Consume & Update: Fear, Soccer, and Post-Production

Back from Mexico and once again with enough time to consume the best travel gummies on the net this week. Sorry my schedule is all higgilty piggilty. Chew away.

Guillebeau Talking for TED

If you're a fan of Chris and his charisma, check out renowned non-conformist's TED talk from Carnegie Melon University. He discusses fear with some intriguing metaphors. What do you think about his message?

Chris Guillebeau travels the world and writes for a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com. This talk is about crocodiles, killer whales, writing your own permission slip, and changing the world. About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.

Most Celebrated Travel Books

Though I believe Frances Mayes should give it a rest with her lists of flower types and Italian herbs...and Ernesto Guevara could have cut his diaries a couple weeks short...and Elizabeth Gilbert got a wee too much publicity for her travel trifecta, I think this comprehensive list of travel books covers some great titles. Check out the entire list on World Hum and let me know which ones you would recommend to fellow narrative-hungry travel readers (cough, cough...me).

Why We Call It Soccer

Thank you, Nat Geo Traveler, for finally solving the mystery. Why do we call football soccer (or, inversely, why do others call soccer football)? Alas, we have an answer:

After some digging, I'm happy to report the following: Apparently American's word for football is a shortened version of Assoccer, an abbreviation of "Association Football," the term given the game as it was played at elite British boys' schools in the 1860s. "Assoccer" became "soccer" and the name somewhat stuck as it served to distinguish it from rugby-rules football.
As players, coaches, sailors, and the enthusiastic exported the game around the world courtesy of the British Empire, local languages appropriated "football" as a loan word. For example, the Spanish fútbol doesn't literally combine the Spanish words for "foot" and "ball" but is an approximation of the British word for the ever-popular game. The game came to U.S. shores in the late 19th century and was called "football" in the U.S. until after World War II when the increasing popularity of the National Football League (NFL) prompted a change in name. Where English is a country's first language, "football" often refers to the most popular form of football in that country. Only three English-speaking FIFA countries refer to the game as "soccer": the U.S., Samoa, and Canada.

Now we know.

Tony's New Book and 100th Episode

I compulsively document Big T's new blog posts, this one being no exception to the rule. I love the flow of his travel writing - even his travel writing that isn't about travel per se. After releasing his second book, entitled Medium Raw, he reflects on the tiresome, yet pivotal, regimen of self-promotion across the country, as well as the ambiance during production of his 100th episode (in Paris).

I've heard Tony didn't necessarily meet the expectations of various travel bloggers with the new book, and I'm sort of glad. If he's a cook, a traveler, and a writer, why can't he write about cooking (and the unexpected celeb chef phenomenon) without focusing about travel? Why would people assume his book would be about his travel tales and woes when the blurb on the front reads:

A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Lay off, people. He's still a better writer than the vast majority of us.

Other Discoveries

Lion Burgers? Really, Arizona? Strike two.

This guy's just walkin.

The Michael Palin interview with World Hum

“Backpackers aren’t the bad guys. It really boils down to how we travel, and what the legacy is of that. We are guests in another culture, so the issue isn’t how do we stop tourism, the issue is how do we get it right.”

Problogger: 8 Habits of Highly Excellent Bloggers

Update on Nomadderwhere

Judging purely by my intense slumbers upon returning to Indiana, you'd think I slept not at all throughout production in Mexico. I was entirely pooped, and to compound it, my mom dragged me to the Indy Night Ride, which started at 11pm and took us for 20 miles around downtown Indianapolis by night. My butt bones hate life today.

Since I was too busy to read up on the gems of the internet over the past three weeks, I also wasn't able to recap the work I churned out. Hence, here are the pieces I wrote (or photoblogs I compiled) over the course of production with ProjectExplorer.

Bear with me, people. I'm hoping to get back on schedule soon!

Consume & Update: Lovable Haters, Epiphanies, and Vimeo

I'm at my Grandpa's 90th birthday today. It's a good day. Now let's learn about what's new in the travel and blog worlds.

Learning to Love the Digital Haters

I don't think I'm evolved enough to truly love those that go after my passionate pursuits, but Tim Ferriss makes some solid points on reactions, time efficiency, and dealing with criticism - both logical and rant-asical. Check out the following speech below (it's long but I watched it all and enjoyed it) or browse his ideas below:

The following list is paraphrased from Mashable's Tim Ferriss: 7 Great Principles for Dealing with Haters

1. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do. “It’s critical in social media, as in life, to have a clear objective and not to lose sight of that,” Ferriss says. He argues that if your objective is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people or to change the world in some small way (be it through a product or service), you only need to pick your first 1,000 fans — and carefully. “As long as you’re accomplishing your objectives, that 1,000 will lead to a cascading effect,” Ferriss explains. “The 10 million that don’t get it don’t matter.”

2. 10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it. “Online I see people committing ’social media suicide’ all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you’re never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don’t warrant a response.”

3. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” - Colin Powell “That guarantees you’ll get more behavior you don’t want and less you do.”

4. “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” - Scott Boras The bigger your impact and the larger the ambition and scale of your project, the more negativity you’ll encounter.

5. “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” - Epictetus "To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

6. “Living well is the best revenge.” - George Herbert “The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you."

7. Keep calm and carry on. “Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers.”

The Frustration Epiphanies

Evan has a good point. We travel with the expectation that the huge events we schedule reveal the most, move us to the climax of our emotions.

When we travel, we literally become different people. Stripped of our habits, routines and safe places, we are forced to meet the world as we are. The more we travel, the more accustomed we become to participating and thriving in the world because travel, by design, brings an openness of heart and a clarity of self. Some travelers have a spiritual fantasy of this new life, and it can include the clichéd vision that, despite all our cultural differences, we’re really “all one”...Unfortunately, when you’re traveling, this naïve view results in a lot of stolen wallets. But, more importantly, that’s not how the traveler’s transformation of consciousness really goes down.

In actuality, I feel the times I experience the iconic and stereotypically "awe-inspiring" are the times I'm less inspired. Riding 18 hours in an Indian sleeper car with the stomach flu, walking across Lusaka in the summer sun because I'm out of money for a taxi (or a hostel), mourning a separation with friends on the beach in Malawi - these moments are the ones when the most is revealed about myself and my displaced existence.

At what point in your travels do you experience the little epiphanies? When do you learn the most about yourself and the purpose of your movement? Do those moments of self-discovery usually occur simultaneously with itinerary highlights or when the frustrations take the limelight? Comment below and tell me what you think!

Traveling is Seeing

Joel scribed a great piece at Vagabonding this week, which felt more like inspired prose than a simple post on an impression of travel.

We travel also to see things that are not easy to see. The Egyptian man in Alexandria, for example, who walks past your cafe table selling kleenexes, his skeletal frame so disfigured that he walks with his torso almost parallel to the ground. His eyes meet yours and you exchange a smile, suddenly conscious of the dollar’s worth of lemon juice in your hand and the relatively great health along your own spine...
And sometimes we may even travel to catch our own reflection in a cracked and dirty mirror, not entirely sure for a moment what it is — or rather who it is — that we’re looking at. And perhaps later in the day, when we see our reflection not in glass but in the eyes and faces of our neighbors, we will have a moment of clarity about what and who we are.

This week, I've been especially aware of my own reasons for traveling, and Joel made me realize yet another on my list. I love being humbled by the constant stimulation while traveling. The exchange, the "you're on" sense from a live TV broadcast, the challenge to the self from the self and the world - it's all in the attempt to solidify your own essence and self-knowledge. I'm a fan of travel because it helps me see myself in a way that could only be alternately achieved by rapid time lapse into my future.

Other Discoveries

For your reading pleasure: The 11 Foreigners You Meet in China

An interesting viewpoint on Arizona's new immigration law: Que Lástima...

Makes you hungry and a little disgusted at the same time: Seven Essential Breakfasts for the World Traveler

Update on Nomadderwhere

This weekend I headed up to the Northern Indiana lakes for some friend time before my first ProjectExplorer adventure! Of all the things that I enjoy about the Midwest, it is this lake culture I miss the most when abroad and away from the comforts and rituals of home.

This week at Nomadderwhere (big week for Fiji narratives):

Self-Teaching New Skills: A triple video post helping you get inspired for your own video editing pursuits. Join the conversation!
The Flow of a Fijian Funeral: Watch this well-orchestrated event take place with a flow that matches the natural setting where it takes place.
The Danger of Not Processing the Bad: The first of three big occurrences that told us our project wasn't possible the way we imagined it.
The First and Last School Visit: Thanks to the timing of our trip, we only got a little school exposure, but it was fantastic...and we could have done so much, sadly.
The Hell-raising Fundraiser: A revealing post that describes the two finals straws that broke our Nakavika backs, a.k.a. the climax of the story.

Hardcore Brain Expansion: I'm happy to say I finished my read on Mexico City (which I recommend - review coming soon) in time for the big trip and am now working on The Lost Girls, the first and recently released narrative put out by the girls in charge of LostGirlsWorld.com. Hope I finish it before Saturday, because this bad boy is one thick travel read.

T minus 6 Days: On May 29th, I'll be on my way to New York City to meet my new boss for the first time. For a couple days, photo shoots and training sessions will be on the agenda, alongside meet-ups with my great friend, Garrett, before he heads to Malawi on his Peace Corps assignment! If you're in the NYC area next weekend and want to meet up, DM me on twitter or use my contact form!

Video/Online Property Update: You'll notice in the near future that I'm testing out a little Vimeo action. I've exclusively used Youtube for all my travel videos thus far, and even though I enjoy using that platform, I'd like to join the Vimeo community to see what works best for my work. Which video platform do you prefer, and why?

