Vagabond Community News Update- November 6, 2007

Vagabond Community News Update- November 6, 2007
Vila Nova de Milfontes, Portugal
November 6, 2007
Wade from www.VagabondJourney.com

Where are the world’s travelers right now? What are all the dirty little Hobos digging into? What vagabond has gone over the edge and who has gone home? All here, in this Vagabond Community News Update.

Wanderjahr Jill’s promotional photo (hehehe).

Mira from Wanderjahr Jill

Wanderjahr Jill has found herself riding a souped up bicycle across the south of Europe with your dear editor (me), and getting mad at him (me) the whole while as if they are lovers (they are). Yup, she is on a bicycle journey from Portugal to France, but has ran aground in Vila Nova de Milfontes on the Portuguese coast. It is such a beautiful little town, right on the apex of where the River Mira empties into the Pacific Ocean, that it has seemingly entrapped poor Wanderjahr Jill. Vila Nova de Milfontes, during the low-season, is an incredibly nice and accommodating haunt for the vagabond: the food is plentiful, the beer is cheap, the Casa Amarela guesthouse provides a private room with bath and shower for a vagabum penance, and, most importantly for the Wanderjahr Jill site, a free internet connection. Lazy days of swinging poi balls and juggling on the beach abound. I think Mira has found her idea of paradise in this deserted, winter time beach resort town.

Mira has also been writing little poems and prose pieces about the exhilarating days of bicycle travel and restful nights of beach camping on her travelogue, Wanderjahr Jill. Her beautiful travel blog is packed full of stories and photographs from her previous travels in China, India, Latin America, the USA, and Morocco. Check it out if you want the other (sweeter) half of the Song of the Open Road story.

From Wanderjahr Jill’s Going to Africa:

“Anyway, there is so much adventure out there. I feel like I have to hide them all away until the future, until school is finished; so that I can fit into some little, neat box of society.
The more I travel, the more I realize how false this box is; how the rest of the world does not live in this same reality as the one I have been brought up in.”

Andy the HoboTraveler.com

Andy the Hobotraveler has finally returned home from West Africa- to Thailand that is. Over the years I have grown to suspect that Thailand has become the surrogate home of this colossal icon of the travel writing world. Andy uses the airline hub of Bangkok to its fullest extent, as he wanders around the planet, ever and always making sure to weave Thailand somewhere in his path. “It is now time to comply with the prime directive of travel,” wrote Andy when he decided that seven months in West Africa was enough for the time being and bought yet another one way ticket to Thailand.

Andy the Hobotraveler.com is now jumping around the Thai islands and speculating about the crazies of Khao San Road. One interesting point that he brought up in his Number of persons ignored per city post runs as follows:

“Robert kept talking to the Taxi Drivers at the entrance to Khao San Road.

I said,
– Robert you know better than to start conversations with Taxi Drivers, you have been traveling too long to do that.-

A good traveler knows how to stop people, stop a beggar, stop a tout, stop any annoying person dead in their tracks. It is an amazing ability . . .”

He is right, it is an amazing ability. William S. Burroughs referred to this when he would discuss his ability to navigate through the tout strewn streets of Tangier as an “hombre incognito.” This “hombre incognito” skill is something that is simply earned through years of travelling and dealing with people who have no other intention than separating you from your money. It is a true travel skill to be able to identify such people in an instant and “stop them dead in their tracks,” as Andy puts it.

Nath from Ubertramp.com

The Ubertramp has finally tipped his hat and bid farewell to the vast deserts and ancient cities of Morocco, and has returned to his (sometimes) home in the south of England. He is now revitalizing the Ubertramp.com website and making it into a real, utilizable database for penny lacking vagabonds. This site is no longer an ordinary travel blog but is a true travel resource. As he writes in his post, Welcome to the New Ubertramp, about these changes:

“This new look, feel, and sense of direction was long overdue. Ultimately, I hope the fruits of my recent labours will provide you with a more enjoyable and rewarding visit.

Since returning from Morocco I’d thought much about the site – and the more I thought, the more I began to question its direction. What did I originally set out to achieve? What was the aim of the site? What would be my first impressions if I were a visitor to the site now? Who am I writing for? So many questions…

In any event, I swiftly realized the site had begun to lose its way. I had begun to slip into the fatal trap of trying to appeal to too many people in the endless quest for a growing readership. The result seems to have resulted in a ‘haphazard’ approach to both site design and content. Well not anymore, we’re back on track.”

In my opinion, the new Ubertramp.com is beyond excellent, and I am not just saying this because Nath is my friend. It looks good, is easy to look at and navigate, and has a lime green color scheme that runs its way through it. In all, it is a truly innovative, informative, and enjoyable travel site. Nath has managed to successfully bridge the chasm between offering practical travel information and in-dept, amusing travel narrative on the same page.

Nath continues on to invite us to his site with the following message:

“I guess now it’s crunch time – it’s the time to subscribe, comment, or delete ubertramp.com from your favourites ”

I think the new content and format should have people running over to it in droves.

At least this the impression of a dirty little wanderer who is always on the look out for information about how cheap can be made a little cheaper.

Traveling Chris from TravelingChris.com

Traveling Chris, who describes himself as, “a person who gets excited, and feels his greatest sense of passion, when he’s on the road,” has managed to find a way out of Alberta, Canada and onto the great path once again. To Africa After a seemingly frustrating time with volunteer agencies, he landed a gig in Uganda as a computer/ IT/ multimedia teacher through the Canadian Voluntary Service Overseas. He writes about this in his Next Destination Confirmed post:

“All i know is that I’ll be in a town called Kabale in the southwest of the country. It’s near the borders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town has about 43,000 people, it’s at 2000 meters above sea level, and it’s a popular spot for hiking and gorilla sighting.”

So there you have it, a brief shakedown of the projects, dabbleings, and ramblings of a few of this planet’s wandering travel writers. Check out their websites, send them your praises or insults, and be sure to follow them on their journeys over the charred and battered, beautiful and exquisite haunts of this long lost planet.

Walk Slow,

Wade

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