Category Archives: Travel Advice

The Next Destination, part I

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There is a common trait among us travelers regarding the seasons: With the onset of spring, thoughts turn to traveling. It’s in our DNA. This can pose a conundrum for us, since another trait of the inveterate traveler is difficulty with deciding where to go next with limited resources (and they are always limited).This can provoke a lot of angst and indecision for us. For the next few posts, I’ll be examining the different ways travelers approach the big decision of the Next Destination in hopes that it will help some globe trotters who are hung up on the issue.

Things to think about are finite things such as time and money. Where is affordable? How far can my dollars stretch? Can I spend enough time there to really get a feel for the place, and still eat decently and sleep in a clean place? What’s the exchange rate? Dollars to pesos or pounds (Greece is a good deal these days)? Is a bed and meal cheap where you’re going? Are there budget options like hostels and humble, family-run B&B’s?

As Americans, we’re the most time-poor people in the industrialized world, so will you be able to beg, steal, and borrow enough time to really get a feel for your destination?

If time is less of an issue than money (i.e. you’re an unemployed travel writer like myself) there are ways to get overseas and immersed in a culture while earning income, such as work-stays can be a good option; doing seasonal agricultural work on a family farm in exchange for room and board can lead to deep, rewarding cultural immersion (and a nice tan). If less labor-intensive jobs are to your liking, summer gigs at a resort or even a hostel can help pay the bills.

In the next post I’ll discuss some things you can do to help yourself pare your list down to a manageable level and really start planning an adventure to remember.

Seeing Seattle Through A Visitor’s Eyes

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I was reminded recently of an odd quirk in our human nature. When most of us travel, our senses are hyper-attuned to our surroundings. This is partially a conscious decision; the adventure of discovery is exhilarating. But part of it is an unconscious function. When we are in a new and unfamiliar environment, seldom-used neural pathways light up and allow us to soak in all the sensory data of the new place. We become alert for possible threats.

Hanging out at home —in my case, Seattle—is quite a different situation. Like everyone else around the world, my city’s streets and sounds and sights tend to blur into the background as I go about my daily activities with an acquired case of tunnel vision. So, it’s always eye-opening when a visitor comes to town. I assume the role of tour guide, and just like magic, the blinders fall away to reveal a wonderful city that I’m lucky enough to live in but rarely notice.

This strange paradox played itself out this week as I entertained an old friend from my hometown of Chicago. Given a few days of vacation time, she headed out to the West Coast to spend a few days seeing Seattle and reconnect with me. I was happy to play tour guide, but did not expect such a vivid reminder of how our minds tend to filter out so much of our surrounding, for better or worse.

The little sensory details begin to come to the fore, revealing themselves as if they’d always been hidden from view. Showing my friend the quirky, urban crush of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, I experienced with fresh senses the cacophony of street bustle and the kaleidoscope of colorful outfits on the neighborhood’s flamboyant residents. Escorting my friend through a nicely manicured green space on Seattle University’s campus (which I often cross in a hurry to get somewhere else), I noticed the eye-popping array of colorful flowers as I rarely have before. Escorting her to a popular scenic overlook, I saw with fresh eyes the beauty of the Puget Sound as it stretched out toward the Olympic mountains, the last of the fall sun setting over shimmering water.

Occasionally I wonder why I stay here. There are warmer places, less expensive places, and cities with better food and less traffic. But watching the ships following the sunset out toward the open ocean, I took a deep breath of air infused with the scent of fresh pine and suddenly remembered why I always return here.

My guest is gone now, but my love for this beautiful city is rekindled. She thanked me for showing her my city. I did the same.

Volunteering Abroad: Another Great Way to Travel

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The past few posts in the “summer work abroad” series have dealt with teaching ESL and work-stays as avenues to make a buck abroad in the summer months (or any month, really).

This third entry will be a bit different. In the rare case that you don’t need to make cash while spending a month or a season abroad, volunteering can be a helpful way to experience a culture first-hand in the process of doing some good. In recent years this approach to travel has gained in popularity. Volunteering’s three-for-the-price-of-one deal is attractive: The opportunity to get to know a culture, make new friendships, and have an adventure while doing a noble deed that’ll look good on the CV when the summer’s over.

And you might even get a nice tan.

Generally, volunteers don’t need special skills, except for medical projects in the Third World. Most programs are just searching for diligent, enthusiastic helpers looking to make a difference to those in need around the globe.

Opportunities can range from building homes for flood victims in humid Southeast Asia to planting crops and digging wells for clean drinking water in parched African villages. Positions helping with conservation and wildlife programs are available too.

Some first-rate organizations always looking for volunteers around the globe are Peace Corps, Doctors Without Borders, American Red Cross, and United Nations Volunteers among others. They seek volunteers to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education, and community development.

