I just finished my submission for the 2009 STA World Traveler Internship. Check it out:
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Monday, September 22, 2008
Travel Writing
This is an awesome interview from Tim Ferriss' blog, the author of The Four Hour Work Week. He is interviewing Rolf Potts, an acclaimed travel writer and talking about his new book. The philosophies and viewpoints on traveling and travel writing are interesting. Click the link below:
Monday, June 30, 2008
Road Trip Adventure: Days 21-27, Thursday, June 12th – Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Locations Hit:
Manchester, Tennessee
Unplanned & Utterly random parts of Kentucky
York, Pennsylvania
The Bonnaroo music festival combines the dirtiest and grimiest atmospheres with some of the most fun and entertaining atmospheres on one gigantic private farm in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee. I will start by saying no showers were taking during this entire stretch of the trip. Yes…no showers were taken for 6 days of cooking burgers and frying curly fries. I witnessed drugs being taken I didn’t even know existed, and saw the consequences of them on some of the 80,000 people present. Likewise, some 150 bands and musical artists played some of the most incredible shows I’ve ever seen, and even though we were working we got to see a lot. It was a scenario unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed, but somehow it functioned; somehow it worked, and has worked for 6 years.
Lots of funny things happened throughout the festival and lots of funny interactions with stoned hippies occurred. On the same note we got to meet a lot of great people and we had a great time. In any 8 hour period on any night we could count on seeing several of our favorite bands playing just hundreds of feet apart from each other which was pretty surreal. Here are the acts we were able to get to, in addition to the many we could just hear from our food stand:
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
The Raconteurs
M.I.A.
State Radio (backstage)
Metallica
Gogol Bordello
Cat Power
B.B. King
Ben Folds
Iron & Wine
Jack Johnson
Pearl Jam
Sigur Ros
Lupe Fiasco
Talib Kweli
Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 w/ Galactic
Ourstage.com
Deathcab for a Cutie
We spent the majority of the day after the festival ended cleaning up our 4 different stands. We enjoyed some showers and a hearty dinner and hit the road around 6:00P.M. with high hopes of pushing through back to Philly, with our beds anxiously awaiting. It was sometime around 11:30P.M. though when I started seeing signs for the Kentucky School of Music. Funny I thought to myself, knowing we weren’t supposed to be in Kentucky.
I awoke Kim, my navigator, and we quickly determined that we were indeed in Kentucky and had missed a crucial turnoff in the midst of a construction detour. As we worshipped the atlas we decided it wouldn’t take much longer to just continue north and swing east at a later time. This seemed like a great idea but as the night progressed, and our bodies, exhausted from 6 days of abuse and minimal sleep, began to catch up to us. By 5:00A.M. we unexpectedly reached West Virginia University, and knowing this was still 5 hours from our destination, cursed a lot. Except for the mostly negative realizations like this that happened throughout the trip, it was mostly a blur. We ended up crossing right through York, Pennsylvania, Dan and my hometown around 9:30A.M. and called it quits…finally.
After 27 days on the road, I’d made it home. Not exactly to the home I’d anticipated, but hell…it was a bed and good food. I had 40 day’s worth of a beard on my face and my sister literally yelped when getting on of the car to pick me up. In all, the trip had been flawless. A few minor setbacks like nearly dying in a mid-western tornado or exposing my back to a whirlwind of long term damage from sleeping in an overloaded Jetta, but overall an incredible run. From big mountains to big cities we saw more than anticipated and met a slew of different personalities and friends along the road, and that was what it was all about.
The masses awaiting the first shows to start. There were said to have been 80,000 people in attendance.
Vampire Weekend performing.
One of the four french fry and burger stands we worked in.
By the end of the entire road trip I was looking a little rough around the edges.
