Owner: Vagabondish URL:http://www.vagabondish.com Join Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:59:15 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Vagabondish.com follows the story of Mike, a lifelong travel addict, on a two year journey ’round the world. Site statistics:Click here
How to Put Your Blog on Auto-Pilot With Scheduled Posts 2007-04-15 18:08:10
One of Wordpress’ best, little-known features is the ability to schedule posts to automatically publish to your blog on a future date. This feature is a godsend, particularly for travel bloggers who are keen on publishing fresh content to their blogs on a regular basis but may be away from a computer or reliable internet connection for days or weeks at a time.
I also use scheduled postings to help with writer’s block. My inspiration to blog comes throughout the day - via my RSS subscriptions (i.e. other travel blogs), watching The Travel Channel, or taking a leisurely Sunday drive. But oftentimes, the creativity and will to elaborate those fleeting moments of inspiration into full blog posts strikes me only a couple of days each week. Yesterday, for example, I wrote five posts and scheduled them to publish throughout this coming week.
Wordpress makes scheduling your posts a snap and I’ll show you how. I can’t speak for every blogging platform, although I k Read more:Pilot
This Week in Offbeat Travel Links - April 14, 2007 2007-04-14 18:00:23
The Tribewanted project is part Myspace, part reality-TV show Survivor. With over 1,100 inhabitants so-far, this unique social experiment seems to be working.
Shock your socks off and beat deep vein thrombosis with the Circulation Booster Mobile. Just weird.
Rolf Potts talks about solo traveling and getting drugged in Istanbul seven hazy years ago
Travel
Happy serves up Seven Tips For Taking A Laptop Travelling - a topic that’s been discussed on travel forums and blogs alike since the dawn of man
Like jumping on the bed? You’re not alone and the offbeat BedJump.com blog proves it!
Leif over at KillingBatteries points us to this hilarious video comparing Italy to the rest of Europe (no malice meant on my part as I’ve never actually been to Italy, but I found the animation funny nonetheless)
NuNomad blog wraps up their three-part series on traveling with cell phones
Jaunted points us to one site that predicts whether airfare on a given route will rise/fall in Read more:April
Fly U.S. to Europe for $12? 2007-04-14 14:08:28 Huh? I like to think I’m a reasonably smart guy. No really - even my grandmum agrees.
But there’s clearly something I’m missing in the economics of Ryanair. Guardian Unlimited Travel is reporting that Ryanair is planning to offer one-way transatlantic flights between the United States and Europe
for roughly $12US.
British Airways said: “It is not clear how Ryanair has calculated the ability to offer fares at $12 when taxes on routes to the US from Europe are currently in the region of $240.”
I guess I’m not the only one. I realize that under the “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” mantra mega-corporations will resort to just about anything to get their name in the paper. But I can’t imagine they’d resort to outright lies and blatantly exaggerated claims merely for publicity’s sake. Perhaps I’m being naive.
A few more details of what Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has in store (via fly away we
A Little Intestinal Distress, A Little Adventure 2007-04-13 23:52:21 Yet another reason why I love Anthony Bourdain: he throws all caution to the wind, given the slightest chance of a great travel and food experience.
Deep in the bowels (pun intended) of India finds Bourdain filming No Reservations at a roadside food stand. Without regard for the inevitable gastrointestinal consequence of devouring several bowls of tasty, unknown Indian cuisine, Tony riffs:
… the rest of the meal is pretty good … Yet my experience with roadside meals has often painfully taught me what looks good on the plate may have less appeal in the morning. I’ll almost certainly be spending some quality time on the thunder bucket tomorrow.
[a quick word between Tony and a young Indian man are followed by the man and a dozen of his friends gathering around Tony, laughing and quipping at one another]
As happens so often in India, a casual word, smile, or nod and you have ten new friends. And though tomorrow may be spent on an even longer journey, this time rid Read more:Intestinal
, Adventure
The Hangover Cure (or I Swear, I Will Never Drink That Much Ever Again … No, Really) 2007-04-13 15:24:03
Hangovers are an inevitable consequence of many a young traveler’s foray into the seedier and more exciting places around the world. Everyone has their own opinion of which hangover cure works best for them. For me, the remedy is simple and, in all the hazy years I’ve spent punishing my liver, this recipe has never failed me.
