TRAVEL DAY!!

12 of 12 for June is another travel day! This time to Prague!! I was VERY excited about this trip, I am taking my mom, for her first trip outside the US and going to see an international theatre festival, which is awesome. No theme for me this month since the day is a theme in and of itself. For reference this project was created by Chad Darnell, and you can see more entries at his blog.
Getting ready, doing the last few minutes of packing and gathering. This is the view into my suitcase. That's my "big" camera, not the one I use for this project.

My other last minute preperation, printing up materials for geocaching. there are a TON in Prague.

Quick lunch. Our flight is at 7:45, but it's an 1:30 travel time to the airport on the subway, (I refuse to pay a taxi $50.) and since it is an international flight they ask us to check in 3 hours in advance.

Mom and Mark just before we head out.

About 2 hours later we make it to the AirTrain the connection between the subway and the airport.

In line at the SwissAir check in. We waited here for 45 minutes before we realized that this wasn't the line we had to be in. That laine was around the corner out of our line of sight.

In the terminal you can begin to see the problems ahead. That's our plane in the distance. It is half an hour past boarding.

We finally board an hour late, and begin to push back. We don't get very far.

Two hours on the runway. We have now officially missed our connecting flight from Geneva to Prague, no matter how fast this plane flies.


Mom entertains herself reading guide books while we wait out taking off.

The flight info on screen at the time of our take off, about 11:30. We still have a long way to go, and problems to deal with when we get there.

Midnight in NYC by my watch, so the 12th is officially over. As you can see we didn't make it very far. When we arrived in Geneva we were told that there were no more direct flights to Prague for the day. We flew to Zurich where they took my carry-on away, saying it was too large, even though I had already carried it on once. A few minutes later I realized my boarding passes for the next flight were in it, so in Zurich that took some dealing with because we had paper tickets, not electronic ones due to the snafu earlier. We finally arrive in Prague at 8pm the next day, and even though in real time we had been traveling for 24 hours counting the train, we were only 6 hours behind schedule in Prague.

UFOs

I've always been fascinated by the possibility of exterrestrial life (sidenote: the Harvard News Office released a story this week about the potential for life on Mars), stimulated in part by a childhood prank to a UFO reporting agency. Are UFOs real? Perhaps. I don't know. Fact is, if enough people corroborate the same story, are they lying?

A few hours ago, I uploaded a photo to Flickr showing a night shot of Boston's Custom House, taken from Christopher Columbus Park. Due to a pair of light bulbs in the foreground, it appears the moon is shining above. That "moon" is really glare from the lights.

The glare got me thinking about UFOs, which led me to a January 2007 story in the Chicago Tribune about an unidentified flying object that allegedly hovered over O'Hare Airport, as witnessed by airport personnel, before shooting back into the clouds.

During a roadtrip to the Canadian Maritimes a few years ago, I visited the Chapel Hill MuseumWikipedia provides more details.

I bring up O'Hare and Shag Harbour as examples of dozens of people independently sighting the same object. How can one be skeptical?

By contrast, when individuals report sightings, how can one not be skeptical?

According to the National UFO Reporting Center, UFO sightings in Massachusetts were reported in Wakefield, West Bridgewater, Springfield, Norton, Middleboro, Randolph, Worcester, Foxboro, Florence, Northampton, Brewster, and Lynn. And those reports are only from the beginning of April.

What bothers me is these UFO sightings are reported on an individual basis 95% of the time, usually anonymous. Unless the sighting is independently confirmed by other people in other locations and unknown to each other, where is the proof the sighting is not a prank, like my childhood episode? in Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia. Housed in a converted church, the museum provides general information on the town as well as press clippings and alleged photos of a UFO crash in the harbor in 1967. UFOlogists compare the incident to Roswell.

Belly Dancing in Istanbul

We went to Istanbul a few years ago over the Valentine’s day weekend. February in Istanbul…it’s freakin’ cold! It’s a beautiful city and the Turks were very friendly and helpful bar the usual 1 or 2 locals anywhere you go in the world who try to rip you off or take you for a ride. That’s exactly what a cab driver did there so be careful with those crazy cabbies in their shitty little yellow cabs.

There’s quite a bit to see there,especially in the Old Town where the Mosques, Ayia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and other attractions are really fascinating. There’s so much history there. The apple tea, for tourists, is also quite nice when it’s cold out.

We took a boat ride along the Bosphorus. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world but it was kind of fun to see the nice palaces and buildings along the shoreline of a famous waterway. It’s worth doing if you are in Istanbul for a few days.

