Archive for April, 2009
Time to visit Libya?
Every wanted to visit the North African nation of Libya? One author makes the case that now is a great time to be a traveler in Libya. Reasons include: The Sheer Number of Sights- Libya is home to the ruins of the prominent Roman city of Leptis Magna. The ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage [...]
Do the Chinese need authoritarianism?
That was the sentiment of some recent comments by movie star Jackie Chan, who suggested that the Chinese people weren’t ready to deal with too much freedom or liberty. His statement, predictably, ignited a firestorm of protest. “I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled,” Mr. Chan said during the Boao [...]
Riel World photo – Siem Reap, Cambodia
Siem Reap, Cambodia Three Buddhist monks and their umbrellas, walking down the street in Cambodia.
Visit every country before you’re 35
That’s the goal, at least, that Chris Guillebeau has set for himself. So far he’s up to 107 countries and he’s 30-years-old. He was profiled yesterday by the NY Times. I had my first international travel experience when I was 6 years old. My mom took me to the Philippines, and I wound up living [...]
Cities built on the edge of a cliff
If you were founding a new city today, it’s unlikely you’d choose to situate it on the edge of a cliff, would you? But some of the most stunning and unusual towns in the world actually do peer over the side of a rock wall. The website SpotCoolStuff recently profiled five such towns around the [...]
African travel wonders
Here is a slightly older but intriguing piece that I recently came across: Africa’s top 10 travel wonders. You can guess some of the spots on the list – the Egyptian pyramids, the Nile River, the East African wildlife. But there is much, much more to see in Africa, despite the fact that the continent [...]
Take a year off to travel, get paid $80,000
Granted, $80,000 is only one-third of this lawyer’s typical annual salary. But still, talk about a dream year. Heather Eisenlord’s New York City law firm needed to cut expenses and didn’t want to resort to layoffs. So they offered all of their associates the chance to take one year off from work in exchange for [...]
My new travel column
If you’re a fan of this blog, you might be interested to know about my new writing venture. I recently began penning a North American travel column for Examiner.com. It’s a bit of a departure from what I do here, but also a nice complement. Travels in the Riel World will continue to delve into cross-cultural topics [...]
More than one million couchsurfers in the world
It appears that couchsurfing is continuing to grow in popularity. The website that became a trendy mode of travel is now going mainstream. Couchsurfing.com has passed the one million member milestone. Of course, as the Frugal Traveler points out, this growing popularity brings with it the danger that newcomers may not always be in it for [...]
The foods of Mexico
Sure, you like Mexican food. And, yes, there are Mexican food restaurants in every big city and perhaps every small town across the United States. Not to mention in many other nations, as well. But have you really experienced Mexican food if you haven’t had it in Mexico? Sarah Menkedick recently wrote an article for Matador Travel [...]
More travel thoughts from Pico Iyer
I’ve written about Pico Iyer a couple of times previously and he is one of the world’s more thoughtful and interesting travel writers. He recently gave an intriguing interview to Gadling that is worth reading. An excerpt: One quality I’ve always admired about your writing is your ability to tap into the personality of a country. What advice [...]
Culture in the news – flowers and stock markets
Some more examples of culture in the news: In Washington, D.C., the retirement of the White House florist, Nancy Clarke, sheds light on the fact that even flowers have different meanings across cultures: In addition to providing flowers for the occupants of the White House, Mrs. Clarke has also ended up becoming something of an expert [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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My travel memoir - Two Laps Around the World: Tales and Insights from a Life Sabbatical - is about two round-the-world journeys with my wife.
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