Salon.com > Travel http://www.salon.com Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Blood, gore, tourism: The ax murderer who saved a small town http://www.salon.com/2012/04/29/blood_gore_tourism_the_ax_murderer_who_saved_a_small_town/ http://www.salon.com/2012/04/29/blood_gore_tourism_the_ax_murderer_who_saved_a_small_town/#comments Sun, 29 Apr 2012 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12909457 This is a story of murder and tourism and ghosts. Of civic failure and the illusion of certainty. It’s a Midwestern story that begins in 1912, before the state of Iowa became a patchwork of vanishing villages, before Interstate 80 and the World’s Largest Truck Stop. It is the year the John Deere company begins building tractors and Arizona enters the Union and a surprising number of Republicans believe in progressive ideals. It is the year of a new group called the Girl Scouts and two years before a world war. In this year the ocean swallows a ship called Titanic, a college professor becomes president, and Americans begin eating Oreos. And in Villisca, Iowa, it’s morning, a Monday, June 10, 1912.

The Iowa Touring Atlas has just touted Villisca, a town of less than two square miles surrounded by farmland and the forks of the Nodaway River, one of the finest cities in the state. “Metropolitan.” “A social center.” “Religious.” “Methodist.” “Presbyterian.” “Rare beauty.” “Pleasant View.” Villisca in 1912 has 50 retail stores, no saloons and banks “as strong as the rock of Gibraltar.” There is a two-story armory being built that symbolizes the community’s patriotism and pride. More men work as auctioneers than lawyers. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Line brings 24 passenger and freight trains here every day.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/04/29/blood_gore_tourism_the_ax_murderer_who_saved_a_small_town/feed/ 11 Why we still can’t talk about slavery http://www.salon.com/2011/12/27/why_we_still_cant_talk_about_slavery/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/27/why_we_still_cant_talk_about_slavery/#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10661131 The menu at the Cabin was long, one of those unwieldy, laminated mega-menus that grace the tables of roadside diners and chalets everywhere, and reflected a classic attention to theme (gumbo burger, gumbo omelet, gumbo). If the menu had been covered in tinfoil, I would’ve had a late-summer tan by the time I reached the dessert page. When our waiter approached, I asked -- in what I imagined was a small act of clever, Yankee defiance -- if the gumbo was any good.

My friend Gabbie and I had come directly from a tour of a former sugar plantation down the road, in Vacherie, La., called Oak Alley, and I had a crook in my neck. Up until that morning, whenever I heard the word “plantation,” I’d thought “slavery.” When I’d booked the tour, I had done so in the spirit of a visitor to Dachau or Wounded Knee. But the tour itself was given in the spirit of a visit to the home of a tasteful, Southern movie star. Our guide, in a tone equal parts admiring and envious, devoted 90 minutes to the armoires, linens and chamber pots of the home, but almost no time to the people who built, creased and cleaned them. The words “slave” and “slavery” were never mentioned.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/27/why_we_still_cant_talk_about_slavery/feed/ 313 My Brilliant Second Career: Snapshots of my life on the road http://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/my_brilliant_second_career_snapshots_of_my_life_on_the_road/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/my_brilliant_second_career_snapshots_of_my_life_on_the_road/#comments Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10273134 You know all the pesky ads that pile up in your mailbox and eventually end up in your recycle bin? That was my job. I worked for years selling junk mail until I realized there wasn’t anything positive about it other than the pay and benefits. This was a six-figure job, after all.  I didn’t buy a new car or spend a small fortune on extravagant vacations or home remodels. Most evenings before I fell asleep, I would lie in bed, glued to my BlackBerry. I made sure my client’s coupons would be delivered in the mail on the exact day we discussed, though it was never as easy as it sounded. I put so much of myself into that job that I took even the details of junk mail personally. But one day I couldn’t do it anymore. I'd been saving for years, and the money couldn't keep me trapped any longer. I quit my job to find my true calling, whatever that would be.

