May 7th, 2013 at 10:00AM: After writing eight travel books that took him around Britain on foot, through the Pacific on a kayak, across Latin America, Europe and Asia on trains and up and down Africa by his wits over the last 30 years, one might think that Paul Theroux would be hard pressed to find new insights into the traveling lifestyle. But in his new travel narrative, "The Last Train to Zona Verde," the 71-year-old ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
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An Interview With Paul Theroux, Author Of 'The Last Train To Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari'
May 7th, 2013 at 10:00AM: After writing eight travel books that took him around Britain on foot, through the Pacific on a kayak, across Latin America, Europe and Asia on trains and up and down Africa by his wits over the last 30 years, one might think that Paul Theroux would be hard pressed to find new insights into the traveling lifestyle. But in his new travel narrative, "The Last Train to Zona Verde," the 71-year-old ...World's Biggest Book Fair Coming To London
Apr 23rd, 2013 at 4:00PM: Love books? You'll want to be in London this June when seven book fairs will all take place over a nine-day period.
Billed as the world's largest book fair in a press release by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, it runs June 8-16 and features not only rare books and first editions but also maps, photographs and ephemera.
London has several annual and monthly fairs, but ...A Personal Lament To The Death Of Guidebooks
Mar 29th, 2013 at 11:00AM: It was with a heavy heart that I read the news last week that Frommer's guidebooks will cease to be printed. The guidebooks were purchased by Google last summer, and as of this year, the entire future list of titles will not be released. With the takeover of digital apps, social media, and user-generated content, we knew this was coming, but it still feels like the end of an era. It's become ...Gifts From Estonia
Mar 6th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
When you ditch your wife and kid for a week to go off to Estonia in the middle of the winter, you better bring some cool stuff back. Luckily, it's pretty easy to find interesting gifts from Estonia. I managed to get a variety of low-cost presents that gave them a taste of what the country is like.
And I mean "taste" literally. As you can see, I mostly brought back food. Estonian cuisine has ...The Airport Shoeshine: A Tradition Worth Supporting
Feb 23rd, 2013 at 4:00PM:
I've been dimly aware that it's possible to get one's shoes shined at airports the world over for many years. That said, I'm a chick, and despite my boot obsession, I usually travel in Chuck Taylors. I don't know from shoeshine, other than my love of Johnny Cash ("Get Rhythm," anyone?).
A couple of months ago, however, I found myself with time to kill at Denver International Airport (DIA), en ...Ibn Battuta: The Greatest Adventure Traveler Of All Time
Jan 19th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
This humble little building in a back alley of Tangier is the final resting place of the greatest traveler in history.
Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier in 1304. In 1325 he left to go on the Hajj and ended up visiting not only Mecca, but crisscrossing much of the Middle East and sailing far down the east coast of Africa. Then he headed east, passing through central and Southern Asia and making ...Galley Gossip: Can Passengers View Pornography on the Airplane?
Jan 11th, 2013 at 2:00PM: From time to time I get questions from readers who want to know what the rules are regarding viewing pornography in flight now that Wi-Fi is available on board most airplanes. Thankfully, it hasn't been much of an issue (knock on wood). But planes are crowded, personal space barely exits, and when passengers do things they shouldn't, well, they usually get caught.
Last week on a flight from New ...A Review Of The Best American Travel Writing 2012
Oct 30th, 2012 at 9:00AM: Tijuana. Chernobyl. Sicily's mafioso strongholds. Cairo's Garbage City. The contaminated holy waters of Varanasi, India. Bosnia. Norway's frozen tundra. These might not be the places you'd like to visit on your next holiday, but you will want to read about them in the latest edition of "The Best American Travel Writing(2012)," which came out on October 3.
I've been an avid reader of this ...Beautiful And Bizarre Bookstores Of The World
Sep 17th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Wherever I travel, I always find myself drawn to bookstores. They're a pleasant comfort zone when far from home. I love hunting for local authors and books of local interest while chatting with the people who frequent these places. I've found that bibliophiles are pretty much the same whether they're American, Ethiopian, Arab, Tibetan or whatever.
One bookstore I haven't shopped in (but would ...Padlocks Of Love Removed From Bridge In Rome
Sep 12th, 2012 at 2:00PM: Officials in Rome have removed the so-called "padlocks of love" from the famous Ponte Milvio, the BBC reports. This is the latest phase of an ongoing struggle between the city and romantic couples that we've been reporting on since 2007.
