Rolf Potts's Blog, page 110

William Dalrymple on the future of travel writing

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

"The question remains: does travel writing have a future? The tales of Marco Polo, or the explorations of "Bokhara Burnes" may have contained valuable empirical information impossible to harvest elsewhere, but is there really any point to the genre in the age of the internet, when you can instantly gather reliable knowledge about anywhere in the globe? Certainly, the sort of attitudes to "abroad" that characterized the writers of the 1930s, and which had a strange afterlife in the curmudgeonly prose of Theroux and his imitators, now appears dated and racist. Indeed, the globalized world has now become so complex that notions of national character and particularity — the essence of so many 20th-century travelogues — is becoming increasingly untenable, and even distasteful. So has the concept of the western observer coolly assessing eastern cultures with the detachment of a Victorian butterfly collector, dispassionately pinning his captives to the pages of his album. In an age when east to west migrations are so much more common than those from west to east, the "funny foreigners" who were once regarded as such amusing material by travel writers are now writing some of the best travel pieces themselves. Even just to take a few of those with roots in India — Vidia Naipaul, Pico Iyer, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth and Pankaj Mishra — is to list many of the most highly regarded writers currently at work."

–William Dalrymple, "Home truths on abroad," The Guardian, September 18, 2009

Original article can be found here: William Dalrymple on the future of travel writing

Carl Hoffman on finding "authentic" travel experiences

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

"Authenticity was a buzzword in travel, but what exactly did it mean? At its purest form you could make the argument that the only really authentic places were ones that had never seen contact with the outside world at all. There were still a few of those left — in the Amazon, perhaps in Indonesian New Guinea. But they were hardly representative; they were freakish vestiges of a changed world, and authenticity was simply everywhere; it was all authentic in one way or another. But if you were on a train with a lot of backpackers, it got too easy not to meet locals, not to get lonely, not to feel scared, and I wanted all of those things."

–Carl Hoffman, The Lunatic Express (2010)

Original article can be found here: Carl Hoffman on finding "authentic" travel experiences

Round the World Airfare

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

If you have ever contemplated taking a round the world trip, there are tons of things you need to take into consideration – where to go, how much to budget, how to save the money to actually do it, travel insurance, what to do with all your stuff – all are just a small portion of what goes into planning a trip around the world.

Once you do decide to take that leap of faith and commit to going on a RTW trip, your biggest expense is going to be airfare. There's no way around it – you're going to have to pay to circumnavigate the globe. Once you start researching, your head will no doubt start spinning and you'll be asking yourself all types of questions:

 

Should I buy a RTW ticket?
If so, what company should I go with?
But what about all those rules, terms, and conditions? They're so confusing.
Maybe I should just buy my tickets as I go.
But then they'll probably cost more, right?
AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 

I know what you're going through. When my wife and I were planning our RTW trip back in 2007-2008, we were just as confused. When researching RTW tickets from the alliances, we were bogged down by all the rules – no backtracking, you can only travel in one direction, there are mileage limits, there are continent limits – the rules go on and on and on and on. It's dizzying. There are other companies who sell RTW tickets as well, but what is the difference? How do you choose?

With all this in mind, we at BootsnAll decided enough was enough. Long term travelers need a resource that summarizes all the options in one place. You need a way to determine which option is the best for you. So back in November, we got to work. We decided to do all the leg work for you. We researched all the options in depth. We made sense of all those terms and conditions. We interviewed travelers who bought RTW tickets. And best of all, we decided to price many of the options available for travelers looking for RTW plane tickets.

We posed as travelers and completed a secret shopping project for 8 different companies who sell RTW plane tickets. We came up with three different routes to search – from a simple, 4 leg, major hub city RTW trip to an ultra-complicated, 18 leg (13 flights, 5 overland) trip. We searched each route leaving from 3 different cities around the world – New York, London, and Sydney.

