Posts filed under 'Travel'
Ask most Americans about what transpired between Columbus’ sighting of the New World and the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving, and you’re likely to get a blank look in response. At least, that was the experience of Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Tony Horwitz, who was appalled to discover that in spite of a college degree and a career of fact-finding, he had no inkling of what transpired in that 130 year void, his own sort of historical terra incognita.
Ever the intrepid reporter, Horwitz sets out to fill in the missing gaps with his own trip, recounting his misadventures in A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World. It’s an apt title, as it refers equally well to the wanderings of hapless Europeans spectacularly out of their depth, or Horwitz’s own state of mind as he encounters modern day Americans still grappling with the effects of the American conquest. Starting out where the Vikings first made landfall hundreds of years before Columbus, Horwitz considers the felicity of Nordic naming practices that gave the barren Newfoundland coast the moniker Vinland before barely surviving a harrowing night in a sweat lodge. Moving on to the Dominican Republic, Horwitz comes close to seeing what could be Columbus’s bones–only to discover the real meaning of the Columbus curse. Finally, he wanders much of the southern United States, following the brutal wake of conquistadors De Coronado and De Soto in their fruitless searches for cities of gold among the wilds of modern-day New Mexico and Florida.
Horwitz’s humorous approach to travel writing reminds me a lot of Bill Bryson’s many misadventures. But Horwitz’s journalistic use of interviews and research is as much interested in determining the relevance of such long ago events as it is in debunking historical myths. For instance, the story of Pocahontas and John Smith has been romanticized into a glossy, Disneyfied love story. But as Horwitz reports, Pocahontas’ legacy has been used to justify racist efforts to deny Native Americans their identity and drive a wedge between them and African Americans–wounds that still linger in Virginia today.
Like his earlier work Confederates in the Attic, A Voyage Long and Strange asks why myths about history persist and what that says about American identity. Under the fun travelogue and various mishaps, the history lesson isn’t quite the same one taught in elementary school, but one that will linger considerably longer.
September 4th, 2008
Katie H.
To prepare for the Beijing Olympics, British journalist Polly Evans decided to go to China. On her trip she traveled throughout the country in order to see some of the changes being made by the Chinese government. Her methods of transportation ranged from bicycle to high-speed train, and in Fried Eggs with Chopsticks, she offers an interesting and often humorous look at the contrast between old and new, city and countryside. All this in a world rushing pell-mell into the 21st century.
With the opening ceremony tomorrow night (and the athletes required to take an etiquette class before the games), this may just be what you need to round out the Olympics experience.
August 7th, 2008
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Madison (including Dane and Surrounding Counties) is part of the American Hiking Society’s 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles series. The Madison version was researched and written by Kevin Revolinski, perhaps more familiar to you as the author of another Wisconsin-centric work, The Wisconsin Beer Guide.
60 Hikes is beautifully organized. Each county gets its own chapter, with an entire chapter devoted to Madison. Better yet are the secondary tables of contents, in which hikes are recommended not only by distance, geography, and difficulty, but also qualities such as: good for birdwatching, children, solitude, wildflowers, and hikers with doggies.
The first page of each hike entry has clear directions to trailheads, GPS coordinates, and quick info about length, difficulty, and scenery. Several pages of narrative follow.
I was tickled pink to read about two hikes in my neighborhood, nestled away in places I’d never have thought to look. Who knows what gems your own neighborhood holds? Pick up this super-handy book, grab your bug juice, and hike away.
July 10th, 2008
Robin - Meadowridge
Who knew happiness was a topic of study? Apparently there’s an entire science dedicated to it - positive psychology. And, believe it or not, a World Database of Happiness in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This database not only keeps track of the happiness quotient of people, but also ranks countries on a happiness scale.
So, smart Eric Weiner, a foreign correspondent for NPR, decides to spend a year traveling to the happiest countries in the world to write a book about it: The Geography of Bliss. An admitted grump, he’s in search of the whys and the whats of human happiness. He visits Switzerland, Bhutan, India, Moldova, Qatar, and Thailand among others. What he finds is that it’s not money, climate, type of government, cultural diversity or social equality that contributes to happiness. But things like trust (in people and government), and family, friends and relationships.
