Most online activity amongst traveling youth is restricted to the US or Europe. It is not common to find vagabonding adventurers 1) who are Indian, 2) in India, 3) Indians in India. So when I found a really cool initiative born in India that involves traveling and making a difference, I was excited and had to share it.

The first thing you see in their promotional video is Che Guevara’s famous quote: “Let the world change you, and then you can change the world.” This road-trip across India for change seems to have been born from this idea.

Put together by a small group of Bits Pilani students based in India, under the banner of YoFa (short for Youth Factor), a program called “Grassroutes” has been launched. Under this program, YoFa is looking for 6 teams of 4-6 people (each) to travel for 10-days in India. On their travels, they are expected to try and understand the local problems in the area, find the grassroot level change-makers, and bring back their stories as inspiration that will spread awareness and help change. Best said on their blog: “We believe that a dose of inspiration combined with the energy of the youth can actually make a few dents in the universe. Grassroutes is just an effort to bring the two together.”

The route is pre-defined and team applications are now open. Unfortunately you have to apply in a team, and have to be under 25. Although India based, it does not say that you need to be a resident in India to apply. But I imagine if you are not, your commitment to their cause will have to be more than evident.

Applications have to be submitted by November 15, results will be announced by November 25. The trip will take place in December (2008). All trip expenses will be covered. You will be expected to take photos and video on the trip, which later, a production team will help you put together to get a message out.

For full details, check out their Q&A section here.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I’ve been posting reports from my book tour events through a Gadling special feature entitled Rolf Potts: The Marco Polo Book Tour Diary.

This book tour diary, which also contains all manner of tangential material (in a post last week I interviewed myself, Blender-style, about the prospect of trashing hotel rooms and dealing with groupies) will run about 2-4 times a week through the end of November. Updated entries online here.

You can often land up wasting a lot of time in airports during layovers. Because I, as an Indian, need a visa to go practically anywhere (except Jamaica!), I get frustrated by the visa process and try my best not to have layovers where, if I don’t have a visa, I have to vegetate at the airport.

However, I have hosted many friends flying through Dubai and Madrid, with layovers for a day or two, and deciding the “best” things to do with them when they are visiting for such a short time, is definitley challenging.

Conde Nast Traveler held a contest over summer where readers wrote in to suggest cool layover activities in various cities. They received approximately 200 comments from which 6 winners were selected. Now, Conde Nast Traveler writer Michael Kinsley is on a round-the-world trip doing the activities suggested by those 6.

As written in The Perrin Post, his itinerary is: “Seattle-Los Angeles-Auckland-Singapore-Dubai-Zurich-Amsterdam-London-Reykjavik-Copenhagen-Seattle. In L.A. he’ll go to the beach, in Auckland he’ll take a segway tour of the city, in Dubai he’ll hit the Mall of the Emirates for shopping and skiing, in Amsterdam he’ll go to the Red Light District to smoke a joint, at Heathrow he’ll dine at The Fat Duck in nearby Bray, and in Reykjavik he’ll soak in the Blue Lagoon.”

He will be blogging the entire trip, which you can read here.

This trip has unique-value, no? What do you do on layovers?

We were asked this question in my Spanish class today. My answer was: The amount of things you learn about yourself. And it’s things that you couldn’t possibly learn should you be in a familiar environment.

I’ve been living in Spain for over two years now. When I came here, I knew no one, and didn’t speak a word of Spanish. I came here on a very positive note: I couldn’t wait to leave Dubai, I wanted to travel, I wanted to live in a foreign land, and wanted to learn a new language. Always an extrovert, I got generally along with everyone, I thought I’d have no issues. Difficulties were expected, but they were challenges I was willing to confront.

I got to Spain and was an emotional wreck for at least a month. I questioned and doubted the decision entirely. This is when I began to realise that I’m not as strong as I think I am, and that when you are completely alone in a new country with no job, no family, and no ability to communicate in the native language, it’s really, and only up to you to make it happen.

After a down period, I pulled through and eversince, things couldn’t have been better. I was overwhelmed with the warmth of strangers, I was shocked at my ability to communicate in sign language and drawings, I was surprised how quickly I picked up the language, and how now I speak fluently and proudly, without an accent (so I’m told!).

I realised I was not as independent as I thought I was. When you have lots of familiar people around - a walk or a drive away - it’s easy to be independent. When you have no one in the same continent (let alone country), your pride of being “independent” gets shattered and you realise the importance of a familiar community within reach.
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I spend a lot of time deciding where to eat when I travel. I like to find spots where the average local eats, that are not filled with tourists, and that are cheap. I never follow guidebooks; if it’s in a guidebook, I rather not go there. I think I have a good eye for finding local places to eat, even though it may take a while and I may annoy the people I travel with, the end result is worth it at least 80% of the time. If I know people in the place I’m visiting, their recommendations are first options, but otherwise, these are the things I look out for to help decide if I should eat at a place:

• The place is outside the heart of the tourist center, preferably in a small lane or hidden behind somewhere.

