America is revealed more in its roads than in its politics

“All you need to know about American society can be gleaned from an anthropology of its driving behavior. That behavior tells you much more than you could ever learn from its political ideas. Drive ten thousand miles across America and you will know more about the country than all the institutes of sociology and political science put together.” –Jean Baudrillard, America (1986)

Posted by | Comments (11)  | September 12, 2011
Category: Travel Quote of the Day

The five stages of long term travel

Travel is as much an internal journey as an external one.  As we move through countries and accumulate stamps in our passports, we’re logging miles. However, a more subtle odometer is ticking away in our minds.  Our attitudes and personalities evolve as we see more places, meet more people.

Dave, a vagabonder who writes “The Longest Way Home” blog, had a great post titled, The five … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (3)  | September 9, 2011
Category: Backpacking, Notes from the collective travel mind

The best travel companions double their patience in times of stress

“Tedious journeys are apt to make companions irritable one to another; but under hard circumstances, a traveler does his duty best who doubles his kindliness of manner to those about him, and takes harsh words gently, and without retort. He should make it a point of duty to do so. It is at those times very superfluous to show too much punctiliousness about keeping one’s dignity, and so forth; since the difficulty lies not in … Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on The best travel companions double their patience in times of stress  | September 8, 2011
Category: Travel Quote of the Day

Special September 2011 fares for multi-stop tickets on BootsnAll

If you’re considering taking a RTW trip, you could go the conventional way. Hitting the most popular destinations in the world and building your trip around seeing iconic sites around the globe is a popular strategy.

While that strategy is fantastic, have you considered other options? A few recent articles on BootsnAll offered a few other ideas for planning your RTW trip and making it unique and special. Many travelers know their history, and Read more »

Posted by | Comments Off on Special September 2011 fares for multi-stop tickets on BootsnAll  | September 6, 2011
Category: Notes from the collective travel mind

Travelers’ scorn for other travelers is an old, class-rooted tradition

“Some travelers have always needed to set themselves apart from others — from tourists. And almost as soon as the word tourist appeared at the start of the nineteenth century, it began to carry derogatory overtones, but the democratization of travel has charged the word with greater irritation and scorn. As more and more tourists from different social backgrounds crowd into the same cafés and hotels, tensions mount. The stereotyping of others reflects this social … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (4)  | September 5, 2011
Category: Travel Quote of the Day

Prominent venture capitalist says travel is a smart investment

Businesspeople often tout their insane work schedules as a badge of honor, e.g. “We stayed up all night to close that deal!” So it was rare to see this blog post saying that people should travel more instead.

Mark Suster is a tech entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist.  His blog, Both Sides of the Table, is one of the top reads in Silicon Valley.  Suster regularly writes about start-ups, entrepreneurship, and … Read more »

Posted by | Comments (4)  | September 1, 2011
Category: Notes from the collective travel mind