Gadling t-shirts go on adventure travel around the world

by Sean McLachlan on


One of the best things about blogging for Gadling is seeing where my coworkers are off to next. Like me, they’re sure to pack that essential item for every adventure traveler’s kit: the Gadling t-shirt.

We’ve collected photos of Gadlingers flying their colors in some of the most remote parts of the world, and some places that are not so remote but equally rugged, such as the waiting area at JFK airport. Above we see Mike Barish in Rotorua, New Zealand , with his new girlfriend an ostrich who looks very jealous of Mike’s stylish choice in adventure apparel. Check out the gallery for a photo of him getting up close and personal with a lizard on the Tiwi Islands, Australia.

Mike says, “Something about my Gadling shirt seems to attract wildlife (sadly, that has also included mosquitoes). These two critters behaved themselves while I posed with them, but neither seemed particularly thrilled to share the spotlight with me. “

Also in the gallery you’ll see Annie Scott on the Zambezi River, Zambia, and at JFK; Jeremy Kressmann at Kuang Si waterfall near Luang Prabang, Laos; Sean McLachlan in Somaliland and the Jesse James Farm, Missouri; and Tom Johansmeyer heading to the airport.

We’re all busy planning our trips for 2011, so if you have any place you’d like us to write up, drop us a line. Our dance cards aren’t full yet and we’re a pretty flexible bunch. At least that’s what the ostrich says about Mike.

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Gadling’s favorite gadgets, apps, & websites for 2011

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Earlier this week we took a look at our favorite destinations, hotels, and airlines. It turns out that we’re all over the map on most of these counts, although underappreciated destinations, good service, and general efficiency tend to warm our hearts.

Nowhere perhaps is the quirkiness of the Gadling team more perceptible than it is in this final category of favorites. Without further ado, here are Gadling’s favorite gadgets, apps, and websites moving into 2011.

Blogs & sites

Annie Scott. I do love to visit Color Me Katie and see what the fabulous Ms. Sokoler is up to. I adored her trip to Japan. I recently fell in love with Will It Blend, which has to be the most brilliant social media campaign I’ve ever seen. Other than that, I’m really the kind of person who can watch Marcel the Shell with Shoes On over and over and call it “contextual research.”

Tom Johansmeyer. I resolved to explore New York more this year, forcing myself not to work as hard and enjoy my hometown a bit more. Local travel blogger Laurie DePrete has been a big help. She provides a look at speakeasies, restaurants and attractions all over the five boroughs. This is insider info at its best.

Karen Walrond. As a photographer, I’m a big fan of photoblogs. My current favourites: UK-based Brian Ferry, Modern Day Gilligan, by an American photographer based on the island of Grenada, and Netherlands-based Rachel James.

David Farley. When I was driving around Los Angeles earlier this year I found Sigalert, which shows all the up-to-the-minute traffic congestion in the greater LA area, to be incredibly helpful.

Sean McLachlan. The Whole World at Your Hands, run by a woman named Ana. A member of Postcrossing, she avidly trades postcards around the world. Her blog features some of them and talks about the places they show. She just sent me a nice card from Serbia in exchange for one I sent to her from the Scottish Highlands. Also noteworthy: TheBloggess and Tomb Wrecks.

Alex Robertson Textor. Sporcle keeps me on my toes, geographically speaking. L’Antipodeuse is good for daydreaming.

Mike Barish. Nile Guide is a good li’l startup in San Francisco with travel guides, a fun blog and tremendous amounts of local advice and tips. (Disclosure: I just started editing their East Coast US content. But even before I started with them, I liked them a lot.)

Grant Martin. I relieve pressure with FAIL Blog.

McLean Robbins. For beauty, All About the Pretty. For cooking, Smitten Kitchen and The Pioneer Woman.

Meg Nesterov. Even when I’m not in New York, I love Manhattan User’s Guide, and now there’s a travel version. Wish You Were Here has everything from quirky museums to diners to luxury retreats. Basically bookmark their every link.

Catherine Bodry. Killing Batteries.