While there we also went to a belly dancing evening which was good fun. The dancers were clearly interested in the tourists from the richer nations as the American and Brit were constantly offered to come on stage and paid more attention to than we were. It’s for the tip at the end you see. Might be bigger, might not. Anyway, they fed us and danced for us and it was quite a nice evening. At the end though, the place turned into a strip club. Sitting there with my would-be wife, a waiter came to me after the show with a “free” entry card to the upstairs strip club. Dude, I’m attached or does that not bother you?? No big deal, we just laughed it off and even more so as we left when we realised the belly dancers were also the strippers.

Ukraine

When in central Europe be sure to consider visiting Ukraine that lies in the south east of Central Europe and is a newly formed independent country that borders Russia, Byelorussia as well as Moldova and Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and finally Poland on land. Ukraine also has Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey as its neighbors on the sea. The country itself is largely flat and without many trees and is best described as being a “steppe”. However, there are mountains know as the Crimean Mountains as also the Carpathians in the west, though you can be sure they do not rise too high into the sky.

Tourists to Ukraine will find the climate appealing as it is mostly moderate and even winters do not see any extremes of weather though you would appreciate the regular falling of snow when rivers and lakes freeze up. Such a favorable climate has helped the Ukraine into having many agricultural areas where wheat, maize, corn as also buckwheat are often grown as too is red and green vegetables and many fruits, melons and the tasty berries. In fact, Ukraine is also a major producer of sugar, which is more than sufficient for home consumption with plenty remaining to be exported, which is why it is one of the main centers of sugar production in the world. There are also many natural resources found in the Ukraine.

The country owes its independence to the popularity of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika especially around 1988-89 in which year the country saw the formation of the “People’s Movement of Ukraine”. Two years later, the country achieved its independence and much was expected of it in terms of economic wellbeing though it had to go through a severe economic slowdown that saw it reeling under the weight of five digit inflation during the 1990s. However, it turned the corner in 2000 and has since grown steadily in economic terms.

Ukraine is also the forty-fourth largest country in the world and is also Europe’s second largest and it currently also enjoys the status of being among the thirty largest economies of the world. Its population consists mostly of Ukrainians who constitute about 77.8 percent with another 17.3 percent being Russians with minute amounts of Belarussians, Moldovans, Crimean Tartars and Bulgarians and Hungarians along with Romanians, Poles, Jews, Armenians and Greeks and Tartars making up the remainder of its population.

As far as religion is concerned, the major religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity that is made up of three Church bodies and a lesser religion practiced in the country is Eastern Rite Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Most of its culture is an amalgamation of its eastern as well as western neighbor’s influences as seen in the architecture and music and dance of Ukraine. It is also a country with a pronounced food culture that goes back many thousands of years and the diet of the average Ukrainian would include pork, chicken, beef and fish and mushrooms. Also, included in the Ukrainian food are many potatoes, grains and also vegetables accompanied by various types of bread.

Ecoescape green travel guide

Whether you want to live the retro life in a vintage American caravan, pretend you're an ewok living in a treetop house, or explore some of the UK's new generation of organic pubs you will find it in Ecoescape's green travel guide. The handy book provides information on the UK's many eco-destinations, with tips and ideas on how to have a responsible, sustainable vacation within the British Isles. It also encourages you to travel green by providing details of bus routes and train stations. In this age where we are encouraged to reduce our carbon footprint, and reject air travel, it's good to know there are so many quirky and exciting destinations on our doorstep. The green guide is £3.65, but is available for £2.99 (including p&p) during June from ecoescape.org

Travel: We gotta get outa here….

With the massive disappointment, stemming from the brilliant weather last week and the change to our normal coldish, wetish June, I’ve been getting friends asking me how best to use the internet to get out of Northern Ireland for a week’s break! So I said I’d post a few sites and that maybe readers might post their favourites as well!

So here goes - but remember that the best deals may already be gone and that you must read the terms and conditions on these sites very carefully.

That said, you can still grab a bargain if you keep looking!
First port of call is to plump for a straight flight to anywhere sunny and the budget airlines are where you start.

Try:-

• Easyjet - From Belfast International - to loads of destinations across Europe.
• Ryanair - From City of Derry - to London Stansted, Glasgow and from there to loads of places across Europe.
• Jet2 - From Belfast International to Barcelona, Pisa, Toulouse etc
• Aer Berlin - From Belfast International to mostly German destinations plus Stansted.
• British Airways - Used to be a contender but pretty useless now.
• BMIbaby - Fine little airline but only good fro UK hopes to Manchester, Heathrow, Cardiff, Birmingham
• Zoom - if you fancy a wee Belfast to Canada jaunt!

And then you’ll need a hotel!

You have loads of choices here. You can use the airlines recommended links from their sites and they can be good or… you could spend some time checking out the hotels on the web, drop their booking desk a wee email and hang around to see what comes back. On a recent fishing like this trip like this I saved myself £200 on the accommodation alone. So I’d suggest typing this into Google: Hotels + YOUR destination (eg Rome) and see what happens! Nothing ventured - nothing gained eh!

