Vagabond Journey.com Travelogue

How to Publish a Magazine

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:39:00 +0000

How to Publish a Magazine

I have often wondered about what goes into self publishing a magazine and how I could start my own little Vagabond press. Perhaps this is a far off, long term goal of mine, but, as the opportunity arose, I conducted the following interview with the managing editor, owner, and co-founder of Cafe Abroad Magazine to find out how he began his publication nearly two years ago.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November20, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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1. How did you begin Cafe Abroad InPrint? What gave you the idea? How did you take the initial idea and put it into action?

I had dozens of interns writing tons of stories for www.cafeabroad.com, so InPRINT was conceived as a piece to give more visibility and credibility to the website.

To execute the idea, I took the best stories and made a 16-page prototype in Feb, 2007. I then did a bulk mailing to 500 schools and 300 potential advertisers and called and emailed ‘til I figured out who wanted in,

2. How do you publish Cafe Abroad InPrint? Approximately how much does it cost to put out each issue? How large of a circulation does the magazine have?

I publish it using evergreen – a printing company in New Jersey. Each issue costs about $7,000. I print 11.000 copies – 30 issues to each of 325 schools and then some extras for bulk orders.

3. How did you approach the advertisers that place ads in the magazine? In what ways did you market the magazine to them as a potential source of advertising? Is Cafe Abroad run totally on the money made from selling ad space? Approximately how much does Cafe Abroad charge for ads in the print magazine? How much for the website?

I started attending international education conferences like NAFSA and The Forum on Education Abroad. All of the pricing information is available in the media kit in the “Advertise” section of CafÈ Abroad.

4. Do you contract out the graphic design work? Or do you do it yourself or have an employee or intern doing it?

I contract it out to a graphic designer. He’s a friend so he gives me a bit of a deal.

5. How many paid employees does Cafe Abroad have (not including travel journalists)?

Zero (including me).

6. How did you make the initial contact with students and set up the web-based study abroad community? How many students intern with Cafe Abroad each semester?

I created a database of study abroad offices and started making calls. A month later I had 225 applications.

100 interns per semester, though this semester I’ve scaled back operations to just 10 interns.

Related Pages:
Cafe Abroad InPrint
How to Self Publish a Magazine
Writing for Magazines and Newspapers
Article about Portugal Graffiti for Cafe Abroad
Travel Writing

Links to previous travelogue entries:

How to Publish a Magazine
* Travel Blog Directory * Traveler Photographs.com * Travel Questions and Answers

How Not to Monetize Blog

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:48:00 +0000

How Not to Monetize Blog: Project Wonderful Makes No Money

I tried another internet advertising program to compliment Google Adsense. It is called Project Wonderful and it does not make webmasters a fair amount of money.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 20, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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For the past month and a half there has been those silly graphic ads in the side bars of my sites. Maybe you noticed the cartoon of the hairy guy in bed with the girl? These are Project Wonderful ads, and they have failed to make me more than 4 cents a day. In the time that I have had these ads on this travelogue, Song of the Open Road, and Traveler Photographs.com I have only made a measely $3.50.

This is not enough money for thousands and thousands of page views.

So I removed the ads and have moved on.

It was worth a try.

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Obama Hope or Delusion
Studying to be an English Teacher
Tourist Guilt and Helping the Poor

How Not to Monetize Blog: Project Wonderful Makes No Money
* Travel Blog Directory * Traveler Photographs.com * Travel Questions and Answers

Obama Hope or Delusion

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:18:00 +0000

Obama Hope or Delusion in Brooklyn

“Hope is a longing for a future condition over which you have no agency.”
-Derrick Jensen

Hope is still in the air, in the minds, and on the lips of Brooklyn as a seemingly competent, articulate, and worldly man was elected as president of the USA. In my era these attributes in a president are certainly an oddity.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 20, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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But I must wonder what Obama has done to be riding on such high seas of hope and expectation. . . .

As I was walking today I saw a poster for sale in a shop window that had Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jessie Jackson, and other big heroes of human rights movements displayed in all out glory. But what was interesting about this poster was that an incredibly huge face of Barak Obama was superimposed above all of these other humanitarian leaders. What has Obama done to be depicted as four times larger than Gandhi? How could he even be compared?

This strikes me as being a little odd, but this is the symbol that Barak Obama radiates.

How could anyone put Obama in such company, let alone show him as rising above the greatest leaders of social movements that the modern world has ever known? I would not be surprised if the street vendors begin selling portraits of Obama superimposed next to Jesus.

Obama the savior.

“Obama speaks for me,” I read on a sign in a shop window this morning as I walked the gauntlet of Obama posters, t-shirts, books, and other paraphernalia on my way through Brooklyn. I saw another poster of a big Barak Obama head dominating over two little tiny Martin Luther King and JFK portraits. Barak Obama is a hero, though one that I have no idea what he has done. Yes, he has been elected president of the USA, which is of course no small feat, but he is still just a president. He has not fought in the streets, he has not lead a million oppressed people in the struggle for liberty, and he has not risked life and limb on the front lines of any real social movement (and I am not of the impression that he is inclined to do so). But regardless, Obama has been paraded as a hero.

As of now, it is my impression that the Obama persona has rocketed far beyond life and into the realm of symbolism, and symbols have no intrinsic value in and of themselves. Heroes often serve as symbols, but I am not sure if a symbol alone can be called a hero.

Many African Americans seem to think that Obama will save them because his skin is dark, and many Africans in Africa think that he is going to save them because his dad was from Kenya. “Obama cares about Africa because he is black.” Maybe this is true, but George Bush is white and I never had the impression he cared about me.

People are celebrating the coming of the "Great Black Hope," as the slogan goes. On the evidence that I am shown this makes little sense to me and, bluntly speaking, I become a little frightened when populations embrace their political leaders so excessively. Far too often have men been paraded into power on the backs of high expectations only to let down the people who put them there.

Hope is valuable only if it serves to fertilize action, and by action I mean provoking people to take responsibility for their lives and help themselves.

I believe strongly that politicians do not help anyone.

Presidents do not save anyone.

People help themselves.

Though I am pleased that the USA has a president that can construct a complete sentence, knows geography, has lived all over the world, studied other cultures and religions, and seems to have a good sense of the geo-political order of the planet we live on.

