Lifelist Intro – New Feature

by Erik Olsen on

Are there things in life that you’ve always dreamed of doing, that you
told yourself with utter seriousness: I will do that someday? If so, then you have started your life list. It may be
just in your head for now, but the fact is, you’ve started a list of things that will make your life more fulfilling,
more adventuresome. That’s a good first step.

Now we want to help.

In the spirit of the grandfather of life-lists, John
Goddard, we are beginning a feature called Lifelist. Every week or so we’ll choose one great adventure and do some
of the research for you. We’ll help you discover new ideas, find outfitters, stories and everything else we can, to
help you build your own life list. Ever said you were going to climb
Aconcagua, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, learn
Arabic, BASE jump some high rocky place? So have we.

We hope too that this will be a collaborative effort, so if you have items on YOUR lifelist that you’d like us to
include, send us tips or post comments. Also, if you’ve ever done any of the things on the lifelist items we feature,
tell us. We’d love to hear about it, and to get some dialogue going.  As we progress, we hope you add these babies
to YOUR lifelist and start knocking them off, one by one.

The Art of Packing Light

by Erik Olsen on

Remember that scene in Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods when his flabby and out of shape companion starts dropping
gear all over the place to lighten his load? Well, the two were self-professed amateurs when it comes to long hikes,
but you can avoid similar problems by heeding a few simple rules. First, pack only what you KNOW you’ll need, and be
smart about which equipment to bring. For example, do you really need that two-burner stove when you can get a very
lightweight MSR stove for less than a hundred bucks? Simple, sure, but you’d be surprised what people bring with
them.

This article in The Backpacker.com provides
several useful (and some obvious common-sense) tips to help make your next trip into the wilderness a more comfortable
one. What about your sleeping bag? Are you hauling along a sub-10 degree bag for a balmy week in the woods? The piece
smartly advocates “synergistic relationships”, that is, sharing cooking and shelter gear with your hiking partner. The
reality is, most of these tips would occur to you anyway. Packing smart is all about deciding what to leave behind
(i.e. you probably don’t need the portable DVD player…and I am speaking from the experience of someone who’s hiking
companion actually brought such a thing on a trip). Another good place to determine what kind of equipment works best
for you is the REI site, which
provides articles and info on the best equipment for your specific type of trip.

Speak French Over Dinner

by Adrienne Wilson on

As many of us know the French can be pretty harsh when it comes to parading around their country with meager lingo skills. I’ve heard several horror stories dealing with this language barrier issue and few good ones from travelers that really made an attempt to speak some French. Since I haven’t experienced anything first hand, I won’t comment on the topic much.

However, I do want to provide the hungry traveler this great French language instruction from Slow Travel France on dining out. Nothing beats being able to navigate and fully comprehend a menu in a French restaurant and you’ll want to know if your waiter is calling you buttocks or whether you’re ordering the buttocks from some animal. Learn what cervelle (brain) or cuisses de grenouilles (frogs’ legs) and the correct way to pronounce them. David Ronnis who gives this nice language starter for Slow Travel also has some sample dialog found in a restaurant and breaks down the various types of restaurants, meals, menus, and formalities upon arrival. Good place to go if you really haven’t a clue.

Stompin Grapes for Fun

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s an idea I’ll bet you’ve never considered. Heading out with the family to a vineyard to stomp grapes.
White Fences Vineyards in historic Irvington, Virginia is
holding an event they call the Irvington Stomp.  Like
something about of an old Lucy skit, participants arrive and take their turn squashing grapes into juice. They can do
so solo, one man band-like, or with the whole family in an extra-large barrel. And if you’re really lucky (and
presumably have really big feet) you can compete in the “King and Queen of the Stomp” contest and walk away with, well,
lots of juice.

 

Irvington Stomp takes place on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005, (Labor Day weekend) from 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. If you’re
interested in going to stomp grapes or just to watch, you can find places to stay at
this page.

Calvin & Sharon’s Africa Travel Blog

by Adrienne Wilson on

Every time I see someone blogging about their experiences while in Africa, I swear to myself that I too will save enough money to get to Africa – fast! It’s so expensive, but the memories gained have to be priceless. Calvin and Sharon have evoked that feeling and sudden impulse to fly across the Atlantic once again in colorful recounts of Namibia and Botswana in their Impulse Adventure travel blog. After reading several parts of their tales, I found this entry on the Himba people of Northern Namibia to be most engaging. It’s the kind of thing you can read over and over again without building a true sense of what the culture of the indigenous people from the Himba are like. Calvin’s photos are excellent additions to the entry which describes the attire, lifestyle, and traditional way to enter a Himba settlement.

Calvin’s photo of the women’s legs here is an example of some of the jewelry and anklets that play an important role in indicating marital status and puberty. Like many items worn by the Himba these are never to be removed. Males wear thick necklaces made of manure and ochre. The idea of putting manure in my hair or wearing something made with a large portion of it seems beyond me.

So many pieces to this entry are really worth your time including the great collection of photos that accompany most of the posts. Overall it makes for a nice cultural blog.