What Color is Your Jockstrap

by Erik Olsen on

Everyone who has spent some time traveling has got some hilarious (or tragic) story about something that happened to them. That’s one of the wonders of travel, after all, and one of the joys. Most often the remembrance of these stories resides in the mind of the beholder or as chicken scratch entries in a personal journal. But some of these stories (thankfully for all of us) find their way into print, and make for wonderful reading. One company out there has done a masterful job putting these stories into book form, providing required reading for all of us who enjoy a good yarn, and who are often on the lookout for layman’s travel literature that takes us beyond the instructional factoids found in guidebooks.

That company is Travelers’ tales. You might remember we had the pleasure a while back on interviewing the president of TT, James O’Reilly. Well, they are still at it big time, and one of the bright new reads available takes a somewhat new angle on travel lit: horror/humorous stories written exclusively (or, mostly) by men. I have not yet read this new book, with it’s giggle-inducing title What Color is Your Jockstrap (one note: who wears a jockstrap while traveling?), I know the editor, Jen Leo, and can therefore be pretty certain the the stories inside are themselves giggle inducing, if not gut-busting. Leo’s earlier books, The Thong Also Rises and Sand in My Bra are great reads. They can be picked up and read in short bursts, as the stories are quick and short and easy to digest. I suspect her new gender specific tome is equally as delicious and, um, digestible.

Toilet Paper Timeline

by Erik Olsen on

While I am on the subject of toilets and such, I really do feel the need to point you to a source of great interest that involves, yes, toilet paper. Now, we are all aware of the gaping span of days and years that is geological time. Most of us know that the earth was not created in six days…unless some early translation of “days” really calculated the “day” unit as a billion years. Then that’s just about right. But aside from all that…take a look at this site that plots geological time with a roll of toilet paper.

It’s a clever trick you can play with your friends! Or to show people at a fine restaurant…assuming it’s large enough. And more, it helps you understand what wee worthless creates we are in the larger scheme of things. As you can see, the time we’ve been around…why, you can’t even use that to wipe yourself.

Travel Writing’s Travails

by Erik Olsen on

For those who have ever entertained dreams of gallivanting off to exotic lands to pen travel guides, hold on just a moment. The travel-guide writing life ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, when you are a guidebook writer, you are more likely to find yourself checking under toilet seats or sniffing mattresses than hanging on the beach or sipping tropical drinks with the locals.  The job is work, not vacation. There was an interesting article about this in a particular paper about which I cannot write. But as a secondary source, I point you to two places. Both of these sites actually do a fine job conveying what life as a travel writer is like. In this site by the travel writer Leif Pettersen, who happens to be in right now, we learn a lot about guide writing in Eastern Europe. Here in this post he coaches you along to help you nurture your skills of asking for free carp…um, I mean crap. 

And then in one of my old stand-bys, I urge you to pay a visit to FriskoDude, aka Carl Parkes, who often ruminates on this very subject. And even if you can’t find a post to your liking (unlikely), you can at least admire his wonderful sense of humor in the photos he posts.

So where do I stand on this topic, you ask? Well, I would love to write a travel guide. I hate the fact that the money is as bad as it is. I think the whole guidebook thing should be a form of profit sharing. But obviously any time there is such high demand for a job, there are going to be talented people willing to do it for next to nothing…if not nothing. That said, if I had many-a-million dollars right now, I might just go out and write a travel guide for fun…smelly mattresses be damned.

Latitudes July

by Erik Olsen on

It’s that time again for us to direct you to one of our favorite online travel magazines: Latitudes.  I think I’ve been pretty consistent for perhaps a year or more in drawing attention to this lavishly photographed, often quirky little travel publication.

Every month they cover places that you don’t often read about in magazines like Travel and Leisure, although they cover some that do make it into the mags as well. This month we’re talking Congo (come on…who ever covers the Congo?!), Antarctica, Bhutan, Barcelona and more.
 
But what I like most about Latitudes, or the Web version at least, is how sumptuous the pages are, and how they introduce fun little flash animations or sound in some of the stories. It’s always a pleasure to read, and more often than not will fill your head with notions of immediate escape.

Road Trip USA Podcasts

by Erik Olsen on

It is summer and across the country families and couples and poor lonely dudes with a car are taking to the open roads. Travel to Europe (as I learned recently) is expensive and even though gas prices are ridiculously high, it is still far cheaper to hit the road with the kids than to fly over the pond. And so the word on many lips this summer is Road Trip. OK, that’s two words, but it is a single concept. The concept of being free on the open road, hands on the wheel, moving along beneath the gaping sky. I’m getting kind of teary eyed just thinking about it.

There are so many road trip possibilities in the United States that you can get downright confused about what to do. A book out there that I recommended a ways back is here to help, Called Road Trip USA. Written by Jamie Jensen, the book is a beast. A travel tome with more tidbits about what to see and do along the American highway system than has likely ever existed. And now (this is the point of the post) he is offering free podcasts for you to download and listen to while on the road. They’re a diverse lot. The Podcast Themes include: US Music Festivals and the American Sound, Regional American Food, Weekend Road Trips, Quirky Culture and more.