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HOME
Join me on an ongoing adventure in both inner journeys and outward experiences. The HOME link above will take you to my main site, where you will find a lot more to explore. If you would like to add your own comments (readable by all visitors), just click on the COMMENTS link below any entry. If you want to send a private message to me, click on the menu item CONTACT LIZ above, or send email to liz@whereisliz.com
Friday, May 21, 2004
Don't Bring Home a Boring Journal: Creating Adventure
Those of you who are familiar with "My Italian Adventure" already know I'm a big fan of travel guru Rick Steves. Today I found an excellent overview article on his web site that spells out how to have a really extraordinary trip, by using the techniques of mindful travel and connecting with local people. An excerpt:
"I'm not naturally a wild-and-crazy kind of guy. But when I'm shy and quiet, things don't happen, and that's a bad rut to travel in. It's not easy, but this special awareness can really pay off. Let me describe the same evening twice -- first with the mild-and-lazy me, and then with the wild-and-crazy me.
"The traffic held me up, so by the time I got to that great historical building I've always wanted to see, it was six minutes before closing. No one was allowed to enter. Disappointed, I walked to a restaurant and couldn't make heads or tails out of the menu. I recognized "steak-frites" and settled for a meat patty and French fries. On the way home I looked into a local pub but it seemed kind of exclusive, so I walked on. A couple waved at me from their balcony, but I didn't know what to say, so I ignored them. I returned to my room and did some laundry."
That's not a night to be proud of. A better traveler's journal entry would read like this:
"I got to the museum only six minutes before closing. The guard said no one could go in now, but I begged, joked, and pleaded with him. I had traveled all the way to see this place, and I would be leaving early in the morning. I assured him that I'd be out by six o'clock, and he gave me a glorious six minutes in that building. You can do a lot with a Botticelli in six minutes. Across the street at a restaurant that the same guard recommended, I couldn't make heads or tails out of the menu. Inviting myself into the kitchen, I met the cooks and got a firsthand look at "what's cookin'." Now I could order an exciting local dish and know just what I was getting. Delicioso! On the way home, I passed a local pub, and, while it seemed dark and uninviting, I stepped in and was met by the only guy in the place who spoke any English. He proudly befriended me and told me, in very broken English, of his salty past and his six kids, while treating me to his favorite local brew. As I headed home, a couple waved at me from their balcony, and I waved back, saying "Buon giorno!" I knew it didn't mean "Good evening," but they understood. They invited me up to their apartment. We joked around -- not understanding a lot of what we were saying to each other -- and they invited me to their summer cottage tomorrow. What a lucky break! There's no better way to learn about this country than to spend an afternoon with a local family. And to think that I could be back in my room doing the laundry."
Pledge every morning to do something entirely different today. Meet people and create adventure... or bring home a boring journal."
Read the whole article here: http://www.ricksteves.com/news/0405/connecting.htm
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Recipe for Adventure
My friends Scott and Zack are now in Chile, after leaving last summer on what they call their Tip to Tip Trip from Alaska heading down along the Pacific coast to Argentina. After several months and thousands of miles, Scott has distilled his experiences into this very useful instructions on how to create a Real Adventure.
As he says, "Who wants to hear a story about a perfectly planned day that went absolutely smoothly? Nobody. That's why I have come to the conclusion that good adventure starts with poor planning. I mean, can you really count on random experiences alone causing good adventure? No. The probability is way to low. It is essential to proactively plan poorly to truly count on good adventure. The day's events have inspired this guide to poor planning for good adventure:
1) Don't get any information about the public transportation before hand. (This is way to calculated you will absolutely blow all your chances to spend Quality time waiting in shady bus stops or on the side of the road.)
2) Don't bring any food or water with you. (This will force you to experience the local cuisine and will also promote poor decision making caused by extreme hunger or thrust which could lead to hours of upset stomach time and precious moments spent hugging toilets in bathrooms you probably wouldn't normally set foot in, or behind trees that you might otherwise miss.)
