Celebrity Owned Resorts

by Erik Olsen on

God, I hate celebrities. All that money and fame for so little actual societal contribution. I mean, the fact a guy like Adam Sandler is a mega-millionaire is just offends ones’ sensibilities. OK, some celebs are decent business people, I’ll grant you that. And some have managed to parley their popularity into the travel realm. Take a look at this piece about the top ten celebrity owned resorts. A whole pantheon of big names run places both sunny and snowy.

The list includes names like Michael Douglas, Jane Seymour, Leo DiCaprio and Vegas magic man David Copperfield. Despite my celeb-loathing, I have to admit that I would happily spend some time at Francis Ford Coppola’s Turtle Inn resorts in Central America. They are located close to some Mayan ruins (so you might spy Mel Gibson as well) and the “Balinese-inspired, thatched-roof cabanas” sit on 650 feet of white sand, all within a few steps of the ocean. The horror…no wait. I didn’t mean that.

The Lonely, Dead Tree of Ténéré

by Justin Glow on

A damn interesting article popped up on DamnInteresting.com today about the Lonely Tree of Ténéré — known as the most isolated tree on the planet, located in remote Niger. That is, until one day in 1973 when an allegedly drunk Libyan lost control of his truck and slammed into the tree, ripping it from the sand and subsequently changing it’s title to the tree formally known as the most isolated tree on the planet.

How’d you like to be that guy? We’ve all done some stupid things while drunk, no doubt, but this one takes the cake. I mean, what are the odds? You’re driving – in the world’s largest hot desert no less, where plant life is virtually non-existent – and you slam into the only thing with a shadow in a 400 kilometer radius. Whoops.

You can read more about the Lonely Tree of Ténéré at DamnInteresting.com. Or if you’re interested learning about other famous trees around the planet, this Wikipedia entry is a step in the right direction.

Wend Magazine

by Erik Olsen on

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of outdoors/travel/adventure mags comes and go. At one point, when I was living in Seattle, two different friends tried to start outdoors magazines…and each failed. That said, it’s great to see new magazines try their hand at the genre, because there are a million great stories waiting to be told and a select few glossies (while strong) have long dominated the outdoor mag landscape. The fact is, when these new magazines are good, it behooves us to support them, because good writing/photography/adventure is hard to find.

And so let me now introduce you to a killer new magazine out of Portland, Oregon called Wend. I am reminded a bit of that salsa commercial when the true salsacionoados (inevitably dressed as cowboys) hear that the salsa they are about to be served comes from (add dripping disdain here) New York CITY?!. No, as we all know, the best salsa comes from the Southwest. Similarly, one can surmise that some of the best outdoors writing/shooting should come from the West, or the Northwest, in this case.

Wend is a wonderful new magazine that is now into its second issue. While the Web site is a bit sparse at the moment, the issue I have is filled with great stories and sumptuous photographs. A few of the stories available include Powder Lines in Pakistan, about two men who survive the first descent on skis on Pakistan’s Mt. Laila. And a story on Surfing Africa’s Zambezi River. Great stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree. We’ll be checking back with them in the future, so keep an eye out.

Vintage Luggage Labels From Around the World

by Justin Glow on

This post at Metafilter tipped me off to an incredible Flickr set of 761 vintage luggage labels from around the world. These labels, while rarely used for practical reasons anymore, were once slapped on the sides of suitcases to make it easier to connect the luggage with the hotel at the point of destination. With enough travel, a piece of luggage would be covered with these stickers and kept as a sort of trophy – like immigration stamps in passports – showing off all the exotic locations its owner has visited over time.

Today the art of stylishly connecting a piece of luggage with its destination has been all but lost, only to be replaced with aesthetically-disappointing strips of barcoded paper. While functional, they sure aren’t pretty to look at. So get your fix at this Flickr gallery – maybe print a few out and slap them on your suitcase. Just don’t blame me if your bag ends up in Scotland.

License Plates of the World

by Justin Glow on

The other day I ran across this website, LICENSE PLATES OF THE WORLD, which has got to be the largest collection of – you guessed it! – license plates on the Internet (and not just because the title is in all caps, but that helps). If it’s not, well, then please show me an online collection of license plates larger than this one. I dare you! I spent the better part of an hour going through and finding some truly bizarre plates from places like Antarctica and – get this – Texas!

It reminds me of when I was a kid, traveling the country with my family, kicking the back of the driver seat and asking, “Are we there yet?” No, my father would say, encouraging me to play one of the many car games kids played to pass the time. I always enjoyed the license plate game, where you had to find a plate from every state in the US. Alaska and Hawaii were usually quite rare, but if you spotted one you were pretty much ensured a victory.

Think of this website as an online, globalized version of that game. Only the license plates on the website are indexed by country and state, so you don’t have to sit in the car and search the backs of random cars. Okay, so it’s nothing like the game I played as a kid. But it does involve license plates!