My employers assumed I was headed to work for a competitor. When I told them I had decided to wander the country and live in a trailer, the laughter ensued. Surely I couldn’t be serious. But I certainly was: I packed up my dog, some camping gear and my camera. I wasn't sure what I was doing. I only knew I wanted to find my creative soul, which I lost when I decided to play by the rules of the corporate world.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/30/my_brilliant_second_career_snapshots_of_my_life_on_the_road/feed/ 33 Rocks worthy of legend http://www.salon.com/2011/11/06/geological_myths_trazzler/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/06/geological_myths_trazzler/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10161218 Before science became humanity's preferred method for understanding the natural world, myth and geology went hand in hand. Anyone who travels a bit is sure to run across local legends that strive to explain odd natural phenomena in fictional terms. Every single culture around the world tells these kinds of stories. There's the Chimera of Turkey (methane gas vents in the side of a mountain rendered by Homer as a fire-breathing "lion-fronted, snake behind, goat in the middle" creature); the fire-belching goddess Pele living in Hawaii's Kilauea crater; or the story of a pair of mountains that split due to irreconcilable differences (Mount Rainier took off in the heat of an argument packing up all the prettiest wildflowers).

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/06/geological_myths_trazzler/feed/ 0 The world’s spookiest attractions http://www.salon.com/2011/10/30/macabre_spots_trazzler/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/30/macabre_spots_trazzler/#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10147825 Let's start from the premise that the tourism industry is, quite frequently, a freak show. And not just on Halloween ... plenty of places keep it surreal all year round. Why? Luring people into your temple, museum, medical school, church or crypt isn't as easy as you might think. You need a hook.

While severed body parts and corpses may not have a tourist-brochure ring, gore sells. Catholic churches have been collecting bodies and relics for pilgrims to visit for centuries. Little bits of the Buddha are scattered in shrines around the globe. Medical curiosities and oddities fill glass cases and jars in museum sideshows.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/30/macabre_spots_trazzler/feed/ 2 Graves of the rich and famous http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/famous_graves_trazzler/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/famous_graves_trazzler/#comments Sun, 23 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10131257 The rich, the famous, the powerful, the fabulously talented ... so hard for mere mortals to mingle with in life,  so easy to linger with in death. Making a pilgrimage to a famous grave can be an odd experience, particularly when it isn't where you might expect. Who would think to look for James Joyce and Jorge Luis Borges in Switzerland -- or F. Scott Fitzgerald among the strip-mall hell of suburban D.C.?  Death just happens. Those on the brink of death can get caught unawares, left to spend eternity in a place they scarcely knew or were just passing through, or be forcibly brought back home by family after a long escape (like poor Charlie Parker, who ended up back in Kansas against his wishes).

Irony, apparently, isn't just for the living. While Fitzgerald's gravestone is an austere afterthought, the man who wrote about turning to dirt on someone's boot soles, Walt Whitman, commissioned an expensive granite mausoleum before his death. It's no surprise that the poet spent his final years reworking his magnum opus "Leaves of Grass" for the umpteenth time, but the fact that he did so while also carefully overseeing the construction of his own tomb feels like quite a departure for the man who philosophized about the soul and vowed to "make poems of my body and of mortality."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/famous_graves_trazzler/feed/ 3 Sandwiches across America http://www.salon.com/2011/10/16/sandwiches_across_america/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/16/sandwiches_across_america/#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:01:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10110469 So many are fond of misguided generalizations, calling America a Christian nation, a zombie nation, a TV nation ... but it was chef and food writer James Beard who hit the nail on the head: America is a sandwich nation.

Sandwiches are the food of the people -- cheap, nutritious, easy to assemble in large quantities -- what better vehicle for delivering the flavors of a regionally and ethnically diverse nation to people on the move?

The only thing aristocratic about sandwiches is the name -- borrowed from John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, a rather unenlightened Enlightenment-era figure who most certainly did not pioneer the concept of placing delectable morsels between two pieces of bread. He may, however, have had a penchant for snacking combined with an aversion to getting his fingers dirty -- and he did play some part in making sandwiches trendy for the first time.

It was during the industrial revolution that the sandwich took off as a portable and easy-to-eat meal for workers. In America, wave after wave of new arrivals reinterpreted the form. Thanks to them, today there are sandwiches that add up to far more than the sum of their parts. A symbol of local identity and heritage, the most beloved among them inspire loyalty, passion and a cultlike following.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/16/sandwiches_across_america/feed/ 0 What you can learn at a battlefield http://www.salon.com/2011/10/09/trazzler_slideshow_battlefields/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/09/trazzler_slideshow_battlefields/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10103917 Witnessing the battle at Chancellorsville, Whitman wrote about the haunting beauty of nature juxtaposed with terrible suffering: "Amid the woods, that scene of flitting souls -- amid the crack and crash and yelling sounds -- the impalpable perfume of the woods -- and yet the pungent, stifling smoke -- the radiance of the moon." In the absence of politically motivated shrines, nostalgic reenactors or Walmart parking lots, the battlefields of the past tend to be peaceful places of contemplation -- blank, benign spaces where we are required to re-create this stark juxtaposition, filling in the horror and conjuring up the history with our imagination.

