Tour news: New 2010 trip from REI Adventures is very superstitious

Gennaro Cesare grew up in a seedy part of Naples and spent years in and out of prison on drug-related charges. But for the past six months, the 36-year-old father of two has been wearing a different uniform—a neon yellow vest—as a participant in Escodentro. It's an experiment to rehabilitate petty criminals by employing them as guides stationed around Naples. (The €500 monthly salaries are funded by the region of Campania and the European Union.) Tourists wandering near Porta Capuana, an ancient city gate, have turned to Gennaro for directions and recommendations—he's even accompanied people to nearby Pizzeria Trianon, his favorite. One time there was a car accident in via Comunale, and, Salvatore, 47, called the police. Another time Salvatore intervened when someone's phone was being stolen. "If we see something abnormal, we say something to the police," he told me. "We use our street smarts." It's a controversial but seemingly win-win idea: ex-cons use their knowledge of Naples's underworld to keep people safe, while getting a salary, a sense of pride in their city, and a reason to collaborate with a former nemesis, the police At first the police put up a resistance, admitted Alessandro Maria Vecchione, head of an education agency that oversees Escodentro. But he told me there was an 80 percent decrease in crime between early June and mid-September—and that the remaining crimes tend to happen at night, when the guides are off duty. Tourists have written in thank-you letters and locals have circulated petitions to increase the guides' numbers and hours. "It's as if someone gave a societal identity to these people," said Vecchione. "They know that this is a second chance." The question now is whether these ex-cons will get a third chance. The pilot program ends today, and it's up to regional and state officials to decide whether to restart it. Social worker Riccio Gennaro, 45, himself a former prisoner, helps out the participants and said it would be a cruel hoax if the program wasn't extended. "Many of these guys are from the neighborhood, so people know them and are glad that they've got jobs," he told me. "Those who made mistakes have paid for them; Naples has to change, and we'll be the ones to change it."

When I first moved to Paris, someone told me that French women (in addition to not getting fat) don't pee. I had also read a book that counseled never to ask for the bathroom in somebody's home. Neither of these turned out to be entirely accurate. But it is true that the French more discreet about the callings of nature. Cultural sensitivities aside, travelers are obliged to make use of the local toilets. So when you gotta go in Paris, your options look like this: Find a free public toilet. There are public restrooms near the following tourist monuments: • Carrousel du Louvre — the world's greatest museum has a shopping mall beneath it, and that mall contains a bathroom. You'll find it near the entrance to the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre Métro station (1st arrondissement). • Jardin des Tuileries — the toilet is inside the gardens near the corner of rue de Rivoli and the place de la Concorde (1st arrondissement). • Pompidou Center — the modern art museum has a public toilet on the entrance level that you can access without buying a ticket (3rd arrondissement). • Notre-Dame Cathedral — the public toilet is located outside and south of the cathedral — follow the signs to the "WC" (4th arrondissement). • Eiffel Tower — the "grey lady" has thoughtfully placed a toilet between her legs. It's on the right side if you're looking from the Champs de Mars (7th arrondissement). • Sacre-Coeur — the freestanding public toilet is located outside and just southwest of the basilica (18th arrondissement). Find a café. You have two options in a French café — either stop and buy a drink to "earn your right" to use the toilet, or else be sly about it. If you're paying, you can take your time in finding the toilet, asking your server for "les toilettes, s'il vous plait?" If you're not paying, you need to walk discreetly toward the back or basement of the café, looking for a WC sign to guide you. Act like a paying customer (perhaps one who is using the restroom before sitting down), not a charity case. If someone stops you, smile and ask for the toilets, but be prepared to pay for a coffee at the counter afterward as a courtesy. It is possible, although unlikely, that you'll encounter a Turkish toilet — a ceramic plated hole in the ground. If you're a girl, take my advice and get outta there. It's not possible to use a squat toilet and escape with dry ankles. Just find a different café. Find a McDonalds… or a Starbucks, or a