Traveling with a boring guide book? Not happy with the restaurant listing of your Lonely Planet? Annoyed because there's no word on golf courses/spas/vintage clothes boutiques/ you name it in your TimeOut edition?

Brighter times are ahead.

Take an online trip to Viamigo, the brainchild of San Francisco based creative/journalist  jeff goldsmith, and pick from a vast menu of local guides that you don't have to lug around: living, breathing residents who are willing to put their arduously collected personal expertise at your disposal. Need a historian to explore the finer nuances of Sicilian baroque? Chances are you might find one on viamigo. Or maybe you feel like sharing your city wisdom with others? Sign up as a guide.

More on viamigo: 

VIAmigo.com helps global travelers find authentic, local experiences and insider adventures - by connecting them with personal tour guides from everywhere. We simply let independent tour guides tell everyone what travelers can see chez eux - and we let travelers rate guides. VIAmigo.com is, pardon the jargon, a one-to-one destination marketing platform. Go beyond the guidebook. Go everywhere. Get into everything.

 

by moscerina

Photo credit: "Testaccio blues" by _mirko_ (無)

When it rains, Rome is usually the last place anyone wants to be. You can’t eat outside, unless you don’t mind getting quasi-soaked. The buses, trams and taxis seems to be in limited edition. The Vatican Museums are overrun and the Forum has a mud river flowing through it. That doesn’t mean there is nothing to do in Rome. It just means you have to be clever and get out of the historical center.

And right now, this means visiting Testaccio, the latest “really, truly Roman” neighborhood to be gentrified.

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Cheap Flights to Rome
Opodo offer cheap flights to Rome and other world cities

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by tim anderson

On pretty much any hot and sunny day in Copenhagen (in fact, it doesn't really need to be that hot, just sunny), at certain hours of the day you'll find queues like it was a supermarket twenty-five years ago in Eastern Europe suffering a food shortage.

Alas, it's not a shortage of food that drives the crowds toward Paradis in Copenhagen, rather it's a shortage of comparably tasty ice cream to be found anywhere else in the city. Italian style ice cream. Really f#%*ing tasty ice cream.

How good would I say Paradis ice cream is?

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by tim anderson

News reporters in Copenhagen, and in particular TV2 News – Denmark’s 24-hour news channel - recently had what was probably their biggest news week for several years.

It all began with a police raid of the Ungdomhus (‘The Youth House’) in Nørrebro in Copenhagen on March 1, which succeeded in clearing out the occupants of the building. The Ungdomshus had been the subject of much controversy over the previous months (and years) thanks to the steadfast refusal of those using the building to voluntarily vacate the premises.

You see, it had been sold by the local government some years before and had been used by a large number of young people for many many years (since 1982, in fact) to stage regular events and parties. The controversy basically ended with the demolition of the building 5 days later.

The aftermath of the police clear-out of Ungdomshus carried on throughout the weekend (March 1-4) - some 400-600 were arrested and plenty of demonstrations in support of the building ensued.

It was a tale of two protests, you could say.

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by jnoelbell

Just when you thought you couldn't hold out any longer, Spring is finally here.

You know the smell of Spring - it’s the smell of earth warming, trees stretching, the thin hint of fresh greenery sharp in your nose. It’s so recognisable you can almost feel the sea change, pinpoint the exact day the seasons turn. A visceral intuitive knowledge. The days are longer, the scarves are packed away (but not the brollies!) and you find yourself looking for a reason to get out an *breathe*. Here are a few seasonally themed events to get you back in touch with Mother Nature and put the "spring" back in your step.

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by sara bertoni

This Valentine’s Day, I avoided the typical cozy movie night with flowers and did something different. I went to the super trendy restaurant Envy in Amterdam. The occasion: The new Thomas Sabo Sterling Silver Collection unisex line.

Thomas Sabo has given the silver jewellery market an entirely new appearance – and redefined its self-understanding. In the past men usually entered a Thomas Sabo Shop to buy a wonderful present for their women. But from now on there is one more convincing reason for them to do so: the new Sterling Silver Collection for the spring and summer of 2007 includes Thomas Sabo’s first ever Silver Jewellery & Accessories collection specifically for both sexes!

