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Thanks to Laura Read for this link to Pico Iyer’s Washington Post article The Writing Life: In which a writer living in Japan learns how to think in Japanese.
Here’s my favorite paragraph from it: “My sentences grew shorter and shorter, and more and more empty, till they looked a bit like that room where I’d slept in the temple. My pages became so quiet you had to lean in to hear them, and, as with any good Japanese, completely unstriking, and neutral on the surface. I grew less and less interested in explanations, because the mere moment seemed enough in itself; where I’d written 40 pages after my first two weeks here, and then 338 pages after a year, now I found I could barely write a postcard about Japan, if you’d asked me. Image had taken the place of idea”

“Our service provides journalists with the latest breaking press releases from travel companies and organisations worldwide, together with access to images, company profiles and archive releases, PR contacts, online research tools and much more. Additionally, our ‘Journalist Alert’ service allows journalists to advise PRs of all their current needs.”For travel companies, organisations and PR agencies, TravMedia offers the complete communications channel to the key media in your region or throughout the world.”

Congratulations to me! The Travel Writers News URL is included on World Hum’s links page, which lists links to Journals and Websites, General Travel Blogs, Destination Focused Travel Blogs, Magazine and Newspaper Travel Sections, Travel Communities, TV/Radio, Offbeat Sites, and Travel Writing Blogs/Resources/Communities.

London Times article about the post-election chaos in Kenya is here.

“Chuck Thompson’s ‘Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer’ slams modern travel writing as mediocre, if not dishonest. Why this is the case is a question he—like many critics—can’t seem to answer, observes Rolf Potts” in this WorldHum article.

“If you have been wondering how you can make a difference and ‘give back’ while you travel and explore this extraordinary world of ours, this is your chance. Your grace, interest, and generosity as a traveler will impact the lives and the future of the people you meet. Don’t miss the opportunity—come along on a life-changing experience with The Cultural Explorer. Call us at 415-387-1335.”

Check out the Making a Difference trips, special two-week, hands-on tours that give you the opportunity to get involved and make a difference while you explore and learn about South Africa.

Jacqueline Harmon Butler won the prestigious North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) Press Award for Journalism, Runner Up Award for Best Travel Article Written for Internet, for her story: “Sardine Heaven—Feast of St. Anthony.”

Butler’s story has appeared on a variety of web zines. You can access it on her website. She has received a variety of awards including the 2003 Golden Linchetto Prize for the best foreign journalist with published articles about Lucca, Italy, and the 2002 international press award for journalism, I, Leonardo Award; A Few Words About Sicily.

Here’s a New York Times article about vacationing like a rock star.

By JENNIFER ALSEVER

Published: December 9, 2007

DOING charity work while on vacation no longer has to mean backbreaking labor and dorm-like accommodations. A new kind of philanthropic travel lets wealthy vacationers do good works while still enjoying plush hotel suites and fine restaurants.

More luxury tour operators now offer philanthropic-minded trips to places like Kenya, Cambodia and Vietnam that incorporate visits to local schools, hospitals or wildlife centers. Travelers also go on traditional sightseeing tours and safaris that may cost $300 to $1,000 a day, not including airfare.

Thanks to Karen Misuraca for this news about the upcoming Travel Classics Conference: A few spaces are left at the Travel Classics Europe 2008 conference at Lake Como in April. Media rate airfare available; great pre-post tours (including 4-day Emilia-Romagna hosted tour–pick you up at the airport, 4-day tour, deliver you to the conference).

Lee Azus from Get Lost Travel Books writes in October’s Store Notes about his new appreciation for Rick Steves:

This press release from ResponseSource.com provides hope—very slim hope—for those of us who would like to get paid for adventure travel writing.
“The British Antartic Survey has appointed young British writer, Melanie Challenger, as Artist in Residence for International Polar Year 2007-8. She will live in the Antarctic for three months, working alongside the scientists in the region and gaining access to regions of the Antarctic totally closed to the general public. She will stay on board the RSS James Clark Ross.

September 12, 2007
6:00 pm	to	9:30 pm

The Web Guild of Silicon Valley is sponsoring a panel on mobile advertising on September 12. This should interest travel writers; I think mobile advertising will help drive the need for content in the very near future. Online registration for non-members is $30.

“Mobile advertising is a fast growing slice of the online marketing mix. It is expected to reach $10 Billion by 2010 according to the Mobile Marketing Association. Leading content providers, brand advertisers, and enablers are beginning to sell mobile specific campaigns. As traditional channels for advertising like TV, radio, and print are becoming less effective, marketers are seeking new mediums to reach and engage with consumers. Join this panel of industry experts to explore the opportunities and challenges of mobile advertising.

Thanks to Michael Shapiro for sending the link to this article in September, 2007’s Condé Nast Traveler by Pico Iyer, The Nine Commandments of Travel Writing.
“A travel book can be defined as one that its author would never think of as a travel book; to him, it is history or anthropology, memoir or even camouflage fiction. I know that because for 20 years I’ve been writing books which appear on the travel shelves, and none of them, deep down, have anything to do with travel. Yet the first thing any traveler learns is that every rule is made to be broken; if you stick to the guidebook, or the itinerary, you’ll come home wondering if you ever left. In the great spirit of travel, therefore, and of venturing where only fools would dare to tread, I hereby list the nine commandments of travel writing, every one of which is made to be broken (and is routinely broken by most of the travel classics cited by my colleagues in the list of great travel books that follows).

