Some of the reasons why virtual travel, while a nice aid, will never replace the non-virtual version. Recorded during my Siberian trips of 2005 and 2008 while updating Lonely Planet’s Trans-Siberian Railway guide.
We’ve made a few small tweaks to the Destination Analysis Report this week:
1.We’ve added a new report for the UK Hostels Market – the set of destinations is different to the other 4 reports as there seems to be a different set of users searching for hostels than hotels/car hire etc.
2. We’ve included the Week Number and Source Market on the first sheet to ensure you know what market we’ve analysed and how up-to-date the report is.
3. In the previous version, there was an issue with one or two graphs not showing – this has been fixed.
Please find the analysis here:
Hostels
*Please note: The Holidays report uploaded this morning (21st Feb) contained an issue around 2011′s data. This has now been corrected and re-posted. Apologies for any inconveniences this may have caused.
Posted by Stephen Cunningham, Industry Analyst UK and Ireland.
Tomorrow I head on a three-city visit to Canada: Toronto, Montreal and St John’s in Newfoundland. It’s part of a series of seven videos of seven Canadian cities and how one can ‘experience a place like a local.’
It’s far from my first time there (that would be age nine to Alberta; above). But to prep, I’ve been reading books like mad. Canadian books. Getting distracted on tangents like, hey, ‘what is Canada?’
A lot of people think of Canada as just this:
But it’s not the subject most Canadian authors seem to dwell on. ‘Canada’ — as a nation, an identity, a concept — is much more confusing. The question has a history.
The country’s relationship with the US and Europe weighs heavy. In the 1943 book Unknown Country, Bruce Hutchinson tries to explain his nation for an American audience. He calls it a ‘dual personality – not fully formed’ but touts its name — an Iroquoian word for ‘village’ (that for the world’s second-largest country!) — as ‘wondrous and sweet’: Canada!
He writes, ‘The very word is like a boy’s shout in the springtime!’ I love that.
Karen Connelly, meanwhile, says of Canada in her book Touch the Dragon, that much remains unanswered. ‘Even the name is a question.’ (Can a da? Get it?)
Some define Canada by its niceness. Apparently a woman found with amnesia in California was taken for a Canadian simply by how incredibly nice she was (turns out she was from Edmonton). And in Moose Jaw Beauty Secrets, Albertan author Will Ferguson notes how the Trans-Canadian Highway marks each end as ‘Mile Zero’: ‘two separate (but equal!) Mile Zeros.’ Negotiation is nice.
Most of these books seem to begin their survey with Quebec. Canada seems ever fascinated with its relationship with, what some call, the ROC (‘Rest of Canada’) — something made fun of by Why I Hate Canadians author Will Ferguson.
The Great Canada Novel — Hugh MacLennan’s wonderful Two Solitudes from 1945 — takes on both sides of English/French-Canadian Montreal. In it, he calls Canada ‘a large red splash on the map… still raw’ and proclaims, ‘if this sprawling half-continent has a heart, here it is.’ In Quebec.
It’s perhaps interesting to note that the Great Canada Novel is not currently in print in the USA.
Rather than join the discussion, yet, maybe I’ll just shout that next spring.
Look at that. Paris’ Cafe de la Paix in the ’20s. Shot on silent ‘travel reel’ by American traveler named Burton Holmes. Apparently went on first Trans-Siberian, got first film of Japan. And coined the term ‘travelogue.’
I wish people still wore hats.
Here’s the video from Travel Film Archive:
For many people, Nebraska is one of those states in the way. Between cities and mountains, here and there. But when I first drove into Nebraska, it meant something. Growing up in Oklahoma, Nebraska was a fierce yet respected football rival. So crossing the Kansas-Nebraska line for the first time, I leaned forward in my car set — itching to note, survey, savor all the differences that come from something as artificial as a random state boundary not based on geography.
Attention soon turned to something else: the massive midnight cloud moving in from the west.
I grew up in tornado alley, but the only time I’ve been scared was that drive into Nebraska. As hail started to fall sideways across the deserted highway, I kept moving forward. Should I stop out here? A radio DJ was yelling, ‘This is not a test. We under a severe tornado warning. Get someplace safe.’ I finally reached a small town, and pulled behind a small dental office and waited for the storm to pass wondering if Okies were really welcome or not.
