San Telmo #1: bliss in Buenos Aires

Remembering my days of journal writing at cafés and bars such as El Hipopotamo started a string of reveries about the bewitching Buenos Aires barrio of San Telmo. We rented an apartment in Buenos Aires for a few months earlier this year, using it as a base to research the city for a book. San Telmo was our home for the first two months. We lived like locals, getting our groceries at the little almacen, or general store, downstairs. We trod the same streets every day on our way back and forth to the Microcentro, Retiro, Monserrat, Congreso and other areas we needed to explore for our book. Every night we frequented our neighbourhood restaurants, cafés and bars, eating late like Porteños, as Buenos Aires' residents are called. And when we had to stay in to write we'd buy a bottle of Malbec downstairs and piping hot empanadas from the nearby empanaderia, watching football on television with the locals while we waited for our order. Faces became familiar and hanging out in the 'hood was something to look forward to. Why is it that we fly half way around the world to try and live as we would at 'home'? And why is it that living as much like a local as we can is so much more enjoyable than experiencing the place as a tourist?

Hot new travel destination lists... don't you love them? Well, don't you?

We all love a good list, don't we? The travel media have been busy publishing their 'places to go in 2009' lists, the hot 'new' destinations that guidebook publishers and travel publications think you should visit this year, 'it' places they want everyone talking about. Last year I posted a list based on places I'd been that I believed more travellers should visit and it included: Syria, Buenos Aires, Morocco (by road), Western Australia, Antwerp & Brussels, Thailand (road trip rather than beach holiday), Istanbul, Baltic Cities (Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius), Dubai, and Oman. I chose destinations I felt were emerging (the Baltic Cities), often overlooked (Syria, Oman), underrated (Western Australia, Antwerp), misunderstood (Brussels, Dubai), too hot to ignore (Buenos Aires, Istanbul), and places I felt people should experience differently to how they ordinarily might (Thailand and Morocco, which I encouraged people to drive). I'm still mulling over my list for 2009, which I'll share with you tomorrow. For now, here's a taste of the travel media's 2009 lists:
* CONDE NAST TRAVELER/CONCIERGE: Tel Aviv, Bolivia, Utah, Acapulco,Vilnius, Central Philippines, New York City, Rajasthan, Toronto, and Beirut.
* DK TRAVEL GUIDES: Vilnius, Buenos Aires, Gdansk, Seattle, Bristol, Fez, Washington DC, Copenhagen, Cape Town, and Vienna.
* LONELY PLANET: top 10 countries: Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, Georgia, Greenland, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Peru, Rwanda and Sierra Leone; and top 10 cities: Antwerp, Beirut, Chicago, Glasgow, Lisbon, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Warsaw, and Zurich.
* FROMMER'S: Cartagena; Cape Town; Saqqara, Egypt; Washington DC; Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada; Civil Rights Trail, Alabama, USA; Lassen Volcano National Park, USA; Berlin; Belfast; Istanbul; Cambodia (But Not Angkor Wat); and Waiheke Island, New Zealand.

It's interesting to see the same places popping up, such as Vilnius, Beirut, Istanbul, and Oman. I've long been bewitched by Beirut myself (Terry and I wrote two editions of Lonely Planet's Syria and Lebanon guide, and wrote the Lebanon chapter for the first edition some 5 years ago), but the city hasn't yet stabilized and I can't see it having wide appeal. Ditto Georgia, where heavy fighting with Russia occurred in July this year, and Sierra Leone, where UN peace-keepers pulled out just eight years ago. But part of the point of these lists is to provoke discussion, get us excited about traveling, and influence us into buying books and magazines, isn't it? So, what do you think of the various hot lists floating around?

Pictured? That's the Corniche in Muscat, Oman.

Buenos Aires: tango and experiential travel

I'm not sure if Sally Potter and her beautiful film The Tango Lesson were responsible or whether it's more indicative of a larger tendency in travel - to travel to learn - but the trend of foreigners travelling to Buenos Aires to take tango lessons is so extraordinary it constitutes a phenomenon. The dance has also enjoyed a revival among locals. Walk down any of San Telmo's streets in the early evening and glance through a door and you're guaranteed to see a traveller, young or old, in jeans and t-shirts, taking lessons from a dapper old gentleman in jacket and tie or a distinguished woman, her black hair pulled back into a ballerina's bun. There are tango schools all over the city and private lessons posted on notice boards at hostels and supermarkets. Hotels such as the wonderful Mansion Dandi Royal offer tango packages including lessons in their own tango salon. The most popular place to learn is in the splendid Confiteria Ideal, a faded old café with an atmospheric dance hall upstairs which operates classes day and night, followed by a milonga, or social dance, where you get to practice with the locals. You can read more about experiencing tango in our new book Buenos Aires Encounter, but what most fascinates me is the flourishing trend of experiential travel. Travellers want to educate their minds and stimulate their senses. Cooking courses in Tuscany. Arabic lessons in Damascus. Elephant trekking in Thailand. Wine-making in Napa. Travel choices increasingly seem to be as much about what to do as where to go. As the slogan of adventure and experiential tour operator iExplore says, people want to "come back different", while i-to-i, a site that offers volunteering experiences, teaching opportunities and community projects abroad, is all about "meaningful travel". I'm not so sure you need to do an organized activity or tour to fully experience a place. You can sign up for a course in something when you arrive. The important thing is to just go. Figure out what to do when you get there.