3) Never bring the proper clothing or footwear. (A story has to have pain and suffering. If you're warm and dry this is boring; soaking wet with bloody stumps on your ankles and covered in mud is much more interesting. In fact, if you can actually get mud or dust or sticks and crud in your teeth this helps for especially interesting photos during the slide show in your warm living room after a nice meal and a nice bottle of wine.
4) If you can, at all costs don't pay attention to where you came from or how you got to where you are. If done correctly this could lead to hours of wandering aimlessly, waiting around, back tracking to see things again you might have missed, and interesting conversations with the locals about the area.
5) Finally, don't pay any attention to current weather or other situation dependent conditions. This could be the single most important key to a successful epic. Terrible conditions imposed on the unsuspecting always leads to misfortunate adventure.
Done correctly, you too could find yourself on an excellent adventure."
Their epic adventure, with stories, photos and short movies, is continuously chronicled on their excellent web site tiptotriptrip.com.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Ancient History & Timeless Beauty
I've just finished a new travel article for Globosapiens on Austria's amazing Hallstatt, complete with tips about where to stay, what to see and where to eat -- with many new photos.
Did you know it's easy to publish your own travel stories and photos to share with the world? Even if you're not a computer whiz? You can start by joining Globosapiens -- it's free!
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Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Packing Pointers from Down Under
Today's New Zealand Herald features a fine column full of packing tips. Along with the ever-popular dental floss and duct tape, they also suggest a couple of treats for your ears:
"... Bose noise-canceling headphones. "A must for all travellers," says Marc. "One switch and that drone disappears into silence."
"Design Go earplugs with "attenuation filters", which can be adjusted to eliminate sounds with high frequency (background noise) or low frequency (snoring) and include airflow channels to maintain constant pressure between the inner and outer ear... available from www.travelcomfortable.com
(complete article here)
While these could be helpful for getting some peace and quiet, don't miss out on the opportunity to get to know the fascinating stranger sitting next to you... you never know where that might lead.
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Goodbye, Savvy Traveler
Sad news... the National Public Radio show The Savvy Traveler is no more. "Despite the sincere and constant effort of our committed production staff, after nearly seven years of trying, The Savvy Traveler failed to attract sufficient underwriting support to continue. This was due to the economy in general, and the travel economy in particular -- especially in the post 9/11 period."
All is not lost, however. "The spirit and, hopefully some of the best ideas and segments will survive this change, here on The Savvy Traveler web site."
"The site will be available for the indefinite future, replete with audio, text, online resources and a searchable database of program information to enrich and hopefully inspire the savvy traveler in you."
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Sunday, May 02, 2004
Global Community gets a Major Makeover
Globosapiens, the online travel community, is celebrating the launch of its "new from the ground up" site.
In the beginning, Walter Andreas, founder and creator of Globosapiens, traveled across North America from Vancouver to New York, meeting people and sharing many stories along the way. He was amazed to find that, "There are so many fantastic people around with so much to tell." This experience first inspired him to create the site, and drives him to constantly improve and refine it, based on user feedback.
He says, "The site is now more of a travel publishing community, where sharing is easier and loads of fun." He adds, "Users don't need to be technically savvy to upload pictures and publish their own travel stories, anyone can do it."
While there is some advertising on the site, the focus is on personal stories, photos, slide shows and tips about where to eat, sleep and visit. "The members say what is good in a democratic way. They rate reports and the best ones design the home page." There is a Forum for written discussion, and (new this month) an online Chat Room for live conversations.
If you're planning a trip, or only dreaming about one, Globosapiens is a great place to get information and inspiration, as well as advice from the locals in anyplace you want to go! Best of all, the basic membership is FREE and the registration process is short and easy, so you can be uploading your own photos and stories within minutes.
I encourage you to check out the new Globosapiens, a good thing that just got even better.
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