While no one has yet come up an atheist themed trip yet, there are plenty tourism operators that cater the to devout…or at least the devoutly curious. for example, a company called Global Passages offers a “in the Footsteps of Lord Buddha” package tour that takes you through a good part of India including Delhi and the Taj, and that in the end (of the trip, that is) deposits you in the mesmerizing city of Varanasi, which I can say first hand is one of the most fascinating and spiritual places you will ever visit. And that’s coming from a devout agnostic.
This piece over at Frommers takes a look at a host of other religion-based trips, and tries its best to cover the Big Three as well as a few others. No trips were listed for following in the tentacle steps of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but I imagine someones working on such a thing…perhaps in Italy.
ABBA Museum to Debut in 2008
Dancing queens and kings get ready to pack your bags and jet off to Stockholm! In 2008 an interactive museum dedicated to legendary Swedish pop group, ABBA will open, allowing fanatics to see the clothing, learn the history and record their own ABBA songs in a studio. Are you dancing yet? Are your feet moving wild with excitement? CNN reports that even though the band hasn’t recorded an album since 1982, ABBA still remains one of the most successful bands in history. They’ve sold 370 million albums worldwide. It took two years to convince the band members that it was a good idea to open an ABBA museum and though they will donate materials for exhibits, they will have no further involvement in the project.
A location is still sought out by museum organizers, but they are sure that when the doors open both the museum and Stockholm’s already ABBA popular city streets should see an impressive number of visitors. I wouldn’t doubt it either.
BT’s Movies That Inspire Travel
My favorite movie of all time also happens to be one of the movies that most inspires me to travel: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yes, I may be giving away state secrets here, but that movie rocked my world as a youngster and filled my head with notions of far off lands as places where exotic tribes keep hidden treasures and every encounter is fraught with excitement and a splash of danger.
But this is not the only film that gets me thinking about travel. There is also the English Patient, numerous Bond films, the Beach and Easy Rider, all of which use the particular place as a character in the set, the establishing stage upon which the events in these films transpire. Only one of these films I mention here made it onto Budget Travel’s list of great travel movies, perhaps a reflection of varied taste or just the sheer magnitude of possibilities, since so many films are shot overseas these days. But whatever the difference, I won’t quibble for the most part with what they’ve selected here.
It’s a fine list that includes both new films and old. And for me, at the very least the list made me realize I need to finally see the Whale Rider shot in New Zealand) since that makes the top spot on the list. Check it out for yourself here.
Magnifique Martinique
After lounging around and doing as I please during the long weekend and after reading this article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Martinique, I can’t keep from wanting to purchase my ticket to zoom off and away. I’ve long been interested in the French caribbean island, Martinique and for no good reason other than my affection for islands. The story which looks to have originally appeared in the NY Times at some point in the past takes island deprived readers down the 50-mile stretch that has somewhat been forgotten by American travelers. They note that 84 percent of the annual visitors are from Europe, but even with decreased American interest Delta will start weekly direct flights in December. So it sounds as though American interest is back on the rise. I’m down to go.
From their detailed travel tale you’ll learn Martinique is more than a French speaking island paradise. It offers Gallic Creole food, snorkeling, hiking and tons of history if you dig combining time on the beach with a visit to attractions like “La Savane des Esclaves.” Oh, and in case you’ve forgotten Martinique is also the birthplace of Napoleon’s love, Empress Josephine. One week should be enough for the average visitor though I think I could use three right around my own annual celebration of my birth in May if not sooner.
The Great Wall Crumbles
Following up on my recent blog regarding construction crews taking a bite out of the Great Wall of China, here’s an interesting piece from the NY Times about folks who are trying to preserve the Wall.
An official at the Great Wall Society thinks that most of the damage to the Wall was probably done in the 1950s and 1960s, since Mao encouraged farmers to use bricks from the Wall to build homes. A reservoir outside Beijing was built with bricks from the Wall.
Now, however, visits by millions of tourists are taking a toll too. One site near Beijing alone counted 4.5 million visitors last year.
New national regulations, effective December 1, will, hopefully, help to protect what remains.