This week I’m staying at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India and spending time in the large kitchens that serve food 24 hours a day for up to 40,000 people in one day. Peeling and chopping carrots, flattening and rolling out chapatis and chatting with the local Punjabi men and women– it’s experience that will not be soon forgotten. Learning to prepare local foods is one of my favorite parts of travel. The varieties and styles of cooking astound me– there’s always something new to learn and every cook has something to teach.

Cooking classes are widely available in most places and well worth it if you’ll take advantage and use the knowledge when returning home. If you’re interested and doing a home stay or are invited into a home, ask if you can observe or help prepare meals– usually the request is well-received and the offer is appreciated. Many places, often temples (like Golden Temple), have large community kitchens where volunteering is easily possible. This is a great way to learn about cooking, meet wonderful people and direct your energy into something worthwhile.

–California is proposing a high-speed rail system to connect San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities.

–State governments in the Midwest are going to try to link those states’ major cities into a regional train network.

–Congress passed legislation to grant Amtrak, the nation’s railway, US$13 billion over five years.

The California High Speed Rail Authority website has a cool video titled “High Speed Rail Around the World,” which gives a brief overview of how different countries developed their rail systems. As someone commented in a previous Vagablogging post (”Towards a better American rail network”), I wonder if it would be effective to let foreign companies like the French and Japanese build high speed trains in America?  They already have proven track records.

There are big obstacles, though. Most public transportation projects like these can’t support themselves on fares alone, and require massive government investment. It’ll be hard to muster enough political support for big spending in a time of economic crisis like now. Also expect intense opposition from car manufacturers, airlines and bus companies that will feel threatened by expanded rail networks.  

There are huge potential economic benefits. Being able to move people and goods more quickly would boost productivity. From an urban planning perspective, high speed rail could reverse suburban sprawl, and draw people back to the cities. Property development would cluster around rail stations, creating dense commercial and residential areas that would revitalize city centers.

I’m a big fan of efficient public transportation, so this is exciting news.  Europe and much of East Asia are well-connected by trains, which makes travel convenient and fun. Trains are also better for the environment than planes and cars, as well as less accident-prone. With airport security making air travel more and more unpleasant, it’ll be great to have a viable alternative.

Proposed California high speed train

Despite these available options, some people are still hesitant to take the leap.  Who can blame them?  Working while traveling has its own difficulties.  Internet access isn’t always stable, and some clients or supervisors might think that you don’t value your work.

Also, it might be hard for some people to enjoy traveling if there’s work involved.  Until you have a system in place, your work will always be at the back of your mind during the trip.  Even then, something unexpected is bound to come up and throw your system askew.

One thing I’ve learned is that if you’re passionate about both traveling and your work, these difficulties are easier to overcome.  You’ll want to spend time on both, not neglecting one or the other.  You’ll do everything you can to make sure that you’ll have both of these things in your life.  Without passion for both these things, it will always feel like your work is taking out the fun in your trip, or that your travels are detrimental to your work.

I think travel and work can coexist, but finding the right balance between the two takes some time, experimentation, and the existence of passion.

Have you ever worked while you were on a long term trip? Can you complete work tasks without lessening your enjoyment of traveling?

The book follows the fictional Beagan Gillean as he travels the world in search of a family history: from his great-grandfather’s homeland in Scotland’s Western Isles, and then in his family’s footsteps across the Atlantic to Nova Scotia, and clear across Canada, by water, to the West Coast. Traveling with Beagan are the ghosts of his great-grandfather, his grandfather and his father - each takes their turn narrating the story.

Historical fiction, however blurred, is a tricky thing to pull off: the antiquated dialogue is hard to master without seeming forced, and it’s easy to make a mis-step describing the details of daily life. That’s where the ambiguities of ‘The Oatmeal Ark’ are a major asset: since you can never be sure whether the ghosts are real, or simply figments of Beagan’s imagination, you don’t (or at least, I didn’t) find yourself nitpicking in the same way.

In others way, though, the ghosts are problematic. At times it can be a little difficult keeping track of the narrator’s identity: shifts are signaled only by subtle changes in font, as well as language and tone. The ghosts are often also used to fill information gaps - early Canadian history, for example - and the result can feel a little expository.

MacLean has some compelling insights into the forces that drive North Americans to seek out their ancestral lands. His historical scenes offer a powerful sense of the rawness of the “New World” when it was first being settled: of its harshness, but also of its vast possibilities. And the contrasting images of an early Atlantic crossing, by sail, with Beagan’s modern-day crossing aboard an enormous freighter, offer remarkably complementary visions of two very different, but equally grim, journeys.

I said earlier that historical fiction is tough to pull off, and that’s true: but for me, it’s the present-day aspects of this book that let me down.

Truthfully, I didn’t recognize the Canada that Beagan travels through, from an incredibly bleak, hopeless Cape Breton Island to an antagonistic Montreal, sharply divided along linguistic lines. True, Cape Breton has long been economically marginalized - and true, Quebec separatism was a major issue in the mid-1990s, when MacLean was doing his research for this book. But at times, the story takes the “current affairs” of the day and applies them too literally to everyday Canadian life.

