The Happiest Country on Earth is…

by Adrienne Wilson on

For those of you unfamiliar with the reality TV series Survivor or have better things to do with your time than watch average folk battle it our for prizes and such by competing in gladiator type competitions, you may not be familiar Vanuatu. Perhaps, you’re fortunate enough to know about the group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean without the help of television and if you are you may also like to know that Vanuatu has ranked tops as the world’s happiest country. According to this Yahoo News piece, a study measuring people’s wellbeing and their impact on the environment has ranked Vanuatu at the top with Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama trailing close behind to complete the world’s top 5 happiest places to reside. Not really surprising if you ask me. Islands always come off as cheerful places to me and having been to Costa Rica myself, I could certainly see myself living there. As far as Vanuatu is concerned – I’d love to go there as much as I’d love to go to Somalia. Happiness is what you make it.

The Happy Planet Index is complied by the British New Economics Foundation (NEF) and also combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint to rank countries. Hopefully the results won’t drive herds of shutter-bug tourists to happy little Vanuatu or away from Zimbabwe, an African country my friend finds as one of the best, but ranks 178 on the list. The U.S. comes in at 150, Canada (111), France (129), Germany (81), Japan (95) and Russia (172).

What do you think? Agree or disagree? What do you consider the happiest place on Earth?

Word for the Travel Wise (07/12/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

For the herds of you heading over to Pakistan next month – just thought to point out the 57th celebration of independence from British rule occurring on August 14. Anyone with a Lonely Planet guide is probably well aware and ready to party like a local, but just thought I’d throw it out there along with the word for today.

Today’s word is an Urdu word used in Pakistan:

saman – luggage

Urdu is the official language of the country, spoken by some 61 million natives and 104 million total. The language falls under the Indo-Aryan family, developed under Persian, Turkish, and Arabic. From my own Persian studies I’ve noticed several closely related if not exact same word. Unless someone out there has a few recommendations on learning Urdu on the web other than what is provided here, this could be a small challenge. For some basics on the script and general background info visit UK India. Otherwise I’d say it’s time to head over to My Language Exchange to find some native speakers looking to swap your lingo knowledge for theirs. Click here for a pretty good blog on a world of Urdu topics.

Past Urdu words: khatarnak

What Color is Your Jockstrap

by Erik Olsen on

Everyone who has spent some time traveling has got some hilarious (or tragic) story about something that happened to them. That’s one of the wonders of travel, after all, and one of the joys. Most often the remembrance of these stories resides in the mind of the beholder or as chicken scratch entries in a personal journal. But some of these stories (thankfully for all of us) find their way into print, and make for wonderful reading. One company out there has done a masterful job putting these stories into book form, providing required reading for all of us who enjoy a good yarn, and who are often on the lookout for layman’s travel literature that takes us beyond the instructional factoids found in guidebooks.

That company is Travelers’ tales. You might remember we had the pleasure a while back on interviewing the president of TT, James O’Reilly. Well, they are still at it big time, and one of the bright new reads available takes a somewhat new angle on travel lit: horror/humorous stories written exclusively (or, mostly) by men. I have not yet read this new book, with it’s giggle-inducing title What Color is Your Jockstrap (one note: who wears a jockstrap while traveling?), I know the editor, Jen Leo, and can therefore be pretty certain the the stories inside are themselves giggle inducing, if not gut-busting. Leo’s earlier books, The Thong Also Rises and Sand in My Bra are great reads. They can be picked up and read in short bursts, as the stories are quick and short and easy to digest. I suspect her new gender specific tome is equally as delicious and, um, digestible.

Travel Writing’s Travails

by Erik Olsen on

For those who have ever entertained dreams of gallivanting off to exotic lands to pen travel guides, hold on just a moment. The travel-guide writing life ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, when you are a guidebook writer, you are more likely to find yourself checking under toilet seats or sniffing mattresses than hanging on the beach or sipping tropical drinks with the locals.  The job is work, not vacation. There was an interesting article about this in a particular paper about which I cannot write. But as a secondary source, I point you to two places. Both of these sites actually do a fine job conveying what life as a travel writer is like. In this site by the travel writer Leif Pettersen, who happens to be in right now, we learn a lot about guide writing in Eastern Europe. Here in this post he coaches you along to help you nurture your skills of asking for free carp…um, I mean crap. 

And then in one of my old stand-bys, I urge you to pay a visit to FriskoDude, aka Carl Parkes, who often ruminates on this very subject. And even if you can’t find a post to your liking (unlikely), you can at least admire his wonderful sense of humor in the photos he posts.

So where do I stand on this topic, you ask? Well, I would love to write a travel guide. I hate the fact that the money is as bad as it is. I think the whole guidebook thing should be a form of profit sharing. But obviously any time there is such high demand for a job, there are going to be talented people willing to do it for next to nothing…if not nothing. That said, if I had many-a-million dollars right now, I might just go out and write a travel guide for fun…smelly mattresses be damned.

Latitudes July

by Erik Olsen on

It’s that time again for us to direct you to one of our favorite online travel magazines: Latitudes.  I think I’ve been pretty consistent for perhaps a year or more in drawing attention to this lavishly photographed, often quirky little travel publication.

Every month they cover places that you don’t often read about in magazines like Travel and Leisure, although they cover some that do make it into the mags as well. This month we’re talking Congo (come on…who ever covers the Congo?!), Antarctica, Bhutan, Barcelona and more.
 
But what I like most about Latitudes, or the Web version at least, is how sumptuous the pages are, and how they introduce fun little flash animations or sound in some of the stories. It’s always a pleasure to read, and more often than not will fill your head with notions of immediate escape.