By Cynthia Ord

If local travel means putting oneself in the shoes of a local, then travel writer Carl Hoffman has earned status as an expert local travelite with a compelling story to tell. In his latest book, The Lunatic Express: Discovering the World via Its Most Dangerous Buses, Boats, Trains, and Planes, Hoffman relays his round-the-world jaunt aboard the rickety and rusty human conveyances that represent how the global majority transports itself. His trip utilises everything from airlines in Cuba and railways in Africa to ferries in Indonesia and long rides through the United States via Greyhound bus, logging more than 50,000 miles in total..

Rush hour at New York City's Grand Central Station. Photo by Flickr/Sam Galison

Hoffman was first attracted to local transport in all of its harrowing forms through the media’s coverage of various transportation disasters. Each chapter therefore begins with a journalistic excerpt about a fateful incident on some form of public transit. Exploring these anecdotes and researching statistics about injuries and deaths, Hoffman charts his course aboard the world’s worst transportation systems. His goal is not sensationalism or stuntman’s bravado. Rather, he aims to contrast the luxury of leisure tourism with the harsh journeys of the global poor for whom travel is simply a means of getting from point A to point B.

“I gradually began to realize,” he writes, “that the big numbers of today’s tourism industry obscured a parallel reality, excluded a whole river of people on the move. Excluded, in fact, most of the world’s travelers.”

Rush hour in the ladies' compartment on a Mumbai train. Photo by Flickr/drinkingsnapple

Each segment of the trip is its own complete story, but common threads weave this journey together. Dualisms and paradoxes emerge. Hoffman begins by comparing affluent travel with public mass transit. Transportation reflects the security, comfort and regulation of affluent societies versus the danger, overcrowding and lack of controls in the less developed world. As he traverses South America on its notorious bus system, Hoffman writes “I was starting to trust the efficiency of this whole ad-hoc, unregulated system.”

One regularly recurring theme is the lack of personal space aboard the majority of mass transit. In the economics of third world transportation, “speed and maximum capacity are of the essence.” Hoffman rides matatus, the minibuses in Kenya that pull people aboard until they reach the absolute limit. He rides trains in Mumbai where the crushing pressure of the crowds becomes fatal. In an interview about the book, Hoffman reflects that the trip was a re-evaluation of what affluence means. “I’ve always sort of thought of it as objects, as things. Traveling as I did for five months, I decided that it really had nothing to do with things. It was all about space. In places like Indonesia, you’re with 3,000 people and no personal space whatsoever.” Spaces that are private and quiet and clean occur to him as a “luxury that is profound.”

Motorbikes outnumber cars by 10:1 thoughout Vietnam. Photo by Flickr/IOHK

Hoffman – a westerner who lives in Washington, DC – travels as the locals do but is an obvious outsider. At times the language barriers and cultural divides between himself and his fellow passengers overwhelm him. He spends pages in isolation, retreating into himself. Yet the best moments of the book are the ones where he is able to break through the cultural boundaries in order to connect with locals. On a packed ferry in Indonesia, he achieves this sort of communion.

“The more I shed my American reserves,phobias, disgusts, the more they embraced me. In the weeks ahead I would accelerate what had started gradually over the miles. I would do whatever my fellow travelers and hosts did. If they drank the tap water of Mumbai and Kolkata and Bangladesh, so would I. If they bought tea from street-corner vendors, so would I. If they ate with their fingers, even if I was given utensils, I ate with my fingers. Doing so prompted an outpouring of generosity and curiosity that never ceased to amaze me. It opened the door, made people take me in. That I shared their food, their discomfort, theirdanger, fascinated them and validated them in a powerful way.”

This passage, like the book as a whole, beautifully illustrates the ideas of the Local Travel Movement. Hoffman continually chooses authenticity and connection with locals over the beckoning camaraderie of other foreigners. He plunges directly into the dense humanity along his route and discovers what life is like for the majority of the world’s people on the move. Turn here for encouragement as a local travelite or a reality check for one who complains on an air-conditioned flight.

The film documents the Massai people in Kenya and their struggle with conservation laws who have now become spokespeople for community-based conservation and the benefits they are able to reap in effect.  According to a recent update in April 2009, the establishment of Il Ngwesi Group Ranch  has provided the community with enough income to contribute to projects such as: “an HIV/ Aids program that has employed 17 people from the community, a training project to improve the quality and market-access for women’s handicrafts, upgrades to roads and the landing strip, an elephant fence around the school, renovation of teachers’ housing, a mobile bank, a new sinkhole and water pipeline repairs. “

Check out the trailer we featured in 2007 or visit their website to view other trailers and learn more about community development through conservation and other sustainable initiatives.

This Cold Heaven – 7 Season’s in Greenland by Gretel Ehrlich is about an Amercian’s woman’s seven year relationship with Greenland.  While at time she romances the hunter’s lifestyle, her descriptions of the high North are stunning and captivating.  She is writing a new book called the Empire of Ice, the photos on her website worth browsing.

