One for the Road: The Practical Nomad

by Kelly Amabile on

Ed Hasbrouck is a seasoned world traveler and expert on international airfares and travel technology. His Practical Nomad website and blog are loaded with resources about passports and the latest on RFID chips, making changes to airline flights or tickets, and important facts about travel insurance. He learned the business during his 15 years working full-time as a travel agent. But Hasbrouck eventually became quite dissatisfied with the limitations of his job — specifically, the lack of resources available for do-it-yourself travelers.

So, back in 1997, he took what he knew and created a guide for independent travelers — Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World. The just released fourth edition of this valuable guide is an expanded version of the previous three, with advice on choosing destinations and tips on travel documents, entry requirements and luggage restrictions.

Hasbrouck truly is an authority when it comes to practical travel matters. And he has a resume of travel experience that backs up his book of advice. He’s currently on his third round-the-world journey, traveling with his partner, Ruth. According to a recent post on her blog, the couple is in Argentina right now, with another seven months on the road before they return. I’m sure they’ll gather more travel tips to include in future editions of the guide!

Palin explores former Soviet Bloc

by Neil Woodburn on

I’m not sure how I missed this, but it looks like our good friend Michael Palin has gone and done it again, this time traveling through the former Soviet Bloc while filming and writing about his adventures along the way.

Palin’s New Europe series kicked off in the Julian Alps (Slovenia) and then continued through 19 other countries–all of which have seen dramatic changes since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. 123 days later, Palin finds himself in Berlin itself, where the whole domino effect of revolutions began.

In usual Palin style, the ever-productive author/traveler has once again blessed us with a book of the adventure, as well as a three-disc DVD of the BBC series. I haven’t had the opportunity to watch it yet, but I think we can all assume that it will be just as excellent as his other travel programs.

GADLING TAKE FIVE: Week of October 27–November 2

by Jamie Rhein on

Pretend this is Friday for a moment. That’s when the Gadling Take Five would have come out if it wasn’t Halloween this week, my daughter’s birthday and, well, whatever. Since looking back over the week at Gadling so I can throw kudos to my fellow bloggers is a highpoint for me, I wanted to not totally pass up the chance to toot a horn or two. It’s really hard to pick, though.

First up is dear, dear, Leif who has such wit and charm and knowledge of Burma (Myanmar) that it can make a person’s head spin. Although, I am always interested in what Leif writes, the “A Keyhole into Burma: You have something on your face” made me laugh. heartily. I just read it again and laughed.

Kelly always picks reads that sound fascinating, and Women Travelers: A Century of Trailblazing Adventures 1850-1950 caught my attention. I’d love to read about Robert Louis Stevenson’s wife and her travels, for example. I never knew he had a wife, but can recite his poem, “The Swing” by heart.

Considering that this was Halloween week, Matthew’s post ” Big in Japan: Asia’s biggest Halloween Party!” gives an insider’s look at one heck of a party attended by a wild cast of characters. Sounds like fun. I hope he’s recovered.

Neil’s post on the Museum of Broken Hearts almost broke my heart. I wondered what pitiful memento I have squirreled in a box somewhere. The museum sounds to me like the objects are odes to lost love–and a interesting history on how people tick and don’t click.

Then there’s Abha’s post on the 10-year-old who taught himself 10 languages. That’s enough to make me feel quite inadequate. I finally learned passable Wolof when I lived in The Gambia because I absolutely had to. I do not have a great ear. Yep, 10 languages, 10 years old. I’m impressed.

Okay, that’s five, and you’ll get five more in five days. That’s symmetrical.

One for the Road: Where to Go When

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s yet another big bound book full of ideas about when and where to set off on an adventure. The key word here is When. DK’s Eyewitness Travel has compiled Where to Go When: The Best Destinations All Year Round. Consultant Editor Joseph Rosendo and a team of travel experts have gathered photos and narrative descriptions for over 130 global destinations. The guide is organized by month, to help travelers focus on the best destinations for each season of the year.

Rosendo, Travelscope TV creator, will be at Distant Lands on December 3 and will appear in New York at the NYT Travel show next February. As far as weather goes, I’m pretty sure that New York does not (and should not!) appear in the “February” chapter of the book. But it’s one of the best places to promote a travel book during the cold winter months!

But is it even going to get cold this year? I digress…

Travel book reviews transport readers farther and save time

by Kelly Amabile on

If you read One for the Road on a regular basis, you’ll note that it’s pretty obvious how much I enjoy reading and writing about travel literature, guidebooks and memoirs. One of the reasons I love tracking travel books so much is that you never quite know where an interesting book about a journey is going to appear. That’s why I regularly scan children’s books, academic press catalogs, translated works, self-published titles and subjects where you might not ordinarily expect to find a travel-themed book. Because stories about journeys are everywhere…

And so are excellent columns that review and discover more of these books! A new one appeared on the scene yesterday, penned by a man known well for his own travel writing. Don George is the new Trip Lit columnist at National Geographic Traveler. His inaugural piece includes an impressive list of novels set in Alaska, South Africa, India, Korea, Italy, China and Ireland, as well as a fun collection of moveable feast memoirs. (I look forward to seeing what he serves up next.) Today I also read the latest issue of Perceptive Traveler, and was reminded that they always include a smart roundup of book reviews in each issue: This month Susan Griffith reviews three books, including Dervla Murphy’s latest, Silverland. But what I most enjoyed was Susan’s refreshingly honest review of A Gap Year or Two. Evidently, it can sometimes be much more fun to read a review of a book than the book itself.

(I borrowed the above photo from National Geographic Traveler’s Ultimate Travel Library — another awesome resource for travel literature recommendations.)