Four years ago Eat, Pray, Love hit the bookshelves and it’s fair to say that since then the novel has become quite a sensation, over the past few weeks hitting fever pitch due to the arrival of the much loved Julia Roberts. She plays the traveler/author Elizabeth Gilbert as she makes her way to three of the world’s amazing destinations and yes, her life is dramatically altered by chance encounters and oh so persuasive life-affirmations.
I have to disclose that I haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love (though I probably will at some point) but still consider it an important book, and movie, because it extols the virtues of around the world travel, a pastime we here at AirTreks have banked our entire existence upon. Hence, we adore the arrival of the Eat, Pray, Love movie with every fiber of our being. To us long term travel is as important to a healthy existence as breathing fresh Indonesian air, and the more people that know it the better.
Ever wonder what it takes to change the livery of a Boeing 747? After seeing some of the crazy dressings they give some planes I certainly have. Well, Virgin Atlantic has gone into the hangar and filmed one of their 747s getting a fancy new look and done it it in time-lapse so you can see just what it takes to complete this prodigious feat, hours boiled down to a minute and a half.
Take a look – the dance is quite poetic if you think about it.
It’s that time of year again – the Book Passage Travel Writers and Photography Conference is this weekend. And this year in addition to its longstanding focus on travel and photography, the organizers have added another entirely more delicious angle to their event: food!
The conference starts Thursday and runs through the weekend at the Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA, just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As usual the conference will be host to an incredible selection of travel (and now food!) writers and photographers with lectures, panels, slideshows, meals and other delightful interactions to help bring people together inside its low-key bookstore setting. Don George, “legendary travel writer and editor” as dubbed by National Geographic, will be there as conference chair and chief moderator, with other notables including Rolf Potts, Pauline Frommer, Jim Benning, Robert Holmes, Tim Cahill, Jen Leo and many others. Take a look at the website for a full rundown of the faculty.
As in years past, AirTreks will again be proud sponsors of the conference and be giving away an around-the-world trip as first prize for the best writing at the event. The award ceremony will be on Sunday night and AirTreks will be on hand to deliver the award.
My experience from last year was very pleasant. I found the quality of the faculty to be outstanding, and the bookstore setting made it different from your average impersonal concrete-style conference.
The fee for attending is $635 for the full four days and comes with meals included and each class as scheduled.
Read more about the conference on Book Passage’s website or take a look at the Huffington Post article about last year’s event. If you’re in the area, please come by. We’d love to see you!
Wat Arun, “Temple of the Dawn”, Bangkok
The Khmer-era Buddhist temple located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok celebrated its 200 birthday last year.
The temple’s more-than-a-mouthful complete name is Wat Arunratchawararam Ratchaworamahawihan. It can be climbed by purchasing a 20 baht ticket (about $0.60). Read more about its history here.
As a traveler at heart there may be nothing better than abbreviating your day by watching a travel video, one that whisks you away ever so briefly and feeds that craving to be on the road. If you either can’t go or are desperately waiting to, it’s a way to quell that chronic and ever-present traveler’s impatience. Let’s take a second, shall we, to appreciate the people who’ve embarrassed themselves with a video camera around the world so we didn’t have to.
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as you might think to find great travel videos on the web, ones both inspiring and worth your time to watch. So to help, I’ve put together a handful of places where you can find them and one that are often well-crafted and interesting to boot.
Here are the best 7 sites I found to watch travel videos for free. So sit back and relax, take in a film and feel that impatience ebbing away…
The Taj Mahal has been on the list since 1983
The number of Unesco World Heritage Sites is on the rise again, which is a good thing since we as travelers like to have a good destination, and because the dart-to-map method is just a horrible way to go, the Unesco World Heritage Committee is around to make our decision uncompromising. If you like natural, cultural or historic relevance you simply must visit their website, look for the places with coolest sounding names and go there.
I’m a huge fan of the Unesco sites list since it represents what’s best about the world we live in, be it natural, man-made or a combination of the two, without being condescending or overly showy about it.
Yesterday the committee wrapped up a busy weekend making all kinds of changes to their sites list. It conducted its 34th session in Brasilia, Brazil and among its yield were 21 new sites added to its already prodigious list, 4 sites added to its World Heritage in Danger list and the approval to expand 7 existing sites. New sites are added every year and with the additions come a measure of prestige for the hosting country, who also get funding for their upkeep and management.
Here is the entire list of their additions, but to showcase them I’ve listed several of the more interesting spots recognized by the committee. Take a look and love them for what they are: the depth and scope of the beauty of your world.
In case you didn’t know, AirTreks has a partner for those in need of land arrangements: Global Basecamps, an environmentally aware, progressive company located in Encinitas, California who’s spent a great deal of time assembling a list of sustainable properties and activities all over the world, from eco-lodges to boutique hotels to small-ship cruising and excursions that will make your mouth water. All things to consider once your flight arrangements have been taken care of with AirTreks.
Global Basecamps has recently initiated a pair of cool promotional tours set up specifically for AirTreks clients. So if you buy an Airtrek you’re instantly entitled to special pricing on a couple of the world’s best adventures.
Photo Friday this week gives you an image taken in Cuzco (or Cusco), Peru. The photo was taken in an alley just off the Plaza des Armas in the city center. The walls you see here are original Inca construction dating back to the 14th century. So tightly do the wall’s stones fit together you couldn’t slip a piece paper between them if you tried. Not to mention the fact they’ve remained standing for 600 years with no mortar, a fair improbability if you think about it.
These type of walls, constructed with tightly fitted, sometimes multi-faceted stones, exist all over the city, throughout the region and across the ancient Inca empire. Industrious people, the Incas were. And they would’ve gotten away with it had it not been for those meddling Conquistadors. At least we still have the beautiful remnants of their work to admire.
Have a great weekend!
It was during the final hours of my trip to Jamaica that I realized I’d yet to buy any souvenir gifts for friends and family. So I went to the hotel gift shop and stocked up on standards like magnets and postcards. But I also grabbed a few nods to the local cuisine like some Blue Mountain coffee and a small jar of jerk spice-rub. I shoved everything into my carry-on and headed for the airport, straight into the security line. As the title foreshadows, my jerk spice did not make it past the check point. I stood there arguing with the lady that it wasn’t a liquid, this was a spice rub; it was a paste at best! She called over a supervisor, the line got longer, I got more irritated and in the end my jerk spice wound up in a box somewhere, instead of my mom’s pantry.
Credit: SashaW
Without meaning to burden your already huge travel to-do list, today I’ve compiled 101 things to remember to “do” before you leave for your big trip. Read through, see if you’ve forgotten anything, or perhaps add them to your own list. Some of these are purely existential, some are practical, but take it from this traveler—all are important for a happy, healthy, trouble-free trip.
These are listed in no particular order and while they could probably use a sentence or two of explication I’ve left them as they are, open for interpretation and intentionally brief so that you can decide on your own how to use them.
So here they are, 101 important things to do in the months, weeks and days ahead of your travels:
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