The night of your alcohol-fueled endeavors:
Never drink on an empty stomach. But you knew that, right? Seriously, if you’re dining out, don’t order your booze until after you’ve gotten at least some appetizer in your belly. Heavier food is best as it slows the digestion process, and thus the rate of absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream.
Drink
a liter of water before you go to bed. Half a liter’s good. A full liter is best. You’ll have to force yourself to drink this much water in one sitting and, yes, you’re bladder will feel like an overstuffed holiday pig around 5:00 a.m. But every ounce of fl Read more:Swear
, Again
, hellip
Don’t Let the Things You Own Own You 2007-04-12 15:50:56 In an unintentional yet timely follow-up to this past Sunday’s post, Vagablogging offers this advice via Fight Club:
“You buy furniture. You tell yourself this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple of years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.”
- Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (1996)
Don’t succumb to the Ikea nesting instinct!
On Travel Writing 2007-04-11 14:14:32 Are you a writer and a traveler? Have you read Thomas Spurling’s post On Travel
Writing? If not, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Read no further if you’d rather I not spoil the ending for you:
Travel is nothing like writing. Anyone can write, and anyone can travel. These days you can fly to Ireland from Italy for twelve bucks fifty, and blog round the world for free. But travel writing will forever be the ‘middle-man’ of literature, for the best travelers rarely write, and the best writers rarely travel. But we both need the other to inform our own lives, to help us to stay or to go.
From a writing perspective, I’m not even sure I know what a dangling participle is. From a travel perspective, I’m only globe trotting in my head. So where does that leave me? Dreaming and full of prose, I suppose. Read more:Travel Writing
Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite! 2007-04-10 15:00:26 (I easily spent seventeen or eighteen seconds crafting the title of this post. Seriously.)
As if returning home from an around-the-world trip isn’t disheartening and culturally shocking enough, you’re then forced to deal with the lack of six-legged critters - bedbugs in particular - with which to share your bed. Have no fear, insect lover: the San Francisco Chronicle reports that those sexy, blood sucking vermin are back in full swing here in the U.S.!
Nearly eradicated in the United States 50 years ago, resistant strains of “super” bedbugs are infesting mattresses at an alarming rate. In what’s being touted as the biggest mystery in entomology, all 50 states are reporting outbreaks of the blood-sucking nocturnal critters.
I read whispers of bedbug infestation stories in guidebooks. But to be honest, this isn’t an issue that I’ve seen widely discussed on travel forums and blogs. I’m not sure if that’s because the existence of
Say Cheese 2.0 2007-04-10 00:00:50
Stacy from Rambling Traveler points us to a gorgeous selection of hyper-colored travel photos using a technique called HDR or High Dynamic Range. The pictures speak for themselves, so I won’t pretend my words can do them any further justice.
But for more info on this technique, head on over here or here for a primer in HDR. Read more:Cheese
, Say Cheese
Don’t Hate Me Because I’m American 2007-04-09 15:00:54 I’m not going to lie - traveling solo around the world scares the hell out of me. And when the U.S. State Department releases warnings every other day about how Armageddon is upon us in every corner of the globe, why shouldn’t it? So many questions, so many unknowns. Not the least of which is how well (or not) American
travelers are received around the world.
Then I read in-the-trenches experiences and blog posts like this that give me hope:
Before we began our travels, we were curious how people would react to us as Americans during a time when our country isn’t very popular around the world.
Six months in, I’m happy to report people are very capable of separating citizens from governments.
From Tanzania to Vietnam to Argentina, we’ve encountered nothing but friendliness.
via Erin and Brad’s Travel Blog
Sure, it’s one couple’s anecdotal evidence - not exactly a large, scientific poll. But it’s a glimmer of hope all the same.
