Madeline L’Engle and a Wrinkle in Time in Albany, Oregon

by Jamie Rhein on

I wanted to find Wrinkle in Time tours or Madeleine L’Engle tours because she died this week and her Newberry Award winning book A Wrinkle in Time is perhaps one of the best examples of travel writing there is. Okay, maybe that’s stretching it, but seriously, isn’t traveling through time and space a travel theme that appears over and over again?

At any rate, I was hoping to find a travel angle so I could pay Madeleine L’Engle a fitting tribute. That book is my all time favorite–a treasure–something beyond just a good read–a book that as a writer, and as a person on this planet with all its troubles and triumphs, I am inspired by. I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the theme of good overcoming evil. Or that in there is a place in the world for oddballs, and that listening to your internal compass is a worthy travel guide. Or is it that it’s just so perfectly written?

I couldn’t find a Wrinkle in Time tour that has anything to do with the book or with Madeleine L’Engle, but I did find an article on the historic town Albany, Oregon with a heading, “A Wrinkle in Time.”

Albany, Oregon is featured as a weekend getaway destination on Via, a AAA companion publication. Here’s what makes Albany worth going to: 700 historic buildings (the most in one place in Oregon); covered bridges (8 of them on a driving tour), tree shaded streets for strolling, and eating and shopping establishments that are geared towards retaining the flavor of small town charm. If you go there, think of Madeleine, even though, she has nothing to do with the place. The photo is of one of the covered bridges in Albany. Think of it as a metaphor for crossing over from one place to another, the known to the unknown–like traveling through space and time–like in A Wrinkle in Time. Just trying to make a connection here.

What’s Your Favourite Souvenir? (The Office Cleanout Continues…)

by Brett Atkinson on

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on what to do with the old guidebooks at my office. Part of the shift also involves bringing home a few favourite souvenirs from past travels. Here are some special keepsakes I’ve now got to find room for at home.

  1. A framed front page of La Epoca, the Buenos Aires newspaper, from the day after Eva Peron’s funeral.
  2. An 18th century map of Asia Minor I bought in Istanbul
  3. A screen print by an artist called “O” who hangs out at Venice Beach in Los Angeles. Basically it’s an American flag with the word “Democracy” spelt out with the logos of various American corporations. D for Disney, E for Enron, M for McDonalds…you get the picture.
  4. A faux gold plated microphone from when I played guitar (a shocking version of Wild Thing) at an advertising conference in Cannes, France.
  5. A copy of Kerouac’s Big Sur that I bought at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, California

What are the poignant, heart rending or downright tacky travel mementos you hold dearest?

Thanks to kristenhillier on Flickr for the stunning pic of Venice Beach.

Old Guidebooks? Keep ’em or Ditch ’em?

by Brett Atkinson on

It’s a lazy Sunday in Auckland and I’m relocating my workspace from an external office back to the spare room in our apartment (it’s a long story involving a rapacious landlord who doesn’t appreciate the finer points of the freelance life).

Here’s my dilemma.

What should I do with loads of old guidebooks, including some that date back 20 years? In my office I’d had the luxury of space to keep them all, but maybe now’s the time to move on.

What does everyone else do with guidebooks once they’ve returned from a trip?

  1. Do you leave them in your bookcase as a souvenir of your travels?
  2. Keep them as a badge of honour to prove to visitors you went to Vietnam before Bill Clinton lifted the embargo, and have got a faded early 90s copy of Lonely Planet Vietnam to prove it?
  3. An independent traveller like you doesn’t use guidebooks.

Thanks to TeddyBoy on Flickr for the pic of his well-travelled bookcase.

How Come Tintin Didn’t Make The Cut?

by Brett Atkinson on

Our friends at World Hum have just named their 10 greatest fictional travellers ranging from cutesy Dora the Explorer at number 10 up to Jack Kerouac’s uber cool Sal Paradise at number 1.

To my Kiwi eyes, the list is a little United States-centric, and as much as I love On the Road, Sal Paradise didn’t really get far on a global basis did he? But I guess he deserves to be there purely for how much inspiration the book’s given to those of us afflicted with wanderlust.

A few notable exceptions I’d like to add are Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne’s Around the World In 80 Days, the globe-trotting Carmen San Diego, and Belgium’s biggest export after Trappist beer, Tintin.

If the T-shirts in the markets of Asia are to be believed, that boy’s been everywhere. Even a few places author Herge didn’t even write about.

Thanks to Mullenkedheim on Flickr for the pic “proving” Tintin went to Hanoi.

Conde Nast Traveler Rates Books for (Armchair) Adventurers

by Catherine Bodry on

The September issue of Conde Nast Traveler offers a list of literature that will hopefully whet your adventure appetite. The magazine is touting the list of books due out this fall as “new classics,” although it includes Jack Kerouac’s re-released On the Road (original scroll in book form).

You don’t have to get seasick to follow Marco Polo’s explorations or tales of a Viking woman who “sailed the seas 500 years before Columbus.”

For more great travel literature, check out Gadling blogger Kelly Amabile’s One for the Road series. Grab a blanket, make a cup of tea, and travel away in your mind.

[via USA Today]