Lonely Planet Blue List Review

by Erik Olsen on

I
got my hands on a copy of another book out from Lonely Planet, the guidebook
publisher who has lately been churning out all manner of new titles related to travel. Now, I have to say up front that
I am biased. I LOVE Lonely Planet. I love everything about the company (well, except for Tony Wheeler’s Web
site), and was gleeful about my own fortune in doing a podcast months ago with Don
George, one of my travel writer heroes. 

Well, one of the newest titles out from LP is a kind of
encyclopedia of opportunity, a sprawling tome of life-experiences that will make your head whirl and will have you
reaching for your credit card to book the next flight out of dodge.

The idea behind Bluelist is simple, and certainly well-known
to anyone who has been on the road for a while. As LP puts it, “to Bluelist something is the travel equivalent of
‘you should see my guy, he’s the best’. It’s the act of recommending a travel experience. Any travel experience.”
In this case, these experiences and places are suggested for you by the editors and writers at LP…who should
know.

And so the book is loaded with page after elegant page of tips, suggestions and recommendations from
nooks and cities all over the world. It’s good, and the kind of book you’d keep on your coffee table and
thumb through while half-watching a football game or something.

Now, if I have anything negative to say
it’s that some of the entries are sparse and much of the book lacks depth…at least the kind of depth you
expect from Lonely Planet. Now that may be the point, but when you read about a great trip like Overland Track in
Tasmania, you want o know more. I suppose they
expect that you will go to the (impressive) Bluelist Web site, or will Google the place on your own. Anyway,
that’s my gripe. Otherwise ,it’s a nice addition to the LP oeuvre.

Canopy Tours

by Erik Olsen on

You have to like it when you can travel and mix education,
environmental activism and adventure. Usually, you get one or two, but not all. For example, we’ve posted about
educational tours where you head to a place like Peru and do some kind of archeological al dig. Sounds great, very
educational, interesting except when the boredom is excruciating, but hardly adventuresome. You’re not getting chased
down by Nazi’s after all, no matter how many lines you’ve memorized from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

So with
all that said, here’s a recommendation that does just this. Adventure, education, environment. They are called Canopy Tours, and you can do them in a lot of places where
there are, well, canopies. In this piece from the Washington Post, via the Star Trib. According to the piece, the
original Canopy Tour began in 1997, when Darren Hreniuk opened his first company
in Costa Rica. Since then, other companies have opened similar adventures, which are sometimes called sky treks or
zip line tours. As I say, there appear to be lots
of places where these are done, usually with a guide who knows his plants and insects and can answer your questions
as you soar over the jungle floor. Places to do these tours included Nicaragua, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica and Africa.

Bullish on Banff

by Erik Olsen on

Man, here in the states we got ourselves some amazing national
parks. I’ve rhapsodized about Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and so on. These are all places that pretty much
eveyone knows. But up north a bit, they got some nat parks of their own, and one of them (although there are many),
particularly kicks arse.

Banff is Canada’s oldest national park,
and one of its most scenic. It was founded in 1885 as a somewhat modest 10-square-mile reserve by the country’s first
prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Since then, the park
has exploded to encompass some 2,590 square miles of vast, mind-blowing mountain landscapes, jagged glaciers,
high-altitude morainal lakes, and gushing rivers. The two nearby towns, Lake Louise and Banff, are both superb location
to hang a hat, grab some grub and do some kicking back after a hard day of exploring. One problem though is that like
Yosemite and Yellowstone, there are lots of folks who get the same idea about visiting Banff. In other words, it can
get crowded, especially during June, July, and August. So as you’re making plans this winter for summer fun, give Banff
a thought.

The Dry Dry Atacama Desert

by Erik Olsen on

Ask the average Joe American what the
driest place in the world is ,and I would bet the majority of folks would say either the Mojave Desert or the Sahara.
These answers make some sense, but they  are wrong. The driest place on earth is the Atacama Desert in Northern
Chile. Now, having lived in Chile for a bit myself, and having visited the desert, I can tell you that the Atacama is very dry. And it is also
one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The light there is unreal, as if someone lifted a piece of gauze
from your eyes that you never knew was there.

And for all this time that I’ve mentioned Atacama to people,
I’ve always said that it’s been dry, that is has seen no rainfall since the days of the Spanish conquest. Guess what? I
was wrong, by about 40 million years. This fascinating article
in the BBC says that scientists have recently discovered that Atacama’s “super-dry” state and
“hyper-arid conditions” in the desert have lasted at least 20 million years, perhaps 40 million. This is
mind-blowing, really. But it adds further heft to my point that the place is unusual. Indeed it is.

New Year's in Porcupine Forest

by Adrienne Wilson on

This year Canoe Ski Discovery Company have plans to spend the next
couple of days and the very first day of the New Year in Porcupine Forest. Located only a little
distance away from Saskatoon, Canada, the group invites anyone wanting to share the experience of sledding, skiing, and
sleigh riding into the new dawn starting December 30, 2005 – January 1, 2006. If you’ve never been acquainted with the
woods perhaps it’s time you make friends, become a tree hugger and leave your mouse behind. If it’s been a long time
since you’ve smelled the pine this is the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted. They call the event New Year’s Eve
with Eco Flair. For $295 a person, your traditional pursuits will begin at the Sawyer Lake Ecolodge where you will
receive 2 nights, accommodation, all meals, ski tours, skijouring, dog sledding and more.