You should always do a wee comparison with an established site to see how you are doing. Try this one as a tester.

Hotel Connect

Caution!!!!!!

That is how you might start but remember that you have to be careful with all these things - the stupidest things tend to bite. So read the documentation really well. I remember a bloke standing at an Easyjet gate arguing that he really didn’t need a passport to travel to Spain. You do and he didn’t! An expensive mistake to make. Read TWICE - click ONCE is a good motto to have.

Hapy surfing and I hope you find a bargain.

Any more tips out there Northern Ireland?

Paris Travel. Monet: Inspiration

Claude Monet's HouseClaude Monet is said to have seen the village of Giverny while passing by on a train. He immediately fell in love with the place and made it his home from 1883 until his death in 1926. The house and the surrounding gardens were the inspiration for some of his most famous works; a walk through the grounds will transport any visitor familiar with the great Impressionist’s works from canvas to reality. The house and meticulously maintained grounds are today overseen by the Claude Monet Foundation.

The grounds, especially in the spring and summer when everything is in bloom, are truly incredible. The water garden and Japanese bridge both make for some wonderful reflective photography; don’t forget to take your camera. A fun game we played was to try to take photos of the grounds that were composed the same as some of Monet’s prints. Clos Normand, the Monet family house on the property, is also worth a stroll, as the hallways and stairways are filled with prints. The collection also gives visitors insight into Monet’s interest in Japanese prints.

The village of Vernon is the closest access point to Giverny by train. Either walk (very pleasant during nice weather) the 5 kilometers or take a bus to the house and gardens. There are bus tours that run from Paris to Giverny as a half day trip (include Versailles for a full day). Giverny’s proximity to central Paris (about 80 kilometers up the Seine) is both a blessing and a curse, as the grounds can often be overrun with school groups and tourists. Try for the middle of the week to avoid some of the hordes. Consider going on a rainy day with an umbrella if you really want some tranquility.

The Girls of YML Do Portland

Here we are with yet another installment of the hugely popular segment: The Girls of YML Do... [enter your city here]". We're here in Portland, OR on behalf of iStockphoto hanging out with the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, otherwise known as "Alties." Portland is just a beautiful city - I'm so thrilled Sly could come down and join me.

So it's the AAN national convention and let me tell you, these folks know how to put on a conference. For example (and IDG, I hope you're reading this):

1. Great breakfast and lunch served in the expo hall every day, with coffee/tea/sodas served 'round 3:00 (Yes I understand this would be quite impossible with a crowd the size of Macworld, but it's nice all the same.)

2. They publish a newsletter every day posting photos of events from the night before, and what's happening that day. It's not huge, just four pages printed on 11 x 17 paper and folded. Efficient. Some of the information in said newsletter includes (and this is a quote from today's issue): " Travel Tip: the AAN Fridge. Need a spot to chill your brews? Try an old AAN favorite - just fill your sink with ice, and toss 'em in!" There's even a picture in case the description isn't clear enough.

3. One of the vendor booths has a huge margarita and daqueri machine. I kid you not. They are handing out flyers that say "Drink while you think." The dude with the chocolates at his booth doesn't stand a chance.

4. The dude with the chocolates at his booth is this guy (see picture). His name is Gary Brisendine and the sign on his booth says, "The Bitter Single Guy." He's a relationship advice columnist.

5. Free wireless in the expo hall.

6. Last night they hosted a reception with free wine from local Willamette Valley wineries and beer from the local micro brewery, all in the Portland Museum of Art's outdoor sculpture garden. They even hired a band with dancers on stilts. Click the photo to see the movie; it's bizarre.

7. Tonight they've arranged for a big yellow school bus (called the Bar Fly) to take us on a tour of (wait for it)... PORTLAND'S STRIP CLUBS.

:::::just let that one soak in for a moment::::::

::::and maybe just a few more moments for maximum impact::::::

8. When asked what kind of special event I'd like to sponsor at this show, I jokingly told the coordinator that an iStockphoto wine tasting would rock. She made it happen. Two local wineries are participating. It starts at 4:15 today IN THE EXPO HALL RIGHT NEXT TO MY BOOTH.

See what I'm saying?!

So last night, after Sly and I had some delicious cocktails at the museum, we did a little quality shopping at the museum store then took a walk on over to a restaurant I had been to six years ago called Jake's. That's really all I knew about it, was the name, and it's special to me because one of my favorite drinks was born there: Crown with Diet Coke and lime. (The bartender accidentally put a lime in thinking I'd asked for it, which I hadn't. The combo was so good I've stuck with it ever since.)

