What We Loved This Week: Waikiki Food Courts, Pho, Springsteen and More

Our contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days:

Frank Bures
I loved looking at Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Not sure why, but I did.

Terry Ward
Touring Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus highlights, I got a kick out of this modern-day Romeo and Juliet vignette, which I spied from the rooftop of the Cinema Hotel. It’s called the White City, but Tel Aviv’s colors run deep, and I found the diversity of its residents even more interesting than the UNESCO-recognized architecture.

Rob Verger
I loved eating lots of meat at a Brazilian joint called Boi Na Brasa in Newark, New Jersey—a city with a large Brazilian and Portuguese community. I went with my girlfriend and another couple, and three of us got the all-you-can-eat rodizio option, where the waiters bring the meat around on skewers and cut off slices for you at the table.

Valerie Conners
Seeing Bruce Springsteen play Philadelphia’s Wachovia Spectrum, an iconic Philly venue slated to be imploded sometime later this year. A series of “farewell” concerts have been planned, and it was incredibly special to see Bruce there—it was here he played his first arena show, and he’s since played there 32 times—the second most performances by a single band (he’s only topped by The Grateful Dead).

Pam Mandel
Food courts! Waikiki can be really expensive, so when my friend balked at 15 bucks for Yakisoba (stir fried noodles) we went back to the food courts. We’ve found mango ice cream, sushi, stir fry, freshly made juice, veggie tacos, and bonus, glittery, schmaltzy hula—all at half the price of the big restaurants and from businesses just as likely to be locally owned.

Jenna Schnuer
Guys and Dolls is back on Broadway. The standout star of the show? The set. A standing ovation for the set designer for best use of a video screen which takes the audience on a trip back in time to old New York. But to the theater-goer dressed in a baseball cap, logo tee, and jeans: really?

Eva Holland
Ottawa’s not exactly known for its array of ethnic food offerings, but oddly enough in the last few years my hometown has acquired a pho shop on every second corner. Back in Ottawa last weekend after a few months away, I was thrilled to sit down to a giant bowl of noodle soup—it’s become a sort of homecoming ritual.

Michael Yessis
The “mobile lounges” at Dulles International Airport. Usually, I despise having to use them to get from security to the gates. This week, though, before flying to Los Angeles, I saw them through the eyes of almost 1-year-old son. Watching them move about the tarmac through the windows, he was mesmerized.

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