Or so I hope.

Related Pages:
Obama Celebration in Brooklyn
Photo of Obama
Obama the End of the Whinge
Derrick Jensen

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Studying to be an English Teacher
Tourist Guilt and Helping the Poor
Travel to Central Asia Western China or Middle Eas...

Obama Hope or Delusion in Brooklyn
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Studying to be an English Teacher

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:37:00 +0000

Studying to be an English Teacher

I began an online 100 hour Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL, TEFL) course with International TESOL Teachers Training (ITTT). Nailing this certification will better provide me with another trade that I can ply while traveling. I have taught English before and, although I cannot say that I love doing it, I do not despise the profession. You stand up in front of a group of people that you are interested in talking to and your job is to talk. On top of this you get paid. Not bad.

I have the impression that can ride out the website work for the next six to eight months of travel. After this, unless www.vagabondjourney.com miraculously begins to bring in more money, I think I may need to find an organized job. So I am preparing now by taking an English teaching certification course, which will transform me into an internationally employable teacher of the English language, and not just some scrub who has oft been know to teach under the table lessons.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 19, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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Teaching English is a great ace in the hole for American, English, and Australian travelers. There is currently a huge demand for native English speaking teachers in nearly every corner of the non-Anglo world, and I know that I can walk into nearly any Asian city and find myself employed within a day. Not bad, I say, especially since these teaching jobs are usually for relatively short contracted periods, provide housing, and pay more than a vagabond’s fare. Three months of teaching English should get me six to eight months of travel.

It addition to the practical – the money – aspects of teaching, it is also a good way to do some spokes of the wheel traveling. The spokes of the wheel travel strategy – which Andy calls the Spider method - is simply when you make a temporary base in a country and then repeatedly travel away from it in two or three day spurts before returning. So your path eventually comes to resemble a wheel in which you have a hub in the center and various spokes jetting out in every direction. It is my impression that this is among the better ways to gain a thorough impression of a country.

From looking over maps, it seems as if I am going to take my return flight to Budapest, leave as soon as possible to Romania, run down through Bulgaria, and then travel around Turkey for a while. Perhaps I will find myself going east to Azerbaijan and Armenia to dip a foot into the Caspian sea before setting out south to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and then trying to settle in Tanzania for a season. I like the looks of Tanzania, almost fully surrounded by the Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika, and Lake Nyasa. I would like to set up a base of a wheel in Dar es Salaam, find a teaching (or another) job, and then travel spokes out to the lakes before carrying on south towards the bottom of the continent.

Now I am preparing for these travels in New York City. By December I will have completed the requirements for my degree, have an internationally recognized English teaching certificate, eight field seasons of archaeology work under my belt, and a good deal of experience as a magazine copy editor and travel journalist.

Though there is one confession that studying to be an English teacher has brought to light: I have realized that I never learned anything about English grammar. I previously closed my ears to these lessons as a youth in grade school, stating ignorantly, "Why do I need to study English, I SPEAK English." I failed nearly ever grammar class I ever took. I do not believe that a strict knowledge of grammar is necessary for writing, editing, or for learning language, but, I fear, it is necessary for teaching. Writing comes out of speaking, editing comes out of reading, and language learning comes out of listening. Language is music, and it has always been my impression that music is better felt through dancing rather than thinking. But when a student asks "why?" about a point of English grammar, I know that I would much rather be able to answer their question, rather than blithely stating that "it is just the way it is."

I also know that putting my childhood stubbornness aside and finaly learning the nuances of English grammar will help in all other pursuits.

For the teacher is ever and always also a student.

Related Pages:
English Teaching Urumqi Xinjiang ...
How to Find Work while Traveling
Travel to Central Asia Western ...
International Study Travel
Travel Work Skills
International TESOL Teachers Training (ITTT
Spider method from Hobotraveler.com
Pros and cons of teaching a language to earn money
Jobs on Trip
Loren Everly.org

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Tourist Guilt and Helping the Poor
Travel to Central Asia Western China or Middle Eas...
Lonliness, Traveling, and the Open Road

Studying to be an English Teacher
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Tourist Guilt and Helping the Poor

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:35:00 +0000

They Need it More Than Me: Tourist Guilt and "Helping" the Poor

“I'm delighted to be called a romanticist. It tells me that I am on the right track. They mean I'm reporting only the good and trying to make everything seem perfect; in other words, I'm inventing it. I can respect anthropology only if it is a form of pilgrimage, where we are on a sacred quest to bring back from other societies the good things that can enhance our lives. To hell with people who say, 'Oh, here goes the romantic again!'”
-Colin Turnbull

“They need it more than me,” spoke a student to her teacher, justifying why she allows herself to be occasionally cheated and scammed out of money while traveling abroad.

The teacher agreed with her and said that she sometimes does the same thing.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 15, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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In many countries, the presence of a white hide and a rucksack seems to be enough to make many merchants, street-touts, hoteliers, and restaurants think that can make a few extra bucks off of someone who is acculturated into believing that they are rich and the world is poor.

The con men are oftentimes correct, as many Westerners seem to try to purchase away their deeply ingrained feelings of guilt by giving away money to people they think are in need. I do not know how many times I have shivered while listening to tourists talk about “how poor” people are in various places of the world simply because they live in mud huts, are agriculturists, and do not have much money. I do not know how many times I have cringed while watching well meaning tourists distributing money openly to dirty children in a village because it is thought that just because they do not have shoes that they are starving. I do not know how many times I have wanted to scream while listening to Westerners talking about how they want to save the world by volunteering their nonexistent skills to people who are perceived as being unable to provide for themselves.

This seems rude to me. This all seems offensive. Handouts make beggars. To treat people as if they are useless is to construct an a useless way of living. These are my opinions, my impressions - I do not know if I am correct.

There seems to be a prevailing consensus that people in the West have more money than other people in the world, so they should therefore allow themselves to be robbed for charity - that they should have a moral obligation to help the less fortunate by being duped. I have witnessed far too many Westerners proscribing to this dogma and paying exorbitant prices under the guise of acquiescing the guilt that they feel by perceiving themselves and their culture as "rich," from thinking that they are better off than the people whose country they are traveling in, and by trying to help the poor. The alms that they shed are oftentimes misplaced:

They are feeding the sharks in the ocean.