What I didn't realize was that Jake's is one of the 10 most popular seafood restaurants in the country and it's 110 years old. Humphrey Bogart frequented this place for Thor's sake! What a nice surprise that was. Fantastic food (we had fresh, wild Alaskan salmon from the Copper River, flown in that day), a terrific wine celler and a really unique atmosphere. If you are ever in Portland, you've got to go. The name of it is Jake's Famous Crawfish.

On the way to the restaurant, there was another shop that made quite an impact on me six years ago that I had hoped to stumble upon again. It's called Spartacus Leathers and it's an, um, "specialty shop" of sorts. Lo and behold it was right where I remembered it - directly across from Jake's. After perusing the front room where all manner of "creative clothing" can be had, we signed waivers, provided ID, and checked our bags at the counter - then we were lead through chain mail curtains into the "inner sanctum" of Spartacus. Our eyes were wide as they fell upon two huge walls, floor to ceiling, of "devices."

A Boston Legend Gets a Makeover

After a $47-million dollar renovation, The Children's Museum, one of Boston's most-visited attractions, reopened to the public on April 14. Reflecting a need to be more child-friendly and accessible, the museum's new features include an additional 23,000 square feet plus a fully landscaped outdoor plaza. Inside, visitors will find a climbing wall in the new atrium/lobby, a state-of-the-art stage for interactive theater performances, and a science playground/gallery focusing on environmental stewardship. Continuing with the environmental focus, the building renovations include energy-efficient lighting and plumbing, storm-water reclamation systems, and a "green" roof. The renovations were a joint effort between Cambridge Seven Associates (for the building) and Michael Van Alkenburg Associates (for the landscaping), among other New England architecture and design firms. The museum's famous 40-foot-tall Hood Milk Bottle, a city landmark, was also refurbished (it celebrated its 30th anniversary on April 20).

Have Flute Will Travel: Chip Shelton On The Road

Chip Shelton is part of that rare breed, an almost exclusive jazz flautist (save for the occasions where he plays soprano saxophone.) He has provided the jazz audience with several notable recordings including, Peacetime and Flute Bass-ics.

Shelton has a quasi-series of live recordings in the brew entitled Have Flute Will Travel. The first, Stop 1, was recorded in Berlin in 2003 and the second, Stop 2, in Cape May in 2006. The two releases offer a glimpse of Shelton in two different band formats, one piano based and one organ based. Both are entertaining and make a strong argument for the flute as a frontline jazz instrument (Herbie Mann excepted in my book).

Chip Shelton
Have Flute Will Travel Stop 1: Berlin
Summit Records
2004

Shelton’s Berlin stop employs a piano-guitar quintet that is effectively arranged for a flute-led line-up. Because of the gentle dynamics of the flute, Shelton is careful when pulling out the rhythm section stops. Nevertheless, the mix often finds him overpowered by the rhythm section but not so badly as to ruin the artistic value of the recording.

Shelton has a great respect for trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist John Coltrane, as indicated by his repertoire choices. These include the Davis vehicle “Green Dolphin Street,” and the clever Davis/Coltrane medley of “Impressions”/”So What,” as Coltrane fashioned his famous “Impressions” after the great Kind Of Blue (CBS, 1959). This particular medley is exciting in its abandon—drummer Kenny Martin plays like the late Tony Williams possessed.

Shelton shows no fear of pianist Thelonious Monk's quirky work either, opening the concert with a swinging “Well, You Needn’t.” But it is the funk portion of his show, in this case “Listen Here” and “I’m Coming Home Baby,” where guitarist Veronika Vogel turns up the tube-fat distortion and wails, that really kicks. Have Flute Will Travel Stop 1: Berlin is an exciting introduction to Shelton’s live performance.

Chip Shelton
Have Flute Will Travel Stop 2: Cape May
Summit Records
2007

Following Have Flute Will Travel Stop 1: Berlin by three years, Shelton’s follow-up, the 2CD set Have Flute Will Travel Stop 2: Cape May, increases the amount of music while reprising several of the pieces from Stop 1—but this time with a guitar-organ combo. This format allows for a looser, funkier environment in which Shelton can solo. Here, he takes on saxophonist Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas” and for the most part pulls it off. The flute is just a bit thin, but that is more a function of the instrument. Restricted to Shelton’s chops, the discussion can only focus on the flautists true mind’s ear for being able to drop the barometric pressure and raise the humidity of the music.

Guitarist Lou Volpe provides a very similar function for Shelton as did Veronika Vogel on Stop 1. He can comp like Joe Pass and solo like the love child of Wes Montgomery and Philip Catherine. Shelton couples Miles Davis’ “All Blues” with Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t,” raising the funk factor even more. But it is on Herbie Mann’s “Memphis Underground” that Shelton and Vogel tear things up, propelled by Doug Carn’s organ. “Green Dolphin Street” takes on a whole new shine with the organ combo, trading the pate and champagne of Stop 1 for the pig’s feet and beer of Stop 2. The two discs make a good set for demonstrating Chip Shelton’s wide talent.

