Archive for July, 2009
What We’re Reading: July 31, 2009
Each friday, we share those sites and articles—those interesting links—that we are currently reading or have recently read. Kathryn and I will be away on vacation from Saturday, August 1 through Saturday, August 8. While we’ve been working hard on getting our editorial calendar in order, we’re going to spend our vacation generating new content. So, in our absence, be sure to check out the following sites to get your fill of travel-related blogging goodness!
Best of Two Go RTW: July 2009
Looking for something great to read? Check out our ‘Best of the Month’! In it we feature our fabulous five: our five most-read posts, our five busiest comment contributors, and our five top referring sites.
Snap de la semaine: Namdaemun Market, Seoul
Ginseng root at Namdaemun Market in Seoul, South Korea. Namdaemun means ‘Great South Gate,’ and was the main southern gate to the old city. The market is one of the oldest continually running markets in South Korea.
Couchsurfing Alternatives
The theory that almost everyone on Earth is connected to anyone else via a small number of acquaintances seems to hold true for backpackers, too. In the years following our time spent abroad (we were worked abroad in the period 2002–04), a number of online services sprung up to illustrate this interconnectedness and help fellow travelers escape the tourist bubble.
What’s on the back of your toilet?
Our goal was to create a ‘one-question interview’—a question that could stand alone and pierce through the veneer of generalizations! Today, we think that we might have found it:
How to Burst the Tourist Bubble
Breaking the tourist bubble requires an open mind. Included herein are some tips that will have you enjoying mind-expanding ‘interactions’ in lieu of pocket-emptying ‘transactions’.
What We’re Reading: July 24, 2009
Each friday, Kathryn and I share those sites and articles that we are currently reading or have recently read. In this week’s “What We’re Reading”, we’ve compiled a number of articles discovered as we wound our way through the web.
Snap de la semaine: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Water taxi driver nearby Varanasi’s ‘Old City’—a quarter full of crowded narrow winding lanes that are flanked on other side by by roadside shops and an immeasurable number of temples.
Buying into a tourist trap? Reward programs revisited
Chua, over on THINKChua, takes a look at travel credit cards, citing our post on choosing a travel rewards program as well as well as Tim Morrison’s post on why he uses the Starwoods Amex and Schwab Visa Cards as his primary credits cards. Their concusion? Travel rewards programs are a trap—and define you as a tourist.
Is CouchSurfing safe?
Couchsurfing came to fame as an online alternative to booking into hostels, an open space where a spot on the couch was offered for free. But is the site edging toward infamy as an online haven for con men looking to defraud hapless backpackers?
World Hum and Brave New Traveler Compared
While both publications deserve a spot among the feeds in your RSS reader, we find ourselves returning more often to BNT. Although the writing at WH is top-notch—better even in some respects to that at BNT—the social aspect of BNT is the draw. It’s just full of personality because it’s filled with personalities.
Snap de la semaine: Broom Point, Newfoundland
This week’s ‘Snap de la semaine’ is of the Mudge family boathouse in Broom Point, Newfoundland. The three Mudge brothers and their families fished from the site from 1941 until 1975, when they sold the property to Gros Morne National Park.
Ten Tunes To Download Before Your Next Trip
Picking the perfect song playlist for your travels can make a trip more enjoyable—whether you’re chilling on an airplane listening on your headset or bouncing around in the back of bus.
What We’re Reading: July 17, 2009
Each friday, Kathryn and I share those sites and articles that we are currently reading or have recently read. This week’s theme: Tips for travellers!
Building a better travel blog
Often, a blog takes on a life of its own. Because of its organic nature and the way that readership and comments shape content, a blog often deviates from its planned concept into new spaces.
Why Go Round-The-World?
Travelling long-term allowed us a means to live, to paraphrase Duane Elgin, in a manner that is outwardly simpler yet inwardly richer. We believe that long-term travel is a way of surrendering to the unknown and embracing the world on its terms.
Bill Bryson’s In A Sunburned Country
Every time Bill Bryson walks out the door memorable travel literature threatens to break out.
Snap de la semaine: July 11, 2009
A longboat at anchor rests in the sand at low tide in Loh Dalum Bay, Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. This picture was taken just a few months before the tsunami in 2004. We’ve forgetten the name of the resort in back.
What We’re Reading: July 10, 2009
Each friday, Kathryn and I share those sites and articles that we are currently reading or have recently read. In this week’s “What We’re Reading”, we’ve compiled a number of articles discovered as we wound our way through the web.
Down and Out: Scammed in Ho Chi Minh City
The city that bears Uncle Ho’s name is both delightful and disconcerting. HCMC is Vietnam on methamphetamine. The ante’s always up in this city.
