I’ve been wanting to do a top travel books post for a long time, but each time I start to compile a list, I am overcome with profound self-loathing over how few of the supposed “great” travel books I’ve actually read. Sure, sure, I’ve read most of the biggies, the Therouxs, the Chatwins, the Brysons, I even picked up and savored a St. Exupery recently. But taking a look at the list of Top 30 Travel Books over at Worldhum, I realized that my travel reading repertoire is pathetically anemic. Their number one pick, for example, is the book “Arabian Sands” by Wilfred Thesiger, which I have never read. No. 2 is “The Road to Oxiana” by Robert Byron. Ditto. Not until we get to Theroux’s Great Railway Bazaar at number three do we get to a book I’ve read. And thereafter there are a smattering of others I’ve read — Pico Iyer, Bryson, Mark Twain, Matthiessen — but still many others I have not. Oh well. Let’s just say that we can be thankful to folks like Worldhum to help us improve our libraries as we move swiftly into summer and the reading season.
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
Exercising Hotel Safety
Having been on the road for about seven weeks now I’ve got more travel tales than the time to tell them and some of which I wouldn’t need to share, but an experience just a few nights back leads me to posting this hotel safety refresher. I’m usually not the type to flip my wig or jump at the sound of squeaky faucets, feet scuffling in the hall or other random noises heard in hotels, but when I received a knock on my hotel door at 10:30 P.M. at night it placed me a little on edge. The door chain had already been in place and one glance out the peephole revealed a face I wasn’t familiar with. Surely I could have retreated to the confines of my room without thinking to question why this person was at my door at such an hour, but I gave them the benefit of a doubt. Perhaps the volume on my TV or music was too loud and they were simply trying to get some sleep next door. This wasn’t the case. Leaving the chain on the door I opened it just a tad and our conversation went something like this:
“Can I help you sir?”
“Sorry to bother you ma’am. Um, my friend and I saw you earlier and we were curious to know if you were getting into anything this evening?”
“Um, no. It’s late and I’m going to bed. Thank you – Goodbye.”
After ending the conversation there, closing the door and weaving in and out of confusion I asked myself a couple of questions:
- Was I in Cancun?
- Was it Spring Break?
- Did I look like some dizzy college chick?
- Is this type of behavior typical in Fayetteville, AR?
- Should I phone the front office?
- Where did these men see me and were there really only two?
I was completely bugged out by this, so I called on one of the folks touring with me to come hang out in my room for awhile. Then at Midnight I received a phone call on the room phone from a man who claims he didn’t send the other one over, wanted to let me know they had been admiring me earlier and if I was getting into anything that night? At this point I was fuming. Who in their right mind calls anyone or comes to their door at late hours to make a first introduction and invite them out? My co-worker was in complete shock as well and offered to change rooms. And to make a long story short I didn’t switch rooms, but I didn’t sleep well that night either. When I woke up that morning some of my co-workers that had gone out to a local piano bar provided me with some information that lead me to believe the front desk man had given the men my room number, but he was not present and they were just as confused as I when I told them my story. Still there wasn’t enough to confront any of the hotel staff, especially those in the morning shift who hadn’t any knowledge of the evening staffs actions.
To conclude my scary hotel tale if you can’t rely on others to protect you then always remember to protect yourself. Forgive me for sounding preachy, but seriously – both women and men should take a look at some of these hotel/travel safety tips from the links below. Even the most seasoned travelers let their guard down, including me. Next time I won’t bother to see if the volume is either too high or low.
- MetLife – Basic hotel safety and travel safety information we can all use.
- KevinCoffee.com – Very, very detailed safety information from valuables, elevators, parking lots, etc.
- Safer Child – More detailed info on how to select rooms safe for children and parents. Even includes notes on hotel rooms used as meth labs.
Ten Destinations Under $1,000
I don’t know if we can call these “cash-strapped times”. I suppose it depends on your station in life and whether you are a CEO of a major corporation who just got a $250 million bonus even though your company’s stock is down. But for most of us, the idea of taking a trip and not having to take out a second mortgage is rather savory.
I have been doing some shopping around for plane tickets to Europe this summer and — whoa — it is hard to find ANYTHING for under $1,000. And that’s JUST FOR AIRFARE! So what are we middle-class folks to do? Well, you’ll have to get your own fact-checkers on board to look into the deals here, but its coming from good ol USA Today, so you can probably be sure the stuff is accurate.
Here in this article they offer a solid list of rather impressive adventures for under $1000. Per person that is. What kind of stuff do they suggest? A road trip to the next state? Nope. Better than that. There are trips here to Chile and the Torres del Paine (a favorite of mine), Utah (for biking), Belize (for diving) and Tuscany (for eating and shooting photos). Could you really imagine that you could get to for under a grand? Me neither. That’s why it’s important to note that many of these trips don’t include airfare. And more, many of them (like the excursion) are timed for winter, which right now seems way too far off, especially for those of us trying to make up our razadooks what to do this summer.
Drew Carey to the World Cup
Really, so much of making it in life is just establishing yourself as a celebrity. Then it’s all downhill. Once you get famous, everyone wants a part of you and you get paid, yes PAID to do cool stuff. Bill Murray gets paid to go all over the world to go golfing. Why? Because he was in Caddyshack for goodness sakes. And because he’s an excellent golfer. Brajolina have their trip to Africa paid for by aid groups because they look so pretty together. And now, here’s Drew Carey, who’s show really wasn’t even that funny, going to Europe to report on the World Cup for the Travel Channel. Well, good for him. I suppose if anyone can help Americans understand soccer and represent the US overseas, it’s a wise-cracking, doughy white guy. But seriously, I’ll have to check this out. Good for Drew.
Moleskines Expand
For many many years I’ve kept a journal. I must have literally 10,000 pages of stuff written about places I’ve been, people I’ve met, the changing colors of lint in my navel. In the early, Pre-Cambrian days, I wrote in a paper journal, a Letts of London or another, more famous kind. What kind you ask? A Moleskine.
But in those days the Molskine was just a regular old blank-paged journal. No more. Moleskine is entering the guidebook market, or something near to it. They are about to publish DIY guidebooks with a city guide that will contain a maps, metro guides, and 36 pages of neighborhood maps. Of course, in the other pages of the book there are blank pages for making notes, and jotting down your thoughtful scribbles. The guides are only European cities to start, including Paris, Prague , Berlin and Rome. American cities are coming, though, including L.A. and Boston next year.