There is a relative scale of wealth in the world, and money is perceived and used differently according to culture. It seems to me that the absence of money is not always a sign of poverty. I do not feel that it is always appropriate to pity people who work hard for little income. Cultures are relative, and I feel that placing the values of one culture upon another - by thinking people poor because they do not possess the signs of wealth that another culture acknowledges - is degrading. It is my impression that the moral obligation for one culture to try to help or save another is oftentimes an outrage.

It is Kipling's White Man's Burden all over again:

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

As I listened to the student and the teacher talking I was reminded of the undercurrent ideology behind colonization - that Europe felt it was their guilt ridden mission to bring civilization, commerce, infrastructure, and religion to the heathen natives of the world. It seems to me that, in a very real sense, behind the bases of exploitation and imperial control that many of these missionaries and colonists really believed that they were helping the people that they took into their charge. I cannot help but to liken this ideology to Westerners who think that "they need it more than me."

It is striking to me that Westerners just expect to see starving, hungry and poor people in other countries. Their blinders seem to be up and they will not absorb any other impression. I expected this when I first began traveling. I, too, once thought that the world was on the brink of abject poverty and that the people in whose countries I was traveling "needed it more than me." I felt guilty for being for being raised in the USA and I wanted to help the "poor." I think this is normal. In the USA we have been conditioned to think that our way of life produces better results, that we are privilege, and they we are, when it comes down to it, superior. We are taught that the world is poor and we are rich, and that to be a good person you have to try to help the poor.

But I cannot buy this now. I do not believe this at all.

It now seems to met that if someone thinks that it is their job - their mission - to help other people then they are putting themselves in an upper hand position, they are flaunting their sense of cultural superiority.

It is beyond the pale of my ability to explain to a Westerner who has not traveled – or even many who have – that the world is not full of starvation and disparity, and that just because someone lives in a mud hut does not mean that they are poor and need to be helped.

“Eat your peas because there are starving children in China.”

“Appreciate what you have because you could have been born in Africa.”

“In Communist countries the government take children away from their families.”

"In Islamic countries women are treated like dogs."

These are the stories that I was told of the world while growing up in the USA. In point, I was told tales of a world of oppression, strife, despair, and starvation to scare me into appreciating the mushy vegetables, stale macaroni and cheese, and reheated chicken that sat idle in front of my place at the dinner table. My parents did not know any better, these were the stories that they were told when they were children. The USA is rich, the rest of the world is poor is what I was socialized into believing. This is a lie, but it is obvious where it comes from: TV, movies, NGO propaganda, and the evening news beam in images of a world on the brink of all out starvation.

I thought the world was horrible, and I felt the moral urge to make it better. I wanted to go to Chiapas and join the Zapatistas, I wanted to stand strong with Prachana and the Nepali Maoists, and I wanted to volunteer my time to save the environment. I did not yet realize that these feelings were manifestations of my acculturated sense of imperialism, in and of itself.

There is a different set of symbols that represent well-being in any given culture. I feel that to place the symbols of well-being in my own culture over another is to degrade that culture – it is to belittle people who are otherwise living life well. To regard people as being impoverished because they engage themselves in simple agriculture, live in simple houses, and wear old clothes is nonsense. Money is used as an indicator of wealth in the West, but this is not so in many other countries. There are other forms of wealth and other signs of well-being.

As Andy the Hobotraveler once said to me in Guatemala, “In Africa, money is for buying cell phones.”

Well-being is told by smiling faces. It is my impression that the people who have not yet been told that they are poor are the ones who are smiling the most. I have found that the monetarily poorest people oftentimes seem to be the wealthiest.

We live in a very fat world - I can not understand how tourists can think that fat people are starving.

It seems to me that different cultures and communities have different benefits and disadvantages. I am from the USA, therefore I am able to travel easily, I learned a few trades and can make money. Someone from Latin America may not be able to travel as freely as me but they tend to have a lot that I do not: large families, community, and a solid social support network that my culture cannot provide. Everything is relative, and the grass always looks greener on the other side.

I try to stay away from the West because I know that people are far happier elsewhere. I go to where I smile the most, to the places where I make friends the easiest, to the lands that people are happy. These places tend to not be those with excessive amounts of money.

I am not alone in finding that I sometimes envy the ways of life of other peoples. I have found many places in the world that are far richer than the USA, though they do not have much money. Money is not a measure of wealth and well-being. People tend to have a difficultly measuring the wealth that they possess. America is one of the poorest and desperate places that I have ever been. I have never known more unhappy people than in the West.

After knocking about the planet a little, I still do not know where all of these staving people are; I do not understand why people think they should give money to others. I have been to poor places, I have been to slums in South America, ghettos in Portugal, all through Asia, and even the poorest people that I have come across have enough to eat, shelter, and family. From my observations, I have seldom come across cultures in disparity.

There are staving and abject places in the world, there are cultures on the brink of destruction, but they are not the ones who are scamming tourists out of their money.

The world is alright, "They do not need it more than you."

Related Pages:
Honduras-Tourist Charity and Street Children
Africa Enslaved by Love
Morocco- On Moroccan Touts
Morocco- Travel Tip #5- Not Your Friend
Morocco- The Routine Hassles of Travelling in a Tourist's W...
NGO Watchdog by HoboTraveler.com

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Travel to Central Asia Western China or Middle Eas...
Lonliness, Traveling, and the Open Road
Begging for a Laugh in New York City

They Need it More Than Me: Tourist Guilt and "Helping" the Poor
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Travel to Central Asia Western China or Middle East

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:47:00 +0000

Travel to Central Asia, Western China, or Middle East and then Africa?

Where to now?

Seriously, where to now is my only question. But it is a good question, the best of questions. I cannot think of a greater joy than standing at a global crossroads, looking in all directions with feelings of excitement, inquiry, and knowing that Chance is ever laying directly in front of me regardless of the Path that I choose. I am looking north, south, east, and west, just waiting for that prick of inspiration that will send me off onto another unexpected Road.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 12, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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There is nothing better in this world than endings, as endings just lead to new beginnings. I am excited.