San Telmo #2: bohemian Buenos Aires

San Telmo is a gritty suburb of skinny cobblestone streets with a mishmash of colonial and belle epoque architecture. It often gets a bad wrap, accused of being 'touristy'. But San Telmo is actually one of Buenos Aires' most bohemian barrios, with a working class population, uni students sinking cheap beers each night in its myriad bars, and emerging young artists and designers hanging their stuff in the cooperative fashion and art spaces. Weekends are when the 'tourists' literally flood San Telmo's streets for the lively street market, coming from all over Buenos Aires and beyond for the antiques, bric-a-brac and hippy handicrafts. Orchestras and bands perform on the pavements. Merchants sell hot nuts, corn on the cob and empanadas. The tango is danced on the street and after the markets are packed away locals fill the square of Plaza Dorrego for a milonga, or social dance. While we like the barrio of a weeknight when the streets can be eerily empty and quiet, and most people wandering them are locals, weekends are when we like San Telmo best, when the barrio really buzzes, and everybody enjoys being a tourist. Even if it's just for a day.

Top secrets of travel writers: #1 hidden gems are kept hidden for good reason

This is the first in a series of posts on the top secrets of travel writers, partly inspired by The Traveler’s Notebook’s Top 5 Secrets Travel Writers Won’t Tell You, however, my posts won’t be devoted to the perks of the job but rather the stuff travel writers don’t tell you and the things we don’t always write about, and why. Let’s start with hidden gems. We've all seen stories like 'The Hidden Gems of Hawaii' or 'Barcelona’s Secret Spots' or 'Off-the-beaten-track Turkey'. Whilst those recommendations might not be places you’d typically see on the tourist circuit, they’re more likely to be popular local favorites rather than ‘hidden gems’, those wonderful out-of-the-way places that people don’t want you to know about. Why? Locals rarely reveal their secrets spots because they don’t want to see their secluded beaches overcrowded with tourists, beer prices go up at the local pub, or find that they suddenly need to reserve a table at a restaurant they’ve been casually dropping into for years. As for writers, they don’t want to start seeing travellers crowd their neighbourhood favorites or see charming backstreet eateries or bars they’ve discovered while researching cities overran with tourists one day. Because when that happens the very thing we found appealing in the first place – the relaxed charm, laidback style and local atmosphere – disappears. I’ll never forget a restaurant in Buenos Aires that's in all the guidebooks… the reviews suggested it was a local favorite, the food was fine, staff friendly, and atmosphere romantic. The night we went the food was hit and miss, the staff distant and inefficient, and while the place was moodily-lit, there wasn’t a single ounce of atmosphere. Bored-looking tourists and their guidebooks occupied every table. Like us, they were probably wondering if it was the right restaurant. Where were the romance, atmosphere, affable staff, and good food? Probably lost long ago, when locals stopped coming, and the chef and staff lost interest. We crossed it off our list. But as we were living nearby we walked past once or twice a week, to make sure we were justified in doing so. We were. This is why hidden gems are kept that way. Our favorite Buenos Aires restaurant? Sorry. That's our little secret. The beach pictured? Um… it’s on the west coast of Australia somewhere…

Are hotels going out of favour? Let's hear what the apartment rental gurus think

Here are two more views on the hotel versus apartment rental debate from a couple of vacation apartment moguls. Marvin Floyd, GM of VRBO admits: “I'm biased for vacation rentals of course, but don't believe hotels will ever go away or even out of fashion. Business travellers will continue using hotels to get points and preferential treatment. I stay at the Radisson in Austin every month rather than dealing with a different short term vacation rental... I know the hotel, the route, etc, so it's just a lot easier. Many couples will continue staying in hotels... a nice romantic weekend with a daily room cleaning is preferred by many people who get away to be pampered. They love going downstairs to a nice restaurant, visiting the pool or hot tub or spa, things many vacation rentals don't have... There will always be a place for the consistency of most hotel chains, where you know exactly what you're getting ahead of time…” Robert Shive of Buenos Aires-based Living-like-locals writes: “They are going out of fashion for me. I just spent two weeks in hotels in Sun Valley, Utah, and Park City, Utah, while shopping for a ski condo. No matter how nice the hotel, the rooms just can't compare to living in an apartment. The trade off is making my own bed, and not having fresh towels every day – but it is worth it for the space to spread out.”

