After over a week of neglecting my personal newspaper (a.k.a. beloved RSS feeds), I weeded through the hundreds of entries awaiting my perusal and found some good anecdotes and ideas to infiltrate your brain. Read on, curious ones.
Nomadic Matt makes an interesting observation. Is it possible to travel too long? I'd rather not say.
I'm so sorry, Italy. Priceless lives and culture, all in one hit.
Frugality...as a way of life? Preposterous!
A lot of ladies have contacted me recently asking about safety troubles as a solo woman abroad, and I always report a lack thereof, besides the obvious budget travel woes. Gennaro of Enduring Wanderlust proves my point with his piece on the increasing number of lady globetrotters.
Answers to the question of why we can't stop moving. Aw gee thanks, Fresh New Life.
I surely could have used this list of factoids while rolling around in my bed in Varanasi with a nasty gastro-fiesta going on in my body. Go Green Travel Green tells us, folks, to rub lemons on a cut, eat honey in the desert, and eat horseradish to fix the damage you did to your liver the night before.
This makes me consider bringing along a red overcoat and wide-brimmed hat. If someone knows a good place to get such accessories, I will wear them. You can quote me on that. And that...and that.
Brave New Traveler, a Matador magazine for the inner workings of a traveler, recently put out an intriguing article on defending cultural norms as an outsider that gets the hamster running up there.
Live Uncomfortably is the documentation of a guy who does the unaccustomed everyday, in order to break the cycle of routine and boredom...all in the name of personal growth and being interesting. I found his 27 Things I've Learned While Traveling worth a look, namely these two...
13. There is no wrong or right course in life. It’s all about you. Don’t let anyone tell you the path you’ve taken or are taking is wrong if you’re happy.
26. We are all experiencing the same thing but interpreting it differently. Those who can interpret and explain their experience in the simplest language possible will gather a crowd.
One Week Job sounds like it would give potential grads some much needed hope for an interesting future. Sean Aiken graduated from college and didn't know what he wanted to do for a career. So he traveled around North America, working 52 jobs in 52 weeks. I'd say its worth a look-see.
Two dudes hitchhiked to every state in the great US of A in 50 consecutive days. I wonder if chickens were ever involved. Hitch 50
This guy's goal of setting his foot in each nation on the planet in one year is laudable. Give it up for Graham Hughes and his Odyssey! Oh, and by the way, he's not allowed to fly.
And lastly, nuggets for thought taken from the Brave New Traveler article, "Would you be a perpetual traveler or a world citizen?"
A perpetual traveler is…a person who designs their life so that they’re not the legal resident of any of the countries in which they actually spend most of their time…. Whatever the reason (for becoming a perpetual traveler), it means disowning your allegiance to your home country without giving it up to another. It means becoming a citizen of your own empire.
While a world citizen is…someone who decides to stop seeing the world as something segmented by nation, and look at it as the home of humanity where we’re all entitled to enjoy, and mandated to be responsible for, the territory of each nation. The world citizen doesn’t see any sense in national citizenship and decides to stop seeing things through the lens of patriotism or from the perspective of the country they grew up in.