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 jnoelbell 

Valentine's Day is a few days away - did you forget to make dinner reservations at the hottest restaurant? It's a little too late for that now, but that doesn't mean you can't still score some points in the romance department by being a little creative.

From Masquerade Balls to exotic hothouses, champagne skylines to sultry jazz - here are some last minute ideas to save you from the dog house! As of publication tickets were still available for all of the below events...

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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 ben

In town over the holidays? Here's our Notes from Spain recommendations for 10 things to do in Madrid. For more details and maps, see your guide book! (Time Out Madrid is great.)

1. The No-Brainer
Visit at least one of the big three art museums, the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen. If in doubt pick the Reina Sofia and see Picasso's Guernica.

2. Tapas Grazing
Start on Cava Baja, stopping at will on this bar-packed street, then head into the depths of La Latina for more.

3. Something Different
Take a trip on the Teleferico, out into the depths of the Casa de Campo.

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by jnoelbell

It's a well worn cliché, but there really is something magical which settles over London at the holidays. During the rest of the year, the urban qualities of a large city are characteristics you either love or hate: the throngs of cityfolk, the non-stop lifestyle, the concrete buildings, the public transportation, the touristy attractions. No matter how much you love city living, it's bound to drive you mad from time to time. So as the end of the year approaches, it becomes all too easy to spend your commute cocooned in your iPod, or walk to your destinations with head down and shoulders squared against the world.

As the daylight gets shorter and the damp fog of autumn descends over both city and dwellers, it can get downright dreary. But it doesn't have to be this way...

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by the paris blog 

Lazy weekend in the city? Perhaps it’s time to visit those places you hear about all the time but never manege the time to see. You know, the new museum. Or MK2. Eye Prefer Paris finds it’s not just the film selection to love here:

The MK2 Bibliotheque is cinephile’s dream come true, housed in a huge glass complex with 14 luxurious and comfortable theaters. There is also a café, a restaurant with good solid food, bookstore, DVD store with a superior collection of popular and hard to find DVDs, and a movie memorabilia store. I especially like the restaurant with its all-red modern spacious interior and hip diners.

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by katie lips 

In what was seeming like a dull month of August, Amsterdam is suddenly springing to life with new bars opening. This week, Terrazza Martini is coming to town. Somewhat of a touring circus, Terrazza Martini appears for a brief 4 days or so in Europe's hip cities.  This week it's Amsterdam's turn to host this cocktail extravaganza with the party taking place in the elaborate and elegant Amstel Hotel.

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Break the piggy bank. Rick Owens, the Paris-based designer originally from Los Angeles, has quietly opened up a boutique at Palais Royal (130 Galerie de Valois). The space is both stark and cozy, with clothing hanging from simple metal racks, walls damaged with imperfections, and the flat carpet spotted and faded. Dark felt, one of the designer’s favorite materials, covers one wall, and pieces of chunky furniture he also designs fill out the store.

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Updated on Thursday, August 24, 2006 at 10:14PM by shortcut

by julie galante 

After living through the hottest July EVER in Zurich (since they started keeping records 140 years ago), I have been rewarded with chilly, rainy fall weather since the start of August.

Unlike many people here (those who actually like summer), I’m not complaining. It’s so nice to be able to leave the house between 11 and 5 without being attacked by oppressive sun and heat. It’s wonderful to be able to do light housework without sweating. And it’s downright fabulous to be able to walk through the grocery store without smelling the horrendous b.o. of your fellow shoppers (that used to linger in the aisles long after the offending shopper was gone).

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by anglofille

If you’re like me (and I hope you’re not), you have to pee more often than a woman who’s nine months pregnant with triplets.  Not surprisingly, when I’m out in public I often need to find a loo in a hurry and as such, I am a bit of an expert at finding sweet relief (if you know what I mean). While I have often seen men relieving themselves on the streets of London, even in Trafalgar Square, this is not an option for women or civilized people of any gender. So herewith, I have compiled a handy guide to the best places to pee in London:  

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by julie galante 

The visitor parade is almost over, and none too soon. Don’t get me wrong – I have adored the chance to spend time with each and every one of the dear friends who have come to see us this summer, but I am the worst warm-weather tour guide ever. When the temperatures soar, all I want to do is hide from the sun. Not easy to do when you’re out walking around the city all day.

Kesha compared me to some creature on a sci-fi show that can’t go in the light and just slinks along from shadow to shadow; this basically sums up how I move around in the summer, if I have to move around at all.

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by sabine behrmann

Danes prefer tourists to any other kind of foreigners: they admire the country, pay an awful lot of money for dubious services, and leave again rather quickly.

In a fit of anti-nationalism the Danish newspaper Politikenn has now pointed out ten reasons why people should not visit Denmark. They are:

1. Istedgade - former hallmarks: prostitution, pornography - there is still some of it left in the neighbourhood of the main station.
2. Tivoli - a must for tourists, getting gaudier and louder all the time.

Photo Credit: Limungo

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by jared bibler

25 minutes' drive out of town on the main road heading north, through and past a town called Mossfellsbær, the city of Reykjavík resumes dominion to pick up a distant settlement. Grundarhverfi (116 Reykjavík to the post-code-savvy) is as much Reykjavík as a West Bank outpost is Jerusalem.

A few streets' worth of houses cling together for survival in a barren windswept plain with a craggy appendage of Esja looming above. There is a one-pump gas station, a bus shelter filled with snow, a couple of school buildings, and solitary horses dotting the snowy fields that lead down to the sea.

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by the paris blog 

When is a massage not a massage? When it’s a “sensual game for your back,” as an employee of La Bulle Kenzo told Gillian Young, a blogger who had a gift certificate for a visit to the first-arrondissement spa:

Eventually I’m let in and led to the back of room, where I’m seated on a cushion and given a glass of water.

In front of me is a large, glowing bubble, white and cushion-like. It is la bulle Kenzo, where my massage will take place.

A woman leads me inside and gives me two options: “The massage you’ve been bought isn’t really a massage. It’s more of a sensual game for your back. There are no oils or massaging. Most people don’t realize this, and if you like, you can exchange it for a real massage.”

I pause and think. She continues.

“We use feathers, and different objects…”

I don’t hesitate: “I’ll take the real massage.”

And no, there wasn’t a “happy ending.”