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Solo in Sorrento and wondering what to do? Dance the night away!

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Wanderlust Women

It’s Friday night in Sorrento – what’s a solo traveler to do? There is plenty of nightlife in and around Sorrento, Italy if you just know where to look. Whether you like the atmosphere of a SoHo or South Beach club scene, salsa dancing on a hot summer night or even the old school traditional Italian stage show, there is something for everyone.

1. The Tarantella Show – in the subterranean theater below Fauno Bar, known as Fauno Notte. It’s right in the heart of Sorrento’s main square, Piazza Tasso. It’s a traditional Neopolitan stage show, complete with tarantella and tambourines, which traces the history of Naples and Sorrento from 1558 through the present. (This is a totally benign experience for a solo woman traveler just getting used to exploring the world alone.)

2. Jamaica Inn – This place is fantastic but it’s huge and you will need a car to get there since it’s about 10-15 minutes away from Piazza Tasso. It’s actually located in Boscotrecase at Via Panoramica 5. The Jamaica Inn is part restaurant, part party space and part dance club, all mixed in with fantastic food, especially pizza. Friday night is salsa night and there is a one hour free class by maestro Pakito Ametrano. It starts around 11pm, followed by salsa dancing till the wee hours. In the summer the scene happens inside and outside, while off-season there is always a party going on inside. Families mix with singles, young mix with old. This is a great club/restaurant to come and mix with the locals.

Free salsa class by Pakito Ametrano at Jamaica Inn in Sorrento / Photo courtesy: Jamaica Inn

3. Smeralda – The moment I entered this club in Castellammare I thought I was back in the U.S. in Miami’s South Beach. This place is so cool from decor to the laid back crowd. White sofas and tents drape you in seclusion and the bartenders are very friendly. The entertainment ranges from background music to DJs to live guests. If you’re lucky, here is where you just may catch a live performance by Neopolitan pop star Gigi Finizio. I was a fan the moment I heard him sing “E C’e Una Cosa Che Non Sai” (There is one Thing I Don’t Know). Again, you’ll need a car to get there because Castellammare is not really convenient to anything and make sure you have your GPS set to exactly Via Passeggiata Archeologica 80. We wouldn’t want you getting lost in or around Castellammare. Don’t worry, though, the club has its own parking lot and you are plenty safe once there!

Posted in Europe, Flying Solo, Italy, Solo Travel for Women Blog, Sorrento, Wanderlust Women | Tagged salsa in Sorrento, Sorrento nightlife | 2 Comments

Frugal Friday – Wanderlust women solo travel for antiquing in Red Hook, NY

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Wanderlust Women

My love affair with Red Hook began the year I was born. It was where my family had a summer home and where I always go to clear my head. Red Hook is located in upstate New York, Dutchess County, about 100 miles from Manhattan and about 70 from Lenox, Massachusetts. It offers the quaint charm of a day in the country with the easy escape of one tank of gas.

I have been a dealer in a group antique shop in Red Hook for a number of years. It’s called Attic Memories right in the heart of the village on East Market Street, where it meets Route 9. I have seen business change over the years from the hustle and bustle of rabid antique hunters to the slow current days of Ebay.

Solo Travel Red Hook New York

Red Hook has always been caught between its artsy, more popular neighbor Rhinebeck, to the south, and its more established antique neighbor Hudson, to the north. Yet, Red Hook, is the perfect Frugal Friday drive for Wanderlust Women because you can look, relax, eat and you don’t have to buy.

Coming from New York, a drive up the scenic Taconic Parkway places you directly on Route 199 once you exit off the ramp. Turn left and just head straight until you hit the center of town. If you’re coming from Massachusetts, head south on the Taconic and the exit ramp places you in the right direction on Route 199. Drive about 15 minutes and you’ll come upon four shops before reaching your first traffic light.

Boulevard – features the best in vintage clothing and accessories. The shop is always a popular hangout when the kids from Bard College are looking for a funky outfit.

