Sharing Travel Experiences

Going Around the World with a Different “Approach”

by Andy Hayes

Pardon the terrible pun (as you’ll soon see), but I’m delighted to introduce today’s guests, who offer up their view of world travel with a different ‘approach.’ It’s Jennifer & David Raezer, who are very active in the Sharing Travel Experiences community and I’ve known them virtually for some time. I look forward to seeing them this summer when I visit their hometown of New York City, but meanwhile I’m satisfied reading about their world adventures – both those related to their love of wine as well as those related to their love of drawing connections.

Could you introduce yourself?

Of course! We are Jennifer & David Raezer – we met seven years ago online (yes, online!) and within the first year of knowing each other, our combined wanderlust took us to Italy, Spain, Dominican Republic and Patagonia (in Chile). After that we decided to quit our jobs, move to Milan, Italy and spend the next four years traveling and studying the world’s history, art and architecture. After returning home, we took the knowledge that we had collected over these years to develop Approach Guides, a series of cultural travel guidebooks, and Approach Guides Wine, a wine app for the iPhone.

You’ve launched a well received travel + wine business, Approach Guides. Tell us what the inspiration behind that was. Could you also explain your website tagline, “Draw Connections.”

Great question! After we left our jobs and began traveling full time, we realized that seeing the sites was only part of the experience — there is a story behind each site explaining how and why it came to exist. Unfortunately, we found that the guidebooks we had (and we had a lot) were insufficient for truly learning about a place: for a 1000 year-old site, only a paragraph or two was (necessarily) dedicated to its history. To get a more detailed perspective, we thought we could turn to academic books, but although the information went deep on a particular site, they rarely connected the dots to similar sites in same location or that had been influenced by similar political or religious movements.

To solve this issue, we began to research each site on our itinerary extensively making notes that we could reference while on location; in addition, we took countless photos and recorded our own on-site observations in Moleskine travel journals. We soon realized that this collection had become the foundation for an entirely new type of guidebook, one that explores sites in depth and draws connections among sites that fit a similar theme.

For example, take stupa architecture, a focus of one of our travel guidebooks. The stupas in Thailand are beautiful and can certainly be appreciated on their own, but for us, beauty is in the understanding of how those stupas relate to the very first one built in India (Sanchi), and how the design changed as it passed from India to the East through the Silk Road and maritime trade routes into Thailand. If you look at the two pictures below, you will begin to see similarities, such as the large mound (called an “anda”), a railing or fence box-like structure (at the top) that is designed to demarcate this sacred site (called the “harmika”), and the umbrella form at the top that serves to protect the site from the elements (called the “chhatra”). Although they take on a different form in the Thai stupa, the references to the earlier stupa are clear.

It is these connections that make our guidebooks unique and why we chose the tagline “Draw Connections.” for Approach Guides.

The stupa at Sanchi (India) is the original stupa; the prototype for all others that follow.

The Thai stupas draw inspiration from the original stupa in Sanchi, India.

Does the planning of your next travel destination always involve wine of some sort? I realise that’s probably a business consideration too, but perhaps the real question is: can you get a good glass of wine anywhere?

We are definitely wine drinkers and, incredibly, we have managed to buy decent wine nearly everywhere we have traveled. Many countries, such as India, are improving their own wine making techniques, and others, including Islamic countries such as Indonesia, are beginning to import wine from other countries.

You are based in New York, so we’ll start there. Any hot travel tips for New York? Best wine bars perhaps?

New York is a great place to come to visit (and to live!); each neighborhood has a distinct feel and vibe. Here are a few of our favorite downtown wine bars:

• Tribeca. The recently-opened Terroir Tribeca has a fun wine list put together by a very knowledgeable staff.
• SoHo. Boqueria. Spanish tapas bar/restaurant offers many Spanish wines that you don’t typically see outside of Spain.
• Lower East Side. ‘inoteca. An all-Italian wine bar-restaurant offers a fabulous wine list that has some really unique offerings and some great values.
• Greenwich Village. Gottino is a super-cute, well-run wine bar. Go twice and the owner will welcome you by name!
• East Village. Veloce, one of New York’s most famous Italian wine bars is one of our absolute favorites in the city. They have expanded their brand to include a Spanish wine bar (Bar Carrera, located next door) and a pizzeria (Veloce Pizzeria).

We talk a lot about wine here on the site, from the world’s most beautiful vineyards to great wine books and other sorts. Can you share with us some offbeat places that you can get a good glass of wine?

We will never forget our wine-travel experience hiking into the Guatemalan jungle to visit the ancient Mayan site, El Mirador. The hike lasted five days with no showers and evenings spent in a tent (not our usual style). To improve the situation, we stashed several bottles of Chilean wine into our backpacks. Since we always carry a corkscrew wherever we go, we managed to have several very lovely dinners with some very good wine.

Tell us about your most inspirational travel experience.

Cairo was a truly inspirational travel experience. It is the only place in the world where you can see architecture from nearly every major Islamic dynasty and trace the evolution of Islam’s architectural legacy, from its origins to the modern day. We weren’t expecting such a rich expression of Islamic heritage and ended up spending nearly a month visiting sites throughout the city that are now included in our travel guide to Islamic Cairo.

Qaytbay Madrasa-Mausoleum, Cairo, Egypt

What upcoming travel adventures are you looking forward to?

We plan to visit Mexico soon to complete a guidebook to Mayan sites throughout Central America. We have already visited several sites in Guatemala (Tikal, El Mirador, Quirigua) and Honduras (Copan) and are looking forward to visiting Teotihuacan (not Mayan, but influenced Maya architecture and art), Chichen Itza, Palenque, and Calakmul.

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Thanks for being so gracious with your time, Jennifer and David. It’s so nice to get to know old friends a little better and to share that interesting conversation with others! Best wishes to your awesome future travel plans and may you always have a tasty glass of wine in every new land!