I’ll never forget my first deep-water dive.
We had spent a few days in a classroom, reading the PADI certification book, going nowhere near water. When we were finally able to get into the ocean with our equipment, it was shallow water only, while we got used to breathing through a regulator with a heavy oxygen tank strapped to our backs.
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Adventure, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Tips
Have you been craving the feeling that comes when the city is finally in your rearview mirror and you have hit the open road in search of new experiences and epic adventures?
Yes?
Well, you've come to the right place!
Read MoreWorld traveler and filmmaker Jacob Laukaitis, recently spent five days living deep in the slums of Mumbai and documented the experience in an eye-opening film. (Check out my Q&A with Jacob to learn more about him here.)
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Book List, Travel, Travel Adventures, Destinations
In 1898, British explorer Ewart Grogan was in love. The problem? He was in love with an aristocrat's daughter who didn't think that he was good enough for her. Before he could marry, Grogan had to prove his worth, and so set out on an epic quest to be the very first (English) man to cross the length of Africa from Cape Town to Cairo.
No, this is not the scene from a movie, or from an epic romance novel. This is a real life (rarely told) story that author Julian Smith discovered by chance, and that inspired him to embark on his own adventure — in Grogan's footsteps. Nearly a century after the original adventurer set out to conquer Africa, Smith found himself madly in love, yet terrified by the prospect of marriage (aren't we all).
“Traveling can be the ultimate alone time, which is probably why I ended up doing it for a living. Away from home and surrounded by strangers, you can be anyone or no one, anonymous or camouflaged.”
Deciding drastic measures were needed in order for him to face his marriage fears, he decided to trace the 4,500-mile journey that Grogan took. A strange choice right before a wedding, but one that he committed to regardless.
In the spellbinding Crossing The Heart of Africa, Smith weaves the most fascinating elements of Grogan's original adventure into his own honest, introspective journey through one of the toughest continents in the world. It is a FANTASTIC read.
One of the best parts of strolling through the historic heart of Portugal’s cities — like Lisbon, Porto, and Lagos — is encountering the stunning decorative tiles that can be found covering the facades of both medieval and more modern homes, restaurants, cafes, churches, shops, and train stations.
But where did all these tiles come from?
Both and assault on and a delight for the senses, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford is unlike any other museum you’ve visited (seriously, I have been in museums all over the world, and none compare to this one).
by Lindsay Shapka in Book List, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Tips, Adventure
Have you have ever toyed with the idea of being a travel writer? Are you currently a travel writer? Have you ever treated a guidebook like it was the Bible?
If you can answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, this book was written for you.
“The waitress suggests that I come back after she closes down the restaurant, around midnight. We end up having sex in a chair and then on one of the tables in the back corner. I pen a note in my Moleskine that I will later recount in the guidebook review, saying that the restaurant ‘is a pleasant surprise…and the table service is friendly.’”
In the hilarious Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? Thomas Kohnstamm, a professional travel writer and author of numerous Lonely Planet guidebooks, gives an honest, no holds barred account of what life as a writing traveler really looks like.
After leaving behind a stable, well-paying (but unadventurous) job, and his girlfriend, Kohnstamm jumps on a plane headed to Brazil where in less than two months, he is expected to experience all that the country has to offer and document it for future visitors.
With a budget that works out to be less than minimum wage and an impossible deadline, Kohnstamm must research all forms of transportation, restaurants, hotels, culture, customs, and language while trying to fit in sleep and scandalous nightlife involving excessive amounts of alcohol.
With time against him, he makes no effort to hide the fact that he will be forced to write reviews for places that he will never actually visit.
By the end of the book, Kohnstamm’s misadventures make it clear that it takes a special breed of person to endure all that comes with being a travel writer.
When I was first asked by some fellow foreigners in South Korea if I wanted to get naked in a public bathhouse and sauna on my first weekend in the country, I looked at them like they were nuts.
Somehow though, they managed to talk me into it (I blame severe jet lag), and it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made.
Based on my experience living near and then returning to this magical city, here is my guide to (what I think are) the best spots to see, and why you should see them (and if they are worth standing in line or paying the fee to enter).
Are you in the mood for a spring or autumn polar dip? Looking for a nice cold swim after a long summer hike? Or were you just hoping to dip your feet into crisp glacier water?
Despite being fed by glaciers and icy cold, these crystal clear lakes are the perfect places to cool off on a hot summer day in the mountains. In Jasper — a mountain town in the Rocky Mountains in Canada — temperatures can head well above 30°C (86°F) in the summer.
In 1974, east of what is now called Xi’an in China, peasants digging a well in their field uncovered one of the largest, and arguably the most important finds of the 20th century — an underground vault full of thousands of intact terracotta warriors and horses standing in battle formation.