Photographing Your Family, One on One with Rolf Potts, and Outtakes from the Big Apple

If you are having trouble viewing this e-mail, please click on this link. To ensure you receive your National Geographic e-mails, please add ngs@newsletters.nationalgeographic.com to your address book now. March 19, 2008 PHOTO GALLERY 1. New York, New York Masterfully remaining upright while clutching a portfolio, a young artist fields a call on his cell phone while bicycling through SoHo's boutique-lined Prince Street. "New York shopping still has a neighborhood sensibility," says Pavia Rosati, executive editor of the shopping and lifestyle website, Daily Candy. "Small shops are specialized to a particular part of town, whether they sell clothes, furniture, or cookware." Read about Authentic New York in Traveler's April issue or click here to see more photos from the Big Apple. INTELLIGENT TRAVEL 2. Paris House Museums We all appreciate I.M. Pei's pyramid at the Louvre, but not the long hours spent contemplating it from the entrance line (oh, the ennui!). For a more intimate and authentic museum experience, try these early 20th-century house museums, recommended by an honest-to-goodness real Parisian, Bertrand Bourgeois. Musée Nissim de Comondo. Inspired by the Petit Trianon at Versailles, Moïse de Comondo built this residence to display the collection of classical French furnishings he collected over the course of 20 years. Opened in 1936, this reconstruction of an 18th-century Parisian luxury home contains such period pieces as "watching" chairs, used by spectators at game tables and commissioned by the sister of Louis XVI. You will also find portraits by Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun and tapestries depicting scenes from La Fontaine's fables. The museum is named in honor of de Comondo's son, who disappeared in an air battle during the First World War. Click here for more on Paris House Museums from Intelligent Travel, our blog on authentic and sustainable travel. ONE ON ONE 3. Rolf Potts on "Vagabonding," Long-Term Travel "If you have a dream trip, say, to volunteer in Central America for two months or to travel around the world for a year, you should make it happen," says author, blogger, and traveler Rolf Potts. "It might not be something you can do tomorrow. It might be five years from now, but if you set a goal to make it happen in five years, then it becomes a part of you and it gives you energy. You'll discover that it's not that expensive. It's not that difficult. And then I would advise you to slow down and don't overdo it. The world offers a big menu of options, but you don't have to choose them all. So take your time. If you travel in a slow and mindful way, it just enriches your life so much." Watch outtakes from Pott's interview with Traveler's Editor-in-Chief Keith Bellows. THE REAL DEAL 4. Kids Fly on Air Tahiti Nui Free From NYC and LA With Two Paying Adults With two paying adults, Air Tahiti Nui is offering free tickets for kids 11 and younger on New York and Los Angeles flights from now through May 31, and November 1 to December 10. Economy class tickets for Mom and Dad start at $1,423 per person from New York and $1,161 per person from Los Angeles. All tickets must be booked by May 1. Families can receive an additional savings by booking specially tailored packages by May 1, which include free meals and activities for children. Tahiti Legends' six-day "Moorea Family Special" for two adults and two children features four round-trip economy class tickets on Air Tahiti Nui from New York, five nights at the InterContinental Moorea Resort in a Garden Suite Bungalow, inter-island ferry transfers, free kids' meals, and a free dolphin encounter program for two kids. Priced from $5,400 ($4,170 from LA), the package for four costs just $225 per person per day for travel now through May 31. For more information on these and additional family packages, or to book, go online or call 877 824 4846. INTELLIGENT TRAVEL 5. DIY Voluntourism "I know voluntourism has recently become more trendy, but even I was surprised when a recent Travelocity poll claimed that 38% of Americans plan to get down and dirty doing good deeds on their vacations this year," writes travel blogger Anna Etmanska. "The industry took notice as well, with tour operators and non-profits of all shapes and sizes jumping on the bandwagon, and now there are a variety of organizations eager to take your time and money (all for a good cause, of course). How, doing what, and where you choose to volunteer is entirely up to you. Do you prefer a specific area of the world? Will you survive without running water and flush toilets? Can you, if not speak, then at least get by in a foreign language? And which one? What do you want to do? Teach English? Dig ditches? Restore narrow-gauge train tracks? For one week? Or one year? Weeding through the myriad of volunteer options can be daunting. It was to me. With no money for a program fee ('And why should I pay to work for free?' I thought) and a morbid fear of a long-term Peace Corps-type commitment, my first voluntour happened accidentally. A friend of a friend's aunt ran an orphanage in Guinea-Bissau. 'Wow! Cool! Can I visit?' I asked. 'Can you work?' she answered." For more on voluntourism from IT, click here. 1. Composition 2. Rule of Thirds 3. Backgrounds & Foregrounds 4. Closer & Farther Away 5. Macro Photography 6. Lower & Higher 7. Shoot Vertically 8. Experiment 9. Mixing & Matching Techniques 10. Light For a limited time, get 20% off when you buy Photographing Your Family book. "…suddenly Charlie grabbed my hand and pointed. A boisterous gang of sea lions was headed our way. They swirled around us like ricocheting bullets, sometimes stopping to stare directly at us, whiskers to face mask, then diving between our legs to tug at our flippers…" —Annie Griffiths Belt, from the book A Camera, Two Kids, and a Camel Click here to buy the book. OUR SPONSORS U2 3D National Geographic Entertainment presents U2 3D, a groundbreaking 3D film that puts viewers within the pulsing energy of a stadium concert given by the world's most popular band. Click here to find a theater near you. Romania: Explore the lore and legends of medieval Transylvania! This year it will be possible to combine tours of Romania with such nearby countries as Croatia or Hungary—all within a two-hour flight or a day’s drive. Included in most tours are treasured world-heritage sites as Sighisoara or southern Bucovina’s ancient painted monasteries. Puerto Rico, For your Zest of Adventure Puerto Rico boasts more natural treasures than many other destinations–beaches for a wide array of water sports, rain forests, waterfalls, rivers, accessible caves and caverns and bioluminescent lagoons, plus no U.S. Passport required. AIG Travel Guard. Insurance that travels with you. Cover your investment with insurance plans through AIG Travel Guard—North America's leading provider of travel insurance. To unsubscribe from all future National Geographic e-mails, click here. View our privacy policy. You received this editorial/commercial e-newsletter from National Geographic because the information for your account indicates that National Geographic may contact you via e-mail. To be removed from this distribution, please click on the link above or send your request to National Geographic; Attn: E-newsletter Program; 1145 17th Street N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20036-4688. Copyright © 2008 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.