1 Minute or Less Moments: This week on my Nomadderwhere Facebook Fan Page, I've published raw video clips of some intimate funeral footage (because I think these are meaningful moments to give some perspective) and one of the children early on a school morning.

Consume & Update: Free Calls, Valuable Time, and Space Capone

You learn something new every day. Well today's post is going to help you make up for last night's nonsense fest...whatever it is that you did...

What's Your Travel Personality?

Thought it would be fun to poll you, the readers, to see what kind of travel personalities find themselves on Nomadderwhere! Brave New Traveler published a story this week based on the Enneagram test results describing a travel style. Go ahead and take the test if you'd like, or just tells us below: what's your travel personality?

Down With The Roaming Fees!

This is a video by AlmostFearless.com on how to make free calls from anywhere in the world (that has wifi). Real help for me and my Blackberry...hopefully that's the next episode!

Get Wealthy With Time: A Practical Guide

Rolf Potts guest posted on Tim Ferriss' blog this week, and I found it quite well-written and full of great concepts. Though it's darn near epic in length, it offers great resources at the end and quality explanations of why time is an important currency to deal in. He notes that there's a difference in living well and doing well. I've exhibited some paragraphs I though were particularly pivotal.

This notion — that material investment is somehow more important to life than personal investment — is exactly what leads so many of us to believe we could never afford to go vagabonding. The more our life options get paraded around as consumer options, the more we forget that there’s a difference between the two. Thus, having convinced ourselves that buying things is the only way to play an active role in the world, we fatalistically conclude that we’ll never be rich enough to purchase a long-term travel experience.
Fortunately, the world need not be a consumer product. As with environmental integrity, long-term travel isn’t something you buy into: it’s something you give to yourself. Indeed, the freedom to go vagabonding has never been determined by income level, but through simplicity — the conscious decision of how to use what income you have.
...Fortunately, we were all born with winning tickets – and cashing them in is a simple matter of altering our cadence as we walk through the world. Vagabonding sage Ed Buryn knew as much: “By switching to a new game, which in this case involves vagabonding, time becomes the only possession and everyone is equally rich in it by biological inheritance. Money, of course, is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create the life values that make the fire worth the candle. Dig”

The Pickle Called Reverse Culture Shock

I always have issues with coming home, which is probably facilitated by the facts that my 1. trips often last over 2.5 months and 2. lifestyle is usually akin to voluntary poverty while abroad. This week at Matador, Brittany Vargas phrases some great realities on why this transition period is the way it is.

Often the wisdom we acquire during long journeys is most evident only after we’ve returned to where we began. Coming back to once-familiar territory highlights the changes that were too subtle to notice as they occurred...So there is no way of predicting how we will adjust once we’ve come “home” – or how well others will adjust to us.

Other Discoveries

Chris Guillebeau sheds some perspective on enjoying the moment while still looking forward to what's happening next.

Let's all hope Gary gets home soon.

In honor of my next destination: Insomniac City (don't people know about melatonin?)

Don't worry, U.S. Department of State. I'm not heading to any of the scary Mexican states.

Update on Nomadderwhere

I've started packing! Less than two weeks stand between me and New York City. Not sure what I'm talking about? Read up on how my blog got me a travel job that's sending me to Mexico!

Also read up on the fast-approaching completion of The Nakavika Project chronicles. I'll be wrapping up these stories in preparation for real-time reporting from Mexico, and these stories are getting to the best of the bunch...believe me.

This week at Nomadderwhere:

A Gracious Thank You on Mother's Day: How my mom has dealt with her traveling daughter's adventures and her recent mother's passing
Reviewing a Road Trip to Des Moines: Hopefully inspiring others to look at their own video work and realize where it can go from here.
When Your Dreams Play Hard-To-Get: A guest post from recent World Traveler Intern finalist, Annie Leroux, and her positive note to those seeking an extraordinary path without free passes to success.
Independence in a Communal Society: A Fijian flashback to when Garrett and I returned from our Christmas vacation to the coast with the new responsibilities of household keeping, cooking, and fitting into a foreign society.
Feet Don't Fail Me Now: A guest post by Garrett Russell about his traumatic foot infection and the realization of being the only person who could save himself.
The Addition and Subtraction of Lives: Garrett leaves the village. Garrett and Jackie arrive in the village. A man in the village suffers a fatal heart attack. This is a flashback to mid-January, when a sad turn of events took place in Nakavika.

On an unrelated but important note: May 7th marked the release of Space Capone's second volume. If you like disco, falsetto voices, fantastic boogie music, or something to play for your next retro skating rink party, he's the one to blast. Don't worry; it's on iTunes. And by the way...he's family.

Consume & Update: Red Dust, Stupid, and Countdown

I'm on the road in Northern Indiana but here to offer you some great material to couple with Sunday's newspaper and buttery toast.

