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Perceptive Travel and Tantric Sex

by Erik Olsen on

A little bit
ago, Kelly mentioned the new Web
magazine by travel guru Tim Leffel called Perceptive Travel and gave it some plaudits for writing and featuring some
top writers. I figured I’d check in with them again because it’s not everyday there’s a new, high-quality travel
magazine online. I got a laugh out of this piece
by Rolf Potts about Tantric Sex.

The indefatigable Potts heads to
Rishikesh, India, not to study tantric sex, per se, but as a stopover on the way to the Himalayas. But in travel writer
fashion, he becomes curious by the endless possibilities of learning how to have sex for hours on end. Which end,
exactly, he doesn’t specify. But the result is a fun article about how he ended up at Swami Vivekananda’s ashram, where
he discovers to his dismay that the Swami teaching the class is not some dreadlocked Casanova, in fact he isn’t even
from India, but rather he is from Romania. He is also "tall, bulky, and bespectacled", and speaks with the
accent of Count Dracula.

Potts’ head is filled with a flurry of questions, most of which I won’t repeat
here because you need to read the piece for yourself. But suffice it to say, his Tantric detour became a surprising
foray into a kind of New Agey traveler’s subculture. In typical Potts fashion, though, we end up not only laughing, but
learning a little bit along the way.

Word for the Travel Wise (01/17/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Please, please whatever you do, do not take this word and run off making cute attempts to wow someone with your Romanian language skills or sense of humor. The everyday people of the country are tired of silly references to non-existent vampires that lurk in the night, though I’m sure they make a killing (no pun intended) in tourism dollars from the fanged night crawlers. Five years back I spent a good two weeks in the country and can vouch for how unimpressed they become with vampire lore and fiction. Stick to the facts and visit this site on Vlad the Impaler if you need some help remembering the details which lead to Bram Stoker’s Dracula before visiting.

Today’s word is a Romanian word used in Romania:

ciocân – (cho-kon) hammer

Hammers are most certainly not the weapon of choice for vampire slaying, but I can assure you there isn’t much of this activity happening anyway. However, it does come in handy when building homes on volunteer vacations with Habitat for Humanity in Cluj-Napoca. It’s one of the few words I slightly remember and just thought to share. You can pick up a few additional words at the Vlad the Impaler page, but if you’d like to know some real practical basics visit this Easy Romanian site. They offer proverbs, months, numbers, and days of the week. As usual Pimsluer offers great audio methods and Lonely Planet has a pocket sized phrasebook for Eastern European langs.

City and Country Resources

by Kelly Amabile on

During my web surfing this week I came across two useful geography
resources loaded with data. These may be useful when researching a city or country for travel planning purposes:

City-Data.com

This one reminds me of ePodunk, and although it may not be as strong a product
(based on quick comparisons searches only), I do like the photos feature on city-data. Look up a small town you know,
maybe your hometown — see if there are photos for it. If not, you could possibly win something for submitting a few
pixs during a limited time-promo they are running. Other features: their
random city photos and
top 100 lists.

Country Profiles

This Library of Congress site lists detailed profiles on selected countries, completed for the Federal Research
program. I have not yet figured out why all countries are not included, but they do code the profiles so you know which
have been updated recently. Maybe they will just keep adding and updating profiles till they are all there? I pulled up
the PDF on Romania — 22 pages of info on Romania’s politics, geography, history and infrastructure, updated in July
2005. Bingo.

Owning Homes Abroad

by Erik Olsen on

Ever considered buying property abroad? Having a second home in, say Bulgaria or Nicaragua? Well, you’re not alone.
In fact, according to 
this peice in the New York
Times, Americans are snapping up cottages and bungalows in countries across the globe, apparently in hope that the
governments of those places will remain stable and they won’t have their properties seized…something that used to
happen a lot more often.

I was actually completely inspired by this story. I’ve always dreamed of having a little place in Chile, and I kind of
thought this was my own little fantasy. Turns out it is the fantasy of lots of people to have a place in another
country, and they are actively doing it.

The hot spots appear to be in Europe. Nor Paris, obviously, because the City of Lights is just too damn pricey. But
Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Nicaragua…these are the countries where second home property markets are starting to
sizzle. What will a home abroad cost you? $65,000 got one guy a two-bedroom cottage in Croatia. For a mere $170,000,
you might get a beachfront house in Nicaragua. And for $85,000, you could be the proud owner of a one-bedroom duplex in
Recoleta, one of the city’s smarter districts of Buenos Aires.

Eurail Announces New Options for 2006

by Dave (Blogsmith Old) on

For the first time ever, the company will introduce a single-country pass, the Eurail National Rail Pass. Travelers can choose to explore one country from three to 10 travel days (within one month or two) for these nine countries: Finland, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain or Sweden.

Another expanded offering is for the existing Eurail Regional Pass, with seven new combinations to choose from: Austria-Czech Republic, Austria-Switzerland, France-Benelux, France-Germany, France-Switzerland, Germany-Austria and Germany-Switzerland.

Finally, the Eurailpass will now be valid in 18 countries with the addition of Romania in 2006. The complete list includes: Austria (including Liechtenstein), Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France (including Monaco), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. (The Eurail Selectpass is also valid in Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro and Slovenia.)

As a reminder, don’t forget to check out the bonuses available to rail riders, including discounts on boat crossings, rental cars and a free map when you buy tickets. All these new options will be available for purchase beginning January 1, 2006.