What Do 11,000 Jet Trails Look Like?

Like what you see? Subscribe to the full RSS feed.Via The Morning News: Chris Jordan makes beautiful photographs he hopes will disgust you. His work, on display through July 31 at the Von Lintel Gallery in New York City, takes reports of large-scale waste and consumption out of the realm of statistics and places them […]

Five Things You Should Know About Plane Crashes

… and these come from my “Survival Tip-A-Day” Calendar so they must be true. Some food for travel thought: The majority of plane crashes occur during takeoff and landing Pilot error is the number one cause of plane crashes Statistically, the majority of crash survivors were seated in the rear half of the plane Auto accidents kill more people every […]

When Your Luggage Isn’t Pro-American Enough, There’s Zuca

Travel Gear Blog introduces us to Zuca: One of the key features of the ZUCA bag is that you can sit on it. Is it really too much trouble to walk to an empty seat? Or did dragging your rolling bag wear you out too much? Does no else see what this is doing to humanity? […]

The World’s Most Isolated Destinations: Pitcairn Island

Instatravel points us to Pitcairn Island: A World Apart, complete with surreal photos: Searching for the most isolated place on the planet is becoming more and more of a problem. An island with a population of just fifty seems unlikely in today’s world, but it does exist. … Pitcairn remains one of the most isolated habited places on […]

Friday Fun: What American Psycho Can Teach Us About What Really Matters

I stumbled across this clip yesterday and it reminded me what a funny, smart movie is American Psycho. I first saw the film years ago before my lust for long-term travel had fully matured and before I’d decided to break away from the hamster wheel routine of consumerism. Watching it yesterday, I saw […]

Top 8 Geek Travel Destinations: Are You A High IQ Traveler?

Wired has released The Best Geek Vacations - eight top places where the “smartest of the smartest” prefer to trek, including: Akihabara Tokyo Chernobyl, Ukraine Palo Alto, California CERN Mauna Kea Observatory Sidi Driss Hotel New Zealand The South Pole For my RTW trip, I’m personally psyched about Antarctica and Tokyo, and … (why not?) Chernobyl. Does that mean I’m kind of smart […]

Florida Boy, 7, Clearly A Terrorist

Elliot.org points us to this story of a young Coral Springs terror suspect - the mastermind behind a plot to hijack an AirTran flight with … drumsticks (?) - whose plan was foiled: Michael Martin went through a hassle trying to fly out of Fort Lauderdale recently because his name was on a no-fly list. Rather […]

Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls A Fraud?

This is disheartening to say the least. Jaunted points us to a NY Post article revealing that much of what’s seen on The Discovery Channel’s Man vs. Wild is staged: “Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of the ‘Man vs. Wild’ show in some episodes were not natural to the environment, and that for […]

Odd Traffic Patterns: On the Strange Ways People Find My Blog, Part 2

As a follow-up to last month’s On the Strange Ways People Find My Blog, I decided to round up the top 5 search phrases folks are using to find my site over the past week. Things just keep getting stranger: “things to try before you die”: Fair enough, but Google’s just barely missing the mark […]

Free TV Online: Kill Your Cable Box Once and for All

Brooke from UsVersustheWorld.com brings us TV Links - a website packed with links to tons of free TV episodes online, like Law & Order, The A-Team, and even Man vs. Wild! I have no idea how or if this is legal, but it’s pretty damn cool! Yet another reason to scrap your $70+ monthly cable bill.

The Explosion of the McPub: Desecrating Centuries of Irish Pubbery

How can World Hum get this so wrong? Recent years have seen the rise of what Guinness calls the Irish Pub Concept. Diaego, the parent company of the famed Irish beermaker, as well as the Irish Pub Company and others, see the Irish pub as a way of spreading “Irishness” across the globe, often by exporting […]

TSA Declares: Lighters Now Good; Water Still Bad

To recap, via Upgrade: Travel Better: The TSA has ruled that lighters will once again be legal to take onto airplanes, effective August 4. Bottled water is still illegal, but a container containing a flammable liquid is permissible. That’s freedom, baby. Mmkay. I’m not even sure how to comment anymore on the yo-yo policy changes the TSA […]

The Information Diet: How You Can Find 6 Extra Hours in Every Day

My road to mobile freedom - the ability to travel wherever and whenever I wish - has sparked a number of other initiatives for me. The main one: living simpler and being happier with less. Less clutter, less clothing, less car … less “stuff”. And I’m not talking only about years of […]

How China Feeds the Hyper-Consumerist American Lifestyle

The Atlantic takes an interesting look at the economic effects of mass export and trade on the Shenzhen district of China via their latest slideshow, Made in China. It’s a fascinating, if brief, insight into one of the fastest growing providers to the American hyper-consumerist lifestyle.