Does visiting a battlefield make war "real" for those who have never experienced it -- I don't think so.  It does, however, give us a deeper and more concrete understanding of historical events as physical experiences, rather than academic esoterica, allowing us to contemplate the terrain, the terrible logistics of war, and the tactics employed by the winners and losers. While we can't feel the wounds, we can sense the scars and wonder how it must have been.

You can find more places related to wars on Trazzler.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/09/trazzler_slideshow_battlefields/feed/ 4 Leaf peeping across the country http://www.salon.com/2011/10/02/leaf_peeping_across_the_country/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/02/leaf_peeping_across_the_country/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10101755 There's just something about October ... the waning light, the long shadows, the reap-what-you-sow natural order of things. We may not live in an agrarian society anymore, but most of us still feel a primal pull this time of year to the fields and forests of the fall countryside. A whole travel industry has sprung up to accommodate our desire to do little more than meander under the blue skies and look at leaves.

If the story of spring is a fragile romance full of hope, then that would make autumn a perfectly plotted, three-act tragedy we can't tear ourselves away from. Blossoms are ephemeral, but we know a long summer is waiting in the wings once they fall to the ground. Autumn's climactic last burst of color and deciduous denouement stirs different, perhaps deeper feelings. These 13 drives will take you into the leafy heart of North America where you can revel in fall's fleeting beauty. Share your favorite fall road trips in the comments.

You can find more autumnal travel on Trazzler.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/02/leaf_peeping_across_the_country/feed/ 5 The breathtaking world under the sea http://www.salon.com/2011/09/25/trazzler_slideshow_coral_reefs/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/25/trazzler_slideshow_coral_reefs/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:01:00 +0000 In "The Silent World," Jacques Cousteau identified the moment when he came unbolted from his terrestrial life, discovering a new way of being the sea: "I put my eyes under and civilization vanished ... I was in a jungle never seen by those who floated on the opaque roof." It's hard to imagine what the average human's understanding of ocean life was before scuba tanks and nature documentaries. Even Cousteau started out blowing up reefs to study them. As he traversed the oceans, what began as an existential quest evolved into a growing consciousness of the fragility and interconnectedness of all living things on Earth -- and a call for conservation.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/25/trazzler_slideshow_coral_reefs/feed/ 3 Exploring the subterranean cityscape http://www.salon.com/2011/09/18/trazzler_slideshow_urban_spelunking/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/18/trazzler_slideshow_urban_spelunking/#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/09/18/trazzler_slideshow_urban_spelunking Beneath all cities, lies an alternate dimension, not necessarily the "dark, underground, loathsome vice" of Dostoevsky (though there's plenty of that, too), but a real warren of subterranean spaces that is mostly hidden or off-limits to surface dwellers. Many communities were intentionally founded above natural caves, which proved useful for food storage, refrigeration, defensive purposes and escaping extreme weather. Other towns were carved into solid rock or set atop tunnels for protection from invasion.

These underground spaces tell a ramshackle story of human civilization and urban development from poorly conceived shopping malls to wine cellars, escape routes, storage facilities for human bones, and conduits to whisk away human waste. These days, thanks to sophisticated mapping programs and social networking, nearly every city has a legion of underground spelunkers looking to make the next discovery of a forgotten entrance to the urban underworld. But you don't have to trespass or risk your life to explore the world beneath your feet -- plenty of towns are taking a cue from the 19th-century Paris of Victor Hugo, offering opportunities to embark on underground tourism.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/18/trazzler_slideshow_urban_spelunking/feed/ 4 Wonders of the medieval world http://www.salon.com/2011/09/11/trazzler_slideshow_middle_ages/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/11/trazzler_slideshow_middle_ages/#comments Sun, 11 Sep 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/09/11/trazzler_slideshow_middle_ages Medieval Europe is often portrayed as a dark time of pestilence, filth, violence, intolerance and ignorance -- a disconnect between the splendor of the Roman empire and the cultural explosion of humanism during the Renaissance. The truth is far more complicated.

