Destinations
Guide to world's best festivals
All the world is a party; you just have to know where to look. My favorite "big happys" are traditional religious festivals, which can't be beat for color, intensity and otherness. This Rough Guide serves as a good guide to some of the world's most interesting celebrations. Besides the famous (Mardi Gras, Kuhm Mela), and the infamous (full moon in Hat Rin, Thailand, Love Parade in Berlin), it also lists a hundred smaller lesser known, but still incredible festivals. It's crammed with color photos, history, reviews, and tips. You could map out a pretty good journey trying to keep up with the possibilities here.
-- KK
World Party: The Rough Guide to the World's Best Festivals
Rough Guides
2006, 400 pages
$17
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Maherero Day
Where: Okahandja, Namibia
When: August
How long: 1 day
This very local festival is unique to the Herero people of Okahandja, a quaint little provincial town that's around an hour's drive north of the Namibian capital, Windhoek. The Herero are cattle farmers whose history is littered with bloody conflicts, both with their tribal rivals, the Nama, and with German colonialists who almost wiped them out in the twentieth century. On Maherero Day, the clans don traditional dress and parade through town in military style to honour their war dead, starting from the cemetery at the graves of two great chiefs, Kahimunua and Nikodemus, both felled by German bullets. It's the women's costumes that make the day a remarkable occasion - they wear elaborate dresses based on a style introduced by German missionaries in the 1800s, with long-sleeved jackets and bodices over voluminous, crinoline-like skirts. Topping off each ensemble is a huge cloth headdress shaped like cow horns, a symbol of wealth in traditional Herero society.
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Participating in Holi is not always your choice to make, especially in the north, where it's hard to avoid being dragged into the festivities at every street corner. If you'd rather stay clean, then remaining indoors and watching the powder-slinging from the window might be a better option - Holi also involves a number of performances, parades and other pageantry that you can watch from a distance, wherever you are in the country.
Everyone gets involved, showering passers by with multi-coloured powders
Insider info: Coloured powder is available at all marketplaces, but be careful what you buy - many colours contain toxic chemicals and dyes, which are harmful to both the people using them and to the environment, seeping into the soil and the underground water table. In Delhi, the Central Cottage Industries Emporium, on Janpath, and the stalls at Dilli Haat sell natural coloured powders made from flower petals and sandalwood. The Bombay Store and Spencers Hyper Mart, in Mumbai and Pune (Maharashtra) respectively, also cater to a safe and natural Holi.
Best guide to Mexico
I love works that are renewed and improved. Carl Franz and Lorena Havens have been exploring the hinterlands of Mexico and reporting back their travel suggestions in amusing detail since their first edition of this book in 1972. For four decades this venerable guidebook has been the best manual for visiting Mexico, getting better with each edition. It has just been released in its 13th. Franz and Havens are not going to be much help in keeping you up to date with the best hotel in the usual tourist destinations (your standard Lonely Planet-ish guide will handle that). Where The People's Guide transcends the usual guidebook is in its devotion to the blue highways and backlands, the off beat places and indigenous living.
This guide is best for those driving around Mexico in a vehicle, camping in its many parks, exploring its meandering dirt roads, hanging out on undeveloped beaches, sampling native foods and immersing yourself into the culture of our neighbor as much as possible. It's chock full of all the advice you'd expect from a couple who have been noodling around Mexico every year for thirty five years: how to live off the land, keep on the right side of the law, shop for strange and exotic foods, survive, educate yourself in local customs, and remain healthy and sane. It's a fat 600-page book with lots of great stories, and endless good counsel. (They run a supplementary website for updated tips.)
A lot of this lore is universal travel wisdom (the less money you spend the more fun you have). In fact The People's Guide to Mexico is one of the best travel guides I've ever seen to anywhere in the world. You could easily transfer many of their tips to traveling in Asia or Africa, and the rest of Latin America. But the bulk of it is very particular to Mexico. Every page yields golden nuggets of fine advice for every part of a very large Mexico. I find myself reading whole chapters for the pure enjoyment of being in the presence of great, gifted guides teaching me useful stuff I didn't know.
The Mexico/US borders is one the most abrupt borders in the world. There's almost no where else on earth where you can travel so far in so few miles as crossing this imaginary line. This trip has the additional benefit of being guided by this amazing encyclopedia of practical tips and insights. You'd be a fool not to take it with you.
It's the operating manual for people in Mexico.
-- KK
The People's Guide to Mexico
13th edition
Carl Franz, Lorena Havens
2002, 600 pages
$16
Available from Amazon
People's Guide to Mexico website
Sample excerpts:
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Building a palapa
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I climbed over other passengers and cargo to the cab of the truck, determined to check our speed.
"Hey," I yelled back to Lorena, "It's really not so bad after all. We're only doing 90 to 100 kilometers an hour. That's fast but not so dangerous." I took another peek through the rear window; a curve was coming up and we were slowing to 70. i was just about to turn and work my way back when I noticed a small "MPH" beneath the speedometer needle.
MPH! I felt the blood drain from my face and go roaring through my ears and down to my feet. Seventy into a curve! One hundred on the straightaway!
"Let me off! Let me off!" I screamed, pounding the roof of the cab with my fists. I got a glimpse of the driver's startled face turned toward the rear of the truck.
*
Many common driving hazards and annoyances found in the U.S. are also in Mexico, though usually in a slightly altered form.
In the U.S., the omnipresent teenager hunched birdlike behind the wheel of his 400-hp candy-colored, air-foiled Supercar, passes you dangerously close at 140 mph as he calmly munches a DoubleBurger and squeezes an annoying pimple.
