Travels in the Riel World

You have the time. You have the money. And you want to do something different: take a trip that will transform your life. Or at least give you the sense that you’ve had a life-changing adventure. Travel & Leisure and MSNBC recently published a story about what they called midlife crisis trips, but the journeys they outlined were really all about “challenging yourself with something new.”

Jane Goldstein, a Boston corporate attorney, was turning 40 when she decided she needed to scale Kilimanjaro. Climbing for eight days with a cast of characters that included a recent widower, her best friend, and four Texans, Goldstein grew fond of the Kilimanjaro-trekker’s mantra of pole-pole, Swahili for “slowly.” It was, she says, “a wonderful pace of life.” Closing in on the summit, she realized the purpose of her trip: it made her feel like she could do anything.

Goldstein’s tale is hardly unusual—midlife restlessness is so common it seems like a cliché. But psychologists say it’s real: a period of discontent that can produce feelings of boredom, doubt, anger, and unease. Traveling has always been a remedy, but more people are forgoing cars and tattoos these days in favor of real-world exploration.

Other than climbing Kilimanjaro, though, what sort of journeys are we talking about? Here is a sample:

Photographing the Tibetan Plateau, Tibet: Environmentalists say the Tibetan plateau, an elevated landmass that spans Tibet, China, and India, is in imminent danger of melting. Learning-based workshops lead caravan tours throughout some of the more remote regions of the diminishing plateau—home to the highest percentage of Tibetans anywhere in Tibet, and a place where Tibetan culture is at its best preserved—with hands-on instruction on bringing home the sort of photos that’ll undoubtedly top the neighbors’ snaps of the Grand Canyon.

Biking through Umbria, Italy: Pedaling through expansive vineyards, olive groves, and medieval hill towns is visually rewarding in itself, but at the end of a good, long haul, what’s better than a celebratory glass of Orvieto? Group cycling trips through the Italian countryside expose travelers to new friends and make accessible foreign ground not typically covered, while good food and wine minimize the boot-camp feel. The best part? Seeing Italy without concern for calories.

Check out the full story for other ideas, everything from surfing in Fiji to teaching English in Cambodia to spending some time at the Esalen Institute in California.

Ever heard of Cascadia? Or Ecotopia? This is the geographical and cultural region - both real and mythical at the same time, it seems - that stretches from the Pacific Northwest up through British Columbia and includes such cities as Seattle, Portland and Vancouver. The NY Times recently published a story on the region. And, although the article focuses on some of the dreams of integration that haven’t come true, there are a lot of interesting nuggets in the piece about this land that stretches across two nations and shares spectacular landscapes, a similar culture, and a strong environmental mindset.

Had Mr. McCloskey and his allies had their way, the border might not be there at all. For decades they preached of a distinct “bioregion and eco-culture” reaching roughly from southeast Alaska through inland British Columbia and down to Northern California. Pristine peaks, cascading waterfalls and a shared way of relating to it all would transcend national boundaries through what Mr. McCloskey called “a swearing allegiance to a life in service of the place.”

Purists (and parodists) still talk of secession, from both countries, and Mr. McCloskey still has flags he designed for the nation that would be…Business leaders and elected officials took the Cascadian dream and worked to make it a brand, a cross-border powerhouse of trade and tourism tilted toward Asia, the Arctic and the new, all to be linked by high-speed rail, a green economy and a sense of independence from Ottawa and Washington…

Yet Cascadia remains elusive. A few Web sites still promote the idea. “Ecotopia,” a 1975 novel by Ernest Callenbach that helped inform Cascadian thinking (but excluded British Columbia), has found a new audience as environmental awareness increases, and Joel Garreau’s “The Nine Nations of North America,” published in 1981, which unites parts of British Columbia and the West Coast into an environmentally minded whole, can still be tracked down.

As the article suggests, two interesting books that delve into the culture of this region are Ecotopia and The Nine Nations of North America. The latter book is an intriguing look not only at the Pacific Northwest, but also at eight other cultural regions across the continent, including New England, Dixie and MexAmerica. The book may have been written in the 1980s, but it still rings true today.