This is one of the most enjoyable parts of traveling: planning, pondering, making mental lines across a map and giving free reign to all feelings of adventure, romance, and excitement. The Road is always open. I am squirming in my chair as I write this.

Sun bright, crispy autumn leaves blowing, no clouds, people joking on picnic benches, I am writing.

Oh how I just want to run today. Autumn nostalgia is blowing through me like the wind and it is making me want to MOVE. To get away, run, to travel, and to travail. I feel like a caged bird in migration season, ever battering my plume up against the bars of my enclosure. I will not be a captive much longer.

One more month in Brooklyn, then I will break free.

I am feeling the Wanderlust hitting as hard as it always does in the migration season, as the weather changes in the north. Humans are migrators, the flying geese overhead makes my feet want to start walking. It is my impression that the migrating urge vibrates just as strongly beneath our modern, civilized human crust as it did in the earliest nomad.

But where to now?

I think about this question for a good portion of my days. Map gazing is my perhaps my most comfortable occupation – some people have comfort foods and comfort places, I just stare at maps. My gaze has been lingering in the most landlocked and mysterious center of the great Asia continent: the Stans and China's Xinjiang and Qinghai regions!

I applied for a teaching position in Uzbekistan a few days ago, and I am getting in contact with some friends and connections in the west of China. This is an incredibly huge region of the world that I am interested in, and I would like to really dig in and discover for myself what is going on.

I would be a happy traveler if I could land a temporary job in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan. I can think of no better cover for doing an initial cultural investigation than that of the English teacher, as your job is to do nothing other than talk to people in a language that you can understand. So I am provided with a means to learn about a culture as I teach someone a skill that they wish to learn, and I get paid for it.

It means a lot more to be able to say that you are an English teacher at a university than an un-provenienceable traveler just wandering through. Having a place and a role in a community - an identity - is important to be really accepted. If cultural impressions are my goal, I know that it is much more effective to play the part of a worker - who is employed and, therefore in the same shoes as most everyone else in a community - than a lackadaisical tourist who is perceived as living the high, easy life on independent means. It just means something more if you are a part of a place.

There is a time and a place for different roles when traveling. Most of the time I enjoy just wandering into a country – a culture – and being the traveler. I arrive, I may make a couple one-night friends (or I may not talk to anyone), and then I am on my way again in a couple of days to go through the same routine. This is a good and probably the typical way to travel, but it can quickly become a warn routine after a few months.

I have found that I like to stay in regions for around two to three months. Anything over three months I begin to feel caged, anything under a month is a limited exposure and little can really be learned.

So I think that I will travel for a few months after this term in Brooklyn. Just travel, dream, and watch the world go by. But by summer I would like to land a job somewhere for a season.

Maybe Central Asia.

Maybe North-Western China.

Maybe I will take my flight back to Budapest, hop on a train to Istanbul, travel through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan (if possible), Ethiopia, and then find work in Uganda or Tanzania for a few months before continuing south to the bottom of the great Africa continent.

These ponderings are fun.

Map of China.

Map of Kyrgystan.

Map of Uzbekistan.

Map of Tanzania.

Map of Africa.

Travel to Central Asia, Western China, or Middle East and then Africa
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Lonliness, Traveling, and the Open Road

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:11:00 +0000

Loneliness, Traveling, and the Open Road

This was originally written for Travel Blogs.com

"To be free, you had to be alone, always, everywhere, and above all amongst people. . . Wandering and alone in a world in which he could always stay unknown, Orschanow was really free. He thought and acted as he wanted to, and no one could pretend to control his thoughts, since all he needed to do was to leave, at the first clash of views, and set off on the road again."
-from Isabelle Eberhardt's Vagabond

I read this above quote and realized that it contains a large amount of hard earned wisdom. After 9 years of continuously traveling the world, both with companions and alone, I know that to be able to completely live on the ends of your own intuition - perhaps a working definition of freedom - it helps to travel alone. But to travel alone means wooing the beast of loneliness and solitude.

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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 10, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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But I must mention here that loneliness on the Road is of a completely different character than the same affliction in an at-home setting. In travel, the feeling of loneliness can often times be used as a tool to extinguish itself. When I feel uncomfortably lonely when traveling, I talk to people. It is a simple formula. The world is full of people, and if you are traveling you have the ability to sample this depository til your heart's content. You can start up conversations with dozens of people a day when wandering and not a single one of them has any inherent consequence. If you talk to someone and find that they do not understand what you are saying, then you can just move onto another person. If you make a friend and realize that you do not like him then you can just leave. If you find that you are in a setting which prohibits conversation then you have a full range of options to change it. When traveling you are essentially outside of the box of all convention - you are in a land of little social consequence. You can say anything to almost anyone and it does not really matter. You may be scoffed at 9 out of 10 times when trying to communicate with strangers, but you still hold on to a possibility that you will eventually make a friend.

A traveler has the ability to chance their circumstances at ANY time. If you do not like the way that you feel, it is your responsibility to change it. There is no one to relay on but yourself when traveling solo, and you possess the key to your ambitions, desires, and fairy tales. To recognize the ability to make yourself happy is the freedom of the Open Road.

I find that loneliness goes away from the simple act of speaking. So I talk to the birds, I talk to the animals borrowing on the side of the road, and I even talk to the odd human every once in a while. If I have a conversation with someone - even if it is extremely simple and inane, even if it is just in pantomime - I find that the lonely feelings blow away. The act of speaking does not only have to be for the purpose of communicating the meanings of words alone, but also for the side effect of simply making a base connection with another person. So I speak inane words and I am given inane responses, but I feel better for it. It seems as if simple verbal connections are enough to slay the beast of loneliness.

Hut in the woods on Brooklyn's prospect park. It was my hermitage for a day.

The ways in which I make connections with people while traveling vary in accordance with the landscape. If I am in North Africa, where there are plenty of cheap street-side cafes, I pick one that has a good bunch of people, sit down, and start talking to someone - they usually talk back in some language. If I am in Eastern Europe, where beer sells cheap, I find a crowded local bar and start talking in English - someone usually talks back and I make friends. If I am in Latin America, I find a cheap hostel and stay there for a night or two. If in east Asia, I hitchhike and practice my Chinese and Japanese with the drivers. The ways of making simple contact with people while traveling are endless. You are a traveler, you can do or say anything to anyone and there are little social consequences. The traveler is the ultimate social wildcard, you can go between all classes and sects of a culture equally, as there are no boxes to put you in. You are free to talk to princes or paupers, all you have to do is do it. Oftentimes these little conversations bloom into real friendships, and you find that all semblance of loneliness fades away as quickly as they were formed. There is little reason to ever be lonely when traveling unless this is how you want to feel. The traveler chooses their own Path every step of the way.

