Life on the Delaware River

by Kelly Amabile on

Last night the New Jersey
Network aired a
documentary all about the
Delaware River, focusing on the stories of those who make their livelihood along the banks of this 331-mile watershed
which runs from New York to the mouth of the Atlantic in Delaware. The program featured two women in particular that
had interesting stories to tell, and who work for family businesses that provide outdoor activities along the
river.

First was Judy Wulff, a female pioneer in fly-fishing, known for her classes in the mechanics of the sport. She and
her late husband, Lee, founded the
Wulff School of Fly Fishing, located on the Beaverkill, a
tributary of the Delaware. The school offers courses in
trout fishing and fly casting from April to June.

Second was Ruth Jones of Kitattinny Canoes, which runs white
water rafting, kayaking, canoeing and tubing trips along over 120 miles of the Delaware River. Kitattinny also has over
250 acres of campgrounds in Barryville, NY, and organizes camping and paintball adventures as well. They also
have a retail store full of paddling and outdoor gear
supplies in Milford, PA.

Washington Irving’s Spanish Steps

by Erik Olsen on

Having just spent a weekend cruising around the Hudson Valley, in fact visiting the very place that Washington Irving wrote about in his story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I was interested to find this article in the Independent about a writer who heads to Spain to trace Irving’s footsteps in that country.

I lived in Spain several years ago, in the heart of Madrid, and still reminiscent about the late, late nights drinking sangria, and the exhilarating road trips into the Spanish countryside. On several occasions I found myself in places like Cordoba and Grenada, where the influence of 700 years of (relatively peaceful) Islamic rule is apparent everywhere. Like I did, the writer of the piece discovers that the culture of that older Islam still resonates in these places, and he finds that the meshing of the two cultures – Christian and Muslim – makes a fascinating story when examined through the eyes and footsteps of one of America’s most famous writers.

World Record Travel

by Kelly Amabile on

This Smithsonian Magazine
article mentions that the
Guinness Book of World Records is celebrating its 50th anniversary
this year. The book has finally made it into its’ own book! Excluding non-copyright works such as the Bible and the
Koran, the world’s all-time best-selling book is Guinness World Records, with sales exceeding 100 million
copies.

In the Travel and Transport section, there are several categories with records that Gadling readers
may be particularly interested in. There are records for travel feats accomplished by car, train, sub and plane, just
to name a few. My favorite section is the Epic Journeys. The stats on these amazing and historic trips are fun to
review. Here are just a few:

– First and fastest circumnavigation by car (69 days in 1989)

– Fastest female solo sailing circumnavigation (94 days in 2001)

– Fastest solo powered Pacific crossing (148 days in 1996)

– Longest journey by taxi (21,691 miles from the UK to S. Africa in 1994)

There are about three pages worth of these records on the Guinness website. Check them out and see if you get
inspired to try and break one, or set your own.

Armchair Diplomat

by Kelly Amabile on

I’d really like to get my hands on a copy of
The Armchair Diplomat on Europe,
which pegs itself as The Ultimate Slackers’ Guide to Our Continental Cousins. As I
started digging around for more info, I discovered that this is the first of two books being released this year by
travel writer Melissa Rossi. The UK book about Europe (complete with profiles of 25 EU nations) was released in late
August. A related US title,

What Every American Should Know about Who’s Really Running the World, will hit US bookstores in December.
This is a follow-up to Rossi’s 2003 release, What Every American
Should Know about the Rest of the World.

The Gadling group is more active that slacker, I know, but we all have to be lazy
sometimes. I wouldn’t mind relaxing on the couch with these books to get Rossi’s skinny on what she suggests Americans
and Brits should be aware of regarding history, culture and politics before heading out into this big bad world of
ours. Want to know more? Follow along at Rossi’s
blog,  poke around on the Armchair Diplomat website
and read this Rolf Potts interview with the author.

World Standards

by Kelly Amabile on

The World
Standards site aims to raise awareness of the global differences that exist with regards to standards,
and calls for increased efforts to streamline standardization. The author of the site, Conrad H. McGregor,
appears to be based in the UK. Portions of the site express McGregor’s personal opinions about the lack of
standardization around the world, which I’m sure has been frustrating or challenging to almost all world travelers at
some point.

Regardless of your opinion on the topic, you might find the background sections of this site interesting for the
historical context they provide. And certain pages also serve as handy reference for an overseas trip, especially if
you plan to drive or use electrical devices. My favorite page is
why some countries drive on the right
and others on the left. Other sections include:
World scripts and
alphabets, International paper sizes (who knew there
was so much to learn here?!), and an explanation of the history of the
Metric vs. Imperial Measuring System.

There are tons of official ISO-related sites out there. You can start
here, but you might get lost. I like McGregor’s site because it is
simple and not as heavy on techy terms as the professional organization sites.