So the Winter Olympics are over. After two weeks of marveling at the physical feats of some of the world’s best athletes, it’s time to say goodbye to the skiers, snowboarders, speedskaters and bobsledders for another four years. Unless, that is, you happen to take in some World Cup or X-Games competitions. But fear not, for there are still ways for you to keep the Olympics buzz going.

If you’re a more sedate person and prefer to be an extreme sport spectator, you might want to check out one of the Halls of Fame in North America that are dedicated to some of the winter sports. I just published an article on this topic for Examiner.com. An excerpt:

Figure Skating Hall of Fame - Colorado Springs, Colorado: From Sonja Henie, Peggy Fleming and Dick Button to Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi and Scott Hamilton, dozens of Olympic champions and all-time greats are enshrined in the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The museum also features the world’s largest collection of memorabilia and films related to the popular sport of figure skating.

Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame - Ishpeming , Michigan: Michigan may seem like an unusual choice for the Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, but the city of Ishpeming is where the National Skiing Association was first organized a century ago. This Hall of Fame focuses on Americans, but honors more than 300 individuals, from early pioneers to such recent Olympic champions as Picabo Street and Tommy Moe. The museum has 15,000-square-feet of exhibits, including a large collection of skiing memorabilia and archives.

On the other hand, if you want to be involved in some adrenaline-producing activities, then head over to this MSNBC story, which profiles a few of the world’s best activities for thrill seekers. O.K., so you won’t be matching wits with Shaun White on the halfpipe, but there are plenty of options here to get your heart racing.

Rock climbing, Yosemite Valley: They say Yosemite Valley is climbing mecca, with climbs coveted by “rock heads” far and wide, and a degree of difficulty that has necessitated many technical innovations. Even today, as the most demanding ascents have crumbled, aficionados still point to El Capitan, Yosemite’s 915 meter granite wall, as the planet’s greatest rock climb. Be prepared to self-rescue: it is illegal to camp at the base of any wall.

Zambezi Riverrafting, Zambia and Zimbabwe: The British Canoe Union classes this white-water run as an extreme Grade V: violent rapids, steep gradients, massive drops. One of the rapids is called ‘Oblivion’ and is said to flip more canoes than any other on the planet. Commercial operators like Safari Par Excellence operate on both countries’ shores. July to January serves up the best water conditions.

Running with the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain: Ever since Ernest Hemingway popularized the event, running with the bulls through the narrow streets of Pamplona has come to symbolize some kind of macho pinnacle. Bull runs start at 8 a.m. every day from 7 to 14 July; runners must enter before 7:30 a.m. Once you start running it is technically illegal to stop.

Whatever you do, enjoy! And see you in London in two years, or Sochi in four.

There is something almost indescribably mysterious and beautiful about islands. Unmoored from any large land mass, they seem to float amidst the seas, many of them with their own unique landscape and identity. Frommer’s was on to something recently when it published the book 500 Extraordinary Islands, which profiles some of the most fascinating islands in the world. As a preview, they covered 10 of these 500 destinations on their website. Here is an excerpt from that feature, with their descriptions of two of the planet’s most beautiful islands.

Bora Bora - Nothing says “ultimate honeymoon” quite like Bora Bora. The word is out — and has been for some time — about this French Polynesian island’s extraordinary natural beauty, and Bora Bora’s remoteness and high prices have kept the island’s luxurious mystique intact. Enchanting Bora Bora belongs to the exclusive, “so-preposterously-gorgeous-it-doesn’t-seem-natural” club of travel destinations. Even the most jaded globe-trotter duly drops his jaw when confronted with the spectacle of the lagoon and the iconic silhouette of Mount Otemanu in the background. Many visitors, in fact, never get farther than that perfect tableau of paradise, but excursions to the main island and its lofty interior are how you’ll get to the real heart of Bora Bora.

