Man sets out on 5,000 mile hike throughout Asia to raise money for charity

by Jessica Festa on

Winston Fiore, a 26 year old Marine from Bloomington, Indiana, has set out on a 5,000 mile journey, by foot, throughout Southeast Asia and China. Fiore arrived in Southeast Asia on September 25, 2011, for what is called “Smile Trek”, and is projecting it will take him a year to walk the entire route, which begins and ends in Singapore.

The goal of the journey is to raise $50,000 or more for the International Children’s Surgery Foundation, a not-for-profit that provides children in developing countries with free corrective surgery. Through fundraising efforts, such as giving presentations at rotary clubs across the United States as well as having help from the CouchSurfing community who have helped organize benefit dinners, charity walks, and media interviews, Fiore has been able to raise over $28,000 for the cause.

Fiore’s inspiration for Smile Trek stems from an experience he had when training for the Marines in a very poor region of Lingure, Senegal. When he returned home, he read a newspaper article about a successful plastic surgeon in the United States who gave up his career to perform free surgeries in developing nations for children with cleft palates and lips. From there, the idea began to grow.

To follow Fiore’s Smile Trek or donate to his cause, visit his blog here.

Download Wikitravel to your smartphone for free

by Grant Martin on

One of the biggest difficulties for the modern traveler in a foreign country is in acquiring smartphone data. Domestic telecom companies, still stuck in the stone age of pricing models charge a ridiculous amount for international data, and horror stories about $85,000 phone bills have flooded the internet.

Without a data plan to download Google Maps or reference the cloud for research, dynamic and engaged travel becomes difficult, and a great deal of planning needs to be done in preparation to avoid connecting.

Of course, a full range of smartphone apps have entered the market that are capable of alleviating part of this problem. Lonely Planet and a variety of other guides for most cities are available to download online. But each of those guides is for a singular city, and in many cases, the guides cost a moderate amount of money.

For a free alternative, Gadling Labs discovered a great set of apps tied to Wikitravel that allow you to download the entire database of destinations to your phone (minus the pictures) and use that as a wireless-data-free reference. For android, use OxygenGuide. All that you have to do is download the database (about 55Mb or 10 songs), put it on your phone and link to it in your browser — there are instructions on the site. The more user-friendly iPhone has an app called iTravelFree that allows users to download data and store it locally.

A recent trip to Seoul brought an excellent opportunity to test out the OxygenGuide. With no internet on the plane, the Seoul Wikitravel page was loaded to research a few different hotel options and learn the layout of the city. During the brief layover in Osaka, a reservation could quickly be made before scrambling over to the Asiana flight bound for Korea.

As far as interface goes, since no pictures are involved (that would take up too much space) the Wikitravel guides are a fairly bulky, word-heavy read, with spartan menus linking directly to each destination and very little search functionality. But on the flip side of the coin, it’s free, it gets rid of the nasty need to rely on international data plans and it’s a public project with good intent.

Consider this the food co-op of travel guides – by the people, for the people and with no frills to distract you.

[flickr image via Mr. T in DC]

New online class teaches travelers how to make money on the road

by Jessica Festa on

On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, at 9PM EST (6PM PST), Unconventional Guides will host an online class on working from the road and how to make a living while traveling. The class promises that “if you are determined and committed, you can make this happen”.

The class will cover the following topics:

  • The truth about passive income
  • A 5-step plan that will allow you to make money on the road
  • Providing a service vs. creating a product
  • Different forms of work and various travel styles
  • How to handle taxes, mail, and health insurance
  • Non-profit and for-profit business creation
  • Volunteering abroad
  • Freelancing
  • Answers to more than 40 frequently asked questions

The class is only open to a limited number of students, so if you’re interested, click here to sign up.

Ajungo, the new social network platform just for travelers

by Jessica Festa on

Sick of searching through advice sites and hearing reviews from who only knows? Wish you could connect with other travelers about past or upcoming trips and events? Love social networking but wish you could interact with others in your travel niche? Then there is a brand new social media website just for travelers that brings together all of these platforms into one site.

Ajungo, created by Ben Barton and Steve Shea, is a brand new networking site that allows travelers to connect before, during, and after a trip. Here is how it works:

1) Create a profile and link all of your social networking sites. What this does is allows the site to funnel through your social networking platforms to pull information and funnel it around specific
destinations.

2) Find others who have been to your destination of choice and look through their posted trip or ask them for advice. Or, you can find others who will be in your destination of choice and plan to meet up or travel together.

3) Create your trip canvas, which consists of enabling the sites real-time travel guide feature so that the site can pull your photos and updates while you’re on your trip. This allows other travelers to learn from your experience as well as acts like a blog or trip journal by keeping your trip memories organized and sharing them with friends.

The goal of the site is to make travel more social as well as more comfortable for people going to new destinations. And, if there is any information that you do not want shared, the site will not post it without your permission.

Make connections with travelers, view their trips, find travel buddies, or just interact with others in the travel community. It is all possible on Ajungo.

Crossing Japan in a day with National Geographic’s Digital Nomad

by Kraig Becker on

With its unique culture, diverse landscapes, and rich history, Japan has long been a popular destination for travelers visiting Asia. The country offers everything from sprawling high tech cities to beautiful countrysides, and is as captivating for its food and art, as it is for its people. National Geographic’s Digital Nomad Andrew Evans has been traveling through Japan for several weeks now, posting on everything from the country’s love for baseball to the therapeutic experience that comes with a “sand bath.”

One of the more interesting aspects of traveling through Japan is the bullet train, so named because of their distinctive shapes and the fact that they routinely hit speeds in excess of 150 mph. The trains are well known for being safe, efficient, and on time, making them a popular way to get around the country. Recently, Andrew, who has written for Gadling on numerous occasions, wanted to see if he could cross the length of the country by train in a single day – a journey of more than 1200 miles. The result is the video below, which gives us a glimpse of the urban landscapes that dot Japan, while providing insights into what its like to travel on their famous trains – sushi box and all.