A Non-Traveler’s Travel Blog for Travelers / Montreal in Retrospect 2007-04-18 01:36:22 Lately I’ve been thinking about the strange irony of writing a travel blog while not actually traveling. In my heart, I’d like to think I’ll always be a traveler, regardless of where I am and whether or not I’m on the move. But it feels a little odd - like penning a child rearing blog because you occasionally babysit your sister’s kids or calling yourself a photography blogger because you happen to have glossy 18×24″ Ansel Adams prints hanging along your stairwell.
Then I remembered a heap of prose that I’d written awhile back while in Montreal
for a job interview. It’s been quietly collecting dust for nearly five years as a series of draft posts on my to-remain-nameless personal blog. The reason being that some of its content is a bit risque. And, at the risk of being dooced, I elected not to publish it, ever weary that potential employers might catch wind.
But, given that no one knows I’m here on Vagabondish, let&rsquo Read more:Traveler
, Travel
, Travelers
New Meme: 5 Reasons Why You Travel 2007-04-19 20:01:00
Lately, there’s been a number of memes passed around this great clique of travel bloggers of which I consider myself lucky to be a part. The last - 5 Reasons
Why You Blog - made its rounds in record time.
But I’m curious: what about 5 reasons why you travel? Our blogs often tell the day-to-day tales of our past travel experiences and worldly adventures. We talk of travel tips and the hows and whens of our travel goals. But what about why we set out to do it all in the first place?
I’d like to be so bold to kick off a new meme and tag Dave, Paul, and Dan with that very question: What are 5 reasons why you travel? What makes you want to drop everything you’ve ever known and travel long term?
To any of my other blogging friends - those who don’t mind me influencing what they write about - feel free to jump in and post your responses to your own blog. Consider yourselves tagged! Read more:Travel
How To Make Sure No One Ever Reads Your Travel Blog 2007-04-18 13:38:05
“If you’ve nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That’s what mum always taught me. I think bloggers and travel writers could learn a bit from this. More appropriately: “If you don’t have anything good or worthwhile to say, don’t say anything at all.”
What Not To Do
Our Man in Granada had a curmudgeonly and spot-on post the other day entitled Tired of Reading Travel
Crap.
… in line with the ever-increasing travel coverage in blogs and media, there is also a growing amount of crap spouted.
From MSNBC, entitled “Tourist Written All Over You”:
“Clothes make the tourist. White tennis shoes almost always announce an American tourist, just as black socks with shorts identify a British tourist. Sweatshirts with university names…blah blah blah”
The white tennis shoes (as opposed to the white face)? Really? Brits wear black socks and shorts? Really?. Sweatshirts with University names?
Consumed by Consumerism: SNL Style 2007-04-20 14:09:57 As a perfectly fitting adjunct to a post I made earlier railing against American hyper-consumerism, I found this SNL skit on the wire. A nice little “Friday Funny”.
Enjoy your weekend everyone! Read more:Consumed
, Style
This Week in Offbeat Travel Links - April 21, 2007 2007-04-21 18:05:22
Like snowboarding? Like volcanic ash too? Try ashboarding in Nicaragua. It’s the Olympic Winter Games meets Pompei. Without all the media coverage and face-melting lava. I’d kindly ask ourman (currently our embed in Nic) to try this and report back to us.
Learn to live like an Ewok in these odd sleeping pods from Free Spirit Spheres. They’re currently available for rent on Canada’s Vancouver Island.
Ecuador is considering drastic measures to ensure that tourism doesn’t irreparably harm the Galapagos Islands. This makes me reconsider traveling there at all.
Gadling.com’s Adrienne Wilson walks us through the recent controversy that Jaunted first revealed surrounding some questionable advertising practices in the travel industry
Ah, the smell of an ad-free breeze blowing through the skeletons of defunct highway billboards! BoingBoing reports that Sao Palao, Brazil has gone completely billboard free.