We so know what you mean. Yes, that's me, pictured, and that's one of our many temporary 'offices' that we find ourselves creating when we're on the road. Admittedly, that was the last night before flying out (from Buenos Aires via Milan to Dubai), and you know that feeling, right? In the Milano apartment we’re currently renting, our laptops, drives, boxes of CDs and DVDs, guidebooks, brochures, press kits, business cards and so on, completely cover the 'dining' table as they did at one of the BA apartment we rented above. We just can’t do that in a hotel. Although it would be kind of nice to have someone come and clean up occasionally…

Romanticism versus reality: what do travellers really want?

So why is it that guidebooks romanticize destinations and that we’re much more likely to read the unpleasant truths about a place in poetry than we are in a travel guide? A travel editor’s argument might go, do readers really want to read about ugly places and the social problems of a destination they are dreaming about visiting? Who wants to destroy their dreams? (Because to destroy dreams is to destroy book sales.) But, the author might argue, how many travellers wants to arrive at a place only to be disappointed because it’s not as pretty as it appears in the portrait that the book has been painted? How many travellers want to get robbed because they’re ill-prepared and have let down their guard? Take Buenos Aires, a city that’s been flavour-of-the-month for a few years now, a city that the travel press frequently runs features on. Rarely is Buenos Aires’ high incidence of gun crime mentioned, nor the fact that not everyone has recovered from the 2001 economic crisis, nor that parts of the city are crawling with pickpockets preying on tourists, nor that travellers will see the cartoneros criss-crossing the city, trawling through people’s trash to collect cardboard to sell for recycling. Don't get me wrong, I love the city and I've written about it a lot. But do travellers really only want to read about tango and red wine? As travellers, do we not prefer to know the truth, to get a balanced perspective, and to be prepared? And then be pleasantly surprised?

Places You Must Go in 2009

Here's where I think you should be travelling in 2009:
1. NORTHERN TERRITORY - this is the real Australia, but be warned that everywhere will disappoint afterwards. Must-see spots include World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park and neighboring Aboriginal owned Arnhem Land with their abundant wildlife, lush wetlands and Aboriginal rock art; Litchfield National Park's dramatic waterfalls and waterholes; sultry multicultural capital Darwin; Aboriginal art centre Alice Springs; the ochre gorges, tranquil rockpools and corrugated dirt tracks of East and West Macdonnell Ranges; and that colossal magical red rock, Uluru (pictured).
2. MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay's elegant capital is an easygoing, off the beaten track alternative to Buenos Aires, and just a short boat trip across the river. As much as I love BA (we spent time there in 2007 writing Lonely Planet's Buenos Aires Encounter and it was on my 2008 Must Go list), Montevideo is less touristy, more low-key, and easily as appealing with its lovely architecture, leafy piazzas, and lively beaches. It has a rich culture, the highest quality of life in Latin America, and is very affordable.
3. ETHIOPIA - still an off-the-beaten-track destination, Ethiopia boasts one of the world's oldest and richest civilizations with 80 different ethnic groups and extraordinary archaeological and historical sites such as the Stellae at Axum, hundreds of rock-hewn churches at Lalibela and Yohanes, and the medieval castles of Gondar.
4. MALI - renowned for its music, the magical Festival of the Desert, and for being home to some of sub-Saharan's most intriguing and astonishing attractions, including legendary Timbuktu and the splendid mosque at Djenné, it's Mali's people that really fascinate, from the cliff-dwelling Dogon people to the nomadic Tuareg people.
5. HELSINKI - If the hip boutiques, fabulous design stores, fantastic seafood, and buzzy bars weren't enough, Finland's cool capital has an easygoing attitude and lively arts scene. Unlike Copenhagen or Stockholm, it never feels crowded with tourists, even at the height of summer, and it's ideally situated for exploring Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic cities.
6. ABU DHABI - the UAE's sundrenched capital offers a more laidback, authentic and traditional experience of Arabia compared to sister city Dubai (without the traffic and crowds). It also has fine hotels, restaurants and beaches, and in the near future will be a Middle Eastern arts hub boasting branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim. Just an hour away are colossal apricot-coloured sand dunes and oasis town Al Ain.
7. YEMEN - there are few places left as magical, exotic and unique as Yemen with its astonishing skyscraper architecture, atmospheric old medinas, and rich traditional culture. Visiting Yemen is still an adventure and - depending on what you do - can be a little dangerous. Westerners are kidnapped from time to time when they venture into lawless areas (although they're nearly always returned safely) - this is one place where you must heed the travel warnings.
8. ZANZIBAR - with spices its main export and a culture and society influenced by its Arab, Persian, Portugese, Indian and African heritage, how could this Tanzanian island not be fascinating? The architecture of the labyrinthine capital, Stonetown, features intricately carved wooden doors and lovely terraces. There are splendid mosques and Persian baths built by immigrants from Shiraz.
9. MONTENEGRO - with its idyllic beaches, sparkling Adriatic sea, excellent seafood and atmospheric medieval villages, Croatia's diminutive neighbor, Montenegro, offers a similar experience without the crowds - and for less. When you tire of the beaches, there are stunning mountains to explore, and there's a developing wine region.
10. MARGARET RIVER - breathtakingly beautiful beaches backed by fragrant bushland and eucalyptus forest and miles of lush vineyards - this is one of Australia's most prestigious wine-producing regions after all - chic boutique hotels, retreats and spas set in tranquil locations (I'll bring you a full report soon), brilliant restaurants and buzzy bars, and it's handy to Perth in the north, and in the south, Augusta, Pemberton, Denmark and Albany, sleepy beachside towns surrounded by some of Australia's most beautiful countryside and forests.