In Mexico, he's still the same basic teenager, apparently oblivious to other traffic and mesmerized by the blaring radio and the dangling ornaments that festoon mirrors and knobs. But there is one difference: He's behind the wheel of a hurtling semi-truckload of sugarcane. And he's passing you on a blind mountain curve. You glance over, afraid to imagine what is about to happen. He grins, flashes a peace sign and cuts you off as he swerves to miss an oncoming bus.
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Low-flying buzzards are a very real hazard, as are piles of drying corn, beans and chili peppers placed on the hot pavement by enterprising farmers who prefer the smooth road surface to the dusty shoulder.
As you fly around a curve and find yourself unexpectedly in the middle of small village, it seems that everyone suddenly leaps up and crosses the street, forcing you to brake madly. Pigs that haven't moved from gooey wallows for a week lurch frantically to their feet and stumble in front of the car, followed by reckless children beating them with twigs.
These are relatively minor hazards that you'll soon become used to. For really serious trouble, nothing compares to other drivers.
"They may be wild, but they're damn good!" is a comment you might hear, especially about Mexican truck drivers. If good driving involves good sense, however, they must surely be among the worst. Many truckers would be disqualified from a destruction derby on ground of excessive zeal and disregard for human life.
The good news is that the average Mexican chofer (driver) is definitely getting better. Drivers are more courteous and less likely to indulge in macho grandstanding while behind the wheel of the family car. Bus drivers have also gotten the message about safety and many of them could give lessons to American drivers.
Still, it is dangerously easy for tourists to fall into the same driving habits they see demonstrated by others. When you're breathing fumes behind a slow diesel truck in a steep mountain pass, the temptation to pass on a blind curve can be very strong. At this point, you should seriously consider what the consequences are if you don't make it.
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Knife blade inscriptions: He Who Acts Bad Ends Bad; Life Is The Road to the Tomb; Beans Are Worth More than Happiness
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Diarrhea and Dysentery
Powdered scorpions, chia and 7Up, camomile and "dog tea," food enzymes, acidophilus, papaya seeds, dried apricot pits: When it comes to upset stomachs, nausea, diarrhea, and disenteria, I've tried almost everything. As a firm believer in the value of medical plants and folk remedies, I'm sorry to announce that a dose of bismuth solution (such as Pepto-Bismol) seems to beat them all. In fact, our experience clearly shows that taking the pink stuff in moderate doses before, during, and even after traveling can dramatically reduce stomach problems.
Though it is effective, I'm no fan of bismuth's cloying pink taste and I don't like to pour it repeatedly into my stomach. I now take about half of an adults dosage (one tablespoon 3-4 times a day). I start my bismuth program a few days before leaving home and continue taking it once or twice a day for about a week. If my stomach shows no sign of rebellion in that time, I go to "standby" and keep the bismuth close at hand in the event of sudden turmoil.
More...
Excellent long-distance bike routes
Invisible to most drivers, there is a 26,000-mile network of long-distance bicycle trails criss-crossing the US. These mapped and designated routes offer travelers researched paths with plenty of information on nearest bike shops, profiles of difficulty, and indicated sleeping possibilities. It all started with Bikecentennial's 1976 TransAm route, the first to cross the continental US, connecting Oregon and Virginia. Thousands still use this route, now overseen by the non-profit Adventure Cycling.
I once rode a bike across America using my own route (more adventure) but I have followed long sections of other Adventure Cycling routes. Their materials are well-worth the price; you will however have lots of companions -- which many enjoy.
Adventure Cycling puts out a pretty good magazine for bicycle long-distance touring (a place to solicit travel companions), runs bike tours, has a decent catalog of touring paraphernalia, and continually pioneers new routes. The newest: the world's longest mountain bike trail, runs 2,500 miles along the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. For that kind of amazingly rugged off-the-road trip (which only a few have completed in full), their maps (waterproof) and guides are essential.
-- KK
Adventure Cycling Association
800-721-8719
Adventure Cyclist Magazine
9 issues
included in $30 membership to Adventure Cycling Association
Cyclosource
Maps, Books, and Gear for the Adventure Cyclist
$2 catalog
Travel different
Think different. More than just a list of weird kitschy roadside attractions, this enjoyable guidebook points you to odd festivals, off-beat environments, outsider art, bizarre endeavors and eccentric people in all 50 states. You can have a real adventure in the US by seeking out any of the 900 wacky national treasures covered in this fantastic guide. I found a whole bunch of incredible "never forget" destinations this way. May your travels be as creative as you are. (Someone please make an Eccentric Europe, or Mexico, Japan, etc.)
Alternatively, you can go to the website Roadside America. It's not as complete, not as easy to browse, and not as eccentric (more of what you expect in roadside attractions), but it is free. Furthermore, it relies on tips from readers, so it is improving fast.
-- KK
Roadside America
Eccentric America, 2nd Edition
Jan Friedman
2004, 336 pages
$14
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Led by a group alarmed by the increasing presence of surveillance cameras, the Surveillance Camera Outdoor Walking Tours cover most Manhattan neighborhoods, meeting Sundays, rain or shine, for the one-and-a-half-hour tours. The leaders, known as the Surveillance Camera Players, share a great deal of history on the subject as well as pointing out the technological capacities of the various types of cameras.
Surveillance Camera Outdoor Walking Tours (SCOWT) meet on Sundays at 2.00pm sharp in various neighborhoods. Check the website for details. Free.
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The Mega-sore-ass dinosaur machine crossing the Eel River and traveling to Ferndale in the Annual World Championship, Great Arcata to Ferndale Cross-Country Kinetic Sculpture Race
More...
