The world is your playground.

Secret Party in New York City @ The Back Room

By on December 3, 2012

Mix a connoisseur of the best treats in Chinatown, a rooftop bar hopper and a foodie from Queens and you get what only a New York Vayable community can serve-up – some great New York insider tips and a lovely meet-up. These were just some of the tour guides that attended the Vayable family meet-up at the Back Room, the Lower East Side speakeasy.

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Sipping on signature cocktails from tea cups in the Victorian-styled bar, our CEO, Jamie, who had flown in from San Francisco, and the New York tour guides, talked about their wonderful tours and got to know others passionate about New York.

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After a lovely night, Jeffrey mentioned he was leading his infamous tastes of Queens tour the next day and extended an invitation to the other tour guides of New York. Clearly this meet-up is has just been the catalyst in bringing together the ever-growing New York Vayable family!

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Vayable Guides Go Moo

By on November 29, 2012

We’re excited to have partnered with our favorite printing service, Moo to bring you premium, beautiful Vayable business cards for free! All you have to do is pay for shipping.

Show off your experience in style; give some cards to your favorite hosts, friends, neighborhood joints, and travel minded people to spread the word about your experience  Thanks to our wonderful designer, Beau, we have some amazing images that you can upload to the back of the card. Be sure to also include the URL of your experience.

To get started, check out our tutorial here.

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The Vayable Community + Hurricane Sandy

By on October 31, 2012

Hurricane Sandy has affected hundreds of our guides and community members living and traveling to NYC or any other city affected by Sandy.  The biggest concern is staying safe, staying warm, and being able to connect with your loved ones to make sure they know you’re ok.

What we’re doing to help:

Free shelter:  We are offering FREE ACCOMMODATION at an Airbnb to any Vayable guides or travelers who have booked Vayable experiences in NYC and are without shelter.  We’ll pick up the tab for you for three nights if you find yourself without a safe place to stay.

Charge up: For any Vayable guides and travelers in NYC without electricity, we will help you find some through our network in NYC.

24/7 Concierge: From now until November 7, we are offering our concierge services for free to anyone who needs help with travel arrangements, finding accommodation  food, electricity or needs help contacting family and friends. Simply email concierge@vayable.com and put “SANDY” in the subject.

How you can help:

Those in NYC: 

  1. If you have accommodation to offer, extra warmth, food, transportation or an electrical outlet, please contact us at concierge@vayable.com and we will add you to our helpers list for those in need.
  2. Share your stories:  The news media struggles to surface the real stories of what’s happening, leaving those of us outside of NYC ignorant and ill-informed.  Please let us know how you are, what’s happened and share you experience with us.  Leave a comment here, tweet us @vayable or post to our Facebook Wall to help inform the rest of the world and allow us to support you.

Those outside NYC: 

  1. Email us at concierge@vayable.com if you’d like to volunteer to help as a remote concierge to our travelers and guides in NYC who may need help with logistics and travel plans.
  2. If you have any friends or family in NYC who are willing to open up their homes to others in the community, please let us know.

Resources

Make sure to stay informed through these local resources.

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Stay Safe During Hurricane Sandy

By on October 29, 2012

The movement of Hurricane Sandy towards the East Coast of the United States could have a tremendous impact on travel plans this week. We are concerned first and foremost for the safety of our guides and travelers.

If you are guiding an experience that will be affected by the hurricane, please contact your travelers as soon as possible to communicate your plans. If you need to change your travel plans due to the hurricane, please contact us. Send an email to support@vayable.com and we will help you reschedule or cancel your experience.

Here are some helpful resources regarding the hurricane:

Take care and stay safe.

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Science Meets History with the Invented in SF Walking Tour

By on October 24, 2012

I am intrigued by good historical tour and I love to learn about science. Robin marries the two with the Invented in SF Walking Tour. This is a history tour of San Francisco with a twist of science. Or is it a science tour with a twist of history?

Robin kicks the tour off with introductions and a fun ice breaker, by asking us “What have you invented?” I dished my secret of putting cinnamon in cream cheese frosting for carrot cake, which I am 100% to 65% sure I’m the first to do. I learned of other things our group mates invented from creative to practical to ingenious.

We explored a 2.3 mile course in the city and stopped along the way to learn the interesting stories of inventions. You may have heard that Levi’s were invented in San Francisco, well Robin has the details. She’ll also share stories of clever food and technology inventions all while exploring the beautiful scenery of San Francisco.

The highlight of tour from my perspective is learning how to shape fortune cookies. This is where I can tell Robin used to work with the Exploratorium. She is great about translating concepts to fun hands on activities. Folding a fortune cookie is not as intuitive as I’d thought. And we were using silicone! Shaping a fortune cookie out of dough is a whole other level of skill.