Gadling reports that the U.S. will be re Read more:Travel
, April
My 5 Hilarious Travel Photos 2007-04-21 14:23:50 Ian of Brave New Travel
er fame (yes, that Ian! Who’d you think I meant?) recently launched a contest to submit your five favorite hilarious travel photos. Here are mine:
Bright Lights, Big Tower
The CN Tower in Toronto is the world’s largest free-standing structure. So of course some sadistic chap decided to turn parts of its observation deck’s floor into glass. From there, you can stand and look straight down. All 1200 feet down. What’s funny about this picture is what you don’t see: me behind the camera, standing a quarter mile above the earth on a sliver of glass, just about sh*tting myself. All in an effort to snap a cool pic of the skyline. (Oh … and I swear this photo is not Photoshopped)
Street Sleeping in Dublin
This chap alternated between briefly passing out and smoking a “fag” while lying in the middle of the road. What you don’t see in this photo: cars driving around him and the small crowd of drunken gathere
5 Reasons Why I Travel 2007-04-24 14:20:19 Initially I didn’t post my answers to this question because it somehow felt a little odd to me to create and then answer my own meme. But I’ve now been tagged by Dave, Stacy and Timen. Thanks to everyone who tagged me and to everyone who responded!
I can think of a million reasons why I love to travel, but to boil it all down to the top five? It was more difficult that I thought.
#1 To “Find Myself”
Seriously. After I graduated high school, I went through a consumer phase. My well-paying job at the time went to my head and I splurged on a fancy car, $150 jeans from Nordstrom, and other meaningless, superficial filler. In short, I was a yuppie a-hole. Since the lead-up to my RTW trip, I’ve shed all of that nonsense. My trip is well over a year away but already the planning for it has changed me in ways I never imagined. It’s changed how I live and think about what’s really important to me. I’m hoping my actual trip will “ Read more:Reasons
, Travel
Can Miss: 1000 Places to See Before You Die 2007-04-23 14:36:00 Caution: Acerbic TV show review ahead.
I had really high hopes for The Travel Channel’s 1000 Places
to See Before You Die. I’m not sure why. Before its debut, all I knew about it was the nifty commercials featuring a young guy or girl visiting one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks and pushing a red map marker pin into the ground in front of it. “Only 999 more to go,” the narrator would chime in. But then, I’m a sucker for any slickly produced TV commercial for a new travel show.
I don’t mean to unfairly judge the couple, the Ulles, on this show - they seem nice enough. However, they’ve wandered into the public eye and to me that makes them and the show fair game for criticism. To be fair, I recognize that any faults in the show are those of the producers. And right upfront, let me say that I personally don’t have a commanding presence for video or for speaking off the cuff and on my feet. Let’s just say that I
This Week in Offbeat Travel Links - April 28, 2007 2007-04-28 18:00:32
Colin Beavan (aka No Impact Man) tells of a little girl who shows how you can truly change the world one good deed at a time. Think volunteering.
In the market for a new or used camel? Guardian Unlimited has the perfect camel dealers for you in the city of Al Ain. Act now and they’ll even throw in sixty months, zero percent financing!
World class climber, Reinhold Messner, talks turkey with Guardian Unlimited
Thai scientists are stirring up quite a controversy with the debut of stink-free durian. Long a rite of passage for the culinary adventurers.
I love anything scuba diving related. But this is just plain weird: Underwater Post Offices and Mailboxes Around the World
The United States federal government launched a website for all national parks info. A great resource for travelers and backpackers planning to camp their way across the States!
In the European-style of ultra-discount airlines, SkyBus has just started offering flights through Columbus, Ohio. Upgrade: Read more:Travel
, April
Be A Better Blogger By Breaking Your Wiki-ddiction 2007-04-27 14:00:01 We bloggers are a lazy lot. It seems the de facto target to direct our readers for further info is always that treasure trove of truthiness: Wiki
pedia.
The problem is that Wikipedia reads like stereo instructions - it’s unengaging and lifeless. Which better explains travel: Wikipedia or Rolf Potts’ Vagablogging?
An even better example: Tim Leffel recently described an extreme makeover for the Thai city of Pattaya:
If you have never been to Pattaya, just picture the most seedy and decadent place you have ever been, fill it with hookers until the streets are overflowing with them, put a few bars on every block, then fly in planeloads of sex tourists. Throw in some boy toys so there’s equal opportunity and a few transvestite shows to check out for laughs. (If you ever want to see a transvestite who can really pass for a woman, Thailand’s got them by the klong boat load.)
