Podcast of Lonely Planet Founders

by Neil Woodburn on

While some people hate Tony Wheeler for bringing travelers to undiscovered lands and ruining them as a result, others herald him as a travel god who has provided reams of knowledge about obscure locations people wouldn’t have visited otherwise.

Tony Wheeler is, of course, the brains behind the Lonely Planet empire. He and his wife began the publishing company after a backpacking trip through Europe and Asia during which they discovered a dearth of information for travelers exploring the region. Like any good entrepreneur, the husband and wife duo sought to fill this niche and Lonely Planet was born. Since their first publication, Across Asia on the Cheap, the publishing house has expanded to cover nearly every country in the world and has become one of the most trusted brands of guidebooks on the market today.

Simon Calder, a regular columnist for The Independent, recently caught up with Tony and his wife Maureen and recorded a nifty podcast of their discussion. To listen in and learn more about these travel gurus, click here.

Indianapolis Vonnegut Festival

by Neil Woodburn on

It takes a pretty important writer to have an entire city celebrate his existence for an entire year. But Kurt Vonnegut is an important writer and his hometown of Indianapolis knows it.

Of course, he doesn’t live there now (opting, like so many successful writers, to live in New York), but the city of his birth and upbringing still claims him as his own. That is why Mayor Bart Peterson has officially deemed 2007 as “The Year of Vonnegut.”

Celebrations will include Vonnegut-themed lectures, readings, theaters, exhibitions, book clubs and films.

It seems that quite a bit of attention is also being focused on Vonnegut’s German ancestry. A series of German based concerts will be held throughout the year, as well as workshops focusing on German handicrafts such as Scherenschnitte, “the German tradition and folk art of paper cutting.”

Most importantly, the man himself will appear on April 28 to speak at Clowes Memorial Hall as part of the Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture series. I’ve heard him speak before, and believe me, you don’t want to miss this.

Lastly, just in case his books aren’t as immortal as we all believe, they will be carefully sealed in a time capsule so that future readers can enjoy them as well–unless of course, someone dropped the ice-nine and the future is encased in a block of ice.

30 years after Alex Haley’s Roots, Juffureh is still a travel destination

by Jamie Rhein on

It’s been 30 years since Alex Haley’s Roots became a cultural touchstone in the United States. For those of you too young to remember, this book chronicles the life of Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kenteh who was captured in The Gambia and sold into slavery. The book was a blockbuster and the TV miniseries made LaVar Burton a known actor. Nowadays, many know Burton as Lt. Geordi LaForge from the Star Trek TV series and Roots has moved out of the radar of popular culture.

The recent NPR story about the 30th year anniversary got me thinking about Juffureh, the Gambian town where Kunta Kinteh lived. When Roots came out, Juffureh was put on the map as a tourist place to visit. Haley’s distant relatives spoke to those who came to this small village for a look-see in combination with a visit to nearby James Island where Africans were herded onto ships for the grim journey across the Atlantic.

Several years after Roots influenced American consciousness, I headed to The Gambia myself as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I never made it to Juffreh for whatever reason, probably because, on free weekends, I visited volunteers who were posted in other towns. Juffureh, however is still a tourist destination. Gambia Tours and Travel Ltd. offers a day trip to Juffureh where visitors travel up the Gambia River for the tour that looks like something I would really like to take. Haley’s relatives still talk with visitors. It would be interesting to see how the last 30 years have impacted them.

I have been to Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal which was also a large slave trading port. Goree Island is a stunning contrast to what humans can do-lovely architecture with a Portuguese influence on one hand– and utter cruelty and devastation on the other. What I like about these tours is that they show both.

Literary L.A.

by Neil Woodburn on

Most people think of Los Angeles as a cultural wasteland dominated by starlets and sun worshipers.

This is simply not the case. Los Angelenos, for example, actually purchase more books than any city in America. Yes, even more than high-brow New York.

In fact, Los Angeles–unbeknownst to the mass of tourists who flock to Disneyland and Venice Beach–has a very rich literary heritage well worth exploring. If you think I am a biased Los Angelino spouting off, spare a moment to check out Get Literary in Los Angeles–an article which recently appeared in New York Magazine.

Sari Lahrer takes us on a journey through the city’s literary haunts conveniently sorted out by category; hotels (Sunset Tower Hotel — home to Truman Capote and mentioned in Raymond Chandler books), restaurants (Musso & Frank Grill – hang out for Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Faulkner), and bookstores (Book Soup — Norman Mailer and David Mamet will be doing readings there this month).

As an added bonus, Lahrer also takes us on a journey which focuses specifically on the favorite dives of Charles Bukowski. Make sure to put on your drinking hat for this one.

Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo

by Willy Volk on

Beth Whitman is woman who enjoys exploring the world on her own. Having logged hundreds of thousands of solo miles around the globe, Whitman decided she needed to encourage other women to shed their inhibitions and experience the travel-joys she has. To do that, she’s developed a website, For Women Traveling Solo, which provides inspiration and tips, um, for women traveling solo. She also maintains a blog, which says she’s in India, enjoying the culture, and, like Justin, admiring the local plumbing situation. If you’re as crazy about Beth as she is about travel, you can check out her other blog, running on the Seattle PI’s website.

Somehow, in between traveling and blogging, Whitman still found the time to dash off a book, Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo. Offering inspiration, encouragement, information and anecdotes, Wanderlust aims to help women travel safely, comfortably — and fun-ly! Including ideas for creating your own dream journey, and providing resources and advice from other solo women travelers, Wanderlust offers suggestions for how women can travel alone without feeling lonely.