Urban exploration tips
They call it "urban exploration." Cruising through abandoned factories, tunnels, sewage systems, bridges, and even "live" structures still in use. Why? Because they are beautiful, mysterious, exciting, and not open to everyone. Others simply enjoy "abandonments, decay and industrial mayhem."
This book is packed solid with great practical advice on how to explore this unexplored realm. Every page has something I didn't know about gaining access, staying safe, and discovering new paths in the urban wilds. While this activity is generally considered illegal, the respect for the buildings, and the owners, nurtured in this guide is impressive.
There's a related DVD in the same spirit which contains no advice at all. Rather it's an ode to urban archeology and the love of forgotten buildings.
-- KK
Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration
Ninjalicious
2005, 242 pages
Available from Amazon
Echoes of Forgotten Places
Produced by Scribble Media
2005, 63 min.
$18, DVD
Available from Amazon
Still from Echoes of Forgotten Places
Sample book excerpts:
Sometimes you'll want to head through a room, hallway or stairwell that's off-limits and monitored by a camera. In many cases the best way past such a camera is to calmly walk past the camera. Certainly, this will work more often than snipping the wires, cycling the video feed or any other elaborate spy stunts.
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Directions left by past tunnelers can be quite useful, though they should be taken with a grain of salt. People make mistakes.
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While I'm a big advocate of properly researching a place to get the inside scoop on how to act like you're supposed to be there, sometimes it's also necessary, or at least fun, to fly by the seat of your pants. In such cases, you may suddenly find yourself questioned by someone, or needing to speak with someone in order to get through a particular barrier, without having any real idea what might be a plausible reason for you to be there.
In such a case, I recommend just stalling for a time and letting the person you're talking to supply your excuse for you. People hate uncomfortable silences and confusing situations and will often rush to supply the information they're looking for themselves. Good stalling phrases include: "I hope you can help me"; "I'm not sure exactly what the procedure is here"; "Do I need to show you some ID?"; "I didn't even know I was going to have to speak to anyone about this" or something of that sort. After you say one of these lines, wait for a response. People generally want to believe that the people around them are rational, so they'll more or less tell you the most rational reason they can conceive of for your presence -- "Are you here for the class?"; "You must be looking for Mark"; "Are you one of today's volunteers?"; "I guess you're looking for the way to the observation level"; etc. You don't have to come up with a good reason -- you just have to agree to the one they devise for you. Once you perfect the skill of stalling without seeming like you're stalling, this will work for you quite often.
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In most cases, your focus shouldn't be on defeating motion detectors, but on spotting them and avoiding them. If you constantly keep an eye out for motion detectors at all times and in all locations, you'll gradually get a sense of where they're installed, and learn that you have to be especially careful near doorways, roof hatches, outside exits, the tops and bottoms of stairwells and similar locations. And you'll get familiar with the slightly more out-of-the-way routes that can be used to avoid them.
More...
The bilble of Sahara travel
The Sahara is a desert as large as the United States filled with emptiness, ancient cultures, and natural wonders. America has its own recreational deserts in the west, but for Africa and Europe, the Sahara is where you go to test yourself. This book, now in its second edition, has emerged as THE source for getting into the deep Sahara and back, alive and in good spirits. It is uncommonly thorough and immensely practical. It covers the kinds of vehicles and supplies you need, runs along possible itineraries and dangers, and anticipates most of the questions you might have. No stone is left unanswered. The book is a brick -- a great big fat bible stuffed with precious overland Sahara lore, hard won by hundreds of trips and mistakes of others. There are not many travel books (or destinations) quite like this one.
-- KK
Sahara Overland: A Route and Planning Guide
Chris Scott
2005, 688 pages
$19
Available from Amazon
Sample excerpts:
A final word about guides: you need them, but do not rely on them. They will tell you that lots of things are impossible. That generally means that they cannot be bothered to do them. They tend to be highly conservative people, who resent being diverted from their usual routes and routines. Do not trust their navigation. If you leave your compass and GPS at home because you are in the hands of a local, you are being very foolish. Try to use guides who have been recommended to you by previous expeditions. And (of course) on no account pay them everything up front.
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An old adage advises that you should never camp in a oued because flash floods from distant rains could rip through your camp causing havoc. Some sources have even claimed that 'more people have drowned in the Sahara than died of thirst' - about as likely as more people dying of thirst than drowning at sea, or freezing to death in the Antarctic. In Morocco, where run-off from the Atlas can be frequent, steep and fast, this warning is valid in certain seasons but in the deep Sahara, oueds often offer some welcome tree shade or vegetated wind breaks, as well as soft sand rather than gravel. Obviously if there are dark clouds in the sky keep to the high ground wherever you are, but dangerous flash floods are only a real danger in mountain areas, and by the time they get to the plain they're all but spent.
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People get nervous about carrying a wad of money abroad but good old-fashioned cash is a readily changeable and local currency is what talks loudest in the Sahara. Unless you expect to be visiting large cities or capitals, travellers' cheques are of little use. Despite what you're told, the promise of speedy replacement of stolen cheques requires a phone call - itself a rather tall order in most of the Sahara. Don't rely on cashing travellers' cheques in the Sahara.
It may look drastic, but the only way is to drag this car down to more level ground where it can be pulled back onto its wheels. Within an hour it was running just as before.
More...