There is going to be a lot of content coming out in the coming weeks and months, and most will be hosted on BootsnAll's sister site Round the World Ticket. We will also be offering a free ebook and authoritative report with our findings, and we will update prices and findings 4 times a year. So this will be an ongoing project that allows us to stay on top of changes in the industry. We started by publishing reviews of each company we shopped, and several of them are live right now:

 

Oneworld RTW Ticket Review
Star Alliance RTW Ticket Review
SkyTeam RTW Ticket Review
AirTreks RTW Ticket Review

 

The reviews will continue next week with the following companies:

 

1/23/11: Round the World Travel (based in the UK)
1/24/11: Roundabout Travel (based in Australia)
1/25/11: STA Travel
1/26/11: DIY (do it yourself) using Kayak

 

The coolest thing about this project is that we want to get you involved. At the bottom of each article, we give customers the chance to weigh in and rate each company. So if you or anyone you know has used any of the above companies for a RTW plane ticket, we want to hear from you. Also, if you know of other companies selling RTW plane tickets and want them to be included in our research, just let us know. So spread the word, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date with all the new content we'll be publishing having to do with this project.

Photo credit: 1

Original article can be found here: Round the World Airfare

Cook like MacGyver in a hotel room

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Video: Vlogger Natalie Tran on how to cook in a hotel room

I've mentioned vlogger Natalie Tran in a previous post.  In the video above, she shows you uses everyday hotel items as cooking utensils.  Definitely not as the manufacturers intended.

From seeing that, it's understandable why some backpackers rate hostels with kitchens more highly.  If you're in an expensive city or country, cooking on your own can save quite a bit of cash.  Besides, no one can cook something exactly how you want it, unless you do it.

Watching that clip brought to mind those times when I've had to "MacGyver" a solution to a problem.  Basic things like washing your clothes in a sink, inventing new culinary creations from leftovers in the refrigerator, and things like that.  No matter how well you plan in advance, chances are you forgot to pack something. Or a hostel doesn't have quite the facilities you expected.  That's when resourcefulness kicks in, and you build your own solution to a problem.

Have ever been in a "MacGyver" situation?  What did you do?  Please share your stories in the comments.

Just for fun, I've included a scene from MacGyver below.

Original article can be found here: Cook like MacGyver in a hotel room

Freya Stark on the pleasures of solitude

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

"Solitude, I reflected, is the one deep necessity of the human spirit to which adequate recognition is never given in our codes. It is looked upon as a discipline or penance, but hardly ever as the indispensable, pleasant ingredient it is to ordinary life, and from this want of recognition come half of our domestic troubles. The fear of an unbroken tête-à-tête for the rest of his life should, you would think, prevent any man from getting married."

–Freya Stark, The Valleys of the Assassins: and Other Persian Travels (1934)

Original article can be found here: Freya Stark on the pleasures of solitude

Henry Rollins on how travel changes the way you see the world

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

"I beg young people to travel. If you don't have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown. Eat interesting food. Dig some interesting people. Have an adventure. Be careful. Come back and you're going to see your country differently, you're going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You're going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It's not what Tom Friedman writes about; I'm sorry. You're going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can't get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of that flight. A lot of people—Americans and Europeans—come back and go, Ohhhhh. And the light bulb goes on."

–Henry Rollins, "Punk Rock World Traveler," World Hum, November 2, 2011

Original article can be found here: Henry Rollins on how travel changes the way you see the world

NY Times readers weigh in on gap year travel

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Backpacker taking a photo in sunset. Photo: Jhong Dizon / Flickr

The New York Times had a commentary article that argued in favor of students taking a gap year before college.  In response, their inbox got flooded with comments from readers.

Naturally, many of the letters were from parents worried about the cost of travel.  One example:

Great advice in theory, but for some families, like ours, the financial aid consequences can be prohibitive. Our younger son probably would have benefited from a gap year, but when we ran the financial aid calculators, we discovered that it would end up reducing his older brother's financial aid by about $20,000 and reduce his own financial aid in a few years by about $25,000.