Describing the Difficult

Big Tony does it again.

...I've seen a lot of things. But no place has so utterly confounded me, intimidated, horrified, amazed, sickened, depressed, inspired, exhausted and shown me--with every passing hour--how wrong I was about everything I might have thought only an hour previous. This is a country, founded by freed slaves from America--and intended to be very much in our image-- but recently emerged from civil wars so brutal, so surrealistically violent as to defy imagining, where drugged gunmen in wedding gowns and wigs once shot hacked (and frequently cannibalized) their way into power. It is also a place where mothers and grandmothers stripped off their clothes and naked and unarmed, confronted those same gunmen mid-massacres, getting them to stop. It is now the first African nation with a woman president. It's a country where you find 28 year olds proudly graduating from high school--the school system having evaporated during the many years of conflict. There's a church on nearly every corner--but underneath it all, traditional "masked societies" still rule the hearts and minds and behaviors of many...

I love the way he describes a place with incredible, raw honesty and accuracy of thought. Read this blog post by our traveling man, Anthony Bourdain, on the country he recently visited and claims is the location of the hardest episode in the history of his show.

Travel Yourself Stupid

Usually, I like to highlight Gary Arndt's photography in these Sunday posts, but today I'd like to bring attention to his recent post about an awareness of ignorance heightened only by experiences on the road.

Do you think it's true that the more you travel, the stupider you feel? Donald Rumsfeld is among those that do.

Here are a few excerpts from Gary's musings:

It is entirely possible for an ignorant person to think they are smart. They know so little, and have been exposed to so few ideas, that that have no idea what they are ignorant of. In their world, they know everything because their world is so small.

Thankfully, ignorance is not bliss. The increasing gap between what you know you know, and what you know you don’t know means you are being exposed to new things and only fuels your desire to fill the gap.

If you travel and come away feeling dumber than you did before you started, don’t worry. It means you are doing it right.

Walk Your Eyes Through India

Well, not all of India but certainly an amazing facet of the Subcontinent.

Other Discoveries

A quick read on prioritizing financially when you're traveling on a budget

Keep your writing compelling even in the middle with this blogging advice

Pico Iyer speaks of traveling to the soundtrack of anything but what naturally surrounds a place

Ever ridden on a hell-bound, over-packed, speeding vehicle through pedestrian-littered streets? Get a feel for it.

Update on Nomadderwhere

This week was a little rough, equal parts celebratory and sad. But I'm very excited for what's to come in the next month at Nomadderwhere. I hope you are, too...even though you don't know what I'm referring to.

1 Minute or Less Moments: There's still so much you haven't seen from our trip to Fiji, which is why I'm on week three of posting raw video files onto my Nomadderwhere Facebook Fan page. This week, new videos are ready for your viewing eyes. Click on the icon below to watch a 7 year-old weeding with a machete, walk with us to see the cyclone damage, and admire a landslide and the surrounding Fijian landscape.

8 More Days: Are you ready for my upcoming Carnival of Blogs? My domain's "birthday" is coming next week, and I'm wrapping up my daily posts, which start publishing Monday, March 29th! Highlighting the year's best stuff, a wide range of media, and a couple brand new ideas and series to Nomadderwhere.com, you won't be bored. And if you're a fan of my Facebook page, don't worry; you'll receive a little reminder so you don't miss the good stuff.

Consume & Update: Greenland, Snobs and Facebook

Hey, readers! Looking for some good reading material this Sunday morning? I'll do the heavy lifting for you. Look below.

Quite a Title

The Truth About Happiness and Travel. Well, let's here it, Christine Garvin.

Reality is what we see, think, and believe. Our thoughts are what bring us happiness, and the anticipation of something good gets those endorphins going. Can we use this knowledge in order to build in more daily escapes to look forward to, even if that’s just walking through a different neighborhood in our town, or taking ten minutes for the ultimate mind-trip meditation?

Ah, so you're saying I should mix it up at home, give my mind the idea that I'm actually getting away from that which normally stresses me out - my normal life. But why shouldn't I just really pull the plug and get away?

...According to a recent study in the Applied Research in Quality of Life, it’s the vacation planning that makes us happiest, and not the actual vacation itself.

You lie! I can't believe that. But my travels have brought undeniable pleasure and beauty in my life!

...I think there is a distinction between the mindset of those who travel for longer periods of time vs. those who are taking a short vacation, due to the fact that long-term travelers usually know they’re in for some rough patches. That’s almost a part of the purpose.

Oh, I see. Well that makes sense. Week-long trips I've taken have always seemed far too short to really bring me happiness.

Still, when we can’t get away, whether that comes from a lack of funds, time, or dealing with life issues, it’s good to be reminded that mindset is the name of the game. We have the power to get away in the here and now.

Now I getcha, Christine. Why don't I do that?

