Measuring and Manufacturing Authenticity

Measuring and Manufacturing Authenticity

It took my favorite futurist, Scott Smith, to show me Santa Moncica’s best and most authentic cappuccino: Wait, did I just call a cappuccino ‘authentic’? What does that even mean? Scott and I spent much of our morning kaffeeklatsch at Caffé Luxxe...
The Globalization of the Traveling Freeloader

The Globalization of the Traveling Freeloader

I’m back in Bucharest this week at the World Blogging Forum (not to be confused with the other wbf2009, the World Bodypainting Festival). I am here with all the usual suspects and all the usual self-promotion. Among the many interesting and over-achieving...
They Have Returned With Their Secrets Unviolated

They Have Returned With Their Secrets Unviolated

All tourists cherish an illusion, of which no amount of experience can ever completely cure them: they imagine that they will find time, in the course of their travels, to do a lot of reading. They see themselves, at the end of a day’s sightseeing or motoring,...
An Outsider's Guide to Linz

An Outsider's Guide to Linz

The festival energy has arrived to Linz. The Bruckernerhaus is full of monitors, art installations, and computers. The Ars Electronica Center is filling up with laptop-toting digital nomads from all over Europe and beyond. And the Twitter stream for #ars09 is starting...
Visiting Yemen

Visiting Yemen

“Sana’a(Yemen)” by eesti I am often asked what countries I’d like to travel to that I have yet to visit. Ethiopia and Lebanon have long been two standard answers (probably because I love the food and music from both). Victor Kaonga’s blog...
A View from Bad Gastein

A View from Bad Gastein

It took me a while, but I finally got the hang of producing a QuickTime Virtual Reality 360 degree panorama. To have a look around hover your mouse over the image above, click, and drag it to the right or left. It’s far from perfect – I have to get better...
[Review] Lapham's Quarterly: Travel (and the Demysitifcation Thereof)

Glimpse.org, Travel Writing, and Onbehalfism

When I travel to a foreign country I want to meet local people, taste local food, listen to local music, and read the local newspapers. When I meet people in another country from a different culture who speak a different language then – over time – I begin...