totally Soaked in Thailand: A Peek at the Water Festival of Songkran

If we could offer one little tidbit of advice for travelers planning to hit up the Thai New Year, Songkran, it would be to prepare to get wet. Like, really wet. We're not kidding.

First, a little more background on what this is all about. Songkran is the celebration to ring in the Thai new year and, in Buddhist tradition, everyone splashes water onto statues of the Buddha to ensure a proper cleansing into the new year. The Thai people will also splash water on each other as a symbol of good luck for the upcoming year. Tourists are hardly exempt from the wet antics and in fact it's often the reason people travel to Thailand during this time of the year.

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Wish You Were Here / Thailand Travel / Chiang Mai Travel / CNX / Festival Travel / Songkran / → All Tags

Wish You Were Here: Chiang Mai, Thailand During Songkran

Earlier this week we shared what we were packing in our suitcase all to make our Songkran trip to Thailand a whole lot easier. Well, we've finally made it up the Northern city of Chiang Mai to use it all.

We're in the city to kick up our heels and celebrate the Thai New Year, "Songkran," which begins today on this side of the world. For the next three days we will be touring temples and soaking in the heat while dodging plenty buckets of water in a futile attempt to stay (somewhat) dry during all the "water play,"

So far we've just been working on getting our bearings, but we do have our artillery for tomorrow; a giant super-soaker gun purchased from the street market.

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Thailand Travel / Chiang Mai Travel / Festival Travel / Songkran / New Year's Travel / Travel Tips / → All Tags

Six Necessities for a Successfully Soggy Songkran

Our travel plans will soon bring us to Thailand and not just to sample various noodle recipes or tour some temples. While all that's on the plan, the real focus for travel to Thailand during this time of the year is the celebration of one of the most festive times of year in Thailand: Songkran, Thai New Year.

Chiang Mai is on our itinerary since we've heard it's the epicenter for all things Songkran. Traditionally, throwing water on friends, family and passers-by is considered the best part of the festivities. Originally done to cleanse Buddha statues, the drenchings during the holiday require some advance preparation for travelers.

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Drinking Travel / Beer Travel / North Carolina Travel / Festival Travel / Events / → All Tags

North Carolina Declares April 'Beer Month'

No, this is definitely not an April Fools joke. North Carolina has declared that April will be "Beer Month" throughout the state. There are plenty of options for getting sloshed across all of NC, from a Beer Lover's Weekend at the O. Henry Hotel in Greensboro to a tour of the Front Street Brewery in Wilmington, to limited-edition beer flights in Blowing Rock.

The official NC Beer Month website has tons of event recommendations as well as a trip planner that focuses on specific regions (coast, mountains, piedmont).

Just make sure that you get some Bojangle's Chicken in between the beer runs.

[Photo: greencolander]

Food Travel / Napa Valley Travel / Events / Festival Travel / Flavor Napa Valley / California Travel / Masaharu Morimoto / Illustrated / Tokyo Travel / Japan Travel / Andy Miles / → All Tags

Iron Chef Morimoto's Four Rules for Eating Sushi (Like You Know What You're Doing)

Morimoto demonstrates how much wasabi is perfect for a single piece of sashimi

Napa Valley is a weird place. It's kind of demure, with rolling hills blanketed in low rows of lush vineyards, but also kind of action central, as the chances are high that the person cooking your food or pouring your wine is at the top of the industry. Recently we ventured into kitchens, cellars and wineries (all accessible to you, too) in search of the extraordinarly yummy, which really is the norm in Napa.

Contrary to popular opinion, Napa's not only about the wine. Sure, that's a lot of the attraction, but you've got to eat something at some point to keep the drinking and drink appreciation going. That's where restaurants like Morimoto Napa come into play.

As the Flavor! Napa Valley festival only allows chefs with Napa restaurants to participate, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto took the opportunity to share the basics of precision sushi preparation.

Even if you're better at ordering in than turning out beautiful rolls, Morimoto has some tips. In addition to the fun fact that sushi is actually finger food (though chopsticks are of course plenty fine), he's shared with us his four laws of eating sushi. Take notes if you're Japan-bound!

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Wine Travel / Napa Valley Travel / Events / Festival Travel / Drinking Travel / Flavor Napa Valley / California Travel / Andrea Robinson / Food Travel / Delta / In-Flight Drinks / → All Tags

Napa Valley Normal: Sipping Chardonnay with Delta's Sommelier

These "The One" glasses were designed by Andrea

Napa Valley is a weird place. It's kind of demure, with rolling hills blanketed in low rows of lush vineyards, but also kind of action central, as the chances are high that the person cooking your food or pouring your wine is at the top of the industry. Recently we ventured into kitchens, cellars and wineries (all accessible to you, too) in search of the extraordinarly yummy, which really is the norm in Napa.

In-flight wines get such a bad rap. Unlike airplane coffee, which is still all too frequently little better than "brown water," the reds and whites of the trolley have improved enough to warrant an airline bringing in someone like Andrea Robinson to expertly curate wine lists every season.

Andrea, a certified Master Sommelier/best-selling author/wine glass designer, has been the official Delta sommelier since February 2008 and it's her you have to thank for that smooth, in-flight buzz after your second glass because, to her, it's not just about getting blitzed onboard. In fact, Delta's transcontinental BusinessElite wine program turned completely to California wines from this September. The majority are from the Napa Valley, but there's always a focus on the richer, fuller bodied vintages to combat the effects of altitude on our tastebuds.

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Festival Travel / Festivals / Australia Travel / Melbourne Travel / Adelaide Travel / Sydney Travel / Tasmania / → All Tags

The Top Five 2013 Festivals to Hit in Australia

10 Days on the Island - Ringing the Changes

In a nation that has perfect weather almost year round, there's always reason to celebrate. If you're planning on heading down under next year, we recommend keeping this guide to the best Australian festivals the nation has to offer.

· We've talked about the famous Sydney Mardi Gras before, so if you have a need for fabulous debauchery, check it out. The city offers much more than glitter with Vivid Sydney where the buildings and cityscape become the backdrop to colored light to bring the city alive. The festival features installation light-art pieces from late May to the middle of June.

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