Dean Reed, who died 25 years ago today in East Berlin, is my vote for one of the most fascinating people of all time. He outran a mule, picked up a random hitch-hiker with a Capitol Records contact that led to his recording contract, got huge in Uruguay, had dinner dates with Che Guevara, was the first rock star to appear in the USSR, and made movies with Yul Brynner, and eventually one billion people — per some estimates — knew who he was. About ten of which were Americans.
For free MP3s, see this German site.
As co-host of the TBEX NYC event tonight, I debuted a theory: all trips can be broken down into one or more of six primary reasons why we travel. Making up, like primary colors, all blends of trips we take. A periodic table of travel elements.
Here they are, in portable flashcard version:
We travel to communicate. Uncle Sedgwick moved to Oregon? Go see him.
Like relaxing with bad TV, we sometimes travel to veg out — on a beach, in a forest, on a mountain. To forget the muck of ennui our lives have become. Or a job. Or a relationship. Or a college football score.
We travel to ‘tick off’ a bucket list of dream places, experiences around the world. Like the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal or St Louis’ Gateway Arch.
A natural partner in ‘tick-off’ travelers is showing off. That comes when we pick up experiences solely for talking points to bore friends and family members when we get back. Eg ‘Dessert? Did you just say dessert? Reminds me of the Sahara — I went on a camel safari there in ’98…’
[Note: Andrew Zimmern of the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods actually stole -- with permission -- this 'Show-Off' flashcard at TBEX.]
The flip-side of showing off is what we personally absorb when traveling — when we travel to learn. Of different cultures, languages, biting habits of strange gray dogs.
But food is biggest, for many — and often for me. I sometimes call those monuments, museums, markets and parks we visit on trips as the ‘space between meals.’ Often, it’s the food that anchors the trip. Even when the pizza comes with ketchup applied in fat dollops.
We did it before: assembled an astonishing from-scratch list of Top 10 Travel Knock-Knock Jokes, and this time we’re upping the ante.
1. Knock knock
Who’s there?
French Guiana
French Guiana who?
French Gu-iana mad hunt for some tight-fitting jeans out here. You have any?
2. Knock knock
Who’s there?
Ecuador
Ecuador who?
E-cuador can’t even buy a pack of gum these days. Can I bum a fiver?
3. Knock knock
Who’s there?
Bhutan
Bhutan who?
Bhutan some mustard to this sandwich! It’s a bit dry!
4. Knock knock
Who’s there?
Iceland
Iceland who?
I-celandered your neighbor when I said his doorbell was broke. It’s actually working!
5. Knock knock
Who’s there?
Eurail
Eurail who?
Eu-railly indecisive about opening your door. This is the fifth time I’ve knocked, ‘bro!
6. Knock knock
Who’s there?
Mediterranean
Mediterranean who?
Med-i-terran-ean a tunnel and sure had to reverse my course mighty quick. Shouldn’t a been walking on the train tracks.
7. Knock knock
Who is it, kindly?
Adriatic
Adriatic who?
A’driatictionary move to a knock is opening the fricking door. C’mon man!
8. Knock knock
Yes, who is, please tell?
Passport
Passport who?
Pass-portland, to the west, and you’ll find excellent gold-sand beaches — and less hipster annoyance.
9. Knock knock
Who’s there?
Atlas
Atlas who?
At-last! I’ve been knocking for hours!
10. Knock knock
Who is it?
Colorado
Colorado who?
Call-a-rado surfer by his name-o, Mark Richards
Yesterday I met with Robert Verdi, fashion/jewelry expert of the Robert Verdi Show, to talk travel and travel fashion (I lost the nerve to bring in some of my regrettable Wrights Brothers-esque travel pants) as well as the Professor on Gilligan’s Island and Robert’s Travel Twitter party 7-8pm Thursday (EST) — you can follow it at #rvtips on Twitter.
Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, why? Why do we travel? Part of the reason — a big part — is to track down the best bathroom door in the world. So far, this one from Churchill, Manitoba is the winner.