More culturally-related opportunities can be in had too, especially in Europe, like digging at an archeological site. I did this at the Shakespeare Home archeological excavation at the writer’s former homestead in Stratford-upon-Avon, England (more about this cool experience in a future post). I made friends I otherwise wouldn’t have met and held a long-buried piece of the legendary author’s home in my hand.

There are dozens of helpful websites that can help you sort through the enormous menu of options. Many of them can parse the possibilities for people looking to volunteer in everything from medical assistance to woman’s empowerment for a week, a whole year or anywhere in between in scores of countries.

Some good resources include: a great site with over 27,000 opportunities abroad updated daily, a non-political, non-religious organization running over 100 programs in 25 countries, this site will help to find a project in most categories in up to 40 countries, and this well-run site with links to lots of excellent organizations and projects.

If this piques your interest, find a place and a position to plug into and get going. You’ll get as much out of it as you’re willing to put into it. Be ready to get your hands dirty and sweat for free, and make a difference.

Work-Stays: A Great Option For Travelers

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As most travelers probably know, there’s more than one way to get yourself a great adventure abroad. Last week I wrote a bit about teaching ESL in a foreign country. One in particular is a work-stay arrangement.

Lots of establishments—ranging from host farms (organic and non-organic), lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels, and just plain homes—invite travelers to help out in exchange for accommodation and meals. The short-term “guests” pitch in some light labor (usually four hours or so a day) while getting meals, a bed, and a great big dose of the local culture in the process.

Due to the seasonal nature of agriculture, helping out on a farm bailing hay, picking grapes in a vineyard, or picking berries at an orchard can be a great way to survive a summer aboard on little to no money.

The old system was a casual arrangement whereby owners of farms asked for help by putting up a flyer on hostel notice boards. Word of mouth spread the work-stay gospel as well, and travelers soon began swapping information on the best locations, working conditions, and employers.

As like everything else, the method of finding the opportunities changed with the arrival of the internet. Now the web is loaded with good sites functioning as a digital, world-wide hostel notice board. Any traveler with a connection can find good opportunities, get advice, and interact with prospective employers around the globe.

Some helpful resources aimed at connecting travelers to work-stay opportunities include: one of the original work-stay info hubs, jobs geared toward resort work, a pretty comprehensive site with lots of opportunities, and another good site loaded with helpful links.

Skills like agriculture, animal care, boat-crewing, and carpentry are sought after in various pockets of the globe. Being a certified instructor of boating, tennis, or scuba diving are sought-after skills as well in resorts. Regardless of the monetary savings aside, the opportunity to live with the locals and participate in their day-to-day life is well worth the work, regardless of the monetary savings.

Skills like agriculture, animal care, boat-crewing, and carpentry are sought after in various pockets of the globe. Being a certified instructor of boating, tennis, or scuba diving are valuable in resorts. Aside from the monetary savings, the opportunity to live with the locals and participate in their day-to-day life is well worth the work.

The What-ness, part 2: Choose what to lose

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When you’re trying to write about your experience of a place, whether for yourself or an audience, it’s tempting to adopt the narrative form we were taught in school. After all, it was drilled into us for years, over and over again. Therefore it’s no surprise that when you open many a travel journal or travelogue you’ll often see rote accounts of trips. Many of them read like a bureaucrat’s report to the head office. It’s death by a thousand details.

The point is, rote accounts won’t achieve what you want to achieve: capturing the fundamental “what-ness” of a place. As in, the “what-ness” of a place or feeling; the core essence of it. Readers from last week will recognize the term from my old philosophy professor (actually, I don’t think it’s a term).

If you want to transcend this and capture the “what-ness” of a place or experience, ditch the narrative and narrow your focus. In other words, choose what to lose. This is really a matter of self-restraint and decisiveness.

For example, lose the superfluous stuff like the plane’s arrival, the ride from the airport, and the reviews of the food you ate. Lose the comments on prices. Lose the talk of “quaintness” and “idyllic”. We already know certain places are idyllic and quaint. Other places are dreary or foggy or crowded. These words give us nothing.

Focus instead on the conversation you had with a lifelong local. He likely imbued the place a more human dimension or gave you a clearer historical perspective. Pick out a few key moments that really crystallized the personality of the place. Record the thoughts and impressions with words that pop; use words that render the place or experience in clear tones.

It’s challenging; I face this problem in writing my new novel. It’s easy to cram in mundane and blandly written details or clichés as I describe the book’s foreign settings. Instead, I strive to pinpoint something that gives meaning and emotional heft, and then try to render it in a multidimensional way that reaches through the page and pulls the reader in.

So, if you’re struggling to capture something special for your journal or for an audience, forget what you’ve learned. Choose what to lose. Figure out what’s meaningful and breathe life into it using words that sing.

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Comb through your memories and pick a few the most vivid experiences that truly embody or illustrate the experience or place. Expand on those.