Solo travel Red Hook vintage

Attic Memories – a group shop full of surprises, including yours truly stuck toward the back. Look for the lavender showcase of custom-made jewelry and go no further!

Solo travel Red Hook antique memories

The Annex Antiques Center – is actually where I went to the movies as a kid and rather than tear down the building, they turned it into an antique mini-mall.

You will also find East Market Street Antiques, with an eclectic mix of American folk primitives, and the Red Hook Antique Center; but do not miss out on a stop at Hoffman’s Barn. You hang a left at the Route 9 traffic light and it’s about a mile down on the right. It’s where good junk goes to die or catch its second wind. Roger Hoffman is a character and has a story for every rake, windmill and iron bed that is on his expansive yard.

And if you’re looking for a quick nosh before heading back to the Big Apple or over to Massachusetts, stop at the old Village Diner. It’s an historic landmark (their menus were handwritten on construction paper not so long ago and they have the best french toast sticks for breakfast). For the more discerning palate, try the Red Hook Curry House for great Indian food on East Market Street. Happy hunting.

Posted in Frugal Friday, New York, United States, Wanderlust Women, Weekend Getaways | Tagged antiques, New York antiquing, One tank trip, Red Hook, Rhinebeck | Leave a comment

For Wanderlust Women “New York or Bust” takes on new meaning!

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Wanderlust Women

We all have a “bff,” someone who has been there since childhood or high school and who knows all of your dirty secrets. She’s the person you call to share your boyfriend stories with and the same person who’s there to sit with you for two hours at unemployment, just because! For me it’s Louise, yes, Thelma and Louise, because we have been in so much trouble it’s amazing no police were involved before this visit to the Big Apple.

This Sunday started out like any other for two native New Yorkers who have each lived and worked in Manhattan for more years than either of us will admit. To say we know the city is an understatement. Yet, this sunny day we decided to play tourists and see what havoc we could bring to the city we love so much. Little did we know that when we left on our big adventure and I joked about needing bail money before the day was out……..that bail money might be a good thing to have in our back pocket.

We set our radar for the South Street Seaport where all tourists flock on a sunny day in NYC. No sooner had we parked the car then we both spied a clothing boutique often frequented by city girls in the know. Now, we were both keenly aware that the financial district is a ghost town on Sundays, yet we got as giddy as schoolgirls because this particular store had huge SALE signs beckoning to us like the sirens luring sailors off the coast of Paestum (you see everything does have an Italian twist in my life). Not only were there sale signs, HUGE sale signs, but the store was obviously open because there was another couple shopping inside.

We enter, perusing the racks of “sale” items………I’m grabbing sundresses to try on while Louise, who’s ADDICTED to sunglasses and big bags, is grabbing at stock like an addict in a crack-house. Not 5 minutes later, in walks one of New York’s finest, an officer in blue. He’s laid back and smiling and wonders why we are in the store. You see, it seems this store is CLOSED on Saturdays and Sundays (I told you the Financial District is a ghost town on the weekends), yet there we were, Thelma and Louise and a couple of tourists, shopping through the sale racks.

Our mugshot!

We were dumbfounded. We had apparently tripped the store’s alarm, calling Officer Joe and his partner to the scene. He let us go. He didn’t even want to frisk me. Hey, I volunteered – I wanted to look obliging and all.

The lawyer in me wondered since there was no breaking but definitely entering……..and NY doesn’t have such a crime………..could we be charged with criminal trespass or burglary? Well, for burglary you must enter with the intent to commit a crime and true it would have been criminal to add more bad debt for a cheap sundress, but I did intend to pay for it. As to criminal trespass, we would have had to enter the building which was enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders. Here the doors were unlocked so no one was being excluded.

photo courtesy: sign-farm.com

We left Officer Joe very puzzled, looking at the door’s lock trying to figure out how the four of us entered a store that was supposedly locked for the weekend…………or was it? They say ghosts live downtown. Maybe they do and we were the ghostbusters…………whatever it was, at least we weren’t busted!