Mauritius - Isolated in the Indian Ocean, 1,243 miles east of mainland Africa, Mauritius may be tiny, but there’s never a shortage of things to do. With a coastline ringed by coral reefs, and calm, clear, shallow lagoon waters, the island is ideal for all sorts of water sports; the unspoiled interior offers sights of spectacular natural beauty as well. Tourism on Mauritius is a relatively new phenomenon, however, and so far it’s definitely geared toward the higher-end traveler. Mauritius today is an amalgam of Creole, Indian, Chinese, and French peoples (there was never an indigenous population), with Creole and French the dominant flavors. Its most famous resident, however, may have been the flightless dodo bird, a rare species discovered here by the first Dutch visitors and soon driven to extinction by the settlers’ wild pigs and macaques.

See the profiles of all 10 islands, from Canada, Chile, Kenya and beyond. Or better yet, check out the book and read about all 500 of them.

Since February is Black History Month, it’s an opportune time consider a road trip that takes in sites that are important to black history in the United States. So I created a journey through that runs between Georgia and Kansas and which takes in key locations from the civil rights movement as well as some historic homes of prominent African Americans. The article was just published on Examiner.com. Here is an excerpt from the Alabama portion of the trip:

 

In Birmingham, you can then begin your journey along the Alabama Civil Rights Trail. The main attraction here is the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum that re-creates the world of racial segregation and the civil rights clashes. It is across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed during a 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan.

 

Another two hours south is the town of Selma. There, you can stop at the Edmund Pettis Bridge, where 500 people were attacked by state police in 1965 while they participated in the Voting Rights March. From here, you can follow the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail, which commemorates that march.

 

It’s just over an hour to Montgomery, where Dr. King was a preacher and some of the most famous civil rights incidents took place. You can tour the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where King worked; the Dexter Parsonage Museum, the home where King and his family lived; the Rosa Parks Library and Museum, which pays tribute to the woman who sparked a year-long city bus boycott; and the Civil Rights Memorial, designed by the architect Maya Lin, that honors those who gave their life to the civil rights struggle.

 

Finally, less than an hour east of Montgomery is the Alabama town of Tuskegee, which is not connected to the civil rights movement but is renowned in African American history for other reasons.

 

First, you should visit the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. It’s the only historic site located on a functioning college campus. The school was founded in 1881 as a teacher’s college for African Americans and grew to prominence under the leadership of Booker T. Washington. One of the school’s most famous professors was George Washington Carver. Today, you’re able to visit some of the university’s earliest buildings, including The Oaks, which was Washington’s home. Another attraction is the George Washington Carver Museum, with exhibits on Carver’s life and scientific achievements. Additionally, the graves of Washington and Carver are in the Tuskegee University Campus Cemetery.

 

Also in town is the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. Exhibits at Moton Field tell the remarkable story of the thousands of African Americans who were trained here during World War II to fly and maintain combat planes. Since the military was still segregated at the time they had to be trained at a different facility from white pilots, but the Tuskegee Airmen became one of the military’s most respected group of fighters.

 

You can read my full story here, and you can follow the journey with this Google map:

View Black history road trip in a larger map

Arthur Rimbaud was a 19th century French poet who famously gave up writing while still a young man and lived most of the final 10 years of his life in Harar, Ethiopia. That makes the town somewhat of an interesting landmark, but Harar is also reputed to be one of the more colorful places in a fascinating country, with bits of both Africa and Arabia and with influences from both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea. There is a nice portrait of Harar on the website GlobalPost.

Harar must have blown Rimbaud’s senses away. It still bewitches travelers with a riot of color, scents and unique lifestyles, where Islam meets Christianity, Arabia and Asia join Africa, and trade between regions and cultures flourished over 1,000 years of uninterrupted urban life…

Trade and religion shape Harar’s life. Ethiopian Muslims consider it the fourth most sacred Islamic city, with 80 mosques and 200 holy graves of saints.