Manchester, Tennessee
Unplanned & Utterly random parts of Kentucky
York, Pennsylvania
The Bonnaroo music festival combines the dirtiest and grimiest atmospheres with some of the most fun and entertaining atmospheres on one gigantic private farm in the middle of nowhere, Tennessee. I will start by saying no showers were taking during this entire stretch of the trip. Yes…no showers were taken for 6 days of cooking burgers and frying curly fries. I witnessed drugs being taken I didn’t even know existed, and saw the consequences of them on some of the 80,000 people present. Likewise, some 150 bands and musical artists played some of the most incredible shows I’ve ever seen, and even though we were working we got to see a lot. It was a scenario unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed, but somehow it functioned; somehow it worked, and has worked for 6 years.
Lots of funny things happened throughout the festival and lots of funny interactions with stoned hippies occurred. On the same note we got to meet a lot of great people and we had a great time. In any 8 hour period on any night we could count on seeing several of our favorite bands playing just hundreds of feet apart from each other which was pretty surreal. Here are the acts we were able to get to, in addition to the many we could just hear from our food stand:
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
The Raconteurs
M.I.A.
State Radio (backstage)
Metallica
Gogol Bordello
Cat Power
B.B. King
Ben Folds
Iron & Wine
Jack Johnson
Pearl Jam
Sigur Ros
Lupe Fiasco
Talib Kweli
Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 w/ Galactic
Ourstage.com
Deathcab for a Cutie
We spent the majority of the day after the festival ended cleaning up our 4 different stands. We enjoyed some showers and a hearty dinner and hit the road around 6:00P.M. with high hopes of pushing through back to Philly, with our beds anxiously awaiting. It was sometime around 11:30P.M. though when I started seeing signs for the Kentucky School of Music. Funny I thought to myself, knowing we weren’t supposed to be in Kentucky.
I awoke Kim, my navigator, and we quickly determined that we were indeed in Kentucky and had missed a crucial turnoff in the midst of a construction detour. As we worshipped the atlas we decided it wouldn’t take much longer to just continue north and swing east at a later time. This seemed like a great idea but as the night progressed, and our bodies, exhausted from 6 days of abuse and minimal sleep, began to catch up to us. By 5:00A.M. we unexpectedly reached West Virginia University, and knowing this was still 5 hours from our destination, cursed a lot. Except for the mostly negative realizations like this that happened throughout the trip, it was mostly a blur. We ended up crossing right through York, Pennsylvania, Dan and my hometown around 9:30A.M. and called it quits…finally.
After 27 days on the road, I’d made it home. Not exactly to the home I’d anticipated, but hell…it was a bed and good food. I had 40 day’s worth of a beard on my face and my sister literally yelped when getting on of the car to pick me up. In all, the trip had been flawless. A few minor setbacks like nearly dying in a mid-western tornado or exposing my back to a whirlwind of long term damage from sleeping in an overloaded Jetta, but overall an incredible run. From big mountains to big cities we saw more than anticipated and met a slew of different personalities and friends along the road, and that was what it was all about.
The masses awaiting the first shows to start. There were said to have been 80,000 people in attendance.
Vampire Weekend performing.
One of the four french fry and burger stands we worked in.
By the end of the entire road trip I was looking a little rough around the edges.
Road Trip Adventure: Day 20, Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Locations Hit:
Atlanta, Georgia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Manchester, Tennessee
After a red eye flight from Anchorage to Philadelphia, with an early morning layover in Atlanta, we were exhausted. At our age and with a self-inflicted full schedule, however, there is little room for exhaustion. With that we jumped into our rented Chevy Impala our friend Kim was waiting for us in and headed off for Manchester, Tennessee, nearly 13 hours south. Dan and I passed out immediately, waking just in time to relieve ourselves at the Country Pride Rest Stop, which coincidentally was having its annual jamboree. This comprised of a local bluegrass band, dozens of old pick up trucks, enough Marlboro Reds to make the surgeon general cry, and lots…and I mean lots of parking lot jiggin’. This was no average square dancing I’d learned in middle school gym class. This kept us entertained for about 6 and a half minutes and we continued on.