Your European Guru
An award in heaven should be given to those authors who update their good books every year until they are great books. Rick Steves's guidebook on intelligent travel in Europe has been around decades, but it gets better with each yearly edition. That's because for the past twenty years Steves has spent 130 days each year exploring new and re-exploring odd corners of the continent. From this wealth of experience he delivers not only the best guide to Europe, but the best general guide to smart traveling anywhere. I spent a decade full-time traveling myself, and these days I go to Europe once a month; this book has directed me to many specific towns or regions that retain distinctive cultures, places which would otherwise have taken me years of visits to find. Among the techniques Steves offers is a sort of laser traveling (head directly from the airport to the quintessential regions, skip the rest) which only works because he knows where to send you. There are a thousand hard-earned tips on cheap travel, on getting comfortable with a different way of doing things, and, bless his soul, he updates the darn thing every year with the latest prices. I consume travel books by the barrelful, including Lonely Planets, Rough Guides, and so on; this is the one to study, the one you want to re-read. It's not about London and Paris; it is not a guidebook. It's about how to make jokes in beginners' Italian, or attend a wedding on a Greek island. With Steves's guidance you can finally do that inexpensive grand tour of Europe you've always meant to do, or, better, bestow a roundtrip ticket and this book to a recent graduate and it'll be as good an education as they've had.
Here is my review of Rick's DVD crash course on European Budget Travel.
-- KK
Rick Steves' Europe Through the Backdoor 2006
Rick Steves
2006, 672 pages
$15
Available from Amazon
Excerpts:
In many ways, spending more money only builds a thicker wall between you and what you came to see. Europe is a cultural carnival, and time after time, you'll find that its best acts are free and the best seats are the cheap ones.
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Travel is addicting. It can make you a happier American, as well as a citizen of the world. Our Earth is home to nearly 6 billion equally important people. It's humbling to travel and find that people don't envy Americans. Europeans like us, but with all due respect, they wouldn't trade passports.
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Extroverts have more fun. If you see four cute men on a bench, ask them to scoot over.
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The Big Sleep: Arrive 30 minutes before your train leaves. Walk most of the length of the train but not to the last car. Choose a car that is going where you want to go, and find an empty compartment. Pull two seats out to make a bed, close the curtains, turn out the lights, and pretend you are sound asleep. It's amazing. At 21:00, everyone on that train is snoring away! The first 30 people to get on that car have room to sleep. Number 31 will go into any car with the lights on and people sitting up. The most convincing "sleepers" will be the last to be "woken up." (The real champs put a hand down their pants and smile peacefully.)
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Museum Strategies
Eavesdrop. If you are especially interested in one piece of art, spend half an hour studying it and listening to each passing tour guide tell his or her story about David or the Mona Lisa or whatever. They each do their own research and come up with different information to share. Much of it is true. There's nothing wrong with this sort of tour freeloading. Just don't' stand in the front and ask a lot of questions.
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For $20, you can rent a couchette (bunk bed) on your overnight train. Top bunks give you a bit more room and safety - but BYOB.
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Tips on Creative Communication
Be melodramatic. Exaggerate the local accent. In France, communicate more effectively (and have more fun) by sounding like Maurice Chevalier or Inspector Clouseau. The locals won't be insulted; they'll be impressed. Use whatever French you know. But even English, spoken with a sexy French accent, makes more sense to the French ear. In Italy, be melodramatic, exuberant, and wave those hands. Go ahead, try it: Mama mia! No. Do it again. MAMA MIA! You've got to be uninhibited. Self consciousness kills communication.
Desperate Telephone Communication
Let me illustrate with a hypothetical telephone conversation. I'm calling a hotel in Barcelona from a phone booth in the train station. I just arrived, read my guidebook's list of budget accommodations, and I like Pedro's Hotel. Here's what happens:
Pedro answers, "Hotel Pedro, grabdaboodogalaysk."
I ask, "Hotel Pedro?" (Question marks are created melodically.)
He affirms, already a bit impatient, "Si, Hotel Pedro."
I ask, "Habla Eng-leesh?"
He says, "No, dees ess Ehspain." (Actually, he probably would speak a little English or would say "moment" and get someone who did. But we'll make this particularly challenging. Not only does he not speak English -- he doesn't want to... for patriotic reasons.)
Remembering not to overcommunicate, you don't need to tell him you're a tourist looking for a bed. Who else calls a hotel speaking in a foreign language? Also, you can assume he's got a room available. If he's full, he's very busy and he'd say "complete" or ""no hotel" and hang up. If he's still talking to you, he wants your business. Now you must communicate just a few things, like how many beds you need and who you are.
I say, "OK." (OK is international for, "Roger, prepare for the next transmission.") "Two people" --he doesn't understand. I get fancy, "Dos people" -- he still doesn't get it. Internationalize, "Dos pehr-son" -- no comprende. "Dos hombre" -- nope. Digging deep into my bag of international linguistic tricks, I say, "Dos Yankees."
"OK!" He understands, you want beds for two Americans. He says, "Si," and I say, "Very good" or "Muy bueno."
Now I need to tell him who I am. I say, "My name Ricardo (Ree-KAR-do)." In Italy I say, "My name Luigi." Your name really doesn't matter; you're communicating just a password so you can identify yourself when you walk through the door. Say anything to be understood.
He says, "OK."
You repeat slowly, "Hotel, dos Yankees, Ricardo, coming pronto, OK?"
He says, "OK."
You say, "Gracias, ciao!"
Twenty minutes later you walk up to the reception desk, and Pedro greets you with a robust, "Eh, Ricardo!"
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One carry-on-size bag?? Here's exactly what I traveled with for two months (photo taken in a Copenhagen hotel room).
Where to soak outdoors
A natural hot spring is not interesting until collected into a hot pool. Hot pools on private land inevitably evolve into hot spas. These can be great in themselves: The Japanese built a robust empire around hot spas, and even in the US, natural spas can be wonderful. But there is nothing like soaking your butt in a natural hot spring bubbling out of the ground in the midst of absolutely-nowhere, surrounded by tufts of green, rock, and drop-dead beauty, and -- most of the time -- no one else.