It was closed to non-Muslims until, in 1855, the British explorer Richard Burton, a fluent Arabic speaker, donned Arab dress and snuck into the city for 10 days. He left a lively account of his trip.

Check out the full story. Or, for another view of Harar, you can also pick up Paul Theroux’s book, Dark Star Safari. Theroux stopped in Harar and other places in Ethiopia during an overland journey across Africa, which he recounts in this excellent travel narrative.

Americans love road trips. They love taking them and they often enjoy reading about them, as well. But what are the best U.S. road trip books ever written? Smithsonian magazine took a stab at that question and came up with a list of 11 titles, which are featured in a recent article. Here is an excerpt:

On the Road by Jack Kerouac, 1957
When this semi-autobiographical work was published, the New York Timeshailed it as the “most important utterance” by anyone from the Beat Generation. Though he changed the names, the characters in the novel have real life counterparts. Salvatore “Sal” Paradise (Kerouac) from New York City meets Dean Moriarty (fellow beatnik Neal Cassady) on a cross-country journey fueled by drugs, sex and poetry The novel’s protagonists crisscross the United States and venture into Mexico on three separate trips that reveal much about the character of the epic hero, Moriarty, and the narrator.

Travels With Charley John Steinbeck, 1962
Near the end of his career, John Steinbeck set out to rediscover the country he had made a living writing about. With only his French poodle Charley as company, he embarked on a three-month journey across most of the continental United States. On his way, he meets the terse residents of Maine, falls in love with Montana and watches desegregation protests in New Orleans. Although Steinbeck certainly came to his own conclusions on his journey, he respects individual experience: He saw what he saw and knows that anyone else would have seen something different.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceby Robert M. Pirsig, 1974
A deep, philosophical book that masquerades as a simple story of a father-and-son motorcycle trip, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceis Pirsig’s first foray into philosophy writing. Their motorcycle trip from Minneapolis to San Francisco is also a trip through Eastern and Western philosophical traditions. His friend, a romantic, lives by the principle of Zen and relies on mechanics to fix his motorcycle. Pirisg, on the other hand, leaves nothing up to chance and knows the ins and outs of maintaining his bike.

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon, 1982
After losing his wife and job as a professor, William Least Heat-Moon sets out on a soul-searching journey across the United States. He avoids large cities and interstates, choosing to travel only on “blue” highways—so called for their color in the Rand McNally Road Atlas. Along the way, he meets and records conversations with a born-again Christian hitchhiker, an Appalachian log cabin restorer, a Nevada prostitute and a Hopi Native American medical student.

See the entire list of 11 books in the full story. What titles would you add to this collection?

If you enjoy architecture or historic homes, then you’ll appreciate this recent feature on HGTV’s FrontDoor website about 10 of the most iconic homes in the United States. Sure, the White House is there, but so are homes designed by Thomas Jefferson and Frank Lloyd Wright and such entertainer mansions as Graceland and Neverland. Here are a few of the selections:

Fallingwater- Built between 1936 and 1939, Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece is one of the most famed creations of American architecture. Constructed atop a rushing waterfall, the home’s cantilevered balconies and rough-hewn stone materials offer a breathtaking organic interplay with the natural surroundings. Located about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in the Bear Run Nature Reserve, Fallingwater is now the only major Wright-designed house to open to the public with its furnishings, artwork and setting intact. The home has received 4 million visitors since opening its doors to the public in 1964.

San Francisco’s “Painted Ladies”- Between 1849 and 1915, about 48,000 Victorian-style homes were built in San Francisco to accommodate the city’s growing population. Adorned with bright colors to enhance their elaborate architectural details, these homes were first referred to as “Painted Ladies” in 1978 by writers Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen in their book Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians. While thousands of these vibrant homes still grace the streets of San Francisco today, the six Painted Ladies on Steiner Street, bordering Alamo Square Park, are by far the most famous. Often referred to as “Postcard Row,” this line of homes standing in front of the San Francisco skyline has become a classic image of the city.