Iceland, of all places, was one of the happiest chapters. How can a sun-worshiper like me believe such hogwash? Weiner actually went there in the middle of winter, in the depths of darkness and cold, so as to experience the worst of Iceland; he finds a communal, creative, almost magical, if overly lubricated, society. Willing to fail, everyone there tries their hand at poetry or music. They love their language which gives them much joy, and I suppose, helps with the creativity. I found myself envious of them.
Qatarians have tons of money, heat and sun, but no culture to speak of. They import people from other countries to do all their work (including being judges!), and so have no meaningful preoccupations to fill their days. They don’t seem happy at all. Thai’s smile all the time - they even have many words for smile, like the Inuits have many words for snow. One of their tricks for happiness is not thinking too much; the way of mai pen lai which means “never mind.” Bhutan has a policy of Gross National Happiness
Bliss is an entertaining book to read. Weiner is funny and self-deprecating, and he meets some interesting people along the way. And for fun, he throws in a couple of very unhappy countries for contrast. Check out the chapter on Moldova. I would have gotten depressed reading about them if I wasn’t so happy that I didn’t live there.
February 29th, 2008
Lisa - Central
AA Gill hasn’t liked all of the places he’s visited. For someone like me, who went to Rome and didn’t toss any coins into Trevi Fountain, this was a relief. In hindsight, I’m glad to have taken the trip, but I’m not going back there. Just going to the mall, let alone a foreign country, makes me feel disoriented, so it was nice to learn that even travel writers sometimes have trouble making sense of all that there is to take in.
In the essays collected in AA Gill is Away, Gill doesn’t just hit tourist destinations like California and Monaco. Instead, he seems to spend more time in places like Kara-Kalpakstan Province in Uzbekistan, where the Aral Sea has dried up and left towns for dead, or in the Sudan, during a not-quite famine.
It’s not all post-industrial misery, sharp knives and teeth. When Gill is moved, he shares it: “Patagonia is unfeasibly beautiful and vast. The beauty never lets up, it’s like ocular tinnitus, a repetitive deafening of the eye, a visual peal of bells that rings from dawn to dusk…[Patagonia is] leggy and fit, a sinuous place with great curves, it’s competent and emphatic and it’s got a temper, it swears, and, most of all, it doesn’t give a damn.”
But in the midst of this description of an awesomely beautiful place is a hint of exhaustion. I think this is what makes Gill’s pieces work. They effectively convey that, yes, there is a world out there, and, no, it’s not like you imagined it. It’s more.
And, though it might be tough on you, should you go and see it? Of course, and right away.
February 21st, 2008
Jon - Hawthorne
Greg Mortensen’s experiences in the mountains of Pakistan after a failed mountain climbing expedition were life changing. The ways in which that experience changed his life are remarkable and they show how much impact one determined person can have. Mortensen’s mission to provide education to children in the Middle East is portrayed in Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace — One School at a Time as told to David Relin. Mortensen believes very strongly that education is the best way to fight terrorism and religious extremists.
In 1993, Mortensen’s climb of K2, the world’s second tallest mountain, failed after he rescued another climber. His recovery time in the small village of Korphe made him realize how impoverished the region is. The village could not afford the dollar a day needed for a school so the children were being taught outside with a teacher who wrote in the dirt. “Dr Greg” as he soon became known (he is a nurse), decided to fund raise for a school for Korphe.
He returned to the U. S for three years to work and save and fund raise to get the funds for the first school. This fund raising involved much personal sacrifice and involvement on his part. After completing the first school, he went on to build other schools in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also started the Central Asia Institute to handle details and work on day-to-day managment.
Mortensen experienced the impact of 9/11 firsthand, and witnessed what the American attacks on Afghanistan did to the local people. They were very supportive but he got criticism from fellow Americans because it was thought that he was assisting the enemy.
Besides describing Mortensen’s many experience building the schools, and dealings with locals and officials, including the Talliban, this books discusses the culture and the history of this area that is very foreign to most of us. Visit his website and read the book to learn more.
February 7th, 2008
Mary K. - Central