We didn’t get into Manchester until around 12:30am, where we were instructed by our boss to meet up at Wal-Mart. I forgot to mention what exactly we were doing at this acclaimed hippie music festival – selling burgers and curly fries to make some extra cash that would cover the costs of our prior three-week adventure. I anticipate doing a full entry on how I fund my various trips, but this will surely be example one. We pulled into the parking lot to find thousands of eager Bonnaroo attendees awaiting the festivals opening doors the next morning. I found out that apparently Wal-Mart always allows anyone to camp in their parking lots. Allegedly it is the firm’s way of “giving back” to the community, and it was being fully exploited. As vendors however, we were able to get into the farm where the festival is held that night and actually camp out. This began the next portion of our road trip adventure at the Bonnaroo music festival.
The Country Pride gas station and their annual jamboree. Hee-Haw
The main stage before all the action started.
Atlanta, Georgia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Manchester, Tennessee
After a red eye flight from Anchorage to Philadelphia, with an early morning layover in Atlanta, we were exhausted. At our age and with a self-inflicted full schedule, however, there is little room for exhaustion. With that we jumped into our rented Chevy Impala our friend Kim was waiting for us in and headed off for Manchester, Tennessee, nearly 13 hours south. Dan and I passed out immediately, waking just in time to relieve ourselves at the Country Pride Rest Stop, which coincidentally was having its annual jamboree. This comprised of a local bluegrass band, dozens of old pick up trucks, enough Marlboro Reds to make the surgeon general cry, and lots…and I mean lots of parking lot jiggin’. This was no average square dancing I’d learned in middle school gym class. This kept us entertained for about 6 and a half minutes and we continued on.
We didn’t get into Manchester until around 12:30am, where we were instructed by our boss to meet up at Wal-Mart. I forgot to mention what exactly we were doing at this acclaimed hippie music festival – selling burgers and curly fries to make some extra cash that would cover the costs of our prior three-week adventure. I anticipate doing a full entry on how I fund my various trips, but this will surely be example one. We pulled into the parking lot to find thousands of eager Bonnaroo attendees awaiting the festivals opening doors the next morning. I found out that apparently Wal-Mart always allows anyone to camp in their parking lots. Allegedly it is the firm’s way of “giving back” to the community, and it was being fully exploited. As vendors however, we were able to get into the farm where the festival is held that night and actually camp out. This began the next portion of our road trip adventure at the Bonnaroo music festival.
The Country Pride gas station and their annual jamboree. Hee-Haw
The main stage before all the action started.
Road Trip Adventure: Day 19, Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
Locations Hit:
Anchorage, Alaska
Atlanta, Georgia
On the final day of our near three-week adventure we awoke with one thing on our minds: the gaudiest, most hideous Alaskan souvenirs imaginable. Were talking bright purple shirts with the face of a wolf emblazoned across the front. Were talking the large mesh trucker hats with patriotic eagles on the front that every grandpa that’s ever visited the state still wears proudly years later.
Lisl took us right into center city Anchorage to Grizzlies, a legendarily tacky souvenir shop catering to all of our desires. After a quick stop at the ATM, however, we were quickly reminded just how poor we’d made ourselves in the past few weeks and settled on just on t-shirt. Dawning the words “Alaska Grown” Lisl reminded us we were the most authentic representatives of the garb, but they couldn’t be passed up. We then finished packing up our bags and got a huge pizza at a local joint called the Moose’s Tooth. Half was loaded with every vegetable and cheese one could fathom; the other half was loaded with multiple types of sausages and meats. What a terrible decision before a 12 hour plane ride. Undoubtedly worth it though.
On the way to the airport, convinced the trip was finally coming to an end, I received a phone call that our flights had been delayed at multiple different levels and there was no way we could get to Philadelphia at the scheduled time. When flying these days, such problems simply need to be anticipated. After a long discussion with Charlotte, our flight representative, we rearranged our itinerary to fly through Atlanta and get into Philadelphia 2 hours later. Dan and I had plans from there to meet another friend and hit the road once more down to Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee. This delay meant we would not be able to stop in at my apartment briefly to shower and change bags. Nope, it was straight from the airport into our next 13-hour drive. With that we grabbed a few beers to help process the new schedule and jumped on our plane. The road trip just got extended another 6 or so days.