Monticello - Designed by founding father and Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson himself, Monticello is one of the most famous examples of neoclassical architecture in the United States, with its classic use of symmetry and stately brick exterior. Construction on the home began in 1769, although several of its most famous features were not added until later. The dramatic dome, for instance, was added in 1800 after Jefferson visited France and was influenced by architectural trends in Paris. The west front of Monticello has appeared on the nickel since 1938; however, the dome and west portico are not necessarily the “front” of the house. In Jefferson’s day, guests would enter through the East Front into the entrance hall, while the family would enter through the West Front into the parlor.

See the full story for the other seven iconic choices, many of which would make a nice addition to any travel itinerary or road trip.

Maybe you’ve seen the movie Julie and Julia, or have even actually tried Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But have you ever considered moving to France in order to learn how to cook French cuisine? Lynda Balslev did just that one day, in search of adventure and on an unexplainable whim. And so began what she calls her ”French Culinary Love Affair,” in a recent article for NPR’s Kitchen Window. An excerpt:

Each day, I walked across the city from my apartment in the 18th arrondissement to school in the 15th arrondissement. I traversed neighborhoods and crossed boulevards and the river Seine on my way to class. For breakfast, I stopped in cafes along the way and ordered a tartine, a crusty baguette slathered with butter and preserves, and cafe au lait. I passed open-air markets, where I purchased baguettes, fresh fruit and runny cheese for my lunch. I continued on, passing restaurants and bistros, pausing to read menus posted outside their doors, window shopping for dinner just as I would for shoes.

At school, I learned to make sauces, stocks and reductions, how to clean fish and poultry, sharpen and use my knives. I learned the basics of pastry and how to cook an egg. I was instructed on how to cut vegetables, roast salmon, prepare coq au vin. I shared my food from class with the dishwasher, who tirelessly worked in our kitchen, cleaning our pots and pans. I was eager to return home from school without leftovers; I had other plans for dinner. My love affair had started. I had a rendezvous with a French bistro for dinner.

I discovered the neighborhood bistro early on. Accessible, convivial and unfussy, the bistros beckoned to me when I returned home from school each day, tired and hungry with no interest in more cooking. Their entrances were warmly lit and festively decorated. Sounds of conversation, laughter and the wafting aroma of delicious food coaxed me into their cozy environments. I would slip into a seat at a small table in the middle of the bustle, sitting elbow to elbow with my fellow diners. I was alone yet in good company, sharing in the enjoyment of eating.

Travel and food always makes a great combination for both experiences and storytelling. Read more of the rest of the author’s French cooking experiences in the full story, which includes recipes for beef bourguignon, potato gratin, and more.

Thought you might be interested to know that Travels in the Riel World was recently selected as a Top 50 Global Education Blog by James Atkinson, who publishes Sir Learnalot’s Knowledge Blog. In an effort to honor those who promote a “global learning environment,” the top 50 list includes a diverse array of sites, from study abroad to foreign policy to eLearning. We were selected as a top cultural blog. The introduction to the list reads:

Technology as well as the ability to travel has helped many students and educators reach out to learn and to teach others how to institute a global learning environment. The following list of top fifty education blogs show the broad reach in this effort, with blogs listed in categories that range from studying abroad to e-learning technology and from international diplomacy to cultural resources.

Check out the full list for an idea of what other people who are interested in the world are writing about.

Have you ever dreamed about being location independent? That is, to be able to live and work from wherever you choose in the world? It’s a topic that is growing in popularity, as evidenced by this Location Independent website, or even by the number of hits the term generates in a Google search. Andy Hayes is a strong proponent of location independence, and he just wrote a nice article about the concept for Brazen Careerist.

Here is some of what he has to say about what location independence is and isn’t:

This is not about being an endless nomadic; it’s about finding a working style that suits you. This is not about entrepreneurialism; while owning your own business makes it quite easier, you can still roam a bit more freely while working for someone else…

The common feature of people working towards location independence is that they’re working on a life that works for them, not the other way around. Just because you are setup to work from the road doesn’t mean you travel 100%; I myself tend to alternate between periods on the road and then stints back at home base here in the UK. Yes – another myth – I have a home base, like many other location independent professionals do. You don’t have to live out of a suitcase if you don’t want to.

