From Nessie to Sharks: Best Travel Stories of the Week
Having just watch the heavily promoted movie The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007); I couldn’t help but to wonder about Nessie. The Loch Ness Monster is probably one of the most talked about mysteries in the world, which has brought up overwhelming controversies: is it really real? Is it just a merely overrated folklore? Is there a scientific explanation for Nessie’s existence? Or worse yet, is Nessie just a big, puffed up lie told by a circus mogul?
The Three Wise (Business) Men
On the Gobi Desert the author meets three men on camels, bearing gifts that can be yours for a very good price.
Dying for Comfort: Backpacking Solo on the Thames River
It was 3 AM and I was wide-awake, huddling under questionably clean sheets in a hostel bunk. There are usually lots of reasonable causes for insomnia in these grimy, youth-oriented lodgings: anything from blaring communal televisions, phone calls made from hallways, to 19-year old backpackers loudly professing their degree of inebriation. However, none of these things were the culprit. I had chosen to toss and turn because I had convinced myself that the next evening I would be bludgeoned to death on the side of the Thames River.
And the Winner is…
We might have underestimated the enthusiasm of our passionate writers, as we received an overwhelming number of great stories from all over the world for our $150 Writing Contest. Nonetheless, we were very pleased that the contest received an eager response from both writers and readers alike. We do apologize for the late announcement, but we assure you that judging a contest for these talented writers was not an easy task!
Of Waterfalls and Water Cuts
After the 15-year old mechanic came to our rescue with the small but essential part that was necessary for us to continue with our trip, we were on our way. Heat and dust and diesel fuel do not begin to describe just how terrible the conditions of our journey were; suffice it to say that when you blew your nose, black diesel came out of your nostrils and the same was true when you applied Q-tips to the inside of your ears. Parts of the road were so full of potholes that our driver kept veering off the road entirely to avoid them, sometimes even in the face of oncoming traffic, which I found not a little scary, partly because of the nonchalance with which this was done.
Best Travel Picks of the Week: April 19, 2008
Whenever I travel, I always want it to be a memorable holiday. And I’m sure you do too. But if I’m not traveling with a tour, it’s sometimes hard to do the planning by myself. Yes, visiting a whole new place can be strangely unfamiliar and just devastating—especially if you don’t speak the language. Only the best travel guidebook can show me how to whip up a cunning itinerary, and to tell you the truth, I owe most of my amazing travel experiences to these guidebooks. There are plenty of travel guidebooks tourists can choose from—Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodor’s… just to name a few. But which one is the best? Which one will help you make the most of your holiday? Which one gives you the best insider’s tips in an unfamiliar country? Which has the best listings on what to do and what’s not? Michel from Travelnotes.org gives us his review of Travel Guidebooks, their plus points and the downers, and what exactly you should be cautious about when you have to rely on these books on your trip. (Photo credit: Flickr/leftbrokeneye03)
On the Road Again
“It’s not a good sign that we are pushing this early on,” said one man grimly.