KFC. Compared to a café, franchises are "anonymous" spaces and the employees (who are trapped behind their counter, anyway) can't tell whether you're a paying customer or not. Restrooms may be located one floor up or one floor down. They will never be Turkish. Find a sanisette. More than 400 self-cleaning pods are scattered around Paris, providing a space-age space to do your business. A sanisette bears little resemblance to a backwoods outhouse. The interior is fully cleaned after each session, and newer models include skylights and reservoirs that store rainwater for use in the toilet. Use an app to locate a nearby toilet. If you don't mind the potential charge from your cell phone service provider, fire up the latest smartphone (Blackberry or iPhone), which will give info suited to your exact location, so you never have to punch in zip codes or addresses. SitOrSquat (free) automatically points out nearby public restrooms and includes details such as whether they're open and if they have changing tables. It relies on user-submitted data, which can be a bit hit-or-miss, depending on your neighborhood. Find a wall…at your own risk. Men in France still unzip in the most unlikely of public places, but new sanctions are beginning to change that. Special walls around town are designed to splash the offending squirter, and the Brigade des Incivilités are issuing fines against anyone caught making urine sauvage. Check out this amusing video from the Wall Street Journal which follows Parisian cops looking for "crimes against hygiene." MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL How to behave in a Paris restaurant (50+ comments) Video: A silly toilet trick on an airplane Video: How to use a squat toilet Train toilet bites man

Antarctica now lures 40,000 travelers a year—five times as many as it drew in 1995. But for reasons that aren't fully known, more icebergs appear to have broken off the major ice shelves in recent years. The danger appears to be rising that one of these so-called "growlers" might strike one of the 50 or so ships that visit Antarctica each year. Today's cruise lines offer enough life preservers and lifeboats to account for every passenger, a lesson learned from the Titanic tragedy. But the waters of Antarctica are cold and unfriendly. In an emergency, passengers may have to wait hours before boats and helicopters would be able to arrive and rescue every last person. The trouble is that many tourists aren't physically prepared to row a boat in icy seas for hours. Men's Journal recently reported a number of disturbing incidents. The scariest? In 2007, an iceberg poked a fist-sized hole in the double hull of the cruise ship Explorer. The 154 passengers and crew fled to lifeboats, where they spent several hours in bitter cold temperatures. Luckily, clear weather and relatively calm seas allowed for a rapid response time by a ship 80 miles away. Otherwise, there might have been trouble. For one thing, three of the four lifeboats had engines that couldn't start, according to news reports. The cruise industry is essentially unregulated in Antarctica. So, if you go, be sure to choose to sail with a well regarded company. Risk-averse? You might relax more if you opt for an icebreaker instead of a traditional cruise ship. That said, there are many respected tour operator options out there. The Explorer was manned by G.A.P Adventures, which declined several requests for comment, perhaps because it wants to put the past behind it. But you shouldn't worry about booking a cruise with the tour company. Everyone was successfully rescued from the ship in question during the unusual accident. The company has since re-doubled its efforts to assure safety of all of its passengers, adopting all of the industry's best practices in consultation with outside experts, according to news reports. Looking online or consulting with a travel agent, you'll find a run to Antarctica costs under $4,000 leaving from Ushuaia, at the tip of Argentina (about a $350 round-trip flight from Buenos Aires, which is itself about $600 from Miami). Because it's convenient to the spindly Antarctic Peninsula, Ushuaia is base to many 100-passenger vessels, primarily Russian-built icebreakers, promising professional lecturers and landfalls by Zodiac dinghy. Ten-night departures sell for under $4,000 through U.S.-based Adventure Center (800/228-8747, adventurecenter.com). That includes all meals but means sharing a triple cabin; reserving a double adds about $800 to the bill. Some trips don't actually make landfall, so scrutinize the itinerary before you sign on. You might want to find a cruise through the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (iaato.org), whose members adhere to stringent environmental guidelines.