David Downie. Michael Balter, Rolf Potts, Mort Rosenblum, and David Lebovitz.Gadgets & apps

Jeremy Kressmann. NYCWAY iPhone App is an interesting example of a city-specific app that incorporates a lot of info in one place (transit info, upcoming events, news, bathroom locations). Expect to see more of this for big tourist destinations. Good for locals and tourists alike. Instagram is a great example of how you can make your smartphone photos more social. Instead of filing your travel snaps in Flickr or on a hard drive, the app emphasizes sharing with others, creating “feeds” of popular photos and photos from those you follow.

Heather Poole. I love Twitter because I can get up to date information regarding travel, delays, breaking news, and I use Facebook to keep in touch with family and friends when I’m on the road.

Meg Nesterov. Not the newest or the sexiest, but the Kindle was hands-down my best purchase before moving overseas. It’s one of the only e-readers that works abroad (with a U.S. billing address). The wireless functions in nearly every place I’ve tried it, and it’s perfect as my reliable source of English-language reading materials and travel guides.

McLean Robbins. Blackberry. While it’s not exactly revolutionary, it’s my life, quite literally. I don’t know what I’d do without it, and with the world edition I can travel just about anywhere and still be in touch.

Alex Robertson Textor. Google Maps & magazine apps (for example The Economist, recently released) on my iPad.

Annie Scott. I’m quite addicted to Words With Friends (basically Scrabble) and Diamond-Twister on my iPhone. I play them all over the world at night when jet lag prevents sleep.

Mike Barish. I’m quickly falling in love with my iPad. I don’t view it as a “game-changer” or a full-on computer replacement. But when it comes to passing the time in airports and airplanes, it’s a fantastic way to watch movies, read the newspaper and bring tons of books with you. It’s also great for quick trips where you want something larger than a phone for checking emails but don’t need your computer with you for work.

Karen Walrond. I don’t go anywhere without my iPhone, my Macbook Pro and my Nikon D300 dSLR camera. After those things, I don’t have a favourite.

David Farley. My new MacBook Air.

Grant Martin. Wool tech gear has been around for a while, but only this year in fleece form. Both Icebreaker and Ibex released wool fleeces this year, and they live up to their hefty pricetags: well-fitting, good smelling and perfect for a full range of outdoor activities.

[Image: Flickr | yoggy0]

Smithsonian opens up its attic

by Sean McLachlan on

The Smithsonian is often called “America’s attic.” This October, America’s attic will be opening up its attic to give visitors a behind-the-scenes look at how it operates.

October is American Archives Month and and the Smithsonian will be celebrating by hosting a free Archives Fair on October 22 at the National Mall in Washington, DC. Experts working with the Smithsonian’s collections will be talking about the institution’s hidden treasures and giving tips on how to preserve your old mementos. You can even make an appointment and have your heirlooms examined by an expert.

If you can’t make it to DC, check out the Smithsonian Collections blog, which will be running a 31-day blogathon throughout October. Curators will post about how they preserve and restore the objects in the world’s biggest museum.

[Image courtesy ultraclay! via Gadling’s flickr pool]

Two blogs that inspire travel: l’antipodeuse & Sarah Goldschadt

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Information, to risk stating the baldly obvious, is essential to travel. Timetables, schedules, iPhone apps, hotel review sites and Foursquare check-in updates all deliver very specific information of immediate and inarguable value to travelers. Travel blogs that pursue listings- and information-based missions provide the nitty-gritty details that travelers need, the basic and essential information they require to get their holidays off the ground.

But very often, such blogs do not inspire. The actual work of inspiring people to travel is a different beast, and it materializes in unexpected places. It can be found through all sorts of stimuli: an image; a map; a novel; an overheard conversation; a random Wikipedia dérive. Such sources can help energize broad thinking about places and things and the enticing aesthetics of travel.

Here are two blogs that accomplish just this aim remarkably, by dint of their creators’ strong aesthetics more than anything else.