But oftentimes loneliness is not so bad. It is just a feeling, and like all other feelings people must occasionally let it flower freely to be balanced. I often find myself lonely on a stormy night with no urge to extinguish the feeling. Sedentary society often has a major aversion to loneliness that is not really applicable on the Road. Many lonely, solitary nights have made up some of my best memories while traveling. When sitting alone in a tent on a dark night while thinking of the lover or family that you left behind you begin to feel that deep sense of love that only distance can make thick. It is usual for me to long for people when I am traveling, and I let these feelings come and go as they wish. I have found that fighting against feelings of loneliness is the surest way of making them grow. I once had a stretch of travel in Patagonia where I did not really talk to anyone for over three months. I was lonely, but I found that it was not so bad being lonely. People living in sedentary society seem to rely on other people for their happiness, and loneliness is a shear indication that something is going wrong. But while traveling I have found that I am responsible for my own emotions and feelings. I am alone and lonely relatively often, and I have learned that it is not so bad. When traveling I know that I can always change my circumstance, and I have learned to appreciate the insights gained from the occasional bout of loneliness.

I have set out on many solo journeys just to realize that I am very seldom ever alone. The world is full of people, there are many options for breaking a stretch of loneliness when it arises. Fortunately, I have found that I seldom ever travel into unfriendly territory. It is my impression that people are oftentimes just as interested in talking to me as I am to them. So if I want to talk to people, then I talk to them; if I feel a little lonely, I either do something to change it or simply enjoy it. Loneliness it is not always a detrimental feeling that should be purged on first contact.

Related Pages:
Travel Inspiration Well

Interview about Isabelle Eberhardt with an anthropologist
Isabelle Eberhardt Desert Queen Article
Sol Beam about Defining Home and Lonliness in Travel
Travel Blogs.com

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Begging for a Laugh in New York City
Ethnography Journalism and Travel Writing
Congo Immigrant Impression of USA

Loneliness, Traveling, and the Open Road
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Begging for a Laugh in New York City

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:36:00 +0000

Begging for a Laugh in New York City

Begging in New York City has been chiseled down into a fine comedic art. Perhaps suiting to the reputation of the place, relatively seldom do you see beggars doing the ordinary begging gig of sitting on a street corner trying to look defunct with an open hand held out.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 7, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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Rather, many of the beggars seemed to have realized that they can make far more money through seeming clever as oppose to beaten down. Perhaps New York City is a place for comedy rather than empathy. To walk through the streets on Manhattan is often to find yourself in the middle of a defacto comedy show . . . All for a little spare change.

“It wasn’t me, man, I’ve been framed!” jests a black man peering through a picture frame that was somehow attached to his face.

If you laugh he asks you for a dollar.

“Do you have a dollar to donate to the united negro pizza fund?” asks another industrious beggar.

“Why lie, I need a beer,” reads the cardboard sign of another man in search of alms.

“I need a dollar so that I can by some beer and then be taken home by two women who will molest me,” reads the sandwich board that covers the front side of a big black man looking to make up some money through making a passerby crack a smile.

There are probably hundreds of such little hustles employed by beggars in this city, but the best one was played on me a few days ago:

I am generally impervious to beggars and begging, and I only spare change in certain circumstances. But sometimes, my senses are warmed and it becomes apparent that asking for spare change can be honed into a respectable profession.

I was walking along St. Marks street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is a pretty trendy part of town that I assume houses a good deal of hustlers. A black guy in a pimped up outfit and fancy sunglasses walks up behind me, gets close, and starts talking.

“Oh shit,” I think to myself, “I have to get rid of this guy.”

It was apparent that he was trying to finagle some money out of me, and I initially did not want to play along. But I looked him in the eye and heard him out anyway.

“If I can make you laugh, will you give me a little change.”

“Go for it,” I said, taking up the challenge.

“Thank you,” he said and went into his first joke:

“If Iraq invaded Turkey from behind, would Greece help?”

I laughed.

The street comedian knew that he won, and set out to rub his victory in my face by continuing to tell me jokes all the way down the street. Some of his jokes were good, some were not, but they all had a tinge of roughness that made me think that they were originals.

“McCain, boxers or briefs?” went another joke.

“Briefs,” I answered.

“Well, that Depends,” countered the comedian.

I laughed. I gave him a dollar and he thanked me as went off to find a new audience.

The joke man probably walked up and down that street all day long doing the same routine on anyone who looked unfamiliar. I must have looked like a sucker, and I was taken in. But it was worth it.

A good beggar provides some sort of social service. In Asia, beggars present the opportunity of earning merit through the giving of alms. In most places, giving to beggars allows one the potential opportunity to - perhaps unavoidably - feel good about themselves for thinking they helped another person.

A beggar who is good at their trade also has the ability to make people know that they will feel bad about themselves for not giving money. In DC a couple of weeks ago, a man in dirty clothes surprised me with a flower. I took it and he asked for a dollar. I tried to give the flower back, but he would not take it and acted sad as he walked away. I could not help myself for feeling like an ass. The beggar did his job.

It is my impression that begging, if done properly, is a job in and of itself. The people who seem to be most successful at this trade are those who can manipulate people’s emotions by making them feel good or bad. The joke man probably works a full day making strangers laugh, the flower man makes you feel like shit for not giving him money, and the beaten, battered, young, old, and missing parts beggars have the power to make you feel pleased with yourself for doing a good deed. The psychology behind begging is interesting, and I suspect that there is a full fledge art in the routines of the professionals. It is my impression that a good beggar has the ability to make far more money than the average worker in many countries. The people who work for alms are not necessarily unemployed.

