2007 October

3 Great Halloween Videos That Have Absolutely Nothing to Do With Travel

Like what you see? Subscribe to the full RSS feed.We don’t typically post non-travel related videos here at Vagabondish, but there’s some mighty creative Halloweeny-goodness going around the Internets within the past week. And we simply couldn’t pass it up. Enjoy! Halloween Awakening Watch a stop-motion pumpkin carve itself. Entirely innovative, somber and […]

The Funniest Indian Music Video You’ll Ever See

I have a terrible time understanding foreign accents. Every time I order Chinese delivery, I wind up with nothing but a bag of duck sauce packets and a carton of disposable chopsticks. I’m clearly doing something wrong. It’s an irritating shortcoming of mine that I’m sure will make for many interesting, if […]

Join The Annual Naked Pumpkin Run

People in Colorado smoke a lot of pot. During the few days I spent outside of Denver, I saw stashes of illicit substances that would’ve made Cheech and Chong blush. It’s no wonder then that some enlightened Boulder resident decided there were not enough staged public events combining nudity and pumpkins. Enter […]

Photo of the Moment: Berlin TV Tower

For the Sputnik-era architecture lovers out there … Photo © /\/\ /\ T

36 Hours in Perth: Australia’s Last Urban Outpost

Perth usually gets tagged as the most isolated city in the world. If you’re visiting Perth, you’ll probably realize that it is a heck of a long way from anywhere as you take flight after flight to get there, but once you’re strolling around Kings Park or having a beer at the Brass Monkey it’ll […]

Rhode Island Presents: Impossibly Beautiful Eggshell Art

Inspired by traditional Slovenian craftsmanship, Rag & Bone artisan, Franc Grom, creates magnificently impossible eggshell art. Through the use of a small, electric drill, each eggshell is drilled up to 17,000 times (that’s per egg!). Who says Rhode Island isn’t hip?

Tim Leffel on Prepackaged Travel Vacations

This seems a rather appropriate complement to The Super Ultimate Definitive List of the Only 1001 Places You Need to See Before You Die. Ever.. [T]ake a look at this ad from Visa that is running … this month. It’s a vending machine filled with flag-covered countries: the UK, France, Italy, Australia, India, Mexico and more. […]

Photo of the Moment: Abandoned Villa, San-zhr, Taiwan

Photo © Craig Ferguson Images

Update: Photo of the Moment: Impossible Waterfalls

This is why I love the internet. I post questions all the time to which I never realistically expect an answer. The other day, I posted this Photo of the Moment of an impossible series of waterfalls, questioning where it was taken and if it was, in fact, real. Steve commented shortly thereafter that […]

4-Minute Road Trip: Los Angeles to New York City

Looking at the comments and author’s notes on YouTube, there’s a bit of confusion about who actually filmed this video. It’s pretty damn cool nonetheless. Update: This is a music video by director Michel Gondry. The song is called “Behind” by Lacquer.

Photo of the Moment: Road to Nowhere, Spain

Photo © Escapista

Quotable: Why What ‘Almost’ Happened Is Irrelevant

Don’t almost take your trip of a lifetime. Don’t almost quit your job, or your relationship, or whatever’s holding you back to follow your dreams. What almost happened is irrelevant. What actually did happen is everything. - JJG Mama always said: “Almost only counts in darts and hand grenades.” And Mama was always right.

Another 26 Travel Gadgets Every Geek Needs

There’s certainly no shortage of useful (and oftentimes less so) travel gadgets. I present: another 26 killer travel gadgets that every geek needs.

The Puking Fountains of London

Klaus Weber, a fountain sculptor and apparent fan of bodily functions, has created an installation of stone sculptures entitled ‘The Big Giving’ on the South Bank in central London. As part of London-based Southbank Centre’s new Hayward Fountain Series, Weber’s pieces let viewers contemplate the dynamics of corporeal flux in an eco-friendly way—all of the water […]

Photo of the Moment: Impossible Waterfalls

I wish I knew where this was taken. It’s like a painting or something out of a video game. Photo © WideRange.org

Finding the Elusive Aurora Australis (”Southern Lights”)

Here in New England and across the upper reaches of North America, folks talk of seeing the Aurora Borealis or “Northern Lights”. This incredible light show is a result of electrically charged particles from the sun colliding with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Photo © Te Aara It’s truly a stroke of luck and good timing […]

5 Ways You Can Be More Japanese in Japan

If you can blend into the culture, I figure, you’ll get so much more out of your trip. So how can you fit into society better when you travel to Japan?

A Bit of Fall Housekeeping

Autumn’s in the air and the leaves they are a-fallin’ here in New England. I tried to fashion a metaphor that vividly compares the maturing of Vagabondish to the turning of the fall foliage. Alas, I came up empty. (I’ll blame it on my slow recovery from an all-weekend victory celebration of […]

Study: Ships Pollute More Than Planes

Via The Register: Ships pump out twice as much carbon dioxide as planes, according to new figures from the maritime industry body Intertanko. Previous studies from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) have shown that ships emitted levels of CO2 similar to those from the aviation industry. But Intertanko says emissions have risen steeply over the last six […]

Photo of the Moment: Abandoned Desert Cruiseliner

Just impossibly cool. Via BestPicEver.com

How to Breathe New Life Into Old Gear: Fixing Backpacks, Boots, Bags and More

Just because your gear looks tired, beat up, and like it’s been dragged half way around the world (probably because it has), doesn’t mean that it’s always time to put it out to pasture. I unearthed this eight year old guide by Dan Nelson over at Backpacker.com on what backpacking gear can be salvaged […]

Road Trips for the Dead: Discovering Life in the Afterlife

Lately, original movie ideas seem as common as the passing of Haley’s Comet. Wristcutters: A Love Story explores the meaning of life in the afterlife: Zia (Patrick Fugit), distraught over breaking up with his girlfriend, decides to end it all. Unfortunately, he discovers there is no real ending, only a run-down afterlife that is strikingly […]

Photo of the Moment: Impossible Reflection of Tokyo

Photo © gullevek

The Super Ultimate Definitive List of the Only 1001 Places You Need to See Before You Die. Ever.

WorldHum.com’s Frank Bures has scratched the thin, glossy veneer of enough “1001 Places/Things/People to See/Do/Visit/Check Off Before You Die” books to explain why they’re mostly superficial twaddle.

The Underground World of Real Life Vagabonds

Years ago, over drinks one night, my clean-cut yuppie roommate turned to me and said: “F**k it. We should just quit our jobs and ride the rails around the U.S.” He was rarely serious about such ludicrous, idealistic off-the-cuff comments. But the sincerity in his voice told me that if I was on board […]

Hikaru Dorodango: How Shiny Balls Are Taking Japan by Storm

Here’s how it works: Japanese kids start a fad. Westerners then laugh at them for being ridiculous. Then we try it. Then we obsess. Then we’re left with a worthless collection of Pokemon cards while they’re off starting something new. Virtual pets on keychains that have to be fed once an hour? Check. Cartoons featuring teenagers […]

Photo of the Moment: Giant Jellyfish Invade Japan

A diver works to attach a tracking device to a giant jellyfish. If I hadn’t seen this in National Geographic, I’d probably have chalked it up to another Photoshop’ed web hoax.