Awe - Blue Highways

The first travel narrative I ever remember reading was William Least Heat Moon's Blue Highways. I always think of it when I start planning a road trip. CNN.Com has an interview with the author, who has just completed a new journey to many of the same places in a book entitled "Roads to Quoz" (which I haven't read yet - waiting for the paperback version to come out!) His insights on changes in the American landscape and in Americans themselves reflect the changes I think we all have seen but maybe not formulated in as concise a manner. Worth a quick read. http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/11/18/bluehighways/index.html

A Travel Tip Actually Worth Considering

I'm not a big fan of the lists of "travel tips" found in travel magazines. Most are either too obvious or too weird. But I actually stumbled across one in this month's Budget Travel that caught my attention. "Buy a postcard each day and job down a few sentences on the back" as reminders of the day's highlights or a special thought. When you get home, there will be both written and pictorial reminders of your trip. Not a bad thought. In this digital age, one could also take a quick photo with your iPhone or similar devise and then attached it to an e-mail to yourself with a few lines of text that would then be waiting for you upon your return home. Maybe this is an obvious tip or just too weird. Then again ...

Two Roads

I'm not much of a fan of the Wall Street Journal, especially the editorial page. BUT, in today's edition (11/13/09) that are two great travel-related articles. The first is an interview with Cormac McCarthy, the author of that most depressing yet hopefully fictional (we hope) travel novel, The Road. The interview's Q+A is fascinating with insights on writing and movies and life. When asked about how involved he is in movie remakes of his novels, he replies "No, you sell it and you go home and go to bed. You don't embroil yourself in somebody else's project." Forthright for sure.

The second article is on Tim Cahill's Montana log cabin, down a 20-mile gravel road from Livingston. "It often hilarious to me that I'm writing about Tonga or some tropical place and there's a blizzard outside and the cows are on their backs with their hooves in the air." Tim's travel narratives are some of the best around, and include "Jaguars Ripped My Flesh" and "A Wolverine is Eating My Leg." Check them out.

And check out the two WSJ articles at your nearest library.

And There's Always Someplace New

This weekend's New York Times Travel section includes an article on the islands of Bijagos, Atlantic islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau. Simple lodging with only 4 rooms along a wonderful beach with no other travelers; freshly-caught fish grilled on an open fire; just wild beauty.

"... to arrive in the Bijagós after the two-hour ride in a small speedboat from the decrepit yet ingratiating capital of the country, Bissau, is to enter another world and another century, though it would be difficult to pinpoint exactly which ones."

Makes you want to go, doesn't it? Well, it does me.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/travel/08Bijagos.html?nl=travel&emc=tda1

Anywhere I Would Be Going Would be Fine

Pico Iyer, a wonderful travel writer (Video Night in Katmandu, among other books), is featured on a quirky video on the more obsessive frequent flyers around - folks who fly for the sake of flying and earning miles and flying some more. His closing quote, something to the effect of "anywhere I would be going tomorrow would be just fine" is not a bad outlook for travelers.

http://vimeo.com/7167640

Q and A

I came across 2 videos yesterday that really got me thinking - about travel, music and life. The first asked 50 people a seemingly simple question - where would you like to wake up tomorrow? The answers were all over the board, though the most common was in their own bed next to their partner. A second category was Paradise, a moon made of cheese and other spiritual, mystical or fanciful locales. The third category were exotic locations, especially Paris and the South Pacific. Funny that Cleveland or Buffalo didn't come up. http://vimeo.com/2540216

The second video, via youtube, is of the great Irish singer Andy Irvine. And the tune is O'Donoghues,' an essay on the importance of pubs in setting career goals! The last few lines are especially memorable: "I never could have guessed as I walked through the door with the future had in store - a blueprint for my life I saw lying there before me."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLP92-enW6Q

Now, you may ask, what do these have to do with each other and with this blog - travel, photography and life. Well, you never know what you will find when opportunities arise - waking up in some exotic locale, walking through a door and having a new experience. Isn't that part of what travel is about? And, as a photographer, you never know what new opportunity will arise when you look around - ahead, behind, to the side, up or down. Life is full of opportunities and when given the option, shouldn't you at least peek through the door to see what's on the other side? The safe route - waking up in the same spot - has its merits. But so does taking that leap. I think my answer would be safe and exciting - waking up next to my partner and finding us BOTH somewhere new, different and exciting! And if there's a pub nearby, its probably worth a pint to see if life has something new in store.

Fine Examples of the Visual Art Form

I came across two extraordinary videos this morning that should inspire travelers, photographers and artists of all stripes. The first, filmed in the Ukraine, is a 10-minute video of a woman using sand and light and music and sound to tell a story like you've never seen done before. The second, filmed in London, is of the Underground and the wind that blows through the tunnel and stations, with short snippets and a great musical soundtrack. Both well worth the time, IMHO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvXVkZysOrc (Ukraine Video)
http://vimeo.com/5721277 (London Underground Video)