Related Pages:
Morocco- On Moroccan Touts
Morocco- Travel Tip #5- Not Your Friend

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Ethnography Journalism and Travel Writing
Congo Immigrant Impression of USA
Obama Celebration in Brooklyn

Begging for a Laugh in New York City
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Ethnography Journalism and Travel Writing

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Ethnography, Journalism, and Travel Writing

I am shooting wide of the mark and I know it. I am like a floppy fish bouncing around out of water in New York City.

I had a feeling that I would find myself in this position before leaving Eastern Europe, and I am not surprised or too concerned. . . . Just going to ride this horse through the desert until it croaks beneath me. Then I will move on to where I feel more comfortable: the rest of the world.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 7, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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I wish to stand at the meeting point of travel writing, journalism, and ethnography. I wish to learn these three disciplines deeply, sluice the cream off the top, combine it all together and see what I come up with.

“Right now,” the journalist, the anthropologist, and the travel writer state equally, “I find that this place and these people and this situation is like this.”

All three disciplines generally record a defacto, first person account of the world in a certain place at a certain time; and all three disciplines use history, context, converations, and personal experience to essentially provide a still life of a brief moment of time on planet earth.

“I stand here now and these are my impressions of what I observe.”

This is all I wish to do.

Today, societies rarely erect long lasting monuments to their times. Ours is a history that will not be told in stone, but on paper: in digital files, books, magazines, and crammed away in the lost annals of the internet. Standing on the brink of a world in rapid flux, this has become the shinning generation of the chronicler. The question of “What is going on here?” has rarely been more difficult to answer.

The journalist, travel writer, and ethnographer ultimately write to the same ends. They document a moment, a place, a people, a situation. Their methods differ greatly, but their end results are the similar. They are all just recording evidence of “What is going on here.”

I am not there now. I am barely scratching the surface, but I am getting my feet wet. I know what I want to do, I just need to educate myself further in order to get there.

I enjoy writing on this travelogue. I can occasionally misspell a word or two, crank out an intentionally incomplete sentence, and write words that sometimes don’t make any sense together. I feel that this is alright, because this is a place for ideas, impressions, and the recording of experience: it does not have to be edited. It is a space to play around a little. This is what I enjoy about reading other people's writing - the errant phrases that sometimes awkwardly provides the reader with a view of what is going on behind the written words.

I feel as if this is the true benefit of the travel blog: they show ideas and impressions of places as a person moves through them. The more incoherent, full of errors, and far-reaching they are the better. A travel blog is a place to air out dirty laundry and try new things, write of experiences as they happen, and to look back at the places from which you came.

Though I feel that I am not hitting the nail on the head on this travelogue either. I am not getting deep enough; I am not allowing myself the space to dig deeper. I am noticing this more and more in what I have been writing from New York City. I am lost here and I know it. I feel like I went down on a sinking ship and that these recent entries have been the result of me trying to grasp onto any piece of floating debris that I can. I hope that this is being shown.

I am from a rural area 600 km from NYC by Lake Ontario and have been traveling the world for the past eight or nine years. This is where I come from, and this is how I experience New York City. It is not pretty, but it does not have to be. It just has to be honest.

I am out of my element here, and this is allowing - no provoking - this self-criticism.

Through this self-critique a Path is emerging. There is a united line between the three aforementioned streams of writing that lead through the woods and I want to walk it. I want to take what I can from these three disciplines - study them deeply - and see what I can come up with. I can only hope that I will not think too much about this.

“Just spit it out,” Andy says. Good advice, but I know that the fatter my belly is, the thicker my spit will be. Now is a good time for me to fatten up a little: Read, read, read, study, study, experiment, laugh.

I know that, in the end, this is all for fun.

Related Pages:
NYC- Journalism Mission
NYC- Editor Eats Article
NYC- Another Concept of Journalism
USA- Fortunate Travel Blogger
Guatemala- I meet the Hobo Traveler
Honduras-Writing for Magazines and Newspapers
Morocco- Great Travel Books: The Royal Road to Romance
USA- The Real Impacts of Writing

Links to previous travelogue entries:
Congo Immigrant Impression of USA
Obama Celebration in Brooklyn
Code Pink Female Acivists Washington DC

Ethnography Journalism and Travel Writing
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Congo Immigrant Impression of USA

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:01:00 +0000

Congo Immigrant Impression of USA

I met with a Congolese immigrant in Washington DC and talked to him a little of his initial impressions of the USA.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York- November 6, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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He had this to say:

"When I first came here from Congo I realized that America is not like America. What I saw was more like Africa. I thought that everyone was rich and that all cultures were mixed."

I hear these fairy tale stories about the USA wherever I travel. I can only imagine the disappointment that immigrants must have upon viewing America for what it really is for the first time.

I went for a walk through some crappy areas of Brooklyn this morning. There were lots of Latino immigrants working and hanging out in the streets. I can not imagine that this was their idea of America.

Links to previous travelogue entries:

Congo Immigrant Impression of USA
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Obama Celebration in Brooklyn

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:39:00 +0000

Obama Celebration in Brooklyn

A crazed chorus of “Obamaaaaaaaa! Obamaaaaaa! Woooooooo! Screeeetch!” erupted outside my window last night on Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus. The sounds of an impromptu street celebration successfully usurped the quiet of the mild autumn evening. I walked out from my room to see what was going on:

Black girls were jumping up and down screeching, with bright white teeth shinning behind huge smiles; African American boys were shaking their fist in the air in victory; and an all out melee was quickly overtaking the Brooklyn streets. A more genuine excitement I am unsure if I have ever witnessed. These people were happy.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 5, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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Something was going on here. I have never known a presidential election in the USA to cause this much excitement and an all out show of faith in the system. These people really believed in this stuff. They really believed the ability of their new leader and that he can initiate change and make their lives better.

Symbols can bring hope. If Obama being the president can bring hope to a society that has traditionally felt beaten down, then good on them. Yes, a multi-racial man who has an African father can become president. It has been shown. As I witnessed the joy emitting from the mostly African American crowd in front of me, it was clear that the symbolism of this election meant something real. Something has been changed - at least symbolically - in America.

The USA is one of the least racist country that I have ever been in. I am glad that this has been so thoroughly shown by this election.