There are as many ways to be location independent as there are ways to be a 9-to-5’er (does anybody really work nine to five anyway?). Think about the characteristics or attributes of the life that you want, then find ways to make that happen.

Check out his full story here. By the way, Andy also runs the Sharing Travel Experiences website and a while back he ran an online interview with me. If you somehow missed that, you should check it out.

On Wednesday, we looked at some hot destinations for 2010, courtesy of the NY Times. Today, we cover the same topic, only from a slightly different and perhaps more interesting angle. That is, why not forget the travel publications and ask some travel writers themselves - where do they want to travel in 2010? The folks at Matador Travel did just that, surveying their team of writers, and came up with a more personal and pretty intriguing list of destinations. Here are a few:

Xinjiang province, China (Sarah Menkedick) - Xinjiang province called out to me the whole time I was in China. My husband and I chose tropical Borneo over frigid northwest China when my sweet two months of winter vacation rolled around, but Xinjiang has continued to haunt us.

Benin (Julie Schwietert) - My beat — journalistically, psychologically, and mentally — is Latin America and the Caribbean, but I’ve been feeling pulled toward Africa for a long time. I’ve never been. West Africa, in particular, is of interest to me for its political history and its music; of all the West African countries, Benin is where I’d want to go if I had to limit myself to just one country.

Eastern Kazakhstan (Hal Amen) - The fence-less plains, high mountains, and nomadic culture of Central Asia fascinate me. Kazakhstan is good to go year round. In winter there are golden eagle hunting competitions just east of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, and summer would be an ideal time for trekking the Altay Mountains in the northeast.

Nepal (Andy Hayes) - I can’t help but notice Nepal popping up in unusual places. And given my love for rich, experiential travel, I can think of many ways to spend my time there. I’m not looking forward to the affects of altitude, but I am sure it’s nothing an authentic spiritual journey can’t fix.

There are more than 20 such recommendations in Matador’s full story. Check it out.

It’s that time of year, when travel publications release lists of supposed hot spots for the coming year. The NY Times recently came out with their list of 31 places to go in 2010, which includes such destinations as these:

Damascus, Syria- The next Marrakesh? Perhaps mindful of the way that renovations of historic riads have drawn upscale travelers to Marrakesh, Damascus hoteliers are trying to mine tourism gold in the rundown buildings of the Syrian capital’s Old City. These 18th-century homes — many with inviting courtyards and rooftop terraces — are now boutique hotels.

Macedonia- One of the deepest lakes on the planet, with a dazzling Unesco World Heritage site of ancient dwellings rising high above its shores, Lake Ohrid in Macedonia is a local vacation star poised for greater international acclaim. In the tiered, terra-cotta-roofed city of Ohrid, 18 miles from the Albanian border, a lakefront settlement dating back to Neolithic times, Macedonians boast that on their side of the lake is a church, monastery or mosque for every day of the year, each full of resplendent frescoes, mosaics and icons. Notable attractions include the recently renovated church of St. Clement and St. Panteleimon at Plaosnik, an epic Byzantine masterpiece, and the 13th-century St. John of Kaneo, a limestone and brick monastery that juts out over transparent blue waters.

Colombia- Unfairly or not, Colombia is still known for its cocaine cartels and street violence, but cool-hunting travelers are calling it Latin America’s next affordable hot spot. Bogotá, its capital, has emerged as a role model of urban reinvention. Starting in the late 1990s, the city underwent a breathtaking transformation. Sidewalks, once used mainly for parking, are now lined with bicycle paths and tree-shaded cafes. An innovative bus system zips residents across the traffic-congested city. And museums and restaurants have opened in its historic center, including the refurbished Museo del Oro, which houses pre-Columbian treasures.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia- While Phuket and Angkor Wat are tourism anchors in Southeast Asia, jetsetters in the region are heading these days to Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital that’s quietly evolved into one of the area’s coolest and friendliest cities. Not only are K.L.-ites diehard foodies, fiercely proud of a robust street food scene that straddles Chinese, Indian and Malay flavors — check out the food blog EatingAsia — they’re also shopaholics, spending weekends trawling boutiques for the latest looks emerging from the sophisticated local fashion scene.

