Archive: October 2010

Today we’d like to launch a new section called “Each traveller has a story to tell”, which we’ve been working on awhile. It’s an experiment that we’re really excited about.

The idea is to transform the Moleskine edition of Trourist into a collection of emotional mini-stories. Travel experiences which are remembered with fondness and/or which have come to represent something truly important in a person’s life. The format doesn’t have to be prose precisely. It can be a drawing, a poem, an outline…bring your imagination on and let it flow!

This assortment of personal nuggets will be created in collaboration with 26 travel bloggers around the world. As each traveller shares an experience which changed his or her life in a significant way, it will be uploaded on the Moleskine edition of Trourist, and form part of a chain that includes the following bloggers whose contributions of time and dedication we wholeheartedly express our gratitude for:

Adam (@travelsofadam), Andrew(@AEEvans), Anjanette (@anjwrites), Anne (@pretavoyager), Ant (@TrailofAnts), Audrey and Daniel (@umarket), Ayngelina (@Ayngelina), Caitlin (@niltiac), Cate (@Catekiwi), Chris (@theaussienomad), Craig (@indietravel), David (@rtwdave), Earl (@wanderingearl), Francesc (@fbalague), Jeannie (@nomadicchick), Jodi (@legalnomads), Joshua (@tranquilotravel), Kate (@katebritabroad), Lauren (@travelerlauren), Lara andTerence (@gran_tourismo), Lindsay (_thetraveller_), Maria (@traveladdictgrl), Meg (@thenotoriousmeg), Melvin (@traveldudes), Pam (@nerdseyeview), Shannon (@shannonrtw), Teresa and Michael (@artofbackpackin)

The result of this experiment, which we hope to pass on to you, will be seen in a few months. Meanwhile you can follow the day-to-day evolution of this initiative visiting twitter at: hashtag #mystorytotell

Of all the experiences shared with us, we believe the following five faithfully reflect the variety of extra-special destinations and moments enjoyed by trourists this past summer:

Javier Leal shares with all of us an excursion he embarked on with his brother to Ransdorp, a tiny village outside Amsterdam reachable by bike. Escaping the city for a day, the siblings were able to enjoy a day by the sea, green prairies and towering windmills. We suggest you read further to get the full story.

Jopeto took us to a very special place in Sofia, his hometown. By this trourist’s account, Toba&Co is a frequent stopover on summer nights where good music and mojitos are a guaranteed attraction. Click in to check out his experience.

Is there a more refreshing way to fight off a broiling summer afternoon than a good ice cream? Susana Paço from Lisbon invites us to sample super gelatti at A Veneziano, an icream parlor which has been perfecting its art since Giovanni de Luca arrived to this marvellous Portuguese city way back in 1936. For the perfect topping on this story, follow the link.

Fabiola Villa shares with us one of the trendiest bars in London. It’s a bar where music is everything so its selection counts — big time. Fabiola suggests grabbing a bite to eat, ordering something to wash it down, sitting outside on the terrace and just kicking back. Get the full experience here.

Can you believe that a group of individuals have converted their imagination, art and freedom into a way of life? Itziar Otxagabia unveils for us L’Elaboratoire, a place so exceptional where imagination and dreams will be transformed into reality. You can read about the entire experience here.

We hope the above five experiences serve as inspiration for your future travels!

In Maeklong, 70 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, you can find one of the most dangerous bazaars you’ll ever come across anywhere in the world. No, not because there is a reign of delinquency; it’s just that vendors and railway tracks manage to coexist harmoniously in a rather reduced space here.

Though it may seem inconceivable, dozens of vendors set up stalls daily to sell their fish, rice and vegetables on the very same tracks which serve as a railway for trains passing through eight times a day. Undeniable adrenalin rushes for first-time visitors to the area, but a ho-hum exercise for people who have learned to stay alive by dismantling stands at lightning-speed for more than thirty years. In all this time, curiously enough there have only been two fatalities.

From what I understand, in order to reach The Death Market you have to take a couple of trains and a boat which cost a mere pittance: the three tickets cost a total of 25 bat (just over half a euro). Not bad for a 3-hour trip that’ll take you across rice paddies, along a river, and past several villages. A truly unforgettable experience, I’m sure.

This blog launches a new section called “Looking through my backpack”. The center of our story is Xabi, an excellent friend of all of us here at Trourist. Those of you who’ve been following us awhile will remember him since he began our adventure with us.

It seems that Xabi (in a decision as attractive as it was daring) has decided to exchange his everyday living in his native Pamplona for an adventure lasting several months in Latin America. And since he’s what we consider an honest-to-goodness genuine traveller, we decided it might be nice to have him tell us about those special experiences he lives every month. He’ll also be giving advice for those of you who would like to embark on a similar trip and, above all, sharing with us new things he’s learned along the way.

But before he starts to telling us some of these anecdotes, we are going to ask Xabi — who has been in Argentina just a few days now — some questions about his trip.

