Travel Picks of the Week - 11/30/07
Photo: Flickr/Tuija
December is here and ‘tis the season to give and share. Tourists to South Africa, once limited to ritzy hotels and escorted safari tours, now have opportunities to get in touch with the joys and adversities of locals. A multitude of volunteer options are now available for those travelers who would like to get involved in community projects, even if they cannot spare a major chunk of time, says Kelly Carter as she lists resources in Charity Begins Abroad.
Making a donation of time during travel is as significant as writing a check. Doing charity work makes an enormous difference in people’s lives and leaves one with a feeling of achievement and fulfillment. Stuart Lee makes a case for embarking on charitable adventures in Why Get Involved in Overseas Charitable Work?
Travel Tips for Women
Photo:Flickr/Green308
My heart’s pounding harder than the drills that wake the neighborhood at ungodly hours; breath fluttering faster than eyelashes at a speed dating event. No, this isn’t panic, or love at first sight – it’s sheer excitement at being off traveling again.
Having traveled solo for many years, I have the routine down pat. Clothes looser than an alley cat’s morals for the journey; plenty of fluids on the flight.
Something fishy
One of the many things my mother worried about when I told I would be going off to Senegal was my health. The bit about the yellow fever shot scared her quite a bit, of course, plus there was the laundry list of other dangers including (but by no means limited to!) malaria, typhoid, rabies, dengue, meningitis, amoebic dysentery, etc., etc. I think I got about 9 different vaccinations before I left home, but paradoxically, the sickest I got was when I was trying to avoid getting sick: I had a craving for eggplants and washed them in Clorox (or eau de javel as it is known here). I had the runs for three days, and I am convinced that it was not the fault of the poor blameless vegetable but the radical steps I took to cleanse it. I no longer brush my teeth with bottled water as I did at first, which just goes to show the extent to which I have let down my guard.
With A Touch of Drama, We Have Our $125 TSM Winner
The $125 Fall Writing Contest is now complete, and as with every first time venture (especially where technology is involved), we have experienced our challenging glitches.
I recently received an e-mail describing a sudden and drastic change in many of the ratings for the competition stories. I had noticed this myself, and when I looked into the logs I had to smile in amazement.
Travel Picks of the Week - 11/23/07
Photo : Flickr/vrog
Nothing like a spoonful of warm soup, or a plate of colorful variety pasta to invigorate the taste buds, especially if you cooked them yourself. Thanks to television shows and extensive newspaper articles, culinary travel, one where you satisfy your knowledge and your hunger for food while traveling, is a growing offshoot of cultural travel. Kathy Widing lists resources in The Best Guides to Learning a Culture Through its Cuisine.
Travel softens our worldviews, makes us sympathize with hardships faced by people we hardly know and enhances our understanding of cultures. Anthony Bourdain, the ‘no-reservations’ celebrity cook and television personality speaks of the way his travel around the globe brought changes to his personality in Chef Tempers Views after World Travel.
Plane Crazy: My Climate-Friendly Trip from Ireland to Mallorca
Photo: Flickr/Ced77vde
Small talk at work:
“I’m off to Mallorca for a week”, I say.
“Oh that’s lovely. It’s nice in September.”
“Overland. No plane.”
On Beauty
Wanting to avoid the exorbitant salon prices at the posh hotel called the Meridien across the street, I thought I would try getting my hair cut in the nearby village of Ngor before the start of classes. My last haircut was of course in Holland, when my dear aunt coiffed me beautifully and even shared lovely milky coffee with me afterwards, and Stroopwafels - oh, the days of wine and roses!
Wangaloka from Mbola
Photo:Flickr/milleniumpromise
Yesterday, Lia and I emerged from the bush of Africa. A.k.a Mbola, Tanzania. Our stay lasted 5 nights 6 days. With no one speaking English, we basically had to sink or swim in the language pool, and ended up floating. We can now complete the call-and-response greeting series in Swahili and the tribal language. The rolling hill landscape of Mbola is painted with brown dry crops; tall golden grasses glow in the sunshine, accented with a speckling of large bubbly green mango trees, all emphasized by a cobalt blue sky.
The Pharmacist’s Honest Opinion
Photo:Postiglione
It’s difficult to believe how much trouble a broken little toe gave me during the first few weeks of my study abroad experience in Brisbane. The trouble all started when I attempted to walk through my bed instead of around it. This was the day before school started and a week before a Green Day show to which I had held tickets for at least three months.
When I bought the tickets, it sounded like a great idea to buy standing room only; unfortunately, standing room now meant a chance for my already throbbing foot to get absolutely trampled. One saving grace was that the standing-room section was divided into a front and back section, and I had only procured a back ticket. This meant my section wouldn’t be nearly as crowded, but going was still taking a serious risk of mangling my toe much worse than the bed’s leg had done.
Travel Picks of the Week - 11/16/07
Photo:Flickr/SlipperySlap
National pride can be a blessing if it serves as motivation for being a force of change for the betterment of society …or not …if it is used for bragging rights, feeling superior or stereotyping different cultures as curiosities, so away from normal. Rick Steves narrates how travel shatters egocentricism and lets one empathize with human endeavors, irrespective of geographical boundaries, in Good Travel is Thoughtful Travel.
Fascinated by tales and the intrigue of foreign lands and love to experience the adventure of travel, but too afraid of getting it right? Amanda , a seasoned backpacker eases butterflies in the rookie traveler’s belly by sharing her experiences in Vagabondish’s Confessions of a Seasoned Backpacker: Overcoming Your Pre-Trip Fears