As far as visuals go, that’s pretty vivid, no? Wikipedia on the other hand:
Pattaya is a cit Read more:Blogger
, Breaking
On Finding Closure in My Breakup With Starbucks 2007-04-25 14:31:22 Way back in October, I published the groundbreaking Drink Water - a post that changed the travel blogging landscape forever. I suggested then that cutting back just $2-3 every day on soft drinks, coffee and other beverages could save you over $700 per year. $700 you could be investing in an ING account to fund your drinking habit or feed your Russian nesting doll collection on your RTW journey.
In an effort to practice what I preach and constantly prune any unnecessary daily expenses, I’ve severed my Starbucks
umbilical cord in favor of brewing coffee at home. I had been using a traditional drip-style coffee maker, hot brewing the coffee, and then refrigerating it. It’s pretty darn good, but I stumbled upon this cold brewed iced coffee recipe from a native New Orleanser … New Orleansite? Whatever. He’s from New Orleans - a place with a heavy French influence, where coffee is serious business. So I figured: why not give it a shot? I tweaked his recipe a Read more:Closure
When Did America Become the World’s Most Wussified Nation? 2007-05-02 14:00:54
This is the disclaimer that opens every segment of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, among other cable TV programs. I’m not sure to what content they’re referring. There’s no nudity. No violence. And every potentially FCC-defying naughty word is bleeped. Have we really become this politically correct? This wussified?
Tuning in to Much Music - Canada’s answer to MTV - in Montreal at any time of day reveals VJs shouting four letter words at one another in jest. And I found plenty of boobies and bottoms revealed in all their fleshy glory on early evening TV in Dublin. But I also noticed distinctly less violence on international television than on prime time U.S. TV shows (Law & Order and CSI:DavidCarusoTown come to mind).
It’s odd that showing bullet-riddled bodies soaked in blood and describing child rape in vivid detail is perfectly acceptable prime time TV here in the States, but uttering “shit” or showing a naked butt somehow off Read more:America
, Become
, World
26 Killer Travel Gadgets Every Geek Needs 2007-05-01 18:02:54 I admit it: I’m a tech-head. I love gadgets and I love to travel. Put the two together and I attain a state of bliss somewhere between watching a Meredith Baxter-Birney marathon on Lifetime and that feeling you get when you think about puppies and marshmallows together at the same time. See where I’m going?
Anywho, I run through my checklist of essential gear every time I travel: laptop? Check. Travel
guides? Of course. Digital camera? Yup. Pink feety pajamas and the Mama’s Boy teddy bear from my girlfriend? Aye. But … there’s still something missing. I’ve never felt Inspector Gadget-ish enough.
I started doing some digging and realized I’ve been missing out in a big way. Without further adieu, I present twenty six essential gadgets that no self-respecting traveling geek should be without. Why twenty six? I’m not sure. Better than twenty five, I guess.
#1: De-Pooify Your Water Supply
If you’re not a big fan of drinki Read more:Killer
, Geek
, Needs
Rediscovering My Hometown, Rhode Island 2007-04-21 19:37:52 A while back I wrote how I think most folks are bad tourists in their own hometown. I plead guilty. There’s so much to see and do here in New England - in Providence and RhodeIsland
included. Yet I gloss over most of it with the dismissive thought that it’ll always be there. What’s the hurry? I can see it tomorrow, right? But why should my hometown be any less interesting or exotic simply because it’s geographically closer to me than the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat or the Pyramids? So, starting today I’m making a concerted effort to rediscover my hometown.
For the past two years, I’ve pared down all of my daily expenses - Starbucks coffee, my Martha Stewart Living subscription, etc. Sure, I could find a $200 per month room to rent in one of the many student accommodations (read: closets) near RISD or Brown. But I decided that I want to spend my last eighteen months really loving where I live. So last October, K and I moved into an incredible con Read more:Rhode Island
Google Maps Tip: Learn to Swim 2007-05-03 21:36:41 MightyGirl points out Google
’s ever-present sense of humor:
When you check out Google Maps
and ask for directions between San Francisco and Amsterdam, Line 29 is key.