At the end of the day, my verdict on this book, like its precise genre, is hard to pin down. There are moments of immense beauty, and some wonderful insights. There are also times when the story seems forced, the history lessons wedged uncomfortably into the narrative.

Still, I think anyone with an interest in traveling to their ancestral homeland - particularly if that homeland happens to be Scotland - might enjoy giving ‘The Oatmeal Ark’ a read.

The interesting, and very good news, for U.S. vagabonds is that that may be changing. There’s no telling whether President Elect Obama will stick to his campaign promises, but he did say that lifting the travel embargo on Cuba was one of his plans.

Of course those plans can, and indeed already have, changed. Originally Obama promise not just to lift family travel restrictions (which mean Cuban-Americans have to wait three years to visit relatives on the island), but also said he would meet with Raul Castro, which could signal a lift on the broader embargo. Obama has since backed off the later offer, but at least he seems willing to entertain the idea.

And lest you think that lifting the embargo is a some Democrat-only idea, let us not forget that former Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, who served under Reagan, called the U.S. embargo “insane,” and tried to get rid of it (to no avail obviously).

Still, even if the embargo and accompanying travel restrictions remain in place, there are some legal ways Americans can join the over 2 million travelers headed to Cuba each year. The State Department website has more details, but among the possible ways to get into Cuba are by going as a journalist (contact your local paper and see if they’d like a story), as a student studying abroad in Cuba, as a teacher and more.

There used to be a shadier way to visit Cuba — by sneaking in through an intermediary country like Mexico or Canada. This worked quite well since there is actually nothing preventing American’s from traveling to Cuba, we simply can’t spend money once we get there. A number of very suspect travel outfits in Mexico and other countries offered deals where you would pay them as an intermediary party and they would then pay for all your accommodations, food and other travel expenses in Cuba. But in 2004 the U.S. closed up this loophole.

With that loophole gone, the only real option if you don’t qualify for special travel permit is to go to Cuba illegally. I have several friends that have pulled this off, though I don’t recommend it. One friend did indeed get busted coming back with a Cuban stamp on his passport (Cuban officials generally don’t stamp U.S. passports, but sometimes they make mistakes). My friend spent a few hours in customs detention and was then released with some hefty fines, and now he’s flagged every time he goes through U.S. customs and has to spend several hours while officials pour over his papers and inspect his luggage.

As for why you might want to go to Cuba, here’s a thought from Pico Iyer:

“I went back and forth between Cuba and the United States a lot at the end of the ’80s, when very few people were doing, and I always felt that one good thing I could take to Cuba was a human, balanced sense of what America was like. And one good thing I could bring back from Cuba was a human, balanced sense of what Cuba was like, neither a paradise nor a hellhole but a confounding mixture of them both. And I remember soon thereafter I actually made a practice of going to all the countries that were listed in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Trading with the Enemy Act, precisely because I felt they were places I could never learn about sitting in California, that all I would ever read or hear about them would either be propaganda against them or the response to it, which was wild propaganda in favor of them.”

[Photo credit: papalars, Flickr]

My question to you: What will it take for you to go on your dream trip?

I’m as guilty as the next. My dream destination is Tibet, but I figure it should be visited at the same time as India and Nepal, which quickly takes it from the ‘manageable’ category to ‘big trip’ category. Suddenly, it’s more daunting and even easier to put off. Then again, few destinations are changing as quickly as Tibet, which means that I should head over, oh, yesterday.

It usually comes down to cost and time, right? You want to be responsible by waiting until the right time, so you don’t go into debt or abandon your obligations (believe me, I’m not bashing either). But let’s play devil’s advocate: what are the chances that you’ll get a sack of money, or that your boss will unexpectedly offer up six months of working remotely?

I could list all of the practical tips to make it happen, but somehow I think you already know them: set aside a little extra cash each month, get some of your supportive friends to remind you, break down your big goal into mini-goals on a timeline, etc. Probably the best thing is to keep conscious of your priorities—re-shuffling the trip towards the front of the deck, when other obligations are continually being added to the pile.

You know what needs to be done—make it happen. And do me a favor: remind me about Tibet, okay?

But not every couchsurfing experience is a great one. While I don’t subscribe to the argument that couchsurfing is dangerous (popular with travelers’ mothers everywhere), there are some potential downsides — poor hosts, lack of selection for last minute hosts and more.