These things were everywhere in Alaska. Naturally we got pictures in every single one.
Oh yeah...this is exactly what we were looking for.
This trip in the bottom right of the display has our total miles, taken right when Lisl dropped us off at the airport in Anchorage - 6,150.2 miles.
Anchorage, Alaska
Atlanta, Georgia
On the final day of our near three-week adventure we awoke with one thing on our minds: the gaudiest, most hideous Alaskan souvenirs imaginable. Were talking bright purple shirts with the face of a wolf emblazoned across the front. Were talking the large mesh trucker hats with patriotic eagles on the front that every grandpa that’s ever visited the state still wears proudly years later.
Lisl took us right into center city Anchorage to Grizzlies, a legendarily tacky souvenir shop catering to all of our desires. After a quick stop at the ATM, however, we were quickly reminded just how poor we’d made ourselves in the past few weeks and settled on just on t-shirt. Dawning the words “Alaska Grown” Lisl reminded us we were the most authentic representatives of the garb, but they couldn’t be passed up. We then finished packing up our bags and got a huge pizza at a local joint called the Moose’s Tooth. Half was loaded with every vegetable and cheese one could fathom; the other half was loaded with multiple types of sausages and meats. What a terrible decision before a 12 hour plane ride. Undoubtedly worth it though.
On the way to the airport, convinced the trip was finally coming to an end, I received a phone call that our flights had been delayed at multiple different levels and there was no way we could get to Philadelphia at the scheduled time. When flying these days, such problems simply need to be anticipated. After a long discussion with Charlotte, our flight representative, we rearranged our itinerary to fly through Atlanta and get into Philadelphia 2 hours later. Dan and I had plans from there to meet another friend and hit the road once more down to Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee. This delay meant we would not be able to stop in at my apartment briefly to shower and change bags. Nope, it was straight from the airport into our next 13-hour drive. With that we grabbed a few beers to help process the new schedule and jumped on our plane. The road trip just got extended another 6 or so days.
These things were everywhere in Alaska. Naturally we got pictures in every single one.
Oh yeah...this is exactly what we were looking for.
This trip in the bottom right of the display has our total miles, taken right when Lisl dropped us off at the airport in Anchorage - 6,150.2 miles.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Road Trip Adventure: Day 18, Monday, June 9th, 2008
Locations Hit:
Homer, Alaska
Gittoffmy Island, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
A bald eagle, it's a little hard to see but they were everywhere.
Me, Lisl, and Dan right before leaving the island.
In Homer at a lookout over the mountains and bay where the island is.
Baked Alaska.
Homer, Alaska
Gittoffmy Island, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Waking up to a clear view across the Alaskan coast to monstrous mountain peaks and a warm sun is comparable to nothing. I got up a little early and went for a hike around the island to reflect on the trip and get a little alone time to take in the views. Although the island isn’t quite large enough to sustain much wildlife I again saw several sea otters eating off the shoreline and dozens of bald eagles, which were all over the island. Something many Alaskans take for granted but still make my jaw drop. Seeing bald eagles in the wild is a pretty magnificent experience.
I returned to the cabin and the breakfast making process went into full swing once again. This morning is was 12 eggs and 12 pancakes between the three of us. I’m not sure what it is but for some reason eating breakfast while camping is like eating the last meal of your life. You just can’t stop. Absolute joyful gluttony. After that we did a full cleaning of the house and restocked the woodstove supply, got some pictures, and caught our water taxi back to Homer. We stopped at the Salty Dawg Saloon, the local dive bar and an Alaskan staple. One Alaskan Amber Ale later and a short walk around the Homer spit it was a gorgeous 4-hour drive through the mountains back to Anchorage.
We walked through Lisl’s front door. Our mouths dropped. In a moment of primeval barbarianism drool came out.