The letter reveals the perverse incentives on debt in the United States.  If it's true, it's like young people get punished for wanting to travel.  Some scholarships and financial aid programs have conditions that dictate students should enroll in college right after high school.  By deferring college, you may lose your chances of getting financial aid.

Gap years often involve working abroad to help defray the cost.  However, due to America's immigration policies, many countries have reciprocal policies that prevent U.S. students from easily getting working holiday visas.  This sharply reduces the chances of students paying for their gap year by getting jobs overseas.

I realize this is particular to American students.  I would love to hear from our readers outside the U.S. on how their countries treat the gap year.  In some places, it's much more encouraged and a normal rite of passage.  Friends from England have told me that their student loan repayment schedules are based on income level, not on time.  In other words, they don't have to start paying off their loans until their salaries reach a certain level.  This grants more flexibility than how some U.S. student loans are structured, where the repayment starts within months after graduation.

Have you done a gap year?  How did you pay for it?  Was it a worthwhile experience?  Please share your stories in the comments.

Original article can be found here: NY Times readers weigh in on gap year travel

Dean MacCannell on the economic dynamic of tourist snapshots

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

"Taking someone's picture doesn't cost them anything, not in any Western commercial sense, yet the picture has value. The picture has no value for the 'primitive', yet the tourist pays for the right to take pictures. The primitive receives something for nothing, and benefits beyond this. Doesn't the fame of certain primitives, and even respect for them, actually increase when the tourist carries their pictures back to the West? It seems to be the most perfect realization so far of the capitalist economists' dream of everyone getting richer together."

–Dean MacCannell, Empty Meeting Grounds: The Tourist Papers (1992)

Original article can be found here: Dean MacCannell on the economic dynamic of tourist snapshots

Vagabonding Case Study: The Eatons

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

 

Caroline and Josh Eaton

www.traveling9to5.com

Age: 26

Hometown: Chicago, IL

Quote: "If you have considered or even dreamed about taking a long-term trip, start making changes in your life NOW to get you toward that goal."

How did you find out about Vagabonding, and how did you find it useful?

I originally read about Vagabonding on Tim Ferris' blog. I was interested in the book but didn't read it until after we had decided and started planning our RTW trip. My sister was the one who urged me to read it after hearing about our plans. Vagabonding helped confirm our plans, assuage our fears and get us excited to travel and explore.

What is your job or source of travel funding for this journey?

Josh is a consultant with Deloitte Consulting. Caroline is a personal trainer and nutritionist in Chicago. We have been ruthlessly saving for this trip, cutting out extras in our day-to-day spending and selling things that we don't need or won't miss. It is a combination of saving and realizing that traveling isn't as expensive as everyone first assumes. After budgeting, it looks like our total budget is around what we would have spent only on rent over the next year!

Do you plan to work on the road?

The plan is there, learning to balance work and play will be one of our first hurdles.  We both have a strong work ethic and of course would love to make some money to support our trip.  Luckily we know that the money we have saved is there so work will not be a necessity, but if we do pick up some extra work it might mean an extra safari in Africa or a splurge at a nice restaurant/hotel along our trip.

Josh is a talented technologist.  He hopes to pick up odd jobs working with WordPress and building and managing websites.

Caroline hopes to maintain some of her current clients and program for them and continue to meet with them weekly via skype to ensure they are sticking to their nutrition/fitness plan. Caroline is also the main writer for our blog at Traveling 9 to 5.

What was the reaction of your friends/family/colleagues as you planned your trip?

Reactions varied greatly. We told friends who were overly excited and asked a million questions, some of whom have already started planning their trip to visit us while we are on the road.  We told some who didn't understand why we would risk leaving a debt-free life with great jobs to enter a life that is unknown. Others we told have no desire or interest in travel, so telling them about our trip was an unemotional and anti-climactic experience. They simply didn't care (but still supported us). Many have expressed jealousy, or wish they could do the same thing. We used to feel the same way and we hope to inspire others who think, "I could never do this" that its not as difficult, expensive, or dangerous as anyone makes it out to be.