By some cosmic gift, most of the hot springs in the US pop up within the publicly owned vastness of the West, thereby guaranteeing the continuation of several hundred recreational hot springs and hot pools that retain their undeveloped wildness. This is me, above, at Spencer's Hot Springs, Nevada. Water temp, about 104. Or below, me, my wife and some friends in Crowley Hot Springs (also known as Wild Willie's), California. Yes, it was a lovely as it looks.
How do you get there? These books will tell you.
The two US-oriented ones here are the best of a very small bunch. They are great updated editions based on the early guides of the late Jayson Loam, who is credited with popularizing rustic hot springs. The Southwest book somewhat counter-intuitively includes California, Nevada down to Texas, while the Northwest volume includes Oregon, Wyoming up to Alaska. Hot Springs of Western Canada (2nd Edition) covers about a hundred springs in Canada, but the better ones are included in the aforementioned Hot Springs & Hot Pools of the Northwest; good enough for most folks.
Each guide lists over a hundred hot springs, including the many developed ones (some extremely built up). You'll have to sort through to find the more primitive and rustic ones. For each spring there's at least one photo, a description, and street directions if they are developed. In the past the great challenge posed by wild springs was finding them; many quests to reach a fabled hot spot were abandoned by the mapless. Happily that test is now easy to pass if you have a GPS unit. These guides provide GPS coordinates (yeah!) for most of the rustic sites.
There used to be an occasional periodical called the Hot Spring Gazette, which kept up on which springs dried up, or were closed down, and what ones newly opened, etc. While they have a website, as far as I can determine they haven't had an issue in 5 years. Your best guide to the latest news in primitive hot baths (other than spring-wise friends) is this website:
Soak Net. Second best is Hot Spring Enthusiast.
Lastly, the truly hot-spring obsessed will quote from the legendary Thermal Springs List of the United States. It is nothing more, nor less, than a comprehensive database of ALL known hot springs in the US. Decades ago, a yellowing print-out of this government publication was a badge of true hot-spring aficionado. These days this database is maintained by by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is available online. Diehard hot-water freaks use the list to hunt for little-visited hot springs, but be forewarned. Most of these springs are but trickles of warm water and not bathable. Furthermore, this database contains only the temperature, flow, and latitude/longitude coordinates of the springs, which won't help the casual user in either finding it, or deciding whether it will be worth the trip. For most mortals, the guide books above offer more enjoyable springs than you'll ever get to.
Thermal Springs List of the United States (database search)
Thermal Springs List of the United States (map interface).
Happy soaking!
-- KK
Hot Springs and Hot Pools of the Southwest
Jayson Loam's Original Guide
Marjorie Gersh-Young
2004, 235 pages
$14
Amazon
Hot Springs & Hot Pools of the Northwest
Jayson Loam's Original Guide
Marjorie Gersh-Young
2003, 224 pages
$14
Amazon
Sample excerpts:
Common Sense and Safety Tips
It's Hot: Always, always check the temperature of the water before entering. Even if you have been to a spring several times, conditions affecting water flow and temperature change constantly.
It's Smelly or Not: Structures built over hot springs often prevent natural gasses from escaping. These can often build up and cause you to become dizzy and pass out. Be extremely cautious about staying within structures for any length of time.
Heads Up: Because many forms of bacteria and other organisms live in hot water, it is recommended by many that you do not put your head in the water.
The Gangs All Here: This is where consideration for other soakers comes in. If you arrive at a full pool, ask how long they plan on staying; or ask if you may join them. If you're the first person there, invite others to join you. You'd be amazed at the interesting people you meet. If people are waiting for you to get out before they get in, determine a reasonable length of time, and leave when agreed upon. Take a walk, watch the sky, read a book, and return later.
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Kennedy Hot Spring / Undeveloped / 35ºC (?) (95ºF)
A 9 km (5.5 mi.) hike on an excellent trail leads to a very nice pool deep in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. This is one of the more popular hikes in the North Cascades and is well worth the effort. May through October are the best months for this trip.
The unusual soaking box at Kennedy is about 2 m (6 ft.) deep and is fed from the bottom.
-- Hot Springs of Western Canada
Hot Springs of Western Canada
A Complete Guide
Glenn Woodsworth
1997, 285 pages
$16
Amazon
No-car roads
Rails-to-Trails (or rail trails) are roads without cars. They are where railways go when they die. Bicycles love them.
Every year 2,000 miles of railways in the US are abandoned. So far, about half of the 300,000 miles railways built by 1916 (the railroad peak) have been taken out of service. Some 13,000 of those miles have been repurposed into bike/hike trails.
Why they're great: 1) You get paths with flat to gentle slopes, 2) no cars, 3) no strip development, and 4) often passing through small towns. These wide, sculpted, relaxing paths are perfect for hiking, horseback, cross-country skiing, skates and particularly bicycles. While most of the rails-to-trails are less than 5 miles long, there are 10 in the country stretching over 100 miles and at least one that is 225 continuous miles. These longer trails are a big hit -- easy, civilized bicycle tours: gentle rides without having to compete with cars. As far as I am concerned, riding bicycles on rail trails is the way to go.
The rails to trails movement began in the mid-west, where most of the abandoned railways were. It has now spread to every state. There are about 1,300 rails-to-trails in the US, with another 1,000 in progress. Backpackers have a network of fabulously signed and maintained long-distance footpath trails; we now have the beginnings of a network of long-distance dedicated bikepaths.
