Best Travel Blog: Vote for Us!

by Erik Olsen on

Hey, there’s nothing like a
shameless pitch. This site called the Travel Bloggers
Network is holding a "Best Travel Blog" contest where readers can select the best site out there…or at
least among the ones listed.

Gadling is one
of the listed sites and we’d be mighty grateful if you could feel it in your hearts to go there and vote for us. Why?
Because every day we work our fingers down to the cuticle to bring you the best news and recommendations for travel.
Travel is something we are passionate about, and we hope it shows.

So do us a favor if you are able and go
over and vote. From all of us here at Gadling: thank you!

Coming Eclipse

by Erik Olsen on

Truly ambitious travelers in search of a cool event
might be interested to know that coming March 29th, there will be a near total eclipse of the sun. The Globe and Mail
has an article about the event and how the astronomically hard-core are heading to North Africa and Turkey to view
it. They are saying this is one of the longest and most accessible eclipses in years, and the fact that it is happening
in North Africa, a generally arid place, means that the skies are likely to be clear. One scientist in the story
estimates that if you are close in Bilma, Niger and Jalu, Libya, you are 80 percent likely to see the eclipse in full grandeur.

One of the reasons that enthusiasts are so interested in this is that experts are saying that this may be the
biggest and best eclipse in
years and that you’d have to wait until  2024 for the next great one.

Several operators are providing packages to see the eclipse, so if you’re interested, you ought to take a
look and book early.

Dying Places

by Erik Olsen on

I metioned Angkor Wat just a moment ago as a place, along with the nearby town Siem Reap, that is experiencing some
incredible growth. Expensive hotels are going up everywhere and tourists are climbing all over the ruins themselves,
placing potential pressures on the place that could affect the ruin’s mystique.  There is a genuine threat, I
think, that Angkor could experience serious over exposure in the next couple of years. Well, along these  lines,
USA Today runs a piece
today about the threats posed to
several major spots around the world due to changing environment, bad
management and over-exposure.

At the top of the list is Mount Kilimanjaro, the 19,340-foot-high African
behemoth, whose glaciers are melting at super speed. (i.e. global warming). Similarly, the polar bears of the Hudson
Bay are experiencing a loss of habitat, that is, a loss of sea ice, which they depend on for getting around and where
they find seals to eat.  

Another site in danger are the Ancient Egyptian archaeological sites on the
west bank of the Nile in Luxor, which are threatened by frequent flash flooding and the Egyptian government’s plan to
attract 10 million visitors to Luxor annually by 2010, a major and potentially dangerous increase.

I can
think of other places also in danger. Just take a visit to Yosemite valley in the summer, when hordes of people camp
out and make the valley like Disneyland. These are huge and important issues, and I confess I’d like to see a
documentary about this topic.

PBS Special: David, Kentucky

by Kelly Amabile on

Did
anyone see Frontline’s Country Boys last night? 
It’s an excellent three-part film by David Sutherland (of "The Farmer’s Wife" fame) that profiles the life of
two young men growing up in Eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian region. The film chronicles three years (1999-2002) in the
life of Chris Johnson and Cody Perkins, two at-risk adolescents who are students at The David School, a private school that serves high school students
with deficient academic skills, most of whom live at or below the poverty level. It’s especially fascinating to me to
watch this film because I visited David 13 years ago, but I imagine that many will be moved by this well-crafted and
intimate look at the difficult life of these two young men and their families. In the spring of 1993 I spent a week in
David as part of a college service immersion spring break program. During that week we stayed in the old David School,
and helped with projects surrounding the construction of the new one (featured in the film and pictured here). I was
fortunate to have met the inspiring Danny Greene, the founder of The
David School, and Mary Myron, the school’s art teacher (both appear in the film) I was quite moved by the spirit and
determination of these people when I visited so long ago. Last night as I watched, I was further touched by the efforts
of these two boys as they struggle to beat the odds that are stacked so high against them in this poor rural community.
Check out part-two tonight if you can, or watch online. The full program will be available for online viewing throughout the week, and last
night’s episode should be up there now.

The Worst Places to Travel

by Erik Olsen on

We’ve now bid 2005 adieu, but the world hasn’t changed much since we crossed over. There are still many dangerous places that the timid (or even the not-so-timid-but-still-don’t-want-to-die) to go. I was giving this some thought recently…that is, where would it be really BAD to go right now ,and a couple of obvious hot spots came to mind. For example, Iraq. That US teen went and did it a few weeks ago, and he made big headlines, but suffice to say, you and your honey are not going to pack up and head out to Tikrit for a weekend away. But where else?

I found this site with the rather unsavory name, um polobastards, that lists the place that in 2005 (and 2006 for that matter) would be best to avoid if you’re planning a vacation. Among their listed countries are: Somalia, Niger, Sudan Chechnya, Indonesia and the Palestinian Territories. They provide the reasons why such places are to be avoided, but you can probably figure that out on your own.