The people who crowded in the streets were feeling something that they has long laid dormant: hope. Dekalb Avenue was flooded with people jumping for joy as traffic came to a halt and masses of people swept across Brooklyn in a sea of victory. It was an all out celebration. The people in the streets jumped for joy about the dawning of a new day and the word “Obama” was on everybody’s lips.

"Obammmaaaaaaa!"

Cars were honking, fireworks were going off, and everybody was running wild. I was in the middle of a mirthful riot.

I stood in the crowd and watched as a spectator. I have a really difficult time relating to the people of the USA, and I care little for their politics. But I must admit that my cynicism dissolved a little as I watched the crowd fully revel in the thrill of having a new leader. This seems like an odd thing to revel in, but I have never known Americans to believe in much of anything en-mass, and this fact alone was something special to observe. Smiling faces are contagious, and I, too, felt a slight tinge of hope.

Hope. Today, a large portion of the American population is riveted by a new found sense of hope, and another large portion is reveling in despair. The tables have been turned.

One extreme lead to its seeming opposite.

Perhaps.

At least I do not have to listen to people complaining about Bush anymore.

Related Pages:
Photo of Obama

Links to previous travelogue entries:

* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Code Pink Female Acivists Washington DC

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:05:00 +0000

Code Pink Washington DC Women Activists

“Kill them with kindness is the Code Pink way.”

“Our congress has let us down,” spoke a pink clad woman who goes by the name of Miss Liz Hourican. Her blond hair was cut short and she spoke with almost obsessive excitement about the mission of the female activist group known as Code Pink. She would flash the peace sign at well-worn intervals and occasionally jump up off of the couch on which she sat to make a big point. It was obvious to me that she was a woman who meant what she said, and would go to any length to make a demonstration.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 3, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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The women that make up Code Pink are an aggressive activist organization that have made a home for themselves amongst the powerful of Washington DC. When there are important issues flying on Capitol Hill, this group of women in bright pink clothes are sure to be there to mess it all up and get their message in the news.

“This is where all the power is,” Liz explained as she told me a little about what Code Pink does in Washington DC. In point, she said that they yell slogans at politicians, disrupt congress, ask political leaders tough questions in the face of the media, and do everything they can to blockade the process of what they deem to be unjust legislation and get on TV.

Code Pink is a highly visible organization and use highly visible tactics to draw attention to themselves and whatever cause they are trying to inform the public about. They wear bright pink clothes, hold bright pink banners, and do a lot of kicking and screaming in the face of global power. They are anti-war, anti-sexism, and anti- everything that does not conform with their pro-liberal agenda. The color pink was chosen as a theme to mock the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of color designations to represent the level of terrorism risks on any particular day. So there is now Code Pink to add to days of code orange, yellow, and red.

“I want to sit right behind Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Rumsfeld,” Liz told me as she began a tale about how she disrupted a congressional hearing by running in front of the news cameras with “stop the war” written on her undershirt. She then proudly stated that this action made John McCain address the congregation by saying: “Don’t be diverted by the ground noise and static.” This action was aired on national TV and Liz was able to parade her anti-war message in front of the news camera’s for an unexpectedly long period of time.

After hearing about this and many other tales of these types of actions, I felt the need to ask her if she has seen Code Pink have any real social or political impact. She answered very realistically by saying, “As far as inspiring women, yes, as far as affecting policy change, no.” But she was quick to add that, “My congress man use to call me ‘crazy,’ now he calls me ‘lady.’ I see that as progress.”

Very well.

“Women have a different sensibility. We raise the children of the world, and we don’t bring them up to go to war,” Liz continued as she stressed the importance of Code Pink’s anti-war stance, “Men don’t quite see it as we do as mothers.”

Liz became politically active after the September 11th fiasco. In her own words, she “bought a bag of candy and a Viva Mexico shirt and walked the river bottoms.” Her intent was to talk with the poor and disenfranchised people of the nation by knocking on doors of New Mexico and asking Hispanics what their concerns were. She gave out free candy.

“Then I found Code Pink, and it was a puzzle piece in my life,” she said, “before, I was just doing all of this stuff on my own.” Liz joined Code Pink around a year and a half ago, and has been studying political news channels and newspapers ever since. She says that she knows many of the representatives of the US government by face and name and that she goes out and tries to interact with them.

Liz warns that, “Everything that you became use to in the USA, you and your children will soon be deprived of” and reminds me that “war is not green.”

I take heed of her warnings and admire - as well as nearly fear - her almost fanatical dedication to her cause. Miss Liz Hourican is a person who stands on the pillar of her own righteousness and faith in her politics. Liz is sure to carry on getting arrested for the TV New and ranting and raving her dissent into the public record.

She summed up our meeting with, “Everyone is Code Pink on the inside."

'Tis curious that we only believe as deeply as we live. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't never have any trouble in regulating my own conduct, but to keep other folks' straight is what bothers me. ~Josh Billings
Quote Garden

Videos of Code Pink in Action:

Related Pages:

Links to previous travelogue entries:

Code Pink Washington DC Women Activists
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Travel Questions

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:42:00 +0000

Travel Questions

One of the fastest growing sections of Vagabond Journey.com is the travel questions forum. This is the place where I answer the questions that readers have about traveling, working on the road, studying abroad, or just about anything else.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 3, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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The links below go to some questions that I have answered:

Travel Scholarship Part 2- Second part to the scholarship for travel conversation.
How to Finance Travels and Study Abroad- How to study abroad.
Travel Managua to San Jose- Travel by bus between Managua, Nicaragua and San Jose, Costa Rica, border crossing, and accommodation.
My Early Travels- The beginnings of the Vagabond Journey story. Provoked by a question from Amanda.
How to Find Cheap Flights- Some tips on finding cheap flights.
Travel and Shyness- Are there certain character or personality traits that are good for travel?

Travel Questions - Thinking about traveling? Unsure about your first trip? Do you have questions about anything that is travel related? Want some reassurance, inspiration, advice? Then please ask away! This is a forum of questions that readers have asked me, which I have answered and published here to be of assistance to other travelers. Send all questions to Wade at VagabondSong@gmail.com.

