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Great news for AAA members. A new benefit covers bicycle service. If you or your child gets a flat or breaks a chain, you can now call AAA and they will take you and your bicycle anywhere within 10 miles. Mountain bikers need to get out of the woods and reach a normally travelled road where AAA can pick you up. You’re entitled to two bicycle calls per year. 
With concerns over mislabeling and outright fraud, extra virgin olive oil isn’t looking so virginal these days. Even New York Times is getting in on the joke with a recent slide show suggesting that “Made in Italy” EVOO is actually made from Spanish, Portuguese, and Tunisian olives. So when I heard that Italian wine and olive oil expert, Bill Marsano, was going to be in Boston to talk about the controversy, I jumped at the opportunity to question him. Last Thursday, Marsano spoke at the Seaport Hotel’s spanking new Action Kitchen as part of the Flavor Your Life Campaign, which seeks to promote the benefits of cooking with EVOO.
On our first full day in Cape Town, Lisa and I took the sage advice of a South African art collector and hired Stephen Long as our guide for the day. Stephen is well known in the Cape Town arts community (and to the shaman of the Eastern Cape) as one of the most renowned bead dealers in the region. Many of the beads you find in the beadwork of South African art is actually imported from Venice, the Czech Republic, and now China. Our first stop was the South African National Gallery, where we viewed activist art created during the oppressive apartheid regime. One of the most disturbing pieces is the three life-sized figures with horns and no mouths called The Butcher Boys, created in plaster by Jane Alexander.
Then it was time see some of the impressive local crafts found in the city. The Gallery Shop, on bustling Church Street (48), is a gem of a small store selling colorfully beaded jewelry, sculpture, wall hangings, pillowcases, and more. Owner Lorin Strieman used to run the gift shop at the Natioanl Gallery and she has a great eye for contemporary South African craft. It’s hard not to purchase all the whimsical beaded animals at Monkeybiz. The pieces were created by impoverished, HIV-positive women who were trained as artists to make a living. It was wonderful to walk upstairs and see all these women sitting together and laughing while creating art. Just as alluring is the work at Streetwires, where sculpture of all sizes is created by wire and bead. Like Monkeybiz, you can walk upstairs to see the large group of artists at work. Bags in hand from all the goods we purchased, we visited the colorful houses and mosques found in the nearby Bo-Kaap neighborhood still home to a large Cape Malay population. All of our purchases are now back at our house, cherished from our memorable day with Stephen. We’re happy to pass along his contact information to anyone who’s interested in hiring him for the day.
With our kids out of college early this semester, we decided to head to the Caribbean before Christmas. We made the wise decision to book two rooms at the Riu Reggae, an adults-only all-inclusive which made its debut 8 months ago. Located down the beach from the Riu Palace and the Riu Montego Bay, the Riu Reggae is only a 10-minute drive from the international airport. Compared to the other Riu properties we’ve stayed at in Ocho Rios, Aruba, and Costa Rica, it’s a smaller, more contemporary resort with 400 rooms and 5 restaurants. We thought the food was very good for an all-inclusive property, especially the breakfasts at the main buffet, the steak at the Italian restaurant, and our last night’s dinner at the gourmet restaurant, Kulinarium, which featured lobster, grouper, and oxtail ravioli. The highlight for us (and one of the reasons we keep returning to Jamaica) is the jerk hut, serving slightly charred barbecue chicken on the beach, topped with homemade spicy jerk sauce. We would stand in line every day to grab our lunch there. 
All New Englanders who are avid travelers should rejoice that Emirates will soon be offering non-stop service from Boston to Dubai. Not only to check out Dubai, but to use as a hub to head south from UAE to Nairobi and Capetown, or further east to Mumbai and Phuket. Not only will it spur on competition to these locales, hopefully resulting in reduced prices, but it will save considerable travel time. For example, scuba divers and honeymooners heading to the Maldives (only a 4-hour flight from Dubai) will now be able to save six hours of travel time due to the direct flight. With Turkish Airlines starting non-stop service from Boston to Istanbul in May and the Chinese carrier, Hainan Airlines, set to begin nonstop service from Boston to Beijing in June, it’s never been a better time for New Englanders to check out the world. If the choices seem overwhelming, ActiveTravels.com is here to offer our expert opinion based on your desires. 
Summer is the best time of year to book flights to warm-weather destinations this coming winter. This is especially true if you’re forced to travel during school vacations. Hesitate to book your flight and you’ll be stuck on bad connections that cost a fortune. We’re here to help with flights and suggestions. In the August issue of the ActiveTravels Newsletter, we take you to Oahu, where we just returned from a glorious Hawaiian vacation. We also divulge some of our favorite hotels in the Turks and Caicos, an easy getaway for those of you on the East Coast. We introduce you to Jeep Patagonia and their trips to one of my favorite locales on the planet, Torres del Paine. Lastly, we discuss the increasingly popular destination of Iceland, where I’ll be headed in several weeks for the Society of American Travel Writers convention.