Shway shway, slowly slowly: slow travel

In the Middle East we tell erratic taxi drivers to "shway, shway", to go slow or slow down. It can also mean "take it easy", "relax", or "just wait", especially when used with a gesture where the fingers and thumb of an upright hand are brought together to say "be patient, just wait, please". One of the major travel trends of 2007 was slow travel. Some travellers have always taken the slow road, since the time of the great Arab traveler Ibn Battuta who travelled 117,000 kms over 30 years, to backpackers who spend six months to a year or more on the move. My husband and I have been on the road for two years on travel writing assignments. While not all of our travels have been slow, during that time we've rented apartments for a month or two in each of Amsterdam, Brussels and Buenos Aires, and have driven tens of thousands of kilometres in Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Western Australia, and Thailand. At other times we've bounced about the globe on long-haul and low-cost flights: one trip, intended to show that Scandinavia could be done on a budget took us to all Scandi cities on no-frills airlines in a couple of weeks. If we plotted our journeys with thumbtacks and string on a map, what a tangled web we'd be weaving. So as I think ahead to 2008 I'm telling myself to "shway, shway". Carbon footprints aside, the benefits of slow travel are myriad: you're immersing yourself for longer in the one city or country, learning more about its society and culture, living like a local, learning a little of the language, and you're contributing more to the local economy if you rent an apartment, shop daily in the local stores and markets, spend more at local sights, etc. You'll also return to work more refreshed and invigorated. Take time out to read about The Art of Slow Travel, the Slow Movement, the World Institute of Slowness and their idea of Slow Travel; check out Slow Travel, SlowTravel.com, Transitions Abroad, and the Slow Travel Blog; buy yourself a copy of In Praise of Slowness, Challenging the Cult of Speed; share tips with other slow travellers on the forum slowtalk.com; or simply read about other trips such as this Slow Train to Bamako to get ideas for your own travels. So, my message for 2008: shway, shway.

Cool Travel Guide’s Alternative Holiday Mojo Maintenance Programme

Here's my alternative guide to that top ten list of ways to find and keep your holiday mojo: 1. Immerse yourself in your destination at least a month or so before you leave. Read as much as you can about the history, culture, people, politics, cuisine, etc, watch movies and listen to music about the place. That way, when you arrive your knowledge will be greater and your discoveries will be deeper and will consequently stay with you longer.
2. Do plan for your return, but stock the fridge with the food and liquor of the place you’re travelling to. Better yet, buy a local cookbook, some ingredients, and a bottle of the local drink of choice while you’re there, so you can continue to savour your experiences when you return.
3. Don’t arrive back early. Stay away as long as you possibly can and make the most of your trip. Even better, maintain that adventurous spirit and fly in the morning you’re due back and rock straight up to work with your luggage and souvenirs for your boss and colleagues. (Leave a change of clothes at the office on your last day.)
4. Definitely ease back into work gently and answer only important email. Spend the rest of the day emailing friends and family about your vacation or typing up your holiday diary before you forget your experiences.
5. Don’t just keep one reminder of your holiday close to you – create an online shrine of memories and memorabilia, scanning in your ticket stubs, postcards, matchboxes, bottle labels, and coasters, blogging anecdotes and recollections, and posting your photos for everyone to see. Buy souvenirs that you can use – a beautifully designed kitchen item from Scandinavia, clothes from Buenos Aires – and they way the memories will always be with you.
6. Keep your connection to the destination alive by buying CDs, DVDs and books and magazines from the place while you’re there and listening, watching and reading them when you return. If you went to Spain spend have a Pedro Almodovar film festival one weekend. If it was Lebanon, then stick Fayrouz on the stereo and keep her there. Paris or Milan? Send a few hours thumbing through French or Italian Vogue.
7. Don’t just “slip into holiday mode”, stay in holiday mode: take a short walk every evening (just head to the nearby park or around the block), head to a local café every day for an hour, have a candelit meal every night, and spend time reading a book before bed.
8. Do relax every day, but relate your choice of relaxation to your holiday – swim if you went to the Mediterranean, do yoga if you went to India, get Thai massages if you went to Thailand, and so on.
9. Be a tourist in your hometown every week – head to a concert or show once a week, visit a museum or sight on the weekend that you’ve never been to, go on a walking tour or guided visit, and get out of town regularly, even for a day.
10. And when you’re so sick and tired of Fayrouz, you can’t stomach another taco, and you just can’t get into tai chi, apply for leave, start planning your next holiday, and return to #1.
Any other ideas? I'd love to hear your tips.