Behind most of this work is the very effective non-profit Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. They publish a magazine, newsletter, and a directory of known rail trails in the US, entitled 1000 Great Rail Trails. It's a bare bones listing with no traveling information; but it is where you go to browse where rail trails exist in particular states. The same info, in slightly less useful search-mode is available on their supplemental website, TrailLink, which includes a list of the 10 longest rail trails, and introductory orientations to most rail trails.
For utilitarian logistical details, the Conservancy publishes 8 region-specific books. I've been using the California one, Rails-to-Trails: California. It covers about 60 rail trails in the state, including several in my own area that I was not aware of.
-- KK
Rails-to-Trails: California
by Ron Quinn
2000, 256 pages
$15
Available from
Amazon
Rails-To-Trails Conservancy
Sample excerpt:
Best of the world
I've slowly clued into the fact that there is a network of "World Heritage" monuments, sites, and natural parks throughout the world--places that are deemed unique enough, or endangered enough, to deserve funding by UNESCO. A cultural site can be a monument, a group of buildings, or an entire city. But to be granted a World Heritage designation, it must "represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; or bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared."
I like to think of these creations as the Best of Civilization.
Almost every country has at least one site, and sometimes many. Some places are justifiably famous, but many are mysteriously overlooked. Heritage sites are always among the most interesting destinations to visit in any country, well worth going out of your way to see. The sites range from ruins like the famous Inca Machu Picchu, to the less known ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri, India, to preserved towns like Visby, Sweden, to unspoiled wilderness areas like the Galapagos Islands. In total UNESCO lists 788 sites in 100 countries, which also include about 150 natural sites, deemed "areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance" or outstanding bio-diversity.
In my travels I've learned to seek them out.
-- KK
For a full list, and criteria, see World Heritage List.
BULGARIA (Year added to list)
1979 Boyana Church
1979 Madara Rider
1979 Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo
1979 Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak
1983 Ancient City of Nessebar
1983 Srebarna Nature Reserve
1983 Pirin National Park
1983 Rila Monastery
1985 Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari
Old City of Lijiang, China. A trading town in the highlands of southwestern China. A World Heritage site.
Essential road maps
The vastness of Africa is vastly rural. Driving a car or van is the best way to get around. But African road maps are as scarce and inadequate as the mostly unpaved roads themselves. This heavy, oversized, and humungous 336-page atlas (definitely not backpackable) contains the best -- and sometimes only -- road maps for the entire continent.
Crafted by the cartographic gnomes at National Geographic, this set of maps is meant to be more of an adventure guide. It succeeds as both. These maps indicate the exact information you need while on the road: known ferry crossings, known border posts, known park entrances, local airfields, ruins, mileage markers, as well as the major African towns and national parks interiors. I can't think of any other maps anywhere else in the developing world that provide this kind of vital information ahead of time. And to top it off, this full-color atlas concludes with 80 good itineraries (with maps!) for creative explorations on the continent. It's a remarkable achievement; I wish there was one for Asia and South America as well. [Recommended by Stephen Balbach]
-- KK
African Adventure Atlas
National Geographic
2003, 336 pages
$50
Available from
Amazon
Sample page:
Crash course on budget European travel
I rely on Rick Steves' masterly command of travel minutia to guide me in Europe. The guy spends 3 months traveling there *every* year updating his advice in his expanding line of eponymous books. Rick has the drill down perfectly, and possess a real gift for teaching what he knows. Yet as great as his books are, the very best way to get educated in how to travel Europe with ease and grace is to watch his short course in Travel Skills on DVD or tape. He does great video: quick, dense, informative, easy. I am a hardened veteran traveller and I picked up some handy tips I didn't know. If you are just starting out to Europe, I can't recommend this enough.
-- KK
Rick Steves Travel Skills
Parts 1,2,3
$5 for VHS (limited supplies and price) from
Rick Steves Travel Store
$20 for DVD (included on the Germany, Swiss & Travel Skills DVD)
Rick Steves Travel Store
Previously available from Amazon
Ground-truthing exotic travel destinations
The most savvy travellers I know log onto Thorn Tree as they vagabond. Thorn Tree Travel Forum is where you get the latest, greatest, most dependable travel advice for exotic destinations. Originally set up by Lonely Planet as an online way for readers to update their guidebooks, this bulletin board now bypasses and surpasses the guidebooks altogether. Reliable travel info has been completely revolutionized by the ubiquity of internet cafes around the globe.
Let's say you want to know whether the border between China and Kazakhstan is open this October, or whether its safe to visit Katmandu, Nepal, or where the newest climbing spots in the Peru Andes are. You log on to the appropriate Thorn Tree "branch" where a traveler who is in Katmandu, or who has just arrived in Almaty yesterday after a harrowing 11 hour border crossing from China can tell you all the specific details of what is true and what is not. Someone else might post that the popular beach shack on Lombok island, Indonesia you were headed for is now closed. And, to complete the circuit, you may be on the road yourself, at a dusty internet cafe in Morocco, when you read this. It's true real-time advice, from real folks who've done it. Thorn Tree is a remarkably efficient way to score hard-to-get facts from and to the field. And for armchair planners at home, the sheer details available at a distance is heavenly.
I've found that the third world locations, rather than Europe and the US, are best served by the forums; but these after all are the very places instant ground-truthing is so badly needed. Thorn Tree is also a great place to connect up with others bent on long-term Around the World tours, and up-to-the-latest tips on long haul travel. [Suggested by Alexander Rose]
-- KK
Thorn Tree
Cheapo airlines in Europe don't all go to secondary airports, although they often do. However they often service secondary destinations. For example, we flew Basiqair to Bordeaux last year from Amsterdam. Not exactly Nice. To get to Milano, some of the low costs fly to Bergamo instead, which is on the Venice side of Milan. Their fares were a fraction of the majors -- Air France and KLM. In addition to the airlines you mentioned last time, here are some more choices.