Andrew Skurka often hikes 30 miles a day. His monumental long-distance hikes have earned him cover-story tributes by Backpacker and National Geographic Adventure. Who better to ask for some tips on how to enjoy our national parks? We recently caught up with him in-between hikes to ask a few questions. Your job title is "long-distance adventurer." How does that pay? Well, I have sponsors, I do a lot of public speaking, and I do private guiding. I also keep my expenses pretty low and avoid owning a lot of possessions. It helps that I'm only 28 and don't have a mortgage to pay. In 2007, you invented and then completed the Great Western Loop, a 6,875-mile trek that linked parts of the Pacific Crest, Pacific Northwest, Continental Divide, Grand Enchantment, and Arizona trails. Tell us about that, please. It was an excellent opportunity to learn about these places. You learn a lot about the places and yourself when you walk. I passed through 12 national parks and more than 75 wilderness areas, the Rockies and the Cascades, the Pacific Northwest and the desert Southwest. It was 208 days of hiking about 33 miles day. I could have extended that for maybe another month before winter. What are the days like when you're hiking 30-plus miles? I wake up at 5:45, get hiking by 6, take a midday 30-minute break to stretch and cat nap (no eating during this break, though—I do that while hiking), find a campsite around 9 p.m., and then stretch, have dinner, and look at tomorrow's maps before going to bed. While I usually only take one designated break, I end up getting some other breaks during the day, too—to go to the bathroom, take a photo, study my maps, get water, etc. Every five days or so I go into a town in order to resupply. While my schedule needs to be flexible, I try to maintain consistency, which I find is really important for long-term success and progress. That's pretty intense. How can newcomers get into camping and backpacking? I don't advise people to start out trying to do what I do. Start small. Just get out there—sink or swim. Or you can do a guided trip. If a company takes people out in a context they're comfortable with, with good instructors and people of similar background (for example, who are all pretty new to backpacking), they'll be able to ease into the trip and really enjoy it. Anything to say to people who don't camp? The most important thing is to get out there and appreciate the beauty. If people are skeptical about hiking or camping, I just try to be encouraging. I recommend that they try camping. If it's not for them, that's OK. Not everyone will love the outdoors, but most will if they are properly exposed to it. I grew up in suburb outside Providence, R.I., and day hikes in the White Mountains were the extent of my experience. But then in college I worked as a camp counselor in western North Carolina, and I started learning more about camping and hiking. It's a learning process. Most people don't grow up in Boulder, where a lot kids have climbed a fourteener, one of Colorado's highest peaks. What's your favorite or most valued piece of gear? That's like asking who your favorite child is. There's nothing in my pack that doesn't perform a significant function every day. But my camera is important, because photos help me relive the experience. Or any piece of homemade gear, especially my stove. I made it from a Fancy Feast cat food can. It weighs three tenths of an ounce and cost 39 cents plus tax. It burns alcohol. It cranks out hot meals night after night. What do you eat on your hikes? Food is very personal. Some people can survive on Pop-Tarts and others need gourmet meals. What works for me: When I'm hiking 15 hours a day, I can just boil water and eat something instant. I look at food as calories. It's my energy. I'm not a stickler for fancy food. You can check out my most recent menu on my site. For long hikes, I think the most important points are that food has to be conducive to mass, pre-hike purchasing and assembly, that each meal has to fit in one Ziploc bag, and that diversity of flavors and textures is needed to avoid excessive boredom. But hunger is the best seasoning, and a long-distance hiker is always hungry. I do bring candy. Candy bars are cheap, easy to find, and delicious when eaten on a limited basis. They are heavy in fat, which helps to mitigate the crash-and-burn effect of their simple sugars; and some contain a fair amount of protein, particularly those that contain peanuts or peanut butter. My favorites are Fast Break, Kit Kat (but only the Big Kat bar), Nutrageous, Baby Ruth, Payday, and Snickers. I began instructing last year for Backpacking Light magazine's Wilderness Trekking School, which started up last year and currently does not offer full-time seasonal work that other schools like the National Outdoor Leadership School or Outward Bound can. In 2010 and beyond, I expect to do more private guiding. What's your next big adventure? I haven't settled on my next big trip yet, but I'm in the process of assessing a few possibilities, all in Alaska. One of my purposes in doing the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic this past summer was to scout things out; I didn't feel as if I knew the state well enough to do something really big this year. In 2010, I plan to do a trip that's of comparable length and time to my big Lower 48 hikes while having an adventure component similar to my Four-Range trip. Any gear recommendations? When I'm trekking in the wilderness, I always bring a camera. I stash it in an aLoksak (loksak.com, $6) an ultra-durable waterproof bag. It will keep the camera dry in rain or if it becomes submerged in a river or lake. Get more inspiration at Andrew's website. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL October 2009: Where to beat the crowds in the national parks. Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan offer tips about the National Parks Hiking Trips: 11 Hand-Picked Packages, From $45