The philanthropic community might consider changing its approach to fundraising by making people feel good, rather than guilty if they don’t help, according to author and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in his December article in Outside magazine: “Nicholas Kristof’s Advice for Saving the World.” Frustrated by the lack of major public reaction to events in Darfur vs. the outpouring of attention to … Read more »

A few topics that people get heated about: politics, religion, and sport.  I’d add food to that list.  The New York Times discussed this in an article titled The Chocolate Wars.  It’s about Kraft’s attempt to mount a takeover of Cadbury.

The mayor of London had this colorful comment:

“We face an appalling choice of succumbing either to Kraft, makers of the plastic flaps of orange cheese, or to Hershey, whose Hershey … Read more »

Matt Gross recently wrote an excellent article at World Hum, called “The Minor Glories of Constant Motion.” It details what for Matt may be a typical morning on the go. He wakes early to go to the airport in Taiwan and along the way, his cab gets a flat tire. As he watches the driver change the tire, another cab pulls over and he gets in … Read more »

Back when I wrote Vagabonding, I designed the end-of-chapter resources so that they could be continually updated online and stay as useful and relevant as possible. Recently, with the editorial help of Justin Glow and input from dozens of readers, I added to (and reorganized) my online resources at Vagabonding.net.

I’ve copied the index links below. If you feel that anything is missing … Read more »

I’ve been accused of always finishing a destination-related book with the comment, “I want to go to … (the name of the destination).” Fiction or nonfiction, it doesn’t really matter. If it’s a good book, the text allows me to conjure in my mind what the place is like. If it’s not so great, I wonder what the writer is missing, and what I’d find if … Read more »

Scooters are a favorite mode of transportation in many parts of the world. The variety of uses for a scooter are only limited by a rider’s creativity (and bravery!)

The New York Times Globespotters blog wrote an ode to this humble vehicle, Riding the roads as the Romans do. The article helpfully provides a bunch of leads on where to get a good deal on a scooter rental in the Italian capital.

More interesting … Read more »

A grass-roots alliance uniting everyone who loves to explore the world, Ethical Traveler believes that through conscientious travel, we can use our cultural interactions and economic power to strengthen human rights and protect the environment. Last week they revealed their list of top 10 ethical destinations for 2010. They are;

The World’s Top 10Ethical Destinations Argentina Belize Chile Ghana Lithuania Namibia Poland Seychelles South Africa Suriname

Founder Jeff Greenwald opens the list … Read more »

Yesterday I found a travel piece about my hometown (ok, about the fancy town next to my hometown) in the Guardian. I’ve been out of the area for five years, but it was still a challenge to accept the premise of the article: That, after crossing an entire ocean, a commuter town in suburban New York is a place worth visiting.

While home, I’ve been … Read more »

There’s a little meme making its way around the blogosphere right now, called “My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets.” I came across it on Jen Laceda’s gorgeous blog and was anxious to read the secrets that had already been spilled by other travelers. Then I thought about the concept – does telling the world (or at least your … Read more »

Headphones are often criticized as one of the fastest ways to close yourself off to a culture. The bell of the rickshaw about to run you over is no match for speakers in your ear blasting, well, anything. However, if you’re going to trade local sounds for an MP3, why not expand your knowledge of a place with a few tracks from the audio tour underground?

This ain’t … Read more »