-- Louis Rossetto
Transavia
Air Berlin
Germania Express
Volare (Italy)
And a broader list from Germany.
Cheap European flights
There are half a dozen or so low-cost inter-European-city airlines. RyanAir is the largest. I recently got a round trip on them from Frankfurt to Pescara, Italy for about $90 -- and this is one of their more expensive destinations. Other flights are ridiculously cheap. If I'd wanted to go to say Pisa or Stockholm from Frankfurt, the one way ticket would be 10-12 euros. London (Stansted) to Rome is 10 euros. These are ultra non-frill flights, and they all offer one-way trips without jacking up prices. One major disadvantage is that the airports can be out of the way. For instance, the Franfurt one is actually 62 miles from the city, but for these rates I'll take a train or bus to the airport.
-- Lloyd Kahn
Ad from RyanAir website advertising limited come-on flights to the above cities for 99 pence ($1.80) one way, starting next year. On many flights the taxes will cost more than the fare.
Ryan Air
In addition to Ryanair, there are others with the same idea, with less extensive routes:
Flybmi
Easy Jet
EuropeByAir
Spanair
Virgin Express
Comprehensive bank of hiking routes
Excellent website with useful information on hiking trails all over the world. From it I get an awareness of obscure and out-of-the-way trails globally. It has trails on my secret Greek Island of Karpathos, and in the central Asian neo-countries of Kyrgytzstan and Tadjikistan, where there are presently no trail guidebooks. Even in places with lots of guidebooks (such as the Coltswolds, England) this site has useful first-person notes and suggested routes.
-- KK
The Trail Database
Get your dirt cheap European villas now!
Village houses and property in rural Bulgaria can often be bought for as little as $1,000. Get 'em before Bulgaria joins the EU in 2007! I have NO commercial interest here; I just wanted to alert Cool Tool readers what types of places they can get for minimal money.
BTW, at the lower price spectrum, expect no indoor plumbing. These fixer-uppers are only for DIY 'homesteaders' at this point. But as an example, we now own 2 very livable houses and approximately 1.5 acres of land (with vineyard and orchard) which we bought for around $1,600 -- for all!
-- Molly McAnailly Burke
Currently for sale: $4,500, in Boyanovo
(plumbing, electricity, no indoor bathroom)
Bulgarian Properties
Elementary Chinese reading
China figures big in the future no matter what your interest. It's a vast place with its own non-alphabetic writing in abundance. To get around you really need to be able to recognize a few Chinese characters. You can get by knowing the 50 or so basic ones taught in the small expert book. Elementary survival knowledge, like the symbols for toilet -- men or women? Exit versus entrance. Numbers, dates, directions, hotel, etc. There is no attempt to teach you Chinese (thank goodness), just how to navigate a visit there.
-- KK
I Can Read That!
A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters
Julie Mazel Sussman
1994, 161 pages, $9
China Books and Periodicals
Amazon
Excerpt:
A clock for number practice. Real clocks use numerals, not characters. But this clock may help you learn the characters for the numbers. You can make hands for the clock out of toothpicks or paper.
"Exit" and "enter" signs. You'll see the same entrance and exit signs wherever Chinese characters are used.
Restroom signs. Along the Burma Road. this public facility has a two-syllable word for toilet and an arrow pointing to the female entrance.
How to travel cheaply
So much to see, so little time. You won't ever see it all, so why not select your destination by how inexpensive it is, thus maximizing your journey? You can spend two weeks in Europe, or 6 months elsewhere. Your choice. Travellers who choose the latter have far more fun, learn more, and bring dollars where it can do the most good. Rock-bottom prices also transform budget travel in these areas into luxury travel. This thin guide is a good investment for this approach. It lists 21 of the world's cheapest countries for travelers with more time than money, with a brief idea of what to expect. Stick to these few and you'll still have a lifetime of adventures. Prices current as of 2003.
-- KK
Excerpts
Indonesia
Prices plunged to a ridiculous level in the midst of the Asian currency crisis -- when my wife and I needed five weeks of travel to spend $350, despite living it up.
*
India
We paid a dollar a night for a great room with bath in Jaisalmer, then found out the guys next to us had bargained the owner down to 65 cents!
*
Morocco
A cheapie room in a basic cold-water hotel starts at around $4 in the villages and averages $7-$10 in the cities. The worst hotel we stayed in was $8 and the best one we stayed in was $8. It just depends on where you are.
[The author's website has some interesting and helpful links for bottom-fed travel.}
The World's Cheapest Destinations
21 Countries Where Your Dollars Are Worth A Fortune
Tinm Leffel
2003, 113 pages
$13
Amazon
Not a vacation
We used to call ourselves drifters, or freaks, but "stompers" works just as well. Stompers are young, nomadic travelers having a great deal of fun meandering around the world, hanging out, partying in run-down grass shacks in exotic places, hooking up with each other, paying attention to the local scene, while ignoring boundaries. It is more a lifestyle than a vacation. Once centered mostly in Europe during the summer, the entire world from Ghana to Laos is now stomping grounds. This book is subversive, irreverent, bombastic, self-published, and full of the best advice I've seen in print for global vagabonds. It assumes you have very little money, but a whole lot of time and are open to new experiences. Average trip of a stomper: one year. What I like about the author, Brad Olsen, is that he seems to have made every possible mistake, but learns quickly from them.
