Taking off Travel blog

We’re just about to start a new round of travel blogger interviews. Before we do, I thought I’d share some of the highlights of last year’s series. Here are the 15 travel bloggers we profiled last year, along with a great quote from each interview.

Annabel Candy

Planning is a waste of time in the end because the best thing to do is just get somewhere with no plans. Walk everywhere so you get to know the place properly and ask the locals for help and advice.

Lea Woodward

There are a few things which set us apart – we’re a husband and wife team, we run our business from wherever we are and we truly have multiple income streams from digital products, to professional services, to selling physical goods.

Marina Villatoro

I find guidebooks to be bad and unhelpful. That’s why I’m actually creating guidebooks for families to make it so much easier to plan, especially with kids.

Andy Hayes

I learned an awful lot about the sorry state of the traveling public, how to pack a carryon like a ninja, every frequent flyer mile and seating trick in the book, and what airports have decent food options (answer: none).

Soultravelers3

I think travel is the best education so wanted to pass these experiences onto my child by traveling as a family. She took her first trip and stayed in her first hotel at 2 weeks old and we started our world tour when she was 5.

Read more »

The concept of marriage is in flux. Once a sacred ceremony that joined two souls in ever-lasting holy matrimony, it has become a commoditized, corrupt, mechanized process that has lost much of its meaning and is waning in popularity, certainly in the West.  In the U.S, 40% of all marriages ended in divorce in 2008. This is a well known fact and undermines what should be, by all accounts, a permanent agreement to stick by your chosen partner through thick and thin.

So how and why has this changed happened? A decline in religion could be one reason. Fewer people going to church means fewer people investing value in Christian beliefs and ideologies, meaning fewer people are getting hitched. In fact in the UK, divorce rates amongst those in their 60s are rising, indicating that even long term marriages are not safe.

The process of marriage and values surrounding marriage vary greatly from country to country and while some may find the divorce rate in the western world surprising, there are other marriage rituals around the world that would seem alien to anyone not familiar with the local cultures and customs. Here are five unique marriage rituals from around the world.

Arranged Marriages, India

Although arranged marriages happen all over the world, they are perhaps most commonplace in  India, in fact in some parts, they are the norm. This takes place when parents select a bride for their son, or vice versa, locking individuals, often at a very young age, into a marriage they have very little say in. Arranged marriages largely came about because the religion and culture in such countries doesn’t encourage dating, and so in most instances, arranged marriages are the only way that couples can meet.

Drive-Thru Weddings, USA

Weddings are usually long drawn out affairs executed with military-like precision,  lasting an entire day, in front of crowds of family and friends, planned years in advance. Perhaps the strangest marriage ritual in the world then, is the ‘drive-thru’ wedding, most common in Las Vegas, where couples will get hitched in a matter of minutes, often without an audience and occasionally under the influence of considerable amounts of alcohol.

Bride Kidnapping, Kyrgyzstan

In what is perhaps the most extreme and deplorable wedding ritual of them all, bride kidnapping in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan. A recent study in fact suggested that half of all marriages in the country are the result of bride kidnappings, a phenomena partly born out of a disorganised legal system that is not enforced on a country-wide basis but dictated by individual villages and towns. Groups of men will plan a kidnapping days in advance, although it is usually the females in the groom’s family that will carry out the kidnapping.

Shotgun Weddings, USA

The term ‘shot gun’ wedding refers the process whereby a father would approach his daughter’s partner with a shotgun, and demand that he ask for her hand in marriage, if she became pregnant. Although the term itself is fairly new , the ideals that founded it are in fact quite old fashioned. Today it’s commonplace, at least in the Western world, for couples to have a child outside of wedlock, and although it may be frowned upon in more conservative, religious communities, today’s shotgun weddings don’t often live up to their names  – thankfully!

Stag Parties, UK

Although it seems routine for Brits, looking from the outside in, the concept of a stag party is bordering on the insane. One of these parties usually consists of the groom to-be going on a weekend away in Europe to somewhere selling cheap alcohol with a group of friends, a few days before the wedding itself. The groom to-be will be forcibly fed a near-lethal mixture of said alcohol, while wearing a humiliating fancy-dress outfit, only to be humiliated further by getting bound to a lamp-post or other immovable object. Grooms have often been known to be no-shows at their own weddings as a direct result of stag-party antics!

Joe is a travel blogger who doesn’t have plans to get married any time soon! He’s looking forward to his Hayes and Jarvis Dubai holidays next year, but won’t be looking for a holiday romance there! (Image: sdmustangclub)

This year ebooks have been outselling printed books at the rate of about 150 to 100. With the launch of new Kindle devices in mid-November and corresponding new releases from other providers you have to believe that an e-book reader is on almost everyone’s Christmas list. So what are the best books you can give your favorite traveler this holiday season? Here are some suggestions.

Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

This book is a great, inspirational read for those who are looking to escape the 9-to-5 and design their own lifestyle. While it would be silly to act expect that everyone can achieve it the tips in this book provide a blueprint for how Tim Ferriss did it and gives you some advice on streamlining your business processes and creating an ideal lifestyle.

Notes from a Small Island/Notes from a Big Country  by Bill Bryson

In my opinion Bill Bryson writes some of the funniest travel books out there. These two books are useful to appreciate the countries that form two halves of our “special relationship”. Small Island looks at Britain while Big Country looks at America. Both are warts and all and I defy you to read them without laughing out loud several times.

Billy Connolly’s Route 66

When you see him live, comedian Billy Connolly is absolutely hilarious if often foulmouthed. Although I haven’t read this book I have seen episodes of the series on which it was based and it is laugh out loud funny as this Scot turns his comic eye on America. You can see the country from the perspective of an outsider and you may never look at it the same way again.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

If you’ve got a case of wanderlust then you will enjoy this book which provides inspiration from famous vagabonds as well as practical advice on setting your destination, the nomadic lifestyle, working abroad, handling setbacks, financing your trip and settling back into your life after it’s over.

How to travel full time by Colin Wright

This book covers some of the same territory but also includes information on building an online professional and personal platform, how to live like a local, how to share your adventures with other people, the effect of travel on your relationships and safety tips.

(Image: Alice Harold)

Just for a bit of fun, I’ve collected some photos of different forms of transport, as they were back in the old days and as they are now. Enjoy!

What do you wear when you travel economy? If you’re traveling for business, then you’ll probably wear a suit or formal business wear (unless it’s casual Friday or you work at somewhere like Google) simply because you might have to go straight to a meeting at the other end. But what if you’re you’re flying in early for a meeting later in the week or taking a more casual trip?

A friend of mine always dresses up to travel. Even if she’s going on a family holiday, she never wears jeans and sneakers, or sweats and flip-flops or any of the other ‘I’m on vacation’ combos you sometimes see your fellow passengers wear. Her theory is that the more grungy and comfortable your attire, the more casual the airline staff treat you. Dress down and the standard of service goes down. A guy I know says the same.

They agree that if you dress like you mean business, then you get business-class treatment, even if you happen to be traveling in coach. While you don’t have to be too formal, it’s best to avoid looking like you’ve just come back from walking the dog or a session at the gym. Both my friends have the evidence to prove it. Flying with the same airline at the same time of day but with different attire, they were able to score better seat positioning and upgrades when dressed in a more business-like fashion.

I generally like to be casual, but I put it to the test myself. I noticed that when I made a little bit of effort, I was able to get those hard to come by extra legroom seats on a couple of flights without having to pay a surcharge. What do you think?

(Image: the|G|™)