GADLING TAKE FIVE week of 12-7-07

Gadling bloggers have been as busy as Santa’s elves this week. It’s hard to choose five posts from so many, so this week I’m offering five categories:

There you have it! Lots of fun stuff to peruse over your weekend — enjoy it!

Travels with Cancer

It has been a weird year for me. I was diagnosed with stage III. cancer last year and finished chemo early this summer. I have thrown up more this year than anyone can imagine. I still don’t have much feeling in my feet and hands because of the nerve damage caused by chemo. I lost a lot of my hair but not all of it. And I blogged about traveling throughout the whole thing.

People always ask me how cancer changed me. I don’t really have a Lance Armstrong answer for that. That is the disappointing thing. It didn’t change me. I had no major revelations about life, didn’t become devoutly religious. Nothing new. I realized that I am already living the life I want to be living. I just want it more.

I still traveled as much as I could. Partly to get away from life and partly to get more into it. A lot of people told me to take it easy, but I figured that life without traveling is not life worth living. If premature death is a possibility, I might as well live the life I want to live. I spent the first six months of the year at home in Prague and the rest split between New York, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, DC, Wisconsin, Chicago, a week in Crete, week in London, few days in Rome, weekend in Brussels, week in Switzerland, week in Athens, week in Costa Rica and a week in Panama. I am probably forgetting something, but who cares.

I love to travel. (Obviously.) Now more than ever, though, I love to travel “well.” I don’t travel just to check places off my list or to “have an experience.” I can really live in the moment now, how cool is that? I used to be afraid to fly, but cancer took care of that irrational phobia. Clearly, you are never really in control of your life, so why not have a little fun with it.

(Photo taken in February 07 in Switzerland, two weeks after round 4 of chemo. I was really tired and cold and had to quit skiing after just one run, but the fresh air felt really, really good.)

St. Nicholas Day: Santa Claus is coming to town in spades

Two Sundays ago, we saw our first Santa Claus of the season riding on a float at the end of the Holiday Lights Parade in Gahanna, Ohio. Since my son is five, I’ve come up with elaborate reasons why Santa is in so many places at the same time.

On December 6, Santa Claus–aka St. Nicholas– has his own special day. St. Nicholas Day, a holiday started to honor Bishop Nicholas, the man who used his inheritance from his wealthy family to feed the sick and clothe the poor, particularly children, back in 3rd century Greece. He started the Santa Claus tradition.

Today finds St. Nicholas visiting schools, churches and museums, plus taking part in town parades and festivals. Most of them are in Europe, but he pays visits elsewhere to spread the idea that it’s good to give–even Walt Disney World, the Epcot Center is passing the word. Here, St. Nicholas is visiting guests at the Germany Pavilion. In some places, St. Nicholas has been making visits since the middle of November, but today is the feast day.

If you want to find St. Nicholas close to you, here’s a link that lists the various countries with St. Nicholas activities. Those links lead to links of specific events. The one in the photograph actually took place last Sunday in Germany. From what I can tell the spirit of St. Nicholas is catching on with my son. Yesterday, when I showed him a Toys For Tots present I bought to give away, he didn’t say, “I want one too.”

One for the Road: Globetrotter’s Logbook

Last time I mentioned the Globetrotter’s Logbook series, I focused on their newest guide, a niche book devoted to six Flemish cities. But now that I’ve had a chance to personally use their flagship product, Counties of the World, I wanted to be sure to pay special tribute to this unique mini-book, which might just be the perfect holiday gift for that special traveler in your life. The best part about giving (or receiving) one of there tiny travel gems is the smart and crafty packaging. I opened an airmail envelope (from Belgium, where this book is published) to reveal crisp brown parcel packaging, tied in natural cord with vintage stamps, postmarks and my name personally scripted in heavy ink. Unwrapping the classy packaging reveals a stylish moleskine-type book enclosed in its own little box, perfect for protecting it from the harsh elements of constant world-travel.

This precious little travel journal is a must-have for explorers. The bulk of the book contains quarter-page listings for every country of the world, complete with important stats and mini-flag pictures for each. There are several ways to keep track of which countries have been visited, as well as registers for tracking vaccinations and 100 flights. Look closely and you’ll find other treasures hidden within the pages of this slim logbook – facts, figures and inspiring quotes decorate the pages, and there are blank spots too, for scribbles about the details of very special journeys.

Wild travel statistics through Facebook

Last week I talked about the “Where I’ve Been” application on Facebook, and how you can use it to see where your friends have been, but curiously also get some great airline deals. What I didn’t mention was that you can find some very interesting travel statistics on here.

Namely, it ranks the most and least popular places to visit, live and want to visit. What’s astounding is this could possibly be the largest travel survey ever done (not to mention a great look into the travel behavior of 20-somethings). The data are from more than 4 million Facebook users.

Here’s a preview: Most popular places to visit: Florida, New York, California; places to live: England, California, Ontario (what?); places want to visit: Australia, Italy, Brazil.

Least popular places to visit: Tonga (a whopping four people), Newfoundland, Zanzibar; places to live (Northern Territory, South Australia, Mauritania; places want to visit: Russian soil (haha), Pemba (never heard of it), and Medeira Islands.

The best Facebook travel applications