Collecting #3: miscellaneous travel paraphernalia (or, the equivalent of the bottom drawer, the back of the cupboard, or the shoebox under the bed)

My last ‘filing drawer’ (a re-sealable plastic bag in the inside pocket of the Samsonite, I remind you) contains all those little bits and pieces of travel paraphernalia that are not so easily categorized. There are concert tickets stubs from shows we loved: Marisa Monte in Buenos Aires, The Strokes in Amsterdam, Death Cab for Cutie in Brussels…, opera tickets from memorable nights (Prague, Budapest, and Milan), tickets from museums or art exhibitions that impressed or inspired us (only from the most outstanding), and restaurant receipts and business cards (from the most enjoyable and most memorable meals; the rest are stapled in our research notebooks). Why do I treasure them so much? Because like the flight ticket stubs and hotel room keys, they serve as reminders of our most special experiences, because our memories are faulty no matter how good we think they can be, and because together these little bits and pieces comprise a bigger story. To me, they’re worth the excess luggage fees.

What's wrong with the New York Times '53 places to go in 2008' list

So what's wrong with the New York Times list?
* LAOS, over Cambodia and Vietnam, because they are "so 2007", and yet Vietnam is included further down the list (?). Does the NYT not realise most travellers visit all three together, and all three are only going to get hotter;
* LISBON: NYT tells us it's "emerging" as a cultural destination. Where have these people been? My husband and I wrote a book on Lisbon a few years ago and it is appealing but for a whole lot more reasons I'll share on my 2008 wish list;
* TUNISIA: the NYT's argument is the same as they one we gave in Lonely Planet's Blue List book last year;
* MAURITIUS, but Mauritius is "so 2005" to use NYT reasoning:
* DEATH VALLEY: who hasn't been here? My alternative: two hot destinations with easily as much dramatic appeal, Western Australia's Kimberly and Pilbara regions, for breathtaking gorges with tranquil natural swimming holes, ancient indigenous rock art, beautiful wildlife, dazzling native Australian wildlflowers, and for the movie buffs, Baz Luhrmann just completed filming his new epic 'Australia' here with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman;
* BUENOS AIRES: NYT tells us "the Argentine capital is becoming South America's next party capital". It has only been South America's party capital for the last ten years! I love the city (wrote a book on BA too) but in 2008, we'll be heading to MONTEVIDEO.
* KUWAIT CITY: p-lease! Even Kuwaitis acknowledge it's the most boring city in the world. The Gulf's next hot destination? ABU DHABI: new eco-resorts, fab new film festival, a Formula One coming to town, and a new museum precinct on Saadiyaat Island with a Guggenheim (set to be the largest), Louvre, and sleek museums designed by the world's greatest architects.
* MAZATLAN, ST LUCIA, ANGUILLA, TUSCANY, MALAGA... give me a break. These are all destinations that have become saturated with tourists.
* MUNICH, LIBYA, IRAN, QUITO, ALEXANDRIA, RIMINI, ESSAOUIRA... now NYT gets it right. Although these are places we'd prefer remain a secret.

There are so many amazing destinations the NYT has missed that you must to go to in 2008. I'm going to start making you a list now. The image here is of one of those magical must-do destinations that tops my list.