Ask the travel expert

Ed Salvato is responsible for Gay.com/Travel, PlanetOut.com/Travel and the editor-in-chief of the award-winning Out Traveler magazine. Ed speaks often as a gay-travel expert and is frequently quoted in the press. He writes a monthly syndicated travel column and appears regularly on radio and TV. Looking for the perfect romantic gay honeymoon? How about budget recommendations, gay-friendly guesthouses or the best gay nude beaches on earth? Worried about an unfriendly reception or wondering about incidents of gay-bashing or the gay- or lesbian-friendliness of a Caribbean island? Ask Ed!

Hey Ed,

Know of any trips/adventures specifically for the HIV-positive gay man? I am single and looking for travel adventures with other HIV-positive men. Can you help?

Thanks,
Chuck

Hello, Chuck.

Thanks for your mail.

I've been in touch with various tour operators and, unfortunately, the large gay tours aren't specifically geared toward HIV-positive men. Toto Tours confirmed that they often have HIV-positive gay men on their trips, although they don't have trips tailored for just this group. However, you might want to check out the smaller, nonprofit company Healing Waters Wilderness Adventures (www.hwaters.org), based in San Francisco. They offer affordable kayaking, rafting, and hiking trips for HIV-positive men and often run day trips around the San Francisco Bay Area.

I also found two properties in Key West that sound really promising, though, one with a thrillingly fun social and the other a fabulously indulgent spa. The likelihood of meeting other HIV-positive travelers at these properties is high. Here's a quote from an article on them:

"Key West, Fla., is a popular spot for travelers who are HIV-positive. Perhaps they come for what longtime residents claim is the island's almost mystical qualities, which, many believe, can resuscitate the most pulverized of spirits."

Sounds hard to resist!Click here for more details. Hope this helps!

Ed

Hello Ed,

I am a 30-year-old gay man going on vacation with a 21-year-old straight guy. We are both fairly youthful single guys and we are looking for a party-type of atmosphere. We are looking for someplace that will fit both our needs, though. Someplace that is young, filled with single people, good nightlife and daytime activities. We would like to go someplace gay-friendly but not all gay -- someplace where gays and straights happily coexist and it wouldn't be hard for either of us to meet people.

The Caribbean is our No. 1 choice for a general destination. We would want to go in July, or more preferably August. We are open to cruises but really like the idea of an all-inclusive type of package. Can you suggest anything or specific places for us? That seems like a pretty demanding criteria list but it would be really great if both of us can get what we want.
Thanks in advance,

Mike

Hello Mike

You should both be able to find what you're looking for in Puerto Rico or Curacao. Curacao markets to the gay community (www.gaycuracao.com) and has a great reputation as a gay-friendly destination. There are plenty of nightlife suggestions for you in our Curacao guide.

As for Puerto Rico, to quote a recently updated article on Gay.com, "Puerto Rico is one of the gayest spots in the Caribbean. With much to offer gay sun worshippers, its sandy shores are American, so there are no customs formalities for travelers from the mainland. And the large number of flights from numerous gateways in the United States means convenient, inexpensive access."

But PR also has no end of entertainments for your straight traveling companion. Here's more on the fantastic historical sites, restaurants and activities on offer in Puerto Rico.

My final suggestion would be to consider joining a gay group on board a mainstream cruise. Organized by travel agencies or companies, on these kinds of vacations, you'll be traveling on a regularly scheduled cruise with a large contingent of other gay and lesbian folk, often with a "host" on board, and you'll enjoy special group amenities such as private dinner rooms, cocktail parties and shore excursions. The two biggest organizers of gay groups on board mainstream cruises are Ocean Voyager Cruise Consultants and Pied Piper Travel.
Have a look through this article to find out more about this option.Have a fantastic vacation!

Ed

Dear Ed,

I was wondering what your recommendations might be for December/holiday travel. I would appreciate both domestic and international choices! Thanks.

Kevin

Hello, Kevin,

Thanks for your mail.The holidays can be a great time to travel. Have a look at this article that we ran a few months ago. It features both exciting domestic and enticing international hot spots from Buenos Aires to Barcelona and should give you some ideas!Fort Lauderdale is another great holiday spot. To see if it's what you're looking for, have a look at our great Fort Lauderdale coverage.Hope that helps!

Ed

Hi, Ed,

I am considering a weekend getaway in Florida. Have done South Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Does that only leave Key West? Or can you suggest anywhere in Orlando (that does not involve a Mouse) that offers culture and nightlife for gay men?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Orlando's gay scene is busy and active, with a good mix of locals and tourists. There are around a dozen bars that mix both mice and men (WDW has a lot of gay employees) from friendly Wyldes to the wild Parliament House, a hot venue with a poolside patio and four bars.

