Talking backpacking through Europe (and posing in my delicates) for UpTake’s travel podcast

Last week Addison Schonland interviewed me for UpTake’s travel podcast (I blog about travel lodging for UpTake). The conversation covered a three-month backpacking trip I took a few years ago, which began in Dublin and ended up in a treehouse hostel on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

The discussion–accompanied by a photo of me in my boxers, because sex sells–appears at UpTake: Backpacking through Europe.

And Mom, Dad, if you’re nervous about what posting that picture on the Internet means for my career? All it proves is that I’m overqualified to be a U.S. Senator from your state of Massachusetts (I am wearing pants after all).

From Idaho to China, 2009 was a fun year for traveling and writing

How can a year in which you got an action figure of yourself be anything but great?

Recently the Internet has featured an abundance of laments about the disappointment that was 2009. I disagree; 2009, you were a good one.

From Kamiah, Idaho (population 1,160) to Guangzhou, China (population 10,045,800), I experienced and wrote about some amazing places this year–and had a blast doing it.

Some highlights:

• In January I drove from my new home in Louisville to Las Vegas with my brother and then flew to Washington, DC for Barack Obama’s inauguration.
• For Valentine’s Day, I reviewed 10 engaging spots to pop the question for Budget Travel.
• Traveling to celebrate my grandmother’s 90th birthday with her, I drove through Idaho, one of the most beautiful areas in the United States.
• I discovered one of my new favorite American cities–Nashville, which I visited twice.
• I covered the running–and parties–of Kentucky Derby 135 (and got this hilarious voice message from a Paris Hilton flack in the process).
• I experienced my first music festival–Bonnaroo.
• Trips to Boston; Morgantown, WV; Charlotte, NC; and Washington, DC allowed me to spend time with family and friends, as well as do some exploring.
• My more than 100 articles for Louisville.com provided me with ample opportunities to investigate my new hometown.
• While in New York to officiate a friend’s wedding (yes, you read that right), I finally met in person many travel writers and editors whom I’d known only virtually before.
• I consumed delicious tacos, lattes, and cocktails in Austin, TX.
• I reviewed concerts by two of my favorite performers–Bruce Springsteen and Roger Daltrey.
• After a fantastic trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China, sponsored by the Ritz-Carlton, Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air, I wrote about the ethics of press trips for BlackBook.
• And I began contributing to Air Canada’s in-flight magazine, enRoute, and blogging about lodging for UpTake.

On a personal note, I’ll be closing out 2009 or beginning 2010 with a new daughter–my wife and I are expecting our first child any day now. Look for articles in early 2010 about traveling with an infant: we’ve already made plans to bring her to Milwaukee, Chicago, and San Diego.

Best wishes for a great 2010!

Writer, editor, pajama model

Today BlackBook featured my article on my recent press trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen:

The Proud Junketeer: From Jamaica to China and Back

Even better–for me, if not BlackBook‘s readers–is getting to be its website’s lead model. In my silk pajamas, I’m feeling a bit like Hugh Hefner.

Originally the article was supposed to focus more on established brands, like the Ritz-Carlton, shifting their focus from traditional to new media.

But in between when I pitched it and when it was published, the Thrillist mini-scandal hit, causing two revisions, but giving me the opportunity to weigh in on a developing story and the practice of press trips.

Chinese verb structure creates immortality

To prep for my trip to Guangzhou and Shenzhen next month (more on that later now at Writer, editor, pajama model), a friend and client suggested I read Tim Clissold’s “Mr. China.” It’s an interesting firsthand account of the business climate and culture in China when it was opening up to trade with the west in the 1990s.

Perhaps the most fascinating passage in the book, however, was this blurb on Chinese not changing verbs based on time (p. 132):

The link in China between daily language and the past is strengthened further by a lack of senses. In Chinese, there is no verb change depending on time. “Mao Zedong is a good leader” and “Mao Zedong was a good leader” are not distinguished in Chinese. Things that in our language are extinct remain alive in Chinese. Without the separation in language or thought between what “was” and what “is,” China’s past seems to merge into its present.

Confusing? Sure. But there’s something beautiful about a language allowing timelessness and immortality.

(Photo: Flickr/kevindooley)

Laviators: A true travel trend or just a strange way to kill time?

Like a bad case of indigestion, hopefully this fad has passed, but in March Gadling‘s Heather Poole uncovered what she called the “hottest trend on the airplane since the mile high club“: airplane passengers taking self-portraits in the lavatories.

On a subsequent post Poole referred to these photographers as members of the “laviators club” and posted a second slideshow of this emerging sub-genre of the self-portrait.

But is it a trend? Or is it just bored airplane passengers looking for entertainment having already finished reading the SkyMall catalog?

Evidence that’s it’s an emerging fad:

• 185 results on a search for “lavatory airplane” on Flickr
• t-shirt in the works
• mention on another blog
• YouTube video

There’s also ample proof that this concept of laviators has fizzled (if it ever took off in the first place):

• no entry in Urban Dictionary
• no entry in Wikipedia
• eight results on a search for “laviator” on Flickr

Now, I’m not anti-photographing lavatories–and I have a slideshow of historic European toilets to prove it.

But what’s the attraction of an airplane’s restroom? If a visit to one is memorable, it’s usually not for a good reason. And taking a self-portrait in one? That’s just evidence that you didn’t do a better job preparing for your flight by using the bathroom in the airport.

(Photo: Flickr/davitydave)