Life of a Travel Writer: when the travel writer comes to her senses

After only five hours sleep, a not so great day yesterday, and still feeling bleary eyed and in need of a few hours more, this weary travel writer nevertheless rose early this morning and went downstairs. Even before putting on the coffee she opened the French doors in the living-dining area (now their cluttered office) in the little Milano apartment (see here), and she looked out to see a cobalt blue sky. It was a relief after several weeks of dreary grey skies and occasional rain showers, punctuated by haze and fog, or, at best, blue sky with light cloud cover, none of which are optimum conditions for shooting books. Especially to photo editors and art directors who always want to see cerulean, no matter what Terry says about clouds being a photographer's friend. But as the writer watched the suited Milanese with briefcases in hand, the models carrying portfolios, and the students with backpacks slung over their shoulders, all rushing up and down the stairs of the charming bridges that cross the Navigli canal, on their way to work and school, she also felt relieved. Relieved that she didn't have a 9 to 5 routine (really 7 to 6, or even 6 to 7 when you count breakfast, shower and travel), that she didn't have to sit in rush hour traffic or on a crowded train, and then go through the monotonous motions of the day, which no matter how interesting a job is and how fascinating the people are you with work, still involves a routine. The travel writer decided she would rather go without sleep, food and showers, and have these periods of intense work and long days at a computer, to have the weeks when they're driving through stunning landscapes in places like Crete or Syria or enjoying sunsets over castles and beaches in Italy and Turkey. Especially if the computer is in front of a window looking on to the streets of Milan. And Amsterdam. And Buenos Aires. And Brussels... And so the travel writer came to her senses.

The photo? Our work space in Brussels two years ago. Grey skies there too, but we didn't mind with that view.

Travelling: peoplewatching #2

Each weekend the lively Feria de Mataderos, Market of Slaughter- houses, is held in Buenos Aires' outer working class suburb of Mataderos. It's a vibrant celebration of meat, gaucho culture and rural life, with barbecues, food and craft stalls, folk music and dancing, and the highlight of the day, the sortija. Skillful horsemen in traditional gaucho dress gallop down the street at top-speed. Standing in their saddles, they hold a tiny spear which they aim at a small ring dangling from a ribbon. The winners are those who succeed in spearing the ring and when they do the crowd erupts in cheers. The competition is exhilarating but just as exciting as seeing this spectacle is watching the people watch the event. Their faces reflect the intensity, focus, fear, anticipation, disappointment, and joy of the gauchos. It's about much more than enjoying a sport or tradition, it's about appreciating raw emotion and human spirit.

Travelling: journals

Are you a journal writer? Do you keep a journal when you travel or does your blog suffice? When I was younger, before I became a professional travel writer, I used to keep journals whenever I travelled. I'd write most days, usually with a drink in hand, from my hotel balcony, an al fresco café or the window table of an atmospheric bar somewhere. Like this one at El Hipopotamo in San Telmo, Buenos Aires. I'd document my journeys and reflect upon my experiences and the people I had met. And I'd muse about the nature of travel more generally. I'd paste in labels, tickets, postcards, and other paraphernalia. Don't we all? But now, I find it impossible. I make random notes for a book my partner and I are planning to write about our experience on the road as we travel the globe, living out of our suitcases for 21 months. But mostly I'm too busy keeping the practical notebooks on cities and countries that are the basis of our research for the guidebooks and stories we write. They're crammed with business cards, notes from hotel inspections, reviews of restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, sights, museums, galleries and so on, along with scrawled bus times, internet café details, driving directions, opening hours and prices, occasional jottings from interviews, and descriptions of landscapes and citiescapes and the people who inhabit them. I'd like to be able to return to the days of leisurely journal writing. In the meantime I'll admire other people's imaginative efforts, such as those of the 1000 Journals which are currently travelling the globe; the delightful treatsandtreasures.com, a blog by a journal keeper (thank you, Prêt à Voyager); and the exquisite journals of Dan Eldon, a travel enthusiast and photojournalist who died a tragic death in Somalia at 22. His beautiful but short life is documented on a website and in a book 'The Journey is the Destination' by his mother and sister. Do let me know if there are any other great travel journal blogs or books out there.

Motives for dark tourism: enrichment, education and empathy? Or just plain voyeurism and morbid curiosity?

Last weekend I posted about Anzac Day, sacred moments, and the revival of nationalism and Anzac Day imagery and 'young Australia': national identity and the need for heroes. The extensive media coverage here in Australia showing young flag-wearing and flag-waving Australians on Anzac Day was what had motivated my series of posts reflecting on the growth in grief tourism and dark tourism. I felt that for these young Aussie 'dark tourists', travelling to Gallipoli or other battle sites or war memorials for Anzac Day was partly motivated by a desire to commemorate wars their ancestors fought in, but was also for the entertainment value and the desire to participate in something that's now considered to be a cool thing to do. For me, it's almost as if Gallipoli is the new Bali - a rite of passage for young Aussie travellers. But I also think their presence is to do with a need to reinforce their identity and their national identity in particular, and a desire to strengthen their sense of belonging to an idealised notion of their nation. And it's this that I'm uncomfortable with, partly because I think it takes away from the true purpose of the day (rememberance), but mostly because it excludes all others who don't identify.