As for culture, Orlando is home to the Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando Science Center and Mennello Museum of American Folk Art. The city also has opera and ballet companies. Park Avenue in Historic Winter Park has quaint restaurants, parks, and boutiques. It's home to Morse Museum of American Art with its Tiffany collection.

You should also consider St. Petersburg, a laid-back beach community on the Gulf of Mexico with white sand beaches, friendly downtown gay bars like Georgie's Alibi, and the largest Pride event in Florida. The city has an artsy spirit, regularly hosting outdoor theater, music, and festivals, and is home to the impressive Salvador Dali Museum and Museum of Fine Arts.
As for Key West, it really is the end of the rainbow. It's quaint, quirky, very laid-back and a lot of fun. Have a great trip, wherever you decide to go!

Ed

The Blue Pixel Guide to Travel Photography: Perfect Photos Every Time

Have you ever bought something that says “one size fits all” and it fits? Yeah, me too. Something that attempts to appear to everyone in reality appeals to no one. This book was designated by Peachpit as “beginner/intermediate” but I found most of it too difficult for me as a budding photographer and those things I did learn from the book probably would have frustrated an intermediate user. When I think “beginner”, I want to be walked through the very basics. Schloss started the book expecting that you had a small arsenal of photography equipment. This book isn’t for someone who has a $300 digital camera, but someone who has a much more advanced digital camera, light meters, multiple lenses and a bunch of other stuff I didn’t understand.

This book is geared towards someone who already has a photography kit and wants to learn tips and tricks on how to travel with their equipment. For example, Schloss mentions you should ship your clothes to your destination and then carry your camera equipment on the plane. Clothes can easily be replaced, camera equipment can’t. This advice is not for someone that is bringing the family digital camera on a trip to Grand Canyon.

My major concern with the book is that if someone owns several thousand dollars of camera equipment, they probably wouldn’t be considered a beginning user. Maybe it’s just me, but I would not spend $2000 in equipment and then pick up a beginner’s book. I’d first learn how to use professional equipment and then buy an advanced book.

In spite of my complaints about the book, I found parts of it helpful. There were a few pages about composing a photo using a “grid” which I had read in “iPhoto: The Missing Manual.” Other tips regarding photographing individuals or sports events required you to have a quiver of lenses to choose from to get the right shot.

A nice feature of the book is that it was visually stunning. Every few pages had amazing pictures taken from around the world. These photographers clearly are masters of their craft and a advanced digital photographer will probably be reminded of how to set an f-stop or how much light to let in for a particular photograph. We beginners just like looking at pretty pictures!

This is not a beginner book and intermediate users will only benefit if they have a set of professional or at least “prosumer” camera equipment and lenses. That person isn’t me, so I found the book of very little help.

Talking Travel with Brook Silva-Braga

Writer and director Brook Silva-Braga left his job as an Emmy award-winning producer with HBO's Inside the NFL to do what many of us dream of, and a few actually go through with: he moved all of his belongings into his parents house and set out on a year long round-the-world trip. With less than five pounds of clothing, and over 30 pounds of video equipment stuffed into a backpack, Brook traveled around the globe, chronicling the entire solo adventure in an outstanding documentary called A MAP FOR SATURDAY (read my review of it here).

We got a chance to sit down with Brook and Talk Travel. What made him quit his cushy job at HBO to travel the world for a year? Does the movie appeal more to those of us who have already traveled a great deal, or those who have yet to catch the "bug"? Find out!

We've got three copies of the DVD to give away, so stay tuned after the interview to find out how you can get your hands on one!

How much traveling had you done before you decided to take the leap and travel solo for a year?

I had traveled throughout the U.S. for work and vacationed in Europe, South America and the Caribbean but I'd never done the budget thing or traveled alone. I remember going to Peru with my family on a package tour -- perish the thought -- and one guy in the group was traveling by himself. We all looked at him like there was something a bit wrong with that.

What finally pushed you over the edge... that moment that made you decide to commit to spending a year on the road?

It's kind of ironic how it came about. I was working for HBO and they sent me to the Philippines to produce a story. I figured while I was in Asia I'd head over to the Thai beaches for a few days. So naturally one night in Ko Samui I ended up Jell-o wrestling and that led me to meet Bill and Paul, who had quit their lives in Northern Ireland for an around-the-world year. I was blown away by what they were doing and tagged along for as long as I could. But after a couple weeks work beckoned and I headed back to the New York winter knowing I wanted more of that amazing thing I had felt in Thailand. I quit my job seven months later.

My boss took me to lunch just before I left and asked if I had gotten the idea for the trip during my time in Asia. When I told him "Yes," he said, "From now on we're only sending married producers overseas."

