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Today is my last post on Vagablogging; after 10 months of writing here (wow, has it really been that long?!) it’s time for me to move on.
The actual reason I’m having to stop is due to a project I’m working on here in South Africa — it’s more than full time and leaves me little or no time for blogging on my own blogs yet alone other blogs. So I’m having to cut back on my online exploits and focus all my energies on the project whose goal is to improve the treatment of HIV in Africa (and the number of people receiving the right drugs).
I’d like to thank all Vagablogging readers for your support, comments and ideas — keep them coming, Vagablogging is one of the top travel blogs and I’d like to leave you with just one last question:
What would it take for you to ditch all the excuses, reasons not to and hurdles to overcome and finally embark upon the journey of your dreams?
Are you an aspiring travel writer? Do you write lots and lots on your personal blog, but never seem to get those official query letters sent off to an editor?
Blogger and vagabond Christine from Almost Fearless is in the same boat, and she figures all she needs to break out of that paralysis is a little teamwork and motivation. So she’s launching National Travel Writing Month: the idea is for all participating writers to write one query letter each day, every day for all of August. There’s a forum set up for participants to post about their progress, share advice, brag about successes and rant about failures, and generally support each other through the month.
Even if you don’t want to join in the fun, the forum is public and you can still follow along. Check it out here.
I’ve written about international running events before, but there’s a race coming up that’s worth mentioning: The Human Race, which is being billed as “the world’s largest running event.” I like the scope of it—in 25 countries—and even though the races won’t be simultaneous, they’ll all take place on August 31. There’s something to be said about the one million people expected to participate in the 10K (6.2 mile) race within a few hours of each other, with the same thought in mind.
Sure, it’s sponsored by a corporation (Nike), but maybe only a company of that size could pull it off worldwide. And it’s for a good cause—athletes can choose which of three charities to support: the Lance Armstrong Foundation, UN Refugee Agency, or WWF.
You may find yourself close enough to one of the race cities—they’re spread throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Specifically in the US: Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.
But if not, here’s something cool: you don’t even have to get yourself to one of the race cities (although it’s probably more fun with the people, music, and after party). No matter where you live you can run and have your own results officially counted in the race—just run on August 31, track your miles (with either Nike+ iPod or Nike+ SportBand), then download your miles on NikePlus.com. Of course, there’s a downside: in order to join you have to shell out for the technology, if you don’t already have it.
As the countdown on the website reminds us, there are only 32 days left til race day.
“We attribute much to chance meetings, refer to them as turning points in our life, but these encounters could never have occurred had we not made ourselves ready for them. If we possessed more awareness, these fortuitous encounters would yield still greater rewards. It is only at certain unpredictable times that we are fully attuned, fully expectant, and thus in a position to receive the favors of fortune. The man who is fully awake knows that every ‘happening’ is packed with significance.”
–Henry Miller, The World of Sex (1940)
Last week I sang the praises of the bicycle, calling it a part of the solution to all sorts of energy, environmental, and health problems. This week I’ll speak up in defense of the bicycle’s hard-livin’, lady-killin’ cousin, the scooter.
When Korean traveler Wan Lee visited me in Missouri during his scooter trip around the US, he graciously allowed me to ride his scooter around the block. Since that time, I’ve fallen in love with the Honda Ruckus, the model Wan was riding, even going so far as to purchase a used one about a month ago.
With gas prices as high as they are, I like knowing that my scooter gets about 100 miles per gallon. I like being able to take off on day-trips whenever I want, without having to worry about how much it will cost me in gas. Most of all, I like the curious looks I get from other drivers and the knowing waves from other scooter riders on the road.
In Asian cities such as Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, scooter-riders pack the streets like cyclists in the Tour de France. I always wonder why the residents of more Western cities don’t follow their lead. Perhaps they’re starting to.
As this article points out, the rising price of gas means that we’re only going to see more scooters on the road. Scooter sales in the first half of 2008 were up a remarkable 66%.
So why not ditch that gas-guzzler and hop onto something a little more efficient, environmentally-friendly, and fun?
Remember that delicious street food you had in Hong Kong that gave you a dodgy stomach for a few days? Or the time you had to stay behind shivering with fever in your hostel while your travel buddies went off on a 3 day camping trip to Kakadu?
Sometimes the excitement and rigor of long term (or short term) travel can take its toll; lack of sleep, a less-than-healthy diet, foreign climates and, dare I say it…parasites. I picked up a nasty one in Belize a few years ago — it burrowed into my leg and despite some quite nasty treatment on my return home (what essentially amounted to a small dose of chemotherapy), I still have the unfriendly critter pop up when I’m stressed.
Getting rid of these unwanted souvenirs from a trip can be a long, drawn out and boring affair – aside from synthetic drugs, there are natural ways to heal yourself:
- The right diet
- Getting enough sleep
- Drinking pure, clean water
- Managing stress levels (remember your body can be physiologically stressed even if you don’t feel it)
Unfortunately it’s not the most pleasant topic to talk about but it’s an important one; after a few years as a holistic health coach, I recognized some of the long term side effects some of my travel ‘companions’ were causing to my health. You don’t miss your health until it’s gone; prevention is better than cure but if you do succumb then get yourself back to optimal health as quickly as you can.
