Amazing Race contestants: What does it take exactly?

by Jamie Rhein on

What does it take to get picked as an Amazing Race contestant team? In this Columbus Dispatch article, there’s some insight. Victoria Hunt, the female part of the Columbus-based married couple team–Brad and Victoria, who are competing in Amazing Race 14, tried out for Survivor several times.

She never made it onto Survivor, but when she showed the powers that be a photo of her husband, Victoria was bumped over to the Amazing Race with Brad in tow. It helps that both of them are attractive and fit. Like Victoria, hubby Brad is an exercise hound. Along with rock and ice climbing, he kayaks, mountaineers at high altitudes and power-lifts. Not only does he participate in marathons, he is in ultra-marathons. Frankly, it sounds as if he could answer the casting call for a good looking, silver-haired Batman.

As for Victoria, she is an avid skier, but I hope she has more experience than Ohio’s offerings. Snow Trails and Mad River Mountain are fun–but even I ski those, and I’m no skier.

According to Victoria, the show is looking for folks who “have an opinion” since this makes for interesting TV. Based on the article, I assume Brad and Victoria made it at least through a couple legs of the race. I wonder if they made it to Romania and Siberia, two new destinations this season? The filming started right after Halloween, spanning 40,000 miles and seven other countries.

For a rundown of the other Amazing Race 14 contestants, click here.

David Sedaris with Rick Steves: Funny travel incidents and observations like when flight attendants pass gas

by Jamie Rhein on

Two of the things I remember from an interview I heard with David Sedaris on Travel with Rick Steves is that Business Class is known as ICU because passengers are in need of attention and flight attendants pass gas as they walk up the aisles because the sound covers the noise.

A flight attendant told Sedaris that. Not, Heather, our Gallery Gossip gal, someone else.

Here are two travel tips during the conversation that Sedaris passed on in his sardonic m wry wit sort of way.

  • When staying in a hotel, you don’t put your clothes in drawers because that’s how you lose things.
  • As a matter of fact, don’t let your belongings wander more than two feet from your suitcase.

And here’s a bit of irony that Sedaris has noticed when staying in high end hotels. He pointed out that these hotels have half-hearted attempts at going green. He points out that they may tout going green with missives like:

Save the earth. Don’t make us wash these towels, save the earth.

Then with the turn down service, they turn on the radio and the lights.

He also says that, “Sometimes, I turn on the radio and I think, “Who the hell was in this room?” . . .like if the music is heavy metal.

Both Sedaris and Steves talked up travel in Japan which our own Matthew Firestone who lives in Japan could verify.

About Japan, Rick Steves says, “People were so unbelievably kind. In Japan, ordering was terribly fun. Japanese are so gracious. Only country I’ve been in where people regularly stop me and ask, ‘You look lost, can I help you?'”

Living in Japan helped Sedaris quit smoking. He wanted to quit smoking because so many hotels don’t allow smoking anymore.

To listen to the Podcast between Steves and Sedaris, click here. What I’ve passed on are only tidbits of the wealth.

China coverage on Travel Channel

by Jamie Rhein on

In preparation for the Olympics, The Travel Channel has been offering several China-themed options this week and is continuing with its coverage by repeating various episodes. Here they are in case you’ve missed them and want to catch up.

For those interested in China’s natural landscape and wildlife and how the natural world fits into Chinese culture and sensibilities, check out Wild China. Episodes range from panda bears to the ecosystem and take armchair travelers from Tibet to the Great Wall and from the deserts to the sea. (For schedule.)

Samantha Brown’s Passport to China is focused on three places: Beijing, Sichuan, and Xian. The show offers a potpourri look at life in China from a variety of angles. (For schedule)

Great Cruises is offering an episode “Royal Passage to Asia.” Like the others, it is being aired a few different times.

For the gastronomic delights–or the opposite of delightful, depending on your tastes, Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations are repeating episodes that are China related. (No Reservations schedule; Bizarre Foods schedule)

The photo of the Bird’s Nest, the stadium where the Olympic ceremonies will take place is from the Travel Channel Web site’s page that highlights Beijing’s attractions.

