International Volunteer Day

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are a volunteer somewhere, give yourself a pat on the back. This is your day. Started as a UN resolution back in 1985, December 5 is a day to get people fired up for the other 364 days of the year. Even though the areas of economic and social development, are the target areas for applause, I say, if you’re helping anyone anywhere, bravo for you. Hmmm. Economic and social development. Those are broad terms. There’s a page on the International Volunteer Day Web site that lists the 7 Goals for the Millennium that volunteer activities are linked to. They are:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality & empower women
  4. Improve maternal health
  5. Reduce child mortality
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability

Kabul, Afghanistan, Kathmandu, Nepal and Beijing, China are featured as areas where such projects are happening, but there are more. If you are looking for a place to make a difference when you travel, the International Volunteer Day Web site might be a place to start. Here are volunteer stories to get you inspired.

Making Christmas festive while on the road

by Jamie Rhein on

While the song might say, “There’s no place like home for the holidays,” being on the road offers the excitement of places new and getting away from it all. Particularly, if staying at home means endless hours of decorating, baking cookies, and trying to make a day “perfect.” Instead of feeling relaxed with that holiday glow, you’re left feeling frazzled and about ready to bite someone’s head off.

Being on the road also avoids the let down feeling after presents are opened, the food has been eaten and darkness has set in because it’s winter and 5:30 pm (or therabouts), at least if you live in the northern hemisphere. However, being on the road can be a let down if you like the holiday trimmings and want to have some visual markers that a special time of the year is in one’s midst.

I’ve been on the road a few times on Christmas, and being one of those people who adore the holiday, but also adore travel, I have found a few ways to combine the best of both. Tinsel is a good place to start.

One Christmas we headed to Nepal to trek from Jomsom to Pokora on the apple pie trail. In my backpack, I packed a long tinsel garland, a silver musical bell that shook and played three Christmas songs when you smacked it, and stocking stuffers for the friends we were traveling with. I asked for everyone to give me one clean sock to put their loot in, including those gold foil covered chocolate coins. We also did a name draw where each of us received on nice present from someone in the group. Christmas Eve I pulled out the the bell and the garland to decorate the small, rough guest house we were staying at for the night. We also had gifts for the guest house owner, her kids and our guide and sherpas.

Another Christmas was spent in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was my son’s first Christmas, and my daugher was nine. I bought some wall decorations, Santa hats and their stockings with us in our suitcase. While shopping Christmas Eve, I found some more Christmas ornaments to add a festive flair to our hotel room.

Last year, we went to Florida for Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent in Orlando. My four-year-old, soon to be five year-old, was happy to see traveling didn’t mean forgoing Santa and a tree. I bought a small table top tree, ornaments, a nativity scene and my kid’s stockings along. The tree even lit up. In each hotel room we decorated the tree and hung up the stockings. It established each place as “home.” Redecorating the tree went fairly quickly, and repacking was a me and kids’ task. The ornaments fit in a tupperware container so packing was easy and kept the ornaments from getting tangled. Toilet paper squares work wonders.

And, don’t forget to bring a favorite holiday CD along with you. Music works wonders for creating a joyous mood. If you have any ideas that you’ve tried on the road to help make the season bright, let us know.

Seeking out vacation spots without cell-phone coverage

by Neil Woodburn on

For those who are able to do so, leaving your cell phone at home when you go on vacation enhances that vacation experience immeasurably. Those who find they can’t leave the cell phone at home, however, might want to opt for a destination where, despite how hard you try, you just can’t get a signal. Sorry, boss! I brought my cell with me but it’s not my fault there was no signal!

If this sounds like the perfect guilt free vacation, pop on over to the Telegraph and check out Mobile-free holidays. Journalist Rosemary Behan goes in search of those few places left on this planet where a signal simply can’t reach your cell phone, thereby cutting you off from the hectic world from which you sought escape–isn’t that why you took a vacation in the first place, dummy?

Behan’s list includes the obvious (Antarctica), the remote (Nepal), and the surprising (North Wales). But if you really, really want to ensure you can’t talk on your mobile, be sure to visit North Korea where the police actually confiscate cell phones at the airport. Oh, and just in case you’ve covered all angles in keeping open a line of communication to the outside world, the North Koreans will also confiscate your satellite phone. If your boss can reach you in Pyongyang, you should truly be frightened.

Climbing Everest Naked

by Neil Woodburn on

It sounds like something I’d be dumb enough to try; scale the top of Everest and strip naked at 29,000 feet to celebrate.

Damn it if someone has already beaten me to it.

Last year a Nepali climber did just that. While it sent some chuckles through the climbing community, others weren’t so amused. Everest is, after all, the holiest mountain in the country and local Nepalese were shocked at the sacrilegious act which some have likened to stripping in church. The episode has caused such an uproar, in fact, that Ang Tshering, president of Nepal’s Mountaineering Association, has argued for “strict regulations to discourage such attempts by climbers.” I would assume that concern for one’s own private parts in minus 10 degree temperatures would be discouragement itself, but apparently it isn’t.

There is, however, a bit of irony here that has been nicely pointed out by Guardian Journalist Hank Wangford. It seems that naked mountain climbing may have originated many years ago on Everest itself (or at least very near it). The above photo is of legendary climber George Mallory crossing a stream in 1922 on his way to the holy mountain. Way to go George!

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Want to Climb Everest? Approaching 40? Lots of Luck

by Jamie Rhein on

It’s not whether you are a man or a woman that determines how successful you’ll be climbing Mt. Everest–or even if you are an experienced mountain climber, although experience might help–it’s how old you are.

The statistics are in. According to data collected after 15 years of studying who makes it to the summit and who doesn’t, researchers have found that after a person reaches age 40, his or her chance of making it to the top drops dramatically. Once you hit 60, you may as well forget about it. Well, you might make it to the top at that age, but your chances are slim. After 40 your body systems poop out faster. (That’s my interpretation of what I’ve read.)

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try after the age of 40, but I’d say, know your limits and don’t be stupid. If you can’t make it, you can’t make it. Heck, how many people actually get to Everest’s first base camp? How many people actually make it to Nepal? or Tibet? How many people don’t even know where these two places are exactly? Or what a sherpa is? If you go trekking in Nepal, hire one. (This shot posted on Flickr by yourclimbing.com was cleverly doctored. Not by me, the person who posted it. Mt. Everest is in the background.)

Here are some climbing Mt. Everest statistics and facts:

  • The first person to reach the summit was Edmund Hillary in 1957.
  • Since then, more than 2,000 people have reached the top
  • more than 200 have died trying.
  • Those who die are usually left where they died.

If you’re contemplating a trip up Everest, the researchers also found that if you want to be successful, be part of a group. (see article from The Cosmos: Science of Everything) This second photo was taken from the International Space Station. Since today is the 50th anniversary since Sputnik the first satellite, was sent to space, this photo seems fitting. Click on it for a larger image and a view of the path up to Everest’s summit.