Photo of the Moment: Elephant Sunset in Botswana

Photo © copyright Flickr’s jonrawlinson (again)

Just Dance, Dammit!

Angie over at GirlGoesGlobal has a lovely and quotable piece entitled Just Dance (the “Dammit!” is my addition): Tucked away in a dusty, locked box in our brain is a dream. Something we take out when we’re alone and quiet. Something that begins with “I hope” or “I wish” and for a moment, we get lost […]

Things They Learned From Long-Term Travel

Erin and Brad from (where else?) Erin and Brad’s Travel Blog recently returned from a nine-month globetrotting adventure around the world. They’ve been kind enough to post an unabridged list of their tips on packing, dealing with money, health issues, and more. Check out their shared Google Doc here.

Why “Geotourism” Is Nothing New

Tim Leffel - always willing to point out the obvious when others seem to overlook it - makes a great point about the “new” travel trend known as geotourism: Most of us who have been around a bit would just call that “traveling,” but get ready for a new term for it: “geotourism.” That’s the gist of […]

10 Things Your Restaurant Won’t Tell You

Rich Minx points us to 10 Things Your Restaurant Won’t Tell You. 2. “Eating here could make you sick.” “You don’t call out (sick) unless you’re on your deathbed,” says freelance chef Leah Grossman. Indeed, according to a recent study, 58% of salaried New York City restaurant workers reported going to work when sick; the number is […]

Question for Bloggers: Who Gives A Bleep About Comments?

Since burning my feeds a couple months ago, I’ve noticed a real disproportionate number of folks signing up for my regular blog feed versus those signing up for my comments RSS feed. It’s like a 100-to-1 ratio. I’m wondering if I’m not promoting the comments feed well enough or do people just not really care […]

Free Booze For Everyone, Everywhere

… for now it’s just “everyone”. They’re working on the “everywhere”. This is a concept I can really get my thirsty lips around. MyOpenBar.com promises to be “your guide to free booze”. It’s currently only in NYC, LA, San Francisco and Chicago. Patience, patience. The site is rife with listings for new gallery […]

The Perfect Cards for Travelers and the People Who Love Them

So you’ve decided to be a idiot long-term traveler and give up your life back home, albeit temporarily (maybe), to trot around the globe in a desperate attempt to “find yourself”. You’re no doubt having trouble finding the right words to say to the friends and loved ones you’re leaving behind. Enter someecards.com, […]

Photo of the Moment: The Old Lady and the Birds (Krakow)

Photo © copyright Flickr’s soylentgreen23

New Zealand Considering College Courses In Prostitution

Hm … why is it that male backpackers flock to Australia like moths to a flame? Wait, now I remember. Via The Age: Funding for tertiary courses in prostitution could be considered under changes aimed at boosting quality and relevance in the sector, New Zealand education officials say. TEC chief executive Janice Shiner said under […]

Things Not To Try Before You Die

Admittedly, I’m a bit of a grump when it comes to glossy, over-commercialized media fluff pieces, particularly as relates to travel. I think my rather [ahem]unflattering[ahem] review of 1000 Places To See Before You Die is testament to that. Jaunted points us to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Things not to try before you die. A few […]

The “Around America in 2.0″ Project

OK, I’ll be among the first to bite on this one … Matthew Danzico has started a website to promote his Around America in 2.0 online travel video project. I’m not sure I quite get the name of the project, but the gist of it is this: Around the America in 2.0 is an Internet-based film […]

Quiz: Do You Know The Origin Of The Word “Travel”?

Greg Rodgers of StartBackpacking.com does: Our ancestors knew the real deal. The word “travel” comes from the old French word “travail” which means to work. That word, is thought to have come from “tripullare”, which is the three sectioned whip that Roman soldiers used to strongly encourage productivity out of the laborers in their expanded empire. […]

What’s A Little Cocaine Between Airline Passengers?

Evidently some party-pooper flight attendant on a recent FlyGlobespan flight bound for Ibiza (the shock!) took issue with a teenage passenger’s practicing his best Kate Moss impression just before take-off. Via Jaunted: More trouble for the fledgling Scottish airline FlyGlobespan — A teenager was reportedly arrested at Edinburgh airport today after snorting cocaine off the […]

How To Pimp Your WordPress Admin Panel

This was a bit of a surprise to me: apparently you can trick out, not only your blog’s front-end, but your WordPress admin panel as well. Check out WP Tiger Administration. From their blog: The current default WordPress administration area is functional, but I felt it could be improved. For several reasons, I didn’t want to […]

Two Brothers Versus One Bull …

… hilarity ensues at “the longest and bloodiest morning bull run at the San Fermin festival in the northeastern city of Pamplona.” Photo via Yahoo News.

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