Wikitravel to publish hardcopy editions of its guides

by Justin Glow on

I’m a big, oscillating fan of Wikitravel. For those of you not in the know, Wikitravel is the Wikipedia of guidebooks. In fact, I rarely travel with a real guidebook anymore these days. Usually my pack is stuffed with what I like to call a “Frankenbook”: bits and pieces of various guidebook pages torn out and stapled together with online print-outs — mostly made up of Wikitravel guides.

My inkjet printer will be out at the bars tonight celebrating, because the Wikitravel team just announced that it has begun publishing hardcopy editions of various guides from the website. And best of all, it’s printed on-demand, so you get the most recent update (within the month) when you order. They write,

“At Wikitravel Press, we select the best ones, give them to our carefully selected local editors to polish and fact-check, and then typeset them with our revolutionary one-click Yucca engine. This lets us update the guides from top to bottom every single month. When you order online, a fresh copy is printed just for you and shipped to your doorstop in less than a week.”

How cool is that? For more information, go here.

[Via Boing Boing]

Bananas, politics and the economy

by Jamie Rhein on

If you eat bananas in your cereal for breakfast and don’t refrigerate them because you were taught not to, there’s a reason. There’s a new book out called Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World that explains those habits, as well as how the Victorian era folks had a penchant for masking its shape lest it offend anyone. Most importantly, the book covers the politics of how the banana gained its fame, making fortunes for some and misery for others.

Terry Gross interviewed Dan Koeppel, the author of the book on Fresh Air yesterday. I caught part of the show and was fascinated. The story of the banana incorporates much of the world, offering insight into world economics and politics, particularly in Central America. The banana, for example, led to the overthrowing of the president of Guatemala in the 1950s and his exile.

During the conversation they also talked about the various types of bananas there are in the world and why they aren’t sold in the U.S. Buying various types of bananas overseas is a market going pleasure. I’ve found that the ones not much bigger than a finger are often the sweetest. There are these reddish colored ones, though, that are quite yummy. Reading this book, I think, would make a person eye those bananas in the grocery store in a different light. I do.

(Here’s the link to the broadcast page.)

No Wrong Turns: Portland’s Powell’s, Ponies and Police

by Kelsey Mulyk on

After a harrowing drive from Calgary to Vancouver due to ice, snow, and psychotic truck drivers, Tom and I managed to make it to Vancouver to visit with family and get one more vaccine for our trip.

Next up was Portland, Oregon. But we had to cross the US border and play nice with the officers. The conversation that took place in the car before went like this:

Me: “Ok, so I know they ask all sorts of personal questions but it is their country.”
Tom: “I know, I know, but I hate telling them stuff.”
Me: “I know, but you cannot refuse to answer questions or be difficult, they can send us home.”
Tom: “I KNOW!”
Me: “Kill ’em with kindness.”

Fortunately all went well at the border. They did make us pull over and go inside, but I think that was because Tom carries a New Zealand passport, not a Canadian. He had to fill out some random card that asks if you were a Nazi (even if you were, would you answer yes?), get fingerprinted, and have a photo taken that apparently will remain on file forever. Tom was pretty pissed about having things on file forever but that seems to be how the US rolls these days. Really, who can blame them? On the plus side the officer who helped us was really nice. I am not sure if that is any consolation for Tom.

We arrived in Portland late at night after managing not to be killed by the speedy highway drivers. Portland has a great vibe and our host was extremely pleased to have us stay there. In our wanderings we found out a few really neat things about Portland:

They have the largest independent bookstore in the world called Powell’s. It takes up a whole city block and carries both used and new books. We spent an entire afternoon perusing the aisles and barely made it past two sections.

Another interesting tidbit about Portland is its plastic ponies. You know, like the kid’s toy. They are found in older parts of Portland tied to metal rings that are embedded in the sidewalks. Back in the day these rings were used to tie one’s horse to in the city. It all started as an art project, called The Horse Project. In 2005, Scott Wayne Indiana decided that horses should be tied to these rings again. So he started tying these miniature horses to the rings, and eventually gained notoriety. The plastic ponies of Portland have stuck. Tom and I only managed to see one, though we spent lots of time looking. The website has a map of locations for those interested.

One more interesting fact about Portland: I saw police officers on Segways. Two burly guys in fluorescent-yellow jackets rolled right by us. Unfortunately I was not fast enough with my camera, because I was too busy trying not to stare and laugh. You’ll just have to take my word for it.

Next up: the California Coast.

“No Wrong Turns” chronicles Kelsey and her husband’s road trip — in real time — from Canada to the southern tip of South America in their trusty red VW Golf named Marlin.

Rick Steves on meaningful travel

by Jamie Rhein on

We’ve written about Rick Steves before. Neil hates him. (Not really, just jealous as all get out) and Aaron explored Steves’ guidebook writing know-how. Not long ago, Justin put some light on Rick Steves’ rap talents, or lack thereof. I catch Rick Steves from time to time on NPR and have some jealous pangs myself.

Recently, I came across this video of Steves on YouTube where he talks about the importance of traveling with meaning. Listening to him talk about what travel means to him provides insight into what motivates any of us to head to a place that is different from where we live. In Steves’ experience, there is an aspect of a spiritual endeavor in the travel he does. “Travel to me brings people together,” he says. “If you are an independent traveler, to me, it’s a spiritual experience.” To him, there is more than going from one tourist spot to another. Admittedly, I tend to agree with him, although I like the tourist hot spot travel from time to time.

I remember when I was in the Peace Corps I felt a bit harsh towards folks who I happened across in my forays to the tourist haven of Fajara, The Gambia. From my perspective, at the time, they were wandering through the world enjoying its bits and pieces without the drive to make life better for anyone while there I was assigned to a village with the mission to “help people help themselves.” I was probably in a whiny phase because helping people was a lot harder than I anticipated. What I really craved was a head of iceberg lettuce and a bag of pretzels, the two things not to be found in The Gambia at the time that I lived there.

There are certain moments in Steves’ talk where he teeters a bit close to the voice of judgment, similar to what I felt, about what motivates people to travel. His ideas are worth thinking about, although, as I’ve become older, I’ve become gentler in my approach. In my thinking, any time anyone sets foot across the border from where he or she resides into another culture, it’s mostly a good thing. One never knows which experience will be the one that changes a life. Plus, for folks who have only two weeks of vacation a year, there’s reality to deal with. Sometimes a person just needs some R&R in order to cope with slogging through life at home. But, perhaps, that’s the difference between travel and a vacation.

A thousand splendid “truths” about Afghanistan

by Iva Skoch on

This weekend, I was talking to some friends about the increasing popularity of all those fiction bestsellers from other countries, namely Khaled Hosseini’s “Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns“. People like reading them in part because Hosseini is a good writer, but they also like reading them because they feel like they are learning about life in Afghanistan.

The conversation turned to whether or not it is a good idea for the “American masses” to get their ideas about what life in Afghanistan is like from fiction. Imagine what everyone in Afghanistan would think about the US if they only read, say, Toni Morrison’s abuse-filled books. Yes, that type of abuse certainly exists here, but that’s not all there is in the US.

On one hand, Hosseini was born in Afghanistan and is clearly familiar with the life there. I don’t doubt that the kind of abuse he describes so vividly in his books actually happens in Afghanistan. At the same time, the characters are fictional and the situations made up. Can people actually separate truth from fiction when it comes to Afghanistan, a country we know so little about?