There’s at least one person in nearly every great place you travel to who will look you in your dazzled eyes and tell you in no uncertain terms that you really missed it, that you should have been there 5, 10, 20 years ago, when the place was truly magical and not overrun with people just like you. John Flinn calls it the Kathmandu Syndrome.
WorldHum.com has all the details on Kathmandu Syndrome.
SmarterTravel has a short but sweet five minute podcast interview with Rolf Potts on “How to plan for your first solo trip” – definitely worth a listen.
Talk about consumerism. Yikes! How many markets in Asia, Africa, South America, etc. actually look like this? Is there such a thing as too much choice?
NuNomad points us to HouseCarers.com – a terrific house exchange “broker” website. I’m not sure how viable an option this is for RTW travelers, but it sounds interesting nonetheless.
CEG Specialists Travelers Services claims to be “a specialist travel service company, possessing the expertise, creativity and local knowledge to ensure that all your needs, from pre planning, to implementation and a safe arrival home are provided for.” From the looks of their website, I’d say the majority of their clientèle is card-carrying AARP members, so I won’t harp on them too much. But, isn’t part of taking a trip actually figuring things out for yourself? I mean tours are one thing, but to have every single moment of your vacation carefully cherry-picked to be ever-so-picture-perfect? Where’s the fun in that?
Though I don’t personally own a pair of super-duper-noise-canceling-headphones, the idea sounds great nonetheless. What better way to silence noisy hostels with snoring bunk mates or that chicken squawking in your lap for the entire sixteen hour cross-China train ride. The New York Times offers “Headphones to Shut Out the World”
Lastly, Midnight Poutine offers up “The Snack Store Game“. A cheap way to eat your way around town:
There’s a game I like to play and the rules are simple. (1) Head over to Chinatown’s snack store, Uni. (2) Pick up some old favourites. (3) Hunt through the various packages of delightful (and some sometimes frightful) snacks and pick something you’ve never tried (extra points if you can’t figure out what the food could possibly be). (4) Eat! Winning is simple — you are victorious when you find a new delicious and favourite item.
This could just as well apply to any ethnic food store. Even the big super food chains have great specialty sections. It’s not unlike Steve, Don’t Eat It! Sounds simple enough to me. And it’s virtually impossible to lose!
See you back here next week and happy travels everyone!