Way to Go, Greenland!

Turner on Travel Writing

I really like Turner Wright's writing style and article topics, which is why it didn't come as shock to me when the new Vagabondish article I really enjoyed was written by non other than...that dude.

The travel writer's Catch-22: time spent writing on the road is time spent not gathering new content for more writing. Turner believes we should travel before we document, taking notes along the way to jog the memory later, but what about those of us who find incredible joy in the act of sitting and writing and doing something so fulfilling in a place that summons you like a drug?

Writing a good article makes me feel as though I've eaten. Of course I could always just...actually eat wherever I am at the time. But for some reason, I find working remotely, when I could be doing something else, somehow living out a romanticized version of a travel writer's lifestyle. I like the point he makes, especially the final irony that travel writing got us going in the first place; therefore, it must be written down/edited/published at some point. But maybe not while you still have the ability to add to your anthologies.

What Does Travel Teach Us?

(March 2, 2010) -- For episode 24, Robert Reid of Lonely Planet visits the New York Times Travel Show -- and other NYC sites during that travel week -- and asks a series of travel writers the most basic of travel questions: what we learn from it.

Taking Down Travel Snobbery

World Hum featured two writers recently that had me interested: Eric Weiner with his perspective on tourism as a subsidizer of otherwise forgotten traditions and Spud Hilton with his tips on the fine art of place-dropping.

Eric brings up an idea very few self-proclaimed "real travelers" would come to terms with: without our tourism money, these "authentic cultural displays" would go forgotten or unpolished for centuries. Is that true? And by the way, who are we kidding with the traveler vs. tourist argument?

The one-upmanship in the travel community is at times hilarious, at others annoyed-sigh-inducing, and Spud laid down a humorous piece about the traveler tendency to let it be known where one's feet have been. Do you place-drop in order to get some inquiries and envious gazes from friends and strangers on your globe-trottin' life? Tell me about it.

Other Discoveries

Cori Padget guestblogs on Problogger about engaging your readers, and she does it with such flare.

In order to increase my chances of writing ever making me money, I'm going to take all the advice I can get, including this Writer's Digest article by one of my favorites, Chris Guillebeau.

Update on Nomadderwhere

1 Minute or Less Moments: I've got gigs upon gigs of great material from our journey to Fiji that I couldn't find the right venue for publishing...until now. Would you like to see some raw footage of major, and minor, benchmarks in our experience? Witness our excitement as we landed in Nadi? Join us as we learn Fijian words? Just click the icon below to see these 1 minute or less moments and more, published exclusively on Nomadderwhere's Facebook Fan page. Since I won't be publishing these clips on Nomadderwhere.com, I suggest you become a fan of the fan page to receive subtle updates about new clips coming your way. New video clips will be published every Sunday!

Updated Pages This Week: I've been doing some updating on the following Nomadderwhere pages. Be sure to keep clicking around the site because I don't leave these static sits untouched for long... As well as...World of Mouth, Life List and more updates are to come!

22 more days: Though my blogging experience is in its toddler years, Nomadderwhere.com as a domain is an infant. Coming up in 22 days, NMW turns 1 year old, and with that big birthday will come some great new additions to the site. Stay tuned because one of those changes will possibly benefit you, the reader and commenter (cough cough).

Consume & Update: Keynote, Vancouver and Your Thoughts

Man, the internet is fantastic. I love unlimited, free wireless internet and all the fruit it delivers. Check out my basket this week!

Fast-Forward Vancouver

"Vancouver City" music video is an artistic collaboration between Innerlife Project and TimeLapseHD. For more information and music downloads go to www.innerlifeproject.com These time lapses are shot with 12 mega pixel Nikon digital single lens reflex cameras. Original resolution is 6 times better than HD (high definition).

Excellent Travel Writer Advice

I don't know how to introduce this piece by Jeffrey Tayler, nor can I sum it up better than by displaying the following excerpts. Basically my advice is for you to read the entire post from start to finish, if it's of any interest to you to travel, write, read, or write about your travels.

Writers must, initially and throughout their lives, be readers first and foremost, and readers not primarily of journalism, but of the classics, both modern and not-so-modern.
“The Death of Ivan Il’ich,” by Tolstoy, was the short story that taught me about the brevity of life and the need to act at once; the protagonist finds himself on his deathbed, and only then realizes that he has wasted his life by following social convention, never doing what he wants.
I conceived early on the conviction that one should lead one’s life as if one were the protagonist of an epic novel, with the outcome predetermined and chapter after chapter of edifying, traumatic and exhilarating events to be suffered through. Since the end is known in advance, one must try to experience as much as possible in the brief time allotted.
Conventions now are hardly less pervasive than they were in Tolstoy’s day; we’re pressured to start a career, build our résumé, earn a certain amount of money, and so forth. But remember: None of us gets out of here alive. So don’t fear risks. Rebel. Be bold, try hard, and embrace adversity; let both success and failure provide you with unique material for your writing, let them give you a life different enough to be worth writing about.

