After returning home last fall I spotted a new travel magazine at my local bookstore, Everywhere Magazine. It’s an interesting idea, using a website to gather content rather than relying on professional travel writers. It also gives regular travelers a chance to be published. I’ve been waiting for the perfect “theme” to come up and…
If there’s one thing that I could spend less on when I travel it’s souvenirs. When I first started traveling around Europe in 1997 I bought few souvenirs at all. Europe’s expensive and I couldn’t bear to pay for lunch, let alone cheap imported “stuff” to fill up my backpack. Over the years I’ve bought…
Me-go Mix: Track 8 “Wanaume Mabinti” — Lady JayDee To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do. At the end of my trip I wanted to buy some music that reminded me of my time in Eastern Africa. A lot of the music heard around town…
While looking for some files the other day I stumbled upon fifteen videos from Myanmar (Burma) that I neglected to upload to Vimeo with the last batch. Visit my Vimeo page directly and look a the “newest” videos to see them all. Sweeping the Shwedagon from Megan Kearney on Vimeo.
There’s been a lot of talk in the travel community about a Lonely Planet writer’s admission that he wrote for a guidebook without actually traveling to the country. This isn’t surprising to those of us who have used Lonely Planet Guides over some time. Everywhere I go I hear Lonely Planet cursed. Travelers curse the…
Me-go Mix: Track 7 “Gondar” — Madingo Afework Traveling around Northern Ethiopia I spent a lot of time on buses, including four days round trip to Lalibela. The long rides were always accompanied by upbeat and high-pitched music. Before I left Addis Ababa I wanted to pick up a CD of music that would remind…
Me-go Mix: Track 6 “Manahirana” — Lola To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do. The owner of the music store forced the employee to pose for this picture against his will. After I was finished everyone looked at the photo and made fun of him,…
I knew the U.S. Military was desperate for recruits but I didn’t know how much so. This morning I got a call from a woman inquiring about my “interest in the military.” Apparently I was put on a list as someone who “indicated an interest in the military.” Fess up, which one of you signed…
Me-go Mix: Track 5 “Superstar” — S.H.E. (???) This song was everywhere during my first trip to China in Phase I. It was blasting from every other storefront, sung by teenagers walking down the street and playing every time I turned on the TV. S.H.E., a Taiwanese trio formed from the winners of a singing…
I am in the process of doing a little housekeeping on this blog and the supporting pages. I appreciate that so many of you have written to tell me how well-organized the site is, but there must be something that is hard to find or confusing. As a usability test I’d appreciate any feedback on…
The streets are empty around my neck of the woods and it seems everyone’s left for spring break. I was thinking about my trip around Europe during spring break in 1998 and took a look at my gigantic photo albums. Some of you may have heard me reference my cartwheel photos before, although I often…
Me-go Mix: Track 4 “Raat Baaki” — DJ Akbar Sami To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do. Chowpatty Beach in Mumbai (Bombay) at sunset. Behind me is a busy six lane road, a Baskin Robbins and a Levi’s store. Despite that, this scene feels like…
Me-go Mix: Track 3 “Ji Xiang San Bao (?????)” — Burenbayaer To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do. If there’s one song that reminds me of my recent travels in China it’s Ji Xiang San Bao. During 2004’s Phase I, a handful of pop songs…
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Hopefully today is more than just an opportunity to drink green beer and fight over who’s “more Irish.” My father was 100% Irish-American and finagled himself Irish citizenship about five years ago. My mom is a little Irish, but not nearly enough to pretend away the German.
Me-go Mix: Track 2 “Amanda” — Javex To download using Windows “right click” and save to disk. Mac users, you know what to do. My first morning in Kigali, Rwanda, Grace and I woke up to a man knocking on our hotel room door. It was the hotel manager, insisting in broken English, that there…
I want to thank all of you who voted to send me to Martinique in February. Although the results have been delayed for some reason, I am fairly certain that I did not win. I had a solid, steady pace throughout the month only to be suddenly surpassed in the last two days by a…
This is just a reminder that the travel writing contest I’ve been participating in ends today, the 28th of February. Despite my recent lead in voting, I’ve suddenly fallen behind by about 350 votes in the past two days. If you haven’t already voted for my story please spare a minute to head over to…
Not too long ago I was asked to participate in a contest sponsored by the French Tourism Office of Martinique. The idea was to have 25 bloggers write a 500-word story about their “most exciting, astonishing, funny, special holiday experience.” Once I confirmed that they wanted a story about my vacation and not my favorite…
With only two hours left until the polls close here in Illinois I hope all of my American readers in participating states have voted. Despite my thirst for politics, this is the first primary I’ve ever voted in. I was on a 30-hour bus ride in the remote Xishuangbanna region of China during the 2004…
The Sunday travel sections of the paper are rarely of interest to me, mostly covering B&Bs in Wisconsin or Caribbean cruises. But, to my surprise, last week’s Chicago Tribune ran an interesting article that might just save frequent travelers like myself some money. The article, titled Foreign fee refunds may take a while, was the…