Here's the acid test: If you need to sleep in a bed on your world tour, The Practical Nomad is more your speed (and mine, too, these days). If you don't care where you lay your sleeping bag down for the night, and you intend to be on the road for more than a month, this is the owner's manual for you.
--KK
World Stompers
A Guide to Travel Manifesto
Brad Olsen
2001, 269 pages, 5th Edition
$18
Amazon
World Stompers Online
Excerpts from the book:
One Summer when Tommy P. and I lived in Lake Tahoe, we made a bet. We bet five bucks on whether he could last a whole month without spending a single cent on food. He worked as an usher for Caesar's Showroom and was allowed free meals. Security was laid back and lax, so he would munch hard before and after his shifts and smuggle out pocketfuls of fruit, yogurts, puddings, cereal, milk and fruit drinks. I would barter meals with him on his days off to give him a variety, but never any freebies. The bet was only to pay for food.
Well he lost the bet a few days short of a month because he was fired from his job. He got the ax because he got up on stage and danced with Diana Ross during the encore. His boss did not believe she pointed at him for a dance.
* * *
The World's Top 10 Best Stoner Meccas:
10. The whole country of Laos
9. Dahab, Egypt (page 220)
8. Nimben, Australia (page 179)
7. The ski mountains of Lake Tahoe, CA USA (page 151)
6. Tuk Tuk Peninsula, Lake Toba, Indonesia (page 189)
5. Pokhara, Nepal (page 241)
4. San Pedro, Guatemala (page 158)
3.The Whole Country of India (excluding the cities) (page 244)
2. The state of Alaska, USA (page 153)
1.The whole country of The Netherlands (page 206)
* * *
Trevor also kept records of his ultra-budget days when he was trying to spend the bare minimum (and still have a great time). An example of one such day in India. Orange juice - $.20; vegetable, rice, and sauce lunch - .33; bike parking fee - .03; all-you-can-eat supper - .80; chocolate bar - .20; bungalow on the beach - 50 cents. Total expenses for the day - $2.06.
* * *
Rip-offs are rampant for people commando-crashing outdoors, particularly in Europe. Backpacks are taken, money belts being used as pillows are unzipped and cleared of contents, and even shoes are swiped. If you are going to Europe on a low-budget and plan to sleep outdoors part of the time, consider a few tips. First, it is always best to sleep in a group. There is definitely safety in numbers. Second, sleep with your money belt inside your sleeping, but not all the way at the bottom. There have been incidents of thieves feeling the bottom of a sleeping person's sleeping bag for a money belt, then cutting the bag open with a knife and removing it. Third, chain your backpack to something, lock all the zippers, and try to use part of it as a pillow. Lastly, wherever sleeping with a group, lock all the packs together in the middle and position yourselves like spokes around a wheel hub. Detour thieves by making it hard for them to steal anything.
Long-term global travel
Round-the-world travel was my occupation for many years. It's an admirable vocation ignored by the travel industry and travel media. They think in terms of two weeks not two months or two years. Ignore the country-specific info in this thick tome as out of date, but do pay attention to his airline ticketing advice, and his general wisdom about long-term travel. To anyone planning to take some serious time off to explore the far world at a cut above Stompers, start with this book. And then leave it at home.
--KK
The Practical Nomad
Edward Hasbrouck
2000, 652 pages, 2nd Edition
$14
Amazon
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Extremely remote getaways
The last wilderness romance: a funky old-fashion shelter with minimal comfort and maximum views. You can rent these remote cabins for about $25 per day, and sleep 4 or 5 people. The 145 described here are all located in the west. The best are difficult to reach. Most are approachable by 4-wheel drive. All need advance reservations. The little-known details and full getting-there instructions, are here.
-- KK
Firetowers, Lookouts & Rustic Cabins for Rent
Carolyne Ilona Gatesy
1997, 226 pages
$15
Available from Bear Mountain Press (This book may be out of print)
Used copy from Amazon
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Spectacular trails with no crowds
 
You can't beat walking as the proper pace to discover a new place. Russia and its former Asian republics -- an area almost as large as the continental US --now offer vast numbers of possible hiking routes for visitors. Some routes wander among ethnic villages and some head into the most wild places on earth. I'm goaded to try a ramble in the Caucuses by this guidebook full of trails and tips available no where else. Solo traveler is still rare here, but this guide will be your best friend.
-- KK
Trekking in Russia & Central Asia
Frith Maier
1997, 369 pages
$17
The Mountaineers
Seattle, WA
Amazon
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Essential guidebook to Old Japan
I enjoy Japan because it is so richly Other. Central to Japanese "otherness" is the bath. Like the famous tea ceremony, it's larger than it seems. The shortest route into traditional Japanese culture is a soak in a very hot bath, preferable in a communal bathhouse, more preferably in an intimate, well-crafted hot spring located in a mossy thatched inn with paper doors and tatami floors at the end of a trail. Problem is this romantic ideal is very hard to locate, especially for foreigners. But they do exist. This wonderfully small, intimate and well-crafted book will guide to you the few remaining really traditional hot spring (onsen) in Japan. Despite this guidebook, you'll only find Japanese staying there. The author has visited several hundred Japanese onsen (I've been to maybe a dozen) and will save you the incredibly depressing experience of winding up in a hideous concrete over-commercialized urban disaster - which is what most of the springs have become. Any one of the chosen here are little-known national treasures worth going way out of your way to soak in overnight and soak up.
-- KK
Japan's Hidden Hot Springs
Robert Neff
1995, 180 pages
$11 from Amazon
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