Thanks, Google! [insert Orbitz Gum-style tooth sparkle here]
Casa Brazil BBQ, East Providence 2007-05-06 18:15:45 Caution: vegetarians and vegans may wish to stop reading now. Why not kill some time checking this out instead?
I love meat. I mean, I really love meat. BBQ
meat, braised meat, meat on a stick, meat not on a stick … “shrimp gumbo, jumbo shrimp, shrimp stew …”. Given the choice of being a vegetarian for life or being stranded on a desert island, I’ll take the island. At least there are probably things on it with legs and parents.
It’s a little tough to judge what constitutes authentic Brazil
ian food since I’ve never been to Brazil or South America. But from what I’ve read, they love their beef. And any way that it can be cooked, it will be cooked down there. That’s pretty much the driving force behind Casa Brazil in East Providence
- a buffet-style, Brazilian restaurant and our destination for last evening’s “Date Night”.
K and I were seated by a very nice (and presumably Brazilian) woman who asked if it
Saturday Shorts: Delays, A New Camera and Montreal 2007-05-06 00:03:16 A few personal, quick hits para Cinco de Mayo:
Due to a whole mess of circumstances, I’ve decided to push my RTW trip departure date from May 2008 to late next year. It’s a combination of things. Mainly though, I’ll have a sizable loan paid off by spring and leaving later will allow me six months or so to bank that much more in travel savings. Although it’ll probably allow me to double the original length of my journey, patience has never come easy for me.
On a lighter note, I finally ordered a digital SLR camera yesterday! I clicked the “Confirm Order” button and damn near peed a little, I’m so excited. I’ve been struggling with the point-and-shoot I bought a few years ago - a Sony PSC-200. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great camera and I’d highly recommend it, or any other Sony model, to those looking for a high quality, affordable camera. But I realize that all those pseudo-artistic shots I like to take of the mic Read more:Saturday
, Shorts
, Delays
, Camera
, Montreal
This Week in Offbeat Travel Links - May 5, 2007 2007-05-05 18:00:13 Travel
Gear Blog may have found the perfect camera bag.
Vagabonding points us to a few choice excerpts from an interview with pro writer and traveler, Bob Shacochis. My favorite:
Love humanity, cultivate tolerance, hate injustice. Serve language, not word counts, and don’t just skate around on the glossy surface of things. Say yes to everything but hookers and drugs. To hookers and drugs say…maybe. If an editor tells you the audience you are writing for is composed of idiots who need every little obvious thing spelled out endlessly, tell the editor to go fuck himself/herself.
Thru-hiking the Andes Mountain range? Are you freakin’ mad??!? Gregg Treinish and Deia Schlosberg must be, because they’re doing it. Read all about their amazing journey here or check out the travel photos.
Thai Tales compiled this great A-Z Guide to Thai Taxi Drivers, which could just as well be an A-Z Guide for [pick a city].
An update in the U.S. war on terrorism tourism: BoingB
I’ve Burnt My Feed 2007-05-09 15:41:49 … my old feed, that is. On an administrative note, I’ve decided to let FeedBurner handle all of my RSS goodness. I know all of the cool kids are doing it and, well, I’ve honestly been feeling left out.
So, to all my blogging and travel friends who subscribe to the Vagabondish RSS feed, I’d love it if you’d re-subscribe to my new feed by clicking on that massive orange tile to the right.
Thanks to all!
Why I’ll Never Be A Thai Ladyboy 2007-05-09 14:15:19 Every time I learn a new word - a word I’ve never heard before - something strange happens: I’ll continue to hear that word several times over the next week. Call it a strange semantic coincidence, I guess. Over the past two weeks, Pee Wee’s secret, coincidental word of the day has been “ladyboy”. I’m seeing it a few times a day on blogs and travel websites. Odd because I haven’t been visiting nearly as many Asian tranny sites as I used to. Hm.
Nevertheless, I wasn’t entirely sure what the word meant. Given Thailand’s notorious reputation for [ahem] happily accepting folks from all walks of life, I assumed that it was either:
A pejorative reference towards gay men
A reference to transvestites
… Or a reference to transsexuals
A quick check of Wikipedia revealed that:
The term kathoey or katoey generally refers to a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand. They are sometimes referred
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