There are two reasons why people write about their travel. The first is to capture a sense of place in their own private journal, in order to document the experienced of a place, and return there any time they crack the book open in the future. The second is for others’ consumption. Regardless, the each writer faces the same task: How to give a richer portrait of the place anf the experience of being there, and avoid using tired clichés?

It’s so easy and so tempting to spout out flat, tired fluff about “quaint” villages, “charming” towns, and “idyllic” beaches. You don’t want to sounds like a glossy brochures. Those are fine adjectives (and I use them from time to time) but they’re really overused, and thus lose their impact.

Plus, clichés paint only a two-dimensional portrait. Good travel writing is kind of like creating a personality profile of a place; to give the reader a more three-dimensional feel for the place. In other words, pulling in sensory data is really important to draw the reader into the location emotionally.

Credit card and phone fees — wasteful ways to blow a hole in your budget

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Savvy travelers probably know these things, but I know some who are still behind the curve and going abroad soon. So here’s an update: Though many report having no problems at all using their US mag-stripe cards and ordinary ATM cards abroad, make sure your credit or debit card has a smart chip. The global standard is “chip and PIN” technology, meaning you’ll need to enter a PIN after the terminal reads the card’s chip. Call your credit card company and ask for a new card with a smart chip for the “chip and signature” option. Most cards without the chip will still work sans-PIN at most automated kiosks though, since a signature is generally not needed for purchases under $50.

Another thing to keep in mind when pulling out the plastic abroad: When in doubt, go with the debit card. Though your bank likely charges a currency conversion fee in transactions abroad, credit card fees are usually almost twice as high as debit card transaction fees. Capital One does not charge foreign transaction fees at all, so it may be worth getting one just for your travel use. If you want other card options, the helpful site NerdWallet.com has a list of cards that don’t charge them either.

Roaming charges for calls can be another “under the radar”-type budget buster. Smartphone users can rack up big roaming fees unless they remember to switch on the device’s Airplane Mode and Wi-Fi when boarding the flight to a far-off place. Also remember to switch off the cellular mode.

Data usage costs more money overseas, but the International Data Plans from your provider are rarely the best option anyway; use Skype or Truphone instead (I’m a big fan of Skype) and, with a decent Wi-Fi signal, you can make international calls for dirt cheap. Estimate how much usage you’ll need. There is the ever-handy pay-as-you-go option or a monthly, flat-fee plan that allows unlimited calls in certain countries.

Alternatively, Facebook’s Vonage Mobile app enables globetrotters to make free international calls over Wi-Fi to Facebook friends who also download the app. If caller and recipient have iPhones, FaceTime is a great deal with one flat fee.

Now go have some fun!

The What-ness of Travel

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My college philosophy professor was fond of the term “what-ness.” As in, the “what-ness” of a place or feeling. Meaning, the core essence of it. Being a callow young man, at first I rolled my eyes and thought, “He’s nuts. That’s not even a word!”

But in time I became a fan of the concept, because it was really the perfect way to approach description. Now, as a professional writer, the concept is at the heart of my daily work. As I write my new novel—the plot of which involves a travel writer gallivanting through several countries—I’m well aware of the importance of capturing the soul of the locations. I stop myself from reaching for the same old clichés and hackneyed phrases and focus on the “what-ness”.

Just as my old professor taught me to.

The challenge is straight forward, but not easy. Our mandate is to render the location in vivid detail using all the sensory data we can muster.

The what-ness is comprised of the facets that add up to the whole impression. The good news is there’s no secret formula to reach the what-ness. The tools needed to render these places in almost-flesh-and-blood are in already us. They’re all around us, and they’re free.

Just focus on the sensory data.

For example, does the location of the given scene have a particular smell, perhaps giving clues to the dominant agricultural or commercial activity of the neighborhood? Or a noise that’s indicative of the place’s character? What are the visuals of the place—are the buildings fairly humdrum or are they freshly coated in an array of pastels? How are the people dressed? Do you dodge well-dressed professionals striding along, absorbed in their own cares? Or do you pass under lines of drying laundry hung from lines suspended from apartment balconies while grandmothers lean out open windows chatting with their neighbors?

These are just a few examples to give a sense of what I mean.

In future posts I’ll be expanding on ways to imbue these places with the magic necessary to touch the reader’s senses and emotions. By doing so, you are not just presenting the reader with a laundry list of facts; you are leading them to their own satisfying discovery of the “what-ness”.

The challenge is straight forward, but not easy.

I know, it’s tempting to try to bottle the soul of an entire city and give it to your audience to feast on. The instinct is noble but the end result usually does a profound disservice to the city itself. Such attempts will more than likely lead to a watering down of the place you’re trying to describe. And no place deserves a shallow generalization.

More importantly, such an attempt often does profound disservice to the reader. The reader has come to your words trusting your experience. They come for a taste of a place they’ve never been before—or at least a sample of a neighborhood they didn’t have the chance to get to know on their last visit.