When Do I Succeed?

Screen-shot-2010-02-25-at-5.02.15-PM.png — Success is...

I'll get into that later. For now I'll let these bloggers dig into the definition of "success." Be sure to download the free ebook for the visual and inspiring compilation of these perspectives.

The TBEX '10 Wants You...

...to write a beautiful travel narrative for the Community Keynote. Unfortunately, the world of travel blogging can easily fall victim to the search engine attraction game and disguise the reason why we love to write and read about traveling in the first place. Whether you were fortunate enough to reserve a space at this years TBEX in New York City or whether you sulk on the waiting list like myself, any independent travel blogger may submit a narrative that falls under one of the following categories:

Twinkle in a Traveler’s Eye – The Ideas That Inspire the Trips
In Transit – The Perils (and Joys) of Transportation
Talking to Strangers – The People You Meet
Spit or Swallow – Culinary Conundrums
The Power of Places – Inspiring Destinations
You Did What? – Adrenaline Rushes and Adventures
Love at First Flight – Tales of Romance on the Road
Trips & Falls – Embarrassing Tales & Travel Fails
Home, Bittersweet Home – Reverse Culture Shock & Many Happy Returns

If you can perfect your piece by April 16th and fill out this form, you're golden. I'm assuming nine writings will be chosen to receive TBEX fame and fortune (in the form of a link), but don't apply if you're hungry for prize money. This looks like quite a forum to complete for. I know I am.

Dakota Skies

Gary's got a nice camera and a nice eye.

North Dakotas Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Other Discoveries

One man's luxury antioxidant boost is another's staple dinner item

One seat or two? The NY Times addresses the overweight flyer debate

Vote and send someone to Costa Rica thanks to Nomadic Matt and GAP Adventures

This girl has some great ideas for 10 hour layovers in empty airports at night

Update on Nomadderwhere

Even though I've been blogging for three years and have archives stretching back to January of 2007, Nomadderwhere as you know it is nearing its first birthday - March 29th! As the site receives more input from readers and inspiration from the web and the world, you will see a variety of new developments in the coming weeks and months. January 1st brought the newest addition of the Photo of the Day, and coming Nomadderwhere's first birthday, a new series will appear, inspired by the many e-mails I receive about various topics on travel, the STA internship, and more.

In the meantime, fill me in on what you think.

Consume & Update: No Music, Sunrise and New Pages

I read. I watch. I hand it over to you. Here's what I found interesting this week.

Turn That Racket Off!

What's your reason?

Why We Climb Mountains

Those of us hoping to make a living doing what they love of an unconventional nature continue to read the works of Chris Guillebeau and hope his success rubs off from his text to our eyes to our brains to our wallets. This week Chris discussed his motivation for travel and his perspective on the fear of failure. Why do people travel? Why do people climb mountains? Why do people risk so much for experiences they don't love 100% of the time?

With a big mountain, you know you’re going to need more than just stubbornness. You may get wildly off track. You may encounter unforeseen difficulties. You may even have to come back down the mountain at some point before resuming the climb. Thus, you’re going to need some form of internal motivation.

I appreciated his comment about the correlation between small goals and small worries. As we dive into our own project, Garrett and I will need to remember flexibility and that we won't be able to control very much of what we're able to accomplish. But our goal is fairly large, with realistic baby steps, and we'll have to find that happy medium between flexible and stubborn in order to make something [the village wants] happen.

25 Seconds of Morning Glory

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdkIwaF2ujs

Thanks to World Hum for this find.

Other Discoveries

Lego + World Landmarks = a holiday favorite

Brushing up on my packing skills and finding ways to travel lighter

Something to chew on when it comes to culture shock and being ready for the next adventure

Princess to the rescue!

Update on Nomadderwhere

This will be a quick update as this next week brings some frantic preparation and documentation.

1. The Nakavika Project pages are published and ready for your lovely eyes. There are many subpages that detail various aspects of the trip, such as our objectives, our visuals and the status of our sponsors and donations thus far (which is in it's last construction phase before publishing). Next week, I'll be posting two missives on how this project came to be - entitled The Birth of The Nakavika Project, a multi-part series. If you'd like to know more and/or help out, please send me an e-mail!

2. My talk at the Honeywell Center for the Clark Gallery Photo Show went very well, and I was happy to be speaking to such a large group of passionate artists. In my short talk, I covered my three big trips and how photography has playing a documentary role with surprising effects on the memory of my experiences. I also informed another group of people of The Nakavika Project, which always feels good.

3. Remember that whole writing challenge I had for myself? 20,000 words on my Big Journey Book by November 30th? Well the status is dismal, since this whole Fiji project came underway after the announcement of this challenge. I'm still keeping it in mind for Fiji, however. The deadline will come to pass, but the challenge still draws me in while I'm up in the village scribbling words by head lamp light.

