Travel Write Right

by Erik Olsen on

Have you got that amazing travel story inside you just waiting to come out? So
what if you didn’t have to cut off your own arm, you still did battle with crocs the size of kayaks and/or slept over
night on the face of a 20,000 foot peak. Or maybe you just had a really good meal somewhere that you want to tell
people about. No matter. The point is, perhaps it’s time to tell your story. Perhaps it’s time to write this stuff
down.

But maybe you’re not sure how?

Registration is now open for SATW’s annual
Insitute for Travel Writing and Photography in Orlando,
Florida. It runs from May 20-22, and is a highly regarded, practical, focused, and useful course. The fact is, the
faculty includes some of the best in the business.

Worldhum – Don George Speaks

by Erik Olsen on

Just a quick note to have you check out the interview with
Don George over at
Worldhum. It’s a nice piece about travel in general, as well as an opportunity
to hear about George’s new book about travel writing…called, yes,

Travel Writing.

We interviewed George by phone recently and will be posting that interview shortly as part of our next podcast. it was
a GREAT interview. George is an amazingly cool guy and fun to talk to.

So stay tuned, and in the meantime see what the offerings are over at
Worldhum.

Couch Surfing…on Snow

by Erik Olsen on

It’s quite possible you were not paying attentioon thiis last weekend and you actually missed the
Big Mountain Furniture Race. Well, sorry.
Perhaps it will air again on ESPN7, or something.

But here’s the deal. Every April since 1970, the Whitefish ski resort has celebrated the end of the ski season with a
big blowout that leaves living rooms all around the area a little bare. From the potato chip encrusted chaise lounge to
grandpa’s recliner, armoires, toilets, baby cribs, even coffins affixed to either skis or snowboards, everyone drags
out their goods to race down the face of the mountain on, um, furniture. “The definition of furniture is obviously very
loose,” says Brian Schott, the Big Mountain spokesperson for event. “Some people even set up living room scenes where
you’ll have a couch, a side table, a Lazy Boy and a coffee table with beers and pizza box on it.”

There really aren’t rules. You need to be original and wear a helmet. Judges award points for appearance, speed and
accuracy. At the end of the run is a target, and contestants are scored by how close they can stop without touching
it…or knocking it down. Which you can imagine probably happens a lot.

Ten Great Travel Adventues

by Erik Olsen on

The inimitable Richard Bangs, whose recent series of dispatches for MSNBC
I blogged about here, (and who more or less has the best
job in travel journalism), has committed to bits (as opposed to paper) the
ten greatest travel adventures you can take today. You should read
the article for a more detailed breakdown, but here are the ten:

 

— Llama Trekking the Hoover Wilderness Area

— Adventure Sailing Florida’s Gulf Coast

— Kayaking the San Juan Islands

— Canoeing the Boundary Waters

— Mountain Biking the Grand Staircase

— Climbing Denali

— Riding the Tetons

— Hiking Hidden Hawaii

— Dogsledding the Gates of the Arctic

— Rafting the Grand Canyon

How many have YOU done?

Grace Davis in Waikiki

by Adrienne Wilson on

HotelChatter

is an excellent source for reviews and various types of information on hotels across
the globe.  Most of it is often helpful, but more than anything just plain
entertaining.  After scrolling up and down a few pages I plucked this blog piece of theirs for the readers here,
which they discovered from another blogger,
Grace
Davis, who explains her waving a white flag to Waikiki in Oahu.  Describing the city as a “congested
hellhole with highrise hotels” is hardly the way I thought of it, but she puts it very nicely.