Thailand and good manners

We've already lost count of the number of luxury hotels we've checked into in Thailand in the last 11 days, the signature spas treatments and massages we've enjoyed, and the sublime sunset vistas we've savored from spacious suites and private villas overlooking infinity pools, palm-covered islands and the sea. More on those potentially hedonistic experiences (if only we weren't working!) and the thoughts they're provoking about travel later. My husband Terry and I are here in Thailand to review hotels, spas and restaurants, and it's been hectic to say the least. What has struck us most so far (sorry for the silence, by the way) has been the genuine friendliness of the gentle Thai people. It never fails to put a smile on our faces. On our first day in Bangkok, Terry noticed a Thai woman struggling with a stroller with baby down the stairs of the Sky Train. He jumped over the railing and helped her the rest of the way down the two flights of stairs. When they made it to the bottom the lady let go of the stroller, clasped her hands in the traditional 'wai', and thanked him with a little bow and a smile. The gesture was performed with such elegance and beauty that it made us wonder what's happened to manners in other parts of the world. Terry said it made his day and I think he secretly spent the rest of the day looking for women with strollers to help out, like a boy scout on a mission!

Travelling: anticipation

So, do you want to come to Thailand? I'm travelling on Sunday for a month of work, writing hotel and restaurant reviews and a spas spread for DK, and stories for magazines. You're welcome to join me on my journey. I'm busy planning the trip now and as tedious as elements of organizing trips can be (I must have planned hundreds of these), it's still a little exciting. Trawling through the Thai tourism websites, hotel sites, online airline schedules, comparing reviews, considering trekking itineraries, and calculating road distances, are all working together to create a sense of anticipation. Already I'm imagining tucking into some spicy Thai food at a table within splashing distance of the sea, climbing endless steps to see a colossal reclining gold Buddha, learning to 'drive' and ride an enormous elephant, and feeling the sand squeak beneath my feet on a pristine white sand beach. Alain de Botton writes in The Art of Travel of the anticipation created from seeing a tourist brochure that: "... displayed a row of palm trees, many of them growing at an angle, on a sandy beach fringed by a turquoise sea, set against a backdrop of hills where I imagined there to be waterfalls and relief from the heat in the shade of sweet-smelling fruit trees." The longing provoked by the brochure is evidence of the power and influence of "simple images of happiness", he writes, "how a lengthy and ruinously expensive journey might be set into motion by nothing more than the sight of a photograph of a palm tree gently reclining in a tropical breeze." de Botton immediately resolved to travel to Barbados. It was there that he explored the anticipation of travel and the actual reality. I'm going to do the same in Thailand. So, do you want to join me?

Travelling: inspirations #3

So just what inspires you to travel? I must admit I was surprised by the results of my recent poll where I asked what motivated your travels. Almost half of you (46%) said 'your own trips and travel memories' inspired you to travel, while 23% said 'the very idea of travel' motivated you to move; 15% said travel photography books inspired you, while only 7% said your family and friends' travel tales motivated you to pack your bags. Surprisingly, nobody said movies about places, TV travel shows, travel literature, or guide books inspired you, yet 7% said travel blogs motivated them. I've been excited about two recent travel blog discoveries (thanks Anne!), including primitive culture, an ethnographer's take on Thailand, South Africa and other places, and placesihaveneverbeen, a beautiful design blog inspired by 'imaginary vacations to far off places'. Both have got me thinking about travel in different ways: how we can think about travel from an ethnographers perspective (or is that already how those addicted to travel think?); what travel inspires (rather than what inspires us to travel); and virtual travel. I'm going to sleep on it. Let's see where my dreams take me. Where do your dreams take you?

Maps: their inspirational power

I seem to be more inspired to travel, and to think about travel, by the travel blogs I'm reading than by anything else these days. Anne at prêtàvoyager is a lover of maps like myself. On a recent post called You are Here she writes about a festival of mapping and a blog that collects maps among other things: "...maps that make you want to travel to a time and place that was well designed." The power of words to inspire! It struck me that in my quest to explore what inspires us to travel, I'd completely forgotten about maps. And yet maps are inspirational, aren't they? They're so much more than just a travel tool. I was surprised at how many intriguing blogs there are out there by people beguiled by maps, such as The Map Room, maphead and strange maps. As Anne suggests, the very design of a map inspires us to draw pictures of places we're yet to visit in our heads and evokes images of places we've been to in our memories. I recently spent a couple of hours with a map of Amsterdam for a guide I was working on. I was putting dots on the map to indicate points of interest and as I was doing so I was seeing the city's lovely leafy squares, cobblestone streets and tranquil canals in my mind. When I finished the task I felt as if I'd been to Amsterdam and that time spent with the map made me want to go again. As a child, during the five years we travelled around Australia in a caravan, I spent hours with my Jacaranda Junior World Atlas plotting out our journeys by torchlight from my top bunk. Maps inspired me to travel and to become a travel writer, yet I'd forgotten about the inspirational power of maps. Do maps inspire you to move?