Links to previous travelogue entries:

Travel Questions
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Taliban in Ecuador

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:42:00 +0000

Taliban Brothel in Ecuador

I just received the following transmission from Stubbs. It is from his-friend-Mike who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru:

"hey show this one to wade if you see him. i d like to know his take as a journalist. also is it permissible to post something like this on a blog in this day and age?? what do you think? also what would steve earle say? of course this is an infamous brothel i took a picture of about 20 km inside the Ecuadoran border."

take care,

elegant panther

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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 2, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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I laughed when I saw the photo that was attached to the email:

Photo from Mike, the Elegant Panther.

I can remember my friend Andy the Hobotraveler.com talking to me about this place last spring in Guatemala.

"I am thinking, what are the Ecuadorians up to; this is really a strange sign," Andy wrote on, Taliban Discovered in Huaquillas Ecuador, his post about checking out the Taliban themed business. "I am in a very organized place where women work selling their bodies," he continued, "Everywhere in this highly organized business, there are Taliban and Osama Bin Laden drawing and advertisements. The theme of the place is the Taliban."

So, what do I think of the Taliban in Ecuador? Well, to start I say that it is a sign that the Taliban image sells products, including women, apparently. I can remember traveling in South America in 2001, 2002, and 2003 and seeing the Taliban and Bin Laden "logos" all over shirts and other advertisements. Perhaps this was an initial reaction against US imperialism? But more likely I think that this is just another testament to that fact that if an image is rampantly all over the US television it can be a worthy advertisement all over the world. I am unsure if real literal meaning has anything to do with this.

"The rise of the image, the fall of meaning."

Related Pages:
Taliban Discovered in Huaquillas Ecuador
Song of the Open Road South America Label

Links to previous travelogue entries:

Taliban Brothel in Ecuador
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Travelogue Directory Updated

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Travelogue Directory Updated

The directory to this travelogue has been updated today. On this page you can find links to all of the posts from my travels from 2005 to present. This is probably the best way to navigate this travelogue.

Vagabond Journey Travelogue Directory
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 2, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
--------------

Updating this page is probably the biggest chore of my life. I have a short hand way of doing it (well, for me) but it is probably still the dummy way.

"Why do you always do everything the hard way!" I can hear my mom scolding me.

Perhaps the hard way bubbles up a well-spring of character. Perhaps it is just a waste of time. Or maybe I am just not lazy enough to come up with easier ways (read comments to Travel Blog Trade Secrets).

Any way you toss it, the directory page is updated.

Links to previous travelogue entries:

Travelogue Directory Updated
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Asus Eee PC 12 gig XP Gift

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Asus Eee PC 12 gig XP Gift

Upon airing my new-found computer woes on this this travelogue - One Week Two Laptops Broken - a friend that I met in Guatemala through the Hobotraveler named Chris came to the rescue.

Chris said that he was moving to Panajachal on Lago Atitlan in Guatemala and that he no longer has use for the three Asus Eee PC laptops that he had in his possession. Why he had three of the same computer I will probably never really understand, but he kindly offered one of them to me. I was taken aback by the kindness of this gesture and gratefully accepted it.

I am still taken aback by the kindness of this offer and am devising little ways that I could someday repay the gesture.

I am now typing on the computer that Chris sent to me. It is a 900 series Eee PC that has 12 gigs of internal storage rather than the measly four of the one that I was previously trying to use. The screen is bigger and it is vastly easier to use than the old Eee PC model. This computer is awesome.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 2, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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Chris even went out of his way to have an XP operating system installed on it for me and sent it out immediately. I am now riding high and my head is again above water. Chris tossed me a line and dragged me out of a hard spot.

The more I travel this world, the more I realize how many good people there are on it.

I hope Chris the best hotsprings in the world and that he finds a nice little home down in Guate amongst volcanoes, rancheros, and rolling hills. I know that it is a place he really loves, and I, hopefully, will soon return to give him my thanks in person.

Well, I will give him my thanks in person if I can catch him, as there is no telling where Chris may end up now: he cut his teathers to the world of dust, paid off his depts, sold his car, has monthly pension checks coming in, and seems to no longer have any real hang ups in the world. A man like that can go anywhere and just keep going.

So just in case our paths do not cross for a few more turns of the screw, I will say this now:

Thank you, Chris, I really appreciate your kindness.

Related Posts:
Original Eee PC Not Good for Traveling Webmasters
One Week Two Laptops Broken
Asus Eee PC Popular with Travelers
Asus Eee PC Initial Impressions
Asus eee PC 900 Travel Computer

Links to previous travelogue entries:

Asus Eee PC 12 gig XP Gift
* Travel Blog Directory * Vagabond Journey.com * Travel Photos * Travel Questions and Answers

Original Eee PC Not Good for Traveling Webmasters

vagabondsong@gmail.com (Wade Vagabond Journey.com) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:17:00 +0000

Original Asus Eee PC Not Good for Traveling Webmasters

The original model of the Asus Eee PC is good as a web appliance when on the Road, but when it comes down to creating and maintaining websites - or doing things that require programs beyond the general Windows boot up - it is no good.

No good.

4 gigs of internal memory was more than enough to have Windows and install all the programs that I need - Frontpage and a couple small photo editing systems - but it proved too small to continuously run these programs as well as use the internet.

I saved all documents and photos to an external SD card and flash drives, but the programs themselves proved too bulky to dance smoothly.
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Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Brooklyn, New York City- November 1, 2008
Travelogue -- Travel Photos
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When you leave yourself with less than 100MB free space, internet browsing and program use creates a hostile environment for Windows. My Windows XP opperating system began crashing hard; my files began scrambling as I was using them; my computer was becoming the stage of a battle ground. Hobotraveler.com's boy genius, Andrew, suggested that I use a program called Crap Cleaner to sweep out the constant build up of temp files and other crap, and this proved successful to a small extent, though it was obviously not a long term alternative.

For me to keep using the original (700 series I think) Eee PC would have been a constant battle. A battle in which I would be constantly fighting temp files and junk, and ever in peril of having my files scrambled or my operating system collapse.

So I have given up on the use of the 700 series Eee PC, as a tiding of good will has been sent my way.

A gesture of kindness was shown by a friend that requires its own page in this travelogue!

Related Pages:
One Week Two Laptops Broken
Asus Eee PC Popular with Travelers
Asus Eee PC Initial Impressions
Asus eee PC 900 Travel Computer

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