Geniuses like Fibonacci, Averroes, Aquinas and Dante didn't exist in a vacuum. Universities that are still in existence today were founded during this time, Aristotle was revived, books came into their own, and the mathematical and scientific advances of the Muslim world filtered into art, design and architecture from the periphery of the continent. These 11 spots reveal a glimpse of the cultural and artistic splendor of the Middle Ages. You can find more medieval travel spots on Trazzler.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/11/trazzler_slideshow_middle_ages/feed/ 18 The migrations you can’t miss http://www.salon.com/2011/09/04/trazzler_wildlife_migration/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/04/trazzler_wildlife_migration/#comments Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/09/04/trazzler_wildlife_migration We human beings tend to think of ourselves as an adventurous species, but the way we travel is really nothing compared to the migratory odysseys of wildlife. Even Aristotle was mystified by the seasonal changes of Athenian bird life (he erroneously posited that one species transformed into another). During the past 10 years, new technology that allows scientists to monitor increasingly smaller species has revealed a hidden network of pathways that span the globe. And so we learn that things are far more complex than we could have ever imagined, with millions of dragonflies flying across the open sea from India to Africa, zooplankton migrating vertically in the oceans, and indigo buntings using star patterns for celestial navigation.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/04/trazzler_wildlife_migration/feed/ 12 Exploring the joys of crossing borders http://www.salon.com/2011/08/28/trazzler_slideshow_border_crossing/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/28/trazzler_slideshow_border_crossing/#comments Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/08/28/trazzler_slideshow_border_crossing With news this week of Iran sentencing the two American hikers who strayed into the country from Iraq in 2009, border travel may not have a glamorous ring to it. There are lines of demarcation in the world that are dangerous and forbidden.

Borders can be remarkably polarizing places, drawing a line between inclusion and exclusion, life and death, slavery and freedom, poverty and wealth, war and peace, survival and annihilation. Geology often dictates where the line goes -- rivers, mountain ranges, vast stretches of desert, or coastlines -- but borders are ultimately human inventions (or as one of the founders of the EU put it, "the scars of history"). Over time, they can shift, expand, retreat, fail to win recognition, reappear with a vengeance, and become fascinating historical footnotes.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/28/trazzler_slideshow_border_crossing/feed/ 6 Adventures for your inner daredevil http://www.salon.com/2011/08/21/trazzler_slideshow_adrenaline_rush/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/21/trazzler_slideshow_adrenaline_rush/#comments Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/08/21/trazzler_slideshow_adrenaline_rush "Relax, keep your eyes open, and don't be alarmed if you have an uncontrolled bowel movement the first time -- it happens," advises the not-quite-half-joking skydiving instructor as the jittery would-be jumpers cling to the rim of the open cargo door. While many other sectors of the tourism industry are lagging, the adventure business is booming. What used to constitute fringe activities by a band of "crazies" is increasingly regulated, mainstream and safe enough that families or co-workers can now go zip-lining or bungee jumping together (which is pushing the fringe to new and much more dangerous, incontinence-inducing extremes).

Many cultures have rites of passage that could qualify as extreme sports. Bungee jumping is rooted in the ritual jumping in Vanuatu that takes place as a fertility rite during the yam harvest. Young men climb to the top of a wooden tower to dive off with vines tied around their ankles, hoping to just graze the ground. In the 1970s, Oxford University's Dangerous Sports Club tested the idea from a bridge with more modern equipment and the new sport spread to New Zealand, the spiritual home of the world's adrenaline junkies and their boundary-expanding guru, A.J. Hackett.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/21/trazzler_slideshow_adrenaline_rush/feed/ 4 The pilgrimage sites you haven’t heard of http://www.salon.com/2011/08/14/trazzler_slideshow_unusual_pilgrimages/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/14/trazzler_slideshow_unusual_pilgrimages/#comments Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/08/14/trazzler_slideshow_unusual_pilgrimages Most modern places of pilgrimage didn't take off until medieval times or later, but the impulse to hit the road in search of a transformative experience is an ancient one. There is nearly always a magical or religious element: time off in purgatory, healing miracles, increased luck in love, seeing the future, or payback for answered prayers. (Of course, for the destinations, it's also an ancient form of marketing that brings in funds from near and far.) Still, many pilgrims are equally motivated by the secular and social aspects of the journey -- the rituals, physical challenge, communal spirit along the way, and most of all (as Chaucer's 14th-century "Canterbury Tales" captured so well), the exchange of stories.

