100 Places Every Woman Should Go

by Willy Volk on

Hey, ladies, when you finish reading Wanderlust and Lipstick, here’s another title for you: 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. Written by Stephanie Elizondo Griest, the book is meant to serve as both inspiration and guidebook.

Divided into sections (“Places Where Women Made History,” “Places of Indulgence,” “Places of Adventure,” etc.), the book documents places where being a woman is affirmed and confirmed, and where you will be energized and impassioned.

Encouraging women of all ages to break out of their comfort zones and see the world — in a group, with a friend, or solo — 100 Places highlights 100 special destinations and challenging activities: from diving for pearls in Bahrain; to racing a camel across Mongolia; to dancing with voodoo priestesses in Benin; to taking a mud bath in a volcano off the coast of Colombia. I’m not a woman, and I think the list sounds pretty cool. Maybe I should pick up a copy “for my wife.”

If you want to learn more about Stephanie and her book, check out World Hum’s excellent interview with her, or read the Q&A on her website.

[Via Written Road]

Rolf Potts + Travel Writing Classes + St. Petersburg, Russia = Fabulous June

by Willy Volk on

In addition to teaching creative nonfiction (a.k.a. travel writing) classes at the Paris American Academy this July, Rolf Potts will also be teaching a two-week course in travel writing at the Summer Literary Seminar in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russia?! Isn’t that, like, far? Well, yes…but the idea is that by visiting a totally foreign culture, a writer will experience a jolt of creative energy that will energize their writing and inspire greatness.

If you want to experience a jolt, maybe you should sign up for the course, which runs June 17-30. In it, participants take part in daily writing and literature-ish activities, like “Literary Walks” in St. Petersburg, introductory Russian language courses, and more. The 2-week course runs $1850 plus room and board, so it isn’t cheap. However, this is a great opportunity to get away, experience a foreign culture in a very visceral way, and write about it.

Who knows? If you get inspired, you might get published, and the trip would pay for itself.

[Photo: vetkaa]

Holi, India’s Festival of Colors

by Willy Volk on

Holi, also known as India’s Festival of Colors, begins on the Phalgun Purnima, or the night of the first full moon in late February or early March. For those of you who haven’t looked up at the night sky recently, that means it’s this weekend.

Believed to have originated as long ago as 300BC, the legend-soaked event celebrates the arrival of spring and the promise of fertile fields. It also scares away laziness and sickness in the lives of Hindus. As part of the celebrations, Hindus enjoy bonfires (to kill bacterias in the body), throw brightly-colored powders in the air (to invoke the richness and bounty of spring), and drink and eat bhang (um…just for fun). In other words, it’s sort of like Mardi Gras for Hindus. Except without all the ta-tas.

Don’t understand what’s so fun about throwing around colored powder? Check out this ecstatic, exuberant clip from Mangal Pandey: The Rising and marvel at all the kaleidoscopic color.

Can’t make it to India this weekend? Apparently, Queens hosts an Americanized version of the event this Saturday and Sunday. FYI, don’t eat too much hot buttered bhang and collapse on your mother’s clean sheets. This is certainly not the time.

Indoor Skiing in China and More

by Jamie Rhein on

Where I live in Central Ohio, the snow still on the ground might be described as “patchy.” Each day more of it melts away leaving sloppiness where a winter wonderland used to be. Skiing in Ohio is hard to come by.

At Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Park near Shanghai, China, it’s skiing year around. The basic idea is that an indoor ski slope does to summer what an indoor water park does to winter. Who needs Mother Nature to give us the weather we need to do the activities we love? If you’d rather strap on skis more than don a bathing suit, here is a link to several indoor ski slopes around the world.

For a bit of an Yinqixing Indoor Skiing Park experience through your computer screen, check out Lee LeFever’s video. He’s also the author of the blog called “The World is Not Flat.”

Be a Tourist in Your Own Hometown

by Jamie Rhein on

A celebrate your town event seems to me like a great idea to get people out of the house in the winter if you live where it’s colder. Starting today through this weekend that’s what folks in Victoria, Vancouver Island are doing. For the next 5 days various attractions around the town are welcoming their folks for just $9 Canadian dollars. Normally, admission to all of them would have a $425 price tag. This event called “Be a Tourist in your Own Home Town” happens every year. This is its 35th.

Included in the mix is: Royal London Wax Museum, Pacific Undersea Gardens, Beacon Hill Children’s Farm, Fort Rodd Hill & Fisgard Lighthouse, Glendale Gardens and Woodlands, Navel & Military Museum CFB Esquimalt and more. More than 15 places are included in all. Plus there are discounts at several hotels, tour companies and various shops about town.

Considering that reading about this event makes me want to head to Vancouver Island immediately, I wonder what other towns could offer such bounty that would get me to make a trip. What’s your hometown like and what things make you want to be a tourist there?