October 2, 2007

7:00 pm

San Francisco-based Diane LeBow has been invited to speak at Douglass College on October 2, 2007, as part of the Zagoren Lecture Series. She will speak on “Women of Afghanistan and the World: Photos and Stories from the Road.” Diane will share the stage with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gwen Ifill, PBS senior correspondent on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

“What makes for a good travel writer?
… you’ve got to have some burning obsession: Ryzard Capuschinzki loves revolutions and watching dictators and empires fall; Redmond O’Hanlon likes birds, beasts and exotic diseases; Bruce Chatwin was on the look out for ideas and for nomads.”

Read the rest of this interview with William Dalrymple, author of The Last Mughal, in the Hindustan Times.

Thanks to April Orcutt for this: The September, 2007 issue of Conde Nast Traveler has excellent list of “The 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time” with an intro by Pico Iyer.

Check out the Washington Post’s special travel section on global warming (July 15, 2007):

Getting Warmer . . .
Alaska’s Icy Bay, Where Glaciers Come to Die and Kayakers Come to Watch
By William Booth

“Granted, it is still a niche market. But if the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to be believed — and why not? — it’s a growth opportunity. The traveler in the very near future might be ready for some global warming tourism. Vacation destinations? You could do the Maldives and watch the sea level rise before your very eyes. Glub glub. Bye-bye, happy island nation. Or perhaps a trip to the African Sahel to experience some scary soil evaporation. Subtle, but profound. Or you can do what we did and journey to Icy Bay in Alaska and just watch the world melt…”

If you think the San Francisco hotel scene is changing too rapidly to keep up with, you’ll want to thank Diane LeBow for forwarding this information (dated July 31, 2007) from the SF CVB:

Name Changes and Recent Sales Change Hospitality Landscape

San Francisco tourism industry insiders say the sale and “reflagging” of San Francisco hotels is at an all-time high. Here’s a short summary of changes that have occurred within the last 12 to 18 months and/or about to occur:

Best Western Hotel California
Former name: Hotel Savoy
Location: 580 Geary St., 94102
415-441-2700
www.hotelca.com
Rooms: 82
Remodel budget: Not disclosed
Media contact: Dave Severson, 415-869-4102, dave@hotelca.com
Renamed The Hotel California in the fall of 2006 and currently called Best Western Hotel California; all guestrooms and public areas remodeled in summer 2007.

Thanks to Kathy Ketman for this news from a friend in Glasgow:

“things are positive here in glasgow despite the scare at the airport (modern life). people are focusing on the qualities of mr smeaton (a glaswegian … who knocked one of the attackers to the ground) rather than thinking about the scary but fairly small risks. thanks for checking on us.”
Quotes re mr smeaton “A braveheart for a modern Scotland that treats terrorism with a stiff right hook rather than a stiff upper lip.”

Here’s Mark Morford’s take (he always has an interesting POV, although it’s best in small doses), on Google Street View, which will eventually take you pretty much anywhere in the world from the comfort (and privacy?) of your own room. (June 6, 2007)

Did you recognize “Gail (30 something, straight, single, Gidget with Attitude),” a local travel writer, in Rebecca Chekouras’s My Word essay in the February 25 San Francisco Chronicle Magazine? “The stories she sent back were each a Faberge egg using an economy of words to open a wealth of images. I loved them.”

I have to link to the article, both because “Gail” is a friend of mine (yes, she’s a wonderful travel writer, and yes, she’s Gidget with Attitude), and because I really enjoyed Rebecca’s writing, and will be watching for her forthcoming book, Through the Turquoise Gate.

An open letter from Doug McConnell:

Greetings,

I’m happy to announce, after many months of building, testing and tweaking, that www.OpenRoad.TV, The Traveler’s Video Guide to the American West, is now live and ready for everyone to use. It grows out of my lifetime of traveling and living throughout the West, the rich library of video and other content my team and I have amassed over the past fourteen years of producing Bay Area Backroads, and our collective passion for this extraordinary region.

Don George has been busy at Don’s Place. Here are the highlights:

Feature Destination
SAFARI IN AFRICA: PART ONE - VISAS AND VACCINES AND PILLS, OH MY!
I’m about to embark on a two-week adventure to Kenya and Tanzania. But the journey begins at home — with visas, vaccines, and other essential preparations. Join me as I perfect my imitation of a human pin cushion.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN GREECE
It happened 30 years ago, but it’s still one of my most magical memories: Timeless connections enliven an unexpected stay on the uninhabited island of Delos.

For those of you who are wondering where Don George is, now that he’s left Lonely Planet, he’s at … well, he’s at Don’s Place. It’s a blog celebrating adventure travel, and sponsored by “an enlightened association of ten first-class adventure travel companies called the Adventure Collection.” It will include Don’s take on issues in the travel world, featured destinations, interviews with leaders in the adventure travel field, and answers to readers’ questions about the world of adventure travel. Check out Don’s current article, The Carbon Conundrum: “With so much publicity about the ill effects of travel, what’s the responsible adventurer to do?…”

Melissa Biggs Bradley, the founding editor of Town & Country Travel, left last summer to launch Indagare, “a Web site, newsletter and community where the world’s most sophisticated travelers can research trips and share their discoveries.” The teaser site is up now, and launch is scheduled for next month.

keep looking »

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