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by jnoelbell 

For all its great history, sometimes London can be very... well, traditional.

And sometimes, you just want to shake loose and do something a little different, explore (or create!) a new niche in an old city full of old things. With spring creeping around the corner, here are three offbeat activities to try, to get you off the couch and out the door - new exploits for a new season.

Looking for something a little bit retro, a little bit rock n' roll? Everything old is new again! Check out the London Rollergirls, a funky group of women who are single-handedly working to bring back the lost art of flat track roller derby.

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by jared bibler

I stayed one Saturday overnight in a little cluster of summerhouses, owned by my employer. It's a little ways out of town, far enough so that no city lights interfere with the stars. Just now when I went to the car to get a pen, the size and brilliance of Orion in the southern sky was almost shocking. I can't imagine how a good hit of the norðurljós must look from out here.

It's cold outside, a few degrees under freezing, and there is crunchy snow on the ground. There are a few dozen little houses clustered here looking down on a frozen lake. Down the hill from me, someone has lit a cooking fire outside and I can hear the excited sounds of little Icelandic kids playing flashlight games in the dark.

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by sara bertoni

Amsterdam Fashion Week kicked off with official opening party that included a martini bar with the unforgettable cocktails. A waitress in a petticoat served champagne and white chocolate strawberries. Then, at the end of the evening, she did the rounds again with French fries for everybody. Well, I was pretty shocked about this, but hey, we are in Holland, don’t forget!

But I’m not going talk about the cocktails... What I would like to tell you about is about the location - the Westergasfabrik - because I think it's absolutely stunning!

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by ben curtis 

While they are busy building enough new flats around Madrid to house the remaining few young professionals that still haven’t fled to the city from the economically depressed provinces, there are a remarkable number of empty flats here in the centre of the city. Half the shutters in the 6 floor building opposite ours are permanently down - a sure sign of an empty home - and no-one has lived next to, or below us, for as long as we have been here. There are a vast number of unoccupied flats in the centre of Madrid, a problem that is reflected in large cities all over Spain.

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by jared bibler

I met with NPR's Eric Weiner again last week after work, for a follow-up interview on happiness in the Land. He's not doing a radio bit on this, but he is coming out with a book on the happiest countries (and he wants you to buy it!).

The second conversation I had with him was much better as he seemed to have settled in to the laid-back ways of Reykjavík after some more days here. (If you missed it, take a look back at our first conversation.)

The Friday-after-work meeting was in sharp contrast to one I had the night before with an instructor I had helped bring in to teach an investment-related class here. Like many Americans I meet here (mostly hot-tub tourists) he asked why I liked it here

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by eye prefer paris 

Tucked on a small street behind the Place des Victories, Lémoni Café (lémoni is Greek for lemon) serves inventive and delicious mostly vegetarian food. The cooking style is called Cretois and the premise is simple: fresh and dry vegetables cooked without butter or cream. Although the idea has been around for a while, it is fairly new to Paris restaurants.

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by tim anderson

I’ve been running my own blog, The Copenhagen Report, for the past two years now, but as this is my first article for Shortcut, I'll back up and give a short introduction to the city I now call home.

Copenhagen is where the rest of Europe often aspires to be and imagines itself to be – at least in social terms. But, if you ask me, nowhere else in Europe comes close.

The term I would use to describe life in Copenhagen is ‘balance’.

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by jnoelbell

Last week was officially the most miserable week of the year. Holiday debt, failed resolutions, and dreary weather all combined to make us long for some kind, any kind of escape. But if you can't afford to jet away for a getaway, try these mini mid-city oases instead.

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by  jnoelbell

It's a new year for Londoners, and two things are certain: hangovers and transportation price hikes.

The cost of taking the Tube goes up every year, but no more so than this year, with a whopping 33% increase to single cash journey bus and Tube fares. Going into central London's Zone 1 now costs a staggering £4, if you care to pay in pounds. Hopping the bus costs £2. The Tube has become far and away the the single most expensive transport system in the world.

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