Oh you Brits, there you go again being creative and innovative. This is actually a real sand castle hotel, the first in the world located in Weymouth Beach in Dorset, UK.

Front view of the hotel which was designed by sculptor Mark Anderson and commissioned by the website LateRooms.com, created to look like a giant sand castle.

The sand hotel was orchestrated as a publicity stunt by the hotel company, and the biggest sand structure ever built in the UK, designed for the renaissance of beach holidays after its research found that 57% of the country’s holiday-makers were shunning foreign destinations in favor of British seaside resorts. Source: Life in the Fast Lane

For a mere US$21 a night you can stay here. Sleeping under the stars sounds sweet. Cute beds. Feels like a sandy doll house, kind of like a 7 year-old’s dream.

As Life in the Fast Lane mentions, “You can book reservations to sleep in the gigantic sandcastle, but you’d best hurry, as it’s only available from now until the tide or rain washes it away.”

Talk about being in the moment. Philip?

This sweet 280 square foot guest suite was designed with the earth in mind. It’s called the Eco-Shed and is located on the hillside above Snug Cove Village on Bown Island in B.C.

Here are some eco-details: Its numerous green qualities include passive-solar design, extensive reclaimed and FSC-certified wood, highly efficient fixtures and windows, nontoxic materials and finishes, and excellent ventilation. The building’s spray-foam insulation system also offers excellent soundproofing. Via:: Eco-Shed

The Limes Hotel by Argentinian designer Alexander Lotersztain opened at the end of last month in Brisbane, Australia.

Okay, so talk about aesthetics up the yin yang. There’s an internal buzz happening on my end. This is just hot stuff. Check it out.

Roof setting overlooking the city of Brisbane, which is now officially on my radar.

Another rooftop view. I love those odd shaped tables that glow in the dark. So seductive.

“Drawing inspiration from a lifetime of international travel, with countless hours spent in airplanes and hotel rooms, Alexander concentrated his design focus on the 21 rooms to cater for the independent traveler, rejecting the 5-star norms and opting to focus on guests’ primary travel requirements through unique design solutions in styled lodgings.” Source:: Dezeen

Well…a trip to a country of tropical islands for vacation would hardly be complete without a trip to a beach with white sands and turquoise waters. Particularly for my 13-year-old daughter Lydia this was the fulfillment of a long-held dream; to be able to frolic in warm, clear waters that turn from a light turquoise to a deep blue.

The quiet island of Gili Meno off the northwest coast of the island of Lombok was just the ticket. The fastest thing on the island were the little lizards and the donkey carts and the noisiest things were the roosters in the morning and the geckos at night. Gili Meno is quiet in part because there are only about 300 inhabitants, no motorized vehicles and no fresh water. Lodgings are adequate but still fairly primitive and there just isn’t any nightlife. At least not in the nightclub sense! It suited us just fine.

A stroll around the entire island took just over 2 hours with a break for coconut juice at a little open air cafe. A bit of snorkeling revealed an aquarium’s worth of brightly colored fish and a trip in a glass-bottomed boat gave us the thrill of seeing about a dozen sea turtles! Dinner was as much freshly caught fish as you could eat for about $3.00 and, as long as the fan didn’t give out in your bungalow, life was good.

We only had a few days but they were a wonderful few days. As we lined up to splash through the surf and onto the boat that would take us back to Lombok we couldn’t help but think about the future of Gili Meno. Of all the reports and speculation I’ve seen and read about global warming and rising sea levels - small, flat Gili Meno made it very real to me.

Again, I come back to that feeling that all of these places are important to us - to our dreams and imaginations and the idea that, like Lydia, they can one day be realized. What a precious place you are Gili Meno. May you stay safe and be here for us to return to.

—Karen LeAnn McKay, Manager of Ten Thousand Villages Portland

In Bali I met with a group called Mitra Bali (shown at right.) They work with about 70 groups, primarily on Bali but also on Java. These beautiful products perfectly fuse traditional Balinese craftsmanship with modern design. It’s wonderful to witness the creative freedom in artisans as they explore new designs and ideas in art rather than being forced to hammer out the same thing over and over again. Fair trade is a way to both preserve traditional art forms and and allow a market for new expressions that are equally authentic. Mitra Bali has some great social programs and a very important business ethic that puts honesty, transparency and respect first.

Naturally scented cinnamon bowls from Mitra Bali.

On the island of Lombok I met with a smaller group (shown at left) that focuses exclusively on the traditional pottery of the island. Lombok pottery produces beautiful, low-fired pottery in traditional ways in the village but, again, with an openness to new shapes and designs. I was blown away by the simple beauty of the pieces. I hope that the design asthetic in the states returns again to a more natural, earthy look as I think that this will really help groups like this using natural materials. This group has to work very hard to make things work as their product is more limited, heavy and fragile. They work very hard to pack everything well (an art in itself!) and then they have to deal with the fact that shipping is getting more and more expensive. Lombok does not have a container port so things have to be trucked and ferried to Java.

Traditionally crafted cannisters from the island of Lombak; fairly traded pottery

So, once again, lots of connections. Let’s keep those connections active.

–Karen LeAnn McKay, Manager of Ten Thousand Villages Portland