Shrink is Located in Terminal A

by Iva Skoch on

Fear of flying on an airplane is one of those things: you understand it is completely irrational–and all those helpful statistics tell you that it is bazillion times safer than driving–but you just can’t help it. According to Harris Poll, 35% of all adults Americans are somewhat afraid of flying, while 14% are very afraid. The number has been going up, especially rapidly since 9/11.

According to Friday’s USA Today, Buenos Aires responded to the trend by opening a psychiatric clinic called “Poder Volar” (Able to Fly) right at the airport. It is almost too brilliant, a textbook example of demand and supply. Psychiatrist Claudio Pla has 11 years of experience treating aviophobia and charges $70/hour or $200 for an eight-hour therapy.

Is this the end of Xanax?

Potts on Patagonia

by Erik Olsen on

It’s nice to see two great travel writers talk about one of my favorite places. Rolf Potts takes a look at Patagonia…actually he talks with South America expert Wayne Bernhardson about Patagonia. Potts, you may know, now does a regular column on Yahoo, but is also the author of the book Vagabonding, about traveling the world on a shoestring. (He is also the writer of one of my favorite articles of all time about infiltrating the movie set in Thailand where Leo DiCaprio was filming “The Beach”). Bernhardson is a former Lonely Planet writer (10 years there) who now does guidebooks for the good folks at Moon Handboooks. I remember Bernhardson’s work well from when I was living in South America.

Anyway, the important thing here is the topic: Patagonia. Just last night (no kidding) a friend at dinner asked me where he should go if he had 10 days to kill and could go anywhere (he’s kind of an outdoors buff, too, btw). Patagonia, I declared. Head down south and see Torres del Paine, Punta Arenas, Argentina’s Península Valdés…the list goes on. Potts gets Bernhardson to open up about the region’s vast history (also nicely covered in Bruce Chatwin’s On Patagonia) and the many things to do and see in the region. I scribbled some things a ways back about Patagonia, which you can check out here, but take a read of this email interview between Potts and Bernhardson and give some serious thought to heading down South…it is almost spring/summer there, after all.

Photo of the Day (9/4/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on


Something about it being Labor Day and this huge crashing waterfall just felt right together. Caffeineguy took this one while wandering around South America somewhere. Brazil? Argentina? Not entirely sure, but it looks as if he was rather close to the waterfall’s edge. Oh, and I can just hear the loud crashing sound from the falls. That’s how alive this photo is! Good stuff.

Music and Travel

by Erik Olsen on

Man, it was some time ago that I featured here a list of songs I most enjoy listening to while traveling. The list was partly based on some personal experiences with music while I was on the road in various places. That is, years ago I did the five day trek up the Inca Trail. I was drained and tired and beat. Even for a guy who’s pretty fit, the Inca Trail has got some tough spots. Anyway, I put the headphones on and heard Willy Nelson sing Peter Gabriel’s Don’t Give Up, and immediately quickened my step and pushed on. It wasn’t the title of the song, or the words…it was just the sound of Willy’s doleful tenor, some mix of his voice and the incredible surroundings that just clicked and created a moment of immense and meaningful beauty. Music and travel mix like that.

And then later that year, I was standing alone on a cliff over-looking the crashing waves on the Valdez Peninsula in Argentina, miles away from anywhere or anyone, and I head Pearl Jam’s Off He Goes, and well, my spirits soared, my chest puffed out, and my head whirled with the most wonderful feeling of freedom.

I guess the point of all this is that music and travel can create an intoxicating mix. Music adds a dimension to your experience in the moment that can lift your spirits and fill you with a sense of joy that is really incomparable. I was reminded of all this when reading this piece in the SF Chronicle about exactly that: music and travel. The writers sense of music and travel differs slightly from my own, but it is a toic worth thinking about as you load up your ipod for your next adventure.


Beautiful Buenos Aires

by Erik Olsen on

I don’t know about you, but I’m always dreaming about the place I’d go when/if I got rich and where I could settle down for the golden years, do a little work here and there, but otherwise just travel, travel, travel. There are places in the states that have this appeal. I could see hanging out in Montana or Wyoming. And then there are places like Thailand, where I can imagine living in a little village, eating Thai food all the time and penning some great (and likely ever unpublished) novel. But it seems that many folks who have had this idea, many of them in the prime of their youth, are heading South. Far South to .

According to this piece in New York Magazine, since ‘s 2001 financial collapse huge numbers of Americans have headed to BA to live large. The exact numbers are unknown, but the number of Americans registered with the embassy to visit…many for long stays…jumped nearly 13 percent between 2004 and 2005. A second apartment, like the guy in the article bought for himself, cost just $68,000.

I can understand this. I spent two weeks in Buenos Aires years ago and loved the city. The broad avenues, the rich culture, the food (that is, the meat….oh, the meat, don’t get me started on the meat), and the women. Even though I could hardly get a Portena to give me the time of day (they are, I contest, quite snooty) they are mighty fine to look at. So it makes sense that various bond traders who cashed in with their f*ck you numbers have sought BA out as an earthly paradise.