The author of one the travel blogs I follow, Travel Vice, recently had a bad experience with a couch surfing host who sounds like a passive-aggressive nightmare. The whole story is almost painful to read, but some lessons emerge for anyone thinking of trying out couchsurfing.com:

• Communicate with your hosts. Travel Vice’s author ultimately blames the whole ordeal on lack of communication, both from the hosts and guests. Make your plans clear to your hosts and make sure they are okay with them.
• Make arrangements well in advance. Just because there are 10,000 options available in an area doesn’t mean any more than ten of them are actually willing to put you up. And as couchsurfing.com gets more popular, finding a couch gets harder. The author of Travel Vice reports a roughly 62% failure rate when soliciting couchsurfing members, especially if you do it at the last minute.
• Approach more hosts so you have more options. You might think being selective is the best tactic when it comes to picking a host, but in order to be selective you need to have options. It turns out couchsurfing is a bit like picking up people in a bar — the more you approach, the better your chances are for success.
• Make sure everyone in the host household is happy with the arrangement. The Travel Vice tale reveals a welcoming husband and a frosty wife — make sure the whole family has embraced the couch surfing idea. It’s almost impossible to avoid a situation like that solely through the website, but if you find yourself in one, leave as soon, and as gracefully, as you can.
• Although not specifically addressed, it seems like a good idea to under-stay your welcome — remember the proverb, nothing stinks like overstaying guests. By the same token, don’t show up a day late.

While Travel Vice’s post makes for a good cautionary tale, don’t let it put you off the couchsurfing idea altogether — the number of happy reports on the site far outnumber the negative ones.

For some more tips on how to get the most out of couchsurfing.com, see our earlier write up.

[Photo credit, Chazwags, Flickr]

So people, do you have any idea what you are saying? Where do you think I’ve been for the last 3 years? Living some exotic fantasy in the land of sangria? Well yes, but why can’t that be as real and as valid as any other form of life? It has been my reality for the last 3 years, a reality I chose. Just because my life was more bohemian than corporate or conventional, doesn’t mean I was living in la-la land or escaping responsibilities.

I know they say it with good intention, but it makes me so mad when people box “job”, “mortgage”, “car”, “family” and “security” into the “real life” category, and consider everything outside of that cool, but not normal. They make the last 3 years of my life sound like a mad, youth-driven adventure that of course, has to end. It was an adventure that doesn’t have to end, I’m choosing to end it because I want to. And isn’t adventure what life is about? Living, loving, experiencing, and learning? It is to me and always will be.

For the record, I’ve always had income during these 3 years — in other words, I’ve worked, and worked hard. Paid rent and bills. The difference is that I worked on my terms for the hours I wanted, so that I could spend the rest of my time traveling and immersing myself in different cultures.

It has been the most rewarding experience of my life and I wouldn’t change how I did anything. In fact, I will probably do this all over again in another country at some point. So there, take that and look into your own reality for a change, do you love it as much as I love mine?

My friend Christine told me her dad ran away to Vancouver when he was 16, and when he was 23, decided to jog across Canada to raise money for the mentally and physically disabled.  He made it and met her mom in the process.  She, in her turn, inherited both a great love for her dad (who wouldn’t?) and his wanderlust; as she says, “Being a traveler, I have never been able to restrict myself to only falling for people within a 15-kilometre radius of where I live.”  But it’s hard for a lot of lovers to understand the wandering lifestyle, and even if you’re totally honest about your intentions and goals (and even if you ask them to join you on your travels), sometimes that can lead to mismatched expectations, unexpected revelations, and someone getting their heart broken.

So how do you deal with a broken heart on the road?  

Well, assuming you haven’t been stranded in the mountains of Kyrgystan after a shouting match that alarmed the locals, try to remain on as civil terms with your ex-loved-one as possible.  You were friends for a reason.  Remember that as you part your ways.  They have good reasons for leaving, no matter how much you might not want them to go; respect their emotions and resist the urge to pester them with “But why?” if they’ve already explained why.

On the road, it’s harder to contact your support group, since they might all be far away; resist the urge to get drunk and find a rebound partner by calling or emailing your best friends.  Even if you’re a dude and you don’t share your feelings.  Consider writing in a journal or a letter; DON’T write in your blog, since you will almost certainly regret it later.

Be kind to yourself, as if you were sick: take it easy and consider staying in one place for a little longer, to give yourself the comforts of familiarity.  Buy your favorite foods.  Treat yourself to a massage.  Resist the urge to write long tearful letters to your now-ex.  Or better, write them, and then burn them.  Remember: you chose your lifestyle for a reason, because it was the only way you could be (or the preferable way).  If you got dumped for another reason entirely — that is, one having nothing to do with your wandering ways — the same applies.  You are who you are, and sometimes that just doesn’t work with someone else.

Eat chocolate, go jogging, distract yourself.  If you’re traveling with friends, go out and enjoy some time with them (I’d avoid a Thai brothel while you’re feeling vulnerable and fragile, though).  Alcoholics Anonymous has an adage: one day at a time.  And that’s how you can go.  Each day is fresh, whether it’s with your loved one or not: try to see potential in every corner, every space, and rest assured that you will find love again.  As my dad says, “If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”  About 25 years ago, he broke up with a woman he loved but it just wasn’t working out; last year, they found each other randomly and started dating again.

Getting dumped is no fun, but it’s not the end of the world.  One foot in front of the other, and before you know it, you’ll be watching the sun rise off Kilimanjaro and feeling just a smidge better.