• The place small with minimum propaganda inviting people to come in.
• The place is busy with majority of the crowd seeming to be locals. (Never walk into an empty restaurant!)
• The waiters are local and don’t speak much English (for non-English speaking places, of course), nor do they have multi-language menus.
• The prices are relatively low, the less gourmet, the better.

How do you decide where to eat when you travel?

I was in Ibiza last weekend; we partied until 3am (yup, I’m getting old! and headed to the airport for an 8am flight. With 5 hours to kill, we tried to get some sleep on the airport benches. It was horrible. We hardly got any sleep and my back and neck are still in pain. I wish I’d known about the Mini-Motel!.

It’s basically a one person covered sleeping bag/tent, that is ideal for stranded occasions like this. It folds flat into the size of an average laptop, looks comfortable, is straight forward to set-up, weighs under 5 pounds and is priced at $49.95.

Perhaps a little pricey, but, my friends, each mini-motel comes equipped with: an air mattress, a pillow, a bed sheet, an alarm clock, a reading light, toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs and eye shades! HOW COOL! Can’t beat that, eh?

For more details and ordering information, check out their website here.

Our most recent “call for writers” elicited dozens of excellent submissions. But in the end, there could be only six. Here’s some background info about our six new Vagabloggers:

Graham Reid - A Graduate Journalist from England, Graham has spent the past year traveling around North America, including an epic East-to-West Coast bus trip. Graham’s entertaining travel blog can be found here.

Celine Roque - Celine is currently living in a small town in the Philippines, a country she’ll be exploring for the next two years. She blogs at pimpyourwork.com, a site that encourages people to work more efficiently so they can have more time to pursue their passions.

Marcus Sortijas - Our first Hawaiian contributor, Marcus has studied creative writing in England, backpacked through Europe, and lived in Shanghai. He now resides in Taipei, where he maintains an excellent travel blog called Bluefox808 Adventures.

Claire Litton - Claire is currently on tour as a professional bellydancer– another first for Vagablogging– and she’s been writing professionally since 1998. Her poetry and fiction have been published in literary magazines in the US and Canada, and she’s working on a nonfiction guide to bellydance. Claire tells me that “the relief [she] felt at finding Rolf’s book a few years ago and thinking, ‘There really are people who think like me!’ cannot be described.”

Scott Gilbertson - Rolf’s book Vagabonding was part of the inspiration for Scott’s eleven-month trip around Southeast Asia. Scott has been a freelance writer for five years, and his work frequently appears on Wired.com. Scott keeps family and friends (and now you!) updated on his travels at luxagraf.net.

Aly Young - Aly has moved back to Kansas after spending two years in Asia. (Sound familiar, Rolf?) She blogs and posts her incredible photographs at Another Wandering Soul.

Welcome aboard, new Vagabloggers!

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?

Want to write for Vagablogging?

We’re looking for one dedicated individual to post once or twice a week about any vagabonding-related topic of their choice, from travel gear to destinations to literature. The ideal writer will be familiar with Rolf’s book Vagabonding and/or the philosophy behind it.

Though the position is unpaid, it really is a great opportunity to establish contacts and get your feet wet in the travel writing world. Several writers have moved on to paid positions after writing for Vagablogging, and now– I can tell you from personal experience– they’re really raking in the dough.

So if you’d like to write for Vagablogging, please send two previously unpublished sample posts (200+ words each) to aaronhotfelder (at) gmail (dot) com. Also be sure to include a little bit about yourself, like where you’re from, your biggest travel highlights, and anything else you think we should know.

To get an idea what we’re looking for in terms of content and style, take a look at the archives. The best posts are those that are informative in nature and conversational in tone. The deadline for submitting is July 25, which is also, coincidentally enough, my last day at Vagablogging. Please don’t cry.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the Comments or contact me at the above address.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Travel writer Tony Perrottet will be hosting a special Bastille Day party at Lolita Bar (226 Broome Street, between Allen and Orchard) in New York next Monday, where he will toast the the legacy of the French Revolution by unveiling a replica of Napoleon’s disembodied penis.

Sound like an odd to celebrate Bastille Day? If you think so, you might want to check out Perrottet’s newest book, Napoleon’s Privates: 2500 Years of History Unzipped, which answers all sorts of burning historical questions, including:

• What were Casanova’s best pick-up lines?
• How uncomfortable was it to wear a chastity belt?
• Will Lincoln ever be outed?
• What was the party etiquette at Caligula’s orgies?
• How did Napoleon’s most intimate organ end up in New Jersey?

Festivities at Lolita Bar last from 6-9 pm on July 14th. For more information on Perrottet’s book, check out his author website. A teaser video for the book is online here: