Wanderism

We’re all travelers, and whether we take the low cost packaged tour plan, or go via the rent-a-car-and-find-the-hotels-along-the-way route, we all like a little ‘posh’ every once in awhile. But the word ‘posh’ has never been associated with airline travel. Until now, that is.

The first new double-decker Airbus A380 was delivered to Australian airline Qantas less than a month ago, and already those who have managed to grab a seat on one have been gobsmacked. That’s a term my grandmother used to reserve for occasions when words such as ’shocked’, ‘amazed’ and ’stupefied’ simply wouldn’t suffice. I’d say this would qualify as one of those occasions.

Clicking on this first picture will take you to a website with photos that will blow your mind. You’ll have to keep reading the descriptions to believe you’re actually looking at the interior of an airplane.

This second picture will take you to a Google compilation of videos of the new A380. Apparently no one had a wide angle adapter! Sheesh!

This last photo reveals Airbus’ own Flash-based A380 ‘Navigator’ website.

* (Actually, it has more than one!)

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Tunner: “We must be the first tourists since the war.”

Kit: “We’re not tourists. We’re travelers.”

Tunner: “Oh. What’s the difference?”

Port: “A tourist thinks about going home the moment they arrive, Tunner.

Kit: “Whereas a traveler might not come back at all.”

- From the film “The Sheltering Sky”, Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (original novel by Paul Bowles)

Literary travel is a particular fascination of mine. Reading guidebooks, especially in anticipation of actually traveling to a specific destination, has never been a prerequisite (although Lonely Planet, Bradt and Moon have all figured in many of the foreign locales I have visited).

No, I prefer to consult the likes of Graham Greene, John Steinbeck, James Joyce or my personal favorite, Evelyn Waugh, whose “When The Going Was Good” I consider the best travel book ever written.

I recently discovered the bookstore of my dreams - Idelewild Books in New York City. In a small sidebar article in the Travel section of a recent issue of the Sunday New York Times, they present a short piece on this store and the pleasures to be discovered within.

As if you needed another reason to travel to NYC, you just found a new one.

[REW]

So, you’ve almost finished your two-week vacation in the south of Spain, and Andalusia was worth all the hype. You did the four hour bus trip from Seville to Malaga, and now you’re sunning yourself and working on that second liter of Alhambra. You’re going home in a couple of days, but for now life is good.

You’re chilling out, just hangin’, and then you hear the words that will change your whole experiencia española - El Camanito del Rey.

The group at the next table keeps talking about this place deep in the El Chorro. What is it? You lean over and ask. They look at each other, then back at you, and then start laughing.

“Well,” one of them says, “if you really want to know…” And now you’re hooked.

But do everyone a favor: take a look at this video before you decide. And for the love of God, sleep off the Alhambra before you do anything else!

[REW]

HER - Iraklion - Lat: 35° 20' North / Long: 25° 11' East
(Sometimes spelled Heraklion - Pronounced IR-ACK-LEE-O)

The Top 5 websites.

GREEK NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANISATION
This is the official link to the GNTO - the Greek National Tourism Organisation. Since any trip to Crete usually begins in Athens, you’ll want to check this site out. The people here are very helpful.

EXPLORE CRETE
A terrific hodge-podge of information about the island.

CRETE WIKI
If it’s basic data you’re looking for, the Wiki is your place to start.

INTERKRITI
An excellent site with plenty of ‘mouth-watering’ photos and a good forum for Q&A. I used this site myself on three different trips to Crete.

OLYMPIC AIRLINES
The official airline of Greece. Olympic has had its share of ups and downs (literally!) in the past few years, but remains one of my favorite airlines.

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Michael Hughes is a British-born professional photographer living in Berlin and working the world. Since Wanderism is constantly looking for unusual and off-the-beaten track twists on the travel genre, this particular feature in a recent issue of News.com.au in Australia caught Doug’s attention. As Doug has never left home without his ‘Hula Girl’ (yes, that is a picture of the lady herself above, about to sneak across the Bulgarian border!), it’s not surprising this piece would find its way onto our site.

At first blush this may look a little humorous and a tad clever. But look closer… this is the work of a talented man with a keen, if mischievous eye.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then allow me to shut up and let you get on with the show.

Enjoy!

[DCM]

NAN - Nadi - Lat: 17° 45' South / Long: 177° 27' East
(Pronounced NAN-DEE)

The Top 5 websites.

BULA FIJI
This is the official link to the Fiji Visitors Bureau. They have offices all over the world and you can click to whichever office suits you best.

FIJI WIKI
This very helpful ‘Wiki’ will get you started learning all the basics about this former British colony.

WORLD TRAVEL GUIDE
The series of World Travel Guides are a great source of information on just about any travel destination imaginable, even if the site’s a bit slow.

AIR PACIFIC
Air Pacific is Fiji’s own air carrier. I’ve flown with them twice and they make you feel as though you’ve already arrived before you head to the South Pacific.

OFFICIAL FIJI GOVERNMENT SITE
The official government site that will provide you with all the local color, customs and culture.

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I used to always travel with a small rubber ball. Along with a piece of cord and some liquid soap, these three pieces of gear were the trifecta of doing laundry on the road.

But while the soap made suds and the cord worked as a clothes line, the rubber ball often failed miserably as a universal fits-all sink stopper. It made for a poor seal and I was always knocking it out of place, sending my precious sudsy water down the drain.

But while doing laundry today in Belize, I stumbled upon a solution: The Dry Bag.

A dry bag is simply a waterproof bag with a roll-up top. You put in the items you want to keep dry, roll-up and lock the top and presto: your stuff is protected.

I have a couple of dry bags in my travel kit. A smaller one for things like portable electronics (never worry again about taking your point-and-shoot camera on a canoe trip) and a larger one for bigger things like SLR cameras and lenses.

Which brings me back to my discovery: rather than using a dry bag to keep water out, I used it to keep water in! I filled my large dry bag (about 10 litres) with a couple of dirty bits of clothing, a couple of capfuls of biodegradable detergent and tap water. I squeezed the clothes until they were soapy, sealed the bag, shook it for a few minutes and let it sit.

An hour or so later I repeated squeezing process (fun!) and then poured out the soapy water. I found that by rolling and kneading the dry bag I was able to squeeze out most of the soapy water. I refilled the bag with clean water to rinse out any remaining soap.

After squeezing most of the water out a second (or third) time, I removed the clothes and hung them in the sun to dry.

The beauty of the dry bag is that you use much less water and you can let your clothes soak overnight — meaning less work. And if they’re not dry before you have to hit the road, you can use the dry bag for damp stuff. That is, if you don’t need it for something else.

I will now carry a dry bag just for laundry… and then use it to carry containers of liquid (like suntan lotion) when I’m flying.

And in the spirit of multi-use, I reckon you could also use a dry bag as a portable aquarium. Or to mix a large batch of Sangria!

I’m currently on Caye Caulker, a small bar of sand off the coast of Belize. Due to intermittent networking issues, my posts will be brief and to the point. Longer posts about my experiences in Central America will follow in a couple of weeks.

If you travel, you know that getting connected can be difficult. Whether it’s a Cyrillic keyboard or a sketchy connection, going online can be a royal pain in the arse.

An example of this is happening as I type this post. I have a tenuous WiFi connection and my MacBook will only recognize the connection when I boot it up in Windows XP. What is THAT about?

Luckily, I have a backup.

It’s a device I mentioned in an earlier post as a multi-purpose tool that helps lighten the load: The iPod Touch.

But wait - there’s more »»

When we travel in a foreign land we invariably encounter idiosyncrasies that are peculiar to that country. Local customs, in fact, may well be high on our list of reasons for going to a particular destination. In England — in fact just about anywhere in the British Isles — the local pub is one of those customs that few of us would ever wish to avoid.

The vision of rolling lush countrysides dotted with hundreds of thatched-roof pubs serving up a dozen varieties of English bitter in a comfy, convivial atmosphere is the result of a hundred years-worth of travel writing, assisted to a certain extent by movie imagery. Having spent my fair share of time quaffing pint after pint in various such establishments over the years, I can tell you there’s a reason why writers and filmmakers resorted to such lore… it’s largely true!

But the ideal of this grand (and dare I say delicious!) ‘jolly olde’ institution has taken more than a few hits during the past 25 years. For every pub there is a publican - the man or woman who owns and runs the house. And for every publican there is a business. And the business of running a British pub ain’t what it used to be.

In a recent issue of Country Life magazine, an editorial appeared bringing attention to the state of the pub in contemporary English country life. While any travel writer can expound on the experience of finding a fabulous beer ‘just around the corner’, we found it fascinating to read the editorial and gain a little insight into Britain’s beer business written by someone who actually lives in England.

But wait - there’s more »»

A short post here. Last spring I found myself onboard a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship sailing around the eastern Mediterranean for almost three weeks. I began the trip in Istanbul and didn’t really want to leave. And perhaps that’s the ultimate reason for taking a cruise - the shore excursions.

Hopping on and off first class floating accommodations is a great way to make up your mind about a place — love it, love it, hate it — whatever. Get a taste of the places you love and you’ll want to return and spend some quality time soaking it up. That was Istanbul for me. Plus Corfu, Cairo, Alexandria, Izmir, Crete, Athens… yeah, well - you get my point.

This little Animoto movie contains a few of my photos from that trip.

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