Smila’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg is probably the best known book about Greenland; it was also made into a movie, which while enjoyable failed to capture the essence of the book.  Although the book is set mainly in Denmark or at sea, I felt that the character of Smila Jaspersen was quintessentially Greenlandic, and I saw tenacity and passion for her country her mirrored in many people I met.

Leaves from a Greenlandic Diary by Ruth Bryan Owen may be a bit trickier to find.  It’s the account of the first female American Ambassador, who was appointed to Denmark and made a trip to Greenland on the ship, The Disko.  What is fascinating about this book, published in 1935, is how similar her experience is to a modern tourist.

My favorite Greenlandic band

The traditional instrument here is a drum (called a qilaat, which is a wooden frame covered with a polar bear bladder), which is curious because contemporary Greenlanders are known to be excellent guitar players. A guitar store is not something you would expect to find in a city of 15,000 but there is one in Nuuk (Atlantic Records), and when I was in Sisimiut (pop: 6,500), I walked into a tiny store that sold guitars and cross-country skis.

Probably one of the most beloved Greenlandic bands is Zikaza. I think their style can be classified as eighties (but take a listenfor yourself, my favorite song is Miki). They have been around since about the 80s - when I first arrived I went to one of their concerts, which was a blast. Other favorites include Nanook (fav is Timmisaat Taartut), Rasmus Lyberth and Nina (who is also on All Stars). When you visit Greenland, its worth finding out if there are any concerts on during your stay. Take a look at posters pinned up at the bus stops or ask at Katuaq (that’s the cultural center) in Nuuk or the tourist office in other towns.

- Natasha Martin

The band which started as a casual project between members of already well established Montreal-based groups has since taken a sharp turn as the release of their first EP and numerous tour dates has raised their profile significantly. Feathership music is reflective of the diverse backgrounds of its members; artists from Jay Pea, L’Indice, Plaza Musique and Mille Monarques. Much like the name of the band suggests, the six songs presented on the self-titled debut EP reveal sounds which are as light and moving as a feather, while the story behind the formation of this group might explain the suffix (-ship) used (see dictionary!). Click here to listen.

- Benjamin Leclair

This was originally posted by our friends at Gracefuledge.com, and is re-posted here with their permission.

How does one get upgraded to first class for free? Will I get lucky by kissing the Blarney Stone? Who else has slept here?

Just some of a globetrotter’s mysteries. And while sometimes it pays to seek out the truth, other times…oblivion is blissful.

Like when you rest your travel-weary body in your personal set of travel sheets. Made from soothing fabrics like silk, Egyptian cotton, or SeaCell, a super soft seaweed blend, Design Salt’s TravelSheet completely envelops you, creating your own personal oasis.

Travelers will appreciate the protection from questionable bedding and airline blankets while backpackers can extend the life of their sleeping bags when using the TravelSheet as a liner.

Other traveler friendly products include liners for mummy bags, travel blankets and double-sized TravelSheets…

..because who knows when wanderlust might strike.

Despite road-tripping across the country, backpacking through Europe and gallivanting your way Down Under, home is where your heart is.

And also where your iPod, bicycle and camera ultimately should be – like when you use BoomerangIt to register your valuables.

A global lost and found service, BoomerangIt helps you get reunited with your wayward belongings, no matter where you may have parted ways. Simply apply the temper-resistant labels to your gear and register the unique serial number with BoomerangIt. For all shapes and sizes, BoomerangIt tags can be used for keys, luggage or kayaks. Bicycles receive special treatment and get registered in the National Bike Registry that works with police to ensure that bikes are returned to their rightful owners.

The process is simple. When a Good Samaritan finds your stuff, she calls BoomerangIt (or logs her find online) and BoomerangIt notifies you and arranges for its return shipping. Good Samaritans also get rewarded with a free pack of BoomerangIt tags for their efforts.

Costing as little as $10, you can join the ranks of over one million members. Who also believe…that there’s no place like home.

Beyond the east the sunrise; Beyond the west the sea

And East and West the Wander-Thirst that will not let me be;
It works in me like madness to bid me say goodbye,
For the seas call, and the stars call, and oh! The call of the sky!

I know not where the white road runs, nor what the blue hills are,
But a man can have the sun for friend, and for his guide, a star;
And there’s no end to voyaging when once the voice is heard,
For the rivers call, and the road calls, and oh! The call of a bird!

Yonder the long horizon lies, and there by night and day
The old ships draw to home again, the young ships sail away
And come I may, but go I must, and if men ask you why,
You may put the blame on the stars and the sun,
And the white road and the sky

By Katie Brown

Our friend and international rock climbing superstar Katie Brown has published a book designed to teach and inspire women and girls who are new to the sport of rock climbing, want to delve more deeply into it, or are just curious about climbing but may be intimidated. It covers topics from the very specific physical side of the sport, to the more mental and psychological challenges that climbing presents.  Katie’s humor and experience guides readers from the pages to the rock, inspiring confidence with stories and tools from some of the best climbers in the world-who also happen to be women. Highly Recommended!

- Jess Reilly