Lonely Planet’s The Cities Book

by Erik Olsen on

Prepare to be dazzled…and to give the biceps a nice workout at the same time. Lonely Planet has released a new book…a tome, really…that takes a quick and dirty and luscious view of many of the world’s great cities. And a couple of the crappy ones too. The book, called simply Lonely Planet The Cities Book ($31.50 on Amazon)  is a monster, with the hardcover edition weighing in at almost five pounds. But that is five pounds of eye-savoring goodness. This is not a book you’re going to take with you; this is a book you’re going to keep on your coffee table and salivate on after a long day of work with dreams of long-term international escape flitting about your brain.

The book covers 200 of what the editors call “the most vibrant, diverse, hypnotic and chaotic cities in the world”, which have been given esteemed rank by the people who, presumably, know what they are talking about :namely, Lonely Planet’s staff, authors, and readers. The book contains factoids and information on each city that is enough to whet your whistle, but may also send you to Wikipedia to learn more. Several of the sample sections are: Vital statistics, which provides the city’s strengths (i.e. great views, beaches, interesting culture) and weaknesses (i.e. stodgy cuisine). There are also interesting bits like “Starring role in” which lists the various movies or poetry or books that the cities have been featured in (i.e. Auckland was the place where The Chronic (what?!) cles of Narnia was filmed).

They have obviously made ample use of the Lonely Planet Images stock photo library, because the book is sumptuously illustrated with photos that do a fine job giving you an immediate visual impression of a place. In all honesty, the biggest problem is that you want more. You want the pictures for each city to go on for pages and pages rather than just one or two.

Probably the best part about the book is learning a little bit about cities you’ve never heard of, or know only a little about. (Kyviv, Dhaka, Abuja).

This book would make not only a fine gift, but also a superb addition to your coffee table. It’s the kind of book that you can thumb through as you’re forced to endure some dreary TV show that your wife wants to watch (or was that just me?).

Racing to the Pole…on 4 Wheels

by Erik Olsen on

A really cool story from the guys at Autoblog who introduce us to Voyage Concepts’ Jason De Carteret, who is leading a team of drivers into uncharted racing territory in, of all places, Antarctica. The effort puts a new spin on our notions of the land/speed record as the team will hurtle from the Antarctica port of Patriot Hills to the geographical South Pole in just over 69 hours, averaging marginally more than 10 MPH over the 700-mile trek.

The team will be riding in a somewhat unorthodox vehicle, a heavily-modified 15-passenger Econoline van, “which was converted to a 6×6 drive configuration and outfitted with 44″ tall tires”, to quote the autoblog guys. They also tell us that the van’s 7.3L Powerstroke engine burned 360 gallons of diesel along the way. Ah, gotta love efforts to stop global warming.

WikiTravel

by Erik Olsen on

Most folks have probably spent some time messing around on Wikipedia. I know I have. In fact, the other night I literally spent four hours just browsing through all the pages and links dedicated to Pink Floyd (and yes, I’m going to read the new book out about them…when I can get the reading time).

But if you are a serious traveler and you have not spent some time playing around on WikiTravel, you’re missing out. The guides here are nicely filled out (for certain areas, that is), by people who know these places well or who have been there. It is like have a  Lonely Planet or Rough Guides online and for free.

And sometimes the info is even better than you get from a Rough Guides or Lonely Planet because it’s more nicely fleshed out and there are links to the various sites mentioned. I am adding WikiTravel to my bookmarks, BIG time.

The Da Vinci, um, Dress Code

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s a story that many of us who have traveled a fair amount can relate to. The travelers dress code. Now, the one thing about this article that I don’t agree with is the tone that somehow Americans who go abroad are somehow worse dressers than people from other countries. I mean, have you ever seen the Israelis? A few years in the army with all that intense regimentation, and all the kids want to do is let loose and see the world in tattered sandals, ripped t-shirts and greasy dreadlocks.

But Americans, especially young ones, do commit their share of Dress Code Fouls. And the idea behind this article originally from the Chicago Trib is that, given where America’s image lies these days (i.e. somewhere behind Morocco and just ahead of Botswana) we ought to be doing a better job presenting ourselves when over seas. I couldn’t agree more. It aggravates me to no end to see Americans traveling abroad wearing old, crappy clothing and smelling like they’re homeless.

I’m not one to advocate any particular style of dress, but the piece here offers some suggestions. To wit: “Clean khakis or jeans, a nice shirt and Rockports will do for men. So will capris or slacks, a blouse and comfortable shoes for women.” Rockports? OK, nevermind that. But for the sake of our global image, folks, let’s start dressing up, if just a little.

WorldHum Top 30 Travel Books

by Erik Olsen on


I’ve been wanting to do a top travel books post for a long time, but each time I start to compile a list, I am overcome with profound self-loathing over how few of the supposed “great” travel books I’ve actually read. Sure, sure, I’ve read most of the biggies, the Therouxs, the Chatwins, the Brysons, I even picked up and savored a St. Exupery recently. But taking a look at the list of Top 30 Travel Books over at Worldhum, I realized that my travel reading repertoire is pathetically anemic. Their number one pick, for example, is the book “Arabian Sands” by Wilfred Thesiger, which I have never read. No. 2 is “The Road to Oxiana” by Robert Byron. Ditto. Not until we get to Theroux’s Great Railway Bazaar at number three do we get to a book I’ve read. And thereafter there are a smattering of others I’ve read — Pico Iyer, Bryson, Mark Twain, Matthiessen — but still many others I have not. Oh well. Let’s just say that we can be thankful to folks like Worldhum to help us improve our libraries as we move swiftly into summer and the reading season.