Exhibit A: l’antipodeuse. New Zealand photographer Mary Gaudin, resident in Montpellier, is the motor behind this blog. Gaudin’s l’antipodeuse showcases all sorts of objects and sites, with a broad eye toward design, interior spaces, and landscape. Many of the images depict Gaudin’s travels. She captures the seasons and food particularly evocatively. Among the places so beautifully captured by her lens are France, London, Finland, Japan, and New Zealand.

Exhibit B: Sarah Goldschadt. American Sarah Goldschadt, born and now resident in Denmark, follows a craftsier impulse in her blog. There are plenty of DIY projects detailed here. What really sets her blog apart from so many others is her well-honed eye for culturally and geographically specific sorts of objects: Danish cake, the shade of red seen on buildings in Sweden; a line of small flags overhead; the milky waters off Møn; London’s chimneys. I especially love her narration of a journey to Köpstadsö, Sweden.

(Image: Sarah Goldschadt)

Travel writer and publisher Q&A: Julie Schwietert

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Julie Schwietert, known for her work with MatadorNetwork and Collazo Projects, is a writer, editor, and translator whose work bridges the worlds of service travel writing, culture, and politics. Though travel writing is a big piece of her métier, it’s not its sum. This profile of Julie is the first in a Gadling series on writers and publishers who have found a way to turn their enthusiasms for travel into a profession.

Q: How do you fit into the travel writing and publishing world?

A: I’m a freelancer, though I work primarily for MatadorNetwork as writer, managing editor, and the lead educator of their travel writing program. I also write for print magazines. I contributed to the latest edition of Fodor’s Puerto Rico, and I am waiting excitedly for August when it will hit bookstore shelves.

Q: How long has Collazo Projects been up and running, and what is it that you do?

A: I collaborate on Collazo Projects with my husband Francisco Collazo, who is a photographer, chef and translator. Collazo Projects is the online home for our writing and photography and other projects that haven’t found a home elsewhere. It’s in the process of evolving, though. We’re considering turning it into a proper website that functions more as a portfolio with a blog rather than a straight-up photo/writing blog.

Q: Is travel writing a means to an end for you, or is it the animating focus of your work? Or is it something else entirely?

A: I’m slightly uncomfortable with the term “travel writing” or the label of “travel writer” because both feel really limiting. When I say it, sitting next to someone on a plane in response to the question “What do you do?” I always get squirmy because their first association with the term tends to be Travel + Leisure. That association isn’t bad, but glossy magazine writing is just a portion of what I do. I’d like to think that my writing is less about the things anyone “should” or “must” do in a destination and more about what that destination is like when you stop viewing it as, well, a destination.

A diversified income stream is how I survive economically. In addition to my writing work, I’m a freelance academic editor and a translator.

Q: What are your favorite regions?

A: I’d happily go almost anywhere, but I really love to return again and again to places I’ve visited previously and get to know them more deeply. The focus of my work is on ferreting out the untold stories about a place, looking for alternative narratives, and giving a voice to people without a voice. And because I’m fluent in Spanish, most of my work focuses on Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.

Q: Any absolutely favorite destination?

A: Mexico, Mexico City in particular. I know what everyone says about Mexico City. They’re wrong. It’s a dynamic, fascinating, complicated city where the traditional and the contemporary are in constant interface. I lived there for two years and loved it. I wish I still lived there.

Q: Have you ever had to travel to a place to follow an obsession?

A: Cuba. I had to meet the family that produced my husband. Once I got to Havana, I had to go on to the town of Mariel, which is the port from which my husband left Cuba in 1980. I went there and was completely underwhelmed. Plus no one wanted to talk about 1980.

Q: What sort of advice would you give to people who want to enter the travel writing and editing world?

A: Do it, and diversify your income. Having a diverse income stream not only ensures you’ll stay stable economically but it also helps you tap into multiple interests.

Q: And finally, what’s in your carry-on?

A: Always books, at least two, and magazines. A journal and a couple pens. A sarong, for which there are at least 96 uses. You can place a sarong on a changing table to change a baby’s diaper and drape it over your head to block out obnoxious passengers, among other things!