Gadling’s Don George wins Society of American Travel Writers award

by Grant Martin on

Narrative travel writing is an important component to any site working in the travel space. While clicks and viral attention tend to come from the shorter, service-oriented pieces, the goal of any travel site should be to inspire and the provoke travel and thoughts about travel. Narrative travel writing is the best way to do that.

That’s why we initially brought in Don George as our features editor at Gadling. He’s a legend among the travel community, with past appointments at Lonely Planet and the San Francisco Chronicle among his myriad accomplishments. He’s also well connected in the travel community and most importantly, an exceptionally talented writer and editor.

That talent was recently recognized by the Society of American Travel Writers in their annual Lowell Thomas Awards for a piece that Don wrote on Gadling called The Aeroramme and the Email. Don’s piece took a silver award in the “Short article on Travel” category, and he also took a bronze award home for Making Roof Tiles in Peru written for Recce: Literary Journeys for the Discerning Traveler in the “Personal Comment” category.

We’re proud to have Don as part of our team on Gadling and aspire to produce more award-winning content in the coming year. Congratulations, Mr. George. You’re an inspiration to team Gadling.

Explorer to make back-to-back journey to North and South Pole

by Kraig Becker on

British adventurer Mark Wood is currently in Punta Arenas, Chile where he is preparing to start an epic journey. If all goes as planned, later this week, Mark will fly to the Antarctic, where he’ll begin a four-month odyssey that will take him to both the North and South Poles back-toback. While he certainly won’t be the first person to visit those two remote places, he does hope to become the first to make consecutive journeys to the opposite ends of the Earth.

Weather permitting, the first stage of the expedition will begin on Wednesday, when Wood will start his solo and unassisted trek to the South Pole. That leg of the journey is expected to take roughly 50 days to complete and will cover approximately 680 miles of ice and snow. Upon arriving at his destination, Wood will be picked up by plane and shuttled back to Chile, where he’ll immediately set off for Canada to start the second stage of the expedition. That will entail crossing another 700 miles of ice, over an estimated 65 day period, culminating with his arrival at the North Pole. If he is successful, he’ll then be plucked from the ice once again, and flown directly to an environmental conference that will focus on the effects of climate change.

In order to reach the two Poles, Wood will travel on skis, dragging a sled behind him. That sled will be weighted down with his gear, food, and other supplies, enabling him to survive for weeks on end, by himself, without any outside assistance. While on the trail, he’ll burn in excess of 8000 calories per day, enduring bitterly cold temperatures, whiteout conditions, and treacherous terrain.
Wood is making this journey to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on our planet and he is asking for support from others to help him achieve his goal. But rather than looking for monetary donations, Mark is instead asking for others to pledge to do some simple environmental actions that will cumulatively amount to a savings 100,000 kilograms of CO2. You can find out more about this program, and pledge your support, on the expedition’s DoNation page.

It will be a tremendous display of strength and endurance if Wood is able to pull this off. Spending 115 nearly-consecutive days in polar environments, alone no less, will take its toll on anyone. Additionally, the changes to our planet have made it increasingly more difficult to travel by foot to the North Pole, so he’ll have to have a bit of luck on his side for that to happen as well. Still, you have to applaud his ambitions and wish him the best along the way.

[Photo courtesy of Mark Wood]


Navy museum receives 111 year old pudding from the Boer War

by Jessica Festa on

One hundred and eleven years ago, a batch of Christmas pudding was made to cheer up a soldier fighting in the Boer War. While most would assume it would have been eaten long ago, it has actually turned up in a kitchen cupboard. The batch is thought to be one made by Victorian philanthropist Agnes Weston, often known as “the mother of the Navy” for her goodwill work writing to soldiers and sailors, visiting hospitals and prisons, and starting rest homes for sailors.

The pudding tin even contains the original instructions: “This pudding is ready for use but may be boiled for an hour if required hot”. Of course, being that the treat is way past its expiration date, it will not be served cold or hot but has been donated to the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom.

The story of how the pudding was donated to the museum begins with a phone call from a woman who had found the tin in her kitchen cupboard. She knew that it had been in her deceased husband’s family for years, but did not know how much history it held, having actually been sent overseas from South Africa.

If you would like to check out the 111 year old pudding yourself, you can attend the Historic Dockyard’s Victorian Christmas Festival from November 25-27, 2011, where the exhibit will be on temporary display.

Black rhino declared extinct in West Africa

by Kraig Becker on

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published an update to its “Red List” of threatened animals, and the news was grim for a number of species across the planet – especially the rhinoceros. The organization has declared the wild black rhino extinct in West Africa, and says that a number of other subspecies of rhinos may already be gone as well.

IUCN officials say that poaching is to blame for the loss of the black rhino, whose horn is seen as highly valuable in traditional medicines and remedies across parts of Asia. Demand for those horns on the black market is so high, that poachers are willing to face stiff jail terms, or even death, in order to acquire them. As a result, this particular subspecies has been hunted to extinction in West Africa, where there are few security measures in place to protect the creatures.

The Red List also warns of the potential loss of the northern white rhino, which calls central Africa home. The IUCN believes that it is also on the brink of extinction, as is the Javan rhino, which is no longer found outside of Java as well.

According to the organization, 25% of the world’s mammal species are now in danger of becoming extinct, despite conservation efforts across the planet. They also warn that 40% of Madagascar’s reptiles are at risk, although new conservation zones there have helped to ease a possible impending disaster there.

All is not lost however, as the latest IUCN report also cites the success of the re-introduction of the Przewalski’s horse into the wild. The animal was also declared extinct outside of captivity back in 1996, but careful management has allowed the creature to be reintroduced to their natural habitat along the steppes of China and Mongolia. The herds are now believed to have grown to more than 300 in number.

The hope is that a similar program could eventually be used to bring the rhino back to its home as well. Before that can happen however, the threat of poaching needs to be quashed once and for all.

Super Mario flashmob takes over the Chicago, Illinois, Magnificent Mile

by Jessica Festa on

On Wednesday, more than 90 costumed Super Marios took over the streets of the Chicago, Illinois, Magnificent Mile. Around lunchtime, the flash mob broke out into dance in front of the John Hanock Center in an effort to promote Ninetendo’s new video game, Super Mario 3D Land.

As you can see in the video, one man really enjoyed Nintendo’s marketing efforts (although he had some trouble getting the moves down). The mobsters in the video are part of “Attack!”, a company that organizes promotional flash mobs around the country.

Check it out for yourself:

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.