Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Green and travel friendly
Even though the dollar is low, some of us still like to travel. And even though many dollars turn into few euros, you still need a place to stash them. This travel-friendly wallet is made by New York-based Dynomighty Design and constructed with none other than a single sheet of Tyvek. It means the wallets are seamless, durable and, more importantly, made from 100% recyclable materials.
[Via Inhabit]
Matador: so much better than facebook!
You may have noticed that this blog is really just a means of self-promotion… I’m ok with that. But with this post I am not only going to promote an article authored by yours truly, but also the fabulous site Matador Trips. It’s part of the Matador Network, which you may or may not have heard of. If you are a young twenty-something traveler and you don’t know about Matador, you should give yourself a slap on the wrist. If you are from a different crowd and don’t know about Matador, don’t feel bad, but check it out immediately.
Matador is one of those great places that makes people like me feel like they fit in. A social networking site for crazy people who give up career paths for endless global wandering. But even if you aren’t in the travel mode yourself, you can still take advantage of some of the great travel writing that comes from authors who are part of the Matador community.
Enough of the promotion… just check out my latest article on Dominica and then take some time to explore Matador. It’s well worth it.
Spectacular monasteries
Make your way over to Been Seen for my article on impressive monasteries, complete with pictures that make me want to buy plane tickets immediately.
Glass igloos
Although I am happy that winter is behind us, I still have a tendency to dream about traveling to really cold places; Lapland for example. In Finland, you can stay in glass igloos, which in my opinion looks pretty great. Read more about them in my article at Been Seen.
Knitting and traveling
Finally, the two of my favorite things together. Read exactly why knitting is a great travel activity on my Gadling post here.
The Earth Expedition: Walking around the world in 7 years
I just got off the phone with Daren Wendell. “Who is Daren?” you may ask.
Daren is a guy who tomorrow morning at 10:30am eastern time is taking off on a 7 year hike around the world. He is embarking on The Earth Expedition which will take him across 3 continents, through 14 different countries and 11 different languages.
“Why???” tends to be the response to such a feat. He’s promoting awareness for Blood:Water Mission an organization committed to providing clean water and clean blood to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa.
You can follow Daren and The Earth Expedition by way of live GPS tracker, available on the website. And if you are anywhere close to his route, you can join in on the expedition for a few days. He’s a cool guy and what he is doing is pretty impressive, I give him a “hats off” and happy travels.
Hitotoki: Quick travel snippets from around the globe
Travel experiences translate well into words. But sometimes we don’t want to invest in a whole travel essay; we just want a snippet. This is where Hitotoki comes in. The online literary magazine is a collection of stories of singular experiences linked to cities worldwide.
Hitotoki, which means “little moments” in Japanese, pulls together short narratives which give us a quick glimpse into travel experiences — be they about love, confusion, absurdity, routine or sadness — had in Tokyo New York, London, and DC. A Parisian version is to be launched soon.
Cambodian pop music: Dengue Fever
Yesterday I had an overwhelming longing for Southeast Asia. This is slightly odd, considering that when I was in Southeast Asia in the fall, the travel was a little intense; but isn’t the grass always greener on the other side? Since returning I have come to realize that deep down I loved it, enough that I miss it. A lot. So there I was on Sunday night, desperately missing Cambodia. As I read through travel guides to Phnom Penh on Travelhappy I had the urge to find some non-profit, book a ticket, and cross the Pacific as soon as possible. Instead I cam across Dengue Fever. Not the disease, but the band.
Based out of Los Angeles, the band mixes Cambodian pop music with a whole lot of other sounds, mainly rock influenced, to create a sound that is pretty great. The group is five American alternative rockers, headed up by a female Cambodian singer, Chhom Nimol. Basically the music is a lot of Khmer lyrics mixed with some alternative, psychedelic, and dance sounds, providing for a different kind of World Music.
To feed your need for Cambodia, you can check them out on their Myspace page or at Last.fm.
Swedish food in Portland… and it’s not at IKEA.
Let’s be honest, most people would call me a “europhile.” I take no offense to that; it is true that I am always on the prowl for all things European. Which is why last weekend I was happy to discover — thanks to my hip and in-the-know friend Kristina –Broder. Portland has a wide array of restaurants featuring cuisine from around the globe, but Broder has the one thing that no one else does: Swedish food. In my personal opinion, it really is hard to go wrong with Scandinavian fare — although my Swedish-born mother might disagree. Simple interior design and just enough lingonberry jam made me feel like I was in a Stockholm cafe… right in Southeast Portland. Read more about Broder on the Stumptowninfo blog.
Return. Reboot. Remember what you learned.
It’s been over two months since I returned (well, semi-permanently) to the US, and although I was itching to live in a real room instead of out of a suitcase, I can already feel that travel bug starting to crawl all over me. Why? Because travel pushes us. Not that everyday routines don’t, but there is something truly special about living or traveling in a new place and accomplishing small tasks.
So as I sit in the cafe and start to feel ansty and I see that I have somehow wound up at the Kayak website once again (I admit it, I have an obsession with airfare searching) I need to remind myself of the lessons that traveling teaches and how to incorporate them into my Portland routine. In fact, I need to just take some of my own medicine and re-read this article that I wrote on exactly the subject, published today on Brave New Traveler. But sometimes such things are easier said than done.
blog.annabrones.com 