For every Mecca, Lourdes, Fatima and Bodh Gaya, there are hundreds of smaller, lesser-known sites around the world. That they are often quirky and surreal -- and draw a modern-day cast of characters diverse and colorful enough for countless tales -- is all part of the pilgrimage construct. These 14 places run the gamut, from mountaintops to a lotus flower behemoth to a tiny chapel dedicated to dogs.

You can find many more places of pilgrimage on Trazzler.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/14/trazzler_slideshow_unusual_pilgrimages/feed/ 6 Three travel videos that will make you jealous http://www.salon.com/2011/08/04/travel_videos/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/04/travel_videos/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:05:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/08/04/travel_videos If you're not planning any kind of vacation this summer, you might want to indulge in some extravagant escapism with these three luscious videos from a 44-day, 38,000-mile journey around the world. (Or maybe you just want to avert your eyes!)

Over the course of the three short films, you'll see Andrew Lees on a wide variety of international adventures -- taking pasta-making lessons, exploring subways and beaches, and tasting local delicacies such as (what appear to be) fried insects.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/08/04/travel_videos/feed/ 5 The world’s best elephant adventures http://www.salon.com/2011/07/31/trazzler_slideshow_elephant_adventures/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/31/trazzler_slideshow_elephant_adventures/#comments Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/07/31/trazzler_slideshow_elephant_adventures Elephants, when left unencumbered (which they seldom are these days), are great travelers. During the dry season, a herd can migrate hundreds of miles in search of food and water. While they once freely roamed much of the earth, wild elephants are -- for better and for worse -- now mostly restricted to vast national parks and reserves where fences and vigilance forge a fragile détente between the world's largest land animals and their human neighbors. Encouraging tourism in places like this is tricky, but potentially quite beneficial when it is implemented in a way that fosters economic alternatives to poaching, deforestation and exploitation.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/31/trazzler_slideshow_elephant_adventures/feed/ 10 Welcome to the world’s largest penis collection http://www.salon.com/2011/07/29/worlds_largest_penis_museum/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/29/worlds_largest_penis_museum/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/07/29/worlds_largest_penis_museum HUSAVIK, Iceland -- Three years ago when a local fisherman found a dead walrus on his property, he cut off its penis and called Sigurdur Hjartarson.

"I've taken it off. Do you want it?" he asked, figuring Hjartarson, the curator of the phallological museum located conveniently a few miles away, might be interested in the genitals of what he described as an extremely old, two ton walrus.

Hjartarson was thrilled. His Icelandic Phallological Museum, which houses the world's largest collection of penises and penile parts, had scored another valuable specimen.

To own the private parts of every male mammal living in Iceland, you see -- a goal he set for himself years ago -- Hjartarson needed a walrus, an animal that's becoming rarer every year.

"Collecting penises is like collecting anything. You can never stop, you can never catch up, you can always get a new one, a better one," Hjartarson said as he reached into the museum's penis-shaped cash register to return some change to a customer, before picking up a phone of the same shape.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/07/29/worlds_largest_penis_museum/feed/ 29 My Colombian Twitter rescue http://www.salon.com/2011/07/24/twitter_saved_my_bacon/ http://www.salon.com/2011/07/24/twitter_saved_my_bacon/#comments Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:01:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2011/07/24/twitter_saved_my_bacon I was stranded in Bogotá, Colombia with my two children and no place to sleep.

"I'm sorry. There is no way you can stay in a hostel in Bogotá without a passport," the woman said. "It's a very strict rule and no hostel will let you stay."

I panicked. It is not an exaggeration to say it was one of the most stressful moments of my life. Nine o'clock on a Friday night in an unfamiliar city, and I was marooned with two young boys. We would be sleeping on the streets for the night.

"Do you have a computer I can use?" I asked. There was a slim chance this would make a difference, but when you're grasping at straws, you grasp them all. My hands shook as I typed out my plea to the twitterverse:

"I need help desperately. Know anyone in Bogota, Colombia? Please RT"

And then I waited to see what happened next.

My husband and I have long been travelers. Back in 1990, we hopped on a plane and pedaled remote roads in Pakistan and India. There was no Internet then (well, we didn't use it anyway). And to travel meant to be completely out of touch with the world save the four mail drops we arranged. Every month or so we wrote a long letter and sent it home.

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