Michael Palin’s travel series “The New Europe” starts Monday

by Jamie Rhein on

This coming Monday Michael Palin’s new seven-show travel series, “The New Europe” starts on The Travel Channel. He’s taking the TV audience through “post communist” Europe to highlight the natural beauty, history and culture of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, and Bosnia among several others in Eastern and Central Europe (20 in all), many that were behind the Iron Curtain when he was growing up in Great Britain.

There’s an interview with Palin at World Hum about the series. David Farley’s questions brought out an intriguing look into what thoughts go into a travel series in the first place–including the name of it.

“The New Europe” stuck for this series title, even though it’s a term coined by Donald Rumsfeld, of all people. I wonder if Donald Rumsfeld has a travel series in his future.? Or if people are looking for a catchy title they could call him up for his wordsmith magic.” To be clear, the name of the series and the fact that Donald Rumsfeld called this part of the world “the new Europe” while he was U.S. Secretary of Defense is purely coincidental. They have nothing to do with each other, but in the interview with Palin, Farley included the show’s reaction to the sameness and the decision to keep the name anyway.

When deciding what to include and what not to include in an episode, the balance between what will make for an interesting show and what the country’s reaction to its portrayal are taken into consideration. For example, the idea is to show the scope of the region so countries are not necessarily highlighted for the same reason. In summary, people from one country may look at the depiction of another country as having gorgeous scenery, but not that aspect of the their own and feel slighted. It’s heck to be an editor. Someone is bound to feel slighted.

In the Farley’s interview Palin also muses about the difference between Americans’ and Europeans’ ideas about travel and what draws him around the world. The series that airs at 8 p.m. looks like one that won’t disappoint– and I certainly recommend the interview.

If I have a layover in Beijing, have I “been to” China?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

In his “Ask the Pilot” column over at Salon, Patrick Smith has an article of interest to every traveler who has ever wondered, in this age of layovers and transcontinental bus trips, so how many countries have I visited? What constitutes “visiting” a country? If I’m flying from Chicago to Bangkok, and I have a six-hour layover in Tokyo, does that mean I’ve been to Japan? If I’m on a bus from Prague to Budapest, and we stop for a bathroom break in Slovakia, does that mean I’ve been there?

Salon’s article provides an answer– albeit an unsatisfying one– for those who care about such things. Smith writes that, of course, each traveler is free to come up with his or her own criteria for what constitutes a “visit,” but his own criteria are as follows: “[A] passport stamp alone doesn’t cut it. At the very least, a person must spend a token amount of time — though not necessarily an overnight — beyond the airport and its immediate environs.”

What about a visit to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in northern Morocco? Here, Smith has no answers– only more questions. “Consider the world’s various territories, protectorates, self-governing autonomous regions, occupied lands and quasi-independent nations. Yeah, I know, Vatican City is a sovereign state, politically speaking. But in practical terms, is it really? Did my visits to Hong Kong count as visits to China? What about Tibet? Western Sahara? Sure those are foreign nations, but which ones?”

Feel free to list your own criteria, if you have any, in the comments.

Read the whole article here.

Mushroom Pickers Unite!

by Iva Skoch on

Well, it’s that time of year again in the Czech Republic. Time for those atavistic hunter-gatherer instincts to be unleashed. Thousands of Europeans with crazed looks in their darting eyes, trembling fingers clutching baskets, socks rolled over their pant legs (ticks!), marching, probing, snooping, we stumble through the forests like zombies. We guard our secret spots, we spy on others for their secret spots, we come home lucky, or we come home dejected.

Yes, it’s mushroom-picking time.

With Czechs and Slovaks, at least, it’s an obsession. I’ve heard claims that 80% of us do it at least occasionally. And this is the time of year. A certain combination of weather conditions (usually rain then heat) makes these buggers sprout up, filling the forests. And collect them, we do. It’s a family affair, taking up our weekends. The fuller the basket, the better. They are sauteed, made into soups, dried for the winter.

The kind we hunt is called the “hrib,” also known as the boletus or porcini mushroom (pictured above).

Americans can’t seem to understand this custom, although there is ‘gold in them thar hills’: one need only read a recent New Yorker article about the fortunes made mushroom-picking in the woods of Oregon, for example. Wikipedia, in a well down article, lays mushroom picking down as a Slavic custom, only for those braving poisoning, using knowledge passed down for generations.

Savvy Traveler: Let Czechoslovakia Die, Please

by Iva Skoch on

It has been 14 painful years for me since Czechoslovakia broke up in what they called a “Velvet Divorce“. Not so velvet for me.

Since January 1, 1993, I have been trying to patiently teach everyone outside the country to learn to love the sound of “Czech Republic” and “Slovak Republic”. I know, I know. It doesn’t quite come out as easily but please, don’t make me suffer any longer.

See what I have to go through on a daily basis:

“I can detect an accent. Where are you from?”

“Czech Republic.”

“Ah, Czechoslovakia.”

“Well, it’s actually the Czech and Slovakia now. The country split up in 1993.”

“Oh, I see. So, in Czechoslovakia, do you have indoor plumbing?”

Well, OK. It’s not quite that bad but it often comes close. Sometimes, when I travel I just tell people I am from Iceland so I don’t have to put up with the whole routine of “Czechoslovakia” any more. Please, let the nonexistent country die a velvet death.

Slovenia’s Mini-Riviera

by Iva Skoch on

With all the publicity the coast of Croatia has been getting lately, it makes you wonder why not many people talk about the coast of Slovenia. Perhaps because it is only 46km (not quite 30 miles) long? Croatia, on the other hand, has over 200 miles of coastline. Somebody got ripped off after the split of Yugoslavia!

I happen to be a fan of Slovenia. I have even heard people compare the Slovenian coast to the French riviera, just not as crowded and pretentious. A few budget airlines fly from a bunch of European cities to the capital, Ljubljana, which is only an hour away from the beach.

(Don’t get the country mixed up with Slovakia, as G.W.Bush once did. Slovakia is land-locked.)