That should get your travel bug purring. See the full story for 27 more hopping travel destinations. Check back Friday for a different take on this topic.

There has been a lot of politics in the news lately, and President Obama’s State of the Union speech is scheduled for Wednesday. So if you’ve got politics on your mind, or even if you’re just a fan of history, you might consider taking a presidential road trip through Virginia. That’s the topic of may latest road trip feature for Examiner.com.

The Commonwealth of Virginia calls itself the “birthplace of Presidents” and, of the country’s 44 leaders, seven of them have firm roots in Virginia. This includes several of the nation’s Founding Fathers, men such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Virginia has more presidential landmarks and homes than any other state, so it’s possible to construct a nifty little road trip that will enable you to take in a treasure trove of American history.

You can see the full story here, and use this Google map to follow the journey.

View Presidential tour of Virginia in a larger map

That’s the opinion of a number of studies, all recently quoted by NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in an interesting piece that explores some of the possible reasons for why Costa Ricans are generally pretty content with their lives.

One reason, of course, may be the luck of their geography.

Maybe Costa Rican contentment has something to do with the chance to explore dazzling beaches on both sides of the country, when one isn’t admiring the sloths in the jungle (sloths truly are slothful, I discovered; they are the tortoises of the trees). Costa Rica has done an unusually good job preserving nature, and it’s surely easier to be happy while basking in sunshine and greenery than while shivering up north and suffering “nature deficit disorder.”

Or, there may be something else going on, namely an amazing policy decision from several decades ago.

What sets Costa Rica apart is its remarkable decision in 1949 to dissolve its armed forces and invest instead in education. Increased schooling created a more stable society, less prone to the conflicts that have raged elsewhere in Central America. Education also boosted the economy, enabling the country to become a major exporter of computer chips and improving English-language skills so as to attract American eco-tourists.

I’m not antimilitary. But the evidence is strong that education is often a far better investment than artillery.

And, perhaps there is a bit of a cultural factor, as well.

Latin countries generally do well in happiness surveys. Mexico and Colombia rank higher than the United States in self-reported contentment. Perhaps one reason is a cultural emphasis on family and friends, on social capital over financial capital — but then again, Mexicans sometimes slip into the United States, presumably in pursuit of both happiness and assets.

See Kristof’s entire column for more background on the happiness studies, as well as more of his argument for why Costa Ricans seem to have hit on a pretty decent formula for life.

There is no doubt that Twitter has its fans and its detractors. There is also no doubt that this social networking phenomenon is affecting the way that millions of people interact online, as well as the means by which information is distributed. But can Twitter also be having an impact on a culture’s communication styles? Well, perhaps it’s not going that far, but it is certainly provoking a pretty strong conversation about communication styles in India, as reported in this recent news story.

Seems an Indian politician, Shashi Tharoor, used a Twitter post to disagree with a policy favored by his political superiors. And in the process set off a cultural firestorm over communication styles and respect for hierarchy.

That message, along with a few others mildly questioning the merits of India’s new, stricter tourist visa policies, landed him on the front page of most of India’s English-language newspapers, which accused him of a very big mistake in Indian politics: appearing to disagree publicly with his superiors on a delicate issue.

Politicians in democracies the world over have warmed to Twitter, the microblogging service, and other social media tools, like Facebook, to connect with voters…But in India, the world’s largest and most boisterous democracy, it has not caught on with elected officials. Indeed, many of India’s power elite, whether in politics, the news media or business, seem to look askance at Mr. Tharoor’s enthusiasm for a medium that collapses the distance between the governors and the governed and dismantles the layers of protocol and decorum that keep elected officials and senior bureaucrats here aloof from the everyday concerns of those they serve…

Twitter enthusiasts say the news media make a fuss about it because it usurps its traditional role as intermediary and interpreter between the powerful and the masses.

