Landlore: Alternative Travel Lifestyles

Another double-hitter. This first one is from 2009. Ya es tarde, si... but better late than never. Sadly, I don't speak Spanish. I speak Mexican... but I pick up Castellano very quickly. Wild Junket's " Top 10 Spanish swear words " may just be the most important phrases you'll use while in Spain... or, at the very least, the most fun . Practice these when you're around English speakers. If they ask what you're saying, tell them you're practicing "what a fine day it is today" in Maori. Just joking... maybe... no, seriously, don't do that. Don't be like me. The Wild Junket is also where the fav phrase of the day comes from. Next up, Stuff White People Like. Now, don't even bother continuing unless you have a well-developed sense of humor. For instance, this first article open with: "If you find yourself trapped in the middle of the woods without electricity, running water, or a car you would likely describe that situation as ...

Myself, when young, did eagerly frequent Doctor and Saint, where heard I argument   about and about IT, but evermore Came out by that same door as in I went. With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, Then, with my own hands, labour'd It to grow.   Yet this was all the harvest that I reap'd: "I came like Water... and like Wind I go. "Into this Universe, the 'why' not know'n, Nor 'whence', like water willy-nilly flow'n,   then out of It, as wind along the Waste, I know not 'whither', willy-nilly blow'n." What? without asking, hither hurried whence? Then! without asking, whither hurried hence?   Another and another cup to drown The memory of this impertinence! ~Edward Fitzgerald's " Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam "

"Lefty" at the Guinness Warehouse Oh no, Dublin, we're not done with you just yet. It's time wrap up the final third part of this series... 'n what better way to do it than backwards? Maestro! Cue the music! Song of the Day: [ Free from Music Ninja ] Bedouin Soundclash - Brutal Hearts (Ft Coeur de Pirate) "Brutal Hearts (Ft Coeur de Pirate)" by Bedouin Soundclash Alan de la Graingers Grainger's Pub : See that softy on the left? That's Alan. Don't believe the smile. Alan will fuck you AND your whole crew up. No, seriously, we love this guy... 'n it's the one time we got him to smile during our stay in Ireland. More on how we got him to smile here in a second. First, we've gotta tell you a bit about the real Alan. I heard it from a peep who knew a peep that these two American girls wandered their way into Graingers while RyGuy 'n Gaea were soaking up some brews there. When Alan came over to the two girls, they both o...

A rather incredible double-hitter. The first hit was when my friend Jill forwarded me a post on " The Travels of Ibn Battutah ", where it makes sure to point out that his travels were NOT a holiday. Then came the second hit, when I read the post " Not a Vacation " on Over Yonderlust. There is a very critical point here--the hinge where travel and tourism differ. Travel immerses and takes on a lifestyle. Tourism takes a "vacation" from a lifestyle, then quickly defaults back to that lifestyle once the vacation has ended. I'm not here to say that one is better than the other. I will say this: there are more tourists than travelers, and, because we travelers are the minority, we are constantly placed under the assumptions that we are tourists and that we are on vacation. This is not a vacation. This is our life... and the world is our home. I highly suggest reading both articles, including the comments on Over Yonderlust. Favorite phrase lately: (f...

Quick double-hitter. El number uno: " Best of the No Baggage Challenge ". I've been trying to think of ways to apply lightweight travel to hitchhiking... but a lot of it just doesn't apply. You're basically trading money for weight. If you can travel comfortable in your wallet, you can travel lightly in baggage. That's one crude fucking reduction of the actual challenge... so don't take it to heart. The Good Mister Potts is one of the iconic travelers of the time, and his experiments in travel are priceless. Here's my own fav from the "Best of" vids: El numero dos: " The Thing About Burning Man ". Gaea, over on System Andromeda, has written up a small but insightful entry on how Burning Man "breaks" a person open. The only thing I would add is that Burning Man will find that thing inside of you that you resist... and it will bend or break it. That's the magic of it. And the fav phrase lately? From the French: ...

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The three-part entry on Dublin continues. Turning away from the dark alleys, let's center in on our favorite base of operations-- Paddy's Palace . But, to talk about Paddy's, it's important to mention the Lazy Piece of Sith who turned us onto the place--RyGuy. This is the peep who'd mapped out 'n planned a large part of our Dublin adventures. One o' the things that we'll be referring to as "his fault" is Paddy's Palace. Wouldn't have it any other way. Let's kick this off with a little music. Song of the Day : [ Free from XLR8R ] Telefon Tel Aviv - Lengthening Shadows "Lengthening Shadows" by Telefon Tel Aviv It's the Cost That Counts : No, seriously, at some point the pro-vs-con scale tips towards absurdity with the amount of amenities you get for your dollar value at some places. Paddy's is one o' those places. No curfew and a 24-hour check-in are big tipping points. Free noms when you wake up in the mor...

How long the road is. But for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes by. ~ Dag Hammarskjold

This is the first of three posts on Dublin, Ireland. For those who don't know, Dublin's where the Guinness comes from. In fact, the first photo of me in the About Me section is a shot of me drinking Guinness at a pub called "Graingers". Graingers and Guinness will be the third post in the series, with the Paddy's Palace hostel holding down the middle ground. Onward! Song of the Day: Jamie Woon - Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Remix) [ iTunes ] "Wayfaring Stranger (Burial Remix)" by Jamie Woon Closing Time : Even more so than Austin--dare I say, "even more so than NYC"?--Dublin truly is a 24-hour city. I spent many nights wandering the quays, hanging out at internet cafes and meandering from pub-to-pub. The night never ends in Dublin... at least not until the sun decides to break up the party. It's a fairly drunken party... and it's alotta fun. A Scuffle in the Paddywagon : On one such night out, I was innocently enjoying a cancer ...

The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends. ~ Shirley MacLaine