How long had you been working for HBO before you left?

I started interning there when I was 19 and had been there full time for three years, so it wasn't easy to leave but I knew it was the right decision.

Did you leave on the trip with any sort of agreement with them regarding a job when you returned?

I asked for a one-year leave and they couldn't give me that. My boss suggested I could just take a few weeks each year and it would add up to the same thing. My co-workers were mostly supportive and a bit envious.

Was your job waiting for you when you got back?

I'm really lucky they didn't give me the one-year leave because I needed another four months to finish the documentary when I got back. Afterwards I gave a copy of it to my old boss and he very generously offered me a better position than I had when I left. But I'm in a different place now professionally and personally and an office job just isn't for me.

Did you plan on traveling with the intent of making the documentary from the beginning... or did you come up with the idea of documenting it when you started planning the details of the trip?

The idea to travel came first, but I was a little concerned about throwing away my career, so making a documentary was a way of lessening that concern. I had a million ideas for what kind of documentary to make but none of them were that good so I just started shooting my own preparations and by the time I left I knew it would be about the experience of traveling alone for a long time.

Some hardcore travelers scoff at the thought of bringing large amounts of technology along. What sort of reactions did you have from the travelers you met along the way when they saw you traveling with all of the video equipment?

The bag full of electronics made me a bit of a curiosity I think but it almost never drew a negative reaction. In a way I was an even more hardcore traveler because with all the electronic requirements for making the film my personal possessions were less than 10 pounds.

What about the people in the documentary? Were they excited about the project -- or do you think they thought this footage wouldn't actually see the light of day outside of your family and friends?

I learned that the word "documentary" is thrown around quite liberally these days. Anyone with a camera but without a script is "making a documentary." So I think most people lumped me into that group. Also, because I didn't have a crew with me and was mainly shooting people who I had become good friends with I was able to capture moments that a normal production crew wouldn't.

Now that they've had the chance to see the final product, what are they saying?

The biggest rush from this project was watching it premiere in front of 500 people in Cleveland, but the second best moment was watching it in a Berlin hotel room with my friend Jens. I met him in Australia and he's one of the main characters in the film. After his section played he got a little emotional and grabbed the DVD case. I was videoing his reaction so I know just what he said: "I will have this for the rest of my life...Like my children I tell them, 'Here, this is a movie about what I have done,' and they can see me."

For some reason I was really, really happy to do that for him. I worked 18 months on the movie and it really has very little personal meaning to me because I've seen it so many hundreds of times but for him to have a record of his trip like that is really cool.

Do you think the documentary appeals more to people who have traveled in the past or people who plan to travel in the future?

The response from both groups has been really nice. At first I was concerned that hardcore travelers would have a 'been there, done that,' attitude but they haven't. Travelers love travel I think. That's something we all learn when we get home and the only people who want to hear our travel stories are other travelers.

Where has it shown so far?

So far it's played festivals in Cleveland, Memphis, Paris and Wales. It will play at the Ischia Film Festival in Italy at the end of June and the Globians Film Festival in Potsdam, Germany this August where it will be the opening film.

Can you tell us anything about the MTV premiere?

A U.S. TV date will be announced soon and international TV details are being finalized as well. I feel very corporate saying all that.

What's in store for the future? Any more traveling?

I'm hoping to visit some friends in Europe this summer and finally make it to Iceland. I've started drawing lines through a map of Africa with hopes for this winter. There will be more documentaries from far-flung places but I think 'A Map for Saturday' says what I have to say about the experience of travel. Now I'll just enjoy it.

The decadent urban Google Maps travel guide

Gridskipper is known as Gawker Media's "decadent urban travel guide" and with their recent redesign which heavily incorporates Google Maps, I'm now calling it the "decadent urban Google Maps travel guide"! Head over to Gridskipper and check out the blog-style posts that line the page and notice the prominent Google Map thumbnail image indicating that a map exists for that post. Click on it and you enter a unique reading and exploring experience with Google Maps helping you to locate the places mentioned in that particular post. In addition to Google Maps you can also view the maps in Google Earth.

Gridskipper has long covered Google Maps related items in their global city travel posts, and I've even been known to contribute to this great travel blog from time to time. Gridskipper has recently quintupled their stable of international contributors, bringing new particular focus to the cities of Berlin, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Sydney. If you're interested check out this overview of the new Gridskipper design and a few examples of the new design in action: Where to get dumplings in New York or Where to eat French food in London.

Map and Travel Resources

Travel Boutique: Visit Spies Online’s own travel boutique to find the best travel deals, luggage and more!

Flight Aware: The site allows you to view and track activity for any private (IFR) or commercial flight; you may also see scheduled, enroute, and recent flight activity for any airport.