What I found especially interesting about this tour is my group mates weren’t all from out of town. In fact, almost everyone was a Bay Area resident. An afternoon exploring innovation in San Francisco doesn’t just appeal to travelers. Locals love to learn about our legends too.

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Fun People-Powered Vacation Plans with Flightfox, Airbnb and Vayable

By on October 15, 2012

Curious what a crowd-sourced holiday might look like? Flightfox turned this curiosity into a fun contest idea. They challenged experts to plan a unique, creative and fun vacation using Flightfox for travel, Airbnb for accommodation and Vayable for experiences. All three companies are people-powered travel resources.

We’ve loved reading these creative vacation ideas. The first place winner devised a plan to visit San Francisco, New York and Paris over the course of two weeks. The second place winner took us from San Francisco, to New York and on a fun and insightful tour around Eastern Europe. To read more of the winning itineraries check out this Flightfox blog post.

Where would you go on your crowd-sourced vacation?

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London Food Guides on Travel with Kate

By on October 12, 2012

Let’s celebrate Friday with a virtual vacation. Kate has been exploring the food scene in London with Sakhr and Matthew as her guides. These videos are a sweet treat from her adventures in noshing.

A Foodie’s Paradise in London on Travel with Kate

Hungry yet? Oh, there’s more goodness to come…

A Street Food Party in London on Travel with Kate

Kate is an on-camera host, travel expert and producer of travel media. We love her charming personality and passion for engaging with locals. Keep up with her latest journeys on her website Travel with Kate, where you’ll find enough fun videos for a marathon weekend of virtual vacationing.

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Feast Your Eyes: An Afternoon With an SF Foodie

By on October 9, 2012

What makes Samir’s Eat Like a Local in SF tour unique? His relationships with the people you meet along the way give you an insider’s look into the neighborhood’s food culture. It’s not about posh restaurants or fads, it’s about the simple beauty of good food locals love.

I could tell you all the places we stopped along the way, but I think I’ll tease you with photos instead. I can’t ruin the surprises! I will tell you that this is a tour of great food on 24th Street in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco.

We hit a variety of places – from taquerias, to a family coffee shop, to an under the radar restaurant. There were few detours along the way too. There was some ogling of fresh produce and an impromptu side trip to a few colorful murals.

My favorite stop was at a restaurant Samir used to work at. Here we hung out with a chef who is full on fanatic about food. He talked a mile a minute about obscure vegetables, gave me a few flowers to nibble on, made me a snack and basically blew my food-loving mind.

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Photos from a Bike Tour in San Francisco

By on October 1, 2012

I saw more of San Francisco in three hours than I’d seen in a month on the Bike the City in 3 Hours tour. The mobility of a bike allowed us to breeze by bus stops and traffic jams. Not to mention, the view from a bike is so relaxing. Beebe started off the tour by making sure our bikes and helmets all fit well and gave us a quick orientation about what to expect on the road. Then we were off for a crash course in the city, without the crashing part.

We visited some of San Francisco’s most iconic sites, such as the Painted Ladies, the street murals in the Mission neighborhood and San Francisco City Hall. I loved listening to interesting facts and stories at each site. I’ve impressed quite a few friends with stories I heard on this tour. Did you know Victorian houses are often colorfully painted to show of their embellishments and architectural details?

Viewing the street art in the Mission was my favorite stop. I loved weaving through the alleys to see the layers of history and art. Beebe showed us some popular artists’ work and shared a bit of the back story behind the pieces. I love looking for Bode pieces on my walks through San Francisco now.

The best part about this tour is the ability to see so many places in the city with the comfort of a bike. We didn’t have to deal with stop-and-go buses or out-of-the-way routes. We were also mobile enough to explore park trails and park our bikes at interesting stops. Without a bike, I’d stayed in the parts of the city with efficient public transportation. Now, I’ve converted. Biking is my new favorite way to explore San Francisco.

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Sailing the Bay with Captain Bob

By on September 27, 2012

One of our popular experiences in San Francisco is a private sail around the bay with Captain Bob. This is a relaxing and beautiful way to take in the city from the serenity of a sailboat. Captain Bob’s guests generously let me tag along to take in the sites with them.

At the start of the tour, Captain Bob initiated fun conversations with stories about sailing and Bay Area history.  I loved his anecdotes about Treasure Island, Alcatraz and San Francisco landmarks. He takes great care of his guests by making sure everyone has food, drinks and a comfortable view. He even let me explore the bow to take some photos.

As we peacefully cruised around the bay, we saw typical sites in the bay such as, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz and the Ferry Building. We were also lucky enough to watch dolphins leap through the water!

Captain Bob has over 35 years of experience sailing and made us feel completely comfortable as he navigated the waters with ease.

Visitors will love this experience for the beautiful views of the city and water. Locals will love this chance to relax outside of the city for an afternoon. Mostly, this is the perfect way to spend time with the people you love or would like to know more!

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