South America

Travel through South America by country:

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

Travel through South America by popular city:

Bogota, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro

Travel through South America by popular things to do:

Adventures in the Amazon, Falkland Islands, Iguazu Falls, Tierra del Fuego

Travel Photo Tours

by Erik Olsen on

I switched to digital photography years ago, having purchased one of the old Nikon CoolPix cameras and I have since upgraded to one of the superb Nikon D70 XLRs. As happy as I am with this camera and its 6 megapixel images, the newest Nikons shoot in 10 megapixels and more. What can you do? Well, I suppose one thing you can do is improve your shooting overall. Even ten-plus megapixel images don’t do you any good if they suck. So why not consider a trip dedicated entirely to learning how to shoot.

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do this. While I have shot my share of photos from all over the world, I know that there is plenty of room for improvement in my own travel photography skill repertoire. And so I was looking around for Photography Expeditions, trips where you go out and get the hands-on knowledge and skill from a bona-fide professional photographer. Turns out, there are LOTS of trips and packages available.

Travelimages.com for example, offers a selection of U.S. based and international tours in 2007 including destinations like the Galapagos, Scotland, the European Alps, New Zealand, Venice, Yellowstone and Vermont (where I am now!). Another possibility is Joe Englander’s Landscape and Travel Photography Workshops and Tours. With Englander, you’ll head to far-off places like Bhutan, Norway, Tibet and Burma. Along the way, professional photographers will take a look at your work and critique your composition and technique. It ain’t cheap, however. The trip runs $3,000, but would be the perfect way to kick your shutterbug skills up to professional levels. And who knows, if you take enough great shots, you might be able to sell them to magazines and cover your costs. .

(via Frommers)

Santiago Chile – in the LA Times

by Erik Olsen on

The Los Angeles Times runs a piece on one of my favorite cities in the world, Santiago, Chile. I lived in Santiago in the mid-90s and came to really appreciate it’s hidden charms. It’s not the most physically attractive city in the world, and when I was there it has a definite pollution problem when there was a low-pressure system holding in the smog against the Andes, but the lovely parks, the vibrant social scene there, and many other qualities make it an great place to visit in South America.

The LA Times piece here also discusses how much things have changed since I was there. The music scene, led somewhat by the band Los Tres, who were HUGE when I lived there (I still listen to their TV Unplugged album), is taking on a life of its own ad really spreading beyond Chile’s borders. The coffee houses and bars are also becoming increasingly cosmopolitan. The piece makes Santiago sound so appealing, in fact, that I have to say I’ ready to go back for a trip…which I’ve been wanting to do anyway.

Word for the Travel Wise (12/31/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

As promised I’m taking this one full year of language from across the globe and from the teeny tiny villages found in the Congo out with an explosive big bang! Okay, so you saw right through my attempt to hype it up, but really this is an exciting time. 2007 is only hours away for us and this completes a full year first year for the “Word for the Travel Wise” feature. I hope that the lessons have not only been helpful, but a little memorable. For the last time this year I just want to relay that while I do not have a degree as a linguist or speak fluently the mother tongue of several far more exotic places than my home digs in Florida, I appreciate the feedback and minor corrections that have been given and look forward to building a better world language feature in the new year.

Here is Happy New Year in various languages:

  • Yiddish – A git yor
  • Portuguese – Feliz ano novo
  • French – Bonne année
  • Italian – Buon anno
  • Persian – sal-e no mobarak
  • Japanese – Akemashite omedeto
  • Turkish – Mutlu yibasi
  • Catalan – Feliç any nou

Happy New Year everyone!

iPod Listening When U Travel

by Erik Olsen on

Like a lot of people, I have fallen so in love with my ipod that, after my wallet, it’s the one thing I HAVE to carry with me when I leave the house. And before I go, I always make sure that it is loaded up with the most recent podcasts from NPR, as well as my Charlie Rose subscription on Audible.com AND many audio books from audible. I was happy to see Iva blog about audible’s content, especially about Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between, which I actually have in its atom-based, tree-pulp form and am enjoying immensely.

But for those who travel and are looking for walking tours and such to put on their ipods and other listening devices, here are a couple of ideas.

A company called AudioSteps offers audio walking tours of various cities around the country including New Orleans, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. For the internationally-inclined, especially those traveling to London, a company called BlueBrolly has a fine selection of audio walks for areas including Westminster, Soho, Chinatown, Greenwich, Covent Garden, St Paul’s and other spots around the English capital. Finally, PodGuides takes a step further and offers digital maps and small pictures, along with the audio tracks. A fine idea, and one I’m sure we’ll be seeing a LOT more of.

InFlight Magazines

by Erik Olsen on

Sometimes when you fly, you forget to bring along reading material. And when this happens, which is quite unfortunate, you are forced to either endure the in flight movie (usually something horrendously awful) or you pick up the airline’s magazine stuffed there in the pocket in front of you. Is there a sniglet for this pocket? I’m not sure. Perhaps it is called the “flybrary”. But whatever, I always find it interesting to see how different airlines come up with stuff that they think flyers will like. Each airline is a bit different, and as you can see from this list of in-flight magazines, each has its own language, too.

I have to admit, I spent some time clicking around the list here and there some some interesting ones…even those NOT in English. Take a look, for example, at SkyEurope’s Magazine, which offers, obviously, lots of pieces on things to do in Europe. Or what about the magazine for Montenegro Airlines. Now, that’s rather interesting. The articles are downloadable as a Word document, just in case you feel the need to have it while you’re not connected. The list is extensive and it made me think that maybe these would be a good source of info for whatever trip I decide to take next.