It all started when Italian novelist Frederico Moccia wrote "I Want You," in which a couple put a bicycle lock around the bridge's lamppost and tossed the key ...Travel Clichés: They Go With The Territory
Jul 9th, 2012 at 9:00AM: I've recently been dipping into "The Cat's Pyjamas: The Penguin Book of Cliches" by Julia Cresswell, which is a good summer read.
Cresswell really put her nose to the grindstone for this weighty tome, leaving no stone unturned in her quest for the real deal about cliches. We're informed that "wend your way" dates back to the Anglo-Saxons, with "wend" meaning "to go." It was on its way out as a ...Earliest Map Naming America Discovered
Jul 4th, 2012 at 8:00AM: A copy of the earliest map that names America has been discovered.
The map was created by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 based on explorers' accounts. Only four copies are known to exist, but a fifth has just been discovered inside a 19th century book at the Ludwig Maximilian University library in Munich.
This map is slightly different than the others and appears to ...Maxfield Parrish Retrospective At The National Museum Of American Illustration
May 28th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
He was one of the most popular illustrators of his day and his work remains immediately recognizable more than forty years after his death. Their rich, deep hues and fantastic imagery appeal to both children and adults.
Now Maxfield Parrish is being honored with a major retrospective at the National Museum of American Illustration in Newport, Rhode Island. "Maxfield Parrish: The ...St. Brendan: Did An Irish Monk Come To America Before Columbus?
May 16th, 2012 at 10:30AM: Today is St. Brendan's feast day. To the Irish, St. Brendan needs no introduction. For those less fortunate in their birth, let me tell you that he may have been Ireland's first adventure traveler.
Saint Brendan was an Irish holy man who lived from 484 to 577 AD. Little is known about his life, and even his entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia is rather short. What we do know about him mostly ...Classic Travel Writing: Jack Kerouac's 'Lonesome Traveler'
May 15th, 2012 at 9:30AM: While blogs take up most of my travel reading these days, every now and then I like to dip into an old classic. So on a recent flight to Washington DC to attend the Gadling bloggers summit, I read "Lonesome Traveler" by Jack Kerouac.
This slim volume contains eight stream-of-consciousness essays in the style you'd expect from one of the leaders of the Beat Generation. For example, the author ...The art of William S. Burroughs on display in Germany
Mar 24th, 2012 at 1:00PM: William S. Burroughs is most famous for his experimental novels about heroin and gay sex, yet he was active in many arts. Now a new exhibition at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, is focusing on his lesser-known artistic output.
The exhibition, "the name is BURROUGHS -- Expanded Media," highlights the author's film, photography, collage and audio experiments. Much of ...Must read e-book: Fatal Voyage, the Wrecking of the Costa Concordia
Mar 14th, 2012 at 5:00PM: Looking for a relaxing read en route to your cruise? Then don't buy Fatal Voyage, The Wrecking of the Costa Concordia, a Kindle Singles e-book that takes an in-depth look at the modern day Titanic.
Written by journalist John Hooper, the e-book covers one of the worst passenger ship disaster since the Titanic in engaging detail. Numerous interviews with survivors describe plates falling as the ...More Istanbul shopping and dining secrets from Daily Secret
Jan 14th, 2012 at 2:00PM: Last week, Gadling included Istanbul in our picks for 2012 luxury travel, and introduced you to Daily Secret, a web-based "guide service" offering insider intel to 12 cities, including Istanbul. We got so many more great Istanbul secrets from editor Laura Wells (many with special discounts and exclusive access), we're posting them for Gadling readers to add to their itineraries. Happy shopping ...Medieval manuscripts in Los Angeles and London
Dec 14th, 2011 at 4:30PM: Two major exhibitions on opposite sides of the globe are focusing on the art of medieval manuscript illumination.
At the Getty Center in Los Angeles, a show has just opened highlighting the burst in creativity and education in what is popularly called the Gothic period. Gothic Grandeur: Manuscript Illumination, 1200–1350 features books from this important period, when educated Europe ...New Book celebrates 10 years of the Tour d'Afrique
Dec 13th, 2011 at 8:00AM: The Tour d'Afrique is a legendary cycling event that runs from Cairo to Cape Town on an annual basis. Covering more than 7500 miles, and requiring four months to complete, the Tour is a popular "bucket list" item for adventure travelers and cyclists the world over. This year, the Tour d'Afrique commemorates its tenth anniversary, and to celebrate, the company behind the epic event has released a ...