Get those travel shots ready! The deadlines for two travel photography contests are coming up in the next few weeks.
City Magazine is holding a contest for the cover photo of the Fall ’08 Travel Issue. The deadline is July 31 (at 11:59pm EST). Submissions should “capture a unique moment in the life of a city or other travel destination” and “distill the essence of a particular place into a single image.”
The grand prize winner will receive an Olympus E-3 SLR digital camera with an ED 12-60mm F2.8/4.0 SWD Lens, a three-piece luggage set, and the chance to travel to Austria all-expenses paid to shoot for the 2009 Spring Travel issue.
Fifteen runners-up will receive a camera and have their work published in a special travel photography portfolio in the issue.
Remember to submit vertical shots with room for the City masthead at the top (it is a cover shot competition after all). For more information, check out the One City, Many Destinations photo contest page.
National Geographic Traveler and Photo District News are sponsoring the World in Focus photography contest (Regular Deadline: August 21, Extended Deadline:September 8 (with additional $10 entry fee)).
There are amateur and professional categories with entry fees respectively $12 and $35 per entry. The amateur grand prize is a 15-day trip for two to Antarctica. The professional top prize includes a 6-day professional photography workshop as well as a camera and equipment. For a full list of prizes, check out the contest web site.
Unfortunately, residents of New Jersey, Arizona, and Vermont are not legally allowed to enter the World in Focus contest. However, international entries are just fine, unless they are prohibited by law.
Good luck!
Add another hostel booking site to the list. Except this one isn’t from a start-up, it’s from Lonely Planet, Expedia and Hostelworld. Not a bad combo, eh?
It’s definitely promising, but it only launched a few days ago on the Lonely Planet website, so we’ll have to see how it develops. Travelers can browse by city and date, read the hotel or hostel reviews, check the price per room type, and book their reservation. Seems like a win-win if we get the best of both worlds—the reviews from Lonely Planet and the inventory of Expedia and Hostelworld. Give it a whirl and let us know what you think of it.
And to celebrate their other new partnership, Lonely Planet is giving away free downloads of their Mandarin Audio Phrasebook through Sunday, August 24—convenient for those going to the Beijing Olympics. They’re joining forces with Apple to launch their audio phrasebooks for the new iPhone and iPod touch. I don’t have one of these gadgets myself, but I bet they’d make translating pretty easy—especially since you get both the written and audio translations. The audio phrasebooks are currently available for English speakers translating into ten languages—Mandarin, Cantonese, Czech, Thai, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Vietnamese—but they’re looking to expand into other language combos (i.e. French-Mandarin).
One of the best parts of traveling to unknown lands is meeting people from a culture that is not your own. However, it is inevitable that I look out for people from my country, whether I want to hang out with them or not, I will always (if even on a subsconcious level) look out for them.
I do this especially in countries where I don’t expect to see Indians easily; for e.g. Cuba, Jamaica, Czech Republic, or even Portugal, France and Spain. There are a lot of things that interest me about spotting Indians in random countries: What are they doing here? How did they land up here? What passports do they have? Do they speak Hindi?
After being in Madrid for 6 months, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t met any Indians. Not travelers, nor residents. Some were found working in kebab shops, but other than that you can’t really spot that diaspora. When I got in touch with the Indian Association in Madrid, I found out that there are about 5000 (extremely rich) Indians living in Madrid’s suburbs, of which my generation were Spanish. I live in the center of the city, and 18 months into it, I still haven’t run into any of these people. Where do they go? What’s their story?
Same goes for other nationalities like for instance the Chinese. There’s a Chinese run shop on every corner of Madrid, yet outside these shops, I’ve hardly ever seen a Chinese person in a bar, in a non-Chinese restaurant, or in a cafeteria. Where do they go?
I think the immigrants in a country, although foreign, also play a large role in the place’s culture. What do you think? Do you look for fellow countrymen when you travel? If so, why?
Last week I wrote about how it’s difficult to find the right person to travel with. I’m not a fan of online matchmaking websites, but for those people who need a travel-partner, both Buddies4Travel.com and ThelmaandLouise.com seem like a plausible option. However, they’re only for women.
Unfortunatley, Buddies4Travel works like a “find-the-love-of-your-life” website, but is clearly geared towards helping you find the right person to travel with. Two of their main audiences are girls planning a gap year, single mums and 50+ ladies wanting to travel. For a fee of £20, you can register and then for another £25 and they will find you one match. Pay more, and they will give you 2, 3 or 4 matches. Should you have second thoughts about the “match” you have selected, for £15, you can reselect. Not cheap, but perhaps worth it.
Thelma and Louise.com on the other hand has free registration and a much wider range of services such as: search for your travel-buddy basis location, interests, type of holiday, age, marital status, etc. They also have travel offers, travel stories/features, recommended travel products, packing ideas, etc.
Other than the fee, the main difference between the two is that Buddies4Travel finds you a partner, whereas on Thelma and Louise, you have to find your own partner. Both are worth a look at if you are a women not wanting to travel alone. (These sites are not necessarily lesbian match making sites.)
If you are not keen on going through such sites, there are a handful of good travel-networks you can connect to and try finding a travel buddy.
@Backpack Foodie & Kim:...