Mostly we got to hear fabulous stories about a friend or family member they know who had traveled RTW, or their own trips to exotic destinations.  They all offered great advice and support.  It is amazing to see the light go on when people who love travel get to talk about their adventures, the excitement and passion in their voice easily shows through!

Any tips or lessons learned from the travel-preparation process?

If you have considered or even dreamed about taking a long-term trip, start making changes in your life NOW to get you toward that goal. We were in pretty good shape to take a year out of our lives and we still had to deal with: getting out of our two year lease (dumb decision), moving twice, and finding ways to tell clients and bosses that we were leaving. Even knowing that, we've also learned that there's only so much you can plan for. The best planning is just being prepared to be patient and flexible. Things are going to go wrong. As long as we are ready to deal with what comes along, we will be fine.

How long do you hope to spend on the road?

We are leaving at the end of January and we plan to return around mid-December. We are trying to make it home for the holidays, after 11 months on the road.

Which destinations do you hope to visit?

We booked a OneWorld award through American with our AA miles, so we had to pre-pick our major destinations and then we can change around the dates once we get out on the road.  We plan on starting in Southeast Asia and seeing Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.  We will fly to South Africa for a month and then spend a quick week in Madrid before flying to South America.  There we will visit Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.

Which experiences are you most looking forward to?

I really want to eat Thai food in Thailand.  That is first and foremost what I am excited to do. I hesitate to answer this because although I am very excited to go on a safari in Africa and learn to tango in Buenos Aires these experiences probably won't be the ones I will remember most.

I know from previous trips that the experiences that I fondly remember are when I walk into a random local cafe and end up having a great conversation with the owner, or walking down the street I see a street food vendor and try the most salivating dish (or stick) I have ever had. These are the experiences that are unknown, but I know they will inevitably happen and that's why I am looking forward to them the most!

What are you packing for the journey?

We are each bringing a 36L Osprey backpack for the trip and only bringing the essentials.  We will document on our blog what specifically we are packing so stay tuned in January!  Basically it will be a couple outfits, workout clothes, tennis shoes, walking sandals and toiletries.  Lightweight laptop computers, Kindles, a DSLR camera and spare lens and a flip video camera.  We have long debated on the amount of gadgets we are bringing but we can't see doing without them right now – maybe that will change!

Do you have any worries or concerns about the journey?

Dare we say we aren't sure what to be worried about yet?

Since this is such uncharted territory for both of us we will approach every situation with a sense of newness and adventure, trust and hope!  There are the obvious safety worries of where to stay and what we will eat but somehow I know that these will all work out.  We will come across a lot of new experiences that I can't even imagine yet.

I won't lie…the bathroom situation for the next year does more than just worry me!

How can we best follow your adventures?

Follow our blog Traveling 9 to 5 and leave comments! We are inspired by others who have either done what we are doing or are in the process of planning/dreaming/wishing. We want to hear your suggestions, thoughts and support!

 

Website: www.traveling9to5.com
Twitter: traveling9to5

Are you a Vagabonding reader planning, in the middle of, or returning from a journey? Would you like your travel blog or website to be featured on Vagabonding Case Studies? If so, drop us a line at casestudies@vagabonding.net and tell us a little about yourself.

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding Case Study: The Eatons

Luxury has a way of infantilizing travelers

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

"Luxury is the enemy of observation, a costly indulgence that induces such a good feeling that you notice nothing. Luxury spoils and infantilizes you and prevents you from knowing the world. That is its purpose, the reason why luxury cruises and great hotels are full of fatheads who, when they express an opinion, seem as though they are from another planet. It was also my experience that one of the worst aspects of traveling with wealthy people, apart from the fact that the rich never listen, is that they constantly groused about the high cost of living — indeed, the rich usually complained of being poor."

–Paul Theroux, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (2008)

Original article can be found here: Luxury has a way of infantilizing travelers