Talking travel with Sacred Places of Goddess author Karen Tate

by Jamie Rhein on

When I headed to the West Hollywood Book Fair last September, I didn’t know which writers I would meet or what to expect. The scope of offerings was impressive, and one book in particular caught my eye. Sacred Places of the Goddesses: 101 Destinations pulled me in for a chat with the author, Karen Tate.

Tate, who lives with her husband, Roy in one of my most favorite towns, Venice, California, is a world traveler, tour guide and an expert on goddesses. She knows exactly where to see their traces and influences.

Her book–part travel guide, part spiritual guide and part chronicle of history, includes each section of the world. [See earlier post review.]

Since we chatted in the shade of her display booth, Tate has been busy launching her weekly Internet radio show “Voices of the Sacred Feminine” and promoting her new book, Walking an Ancient Path.

We talked on the phone last fall, and I’ve kept up with her various activities ever since. As a person with a lens focused on travel and spirituality, Tate offers a unique perspective about how one can experience the world.

You started out on your travels searching out places of the divine feminine after age 30. How do you think this may have influenced your traveling experiences?

It totally influenced my travel 120%. I began to have a very focused and single minded passion and ambition to visit the sacred sites of Goddess around the world, including the museums that house all her artifacts. . .The prominent place Goddess once held in the world cannot be denied when one sees her presence throughout history through the lens of sacred travel and the museums.

When visiting a site considered sacred, how can people enhance their own understanding of its significance and ability to feel its power? Are there techniques you use?

This is very subjective as we all “receive” awareness, guidance and understanding differently. Some people are visual, others are kinesthetic or auditory.

I encourage people to use what has worked for them. However, I think it is important to know a bit about the site and the deity that draws you to the site so there is some foundation – but it’s very important to give equal attention to the left (academic) and right (intuitive) brain.

After you are armed with some knowledge, then you have to open your senses and try to feel, hear, sense what comes to you. It’s important to sink in to the space and be present and there, a part of the site as much as possible.

Quiet contemplation works for some. Walking meditation for others. Sometimes I recommend to travelers if they’re about to visit a special site the next day, take a ritual bath the night before, eat light, don’t let yourself be distracted and above all, ask the Divine Source, by whatever name you identify that essence, what it is you should learn from the site. Then listen and don’t judge the reply.

Finally, if you receive nothing profound. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Sometimes your epiphany might arrive in a dream or days or weeks afterward the journey.

Of all the places you’ve traveled which gave you the “Wow!” feeling the most? The kind of feeling that makes your heart beat faster-or where you want to sit down to soak in the aura.

I was very moved by Ireland and Turkey – which was a surprise because I’ve always had an affinity for Isis and Egypt. Being in the countryside of Ireland, among the green meadows and standing stones, I felt as if I were one with Nature and totally inspired to revel in her majesty, dance among the stones, and feel the magic of the land.

In Turkey, particularly in Aphrodiasias, sacred to the Goddess Aphrodite, I was in awe as I stood in the valley, her temple before me, the snow-capped mountains on either side of me, and I truly felt embraced in the loving arms of the Mother.

I still get the feeling of hair standing on end on my arms and neck thinking about that awareness of her essence that I sense when I was there. It was truly remarkable and it’s these glimpses that we get that make the travel worthwhile and can be catalysts for transformation in our lives.

When you travel, what techniques do you use or questions do you ask in order to better understand how people see the world and their sense of themselves? Is there a commonality that strikes you?

I definitely have an open mind when I travel. And I encourage Americans to do the same. We can go to other countries and realize that these people are part of our human family. They may look different, sound different, do things differently but they are all a microcosm of the macrocosm.

We all are. We begin to see them as people – instead of being “other”. We see their value and what diversity they add to the world. I think it appropriately mellows out American hubris. And I always encourage those I take along on my travels to consider themselves Ambassadors of their country, spirituality, or gender. And smile and laugh a lot. Those are always great ice breakers.

