GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of August 13

Its Friday folks and I’ve got places to be and people to see, so if you’ve missed any of this week’s posts you stay put. I’ll be sure to have enough fun for everyone.

5. Headphones:
It was on Wednesday of this week I sat listening to the lip-smacking of the puckered and pursed lips of the kissy young couple seated next to me on my flight. The gentleman even shouted doesn’t first-class stink (we were sitting one row behind first-class). I would have given anything to drown their disgusting P.D.A. and the hum of the plane out for the flight. You’ve been there. We’ve all been there. Neil looks out for our well-being this week in his Headphone piece. Find who ranks what and how; then cancel out all the gross kissy, crying, and humming noise! Thank Neil later.

4.No Such Thing As Eco-Tourism?:
Colonialism is what we call present day eco-tourism according to Anneli Rufus over at Alternet.com. Do people travel for status? Are far-out excursions hurting Mother Earth? Should we all just stay put in our homes and go nowhere at all? You tell me. An excellent read any traveler should look into and feel free to leave comments here and there.

3. Fluffy Is Gone:

This stung my heart, but I’m glad Erik brought it to our attention. The topic touches on pets that croak, are killed, lost or injured while in the baggage bin during flight. Horrible! I’d hate to take my pet into a plane only to land with a broken heart and a dead pooch or kitty. It’s good to know consumers will be able to access this info by airline to twice think bringing Fluffy on board.

2. Not All Travel Blogs Created Equal:
Gadling, if you did not notice, is a travel blog and we like to stay connected to other travel blogs and travel related web content. It’s not just our duty to the virtual public – it is our passion. Now, we think we’re pretty great here so just as much as it peeves us to learn PR firms are using blogs to toss advertisements and garbage in your RSS feeds, it also brings us tremendous joy to find out who is really giving travel blogs a good name. Separate the best from the rest and check out this International Herald Tribune piece.

1. Anti-Americanism Editorial:
After reading the LA Times story on reasons for all the Anti-American feelings so many foreign countries have about Americans, Erik had a few suggestions to make and things he needed to get off his bird. According to the piece the war in Iraq ain’t the only thing burning people up about our country, so what is it then? What are some possible solutions? Take a look at Erik’s blurb and the LA Times.

No Such Thing As Eco-Tourism?

Anneli Rufus may have gained a couple followers tagging along and hi-fiving her long-winded rant which compares colonialism to eco-tourism, but she sure ruffled more than a few feathers. While I don’t necessarily agree with all her commentary myself, the writing is biting, cut-throat, makes you think and has generated what actually looks like 109 well-thought out responses. (Mind-blowing, but not surprising.) Anneli who claims to have been a adventurer in the past, writer of travel books (and actually was) and so-on, no longer wanders into Third World territories, but now deeply contemplates whether First World travelers are doing nothing more than boasting, bragging and dismantling the landscape in their gnarly little eco-tourist excursions. What do you say?

If you’ve got some free time (and I do mean free time) then swing over to AlterNet for a read. Actually, even if you’re very busy at work trying to get through the middle of the work week I suggest you go over and see what side of the picket-white fence you’re on. Are you a status conscious colonialist using eco-tourism for a mask while trampling, intruding and wrecking foreign locales in the name of a snapshot or do you believe differently? Is Anneli totally off the mark?

What does eco-tourism mean to you? How do you define adventure travel