Category: Blog
The Tourist Stereotype and Why You Should Give a Crap
The irony is more than a little pronounced. In its most recent campaign, G Adventures—a small group adventure travel company with whom I work—implies that one can shed the ‘tourist’ mantle by choosing to travel with it. So what the hell are they up to?
The Whole Picture: El Castillo at Chichen Itza
El Castillo is a step-pyramid that dominates the centre of the Yucatan’s Chichen Itza site. Built by the pre-Columbian Maya sometime between the ninth and twelfth centuries, El Castillo served as a temple to the god Kukulkan, a Mayan deity that resembled a feathered serpent.
2011: The Year in Review
Happy New Year! We hope that as you read this you’re full of all kinds of inspiration and motivation for the year ahead. To close out 2011 (and look ahead to 2012), we’re reviewing some of our blogging accomplishments, our highlights and, moreover, taking a moment to thank our readers!
The Whole Picture: Top of Bartolome
With a total land area of just 1.2 sq km, the tiny islet of Isla Bartolome offers some of the most beautiful and strangest landscapes in the Archipelago.
The Whole Picture: Espanola’s Cliffs
Just 61 sq km in size, Espanola offers great wildlife—sea lions, sea birds and the largest marine iguanas of Galapagos.
Tourist Season Ends Today
G Adventures declares an end to ‘Tourist Season’ today and has launched a global campaign dubbed ‘You’ll Never Forget It’. Coinciding with the introduction of its 2012 brochure lineup, the campaign features a website—and an international search for the new faces of the tour operator’s 2013 brochures.
Ain’t Nothing But a ‘G’ Thing!
In celebration of its name change—and the company’s new freedom from legal naming hassles—G Adventures has posted a lip dub video to George Michael’s Freedom and a contest to match! The prize? A trip anywhere they go!
The Numbers Behind the Travel Industry
Did you ever wonder how much bacon tourists eat each year? Or how much urine gets slyly excreted into hotel pools around the world? Check it out!
Contemplating a Career Break on Labour Day?
Labour Day, a North American holiday created to promote work/life balance is here! However, according to a new Gap Adventures Poll, nearly half of Canadians struggle to achieve that balance.
Urban Backpacking Myths
A list of a few of the most famous urban travel legends that are still doing the rounds on the backpacker circuit
Capturing Liminal Spaces while Travelling
A liminal space is a place of transition, a place of waiting and not knowing. It’s a place that travellers are, no doubt, intimately familiar with! Check out our photos of liminal spaces!
The Whole Picture: Chile’s Cueca
The Cueca, a unique dance form native to Chile, is credited as being the country’s national dance.
Rick Mereki’s Move, Learn, Eat
Filmmaker Rick Mereki took three everyday concepts and turned them into incredible and compelling short films—with travel informing their beauty.
The Whole Picture: Machu Picchu Tilt Shift
This week’s photo incorporates tilt shifting. Tilt-shift style miniature photos are simply photos of real life scenes that are made to look like miniature scale models. This is done using either a special camera lens or with software, instead of a special lens.
Making the Most of a Morning in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the ultimate cosmopolitan city. Almost 40 per cent of Argentina’s 33m citizens live in Greater Buenos Aires, and these ‘porteños’ are justifiably proud of their home.
Our 7 Links: Seven Blasts from the Past
We’ve learned so much since our very first blog post back in July of 2009. Although we never really know if a post will take off or or fade into obscurity, with a few years of experience we’re now better able to make a much more accurate guess.
The Whole Picture: Newfoundland Root Cellar
Important to many in rural Newfoundland, the root cellars kept vegetables cool, yet frost-free and edible during the long winter months.
How Many Countries Have You Visited?
Whether you’re eagerly waiting for your first passport to be delivered or you could give the most interesting man in the world a run for his money—it’s always a good time to beef up your obituary.
The Whole Picture: Caretaker’s Hut at Machu Picchu
On the funerary plain, overlooking Machu Picchu, stands the Caretaker’s Hut. The hut is one of the few structures in Machu Picchu that has a thatched roof. Open on one side—with three windows looking out to the Urubamba valley below—this is one of the best places in Machu Picchu to get the classic photo of the Lost City of the Incas—and Huayna Picchu looming above!
The Whole Picture: The Eaves of Wat Phra Kaew
This weeks’ ‘Whole Picture’ is doing double duty, serving also as our entry for ‘Travel Photography Roulette’.