Consume & Update: Gulf States, Piano Stairs and Home Again

A week at sea leaves Lindsay's RSS reader mighty, mighty full. Blame the straight day of transit yesterday for this late posting.

Don't forget about the Middle East!

Gary Arndt and AmateurTraveler.com presented a podcast this week about traveling to the gulf states that gives us an ear into a conversation on countries often left off the itinerary. I've only used the gulf states as transit points and scapegoats for complaining induced by the heat/humidity dual attack. Gary chats about the basics you probably aren't savvy to. It's the kind of conversation one would overhear in a hostel common room. Whets the travel tongue a tad.

The 20 Best Travel Books of the 20th Century

I'm a sucker for these travel book lists, and here's another one from the Times in the UK, one which immediately verified itself as quality with the inclusion of 19. The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. Some of the others from the list that I hope to read in the future are:

14. The Silk Road: Beyond The Celestial Kingdom by Colin Thubron (1989)

11. In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin (1977)

4. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux (1975)

Stairs + Piano

Intelligent Travel posted a video last week by Volkswagen, whom is apparently interested in either fun or fitness...or both (and since I'm now a VW owner, I guess that means I need to support my make). The objective here was to observe whether passers-by prefer fun stairs to a boring escalator. Volkswagen better not make sidewalks into xylophones, or they may find themselves out a few customers.

de Botton on Airline Food

Eva Holland of World Hum posted an excerpt by one of my favorite writers, Alain de Botton, this week on airline food and a refreshing manner in which its quality could be judged.

Naturally airline food is dismal when we compare it to what we’d get on the ground but this is to miss the point. The thrill of airline food lies in the interaction between the meal and the odd place in which one is eating it. Food that, if eaten in a kitchen, would have been banal or offensive, acquires a new taste in the presence of the clouds. With the in-flight tray, we make ourselves at home in an unhomely place: we appropriate the extraterrestrial skyscape with the help of a chilled bread roll and a plastic tray of potato salad.

Other Discoveries

Getting a Job When You Return (Day 29 on AlmostFearless.com)

Travel Blog Exchange Expo set for June 26-27, 2010 in New York City

Update on Nomadderwhere

I returned yesterday from a quite enjoyable cruise along Baja California in the choppy, foggy Pacific where we ported in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Expect some practical and entertaining posts in the coming future about cruise travel and Mexico with videos and photos galore. Apologies for the untimely posting of this week's Consume & Update, and I promise a higher level of quality for next week (when I won't be stranded at sea with $.50/minute internet fees).

Consume & Update: Poetry, China and Band-aids

What a smorgasbord! There is great material across the travel community this week, and here are some of the highlights.

Poetry in Motion

This looks like a truly lovely opportunity:

Imagine being given one year to travel outside North America. That’s exactly the situation I’m now in after being chosen as the 2010 Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholar.

The Amy Lowell Poetry Travel Scholarship is brand new to me and seems like the most incredible chance for those who breathe and move to the rhythm of their reflections. The application is due October 15th for those hoping to receive this honor and travel starting in the Fall of 2010. Where would you travel?

Happy 60th Birthday to One of the Oldest Civilizations on Earth!

Dan Chung creates a video for the Guardian, based in the UK, one which displays the beauty that comes from the interpretation and presentation of little moments in reality. This video displays the reasons why I became interested in photography. Of course, that's all on an unrelated note to the fact that this is about China's 60th birthday. Man, are there a lot of people in China...

Eye Candy

Shannon Stapleton's photograph of a surfer in New York makes me smell fresh air just looking at it.

Spreading the Love

Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding and feature writer of Ask Rolf on World Hum, answers the question: How can I convince my friends to travel overseas?

...the best way to win over travel skeptics is to humbly allow your overseas journeys to deepen your life. Over the course of many years, as you return from exotic places energized and inspired—with your body (and bank account) intact—your friends may start to take an interest. Once they start barraging you with questions of how and when and where (instead of just why), odds are they’re seriously starting to consider their own international trips...

...A good strategy at this point is to answer the “who” question for them—i.e. offer to have them meet up with you during one of your own journeys. Your companionship and confidence will help allay their fears on that initial overseas trip, and odds are they’ll catch the travel bug in the process...

Wisdom from the Pros

Dan and Audrey of Uncornered Market take a moment to lay out seven habits of highly effective travelers for those of us ready to learn from two people with a lot of miles. And what are these magical tips?

1. Adapt Constantly

2. Make Plans A, B, C, D, E...always

3. Work a Way In. Leave a Way Out.

4. Negotiate and Compromise

5. Tune In. Filter Often.

6. Have Less. Do More.

7. Find a Common Language

Obviously these somewhat cryptic tips have descriptions to be found on the post as well as references to specific instances when Dan and Audrey implemented their tricks. You could be reading - and learning - for hours.

