Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Eco-Tourism



North America
Bathurst Inlet Lodge - Nunavut, Canada
Birch Pond Lodge - Willow, Alaska
Concordia Eco-Tents - St John, US Virgin Isles
El Monte Sagrado Taos - Taos, New Mexico
Hotelito Desconocido - Mexico
Tiamo Resort - South Andros, Bahamas


South & Central America
Al Natural Resort - Bocas del Toro, Panama
Blancaneaux Lodge - Cayo District, Belize
Canopy Tower - Gamboa, Panama
Kapawi Ecolodge - Pastaza Province, Ecuador
Luna Lodge - Carate, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Africa
Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve - Clanwilliam, South Africa
Kaya Mawa - Likoma Island, Malawi
Pole Pole - Mafia Island Marine Park, Tanzania
Shompole - Magadi, Kenya





Europe
Scandic Simonkenttä - Helsinki, Finland
Abbey of San Pietro - Ferentillo, Italy


Middle East
Adrere Amellal Oasis - Siwa, Egypt

Asia
Green Hotel - Mysore, India
Lisu Lodge - Dton Loong, Thailand

Australia/New Zealand
Bay of Fires Lodge - Mt William Natl Park, Australia
Couran Cove Island Resort - Queensland, Australia
Paperbark Camp - Huskisson, Australia

Travel Writing

Destinations


Aix-en-Provence
Amsterdam
Barcelona
Berlin
Botswana
Cape Town
Chicago
Denver
Ensenada
Fish Hoek
Girona
Hamburg
Hermanus

Istanbul
Jamaica
Johannesburg
Key West
Kimberley
Knysna
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Livingstone
London
Madrid
Maui
Maun

Miami
Moab
Monaco
New York
Nice
Oahu
Paris
Prague
Portland
San Francisco
Simon's Town
Zimbabwe

 

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Free Stuff!



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About




Nowhere is the appeal of the airport more concentrated than in the television screens which hang in rows from terminal ceilings announcing the departure and arrival of flights and whose absence of aesthetic self-consciousness, whose workmanlike casing and pedestrian typefaces do nothing to disguise their emotional charge nor imaginative appeal. Tokyo, Amsterdam, Istanbul. Warsaw, Seattle, Rio. The screens bear all the poetic resonance of the last line of James Joyce’s Ulysses: at once a record of where the novel was written and, no less importantly, a symbol of the cosmopolitan spirit behind its composition: ‘Trieste, Zurich, Paris.’ The constant calls of the screens, some accompanied by the impatient pulsing of a cursor, suggest with what ease our seemingly entrenched lives might be altered, were we to walk down a corridor and on to a craft that in a few hours would land us in a place of which we had no memories and where no one knew our names. How pleasant to hold in mind, through the crevasses of our moods, at three in the afternoon when lassitude and despair threaten, that there is always a plane taking off for somewhere, Baudelaire’s ‘Anywhere! Anywhere!’: Trieste, Zurich, Paris.
                                                          - Alain de Botton, "The Art of Travel"

My very first journey outside of the United States was to London in October 2003, all of 19, I packed a borrowed Samsonite suitcase with my finest threads and set off across the ocean. After a sleepless flight from O'Hare to Heathrow, I disembarked and stumbled through the vagaries of immigration and transfering to Paddington Station, only to find the Underground on strike and a queue for taxis that was hundreds of people long.

Having never read a map or navigated a city: I started walking, massively oversized Samsonite suitcase in tow, breaking a wheel along a cobblestone street and occasionally asking for confirmation that I was going in the right direction. A kind man gave me his map, a woman offered to store my bag until I found my way, another gentleman called the hotel to confirm my arrival. I could not have felt more welcome on my first global journey!

I finally arrived & immediately bet on Presto Vento to win - he won, went out to eat and found a Jacques Prevert poem transcribed & trampled in the rain and met friends who are still in touch to this day. On subsequent trips to London the tube has been on strike three of four times and I'm reminded with each arrival that I'm there for the detours, not the charted path. Since then I have embraced serendipity and pack for foreign adventures with vague notions of history and geography, but know that providence will anyway guide me along my intended journey.

Where I've Been
Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Botswana, Cape Town, Chicago, Denver, Ensenada, Fish Hoek, Girona, Hamburg, Hermanus, Istanbul, Jamaica, Johannesburg, Key West, Kimberley, Knysna, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Livingstone, London, Madrid, Maui, Maun, Miami, Moab, Monaco, New York, Nice, Oahu, Paris, Prague, Portland, San Francisco, Simon's Town, Zimbabwe.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Sponsor



You can now show your loving support by way of donation or gifting something on my
Amazon Wish List! In exchange for your considerable generosity, I will send you a print of your choosing from any of the photos you see posted on my blog or in my flickr stream. Thanks for your continued encouragement!


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