MapQuest: This resource can do anything from provide you with a map and/or driving directions to helping you to locate hotels in a specific area. It’s really a complete trip-planning resource.

Map Blast: Great maps and directions!

Maporama: Map any spot in the world!

MetroPlanet: This site is a gateway to subways, metros, undergrounds and other mass transit systems around the world.

Travelocity Map Center: Find a place with these incredibly detailed interactive maps/driving directions.

Universal Currency Converter: It has every known world currency!

Travelocity Custom Mini Travel Guides: Create a personalized travel guide to take with you on your trip — hotels, restaurant reviews, currency rates, and more.

Travelocity Weather Center: Check the weather before you travel!

Hotel Reviews: Looking for the perfect accommodations? Let Frommer’s experts find you hotels that meet your specific needs, courtesy of Travelocity.

Travel Pets: Here is a handy travel directory of hotels that will accommodate pets.

Pets Welcome: Here is a nice site devoted to traveling with pets. There is also a directory of lodgings that will allow pets.

Pet Taxi: Pet Taxi provides international and domestic transportation to wherever your pet needs to go, with or without you.

Restaurant Reviews: Hungry for some culinary advice? Let Frommers’ experts find you restaurants that match your preferences, courtesy of Travelocity.

World Time Server: Find out what time it is anywhere in the world.

How Far Is It?: Find the distance between two cities.

Expedia.com’s Flight Reservation Wizard: Use this tool to find the best airfare. You can also use this site to search for hotels, car rentals, cruises and good vacation deals.

Travelocity’s Flight Page: This tool can also be used to find flight deals. The site also allows you to search for hotels, car rentals, cruises and bargain vacations.

Seat Guru: Take the guesswork out of choosing a seat on an airplane.

Greyhound: Get Greyhound bus information here.

Amtrack: Get Amtrack train information here.

Rand McNally Road Construction Database: Check out this database before planning your trip to see if road construction might affect the route you have to take.

U.S. Dept. Of State Passport Services and Information: Everything you need to know about passports is here.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Find out about the rules for bringing things back from your trip. For some items, like computers, you may wish to fill out a customs registration form to prove that you had the item before leaving the United States.

Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services: Lots of information is here, including links to the U.S. Border Patrol and the procedure for getting immigration information via the FOIA.

U.S. Dept. Of State Travel Warnings & Consular Information Sheets: Be sure to check this site before making your travel plans.

Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory: Find links to tourism offices worldwide. Many will send free travel brochures and such upon request.

CDC Travelers’ Health Reference: Find out health information for specific destinations. Learn about outbreaks of concern to international travelers. Become aware of CDC’s vaccination recommendations for travelers. Find out how to avoid illness from food and water and what you should know before taking children to other countries.

Corporate Travel Safety: This site gives all sorts of helpful advice on how to protect yourself while traveling. It has some very informative articles. There’s one that tells about how to protect yourself from phone card fraud while traveling that you should definitely read.

Embassy World: Find all of the world’s embassies here in a searchable database.

Fly Rights: What are your rights if your airline flight gets cancelled or delayed?
The Aviation Consumer Protection page tells all about your travel rights here.

Complaint Resolution Service For Travelers: Complain to an airline, hotel or car rental company here. This service will ask you a few questions and then create a complaint letter for you to send, which you can modify as you see fit. They will then forward the letter to the appropriate person for you.

PlanetFeedback Complaint Service For Travelers: This service allows you to complain to any company in a travel-related industry. You can also check the ratings of companies here.

Complain To Aviation Consumer Protection: Have a problem with an airline? Find out how to complain to the government here.

Transportation Security Administration: Find out the current security rules for flying, including the latest list of permitted and prohibited items.

Aviation Consumer Protection: Get reports about flight delays, mishandled baggage, oversales and consumer complaints here before deciding which airline to fly.

The National Aviation Safety Data Analysis Center: Take a look at information about airline accidents, incidents and other safety information before choosing which airline to fly.

The Mile High Club: Yes, there’s really a club!

CDC Sanitation Inspections of International Cruise Ships — Database Search: Before you take a cruise, be sure to check out the results of the ship’s sanitation inspections.

U.S. Fire Administration Hotel and Motel Safety: Before staying at a hotel, check the database here to see if it adheres to fire regulations.

Alta Vista Translator: Whether you want to translate a phrase or an entire web page, this service is very convenient.

Aviation Resources: Everything related to aviation is here - nice flight trackers and more!

Radio Locator: Find radio stations around the world!

Cybercafes: Sometimes when you travel, you will need to find a cybercafe. Spies Online has assembled a directory of cybercafe directories.
The candid private investigator focusus information pertaining to the public records industry.
Information on Free Reverse Phone Number Look up searches, people search by name, people search by social security number, and background checks.