There on the kitchen table Lisl’s mom had on ice 4 of the largest Alaskan King Crab legs I had ever seen. I capitalize these to stress their sheer superiority over…well everything. Along with grilled corn on the cob and a Gorgonzola and fruit salad, we dined on pieces of crabmeat comparable in size to small fish. I’m not sure if this is really a regular meal in Alaska or not just because the crabs come from Alaska, but for whatever reason it felt right. And it felt good. We will be forever in debt to Lisl’s mom and the pleasure she brought us. As if this wasn’t enough she emerged from the freezer a dessert called Baked Alaskan, which is essentially a dome of various ice creams on top of a bed of brownies and baked in meringue.
One couldn’t tell we’d just spent the past 3 days binge eating at the cabin as we collapsed on the couch a hot mess from the quantity of food we’d just consumed. We then took on the task of giving Hotel Jetta a final unload and cleaning. Too exhausted and full to do anything else we enjoyed a movie and exchanged the over 3,000 pictures we’d taken collectively. As hard as it is to believe the trip had just about come to an end.
A view from the beach of the island.
A bald eagle, it's a little hard to see but they were everywhere.
Me, Lisl, and Dan right before leaving the island.
In Homer at a lookout over the mountains and bay where the island is.
Baked Alaska.
Road Trip Adventure: Day 17, Sunday, June 8th, 2008
Locations Hit:
Homer, Alaska
Gittoffmy Island, Alaska
Tidepooling around the island during low tide.
A starfish I found while tidepooling.
A sea anemone that we found hundreds of in the various pools.
Halibut fishing in a raft around the island.
Dan and I admiring the sunset. This was probably taken around 11:00P.M.
Homer, Alaska
Gittoffmy Island, Alaska
Breakfast is a sacred event when camping. A properly prepared skillet breakfast is a right of passage; an epiphany of the mind, body, soul and pallet. We awoke around 9:30A.M. and got to work immediately. 12 eggs, 2 pounds of instant hash browns, 3 croissants, 2 pots of coffee and enough calories to get us through the next 3 months later we finished around 12:30P.M.
We finished just in time to catch low tide and hike around the bluffs and beaches surrounding the island. This is known as tide pooling, which leaves hundreds of small lagoons the size of baby pools around the shore until the tide comes back in. Almost all of these small pools are filled with all sorts of cool ocean creatures to check out. We spent about 2 hours doing this and saw all sorts of sea snails, mussels, small fish, starfish, sea anemones of various shapes and colors, hermit crabs and all sorts of other species we couldn’t identify.
After a laborious morning of eating and playing with snails we went to various spots across the island to take some heavy afternoon naps. Now I know it may sound like we were living the easy life on this island…and that’d be a pretty accurate evaluation to be completely honest. After our naps it was time for a late afternoon lunch of what else? Beans & weenies. I promise this is the last time we dined on such luxury.
After lunch we pumped up an inflatable boat that looked like it might be able to fit one and half adults comfortably and headed out to sea for some halibut fishing. After what seemed to be a day of eating and napping it was time to do some work and catch dinner. About 40 yards offshore we dropped our lines, which took quite some time to hit bottom. Around this time Lisl realized she’d forgotten to plug the air nozzle on the bottom of the boat and we’d been taking on water thus far. Luckily the problem was easily rectifiable and I’m still here to write this entry and therefore alive. During the trip we were in the close company of about a dozen curious sea otters and a dozen more seals checking us out. As awesome as that was we had no luck with the halibut. Fortunately enough we hadn’t had much faith in ourselves to begin with and packed salmon and fettuccini in the reserve coolers. Again we enjoyed a great meal together while watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.
Dan working the skillet in his skippies for our breakfast feasting.
Tidepooling around the island during low tide.
A starfish I found while tidepooling.
A sea anemone that we found hundreds of in the various pools.
Halibut fishing in a raft around the island.
Dan and I admiring the sunset. This was probably taken around 11:00P.M.
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