Cooking Classes in Thailand: Tranquilo mention on Ephemerratic

September 24th, 2009 | By Joshua | No Comments »

The round-the-worlders over at ephemerratic.com are exploring cooking classes in Chiang Mai in their latest post:

“I’ve taken a cooking class here and there on this trip and never regretted it – the market tour helps me identify mysterious street food, and since you usually make more than one meal’s worth of dishes, it’s a kind-to-the-budget activity. Chiang Mai also seems to have as many cooking classes as pimped out golden Buddhas.”

LINK->

Passionate immersive travelers surf cardboard signs through European cities: ExperienceLess and Trourists

September 20th, 2009 | By Joshua | 4 Comments »

Created for those “who travel to live destinations, not visit them,” ExperienceLess is the collaborative effort of a loose group of “trourists” (I know, say it 3 times fast) who, lacking “real experiences at an unfamiliar destination,” sit out with cardboard signs inviting strangers to invite them into their city for the night. To me, their postmodern couchsurfing and shouting about “the difference between visiting a city and living it,”

“HELP!!! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR MUSEUMS AND I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR STATUES. AND, ABOVE ALL, I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR CITY. I  WANT TO LIVE IT.”

invites a rehash of the tired, old “traveler vs. tourist” debate (I’ve always agreed with Kelsey Timmerman that, ultimately, we’re ALL tourons, get over it). (more…)

Transitions Abroad on “what makes long-term travelers tick”

August 18th, 2009 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

That’s what pro-hobo and travel writer Nora Dunn addresses in “The Motivation for Long-Term Travel,” interviews with six creative and dedicated full-time travelers. Each profilee has a strong web presence as well so if anything, just browsing their blogs will introduce you to a few interesting people and families. Enjoy.

Street art in Spain and Portugal

October 19th, 2008 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Todd and Lauren just posted a slide show of street art they saw in Spain and Portugal. UPDATE: The round-the-world, ephemerratic couple has landed in Delhi and remains Eastward-bound …

Africa Trek—Couple’s 8,700-mile Walking Honeymoon across Africa now Available in the U.S.

September 29th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Alexandre and Sonia Poussin took a three-year honeymoon to walk from the Cape of Good Hope to the Sea of Galilee. Originally published in 2004 in France, the Poussins’ story has become somewhat of a European phenomenon and is now available in the U.S.

“Most people,” says Alexandre, “approach Africa with fear, a lot of organization, and little time. We had faith, confidence, and no prejudice on one side; no organization, tour operator, or back-up team of any kind on the other; and no time limit.” One of the extraordinary goals of the trip was to meet people—normal, everyday Africans, “to better understand them, and understand the issues of their lives…. Our approach was anything but sophisticated: one footstep after another, for almost ever…. And let it be. Let adventure be.”

This is sure to be a phenomenal read and a close-up of introduction to the amazing individuals the Poussins met. I’m hoping it will inspire my own extended-honeymoon storytelling.

The result is a stunning collection of Africa Trek books, as well documentary DVDs which have been featured as a mini-series on the Travel Channel and are coming to a PBS station near you.
[LINK]: Official Africa Trek home page — the video is amazing.

Putumayo Records Releases Round-the-World Sesame Street Disks

September 19th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

Putumayo Records has produced some of my favorite world music compilations. Ever. (Their Kids’ division’s recent release, African Dreamland, is particularly amazing and tranquil.) Sesame Street is a global phenomenon that has entertained and educated children in 120 countries and scores of languages. I can’t wait to hear what this collision of goodness brings. I just ordered Sesame Street Playground, a two-disk CD/DVD of Sesame Street productions from Brazil, France, China, India, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, and the U.S. We’re talkin’ “Rubber Ducky” in Chinese and “Galli Galli Sim Sim” in Hindi. I just love that it’s now part of my job to track this stuff down. I’ll let you know how it sounds when it gets here. In the meantime:

[LINK]: Making-of “Sesame Street Playground” video

[LINK]: NYT article on Sesame Street going global

[LINK]: Putumayo Kids

[LINK]: Putumayo Presents Music Videos from Around the World

Daniela Petrova on the Pitfalls of Volunteering Abroad

August 29th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

In her recent article for World Hum, “A Tourist With a Shovel and a Hoe,” writer Daniela Petrova “looked down her nose at tourists there to have a good time. But was her own motivation much different?” She hits on the main conundrum that faces short-term international volunteers—the actual effectiveness of such programs. Having been on a dozen such trips, mostly with American Jewish World Service, I’m well aware of this issue. A group might spend nearly $30,000 to visit a village and help build a school that costs $2,000 for a local non-governmental organization whose entire annual budget might be less than $20,000. What’s the point? (more…)

Über–Tranquilo Travelers Depart on Slow, Ephemerratic Round-the-World Quest: TheArtDontStop and LBoogie are Eastward Bound

July 28th, 2008 | By Joshua | No Comments »

The happy departing couple (a.k.a. Todd Berman and Lauren Girardin, a.k.a. my brother and sister-in-law) was last seen in Phillie, hop-skipping across the country before launching overseas for a year. They began in San Francisco with goodbye grafitti on the wall of an old police station in the Mission. They proceeded eastward and have been posting a slow flurry of cheesesteaks and sculpture gardens, warmin’ up the keys of their (momentarily) state-of-the-art microcomputer as they travel through exotic Midwestern cultures.

Their humble Quest?

“… To meet strangers and strange people … To eat wildy and locally. To tell you stories and show you artwork.”

For one year. Todd is mostly a sketch-pad and canvas kind of a guy while Lauren is more of a photog/website ninja. The resulting clash of wanderlusting, creative getupandgo is Ephemerratic.com—which I recommend bookmarking right … about … now.

First stop: Morocco.

Ghana girls dorm is finished!

April 11th, 2008 | By Joshua | 2 Comments »

Last October, I posted a plea from Peace Corps Volunteer Carl Allen in Northern Ghana, who was raising funds to build a girls’ dorm at a business school in the village of Nakpanduri. We had met Carl two years ago while visiting the palace of his village’s chief, David Kansuk Laari. Today, I am happy to pass along the news from Nakpanduri that the girls’ dormitory has been completed and a new generation of rural Ghanaian young women will now be able to attend the Nakpanduri Business Secondary School. Eighty girls from surrounding villages can come stay in the accommodations and get an education. This is huge. It is widely accepted that one of the quickest ways to bring an entire community out of poverty is to educate its girls and women, so a hearty congratulations to the students, teachers, Chief, and to Carl.

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Help girls go to school in Northern Ghana

October 27th, 2007 | By Joshua | 1 Comment »

Last year, Tay and I met Peace Corps Volunteer Carl “Ka” Allen in Northern Ghana, in the village of Nakpanduri where Carl was living and where Tay and I were guests of Chief David Kansuk Laari. It was a classic encounter in the Chief’s “palace,” where we watched World Cup soccer and drank beer under a starry African sky. Well, Carl is still in Ghana and he — and the girls of Nakpanduri — need your help. For a number of reasons, educating the world’s girls is probably the single most effective way to improve the quality of life and eradicate poverty, so this project will have far-reaching and long-lasting outcomes. Donate Now! or learn more from Carl himself–> (more…)