Q. Even though big trips lend themselves to improvisation, what’s your scheduled itinerary for this one?

A. I began my week in Uruguay and four days in Buenos Aires, visiting people in both places. Now I’m in Ushuaia, south of Argentina, where my adventure has started. My idea is the following: I’d like to climb the Andes, combining destinations in Chile and Argentina, and arrive in Santiago via the coast. From there, I’ll head northeast to get to know the regions of Mendoza and Salta. Afterwards, I’ll cross over to Bolivia and Peru, and then move on to Central America (at least, Guatemala and Mexico). But, like you say, improvisation and making things up as you go along, is half the fun of any trip.

Q. What’s the purpose of your trip? What do you most expect to learn during the next few months?

A. The main reason for the trip is that, a couple of years ago when I was in Argentina I felt I didn’t see as much the country as I would have liked, the same is true for Latin America in general. It’s like I’ve got this thorn in my side that I’ve got to pull out. Besides, my yen for travelling has set my feet in motion on this adventure once again. What do I hope to learn? Good question … I want to learn something from every single person I come across — from travellers I meet along the way (such as advice on ways of travelling and managing my provisions) as well as native people (local culture, gastronomy and customs). I think travelling is a great way for a person to grow as an individual, facing situations that you’ll never live staying at home and a sure-fire way of discovering many different ways of doing things.

Q. Is there any way that a native Latin American or some traveller in Latin American reading this interview could lend you a hand?

A. Of course there are, among the plenty ways are: recommending places to see and things to do, meeting up for a beer or sharing a car ride. I will make my trip up based on things I read, things I hear regarding what to do, what’s not worth it and then just improvise. So, here’s my e-mail address for anyone interested in dropping me a line: xabier.albeniz@gmail.com

Will we ever manage to travel in time? Right now, it seems unlikely, but I suppose something similar was thought by the cavemen of yesteryear about space missions. Everything’s impossible until it happens. But there are reasons to think otherwise. As Stephen Hawking correctly pointed out, if in the future we succeed in travelling back to the past, why aren’t we now being invaded by tourists from the future?

Travelling back to the past could be good or bad depending on how those doing the travelling decided to rewrite history. Imagine convincing Hitler to dedicate himself to disseminating Jewish culture throughout the West, thus avoiding the millions nassacred during World War II, or another traveller introducing John Lennon to techno music and leaving us bereft of excellent Beatle music.

Even though the problems of travelling back to the past do not end here, sometimes temporary paradoxes emerge such as that of “the grandad” — a hypothetical case in which a traveller travels back in time to kill his grandfather, an eventuality which couldn’t happen since he wouldn’t be around to travel anyway. Travelling back in time has more than mere technological implications, as you’ve no doubt come to realize.

Travelling to the future, on the other hand, is significantly easier. All you have to do is sit back and wait since our position is constantly changing. That is, if we exclude the case of the Swede who travelled to the future hiding himself under the sink in his kitchen and discovering himself, obviously somewhat older. Check out the following video to see how it happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBUv4j3DINE

The U.S. government has recently alerted its citizens — those travelling to Europe as well as those living there — to exercise extraordinary precautions in the event of possible terrorist attacks. Emotional terror is a story which sadly repeats itself. This perverse use of fear is nothing new. And I, for one, am dead against it.

First of all, because I don’t feel these kinds of alarms do much for the population at large. The risk of some fanatics committing a macabre act is always there, as is the possibility of sllipping beside your neighbor’s pool or having a car accident on the way to work. The only sure things in life, as the saying goes, are death and taxes, and one of these we’ll never know when it will hit or how.

Secondly, some governments use these warnings as a smokescreen for ulterior motives. Historically, the propagation of fear has been the trademark of tyrants. The present example perhaps notwithstanding, fear continues to have economic and political motives. Could this not be a way of deviating attention from the debate regarding more serious problems like unemployment? Or, taking this a step further, as a way of increasing tourism at home? Let us not allow ourselves to be ruled by fear. This thought alone is liberating.

We wish to share with all of you those small jewels found in video format on Vimeo. For over a year now, we’ve been registered with a couple of travel groups (Travel the world; World, travel and people) where people share spectacular and inspirational videos. Thanks to the subtlety practiced by the people who’ve realized these videos, we’ve been able to take a tele-journey and experience the grandiosity of Berlin and the beauty of Old Havana. Sometimes one doesn’t need to leave home in order to travel.

A masterpiece which perfectly conveys the essence of Berlin.

Little Big Berlin from pilpop on Vimeo.

A trip which will allows us to partake in those experiences lived by Ivan Vania in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

A journey through asia from ivan vania on Vimeo.

An intimate video of day-to-day life in Old Havana

Habana Vieja from Van Royko on Vimeo.

Trourist is present in Vimeo too. Please don’t hesitate to contact us and share your travel videos.