Urban Exploration

by Erik Olsen on

When I was a kid I used to explore my town as if it was some exotic land. The places to go were always the places I wasn’t supposed to go: people’s backyards, the basements under stores and restaurants, any kind of tunnel whatsoever, the darkened classrooms and offices of the school at night. We were what are now more formally called urban explorers. Well, OK, sub-urban explorers, because we lived outside of the downtown area of Los Angeles. But no matter, the point is that some people, and this included many if not most of my friends, were really into checking out the world around them, “discovering” places that we’d never seen and going places we knew we weren’t supposed to go.

I’d like to say those days are gone, that I’m a grownup now, but the fact is, I still spend a LOT of my free time just walking around NYC and exploring. No, I don’t break into buildings anymore, but if I see a dark alleyway that looks interesting, or a way to get under a bridge to see a new view of the river, I’ll do it. Urban exploration is still in my blood. But that said, there are some folks for whom the urban exploration idea gets taken to the extreme. They live and die for this stuff. Go over to this site called Infiltration.org, for example, and see some of the stuff they do and the places they go. They offer strategems and tips, all part of an actual book/zine they put out. This is hard core, but still very cool.

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.

Tolkien Visits Hell

by Neil Woodburn on

Locations abroad often inspire great reams of literature from those writers who visit.  Sometimes when that location is the site of a horrific battle, the inspiration is even more feverish–especially if the writer took part in the battle.

A fascinating article on the BBC traces the army-booted footsteps of a young JRR Tolkien, who, fresh out of Oxford, finds himself thrust deep into the Battle of the Somme.  Journalist Lisa Jardine argues that it was this experience of “futile and indiscriminate slaughter” in one of the more horrific battles of World War I that served as the foundation for so many of Tolkien’s battle scenes in The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien’s journey to northern France in 1916 wasn’t a journey to Middle Earth, but one to Hell.  Sadly, the world of literature is better off for it. 

Drive I-95

by Erik Olsen on

Let’s see, if there was one East Coast road that I would be happy to never drive again, what would that road be? Hmmm, probably I-95. Why? It seems to me like every time I take I-95 I get stuck in the worst damn traffic I have ever seen. Well, worst for the East Coast anyway. I’ve spent many an hour of my lifetime on the 405 in So Cal, but that is another story. The 405 actually makes I-95 look like the Autobahn. The reason I bring this up is that I discovered recently one potential way to make I-95 tolerable. Of course that will apply only if you actually have a lot of time to spare and aren’t really headed anywhere important. Most likely that does not apply to you or me. But if it did, then you might just be interested in the Drive I-95 Guide Book.

The book is written for roadtrippers or I-95 slaves who are looking for something more to do while they navigate the Florida-to-Maine roadway. There is information on various roadside amenities, hotels, motels, restaurants and services. Oh, the services. It’s a handy book, I suppose, with lots of maps showing what’s coming up at each exit, like ATMs, pet-friendly lodging, gas stations, outlet shops and landmarks. No whore houses apparently. They left those out. But if you’re like me and you are curious about what lies on the other side of those highway walls as you speed on your way, this might be a nice little reference giude to have. 

Not Such a Lonely Planet

by Neil Woodburn on

Every once in a while I come across an article that really speaks to me, that perfectly captures some absolute truth or other gem of wisdom I hold sacred. 

This time around it is writer Rory Maclean who, in a recent Guardian article, addresses the concept of a “lonely planet” become even less so.  She travels to Kathmanu to speak with one of the original hippies who took off from Britain in the 1960s and headed east towards India with no travel books in hand.  This was uncharted territory where few tourists had ventured and even less books existed to guide the way.  This was a time when “pushing the frontier” meant just that.  Travel was jumping off a bus in some strange town in Bhutan you knew nothing about and hoping you could find accommodations for the night.

Over the course of time, however, as the travel industry boomed and “more and more young people hit the road, fewer and fewer roads remained unmarked by their passing,” Maclean writes.  Today, guidebooks cover nearly every inch of this planet and as a result, there are very few frontiers to cross.  Those isolated villages, empty beaches, and secret pagodas so joyously discovered by random chance are now crammed with travelers clutching the latest edition of Rough Guide or Lonely Planet that has pointed them there.  The places themselves change to accommodate such travelers as locals hope to grab increasingly larger chunks of the $500 billion-a-year travel industry. 

It’s a sad irony, but travelers have indeed ruined traveling. 

And, I’m just as guilty as everyone else.