Other Greats this Week

Celebrating in Rio from Intelligent Travel

Hermail: a free e-mail based service that allows any woman anywhere in the world to connect at this site with other females who love to travel.

Vagabondish displays a beautiful photo of Popa Taungkalat Temple in Myanmar

Update on Nomadderwhere

I didn't think it would be possible, but only a couple months after the internship, I'm back on the road! Actually, I'm back on water. I am currently at sea off the west coast of Mexico with my parents and about 4,000 other 60-somethings playing shuffle board and shooting skeet off a Princess Cruise vessel. Stories and photographs will come in the next couple weeks, and if you have any questions about destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan or Cabo San Lucas (or questions about cruises or Mexico), comment below!

Want to help out Nakavika? Under the tab entitled "Behind it All" sits Nakavika village in Fiji, a community at the end of an undulating road through the Namosi highlands, surrounded by thick tropical jungles and topped with a transformative sun. Education is an emphasis for these residents, but health seems to be an afterthought. In the coming months, I hope to plan another trip to Nakavika, Fiji and figure out a sustainable means of providing first aid supplies. If you have any advice on books about first aid, setting up a system for restocking supplies, fundraising and collecting Band-aids and Neosporin, e-mail me at Lindsay at Nomadderwhere dot com. You are also most welcome to donate to this project by going to Nakavika Village and purchasing a box of Band-aids or a tube of antibiotic ointment.

Consume & Update: Tea, Ponies, and Good Reads

After perusing the web for the most interesting goodies, here are my suggested reads and views for the week!

Burning Man Timelapse

World Hum and Eva Holland displayed a video by Ben Wiggins of stunning, time-lapse footage that gives a visual account of Burning Man, an annual art festival that seemingly cannot be truly described by even the most verbose and enlightened minds. Below is an excerpt from the Burning Man website explaining the basics:

"...Larry Harvey, founder of the Burning Man project, gives a theme to each year, to encourage a common bond to help tie each individual's contribution together in a meaningful way. Participants are encouraged to find a way to help make the theme come alive, whether it is through a large-scale art installation, a theme camp, gifts brought to be given to other individuals, costumes, or any other medium that one comes up with."

The event took place during the first week of September this year, and for many days every travel publication exhibited photo blogs, videos and narratives from the sun-bleached Black Rock Desert location. Of all the attempts to describe this extreme experience, this was the most moving documentation for me.

Carnivorous Countries

"GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward," and this poignant graphic by GOOD displays the realities of Earth's carnivorous habits. We can see here that the average Kiwi eats the equivalent weight of two burgers, a can of soup, and a Santa Claus each year.

Coffee Houses in a Tea World

I've recently discovered I'm borderline addicted to tea. After purchasing my first load in Darjeeling last year, I got very excited when the Internship brought me back to India for a top-off on my tea stash at home. This blog post from Intelligent Travel comes at a good time for my new obsession and also takes a wee gander at the concept of a coffee house in a tea-centric country.

Speaking of tea...

Just a simple video displaying a morning at an Indian tea stand. This man makes chai all day, every day. http://nomadderwhere.com

Trekking in Nepal

"It was 4 a.m. in mid-November, and I was stretching in a lodge in Thorong Phedi, Nepal, at 14,500 feet, trying to pump warmth back into my body and get rid of a throbbing headache brought on by dehydration and altitude sickness. Wolfing down chapati bread with jam and a fried egg, I chased it with pints of hot tea and water, and started to feel better. I knew I was going to need all my strength...Fifteen of us, along with porters and guides, were about to climb Thorong La, a pass 17,769 feet up in the Himalayas." Continue reading...

These stories are always worth the time to read them.

Other Online Discoveries

Be a Reporter at Sea

Day 20: 67 Travel Friendly Jobs

GAP Adventure's Coolest Travel Intern Job...oh really?

Update on Nomadderwhere

A new MacBook Pro now graces my presence, making it easier for me to create the work that I love to do.

I also had two presentations on travel this week in northern Indiana, which both went very well and were quite profitable. By selling hand-knit scarves and ceramics, I was able to collect $220 for the children at Palm Tree to receive more protein and fruit in their diets. I'm so appreciative of everyone who came to these events, listened intently, and found it important to contribute to my causes. Thanks again! The check to Cambodia's Hope is going out this week.

Did you find the Good Reads?

I'm pretty unbalanced when it comes to reading material. All I read are travel narratives, often with an adventurous or humorous twist. The stack on my nightstand is about two feet high with books from BookMooch and the library, all of which I want to read asap. If you enjoy the same genre and need some suggestions, check out my page on Good Reads, where you can find short reviews on all the travel books I can recall and see which have made the list for the future. Though I like brevity of articles and features, nothing beats the total transportation caused by a good book. This is why I aim to write a book myself in the foreseeable future.