Happy 4th of July From Saratoga

by Erik Olsen on

I was thinking about the very best place I could be this Fourth of July to celebrate our country’s birthday. Boston? Sure, but too crowded. Philadelphia? Yeah, but so obvious. Also, I didn’t want to travel very far. I thought Brooklyn was a good idea, especially since David McCullough’s book 1776 talks so much about it. The Battle of Brooklyn was one of those pivotal events in the history of the nation that’s gone largely unheralded.

But what else? How about the place where it all really started? No, not Plymouth Rock. I’m talking about the place where the fight for independence really started. OK, give up? Well, I am in Saratoga Springs this weekend, and I just got back moments ago from the Saratoga Battlefield, the location of one of the most pivotal battles in all of American history.

 I’ll spare you the history lesson and merely point you to the Wikipedia site to get your fix, but suffice it to say that it was because we proved our mettle here on these very fields that the French thought us worthy of their support. We took on the superior British forces of General John Burgoyne and forced him to surrender to a ragtag group of pissed off colonists. And it was that battle that made the French decide to throw a little succor our way, enough help to propel us on our way to nationhood. In fact, many historians say that without that support, we might never have won the war.

So here I am on the very ground where this whole independence thing really took off. Pretty damn cool. And  hey, if you haven’t already noticed by the photos here…it’s kinda pretty.

Afghan Wildlife Reserves

by Erik Olsen on

What a fine idea. Not that anyone will ever go, mind you. Of course, perhaps that’s the point.

What am I talking about? Why, Afghanistan, of course. That distant, dangerous land, where nary a Christian soul dares to tread without military escort. And it is in Afghanistan that the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society has decided to launch an effort to establish some wildlife reserves there. Because we know how much the Taliban likes to take care of its animals and the natural surroundings, let alone the man-made Buddha shaped ones.

Naw, I’m being cynical. I know that the Taliban were mostly run off by “coalition forces”. I know that things are peachy keen there now and what’s needed are efforts like this to bring in tourists and Western know how. So I’ll cut them some slack and offer a few hand claps. But the interesting subtext here is that there are supposedly some lovely lands in Afghanistan, in case all you saw were endlessly dreary brown hills when watching the news. In fact, according to the group. Afghan lands are some of the most beautiful wild lands in Asia. So, lets save our scrutiny and scorn for later. For now, let’s celebrate the effort and hoe that we all might be on lion country safari in Afghanistan soon.

UNESCO Site

by Neil Woodburn on

The United Nations certainly has its share of missteps and mistakes, but there are many wonderful things the organization does as well.  My personal favorite is their UNESCO program.  The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is most notably known for their World Heritage sites.  UNESCO has identified and helps protect 812 “properties” around the world that “forms part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.”  This includes “628 cultural, 160 natural and 24 mixed properties.”

In short, UNESCO World Heritage Sites are those which simply cannot be missed while traveling.  Thankfully, a handy UNESCO website categorizes such gems by the countries in which they are located.  Clicking on each listing takes you to a wealth of information about the site and why it deserves such an honor.
 
So, next time you travel, pop on over to the webpage to see which World Heritage Sites you can add to your itinerary.  I’ve seen dozens and not a single one has ever been disappointing. 

Not Such a Lonely Planet

by Neil Woodburn on

Every once in a while I come across an article that really speaks to me, that perfectly captures some absolute truth or other gem of wisdom I hold sacred. 

This time around it is writer Rory Maclean who, in a recent Guardian article, addresses the concept of a “lonely planet” become even less so.  She travels to Kathmanu to speak with one of the original hippies who took off from Britain in the 1960s and headed east towards India with no travel books in hand.  This was uncharted territory where few tourists had ventured and even less books existed to guide the way.  This was a time when “pushing the frontier” meant just that.  Travel was jumping off a bus in some strange town in Bhutan you knew nothing about and hoping you could find accommodations for the night.

Over the course of time, however, as the travel industry boomed and “more and more young people hit the road, fewer and fewer roads remained unmarked by their passing,” Maclean writes.  Today, guidebooks cover nearly every inch of this planet and as a result, there are very few frontiers to cross.  Those isolated villages, empty beaches, and secret pagodas so joyously discovered by random chance are now crammed with travelers clutching the latest edition of Rough Guide or Lonely Planet that has pointed them there.  The places themselves change to accommodate such travelers as locals hope to grab increasingly larger chunks of the $500 billion-a-year travel industry. 

It’s a sad irony, but travelers have indeed ruined traveling. 

And, I’m just as guilty as everyone else. 

Slow Baby Bouncies

by Erik Olsen on

Sorry….this is not a travel-related post. Unless you count making the effort to get out to Brooklyn to play kickball traveling…which I suppose it would be if you were coming from, say, Nebraska. And I wouldn’t fault you if you decided to do that, either. Let’s face it, for people of my generation (let’s just say thirty-something), kickball was a major formative childhood experience. Depending on your skill-level, your natural athletic ability, and the desired kind of kick you were hoping for, you generally had a favorite sort of pitch. Tall bounces were for people who had little coordination and needed to really see and feel the space between the foot and the ball. A ground roll was for fledgling soccer players who knew how to really get under the ball and wanted to deliver low line drives. But for me, slow baby bouncies was the only way to go .The slow baby bouncy, or SBB, provided just enough room between foot and ground to assure maximum lift, while reducing the uncertainties of having the pitch poorly timed if it was pitched high. In other words, high pitches often arrived near your foot high in the air, making them almost impossible to get the maximum force behind your kick.

Well, all of this technical detail is probably way beyond most folks who have never before played the sport. In fact, I apologize and actually feel sorry for the poor souls who have never engaged in the artful ballet that is schoolyard kickball. But for those of us who do understand the hidden depth of the game, I point you to an interview on Gothamist with Kevin Dailey, who started a kickball league in Brooklyn. Now, I’ll stop gon on about what a marvelous sport kickball is and let the interview speak for itself. Let’s just say that it brought back some warm, wonderful memories…and will likely have me dreaming tonight…dreaming of those slow baby bouncies.