Much of the media coverage and analysis related to dark tourism dwells on the dilemma of the dark tourist. On the one hand, their visit to a site, whether it's a war memorial or concentration camp or battlefield, and their participation in a 'dark tour' is motivated by a desire for self-education and self-awareness, for developing empathy and for personal enrichment. Alexander Schwabe writes about a visit to Auschwitz (pictured) from this perspective in his comprehensive account in Der Speigel, Visiting Auschwitz, the Factory of Death (Jan, 2005). On the other hand, rightly or wrongly, the same kind of participation can be perceived as morbid curiosity or overt voyeurism. Simon Reeve touches on this in When it's right to roam (The Observer, Oct 2005) as he considers his impact and value of a trip to Uzbekistan, while James Marrison reflects upon similar issues in Wise to the streets, when he joins tours to see transvestites and shanty towns in Buenos Aires. In Humour and Hospitality go with the Territories (Oct 2005) Andrew Mueller believes the positives outweigh the negatives, convinced that the rewards for tourists and locals alike are immense. Likewise, the motives of a "genocide tourist" addict in Steve Silva's Genocide Tourism: Tragedy Becomes a Destination (Chicago Tribune, Aug 2007) make for a compelling case for this form of tourism.

But rarely do writers touch upon issues of identity that might be at play, and yet those have very much been a part of my experience of dark tourism. I did the tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau that Scwabe describes and our experience was similar. For me, it was transformational. I developed an understanding and an empathy that I never truly had before. We went in winter and it was snowing and I'll never forget the bitter cold I experienced although cocooned in my layers of thermals, stockings, sweaters, scarf, boots, and coat. How on earth did these people survive the cold, let alone everything else, I constantly wondered? However, what had been a sobering and poignant experience was almost marred by the behaviour of a large group of Israeli students who came (like the Aussies at Gallipoli) wearing and waving enormous Israeli flags. They appeared to pay little attention to their guide, they spent little time at exhibits, they rushed through as if visiting a dull natural history museum, and they seemed to be more consumed with each other than their surroundings. Instead, they giggled and joked and waved their flags with an attitude that I perceived as arrogance, as if celebrating their team's victory at a football match. What was going on there do you think? My sense is that they shared someone with those young Australian travellers at Gallipoli on Anzac Day...

My desert island blogs: the coolest travel blogs on the web

These are the coolest travel blogs as far as I'm concerned. If I was stranded on a desert island with my laptop and internet access... oh, and it's an Australian desert island, which means there's no broadband, it's dial-up, there's a convoluted 'plan' so you have no idea what you're ultimately paying, the signal's weak and inconsistent, it's excruciatingly slow, and, oh, you pay by the byte! (Sense some frustration here?). So, if I was only able to read six travel blogs a day, this is what they'd be... oh, and they just so happen to meet my criteria of what makes a travel blog cool for me (see yesterday's post):
1) Maryam from Marrakesh: this whimsical blog is a wonderful example of one that communicates a personal vision. Maryam expresses her own unique way of seeing the world as she shares the magical times and frustrating moments as she and her architect-husband build a guesthouse in Morocco. A creative outlet for Maryam, it has an addicted community of vicarious travellers who visit every day to experience Maryam's Marrakesh.
2) Pret a Voyager: written by Baltimore-based designer Anne who loves to travel, this is a brilliant example of a blogger who 'connects' with her content. Anne is always discovering and sharing all kinds of fascinating stuff related to her passions for Paris, design, travel, maps, and her hometown, and presents them through her own special perspective. Anne occasionally writes about things we might read about on other blogs, but when Anne shows us something we see what makes it relevant to her and why it should be important to us.
3) Primitive Culture: this is a prime example of a blog that's engaging because it's written from experience. Xander, formerly based in Bangkok, born in New Mexico, and educated in South Africa, documents his observations from his experience living, working and traveling through Asia, Africa and America, providing an insight into the pleasure he gains from experiencing local food, coffee, exotica and esoterica.
4) Wide Angles, Wine and Wanderlust: written by (full disclosure) my co-author/husband Terry, this is a fantastic example of a blog with a sense of purpose. It has motivation, direction, and originality. Terry writes in an engaging, insightful and often witty way about his profession (photographer/travel writer) and his passions (photography, food & wine). He doesn't write every day, only when he has something to say. And that's exactly what I mean.
5) Going Local: this blog focused on hospitality tourism (couchsurfing, home-swapping, house-sitting and so on), written by former Guardian journalist and new Buenos Aires-resident Vicky Baker, is an excellent example of a blog that is well-written. Each post has focus, structure, is engaging, has focus, and holds my attention. It doesn't matter if Vicky writes 10-words or 1000, I'm going to read them.
6) Life In A Venti Cup: this is a fabulous blog with a capital F and fits my eye-candy criteria to a cute T. It's chic, sassy and sexy (just like Franki), boasts gorgeous pics, cute design, a clean look and feel, and light and breezy content that keeps me coming back for more - with a capital M.
I'm keen to know what you think of my criteria - and these blogs. And I'm dying to know what your desert island travel blogs are - and most of all, the reasons why.