Ever since you’ve started your travels, talking, and writing about the divine, how has people’s interest in the subject changed and why do you think this is?

I think there is a resurgent interest in the Divine Feminine, Sacred Feminine, Feminine Consciousness, Goddess — by whatever name you want to call her or her essence and ideals. Books and films such as The DaVinci Code sparked dialog helping people realize there is more to history than they originally believed.

If someone is going to a country such as India that is filled with so many sites considered divine, how would you suggest choosing between them? What criterion do you use?

I always tell people to look inside and see what they hope to achieve from the journey. You have to take the time to research destinations ahead of time so that you know what will fit into your itinerary and so that you’ll you see the places that will be most meaningful to you. I’d research itineraries for six months or more. Don’t leave the planning until when you get there.

Make sure the museums are open on the day you’re there. Leave yourself time to be at the sites you feel most called to visit. Spend as much quiet time in these locales as you can.

Is there a particular treasure you’ve picked up along your travels that has particular meaning for you? What is it, and how did you come to get it?

I’m a collector of Goddess imagery and my most significant and precious statue is that of Aphrodite from Aphrodiasias in Turkey. Her image is not the typical image we see of Aphrodite that reflects the work of the artist Botticelli, naked and emerging from a shell.

Instead we see a more authentic image of Aphrodite, with Anatolian flavor, where she’s wearing a crown that reflects the walls of the city as a symbol of her being protector of the people.

Her torso is filled with images of animals, symbolic of her being Mistress of the Animals. This image shows the full power and majesty of Aphrodite, rather than her much more shallow personae as just a goddess of love and beauty. [the photo is an example, not Tate’s.]

Since spirituality is one of the themes of your life, how do you stay focused and grounded when you travel?

You have to strike a balance between taking care of the mundane and linear issues, like getting from points A to B, and then be able to shift gears and put on your receptive and intuitive hat when you arrive at a sacred place.

I guess it’s not unlike how we have to live our lives – always trying to avoid chaos by balancing the left and right brain, the masculine and feminine aspect of ourselves, embracing the ideals of Goddess and God.

If someone could only go to three sites of the Divine Feminine, which three sites would you recommend?

This is very personal depending on ones ancestry, their spiritual calling and their personal interests.

If I could rephrase the sentence and say of all the places I’ve been, which three were the most important or potent for me, I’d say feeling the living essence of Goddess in the countryside of Ireland, in Aphrodiasias, Turkey, and in the Sekhmet Temple of Karnak in Egypt.

However, that being said, you would then miss all the wonderful sites such as Knossos on Crete, the temples on the island of Delos in the Mediterranean, the Isis Temple in Philae, Egypt, the sacred Bath of Sulis Minerva in England, the wonders of India, the temples in Japan.

I think you get my point. There are so many sacred places of Goddess that span so many cultures and continents. I think a very important point that this raises is the diversity of Goddess worship that stands as a testament to Her nature of diversity and inclusiveness – two qualities many of us could certain stand to embrace, which might enhance life on our planet.

**To see Karen Tate or take part in one of the events she organizes, here is the list of upcoming dates. There are several. In October, Karen is leading at Sacred Sites trip to Turkey.

New travel podcast series on the Independent

by Neil Woodburn on

The travel section of the UK’s Independent newspaper has just launched a cool, new feature: audio broadcasts.

Something to Declare is a half-hour radio show dedicated entirely to travel that can easily be downloaded from the newspaper’s website. Hosted by editor Ben Ross, the program features “a wide range of travel industry professionals,” as well as a weekly segment hosted by regular travel columnist Simon Calder.

For example, the first (and currently only) show ready for download discusses an art deco tour of South Beach, a report on the 12-week OzBus journey, and Simon Calder’s account of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

And the best thing? Everyone speaks in an oh-so-professional British accent that magically transforms even the most mundane of sentences into polished works of linguistical art.