Twitter and culture. Fun stuff. And hey, if you’re interested in knowing what goes in Indian politics, then you too can follow Tharoor’s Twitter account.

Today is a holiday in the United States - Martin Luther King Day, which celebrates the life and legacy of the great civil rights leader, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and was assassinated in 1968. It’s a good time to explore some of the historic sites that were key to King’s life, to this country’s civil rights movement, and to African American history. I just published an article suggesting just that and offering seven notable destinations, including the following.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site – Atlanta, Georgia

There are multiple important sites located within walking distance of each other in the Sweet  Auburn district of Atlanta where King was born and raised. The King Center has an exhibition hall with mementos from Dr. King’s life, as well as videos of his speeches and sermons. It is next to the Freedom Plaza where King’s tomb is situated amidst a reflecting pool. Also within the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site are King’s birth home and the Ebeneezer Baptist Church, where King and his father were pastors.

 

Alabama Civil Rights Trail – Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, Alabama

Alabama was the epicenter of numerous civil rights battles of the 1950s and these historic events are memorialized in the state today. In Montgomery, you can tour the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where King was a preacher; the Dexter Parsonage Museum, where King and his family lived; the Rosa Parks Library and Museum, which pays tribute to the woman who sparked a year-long city bus boycott; and the Civil Rights Memorial, designed by the architect Maya Lin, that honors those who gave their life to the civil rights struggle.

 

Just west of Montgomery is Selma. Between the two cities, you can follow the Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail, which commemorates the 1965 Voting Rights March, and stop at the Edmund Pettis Bridge, where 500 marchers were attacked by state police.

 

Birmingham, meanwhile, is home to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum that re-creates the world of racial segregation and the civil rights clashes. It is across the street from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed during a 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan.

 

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center – Cincinnati, Ohio

The Underground Railroad was a 19^th century network of private homes and churches where fleeing slaves were hidden as they tried to make their way north to a free state. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center uses exhibits and interactive endeavors to detail the history of slavery and tell the story of the Underground Railroad and of the individuals who worked to overturn slave laws.

 

See the full story for four more sites, in Massachusetts, Tennessee, Kansas and Arkansas.

Do you enjoy food? Are you a traveler who likes to experience a culture through its cuisine? If so, then Syria should perhaps be on your list of future countries to visit. Yes, Syria. There was a great piece recently on NPR about the rise of Aleppo, Syria, as a destination for food lovers.

Aleppo, in northern Syria, is one of the oldest cities in the world. For a thousand years — maybe more — the city’s residents have had food on the mind. Now, this Middle East gourmet capital is registering on the itineraries of food tourists — and giving Paris and New York some competition.

The romance begins at the city’s outdoor food markets — radishes as big as apples; fresh white cheese bobbing in milky water; shiny green and black olives; hundreds of pickles; and thick pomegranate molasses. Then there are the spice markets, with yellow turmeric, pink rose petals and red sun-dried pepper pastes.

Surrounded by olive, nut and fruit orchards, Aleppo is famous for a love of eating. The cuisine is the product of fertile land and location — along the Silk Road, an ancient trading route…

The International Academy of Gastronomy in France awarded Aleppo its culinary prize in 2007. But Aleppo was a food capital long before Paris. Aleppo’s diverse communities — Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Circassians, a sizable Christian population — all contributed food traditions, since Aleppo was part of the Ottoman Empire.

The full story has more information about food tourism in Syria. As well as overviews of such local meals as “fava bean soup with a splash of olive oil, lemon juice and Aleppo’s red peppers,” or “kibbe, a deep-fried oval of cracked wheat with … delicately spiced, fragrant lamb in the middle.” Check it out.