10 Places You Must Go in 2008: places I have been

These are the 10 places I think you should experience in 2008, based on places I have been myself, and here are some quick reasons why. I'll give you my own wish list of 'it' destinations for 2008, places I have never been but hope to visit, in the new year.
1. SYRIA: colossal history confronts you at every corner, the world's best archaeological sites, crusader castles, sublime Umayyad Mosque, bustling medieval souqs, the Mid East's tastiest food, beautiful Damascene houses, artisans at work, Euphrates River, Dead Cities, Palmyra, Bosra, and the friendliest people in the world.
2. BUENOS AIRES: because it is as buzzy as they say it is, atmospheric barrios, architectural mishmash of architecture, lively markets and parks, fabulous bars and restaurants, great meat and wine, all-night nightlife, traditional peñas, Feria de Mataderos, gritty backstreets.
3. MOROCCO: do a road trip for moonlike landscapes, sublime desert scenery, abandoned mountain palaces, Berber desert citadels set amid date palm oases, then stay with Maryam in Marrakesh.
4. WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Broome for Australia's best beach and sunsets, Monkey Mia for WA's most tranquil beach and best indigenous walk, spectacular Kimberley & Pilbara regions, Margaret River's wild coast and wonderful wineries.
5. ANTWERP & BRUSSELS: because Antwerp is Europe's most underrated, easygoing city and Brussels isn't boring at all, superb dining scenes, laidback bars, pubs and atmospheric brown cafes, multicultural neighborhoods, lively jazz scenes, excellent museums, cutting-edge fashion, and those fantastic mussels!
6. THAILAND: road trip it off the beaten track, through lush green landscapes of limestone mountains and impenetrable jungle, eat tasty food in small town markets, meet the world's sweetest people, and well, okay, squeeze in a spa treatment at beach resort if you must.
7. ISTANBUL: after the umissable historical sights, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, Grand Bazaar, Topkaki Palace, and whirling dervishes, explore modern Istanbul, its lively backstreets, vibrant restaurants, bars and cafes, and get on the water for a cruise up the Bosphorus.
8. BALTIC CITIES: TALLINN: beautiful walled old city with perfectly preserved pastel-colored medieval architecture, kitsch experience of trying medieval food, sublime contemporary cuisine; RIGA: elegant art nouveau architecture, great walks, pretty parks and squares, lively pubs; and VILNIUS: laidback vibe, beautiful baroque churches, hearty food, and wild nightlife.
9. DUBAI: for reasons most travel writers won't tell you: Emirati and Bedouin culture and heritage, the courtyard wind-tower architecture in the Persian Bastakiya neighbourhood, gritty backstreets, Deira 'Creek' views from Bur Dubai, hospitable people, superb restaurants, and a lively contemporary art scene.
10. OMAN: majestic forts that make you feel like a kid again set in lush date palm oases, the Musandam peninsula, the Arabian Norway, the pretty waterfront at Muscat with its stunning harbour, and laidback Muttrah souq.

Postcard from Mallorca: our Palma apartment

When my co-writer and photo- grapher husband Terry and I aren't on the road doing research, and therefore don't need to move hotels every night or two, we prefer to try a few hotels in a city and then spend the rest of the time in an apartment. If we're working on a city guidebook for big cities such as Buenos Aires or Amsterdam or Milan, then we might spend a couple of months or more holed up in a place, pounding the pavements most days, writing in the afternoons and evenings, then heading out at night to try restaurants and bars. Our aim during these stints is to live like locals and get to know the locals as much as we can so we can find those hidden gems only locals and expats know about. Mallorca has been no different, except, because the island is small, we've spent just a couple of weeks in the city of Palma, and the rest of the time on the road, driving around the island. We spent two weeks in this sprawling, rustic-chic apartment in a renovated historic building in the old city owned by a lovely man (a former fashion designer) who has as much character and charm as the atmospheric accommodation he rents out. I found the place on Owners Direct, an excellent site which (along with vrbo.com) I've used all over the world and absolutely love because there's no middle man. You can check them both out here. Is renting apartments something you do when travelling? And how often would you rent and why?